Kitai rushed to pull his sword out along with his spheres, blocking Zift's second attack. He realized that if he did not fight, then he would simply die. Kitai could not die here; he would not allow his friend to kill him. Although Zift's right armblade was caught in a sword lock, he still had his left hand to attack with. Zift quickly seized this chance and aimed a second slice for Kitai. Kitai blocked the attack with his left hand, wincing as the lethal blade cut into his hand, slowly and painfully. There was only one thing Kitai could do to ameloriate his situation. Root.
The two figures darkened, making Zift look even more threatening. Zift tilted his head, wondering what just happened to him. Kitai would not let this chance go by, and so he called upon his four remaining spheres. The four blue balls of energy began to dance around Kitai, spinning around him in a counter-clockwise fashion and moving far away from him, and then closing back in. They started to burn into four bright, incandescent flames. Kitai was preparing his attack. Zift tried to break free from his chains, but there was no possible way to break the restraint. He remained locked in his stance, much like Kitai was. The four spheres then took positions surrounding Zift: above his head, below him, and to his sides. They burned brighter and brighter, until Kitai finally let out the command for his minions to attack, "Throw Spirit Sphere!"
The beaming spheres of energy attacked Zift one after another, making sure the most damage could be dealt. The sphere above his head was the last to crash into Zift, and when it did, it caused Zift to fall towards the ground. Kitai sped up the process by batting his friend downward to the ground with the dull edge of his blade, making sure not to kill him. Even though Zift was not his enemy, Kitai wanted to believe that there was some hope of returning Zift to his original self.
Zift was hurled toward the ground below him, spinning with no control of anything. He finally landed straight into a car, causing the car to buckle, the front and back end propped up while the middle part which was impacted by Zift bent downward. Glass shards spewed in every direction, denting the other cars in the vicinity. Kitai floated above, touching his wounded hand with his other hand, in an attempt to heal it like Cyril was able to heal his wound. It was a success, the blood stopped gushing out, and the wound vanished. Kitai looked back down to see if his enemy had recovered from the battle scar that he had inflicted, but Zift was still buried in the wreckage. Kitai was too scared to search the wreckage himself in fear that Zift might come bursting out.
A minute passed, Zift did not move.
Suddenly, the car exploded.
The fumes from the explosion flew to Kitai, and he coughed in response. He kept his eyes locked onto the wreckage though, making sure Zift would not surprise him. Then the giant metallic fireball ceased, and the fire was starting to gather into one spot, as if it was being routed there. Kitai looked harder. Zift was standing now, and his left hand was reaching out to the flames, calling them to his hand. He split the fireball between his two hands, and hurled the one in his left at Kitai, following it closely behind himself. Kitai dodged the flaming ball with ease, and was anticipating Zift to come up as well. Zift followed it just like Kitai thought, and Kitai braced himself for an attack. Zift started rapidly thrusting at Kitai with his left armblade, each strike was so powerful that Kitai could feel small sonicbooms created by them, brushing his hair to the side. Kitai was still evading his enemy's attacks though, and slightly backing up to compensate for Zift's forward moving motion.
Zift's right hand still concealed one of the embers, and he was poised to launch a surprise attack. When Kitai finally was not able to dodge one of his attacks, he used his sword to block the oncoming sword. Zift took this chance, and hurled his hidden fiery blast straight for Kitai's chest. The attack was too quick for Kitai to react, and he recieved massive burns from the ball as it disintegrated from attacking his chest. Kitai started to weeze and gasp, but Zift did not give him time to recover. He quickly seized the chance and knocked Kitai downward with a brute roundhouse kick to his chest.
Kitai fell to the hard pavement, scratching nearly every part of his body as he rolled along from the attack. Zift was not through yet though, as his two hands summoned a dark fire, which he tossed into the air. He then stabbed the fire with his two swordblades, igniting them with a gruesome fiery aura. He moved into a stance which seemed like he was about to throw various punches, and then let his arms loose. His arms performed a punching motion, launching a fiery blast each time he executed a punch. He let loose a massive volley of jabs, as if his two arms were gatling guns that had gone haywire. The flaming discharges seeked Kitai's body, and Kitai was too hurt to react. Fire after fire hit his already worn body, burning it, scorching it, incinerating it. After there was too much smoke that had built up to see his enemy, Zift finally stopped his deadly onslaught.
He waited, and saw nothing. He heard a noise he was familiar with emerge from the smoke but, like Kitai, was too scared to check, even if he was souless. He could've been taken advantage of if he rushed in too fast. He waited the smoke out, and just before the last blockade of black incense was about to burn away, Kitai emerged, with his four wings fanned out perfectly and his five spheres deployed. He flew straight for Zift, his sword reared and ready to slice whatever got in its way. Zift poised himself, ready to counterattack Kitai's assault.
Kitai dissapeared in front of Zift's eyes. Zift scanned the battlefield, above, below, to the sides, as his enemy vanished from his frontside. He slowly turned to his backside, but it was too late. Kitai had used Snap to get to his open spot, and now held a vantage point. Kitai's blade struck clean, and smashed straight into Zift's body, still with only the blunt side though. Zift was launched horizontally for some odd reason, not towards the ground. Was this also part of Kitai's plan to save his lost friend?
No, it wasn't. Just as Zift began to regain his balance, Kitai Snapped to his backside again, and this time smashed him down, toward the rock hard ground. Just before his head reached the ground, Kitai saved him again, with another brutal blow. An upward launch, Zift was now free-falling in the wrong direction. At the peak of his ascension, Kitai was ready to meet him. Kitai yelled his next blow in his devestating combo out loud with great fervor now, "Occult Impaction!"
His sword glowed his nostalgic blue aura, and so did he. He spun his sword, making it a drill, and thrusted it full force into Zift's vulnerable body. Zift was launched perfectly vertical now, straight for the ground at unmeasurable speed. His flight created a loud boom that rattled everything in a circular wake when he smacked into the ground. Kitai descended quickly, ready to deal his final blow. As he descended to the crash site of Zift, he began performing front flips, as if he was giving off a show. He gained a mighty momentum by doing this, and when he finally reached the ground, his sword slashed Zift at the area of his Occult Impaction wound. The impact of Kitai's blade created a resounding wave that toppled the already rattled vehicles.
Kitai quickly jumped backwards to assess the damages he had been dealt, and the damages he dealt to his foe. Burned and bruised everywhere, even worse than the Infernal had done, Kitai began to heal his battle worn body. He assembled his spheres as a precaution.
"Zift?" Kitai wondered if his enemy would respond to his old name.
He didn't. Zift remained silent.
After Kitai healed most of the wounds he was able to, he began to move toward the fallen fighter. Upon closer investigation, he noticed that the Occult Impaction wound was gone. And in another moment, Zift rose.
With great haste, Zift rose from his knock-out blow, and lashed out at Kitai's head with his left armblade. Kitai swiftly dodged it with a duck, but Zift held two weapons. Zift aimed a stab with his right arm at Kitai's head. Kitai parryed the attack, letting Zift's momentum bring his enemy closer to him. Just as Zift was right before him, Kitai kicked him with both feet, knocking Zift over Kitai. Zift was cast into the direction of Kitai's head, which was the opposite side he was on just moments before. He quickly recovered, as did Kitai. Zift summoned his dark flame once again, and endowed his blades with the fire. This time though, he did not fling the embers at Kitai, instead, he let his swords burn with the flame, covering the evil blade with an even more wicked aura. He rushed Kitai yet again. His arms let loose a barrage of fiery bites, each one evaded by Kitai who again was forced to move back to offset his enemy's frontal attack. Although he was missing, the fire still singed Kitai. The flames were so scorching that even from inches away one could get blistered by the blazes. Kitai winced in pain as each swing dealt potent fire damage to his skin.
Until he had nowhere to back up against, he was backed against a massive 18-wheeler truck, with no chance of escaping. Zift's swelterting bombardment of slashes melted the metal each time it touched them, and also burned Kitai in the process. Kitai could not hold this up for much longer, he had to do something, and he did not want to get hit by one of the blazing blades to execute Root. No chance in hell.
Kitai let out his Fury.
Kitai bellowed a mighty roar and stabbed the ground with his ethereal Katana, creating a shockwave that blasted Zift away, and a tremor that shook him off-balance to the ground. Kitai discharged an awesome red aura and sparks of lightning bounced off his body, as if they were protecting him. Kitai's head looked up to meet his enemy. His eyes had shifted to that same extraordinary red aura in color. Kitai appeared to be a true berserker.
Zift cowered for a moment, as if he were still human.
Kitai extracted his edge from the pavement, and spun it into his fighting stance. He slowly paced toward his opponent, as if Kitai was attempting to instill more fear into his enemy. Zift rose to the challenge, and readied a defensive stance to prepare for another duel.
Kitai ran in, and sliced for Zift's head. In this enraged state, Kitai no longer cared if Zift died. It was not Kitai's problem. Zift dodged it though, and began to thrust with both arms to attack Kitai's chest. Kitai dodged just as easily as Zift did, launching another attack. Zift blocked with his left blade, cringing, and staggered backwards as the power of Kitai's attack was still to be felt. He supported his left guard with his right, creating an x-formation. Still, Kitai pressed on, pushing him farther and farther back. Finally, Zift let his guard break, and stepped to the side to let Kitai's momentum carry him away. Zift flung his two arms into the air, ready to slash down in great vehemence. Kitai spun in a circle to break the momentum spell, and he slashed for Zift's armblades, launching him away, but dealing no physical damage.
Zift landed on his feet from the attack, but was still sliding away uncontrollably. He stabbed the ground with his left arm to stop the sliding motion. Zift's knees were bent, and his back was also hunched over. Infuriated at the duration of the battle, he stabbed the pavement with his right blade, causing a shockwave and tremor much similar to what Kitai created earlier. Zift pulled out both of his blades from the pavement, and he too, emitted a red aura, with blue lightning bouncing off of him.
Kitai finally realized why he could not win. He was fighting a mirror image of himself.
Suddenly, an angelic figure swooped down from the sky, and made an effort to kill Zift. Zift jumped backwards, causing the attack to miss. The attack was so devestating that it cracked the pavement in a wide ten yard radius, and brushed both Zift and Kitai aside. When the figure stood up, Kitai immediately recognized who it was.
Cyril had just came in to save Kitai.
The angel marched toward Kitai, disregarding the fact that Zift was still awake and ready to fight. Cyril started to speak to Kitai, "Who is this?" he asked.
"Its... Zift." Kitai glanced over his protector's shoulder. "Or at least, was."
Cyril turned around to see what Kitai was talking about, and immediately noted the strange eyes, the empty feeling that were locked in those eyes. Cyril became infuriated, and his eyes filled with ire. He apparently knew what was going on. "Kitai, let me handle him. Someone like you can not even hope to win against this thing."
Kitai nodded, and stepped back to let the Seraphim do his business. "Sure thing. Just watch out, that thing fights like me."
"Then this should be a good fight." Cyril smirked.
Cyril spun his axe to convoke his three other selves. They materialized to Cyril's side, and he began his bloodlust.
The first Cyril dashed toward Zift, lifting his axe, and swung with great vigor. His attack miss as Zift flew into the sky to dodge it. The second Cyril elevated himself as well, ready to meet the opponent. He pulled his axe apart and launched the axeblade at Zift in one elegant motion. Surprised, Zift barely dodged and the blade managed to singe some skin on Zift's face. He then staggered around in air from the attack, until the next Cyril launched his axe at him as well. Zift blocked the attack with his left blade, and his arm shook from the intense attack. He bashed the blade back with his right arm, and turned his attention to the last Cyril, which was now darting straight to him. Zift blocked the final Cyril's axe with his left, and summoned his dark fire with his right. The other Cyrils were ready for a second assault, and they came flying towards the target. But Zift quickly threw his burning sphere into the air before they reached him, and stabbed it with his right. The sphere did not enchant his weapon, but instead it exploded in a magnificant show, hurling miniature fireballs in every direction. The Cyrils blocked the pyrotechnics with their axes. Zift attacked the closest Cyril, batting the axe away with his left sword, which allowed him to attack with a furious right-armed swipe. The Cyril fell to the ground, wounded.
Zift then attacked in his enraged state, ready to crush another Cyril. Cyril launched his axe at the oncoming berserker, but missed in a valiant effort. Zift then thrusted his right blade into his target, creating a huge gash in his chest. Zift spun, and launched a kick which heaved Cyril to the ground. Two Cyrils were felled. But there were still two left, both of which attacked the open Zift at the same time. Zift attempted to block both attacks with his two weapons, and it proved successful. It was a standoff, until one of the Cyrils rose and launched his axe straight for Zift's open back. The axe lodged itself in the body, and then suddenly became heavy. Zift fell to the ground, smashing his infraggable skull into the ground.
The four Cyrils covened back on the ground, curing their wounds. Kitai stood in admiration as he watched the beautiful fight. Zift somehow managed to repel his four opponent's attacks longer than Kitai was able to.
Zift stood up, ready to meet his enemy yet again. He clasped his two hands to cast a spell. Cyril stood there, not moving, wondering what type of attack his opponent would choose to perform this time. Zift's hands spread apart, revealing a sphere cast of dark, purple thunder. The thunderball floated between his two hands, not moving, and static charges pulsed from his two hands to the ball, as if those lifted the sphere, not spiritual power. When his hands were as far apart as he desired, Zift slammed the lightning charge on both sides with his hands, and immediately he split into two Zifts now. Then both of the Zifts created their fireballs, endowing their weapon with the wicked blaze. They charged into the fray.
The two Cyrils that were met in battle were not prepared to fight Zift so quickly, and so they began to dodge the mighty barrage of jabs. The other two Cyrils knew that this fight would not be an easily won battle. They clasped their axes back into their arms, and their right arms began to glow with an burning yellow aura. Cyril was ready to show why he was such a valued Seraphim.
His left hands shook as they hovered over a spot on the ground where his right fists would soon meet. His right arm rose into the air, ready to punch the earth beneath him. The Cyrils let out a furious cry, and smashed the ground with his right arms. His arm no longer shined with the bright aura. Nothing seemed to happened.
The Zift and Cyril pairs that were engaging each other fought furiously. Zift wondered what the other Cyrils had just done, but did not bother to find out. An easier victory for him was graciously accepted anytime. Both of the Zifts then found a weakpoint in their enemies' defense, and took advantage of it. They launched their right arms to attack the axes, preparing themselves for the powerful block. The Cyrils defended himself with his axe. Just as he lowered it to attack back, the Zifts then grabbed the head of their enemies with their left hand. The blaze that covered the blade was no more, and began to move toward his hand, burning the heads.
A strange burning, yellow circular light appeared from beneath the Zifts.
They looked down. In another moment, they were shot by a potent yellow light beam, spiraling them into the sky. The golden pillar dissapated just as it met the clouds in the sky, and the Zifts began to drop. Apparently Cyrils' attack had not failed, as this was it. The Zifts quickly recovered from their airbone shock, and charged toward his enemies in a blinded rage.
Another light erupted from the ground, singeing the Zifts as they barely dodged the beam. A third pillar came towards them, and yet again, they barely managed to dodge. More and more eruptions of holy lights jetted out from the ground, attacking the Zifts. They could only manage to dodge the beams assaulting them, with no chance to attack the Cyrils. Still, they searched for their foes, and saw two Cyrils still kneeling down with their fists in the ground, as if they were commanding them. They could not find the other Cyrils.
Then the two missing Cyrils rushed forward, axes flailing, and they sliced for the airbone Zifts. The Zifts managed to dodge backwards, but were met by another column of painful golden light. Again, they were hurled into the air from the eruption. When they finally were free of the light, they were met in the sky by the Cyrils. They began to engage each other yet again beyond the limits of the bright pillars. This time, they were evenly matched in the one versus one grudge match.
The Cyrils caught onto their opponents' plans, and began to form their counteroffense. They waited for the perfect moment.
The other Cyrils remained on the ground, receiving the plan via a telepathic link that all four Cyrils held.
Finally, the airborne Cyrils made it seem like their chest was vulnerable in the midst of the skirmish, anticipating that Zift would launch a potent stab for the weak spot.
The Zifts followed their plan, and immediately thrusted his blade for Cyrils' weakpoint. Quickly, the Seraphims evaded to the side, un-chained their axe, and threw it straight for their opponents' feet, bonding them together by the chain. They then put forth latent magic abilities and gave the axe a physicality to it, hurling the entangled Zifts as they fell for the ground, surprised by the sudden burden of the axe. He plunged toward the earth below, looking towards the sky as they tried to slash the chain apart.
They did not notice the new radiant shaft that had been expelled from the ground from beneath them. The force was of great magnitude as the damage was amplified by Zifts' heavy weight. He spat out blood as the pillar propelled him upwards, almost drowning in it. As they approached the zenith of his climb, the Cyrils were there to meet them with a full-bodied, potent kick. Again, the Zifts coughed out blood at the onslaught, and plunged toward the ground yet again, but the Cyrils were not finished. They too, dove to the ground at maximum velocity, outflying the Zifts. Then the Cyrils retracted their chain axes to a minimal length, closening the distance between the fighters.
As the four figures plummeted downward, the remaining Cyrils pulled their arms back from the ground, and re-formed their axes as they expected new guests to arrive.
Then the airborne Cyrils, as the distance between them and the ground decreased, pulled the hilts of their axes in front of them with a mighty force, pulling the Zifts in front with massive force. The Zifts were slammed straight into the ground, breaking the pavement beneath it beyond the gravel that had been laid upon the ground. The Zifts laid in personal pits, stunned. Swiftly, the Cyrils jumped into the graves, and secured the unconscious bodies. The chains were still wrapped around their legs, just in case they had managed to survive.
The Cyrils that still held their axe blade, raised them up high to get ready to execute their prey. In another moment, Zift would be gone from the world. Only if Cyril had gotten the chance though.
Before Zift got the chance to die, a storm of razor sharp daggers hailed down towards the pit, dotting the ground with metallic grass.
The Cyrils jumped away from the Zifts, abandoning their prey to protect themselves. When all the knives had stopped falling from the sky, they noticed something odd: none had hit the Zifts. Without hesitation, the Cyrils moved in on their prey again, but another burst of daggers came storming through, this time from the sides of the Cyrils. They easily dodged the wave of blades by backstepping, and yet another bombardment came from behind them. Instantaneously, they rolled off to the side to dodge the hail of daggers. A fourth storm of sharp knives plunged downward at the Seraphims. The Cyrils whipped their axes and used them as a barrier, spinng them to create a circular shield above them, deflecting the knives. The blizzard of the razar-edged metal seemeed relentless.
Kitai observed, and yet could not do anything to help. He did catch sight of something odd though: a shadow started to move toward the Zifts. Without a second thought, Kitai darted forward, unleashing his weapon as he charged toward, and let out a fierce slash out at the shadow. The umbra formed into an angel itself, and pulled out a dagger to block Kitai's attack.
"I can't let you do that," the figure said dissaprovingly. The shadow quickly knocked Kitai back with its second arm, and another dark frame emerged from the shadow Kitai's body cast. The new figure grabbed Kitai around the throat, strangling him and lifting him up so his feet could not touch the ground. The first shadow lurked toward the unconscious Zifts, absorbing both of them as it hastily passed by. Kitai tried to break free, but to no avail. When the evil minion had absorbed both Zifts, it transformed into an enormous, dark, brooding raven with blood red eyes. The threatening raven flapped its mighty wings, and flew into the once silent air. As the giant bird drifted away, the storm of blades finally ceased, and the Cyrils looked in awe as the raven flew away with their catch.
Then they turned around to see Kitai getting strangled, and one immediately threw an axe at the silhouette, and in turn, the figure loosened its grip, and backed away. Kitai instincitively turned around to punch his attacker, but when his fist met the shadow, it dissipated into thin air. He fell to his knees, and gasped for air, occasionally choking.
The Cyrils had disappeared as well, forming one true Seraphim once more. He walked up to Kitai, who was still on the ground. "Get up. Now."
Startled, Kitai looked up to the angel. "What?" Kitai got up just like he was told, and wondered why Cyril had told him to do so.
"Behind you," Cyril answered, knowing the next question Kitai would ask.
Kitai turned around, and became stupified.
A massive vanguard of shining knights in silver-clad armor were marching toward Kitai and Cyril. They all had gleaming tower shields, shining chestplates, reflective greaves and plumed helms. They held either a razor-sharp one handed sword, double-headed battle axe, or an eight foot long lance in their right hand. The army trampled the ground as they marched, their cold yellow eyes staring down Kitai and Cyril.
"Holy shit..." Kitai muttered, "What are those?"
"DeiCustos. Another monster controlled by the Heavens." Cyril spit on the ground in disgust.
"How are there so many? There was only one Infernal."
"I would like to know that too," he stated angrily, "But more importantly, why are they after us?"
The question seemed irrevelant and unanswerable. Both of them armed their weapons as the invading force came closer and closer.
"Think anyone will help us to stop this madness?" Kitai asked.
"I doubt it, whoever orchestrated this has probably neutralized all the defensive forces that would be capable to help. If they went through the trouble of getting so many DeiCustos, then I doubt neutralizing a group of humans would be hard."
"Then we're gonna fight them?"
"You already know the answer."
"Heh." Kitai turned his head toward Cyril and smirked. "No clones though?"
"I've no energy to resummon them. They drain a lot of my spiritual power when I let them loose, and once I recollect them back into me, I have a cooldown period."
"How convenient."
They poised themselves, ready to attack at any moment. As soon as the approaching bombardment of DeiCustos broke into a sprint towards them, they too dashed toward their enemy. A new battle had just emerged, yet Cyril and Kitai were determined to make this one a victory.
