Which brings us to our current predicament. Battleon. The Mage of Despair had turned her destructive whims upon the unsuspecting city. Yulgar's was all ready in ruins, as was Warlic's. Maria cursed under her breath. She was better now, Maria. Safiria let her cry on one of her shoulder for about twenty miles, and on the other for the rest of the trip. By the time they reached what was once Battleon, Maria was more mad then distraught.
"Why, would you look at who we have here! The Guardian and her little friends. Come to play again!" Serras taunted. The leader of the group was obviously not in the mood for games.
"Play? Play? Oh, no, Serras. Play time over. It's time to let the big boys and girls into the field for some time? What do you say?" Maria declared. Serras only laughed.
"Oh, no, mommy, PLEASE! Five more minutes?" Nerra chanted childishly. This enraged Galanoth. Maria had not seen him THAT mad since Akriloth beat him.
"MARIA! Stop playing with her and destroy it!" He shouted in a commanding voice. Maria shrugged. She was really in no mood for games, but her face didn't show it. Deep inside Maria, a burning hatred was fermenting. It was screaming to come to the surface.
"All righty, Serras. I think it's about time you stop being a coward." Serras dropped everything (Which at this moment included her jaw, MegaPrime, MegaPrime's lunch, and about half of Aria's plumbing utility.) This hit home very hard to her. Maria had just called the most powerful woman to ever grace Lore, a coward. She turned around very slowly towards the Guardian, still processing the words in her head, just in case she mis-heard.
"Excuse me? What did you call me? ME? The Mage of Despair!" Serras screeched. Atrix plugged his ears.
"I called you a coward. C-O-W-A-R-D coward. I can say it in other laguages, too, if you want me to." She smiled at Serras' fuming grimace.
"INSOLANT FOOL!" She bellowed, her face was beet red. Maria smiled. "You are NOTHING compared to me! I can crush you with a thought! You would have to be three times as strong as you are now to even hope to injure me! You have no chance!" Maria said nothing.
"Okay. We can work it out." Maria replied, a hand on her hip. The heat in the air around her vanished, turning the surrounding area freezing cold. Air began to swirl around the Guardian, her hair picked up, like it was being blown straight up. Her cape copied. She remained firm, never moving. Serras put her hand to her eyes to shield them from the wind. "Don't blink." She finished. In one brilliant flash of light, and one loud, deafening bang, Maria's appearance had drastically changed. Her hair, still seafoam, had grown to well past her lower back. Her armor, while still distinguisable as Guardian Armor, had changed just as drastically as her appearance. The shoulder blades doubled in length. Her shin guards on her legs grew in length, turning into spikes that overlapped her knees. Large spikes began to protrude from her lower arms, two from each arm. Black cat ears appeared on the top of her head, complete with a black cat tail. Her cape split into two, grew slightly, reared up, and formed into black draconic wings. Fangs began to protrude from her mouth (No one, to this day, knows if the fangs were a side-effect of the X-Boost, or Maria's half vamperism. The jury's still out). Her eyes, while still remaining red, became draconic in appearance. No one said anything.
"Wow. She's become a catpiredragonguardian! That's awsome!" Grodd observed, merging the four distinct features she had (Dragon, cat, Vampire, and her X-Guardian self.) Serras stood stunned.
"I'll resist in attacking her." Galanoth droned.
"Probably a good idea, Gal." Maria shouted over her shoulder.
"Wow. She's got excellent hearing! We must be, what, fifty meters away!" Atrix said surprised.
"Well, well, well…Interesting. You've become very strong in such a short time. I applaud you, Maria. Now, what do you want on your tombstone?" Serras taunted, doing an excellent job of hiding her fear.
"Cheese, sausage, and sliced up Mage of Despair!"