Author here. Finally got my computer fixed, and the other computer can't post anything. Unfortunately, the hard drive was wiped so I had to start over. I'll try to start updating more often now.
Chapter 1: And so it begins
Vihn and Cole walked silently towards the town of Vale. As they entered the gates, Vihn finally broke the silence.
"So, where do you think they are?" he asked looking around silently.
"Probably the inn or some larger house to rest." Cole went to step forward, suddenly Vihn stopped. Cole looked at him questioningly, and then moved his hands to his swords. "Something wrong eh?"
No sooner had he spoken when a burst of flame rushed towards them. Both jumped to avoid it, and Vihn fired off a beam of fire psyenergy straight where the attack came from.
"Flash!" a voice shouted out as a barrier pulled itself up, blocking the beams destructive power from harming the caster, but not stopping the surrounding trees from being burned, revealing Vihn's attackers. Vihn eyed them carefully, An auburn haired women, presumably a fire adept, a Lemurian, and the red headed fire adept who cast the shield up. Vihn looked to Cole, who was dealing with four attackers of his own.
'Must've thought I was the weaker one.' Vihn thought to himself. 'Big mistake.'
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The masked man had finished off the smaller monsters and turned his attention to the lumbering Behemoth. He ran towards it and quickly leaped over its flame. He swung at the monster, but its size undermined the creature's incredible speed. The man flew back after the massive tail of the beast connected, not even connecting a blow.
The Behemoth roared, and as it did, a large number of strange humanoid creatures jumped out of the forest, running towards the human with incredible speed. They were bluish with cracked skin, and had four large claws replacing their fingers. The stranger raised his sword and prepared to fight again.
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Cole, after jumping away from the blast, landed on the opposite side of Vihn. As he looked on, four people confronted him as Vihn was challenged by three. The brown haired one, presumably the leader, stepped forward.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Maybe the question isn't why we're here," Vihn answered coolly. "Maybe the question is: Why the hell you're in our way?"
The leader's hand went to his sword as Cole flashed a look towards Vihn. "I'll do the talking okay?" Cole sighed.
"Fine, go right ahead." Vihn answered.
"Now" the brown haired leader spoke again. "Why have you come? We know what you did to those two, and we're not going to let you kill them."
Vihn chuckled, but stopped as Cole stepped forward. "Well, first, you contradicted yourself." Cole retaliated, getting another small chuckle from Vihn. "You already know why we're here, so why'd you ask?"
"Just who do you think you are?" demanded the spike haired, red-headed adept.
"Oh, my apologies. I'm Cole." Cole stated, mock bowing before motioning to Vihn. "And this is my associate Vihn. And who might you be?"
"Don't tell them Felix!" the auburn haired female yelled out, before realizing what she did.
"Felix eh?" Cole sounded amused. "Then I know who the rest of you are. Now if you'll kindly get out of our way…" Cole was cut off as Felix drew Excalibur.
"And what if we don't move?"
"Simple then." Vihn answered, taking a step towards his attackers. "You all die."
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As Vihn suddenly rushed towards her, Garet, and Picard, Jenna was startled at the way the man had reacted so quickly. And gods, was he fast. No sooner had she finished her thought when Vihn swung his staff downwards at her. She jumped to the side, and drew her sword to block Vihn's side attack. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Picard go to attack.
"Diamond Berg!" he shouted, but Vihn jumped back before he was even hit.
"Damn, he's fast…" Garet muttered. "But not fast enough! Flare Storm!"
Vihn threw up his arms as the flames hit him head on.
"Yes!" Garet exclaimed. "Direct hit!"
Jenna smiled, but their triumph was short lived, as the flame died and she saw Vihn rushing at them. As he neared, he stuck out one arm and started to call upon psyenergy.
"Crimson Edge!" he shouted. A semi-long, slender blade of pure red energy erupted from his cloak, as if it was attached to his arm. He quickly slashed at Jenna, but she dodged and he jumped backwards into the air to avoid Picard.
"Crimson Blades!" Vihn shouted as two more red edges appeared and he flung them at Picard and Jenna. Both stepped back, but upon contact with the ground, the blades exploded, knocking them back. Suddenly, Garet jumped forward, sword above his head to cleave Vihn in two.
"Crimson Sword!" A large blade of energy, identical to a sword with the exception that it was pure scarlet energy appeared in Vihn's hands and he blocked Garet's attack. Taking advantage of the situation, Vihn pushed and sent Garet flying towards Picard and Jenna, and the three prepared to attack Vihn again.
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Cole stood ready for the attacks of the four adepts against him.
"Stone Spire!"
"Glacier!"
"Tornado!"
"Tornado!"
Cole quickly jumped to the side, avoiding the first attack, swung of a post onto a rooftop to avoid the second. He did a running handspring off the rooftop, avoiding the third, and flipped over in the air, drawing his swords to dodge the fourth.
As he flipped around, he stuck his swords together and called upon his psyenergy.
"Dual!" he cried as his swords became one huge sword larger than himself. He swung it around as he hit the ground, and even though Ivan, Mia, and Sheba blocked, they were still sent backwards. Felix however was far enough away to not be attacked and both summoned their energy.
"Mother Gaia!" Felix shouted, raising his hand.
"Shatter!" Cole swung his sword at the ground, causing the ground to split upwards and head towards Felix. Both attacks connected and both warriors flew back, only to rush at each other again, this time locked in swordplay.
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The masked man quickly spun around, cutting another of the monsters down. As he did however, several prepared to come from behind. The man turned, but knew it was too late to block.
"Exodus!" another voice shouted out. All of the sudden, hundreds of small swords materialized and started flying towards the monsters. The blades pierced through the smaller monsters, leaving only thirty or so around the Behemoth.
The Behemoth roared, but three large swords materialized, killing the last of the smaller monsters. As the Behemoth began to charge, another large sword came from the sky, spearing through the monster.
Apparently, even that blow couldn't kill the beast as it bellowed out in pain before vanishing in a shower of psyenergy. The masked man sheathed his sword and looked towards the newcomer.
"Gotta be careful with those little buggers." The man smirked, his grin and blond hair slightly visible from under his hood. "They're faster, smarter, and better than most normal monsters."
"Right." The masked man said, walking away.
"Better hurry." The newcomer said. "Those other two are already there."
"Oh, is it time to go back to the past yet?" the masked man asked.
"For no, not yet. They'll know about you and me in due time. I however, am heading to meet with some friends of mine. We have to get ready to go to Contigo. Go there when you're ready."
"Fair enough," the stranger said, walking towards Vale.
"Wait!" the hooded man yelled out, "one more thing. Take this with you. It's a psyenergetic stone. You'll know how to use it when the time comes, just like with all psyenergy." The masked man took the stone. "Use it before you leave."
"Got it," the masked man turned around. "Anything else?"
"Just hurry. I don't want any of them to die."
As the hooded man turned and walked towards the forest, the masked man turned to Vale. He suddenly took off in a sprint, closing the distance quickly.
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"Ivan, Mia," Felix motioned. "Go and get reinforcements or something."
The two ran off leaving Cole and Vihn with two less opponents. So far, the Adepts battle formation was more scattered as Cole faced Felix and Jenna, leaving Garet, Picard, and Sheba to Vihn.
"We can't take much more strain…" Cole whispered to Vihn.
"Don't worry." Vihn answered back. "The clouds are parting. The moon is here."
"Eh? Oh right." Cole said as Vihn's psyenergy power boosted up. "You're psyenergy can do that. Just hurry, even you can't keep this up much longer."
Cole quickly jumped towards Felix and Jenna, separating his swords so he could fight both at once. Meanwhile, Garet and Picard prepared to charge Vihn, as Sheba just looked at the enemy.
"Hello Sheba," Vihn slurred as he noticed her, making her shudder. "Failed last time, let's try this again."
Sheba took a step back, and Garet suddenly surged forward.
"I'll get him!" he yelled, ignoring Picard's advice to attack Vihn all at once.
Vihn quickly jabbed his staff into the wall next to him. He suddenly surged towards Garet, and before Garet could even swing his sword, Vihn flung him into the nearest wall ten feet away. Picard tried to blast Vihn with mercury psyenergy, but Vihn quickly knocked him aside. He rammed his fist into Sheba, grabbed her by the caller and lifted her into the air. By this time, Cole, Felix and Jenna had stopped fighting and were watching.
"Got you now," Vihn laughed. "Now nobody can protect you."
'No...' Sheba thought. 'He's gonna kill me. I… I don't want to die… not yet.'
"Any last words?"
Sheba coughed "Yeah… Spark Plasma!"
Vihn was instantly sent flying back to the ground. Sheba looked at his fried corpse, then gasped when he got up so quickly.
"You…" Vihn coughed, ripping a large chunk out of the ground and pointing the flat end at her with his one hand behind it. "You little Bitch! Eruption!"
The volcanic force ripped out of the earth Vihn held, blasting Sheba at full force. She flew twenty feet before hitting the ground, bounced off the ground a few times, and skidded a few feet before her still body stopped. Felix looked out at Vihn in terrible rage. He prepared to run at Vihn as the man took his staff out of the ground. It was then that Felix noticed something he hadn't before.
"That's a demonic weapon!" Ivan shouted as he and Mia came over a hill.
Ivan ran up to Felix as Mia healed Picard and Garet.
"We couldn't get any reinforcements, the rest of the people are under attack by bandits."
"Don't worry." Felix stated, then turned to Vihn "You shouldn't be able to drop that weapon." He stated. "Unless…"
"Unless this?" Vihn held out a ring, and Jenna and Felix noticed it immediately as the Cleric's Ring. The ring that was among the few items their friend Isaac took when he left them.
"Th-that's…" Jenna stuttered.
"Oh yeah, your friend Isaac's ring," Vihn mocked. "If only I could've dragged the corpse and his sword all the way with me." He suddenly started laughing with his last comment.
"You bastard." Felix said, the anger rising in his voice. He want to charge, but Jenna suddenly let out an attack.
"Dragon Fume!"
The Dragon went towards Vihn, who ran under the attack. He charged at Jenna and readied to finish her off.
"Crimson Edge!"
Just as Vihn lunged at her and the blade was about to pierce her chest, another voice rang out from a nearby hill.
"Grand Spire!"
Vihn quickly flipped around kicked Jenna, sending them both backwards so the Spire wouldn't kill him.
"Who the hell are you?" Felix shouted, but the masked man remained silent. "Answer me!"
"He's obviously out of our league." Cole stated. "Should we all hit him at once?"
There was no answer as all eight adepts unleashed attacks at the man. The man quickly dodged all of them. He raised his hand and attacked.
"Fissure."
All of the sudden, large, gapping cracks ran towards the Adepts.
'Heh, a Venus Adept.' Felix thought, but suddenly jets of flame burst out, sending everyone flying.
'What!?'
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The man sighed as he saw the destruction around him. "Nothing to serious." He said to himself.
Jenna picked herself off the ground just as the man looked at her. She looked around and saw that only Vihn was still conscious after the attack.
"Such… power… not a… chance." Vihn muttered before passing out as well. Jenna looked at the damage the stranger had caused and suddenly released what psyenergy she had left to attack.
"Dragon Fume, Flame Storm!"
Both attacks came at the man, and though he dodged the first, he stumbled and the second came up and hit him, sending him in the air. The man's mask clattered to the ground and the man himself stood up.
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Suddenly, CLIFFHANGER!
Stay tuned for Chapter 2, coming… eventually!