Author's Note: All right, this section was hard. To make this chapter, I had to first write five chapters of more or less pure fight scenes, and for those of you who have never written an action scene, let me let you in on a little secret, they're hard! So, I tried. This section nearly fried my brain! I don't know what possessed me to do it this way, but it's done now, so there!

Battles Begin

Shiryu couldn't believe how fast his opponent was! 'He can almost match a Gold Knight! Who are these Warlords? And how does this one grow extra arms as soon as he unsheathes his swords?!' The tall boy almost wasn't fast enough to keep up, but mainly because he'd underestimated the Warlord, not because of an actual deficiency.

Also, he was hesitant to fight. 'Something about this, about him feels really wrong. Almost like he's not an enemy. It feels like fighting Seiya all over again, but maybe not quite as hard.' He allowed himself a grim smile before he was nicked in the right shoulder by Sekhmet's blade. The sword was caustic!

Shiryu cried out in alarm at how much that had hurt. 'He apparently isn't called the Warlord of Venom for nothing.' Dragon grimaced inwardly. When he examined the impact site, he was in for another surprise. Even though there was no blood to signal a wound, his whole arm burned, and perhaps more importantly, his Dragon Cloth had been, well, rather. . . MELTED. 'This is bad. This is very bad. I can not let that guy hit me!'

"Ah, it appears my venom works quite well against your cloths. I'm glad all my hard work paid off. You see, I made a special batch, just for you boys. Don't you like it? Pity, maybe it's an appreciation that comes with time. Have a larger helping! SNAKE FANG STRIKE!"

The proud young man was caught completely off-guard, and the rewarded for his distraction a true taste of the viper's fang as Sekhmet's blast bit into his left side, especially injuring his leg. He screamed as he sprang backwards, wincing and a little dizzy from pain. He was concentrating on another ache, however.

'What was that! It. . . it was like my friends were just ripped away from me. They're not dead, but they're gone. Or am I gone? I just. . . I can't sense them at all!' Shiryu's panicked mind whirled with the possibilities, but at the same time, stayed remarkably blank. 'How. . . how can such a thing be possible?!'

"What's the matter, little Dragon? Can't feel the other Bronzed whelps? Don't worry! You're all headed for the same place. You'll be together soon. In the afterlife!" Sekhmet taunted.

"What have you done with my friends?" Shiryu demanded, even as he couldn't help thinking to himself. 'That cackling is going to drive me crazy!'

"Oh, come now, Dragon. I expected a little more focus from you. How many times do we have to tell you hero types to worry about yourselves before you learn what's important. They aren't facing me, so they have a chance at surviving!"

"My friends are what's important, and don't underestimate me. If you think. . ."

"My dear boy, less talk, more action! SNAKE FANG STRIKE!"

This round of "pin the sword on the Dragon" went a little more in Shiryu's favor. But only a little. Even though he was getting more than a little dodging, and had finally figured out this guy did not grow an extra two pairs of arms as soon as he grabbed his swords, Dragon was already exhausted. The poison was really slowing him down. When the Cobra released his attack, Shiryu leapt up out of the way, twisting his body in the air to land next to Sekhmet, where he struck the Warlord's extended arm and relieved the snake of his blade. The green-haired man hissed in pain and frustration as his katana skittered across the ground. Yet, within that very second, he'd swung his right arm's weapon and raked Dragon. The latter jumped back into a crouch, clutching his aching chest and breathing heavily as he winced from the pain. "You could always give up." Sekhmet smirked as he lazily retrieved his blade and moved in for the kill. "It's not like you can withstand my venom! No one can!"

"I thought I warned you not to underestimate me."

"Big talk from a little boy." Sekhmet's sword was about to split Shiryu's scalp, but the Dragon was not going down that easily. He blocked the attack with his right arm, his left coming up more slowly to support it's brother. The blade hissed as it cut the metal, releasing a noxious, reddish gas. But Sekhmet's left arm was once again striving to bring his second katana home. Shiryu sensed rather than saw this attack. 'Can I match his speed in this shape?' He wondered desperately as his eyes widened in shock.

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"Hey! Where. . . ?!" Shun called in surprise when it suddenly felt like the link between he and the other Knights had been severed. He couldn't sense them anywhere at all!

"You're little friends just found their playmates, that's all. If they win, they'll be returned. You should worry about yourself!" Dais called as he began a viscous attack with his nunchacku. Andromeda's chains stayed in their circular shape around him. So, Dais changed tactics. "If you like, I can show you their progress."

At this, the green-haired boy found he was being lifted off the ground, and around him a pink energy ball had formed. Since Dais was nowhere to be seen, the Nebula chains had gone limp and retracted. Slowly, the terrain shifted from white to brown as Shun looked down on a scalded patch of land. His eyes went wide as the scene slowly came into focus.

"Ah ha, here we are." Dais' voice chirped, the rest of him still hidden from view. "I had a little trouble tracking down Sekhmet. And there's Dragon. . . oh my. Well that's a surprise." The black-haired fighter seemed on his last leg. Literally. He was blocking the Venom Warlord's lightning-fast blows as best he could, but he was on his knees, his left leg, actually, his whole left side, badly injured. His armor was damaged, almost melted, in several spots, mostly around the joints. Finally, Sekhmet raised a sword, as if to cleave Shiryu's head, but the Dragon raised his arms in time to block the blade. Unfortunately, that left an opening for the Warlord, who plunged his second katana into Shiryu's heart. As the green-haired monster removed his sword with a satisfied smirk, the younger warrior fell with a soft "thud" into a spreading pool of his own blood. His pale face was contorted in agony and shock; his grey eyes glazed and unseeing.

"No." Shun moaned softly. "Shiryu!!" He cried, pounding on the barrier that kept him from his friend. 'Maybe there's still something I can do.' He thought desperately. A single tear escaped, but only one as he shut his eyes tightly to hold back the rest more forcefully and hung his head. When he allowed his vision to return, he was somewhere else entirely! Below him was pale purple fluff. He looked up in surprise at the abrupt change, and once again felt rather ill.

"Seiya?!" Andromeda called as he watched his leader's battered figure rise from the billowy "ground" where he had fallen, just to be encompassed by what looked like pink lightning, rending the delicate terrain and sending the brunette careening towards earth. They were on a cloud!? All the while a female's voice rang out, drowning Pegasus' cries. "Star Sword Scream! Watch you're step, Seiya. It's a long trip down." Her laughter reverberated through the firmament as Shun tuned out a few parting words from the midnight-tressed figure who had at last appeared, smiling down on the Knight who lay shattered upon the frozen ground, all too far away. Andromeda stared in shock as scarlet swirled out from the tiny, unmoving form of his leader and friend.

Dais' voice once again filled his ears with malice. "Oh, and here I thought Pegasus was a winged horse. Too bad for him he never learned how to fly. Moving right a long. Ah, yes, the Siberian surfer Swan. Let us see how your little snow bird is doing against our wolves."

It took the Knight a moment to realize just what he was looking at below him. At first, it seemed the pale rose of the sunset was spreading over the snow. But the sky was still grey, and no sun could be seen. Also, where the color spread, the snow seemed to sink. The snow was being tainted with blood! Shun let out a gasp of horror as he tried to turn away, but somehow he couldn't keep himself from watching, scanning, hoping he was wrong. His eyes were now too shocked to cry as they at last fell upon the source of the gore. Shun silently surveyed the older Knight's body, or what was left of it, as wolves ravaged their fresh kill. He brought his hands before his eyes, desperate to erase the images of his friends.

"Let me see, who am I forgetting." The voice questioned brightly. "That's right! Your big brother is in your little group. You've probably been most curious about him! Terribly sorry to keep you waiting." This time the switch was gentler, brightening from grey to white. "Oh dear. Your Phoenix didn't fare well at all against our Jackal, did he. Such a pity. I really had expected it to last a bit longer. Certainly I thought you boys would at least be a little bit of a challenge. What a mess." Dais murmured almost gently, with the tone of one who appraised a dead deer in a ditch.

Andromeda tried not to look, but his arms slowly fell limp at his sides, no matter how hard he strained to keep them up. His defenses were dropping. Once again, dead snow whirled around him as he looked down upon a thin layer of ice. Beneath this, Ikki lay motionless, an angry, black scar running from his lower right side to his left shoulder, basically splitting him in two. But the ice seemed to have frozen him together, even freezing his blood, as only a few scattered drops of the glaring liquid marred the pale silver landscape. Cale stood over the body, looking most perturbed.

"Aw. It doesn't seem fire birds are much of a challenge for ice dogs." Dais' tone was almost paternal, like a disappointed father coming home to a trashed house. Stern and exasperated.

'This can't be! It can't!' Shun tried telling himself it was all a sick movie or joke or trick, or something, but his mind was racing too fast, repeating the same sentence over and over again. He couldn't pull himself away. The image remained in his eyes, even when he covered them with their lids. With his hands. The image stayed. Finally the tears broke through. But they were tears of rage.

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Okay, first true fight scene of the story is done. Wait a minute, didn't I put this under Action/Adventure? Yikes. No wonder so few are reading this. That's depressing.