Razp sighed, stepping aside and giving her a grin. "Well, there you go. Now that that's been told, I guess there's no need for me to be nice to you all anymore." he reached down toward the sword that Mizt had dropped previously, and flipped it lightly into his hands. "I've no need for any of you except the Nedian! Leave unless you want to get hurt!"
"Darlings, what part of him is your friend!?" Celine demanded, stepping back and raising her hand. "Thunderbolt!" she watched in disbelief as the spell did no damage to him.
Razp shrugged easily. "I forgot to mention, beautiful, but I was the one who helped Mizt with his magic shield. It won't be easy for you to penetrate mine either. You don't know how long I've waited for this... though I haven't found the other Nedians, as long as I have one, it will work fine." he smiled slowly.
"Why do you want Nedians? Because some of them can heal?" Rena asked, stepping back. Ashton wrapped his arm around her protectively, his free hand going to one of his swords.
"Oh, no no." Razp said, the smile turning into a smirk. "Not that at all. There's such a lack of Nedians in Expel. I wanted to change that." he began gathering his hair into a short ponytail behind him. "The Nedian race cannot simply die out here..." The others watched in shock as he brushed his hair aside. Long, pointy ears were uncovered in the process. He winked. "I think you all understand now. As long as there are still a few Nedians around, there are chances of the race living on..."
"You are sick." Celine cried out. "You're not thinking that you can make a whole generation of Nedians on your own?!"
"I have knowledge from Nede. If there was to be a Nedian child, I could create experiments to create more... much more... enough to start a Nedian population in Expel! ...though none of you would understand the significance of this, would you."
"Enough." Dias stated, raising his sword again. "Get out of here."
"I'll be taking the Nedian before I leave." Razp said, eying Rena as he spoke.
"Wait..." Ashton started, "Why did you follow me?! Didn't we travel together for a while?!"
"A--and if you wanted to take me, why didn't you do so when you came to my house in the first place?!" Rena added in.
Razp's gaze went to Dias' sword. "Ashton, you were too nice, at least for a man. You trusted me though you didn't know me. You told me to get rid of your curse. I could have easily done it without the drawback of your losing your skills. You let me go with you while you trained. I knew that you were looking for a cure before you even knew me. I knew that you were in Arlia with Rena before so. I wanted to get to know her, not to force her to go with me, but now that I know that your relationship with her would get in the way... I'm sorry but I can't continue my charade longer." He vanished, then reappeared next to Rena, putting his sword on her neck and turning to Ashton. "Move it."
Ashton paled, stepping back instantly. Rena froze and Celine bit her lip, knowing her spells would do no good yet again. Dias narrowed his eyes, then stepped forward.
"What do you think you're doing?" Razp demanded, putting the sword closer to her. "Move one step closer and--"
"And what?" Dias said, with a smirk. "You move that sword even more, and you'll lose your precious Nedian."
The two men glowered at each other for a while, and finally Razp stepped away. "True. That's something I can't afford. I mean, she'll be the one who would start the new population of Nedians here on Expel anyway."
"Like any of us would let you take her and do anything to her," Celine said, putting her hands on her hips. "Why don't you just leave us alone? You're way too outnumbered."
"I don't need help, because I have skill." he countered. "Ashton is helpless against me. I know every single one of his tricks, for I've seen him train."
Ashton's eyes narrowed, and he flipped both of his swords out. "I don't know about that one..."
"Celine 'darling,' I shan't have problems with your magic." Razp continued. "So in short, I'm not very outnumbered, am I."
Rena stepped forward slightly, keeping a hand clutching Ashton's cloak. "If you want to take me, you'd better fight against me."
"You don't understand, do you, Rena. If I do that, I might hurt you, and that would ruin my point." Razp watched her eyes flicker in understanding, and shook his head. "Though, I won't let you get in my way while I dispose of the others. Stay there!"
The young woman blinked and glanced around, then blinked again. "..w--wh.. I can't move..!?"
"Unlike other Nedians who have the ability to heal, the majority of spells I have have to do with offensive magic." Razp explained, flipping over to avoid Dias' sword as the man lashed toward him. "Don't think that I'm bad at combat as well though. I hate to be underestimated." he smiled, landing in between Dias and Ashton. "Well well. Who wants to die first?"
Ashton narrowed his eyes and leapt forward, lifting one of his swords and lashing out with the other from behind. Razp stopped the weapons with his gold knuckles, a black mist covering them for added strength. Dias attempted an attack from behind, which he ducked and sent toward Ashton, who narrowly escaped as well. "Tractor beam!" he called out, jumping out of the way of the spell. The two fighters rolled away from the beam, and Dias got quickly back up, calling out, "Air slash!"
The attack stopped a few feet from Razp, who shrugged. "Close... not close enough."
Ashton went behind and raised both of his swords toward the man's neck, but paused mid-swing when he found he was face to face with Rena. The mage snapped his fingers, sending Rena back in her old place, and kicked Ashton aside. "Too weak. I was hoping you learned something while I was gone, but I guess not."
Rena bit her lip, watching the two fighters against the experienced mage. He even had more advanced armor, being that he had lived in Nede for the bulk of his life. It seemed almost as though the mage was playing around with the other two. He had barely countered, and rather was having fun dodging their attacks. She attempted to move, but it was almost as though she was glued in place. She narrowed her eyes, knowing all she could do from this position was cast magic, most which would be worthless then. She thought for a while as she watched the three men fight, and Celine approached her. "Darling, I know that I'm rather useless against this man, but remember that none of us will let you get taken away by this man." she wrapped her arms around her friend, then picked her up with effort. "Darling, you'd better be in a safer place--"
"Not so fast!"
Celine turned in time to see a sword blade inches from her face. She gasped, then ducked around and away. Razp pushed Ashton aside, who had barely managed to save Celine from a grand beating to the head. The woman raised her arms and chanted quickly, "Oh power of protection... Reflection!", enveloping the others in a semi-shield of magic. "Rena darling, see if you can do anything to that spell of yours," she called out, "Maybe you can dispel it!"
Rena attempted a nod, which didn't work quite as expected, then shut her eyes. "Disappear you impure people! Dispel!"
Unfortunately, there seemed to be no difference to her movement. She shut her eyes again, then called out, "Oh time! Haste!"
The two spells triggered the effect she was waiting for. Dias sent another air slash from his spot far from the group, as he attempted to gain distance as Rena leapt away from her spot and jumped in front of Ashton. The fighter stepped back. "Rena, what are you planning on doing?"
"I've had enough!" the young woman said, raising her fist at Razp. "You want me because I'm a Nedian, don't you? Then, I'm the reason you're attacking everyone else. Everyone else has already gotten hurt enough! Leave us alone. Or else." she turned around, grabbing a hold of Ashton's arm. He blinked in confusion, but made no attempt to move his arm away. "Let me borrow one of your swords, Ashton," she said, looking him straight into the eyes.
"I've no time for small talk!" Razp called, "Ice Needle!!"
Celine rushed over to Rena and Ashton, going in front of them and calling out, "Firebolt!" The spells combined with each other and faded away. "Darling, listen to what she has to say. I may not be able to attack you, but I can make sure that you can't attack us!"
Rena had acquired one of the swords by then, and was raising it over her heart. "You come anywhere closer," she said slowly, "And it's all over."
"Rena!" all three of her friends called out at once. Razp narrowed his eyes, at the same time lowering his arm.
"What are you talking about, darling?" Celine attempted, "We'll be fine, don't worry about us, we can get rid of this man without you doing anything drastic!"
"She's right, Rena..." Ashton said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Give me back the sword."
"Rena," Dias said, after a pause, "...we will protect you."
Rena's eyes went around to all of the other three members of the group, and she smiled. "Thanks everyone." she moved her hand back to return the sword, then narrowed her eyes, "Celine!"
The female mage nodded and turned, calling out, "Lunar Light!"
"Star Flare!" Rena finished up.
Razp stepped back, giving a quick roll of the eyes. "I've said that this spells are worthless against me. You never lear--"
"Burning Cards!" a voice called out from afar, and he turned, right in time to find small sharp pieces of paper digging into his back.
"What..." he pulled out a few, cursing. He was visibly bleeding, but seemed more irritated than injured.
"Wait, that voice..." Ashton started, then shut his mouth as Chisato appeared from the trees, panting.
"Perfect!" Celine said, snapping her fingers and grinning slightly, and noting that so called cell-phones could actually come in handy at certain times.
"We made it on time! I thought I would be too late to make the scoop!" she called out, extending her arm to the side. Claude and Noel similarly appeared from the brush. "We heard from Claude and Precis that you guys were in trouble, so we tried to hurry."
Noel scratched his head, looking at the others. "Well... I guess we came at an okay time."
"Aha! Now you're definitely outnumbered, darling!" Celine said triumphantly. She stepped to the side, raising her arms and standing in front of Rena. Rena exchanged quick glances with Ashton.
"I think I can understand that you want more Nedians on the planet, figuring that Nede has disappeared," the young woman said slowly, "But you shouldn't do that if no one else wants it to happen. Razp.. you seemed like a nice person to me.. why did you have to change like that?"
"Now you're going to lecture me?" Razp asked, crossing his arms and eying his opponents. He was completely surrounded and even he knew he was at a disadvantage. He began to chant, but Noel immediately called out, "Energy Arrow!" which failed to hurt Razp, but was enough to make him lose his concentration.
"You shouldn't be set on Nedians alone.. It matters more about a person's character rather than his or her's planet, doesn't it? I mean.. I'm a Nedian, but I've found plenty of friends from Expel and even Earth!"
"Oh great, so now it's a 'let's all be happy together' speech."
"I don't mean it like that. I mean that you might be a decent person on the inside, if you would just go outside of your boundaries." Rena sweatdropped, "And if you don't.."
Dias and Claude both stepped forward, raising their swords.
"I don't think they're going to be happy about it.."