Disclaimer: Same as always. See chapter one.

Aki Kitsune- Actually no. But for story writing purposes, I altered it slightly. And you must be really good to get through with everyone alive. I have yet to do that. *sigh*

Chap. 19

-"Here we go!"-

With a burst of energy, I launched myself straight at the massive Frame Warrior. He was further away than I thought, but I continued on. But before I could get any closer, parts of his armor stretched out and an orange glow surrounded his entire body. 'I've seen this before.' Unfortunately, if it was the same as Nephtis, then I wouldn't be able to get close to him. As I examined him, Zakat suddenly shot at me like a cannonball. I shot away to the side, but size made it unavoidable. The shield hit me hard and I was hurled to the side, spinning through the open sky. I managed to regain my bearings and looked as Zakat remained in place.

"What the matter? I expected more from the brother of Anubis."

I don't know what happened, but upon hearing that name, I launched myself at him in rage. My blade unsheathed, I slashed the shield but to no avail. 'I have to calm down.' But looking back, I saw that my attack wasn't useless. My blade had nicked one of the armor plates, damaging it. Moving quickly, I attacked it with several more slashes, ripping it apart. At its destruction, the shield shimmered and the glow dulled a bit. 'That's it. The plates.'

"Not so fast."

Suddenly, his body flipped and a powerful surge of energy began to charge into him. Worse yet, I was right in its face.

"Devastator Blast!"

An intense beam of orange energy flared out of him and at me. On pure instinct (or luck), I swooped to the side. But the attack beam continued to follow me. 'Come on, come on!' The beam closed in and I felt the scorching heat emanate from it. But just before it could touch my feet, it dissipated into the air. I stopped as well, and took a breather. 'That attack could have annihilated me.'

"Are you impressed?" he gloated. "Wait until you see this."

As he said that, a new set of armor plates shifted within the shield and shot out blades of light. He began to swing them vertically while twirling his body. I ducked and dodged the blades and began to move in close. Fortunately, his ability with the blades was terrible, but I still had nothing to fight him with. As long as the shield was up, he was impervious to any attack I may throw at him. Wait. Of course, the outer armor. There were still three plates on the outside. If I take those out, then there was a good chance that his shield will fall as well. Still dodging the blades, I attacked the second plate. But before it could be destroyed, he shot away from me at high speed.

"Running away so soon, Zakat?"

Zakat laughed back, "Hardly. But a great warrior knows when to back off. You have yet to do anything to me. And you won't have the opportunity either."

He began to shine brightly and I knew he was going to charge at me again. But as he did, I saw one of the outer plates facing me. 'Maybe...'

"Wisp! Bind and capture!"

Zakat laughed again as the energy wire shot out at him. "You intend to capture me with that?"

But the wire didn't go to him, but rather it latched onto the outward plate. Pulling hard, I yanked the plate off and grabbed in my hand. But before it could reach me, Zakat launched himself at me in full fury. The plate finally reached my hands and on instinct, I pulled it up before me. Zakat rushed me full force, but the plate protected me from the force of the attack.

"How...!"

I didn't answer him. Rather, I threw it into the damaged plate that was still attached to him, destroying them both. The shield dimmed immensely, becoming only a flicker of light.

-"One more to go."-

I zoomed in again to nab the final plate, but Zakat raised his body again. As before, his body began to flare with immense power. 'Oh no. I'm not going to be able to avoid that! What was I going to do?'

"Devestator..."

Suddenly a thought occurred. If the plating could shield me from his charges...I have to try. Triumph or die.

"Wisp!"

The wire snagged the final plate just as the energy reached a blinding point. Quickly, I placed it before me and hoped that this worked.

"Blast!"

The beam fired again, smashing right into me. I shut my eyes as the light engulfed me and pushed me back partly. I continued to hold my place and I noticed that the armor plate began to crack. As the beam continued to pour itself on me, the plate cracked more and more until finally it shattered.

"No!"

But when it faded away, his attack was done with and was no longer at me. Zakat was now defenseless and open. Plus, he was weakened by the energy he used on me. Retracting my blade, I swooped right through Zakat's armor and hacked away. I slashed away furiously, damaging his body with my slashing.  In mid-slash, I flared my body with Metatron and unleashed my Metatron Lunar Slash. The attack hurt him severely as he backed away. I watched him fly away, blade still extended.

"Impressive Jehuty," he said after he recovered. "You are as strong as I hoped. I'm burning to try my hand at you."

Suddenly, his body began to shift and change. His circular armor plates extended outward and his head stretched out as well. Two rings of armor also encircled around him. Zakat was now completely different than he was before.

"Now, the real fun begins."

The rings spun around him and the energy blade emerged again. They slashed out faster than before, but they were still avoidable. At least now, there was no shield to worry about. And his head was now exposed so that would be my prime target. I swooped through the beam and flew straight at his head. But before I could reach him, black balls of energy formed around him where the rings were at. I stopped to examine them when they suddenly flew at me. I shot away while dodging to the side to avoid them, but Zakat summoned more energy sphere and let them loose. I raised my shield and blocked the brunt of the assault, but it took a lot out of me to do so.

"Let see you fare against this."

Zakat suddenly focused his energy and created a single energy ball. But it didn't fly at me. Rather it grew and began to gather in more energy. As it did, I suddenly began to feel a strange pull on me. 'What the…? A gravity well?' I turned around to try to pull away, but the best I could do was become stationary. And now I was stuck.

"Try all you want, but you'll never escape."

Zakat suddenly lashed his arm out and struck me with a viscous blow. I almost cried in pain, but that's when the well pulled me in further. I forced myself to recover and stopped myself from going deeper. The well had grown in an immense size and was pulling me harder than before. And Zakat was preparing to strike again. Only one thing to do. I waited for the blow from Zakat before I pushed myself to the side, dodging it totally. But now I was even closer to the well. That's going to stop now. I let the Metatron power fill my body and raised my hand to summon the sphere. I had to reach full power for this to work. The energy sphere reached full power, but Zakat was ready to strike again. Ignoring him, I let the sphere fly at the well and the two balls of energy collided and exploded. With the gravity gone, my body shot away and I avoided the blow Zakat lashed out with. I flew back in a half spin, but recovered and ready to fight once again.

"Alright Zakat. This stops now."

Wings open, I shot of to the side and fired a spray of energy beams. The beams smashed into the armor around Zakat's head, but did nothing aside from throwing up puffs of smoke. Not stopping, I continued to fire, damaging the armor only minimally and throwing up more smoke.

"Ha. It this all you've got?"

However, Zakat had lost track of me briefly. His gaze slowly shifted and found my form. Rearing his arm back, his fist suddenly shot out and hit...

"A decoy?"

Zakat was too distracted by the decoy I left behind to notice that I had in fact flew beside his head in the midst of the smoke. While I did, I left a decoy behind that would distract him further and give me enough time to gather my power for a full blast Metatron Sphere right next to his head. Zakat's head slowly turned to me and I saw his eyes widen with shock.

"Oh sh..."

I launch the sphere at point-blank range and it exploded tremendously. Zakat roared in pain and his entire body fell backward. As his body fell through the clouds, a small pod shot out from his body. The runners had escaped. That suited me just fine. Despite their intent, I had no wish to kill anyone. Even if it is my worse enemy. Except for one...

As Zakat disappeared, a light shot out of his body and engulfed me. I was surprised and jerked back involuntarily, but calmed when I realized that I had been endowed with another technique.

-Floating Mine.-

Shaking away the surprise, I suddenly remembered what I was doing out there at all. Vic Viper and the rest of the LEV soldiers must be almost at Aumaan right now. Now that the battleship threat is gone, it was time for me to join my comrades. Once done, our next stop is Aumaan. And lurking within Aumaan, Anubis will be waiting.

'Here I come.'