Time to get into more personal troubles for our strange hero here! Oh yes, I'm insane. Haven't you realized that yet?
~*~
"Why, if it isn't Janus the royal wizard himself!" the general growled, not taking his eyes off the man.
"Your nose doesn't look like I remember it, Slash," Janus replied with a wry smirk, "my teacher says hi."
'Hah, you're right,' the Pawn smirked, 'seems it didn't heal properly.'
The Prince just smirked along at the memory of his dreamed reality, where his possibility had crushed Slash's nose in the escape from the Mystics' dungeon.
The swordsman's eyes narrowed in anger by the same memory that amused the three blue-hairs, however. His nose really was pretty deformed after the assault all those years ago, and he wasn't pleased to be reminded.
But his next line had the same effect on his visible and two invisible foes that Janus' remark had had on Slash.
"And you have some nerve showing up here, Magus," the purple-skinned monster coldly sneered.
Janus' grip of his staff hardened while an almost strangled hiss left his lips and his guardians clenched their teeth in rage.
"Temper, temper, boy…" Slash sneered as Janus' red eyes flared up with anger.
By now many of the lower monsters had noticed what was going on, and a rather large group of skeletons and other beasts were hesitantly approaching. They had grown up hearing of the royal wizard, and those two beside him didn't look too weak either.
Crono changed the grip of his sword while Robo beeped something about battle-mode.
Almost simultaneously Janus and Slash held up a hand each, to everyone else's surprise.
"No, he's mine," they both stated.
Half a second later the Slasher cut deep into the staff's wood, but the sword master managed to tear his blade free and leap away before Janus had time to twist his weapon around for a dangerous loss of sword and a hit.
"Powers of the world, lend me the power of Lightning!"
Since he was in the middle of a rather intense battle with a much quicker foe than usual, Janus had no time to use the staff for concentration; he had to use it to parry Slash's attacks while he chanted. Therefore his bolts weren't as perfectly coordinated as usual and his enemy managed to leap out of reach. A handful of skeletons got in the way and got fried however.
"Peace over you memory…" Janus muttered to the now freed human souls and swung at Slash again, who ducked below the staff and shot forwards.
The wizard danced aside and almost lost his balance as one of the purple snakes known as gnashers came in the way from behind.
"You keep out of this!" Slash growled at the monsters and threw out his arm to shoo them away, "take care of his friends!"
Don't mind us, Janus! Crono shouted and raised his sword to meet the first attacking eagle, you concentrate on Sludge or whatever his name was!
"Slash, you idiot!" the sword master snarled, "by Lizard, is that so hard to remember?"
"Yes indeed!" Janus snarled and rushed at the leading monster.
"Bah!"
Slash managed to avoid the attack by leaping backwards.
'Look out!' the Pawn and the Prince shouted simultaneously.
But before Janus could jump aside Slash shot forwards again with a wicked grin.
'To the left!'
The wizard desperately bent on his guardians' command, but it was too late. The thin sword cut up a deep wound on his right upper arm and he almost dropped the staff.
"And you survive all Flea's attacks, Magus?" Slash sneered and raised his free hand when Janus with a growl spun around after him, "he needs better raw material…"
A lightning bolt sparkled from the monster's palm and Janus threw himself backwards to avoid the magic assault.
"My name is Janus!" he snarled, "powers of the world, lend me the power of Water! Na matala sela! And crancha na lishoro!"
The second after the first healing star appeared, an almost transparent tidal wave flowed from the ground around Janus' feet and stormed towards Slash.
However, the monster simply floated up above the powerful wave and easily avoided it. But his smirk died as Janus with a triumphant shout swung his staff around and turned the tide towards the monsters assaulting Crono and Robo. At least half of the odd thirty monsters were swept away and with screeches fell down the cliffs beside the bridge. Perhaps the fall wouldn't kill them since the ocean wasn't that far away, but it would take them quite a while to get back up. Especially those with the bad luck to end up below the goblins.
"Thank you for the assistance!" Robo beeped.
Crono made thumbs up before he had to care for another skeleton.
Janus had no time to reply before Slash was at him again. The Slasher hit the staff once more and the wizard heaved backwards and twisted his grip at the same time. But even though Slash was thrown along, he sneered down at Janus while floating in the air. The wizard glared back, lying on the ground after the miscalculated assault.
"Now that wasn't smouff!"
Slash's taunting was killed by Janus' fist in his stomach.
"Thought I was that dumb and slow, didn't you?" the wizard smirked and spun to his feet while Slash landed and tried to regain his breath.
Janus didn't give the monster time to neither recover nor reply before the staff danced in the wizard's hands and the sword master growled in pain. Dark blood stained deeply purple pants, running down Slash's chest and stomach. A long cut in the left arm was also managed before the monster managed to leap away.
"Oh, don't start celebrating yet…" Slash snarled and snapped his fingers.
A big shadow zoomed away from one of the bonfires and a deep, growling voice chanted, out of reach for the wizard. From the big, blue hands of the monster healing stars flowed and covered Slash in a warm light. He sneered and stretched as it faded; his wounds completely healed.
"This will take forever if we keep healing," Janus dryly pointed out.
"Not quite," Slash smirked, "I have got at least twenty sorcerers here to heal me, and how long can you keep it up?"
Before the muscular, leg-less monster had time to move aside a massive fireball hit it. With a roar of pain it crashed on the ground and dissolved to nothingness.
"Nineteen," Janus calmly remarked and turned his flaming hand towards one of the bonfires, "and twelve."
"Oh no, you don't!"
Slash rushed at the wizard with a growl, but before the impact Janus had already released the second fireball and the fire that the sorcerers danced around exploded to engulf the closest monsters in the blink of an eye.
Even this attack was parried by the staff, but Janus was starting to sweat by now. He clenched his teeth and lunged forward, nearly managing to force Slash off balance.
'That healing trick of his must be among the worst they could think of,' the Prince grimly snarled, 'you should withdraw.'
'I can do this, don't worry,' Janus growled in his mind, 'if he's cheating then so am I.'
'You're almost drained, and Robo and Crono are too busy with the monsters to help!'
'Yes, but I'm not out of tricks… I haven't told you everything I've been taking care of yet.'
'Why am I suddenly getting a very bad feeling…'
'Heh.'
"Give it up, Magus," Slash sneered, "you're growing weaker."
"Call me Magus one more time and I'll decorate my staff with your ribs!" Janus snarled through clenched teeth.
"I am shivering with fear…"
Janus leaped backwards and closed his eyes, pressing the pointing and middle finger of his right hand against his forehead.
"Lai!" he bellowed, "I need you here, right now!"
"What? Do you expect to be saved?" Slash sneered, motioning at the crowded bridge.
"No, now I expect to be killed," Janus grunted and opened his eyes while taking the staff in both hands again, "see, if you call for help then I do as well."
'Lai who?' the Prince rather sharply asked.
'I haven't been able to teach her telepathy properly so I can only call her aloud like that…' Janus muttered and leaped forward with the staff spinning in his hands.
'You what?!'
'I'll explain in a minute…'
Slash ducked and dashed aside, getting around Janus with speed that shouldn't be possible by the laws of physics. But even that didn't work when the wizard threw his staff backwards and it got stuck in the ground, catching the Slasher one third of a second before it would have pierced the light shirt, skin and flesh of Janus' back.
"I give, that was pretty impressive," Slash nodded and wriggled the Slasher free of the wood.
His unoccupied hand grabbed the staff, tore it out of the ground and sent it flying in a wide bow above the ground and down towards the ocean.
"I can just call it back, you know," Janus said, turning around.
"No, I don't know…"
Slash crossed his arms with a smirk.
"In fact," he said, "Flea once told me that in order to call a weapon to your hand you need eye contact, so to speak."
"Well crap."
Janus threw a glance aside. Crono and Robo had almost cleared up all of the monsters, but it would still take them at least a few minutes before they could lend a hand.
"Oh well, we're just going to have to do it the old-fashioned way…" he calmly said and took off in an impressive leap backwards, "powers of the world, lend me the power of Lightning!"
Slash dashed aside and ended up just before the bridge with his back turned against it in his task to avoid the new lightning bolts. He got one second of standing still before a female voice was heard from behind him and he had to look over his shoulder.
"Powers of the world, lend me the power of Fire!"
Lucca?! Crono shouted, dazzled trying to see past the monsters that still attacked him and his metallic companion.
"Not quite…" Janus said and smiled at Slash as the Mystic danced out of the way for a storm of fireballs.
Past the already faltering remains of the monsters a figure came, leaping on thick shoulders and naked skulls on her way over while her hands sent out storm after storm of fire.
"Janus!" the newbie sharply gasped as she landed in the grass before the bridge's foundation, "I'm going to kill you, just so you know!"
"Nice to see you too, Lai," the wizard calmly said before raising his voice, "take out the sorcerers by the fire, I'll handle Slash!"
"Goddammit, sweetheart…"
Held up in a horsetail a thin flow of red-brown hair, almost with a purple hue, danced over the dark shirt's back as the thin woman dashed across the grassy field. The new spell she shouted was about to be cut off forever by Slash, but Janus got in between with another storm of lightning bolts.
"I wouldn't try to kill my disciple with me around, Sludge," the wizard said with a cold smirk.
'Your what?'
'I'm not hearing this and I'm not seeing it either!'
'Look, I knew I wouldn't be around forever,' Janus merrily pointed out, 'I couldn't exactly leave everything for Glenn to handle. She was the only one I could find with a natural ability I could help awaken…'
'But it's Lucca's ancestor, for all the powers!' the Prince almost groaned, 'and did she call you "sweetheart"?!'
'Ah, don't worry. That's just a habit of hers.'
'Thank all the good forces…'
Lai took out four more of the sorcerers, the others fled before the fires they were guarding exploded. Slash growled as he saw his life insurance leave.
"Alright, Magus," he snarled, "you win today but don't feel too secure."
He jumped out of reach before Janus could attempt to crush every bone in his body.
"You, retreat!" the monster roared at the last troops on the bridge, and then held up the Slasher towards the sky, "Flea! Get me out of here!"
A strong light erupted from the grass around his feet and engulfed the purple monster. It flashed and was gone, together with Slash.
The immediate reaction from what was left of the army was that they more or less blindly followed their general's orders upon his leave. The human soldiers stood thunderstruck as their bloodthirsty foes suddenly turned and jumped off the bridge into the ocean below, screaming and screeching among each other. Some just ran to the other side of the bridge and stumbled past Janus, staring at him in angered terror. He let them pass. They were filled up with hate, but too afraid to attack the man who had driven their leader to escape.
Nice going, Crono commented as he sheathed his sword while walking over to the wizard.
"You put up a great fight as well," the wizard said with a rather tired smile, "after all I was just handling one of them."
"You're dead!"
Janus turned around and sternly met Lai's killing glare.
Her clothing was rather simple, a dark-blue shirt and a pair of brown pants, not at all dressed like a lady. She wore no accessories apart from a small collection of throwing daggers in her leather belt. One couldn't claim that she was beautiful, but she had some kind of perky prettiness.
The wizard held up his hands.
"I know, I know," he patiently said, "I shouldn't have left without telling you, neither attacked Slash like that. Anything else?"
"You know, I really, really hate you when you do that," Lai snapped.
She suddenly held a small but very sharp dagger between her thumb and pointing finger.
"Give me one reason, quickly, to why I shouldn't give you a matching scar."
'I don't believe this…' the Prince grunted.
'Heh.'
"Because I'm sorry and I haven't got time to thank you for helping me out yet?" Janus said aloud.
Lai slowly let out a deep breath and put the dagger back in her belt.
"Fine…" she grunted, "for now."
She sighed a bit and straightened up.
"And who's with you?" she asked.
"Crono and Robo," Janus said with a small smile, "this is Leila. But you better call her Lai or she'll peel you alive."
"Pleased to meet you," Robo politely beeped.
Crono shook Lai's hand but had no chance to speak before she cut in:
"We haven't got time for this now. Janus, there are hundreds of wounded and we need you at the castle right away."
"I see. Let me just get my staff."
And the royal wizard of Guardia walked over to the cliffs and looked down, after a moment holding out his hand. A dripping and badly cut but at least retrieved weapon came to his grip and the group of four began crossing the bridge they had helped protect, towards the capital of the human civilization.