Chapter One: Deck of Cards
Several thousand years after the War of the Gods, the apocalyptic age brought down by the fury of Malpercio and several other gods, the world has moved on…
"And so the clouds that shielded the heavens were split by spears of light, and thunder roared like a monstrous beast from the depths. The earth cracked and split apart, large sections rising into the skies, the open cracks screaming fire. Once the land was in the sky, snow fell, covering the earth's raw, bleeding wounds…" –The Start of Wings and the Heir of the Gods
Kalas.
When first time she met him, she distrusted him upon sight. But eventually, she grew to trust him. He was like her; distrustful, daring, and adventurous. He always made snide remarks, poked fun at strangers. He fought for the fun of it, pulling out any rewards he could from the fights. He was independent, a loner.
That was how he took them by the neck. Took them all in. Took in her and her other companions.
He betrayed them to earn his wings. Two pure, giant, white wings, glowing with a godly light brighter than any light known. However, he had become evil. His soul had been wrenched from his body, and all that was left of him was a doll. A puppet.
He had brought darkness upon himself. And they lifted him from it.
A god had risen. Malpercio. That was its name. That was what she was always taught. Taught to never forget the name, and now she never would.
When Malpercio struck, it struck them all with a mighty beam of light. Even Kalas. They were all on the floor, awaiting the end…awaiting Kalas to finish them off. But he didn't. In one fell motion, he tore off his white wing, and reverted back to his mortal, lone-wolf self. He was Kalas again.
The team reunited under the most dire of circumstances. Malpercio retreated to the stronghold of the gods, Cor Hydrae, allowing their group to get aid from all the lands in the world, and battle Malpercio and its servants. The final battle was going to begin. And they were going to win.
But the battle did not go as planned. Her companions died—Kalas, Lyude, Gibari, everyone—they all died.
They died because of her.
She remembered the command as clear as day. The insane command, yet the command that could have changed it all.
Bind Malpercio. Paralyze it for just a moment.
It should have been easy. Very easy. All she had to do was just paralyze Malpercio for just a little while, and maybe whatever odd idea Kalas had could have just worked. It could have just barely worked.
But she failed.
She had no idea why. But it was probably when Malpercio lowered its head and stared at her. Cold, ruthless, scanning gold eyes, staring at her. Studying her. Calculating her. She had no idea what sort of thoughts, if any, were going through its mind, as its eyes watched her very movements, distracting her for only a second. Which was enough.
With a quick swipe and a howl, a red, ghastly blade was torn from its arm, a blade longer than any other ever crafted. Each slash took less than a second to complete, and each caused a loud crack to resonate through the air. Loud, screeching tears ripped through the air with each swipe, as if the very fabrics of the world were being sliced apart at that very moment. Each swipe dove into one person, tearing through them with quick, precise speed. Each of them were mutilated in their own sick, creative way.
She spun to where Kalas stood last. Perhaps there was still hope—perhaps just a glimmer. Perhaps just a mere, flickering second of hope.
And she remembered the blank, dead look in his eyes as his hand rose to touch the blood pouring all over his body, spilling on the stone floors of the peak of Cor Hydrae. And then he smiled. A ghastly smile, so empty of the emotion that it should have represented. That was when he fell.
His eyes, a pale blue color, the azure blue color of his hair…at that moment, at the moment he struck the roof, they had become the eyes of a corpse. Vacant, emotionless...blank. Dead.
Malpercio turned to her, staring at her, as the blade retreated into the recesses of its body. It crossed its arms and stared at her, watching her in total silence. Its chest began moving awkwardly, heaving in and out in quick motions. She recognized it as a laugh.
It was laughing at her. The God of Demise—laughing at her. The god could have just finished her off there and then, but instead, it let her go. It knew that she was too cowardly to face a god on her own.
With that, she broke, in mind, heart and spirit. She left on foot, tears staining her cheeks, walking off into the halls of Cor Hydrae.
---
That was four years ago.
Malpercio managed to destroy everything it could get its hands on. Cities, nations, islands—anything that Malpercio passed by fell to its onslaught. Just about everything.
Well, except for Duhr and Wazn. Their wizards and witches managed to repair their magical defenses, preventing Malpercio from breaking through. However, it probably wouldn't even care, because the two thriving lands had no threats against it. The most their combined might could do was wear its armies down until the point they can't attack, but they can't finish them off.
Other than those two countries, Malpercio attacked everything else almost daily. Small, migrating towns reside in the islands, moving constantly to prevent the attack from Malpercio. Although they can't fight Malpercio directly, if you're not welcome there, you can count yourself as dead.
Wazn and Duhr remained in contact with each other. They shelter the people of the sky, but they can't afford to hold too many people, for fear of lack of provisions. Wazn sends messengers to Duhr to tell of the situation in the skies, while Duhr brings Wazn a good supply of food Magnus for their citizens. It's barely enough to keep them alive, but it's enough.
It's perhaps the only way humanity can survive. Even in the face of death, the human race still thrives.
Each Magnus has its own soul, Mizuti. Remember that.
Gently, she slid the cards out in rows upon the desk, turning them around and examining them. She enjoyed doing this, because as her eyes wandered across the cards, they whispered memories of a forgotten time. Mizuti shuffled the cards and stared out into space as she recalled those memories.
Sliding a turned-over card to her, she picked it up. The grinning, skeletal visage of a panting wolf stared back at her, tongue lolling out of a toothy maw.
The Laughing Jackal. Always pulling dark deeds, then flashing a 'Who, me?' grin at any followers, trapping them with dazzling charisma. Just like Kalas. He fooled them all, taking her in, just like he took everyone else.
'I have to stop thinking about him all the time…' Mizuti thought to herself, pulling the cards back together and shuffling the deck.
Idly, her mind began drifting to him. She lived alone, now, save for her only friend remaining, for she had never seen her parents or even Kee after she left Cor Hydrae.
She used to wander alone and out of town every day…she did not mind. In fact, she didn't notice her self-induced exile from social contact. But it wasn't until Kalas, Xelha and the others came into her life and then left it as abruptly as they had come that she realized the miserable truth…
She hated being alone. She missed them. They were dysfunctional, opposite ends, but the best of friends. She missed them with a desperate, aching emptiness felt in her heart every day. But Kalas…Kalas was a monster. She hated him. She missed him. She hated him. That was how it was every day. It went round and round in her head. She wished to forget it all, forget she ever met him. No matter how her mind screamed -he's a monster!- her heart retaliated with an onslaught of memories of the many times Kalas was kind to her, helped her, and so many more…it was confusing. She hated him, but at the same time, she missed him.
Closing her eyes, she laid the Magnus before her.
Kalas loved the game of cards. They all played it every night, laughing softly as they teased each other and exchanged words of wisdom, gossip, or just plain randomness. All that remained of them now was her treasured, battered deck of Magnus. Sometimes, whenever she was wracked with insomnia, she left her bed and sat by the window, playing with the cards in the moonlight. Like she was doing this night.
Her eyelids slowly drooped. No, just another round, just anothe—
---
Gentle sunlight streamed through a window, pooling on the floor and illuminating the delicate features of Mizuti Kiruseto. The tall, slender eighteen-year old was sprawled out in a deep slumber, facedown on her desk amid towers of haphazardly stacked books, Magnus and other assorted materials. The books leaned crazily at dangerous angles, but by some impossible flux in the law of physics, they remained upright.
The entire room looked as if someone had gone berserk with a level six Wind Blow. Books and papers lay scattered around the room, with Magnus in several piles. Along the walls, more books were stacked in ungainly piles. A futon rested in the corner of the room, and it was apparent that it hadn't seen use for a long time. The room was utterly silent save for the quiet, rhythmic breathing of the girl. Behind her, the window opened out to a magnificent view of Duhr's skyline.
The peaceful silence of the room was rudely interrupted with a blast of raw, howling wind. The book towers swayed as paper and Magnus flew about wildly, but this did not disturb its sleeping occupant. The howling wind hurtling past the window by training wizards was a frequent occurrence, and Mizuti was no longer disturbed by the noise.
Unfortunately, there were still noises that she couldn't block out.
Such as the screaming coming from behind her, for instance.
"MIZUTI!"
Mizuti stirred. Her eyelashes fluttered. A soft moan ground its way out of her slightly parted lips.
"Mizuti, for the last time…"
Large, husky, yet mobile, Keven was Mizuti's only remaining friend left. Light brown hair was neatly combed out of his chocolate-brown eyes, his hair brushed back as well as it could be. He was dressed in dark, dull robes, his belt loosely wrapped around his waist, making him seem almost pudgy. He walked slowly, usually taking his time, unless it all came down to one of his favorite things in the world—food. And unfortunately, this being seemed to be hell-bent on making Mizuti's morning as miserable as possible.
He paced around the room, watching Mizuti. She always seemed to ignore him.
"Mizuti?"
Mizuti didn't stir.
Keven paused, and his eyes narrowed. Thoughtfully, he placed his hand under his chin, as he backed up slightly and gazed up at the immobile, sleeping form of the girl.
"Fine. Ignore me. See if I care."
Keven gripped his stomach. He was hungry. He needed food. Mizuti was the only person he knew who could cook a good, recognizable meal.
With a frenzied shout, Keven threw himself into motion, shoving aside several towers of books. He grasped onto Mizuti's chair, and pulled it back, running to get out of the way of a falling girl.
"Aaarrgh!"
With a shriek that echoed all through the smallroom, Mizuti Kiruseto leapt up to her feet, yelling. Her legs tangled with the legs of her chair, and a heavy thud shook the room for the third time. With a triumphant cry, Keven pumped his fist in the air.
Fumbling for her glasses with hopeless platitude, Mizuti sighed and gave up the search. Her eyes were enchantingly storm grey, but sadly, that was about all they were good for. She could see nothing except for an obscure blur, making it impossible for her to locate her glasses. The girl scowled, her face darkening.
Popular was the last word that would have leapt to anyone's mind when attempting to define Mizuti. Any stranger looking at her saw only a young girl who crept around the halls of libraries, more often than not laden down with thick books. She was introverted and tended to be antisocial, exuding cold and distant vibes that kept others away—a situation which she was perfectly fine with.
Mizuti wasn't as attentive to her own appearance as she was to her studies, and so put absolutely no effort into appearing pretty or graceful. After all, what boy would have been interested in Mizuti Kiruseto? Her idea of a fun evening was curling up in a beaten chair and reading old adventure books about a brighter world than the one she would ever be in.
Therefore, Mizuti always wore her dun brown hair back, tying it back behind her face, and indifferently allowed strands to escape the elastic band, framing her face in unevenly distributed locks of hair. It drove some people mad, but she didn't really care. The hair in question was being brushed out of Mizuti's face as she glared up at Keven.
"Hullo," Keven grinned, stooping and picking up the fallen girl's glasses with one fluid motion. "It's time for another glorious, fun-filled day with your best buddy."
"You're my only friend," sighed Mizuti, dragging herself up to her feet. She quickly snatched up the glasses, fumbling with them slightly as she glared at the older man behind her. "Kev, you know I'm not a morning person."
"You used to be…" Keven muttered under his breath.
"Excuse me?"
"I said, you should be."
"Okay, whatever."
"You should be," began Keven. "Because today's the day we have to go out, and—"
"Oh crap!" Mizuti exclaimed, scooping up some clothes and scrambling towards the bathroom. "It's that time already?" Pushing past her roommate, she vanished into the bathroom with a violent slam of the door, although the dramatic exit backfired as the sliding door only placidly slid into place.
"You can make some breakfast for us, first!" Keven called through the bathroom door. He sighed, looking down at his aching stomach. "And fast!"
---
"This is going to be a long day," Mizuti groaned, carefully removing her mask and hooking it back onto her side.
"Yeah, it's hard to drink with all the wind here," complained Kev, taking a sip of some beer Magnus, leaning on the ruins of an ancient sign. Any sort of text on it was scratched off, leaving only bits and pieces of former letters scratched off. Large skeletons of large tower-like buildings raked the skies, as large fangs of blackened steel. Shattered concrete lay all over the ground, debris stacked up on top of them.
Mizuti scrunched up her face at the sight of the flask. "You know that's going to kill you someday."
"Mizuti, you tell me that every day, and what do I say?"
"'It's better than being killed by Malpercio.' A nice alternative. If the beer doesn't rip at your insides, poison your mind, and eventually drive you to insanity and kill you, Malpercio will. Ha ha ha," Mizuti sighed, throwing her hands up in the air. She approached a broken concrete wall, a large hole ripped through it.
"That's funny. But you know what's even more funny?" Keven grunted, wiping his mouth off with his dull grey sleeve.
"What?" Mizuti asked, turning her head away from the wall.
"If you had just done what that Kalas guy asked you," Keven began, twirling the empty flask with his finger. "None of this would have happened."
"Kev!" cried Mizuti, slumping down to the ground. "That's a terrible thing to…" her voice cut off into silence, as she sat on the broken debris.
"Aw, come on! You know I didn't mean it! Whatever he was thinking probably wouldn't work anyway!"
"No! You're right! If I had just done what he told me, this wouldn't ha—"
She was cut off with a fist lightly boxing her side, not hard enough to damage, but enough to shut her up.
"Shut up, you baby!" Keven groaned, shaking his head. "Malpercio would have killed you on the spot and taken a happy dance in your intestines, or anyone for that matter. There was NOTHING you could have done, or anyone could have done to stop Malpercio. Once he was awakened, there was no stopping him."
Mizuti paused, sliding on her glasses, shielding dust out of her eyes. "You're right. Sorry. I'm not used to that kind of humor." She shivered slightly in the cold wind. "I hope there aren't any ghosts around here…"
"Now all we'd need is some bad grammar and an egotistical personality and we'd get your old self," chuckled Keven.
"Shuuut uuup!" Mizuti moaned, covering her ears.
"Nyah-nyah."
Mizuti was about to retort, until an odd humming sound began to resonate through the city.
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
"Something's coming!" she hissed, looking around frantically for the source of the sound. Keven's flask retreated into a Magnus, as he pulled Mizuti behind the wall. Carefully, he poked his head around the wall, checking for whatever things would arrive.
An odd tik-tak sound occurred as the being landed on the ground. Keven looked over the awkward being he saw, raising an eyebrow.
The being was oddly robotic, its armor a pale green. Dark metal boots lightly struck the ground, two red spheres embedded into each side of them. Large triangular emeralds rose from the peak of the boot, resting on the thing's knees. Around its waist, covering most of the rest of its lower half, was a dark green kilt-like cloak, wrapping almost completely around its waist. A belt held up the kilt, its buckle a red gem. Oddly, plates of steel, highlighted with green, protected its lower torso, small indents placed near the edge of each plate. Over its chest was a large piece of emerald armor that protected the entirety of the chest, leaving only room for its neck to poke through. Two plates of shoulder armor, bordered with red, protected the shoulders. One upper arm was covered with a white sleeve, tucked into metal plating, red encircling each end, a gloved hand poking from the bottom of the armor. Very oddly, the other arm was entirely metal, metal plating for the upper armor, and the same armor covering the other lower arm. Its head was protected with a large helmet, most of it a large mirror-like plating, jutting out at many edges. At the sides of it, there were two large red circles, one per side, protecting the sides of its face. Or whatever it was protecting. A screen sat over its eyes making it unclear as to what its eyes looked like underneath, large red pieces of rubber-like material surrounding the screen. Large triangular spines were at the sides of its head, metal plating bolted together to form it. There seemed to be five in all, two on each side and one jutting up over its viewing screen, though there could have been more in the back of its head Keven failed to notice.
'That thing looks awful dangerous,' Keven pondered to himself. 'I had better be careful.'
"Who is it?" Mizuti whispered. Keven merely shushed her.
"You two can come out," the being grunted. It had a female voice to it, though a deeper, hollow voice seemed to come out, as if it were some sort of background effect.
Keven grunted to himself, spilling out of the wall, Mizuti following. "What do you want?"
"Nothing," the being said simply. "All I can do for you is tell you to get out. Now."
"Why?" Mizuti asked, obviously not caring for this person's warning.
The person was about to speak up until another hiss sped through the air. The person cringed, turning around to the sound. "Hide!" they suddenly whispered, pulling the other two behind the wall along with its own self.
Another being landed, with a loud clunk. The trio noticed a large, silver robot had landed, a bulky, tank-like robot. Large rockets were attached to each of its four limbs. All of its features were oversized, and it seemed impossible to move, but oddly the creature moved with relative ease. Two large cannonball-sized fists hung at its sides, seemingly able to crush a wall in seconds. Its massive body seemed to be enlarged with four large wing-like objects, which seemed to be unable to fold back. That was a bad thing, however, for the wings were long and had several knife-like tips, making it seem to be awful painful to slam into. Its head seemed to be a large silver helmet, two glowing red eyes glaring through the visor. The robot looked around the area, as if attempting to look for something.
Pressing a few buttons on its wrist, a layer of red covered its visor, several lights flashing from underneath. The robot turned to the wall, and made a sound effect that oddly sounded like a scoff.
"Oh, please…"
"Did that thing…talk?" Mizuti whispered.
The red screen retreated, as the robot lifted up its arm, placing its other hand over it as if inserting something. A large laser mounted itself over the fist, as an odd sound echoed through the empty city as it charged power. As soon as a red light grew inside of the gun, Keven and Mizuti were thrown out by their new companion. As soon as that occurred, the laser hissed at the wall, cleanly cutting out a section of it before exploding, just as everyone fled from the scene.
As soon as smoke and dust blew out of Keven's sight, he opened his eyes, sprawled out on the ground. He turned to Mizuti, who was staggering up to her feet, brushing stray hair out of her face. Lifting his woozy head, he pulled himself up, clutching his forehead.
"He sure said something. I bet it was 'Hi! I'm a big bad machine! I'm here to blow your brains out! How are you doing today?'"
"I think he said—" Mizuti began, before the robot suddenly locked its face on her. Mizuti quickly grasped onto Keven's sleeve, and took off as fast as she could go. "RUN FOR IT!"
Suddenly, the emerald robot, arms spread out at each side, suddenly stood in front of Keven and Mizuti, yelling out "Stop!"
"It told us to stop," Keven remarked.
"Heck no!" Mizuti retorted, running.
The silver robot let out a booming laugh. "Hah! Let the humans run! Let the cowardly humans run! Let them run for all they care, because that's all they're good for! Good-for-nothing cowards!" spat the robot.
"Okay, now it wants us to stop," Keven reiterated.
Mizuti did stop, turning to the silver battle machine with a scowl on her face, glaring at the beast.
"Oh, you didn't have to stop," snickered the robot, his gun hissing back to a fist. "So, Mechi, what are you doing hanging out with a freakshow like this? Trying to get some quality time with your peers?"
"It's Mechizedik," the robot girl groaned, as if she were repeating things said countless times in the past. "And I'm not trying to get any quality time with anyone. So you can just shut up now, bot-boy."
The robot groaned. "First off, it's Devix, okay? Dee-ee-vee-aye-ecks. Second, you're really, really wanted by the boss. Yeah, you, Mechi," Devix announced, looking at its knuckles admirably. "OH. Excuse me, Mechizedik."
"Are you a bounty hunter?" Mizuti piped in.
"Ding ding ding! That's correct! Give the good lady her prize, Johnny! A brand new…PRISON!"
The robot suddenly shot out a large, sparking net, electricity leaping from it in small jolts. Mizuti backed off, shielding herself with her arms, awaiting the capture. However, Keven's arm intervened, whipping around a gauntlet protected arm. The armor disintegrated back to Magnus form as Keven ripped the net off of his arm. "Yeah, whatever, I don't think she's getting that prize today, Devlick something-or-other."
"Not bad!" chirped Devix. "But how do you fare…" he began, a large chain gun suddenly flashing onto his arm, chains of bullets wrapping over his shoulders. "Against a gun?"
As the robot prepared to fire, something silver suddenly whipped through the air with a hiss. In seconds, embedded in the robot's chest was a small silver knife. Keven had already pulled out a hand of Magnus, a longer, pointier blade in his hand. Bored, he began to twirl the hilt rapidly, still watching his target.
The robot removed the knife, dropping it to the ground. "Ok, I see you fare prett—"
The next blade charged into the robot's arm.
"Okay, this is jus—"
Another one hissed into its leg. Followed by several others, each zinging after each other.
"Hey, stop, liste—"
When Keven had exhausted his hand, he crouched down, watching his enemy pull out the weapons from his limbs. The robot jumped back, charging up his gun, pointing it to the small group before him. "All right," the robot hissed. "You wanted a fight, you got one!"
Hundreds of bullets began blasting at the ground, the robot slowly moving back inch by inch with each blast. The group quickly dispersed in their own separate ways, some sort of protection donned and Magnus in hand. Mechizedik placed her Magnus into a slot on her left arm, a large gun's nose pointing out of her arm.
Devix turned to Mechizedik, his steel wings pulling out to the sides as the pointed tips arched forward. Jets roaring on, the robot suddenly hovered low against the ground at oddly high speeds, arms held out behind him. Mechizedik seemed to need just a moment of concentration before she began firing at the robot that charged towards her. Despite her blasting in bullet after bullet, Devix's sudden charge seemed to have been unaffected by the gunplay. She quickly recalled her gun, clenching her fist, rearing it back to strike. As soon as Devix was about to hit her, she smashed her fist into a wing, sending him flying clumsily in circles. He was prey to a stab in the back, before he regained control. Mechizedik, however, lifted up her next gun in line, firing it madly at the robot, who deflected most of the shots with defense Magnus. She continued her barrage, attempting to get in a hit on the robot. The robot slowly began charging towards her again, and she continued firing, until horrid sounds began echoing from her gun's barrels, a sound she feared in combat.
Click! Click! Click!
She looked up at the impending doom in front of her, approaching her much too quickly. She lifted a hand to protect herself, attempting to grab some sort of defense, before this thing…
The robot suddenly let out a howl of pain, as it was lit up in flame like a firecracker. Metal began melting all over its body, some parts dripping as hot silver liquid. It was suddenly covered in a shroud of darkness, making it seem like some sort of fireball from Hell. Mechizedik quickly jumped out of the way of the howling robot, and turned to see the male slapping the girl on the back.
"Great job, Mizuti! I knew you'd get off your lazy butt and help us out here a bit!"
"Shut up, Keven."
Devix's flames eventually died back into its Magnus, as well as its dark shroud. He turned his head back to Mizuti, hissing slightly. Oh, how she would regret ever getting in his way…
He turned his head to see where he was going, and shrieked to see a concrete wall dead ahead. Devix attempted to veer out of the way, in any sort of way, but instead collided with the wall, showered with an avalanche of several hundred bricks. An explosion sounded from the ruins of the wall, leaving behind hundreds of sooty bricks.
"Now that was awesome!" Mizuti cried, jogging up to the bricks. As soon as she approached them, Mechizedik cried out a metallic warning.
"Look out! Devix!"
From behind a building blasted through Devix, his wings shattered and cracked, several parts of his body a hot, watery liquid. His Magnus were gone with the explosion, and he stood there, his voice a staticky hiss.
"What?" Keven yelled, jumping back slightly. "That Devlicks blew up!"
Mizuti, not thinking and acting upon impulse and instinct, suddenly spun around to Devix and smashed her fist in his head with a loud clang.
She squeezed her eyes shut, tears slowly dripping out of the edges of her eyes. "Ow…"
"Mizuti, that thing's made out of metal. Even I knew that."
"I forgot, okay!" Mizuti groaned, clutching her fist in pain.
At this, Devix suddenly saw his moment to attack. With the girl distracted, he suddenly kicked up a foot, smashing her in the jaw. He did not care about where she landed, and merely began stalking to the other two remaining opponents.
"Hey! Did you ever hear the rule 'It's not nice to hit girls?'" Keven shouted, a wickedly long, boomerang-shaped knife in his hand.
"Oh, that was a girl?" giggled Devix.
"Why you little…" snarled Keven, his grip on the knife tightening. He reached into his pocket, and dug out an oddly colored Magnus.
'Level Seven Finisher,' pondered Keven in haste. 'This had better work…'
He tapped his mind into the Magnus, and shot his eyes open. He spun to what seemed to be a former machine, a blackened skeleton sitting inside. He looked over the rusted steel, beaten and smashed down into a small clump. Of course, the deceased owner wouldn't mind…
He threw the card onto it, pointing his knife to it.
"I'll show you what real power is! Reaper's Requiem—"
Flickers of amber, red and orange began gathering around Keven's blade, as he lifted it into the air, a hazy light reflecting off the polished tip of the weapon. The fiery colors gathered around Keven and the blade, a storm of colors.
"Autumn Harvest!"
He brought the blade down on the machine, chopping it in half. With a bright flash of light, the two metal halves flew into the air, swiftly flying to its target, Devix.
"Oh crap…" whimpered Devix, as he slowly backed away from the flurry of colors and metal.
The two halves collided with each other, the amber leaves slowly fading into the wind as swiftly as they had come. Devix was caught in the collision, and should surely have been destroyed.
"Cute trick! Try again!" howled Devix, leaping from the wreckage.
Keven, exhausted, turned to swing his fist, but missed as the robot swiftly dodged. He nearly fell to the ground, but quickly caught himself, and swung again, only to miss. He growled, and kept trying to hit, vigorously, but continued to miss as the robot dodged each and every attempt. Mechizedik tried to join in, but Keven constantly intervened in her line of fire, and so they weren't getting anywhere.
Keven collapsed to his knees, panting, looking up at the robot with great distaste.
"Can't touch me, now, can you?" snorted the robot, the snort sounding like an odd, hollow grunt.
"ARRGGH!"
Mizuti leapt from a wreckage, leaping onto the robot's head, kicking at it before falling off. She shoved him around, threw Magnus at him, before shoving his near-decimated body to the cracked, dirty ground.
"Oooooooh…holy crap…" Devix whimpered, lifting himself up to the ground. Looking up at his opposition, he was suddenly witness to an odd sight.
Mechizedik was charging towards him, her gun arm glowing with an oddly ethereal light. Green spears cracked off of it, as shades of emerald and jade slowly twisted into her body.
"Ipse dixit!" Mechizedik shouted, before grasping onto Devix's body. She leapt into the air, long silver blade-like wings sprouting from her back. They were just several shining pointed blades, shaped like a skeleton of wings, several wires connecting it to her body, lifting her to the skies with a whistle of wind. She grasped onto Devix's neck, the green light charging into his body with a continuous hiss.
"Hand of Chronos! Tempus Fugit!"
The rays of emerald light burst into Devix, odd symbols seemingly carving into the air, Devix freezing in mid-air. Mechizedik grasped onto his body, spinning around him, before releasing him and falling to the ground. Devix floated in the air for a moment, before time kicked back in. Large spears of light stabbed all over his body, causing a great burst of green light to spear through the dusty sky. Devix was thrown up due to the impact, and thrown into the peak of a tall, creaking tower, full of rows of glass windows, most of which were cracked and shattered. Devix crunched into a wall, loud cracks and squeals of gears and electricity screaming through the empty, barren landscape. Then, he fell down, slamming against the tower, leaving behind a long trail of cracked windows and broken pieces of steel and concrete. It was like a meteor had struck into a wall, and rolled down along the way. His body fell limply, as he fell into the ground to his fate.
The concrete street gave way to the falling body, smashing a ditch for the being's grave. His entire body was shattered, an arm and a leg shattered and mostly fallen off. His entire body was nearly melted into a silver puddle, and his head was bashed up like it was hit by a club. Several loosened pebbles and stones fell down to accompany Devix on his fall, and bounced off of his metal corpse as he lay there; dead.
"Ugh," Keven groaned, lying down on his back, dozens of cuts and bruises all over his body. Mizuti was no better; she was currently treating a horrid bloody nose and a wounded arm and fist. Mechizedik seemed to be in the best condition, but still weary, moving slowly, with deep, wheezing breaths.
"…okay?" groaned the gunner.
"As fine as I can be," sighed Mizuti, her nose pinched.
The group rested a bit, recovering as best as they could on the solid, hard ground. Keven looked at Mechizedik, slightly suspicious about her attire. "And who are you?"
"You heard my name. Mechizedik," the girl said simply. "That's all you need to know for now."
Keven simply nodded in response, too tired to question further. However, there was no more time to rest, as an odd droning, humming sound resonated through the air. At the very sound, Mechizedik jumped with a gasp, looking around, as if horrified at what was about to come.
"Androns…" she muttered to herself. She quickly turned to the other two. "You two, we need to get out of here right away! Andros are coming!"
"And-whats?" Keven groaned.
"No time to explain! We've got to get out of this place before they come! Get on your feet and get moving!" She had a desperate tone to her voice.
"Yeah, it's best if we get out of here anyway. I'm bushed," sighed Keven. "Come on, Mizuti, we'd better go." Mizuti nodded in agreement, hoisting herself up. The eerie groan lasted for a few more seconds before the three ran off, whatever reason left with Mechizedik.
---
In the empty ruins of a city lost in the havoc of time landed two shadowy beings, flitting in with the shadows of the past.
"Mr. X," asked one voice, a voice that seemed to belong to a great and powerful sort of person. "Any sign of her?"
"No idea, Mr. S," answered another, deeper voice. "Devix must have failed. You can see him over there. Strange, it seems he was not only shot down to oblivion, but burned and stabbed as well…"
"Who knows what that girl could have done, Mr. X," chuckled the first voice. "Should we destroy Devix's body, take away any sign of evidence?"
"No, Mr. S, let it be a warning to the Androns. Round up the Androns, and let us move on."
"Of course, Mr. X. It would be best to keep searching."
There was a sound of fading footsteps, before the two beings left the area. They didn't notice an odd puddle of mingling red and black liquids where Mechizedik stood.
---
This stupid laptop of mine won't separate paragraphs. Doof. Anyway,I finished the first chapter. Now, if you want pairings in this fic of mine, you had better tell me what you want, because I suck at pairing up characters. Feel free to put in your thoughts. And I don't own Baten Kaitos either. Nehehe.
