What Maria Isn't

Four

Carnax managed to fend off Maria's attacks once more, however with each passing moment, more and more of his strength fled him. Crystal Lion and Wolfblitzer, who had arrived some twenty minutes prior, were offering firing support from a nearby cliff top, while Maria, Natalya, and Serras charged head long. It seemed like those enchanted arrows Robina had provided Crystal and Wolfblitzer were actually doing a substantial amount of damage. Something Carnax noticed.

Giving Maria a good head butt away, Carnax turned his gaze towards the nearby cliff, where the arrows were coming from. Maria watched his third eye glow red and begin to pulse.

"CRYSTAL LION! WOLFBLITZER! MOVE!" Maria called just as the eye laser cut through the air and struck the ground at their feet. Their combined screams tore Natalya away from her attack and drew her attention. Serras, too has halted to take note of the commotion. The X-Guardian felt her jaw hit cold dirt with a dull thud. Completely ignoring her previous actions, Maria threw her weapons to the ground and ran towards where they once were. She scaled the cliff with little concern for herself. "CRYSTAL LION! WOLFBLITZER!" She shouted halfway up.

"Where the hell is she going!" Serras shouted at Natalya, who answered with a shrug. Upon reaching the top, Maria saw what had happened. It was not as she had originally feared, however it was far worse. The explosion made a decent sized crater, and within were the smoking bodies of Maria's two friends. She checked their pulse. Crystal's was long gone, she probably died from the initial blast. Wolfblitzer, however, had a very weak pulse. He was lying on his back, the bow still firmly cemented into his grip. Blood was trickling down one side of his mouth, and there was a huge piece of stonework shrapnel in his shoulder. His eyes flickered in place momentarily before they slowly rose open.

"Wolfblitzer, you idiot! Why didn't you move?" She shouted at him, feeling a tear break free and run down her cheek. The fallen Guardian said nothing, he only centered his head and smiled. "Yous stupid, stupid boy! Why didn't you move!" To this, Wolfblitzer offered no explination, just shut his eyes and whispered very faintly: "Fuck him up good for me, will ya, Maria?" His breathing stopped, and she knew he had overstepped his welcome on Lore. Her eyes were now just about drowning in her tears, something she tried to hide from Natalya and Serras.

"What the hell happened up there, do you suppose?" Natalya questioned to the Mage of Despair.

"I've no idea, my dear Drakonnen, no idea in the slightest." The well-spoken Mage frowned, which was so uncharacteristic of her. That was a bad sign. "Come, we must distract this Fell Beast, lest Maria fall prey to the same fate." She redirected her gaze to Carnax, who was prepairing another Eye Laser assault on top of his last one. "I think not!" Serras shouted, forming and launching a bolt of pure energy from her hand, which struck him right in the face, pulling his laser sharp up, the beam missing Maria by several feet. The distraught X-Guardian made no motion other then to sob uncontrollably over the bodies of Wolfblitzer and Crystal Lion, occasionally muttering a 'why didn't you move?' through the deluge of tears. In a mixture of rage and grief, she slumped over on top of the bodies and simply reverted to the state of that of a frightened three year old, sobbing and pounding her fist on his stomach.

"Serras! Some help here, please!" Natalya shouted as Carnax attempted to grab the eldest Despair sister for a mid-afternoon snack. Serras put one hand over her head.

"Ibu sulano SOMATSZTA!" She shouted, flinging an arched fireball right into the beast's third retina. Carnax responded by screeching in dire pain and rearing his head back. A clean-cut critical. "Ah, liked that one, I see. Well, howsabout, this?" Serras chuckled, putting both hands up. "Obidai Vertua SUTA!" The forming ball over her head broke into thousands of tiny shards of pale blue, then began to ignite in a equally-pale blue and streak towards the beast's face. This one was all the distraction Natalya needed to wriggle from Carnax's grip and drop to the ground.

"Thanks!" She shouted her way, letting an onslaught of fire magic right on top of the monster's ice hand. Serras winked at Drakonnen and continued her ruthless assault.

Meanwhile, Maria had all but come to her senses. She was now looking around for some kind of weapon she could use. A gold glint caught her eye. Wrenching the weapon from it's home, the body of it's former owner, all emotion melted away from her face as she walked towards Carnax. A powerful incantation escaped her lips on several occasions, but none of them were loud enough to wake the power they held.

"Look! You're sister is back with us!" Serras shouted, launching another ball of fire at Carnax.

"'Bout time, sis! What was the hold up...Oh, holy shit! Serras! Looks like Maria found herself a new sword!"

"I may not be the strongest...I'm weak...Pathetic...Minuscule... Nothing." She muttered still walking like a zombie towards the towering beast. "I'm not strong...I never will be...I never wanted this...I never wanted my friends to die...But you killed them. You...you forced me. YOU FORCED ME!" She shouted towards the sky, tears escaping her eyes. She stumbled forward, but regained quickly. "I didn't want to do this...I never wanted to condemn you to this...I only wanted it to stop. I ONLY WANTED YOU TO STOP!" Another outburst of rage. Her drunken speech was actually making Carnax stop. "But no. You had to go and destroy the second person on Lore who means anything to me. Their dreams, hopes, wants and everything they love are gone! GONE! Just as you will be. I may not be the strongest Guardian that ever lived. I may not be the fastest. Hell, I know I'm not the smartest. But I do have one thing going for me, Carnax. I'm god damn lucky! And know, you will feel the sharp sting of my luck!" Her next sentence was calm, almost planned. "Power Word Die." She pulled the sword, which everyone knew as the Blade of Awe upwards, with the blade pointed at Carnax's head.

Serras and Natalya shielded their eyes from the bright flash which followed. A golden pentagram appeared high in the sky between Maria and Carnax, which was slowly encircled by eight symbols, each one representing a different element. The eight symbols began radiating their respective colors; red for fire, gold for light, black for darkness, green for earth, navy for water, pale blue for ice, grey for wind and light yellow for energy. Each symbol then released a beam towards center of the pentagram, finally forming into one white pillar which extended to the ground.

"Dear god! She did it!" Natalya whispered, daring not to breathe.

"You called, Mistress?" A cold voice hissed. When Serras looked at who the voice belonged to, she was shocked. The very image of Death sent a cold shiver down her spine which pierced into her heart. Her mouth twitched as a silent 'Oh holy hell.' escaped, only to fade into nothing.

"I did." Maria responded, staring Death in the eyes. A stare that would send anyone packing.

"Well, then. Show me to thy enemy."

"Right..." Maria began, drawing her free hand up, all fingers save for her index retracting in, leaving her at a point, right at Carnax's forehead. "There." She finished. Death spun around, his scythe gripped fast in his bony hands.

"Ah. I see you have just reason to summon me. Which, may explain why I responded. But anyway. You want him dead, and so shall it be, Mistress!" The cloaked skeleton drew his weapon up, his eye sockets glowing red. "Prepare thyself for Oblivion, creature!" He shouted, charging. At the last second, he brought his scythe down over his target's neck. Almost as if everyone went deaf, all sound was drained from Lore. All the better, because as this happened, Carnax's mouth opened wide, a scream trying to escape, however failing. The ground shook as his heavy mass came crashing to the ground. Sound was restored, as was peace.

"There you go. All done! Anything else you'd have me do, Mistress?" Death questioned, his scythe glowing bright white.

"What?" Maria asked, her head tilting slightly.

"Well, I'm bound to repay the favor of the capture of such a specimen as Carnax with one of equal or lesser value. I will do all you wish, until you say 'enough' or the light of my scythe vanishes. So, what would you have me do, Mistress?" Maria was speechless. She looked around the battlefield, her vision blurred by her tears, the memories of her friends deaths still looming over her.

"I have two friends on the hill...they were killed..."

"Ah. Say no more. I shall revive them post-haste." The light dimmed unnoticeably "Anything else?" After much thought, Maria walked up to the figure and put her mouth to where his ear would be, whispering something. The light all but vanished, a small pulse could be detected in the mid-day sun. "That is a hefty request and, honestly, not really my jurisdiction, but it shall be done. I believe there is still enough light left for one more, small, request. What shall it be?" Maria needed no thought for this.

"I want you to release the Mage of Despair from the Blade of Insight. Allow her to reside within Serras, under check."

"It shall be done. And now, my debt is repaid. Until we meet again, Mistress..." In a quick burst of black light, Death vanished, and with him, the cold feeling withing Serras.

"Whoa. Flashy, no?" Natalya smiled, giving Serras a firm, but friendly slap on the back.

"Okay, I admit it, that was impressive." The voice of Galanoth muttered from a nearby dune.

"Impressive? The three of them single-handedly whooped Carnax for good!" Robina smiled, punching Galanoth's shoulder in a friendly manner.

"It was...Impressive. I'll say no more. Shall I tell Jackle to bring the others out of the cave?" Atrix only nodded.

"Ah, fuck!" Wolfblitzer's voice shouted from the hill. "Did we sleep through it?" He smiled. Maria wiped the tears away before turning to face him

"Hey, Wolfblitzer." She smiled mildly, walking his way. She saw Crystal Lion stand, and she broke into a run. She scaled the mountain quickly, nearly leaping from stone to stone to get to where they were.

"God, I feel like shit..." Crystal Lion's words were slurred, as she shook her head and the fatigue away. "Oh, hey, Maria. You kill Car-" She was cut off by the sea-foam Guardian planting a very serious kiss firmly on her lips.

"Oh, I see how it is!" His voice changed to a falsetto of Maria's "'Hey, Wolfblitzer.'" He waved weakly, then clasped his hands together. "Oh my god! Are you okay, Crystal Lion? I missed you so much! Can I sleep with you tonight?" His voice returned to normal. "Ugh, gir-" He was interrupted by the back of Maria's gauntlet catching right in the face. He collapsed with a very loud 'GWUGH!' and a dull thud.

"Uh...I missed you too, Maria..." Crystal Lion muttered, her eyes looking away, her cheeks very bright red. She rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Was that necessary?"

"Hey! Captain Lesbo! We gotta get back to our time!"

"Okay, Serras. How do you propose that?" Natalya asked, taking her helmet off.

"Maybe I can lend you some assistence." The voice of Warlic muttered.

--Isle d'Oriens--

"Oh, god. I hate time travel!" Wolfblitzer coughed as he was literally spit from the scroll. He stood up and started rubbing the growing welt on his forehead. "And that really freakin' hurt, Maria." he poked it with a finger. "Ow...Oh, yea that is gonna be sore for a while..."

"Have fun, did you?" Falerin asked, a sly smile displayed.

"Oh, yea..we had – ow! - oodles of fun! Oh, my poor head!" was Wolfblitzer's response.

"Did you have to leave that kick-ass sword behind?" Serras asked, looking at Maria. She only shrugged.

"It wasn't mine. I took it from a dead man. In respect, I returned it."

"It's not that easy, my dear." The Loremaster's voice drew her attention back to him. On the table before him was the very weapon Maria used to kill Carnax.

"How..."

"Allow me to elaborate, dear. The Blade of Awe is a special weapon in many terms. Power Word Die is just it's most well-know. You see, when one gets a Blade of Awe, the owner's genetic code is imprinted upon the sword's memory. As such, they will only serve that master. However, if the owner dies, the weapon has the ability to sense such an end, and it will erase it's memory of it's old users code, essentially becoming a black scroll, a scroll which anyone may write upon. You have written upon this specific Blade of Awe, and as such, you may not leave it, and it may never leave you. So long as you live." Maria took the weapon.

"You mean they're...alive?" Crystal Lion asked, looking at her own Blade of Awe.

"In a sense, Crystal, yes. They are alive. But only so long as the owner is. The Blade of Awe becomes an extension of it's user. The user's skill with weapons of it's caliber will be able to deal far more strikes in a quicker secession then one with not sword training could ever dream. In essence, the Blade of Awe is a learning weapon. With the user, it grows and changes. It will not stop, it cannot stop. As you no doubt have guessed, the skills of the previous user have already been imprinted upon the weapon, and the new skills it will experience in Maria's overly capable hands will only stack with what it already knows. That is why it is often easier to attempt to kill a person who already has a Blade of Awe, then it is to find the pieces on your own. A 'used', as it were, Blade, will deal more damage then a newly created one." Falerin concluded. Maria smiled, uddered a 'thank you', and followed Crystal Lion out.