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Chapter 6: Old Rivals
After fetching Dion and taking him back to Ameena's room and leaving Mirage to look over the frail girl, Fayt, Cliff, and Nel headed back to the castle for an audience with the Queen.
"Hey Nel, I was meaning to ask you, what was that about 'The Black Lance', or whatever sometime ago?" Fayt asked.
"Yeah, I've been wondering about that myself. I mean, sure he has a lance that is black, but I doubt that is the major issue." Cliff added.
"Well... I really don't know the details myself either. Most of us know it as a legend of sorts." Nel replied
"Oh?" Cliff sounded interested.
"Fourteen years ago, there was a major invasion by some of the countries in Greeton, it lasted for about four years. During that war, there was a warrior called Kirin Magnus of the Black Lance... The God of Death." Nel said the last phrase with unease.
"Kirin Magnus?"
"Yes, most people called him by that name. But there were a select few who knew him as Shuyin Magna. I think that this friend of yours may be him."
"Okay... So you're saying that Shuyin was involved in some war, but what happened?" Cliff questioned.
"I told you, I don't know the details. That's pretty much what most people know. I think her majesty may know more, but..."
"Yeah, yeah, look, why don't we just ask the guy himself?"
"Cliff, didn't you see the way he reacted after hearing the phrase, 'The Black Lance'? Honestly, I think we shouldn't bother him, he'll probably tell us later." Fayt assured them.
The three entered the audience chamber. Queen Romeria and Magistrate Lasselle were waiting for them. After a short conversation, the Queen thanked Fayt and Cliff for deciding to assist them. As they turned to leave, a muscular man with a Katana at his side came in to report about his mission on some far away land. They watched in slight amusement as he and Lasselle began to bicker, which included the man trying to get a hold of lasselle's head for who-knows-what reasons. The man turned out to be Clair's father, Adray Lasbard, though Fayt had to admit, he couldn't see the slightest resemblance of his daugther in him. It appeared that he used to be quite a warrior, who even clashed with the so-called Black Lance (Nel had heard the name Shuyin from him). Unfortunately, his abilities aren't quite what they were in the past, but he is still recognized as a skilled swordsman. When his little quarrel with the magistrate was over, Adray promptly came over and asked Fayt if he could come with them. Thinking that Adray would follow them whether he said yes or no, Fayt complied, and the four of them exited the castle.
"...you're late" Shuyin emerged from the shadows near the city gate, startling all of them.
"Whoa! Don't scare us like that Shuyin!" Fayt exclaimed.
"Really. Anyway, we were held back for a bit by this guy here-" Cliff was cut off by Adray.
"Wait... Shuyin? The Black Lance! Ha! Fancy meeting you here, it's been ten years hasn't it?"
"...who are you?" Shuyin asked bluntly.
"What, you don't remember? It is I, Adray Lasbard, former leader of the Shield Legion!" He said proudly.
"Oh yeah... you're the guy that kept wanting a rematch..."
"Say, speaking of which, how about a quick duel right now?" Adray dramatically put a hand over his katana.
"I'll pass... We should be going" and with that Shuyin turned and began walking away, the others following him.
"sigh Well, I doubt I'd beat him as I am now anyways, not as young as I used to be." Adray then hurried after them.
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"Captain! A transmission from Mirage came through a short while ago!" Marietta informed Maria, who just entered the bridge.
"Really? What did she say?"
"It appears that she and Cliff are currently stranded on planet Elicoor II, they still have their target with them."
"Good, set the course for Elicoor II, we're heading there immediately"
"Yes ma'am!" Marietta began to work on the navigation control.
Shortly afterwards, The Diplo shot into Gravitic Warp Space, and was off to its destination.
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Fayt and the others had arrived in Arias, and were currently listening to Clair's briefing about the situation while Adray was out looking around the army.
"Although the enemy has superiority in numbers, we can fight them from a distance with runological weapons. We'll use runology to deal with the Dragon Brigade, too. If we fought them head on, we'd be playing right into Airyglyph's hands. We must maintain our distance and avoid close combat at all costs. The operations begins at the break of dawn tomorrow. I want all units ready."
The commanding officers acknowledged the order and left.
"Nel, I have a separate task for you to carry out, apart from the main force. I want you to break through enemy lines and destroy Airyglyph's command center."
"Vox?" Nel asked quizzically.
"That's right. Fayt, I'd also like to request you and your companion's assistance if I may."
"Of course. That's why we're here." Cliff replied.
"Sure." Fayt said
"I never meant for you to become so involved in this, but..." Clair said apologetically.
"We have to involve them. They're a bigger asset in combat than anyone else
in my outfit." Nel assured her.
"Please don't worry about it. I have my own reason for wanting to fight, I
want to end this war as soon as possible..." Fayt told Clair.
"Thank you, both of you. Fayt, Cliff. Please assist Nel in her operation."
"Yes, ma'am!" Cliff replied jubilantly.
"Also, one more thing, we have received information that the enemy recently hired some mercenaries for this battle. They are supposed to be tough, so be on the lookout for them as well." Clair warned.
The group began to prepare equipments for the coming battle. Clair walked up to Fayt later and told him that her father will probably end up following him around even if he was told to stay back. She asked Fayt to look after him, lest her father does something rash. After everything was ready, the group went to bed.
The next day...
"All units, move out!"
With that one command, the battle was on.
While the main force kept the enemy busy, Fayt, Cliff, Nel, Adray, and Shuyin charged into the camp, searching for Duke Vox, the commander. Fayt and Nel moved deftly through the battlefield, dodging, kicking, leaping, and slicing at their opponents with a certain amount of grace. Cliff and Adray, on the other hand, were simply beating the living crap out of anyone who got in there way. Shuyin was staying behind, unleasing little silver spheres that flung his foes back. They were easily carving a path into the heart of the enemy's encampment, when something sharp came pelting out the ground right in front of Fayt.
"What the!" Fayt yelled as he jumped back.
"Hehe, you guys are pretty good, getting this far with such few numbers." a voice chuckled as the sharp metallic object disappeared into the ground again.
"Or maybe its because these Airyglyph soldiers lack training?" said another voice, this one feminine, but also rather cheery.
Two figures leapt out from behind a large boulder and landed in front of the group, one male and one female. The male had short black hair and blue eyes, wore a light-blue short-sleeved shirt, greyish chest- and shoulder- plate, dark-blue pants, blue gloves with red gems etched onto them, simple blue boots, and a flowing red cape. There was a sword scabbard attached to his belt and he held a segmented-looking sword, as if someone drew horizontal lines on the blade. The girl had long, dark-brown hair tied into a ponytail and green eyes, light-blue one piece clothing (short-sleeved top, bottom part has slits on either side like some of those Chinese dresses), black shirt and white pants underneath that, knee-high brown boots, black finger-cut gloves with green gems on them, and two swords attached to her side, one on each side.
"Who are you guys!" Fayt demanded.
"Well, we're mecenary of sorts, hired by Airyglyph to take care of you Aqua-" The girl stopped speaking abruptly upon seeing Shuyin.
"KYAAAAAAAH! SHUNY!" she squealed as she leapt of the boulder and rammed into him, squeazing him tightly. Others in the area sweat-dropped (anime style).
"Uhm... What's going on?" Nel wondered, as the male, who looked surprised at seeing Shuyin for a moment, sighed and leapt off after his partner, trying to pry her off of the poor red-haired warrior (It was obvious he was having difficulty breathing).
"Now, now, sis, I know you're happy to see our old friend here, but you should let go before you squeaze him into two pieces." He grunted as he tugged her away from Shuyin.
"Haa... haa... It's been a while... Drake, Rena..." Shuyin panted slightly.
"Well, well, we certainly didn't expect to find YOU here Shuyin Magna, or should I say 'Kirin Magnus'?" The man named Drake replied.
"Ooooh! Did you miss me Shuny? Did you?" Drake's sister Rena was positively bouncing up and down.
"I see you that you two haven't changed much..." Shuyin remarked.
"Same goes for you..." Drake replied. "As you can tell, we're on opposing sides again..."
Shuyin merely nodded.
"Hey, perfect chance to try and settle the old score, don't you think?" Drake grinned in a friendly way."
"I suppose so..." Shuyin held his lance horizontally in front of him, accepting the challenge.
"Oh, oh! Drake! I wanna go first! Please?" Rena begged.
"Aw man, our first duel in 10 years, I was looking forward to it... Oh, fine, you can go first, stop looking at me like that!" Drake gave in as Rena gave him looked at him with big round eyes (Sorta like Puss in Boots from Shrek II). Rena rejoiced and turned to face Shuyin.
"...you guys go after Vox, at your skill level, I doubt any of you can handle either one of them..." Shuyin advised his companions.
"There's no need." Adray told him. Shuyin gave him a questioning look.
"He's coming to US" Indeed, Duke Vox was flying towards them on his vast dragon mount.
"So you were the ones causing quite a ruckus, defeating Albel and all," he said to Fayt and Cliff.
"Duke Vox! You die here and now!" Nel yelled as she prepared her daggers. The rest took a stance as well.
"Heh, you've got guts, but we'll bury just the same," he sneered as he flew towards them alone, "You two! Quit wasting time and crush those Aquarian scums out there!" he ordered the two siblings.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Drake said dismissively. "Just hurry up and lose Rena, so I can fight him instead."
"HEY!"
"I'm joking, but really, try to end the fight quickly, kay?" Rena smacked her brother's head.
"Come!" Vox charged.
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Duke Vox, despite his age, was an incredible warrior. He guided his mount so that they dodged blows here and there with ease. Adray was hurling crackling balls of energy at him, while Nel was leaping and attempting to knock him off his mount. Fayt went for the dragon instead, his blade glowing with blue energy, "Blade of Fury!" he yelled as he did a series of triple slashes, the mount simply flew higher. Cliff was dodging lance thrusts by Vox himself. As the 4 tried to surround him, Vox simply swung his lance around at fast speed, creating shockwaves that forced them back.
The heated battle continued for several minutes, until Cliff managed to get a hit in. Vox had lowered his dragon so he can aim a thrust at Adray, who parried it with his katana. While the dragon was flying low, Cliff jumped up and brought his fist together. "Hammer of Might!", Cliff sent an explosive pack of energy, the one he used to beat Albel, straight at Vox. He and his dragon staggered and flew up higher, but in their disoriented state, failed to see three other figures gathering energy. "Lighting Blast!" "FireBolt!" Electric bolts shot from Fayt and Nel's hands, while several balls of flames erupted from Adray's outstreched palm. Vox managed to catch one of the electric currents with his lance and struggled against it, but the other two symbological spells hit his dragon dead on. It reared and buckled, nearly knocking Vox off of it's back.
The four fighters panted. They took quite a beating as well. Cliff had earned several cuts from Vox's lance, Fayt had numerous bruises from being whacked by the dragon's tail, Nel was clutching her left arm, the one Vox slammed his lance against. Adray sported a slight burn from the dragon's fire and a few gashes from Vox's slicing, but he seemed unfazed. Vox regained his composure and glared at his enemies.
"You fought well, but I wouldn't have it any other way." He prepared to strike again when a soldier pointed at the sky.
"Look!" He cried.
A large, shimmering, purplish-pink object flew towards where Vox and the others were. They stared at it as it came. It landed near Vox, sent ripples of destruction around it
"Wha, what is this!" Vox screamed as he was engulfed by the destructive shockwave, killing him and his soldiers nearby.
"What was that?" Adray asked after a few seconds of stunned silence.
"You tell me old man." Drake remarked as he looked up into the sky. Rena and Shuyin had stopped battling as well. Rena looked up in puzzlement, while Shuyin frowned as something emerged from the sky.
"The Dragon Brigade?" Nel asked.
"...It's them" Cliff said sternly.
A red battleship, just like the one that attacked the Federation Transport ship Helre, appeared before their eyes. The Vendeeni had come to Elicoor II, and were raining death and destruction upon both forces of Airyglyph and Aquaria alike.