Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in this violent confrontation… especially for the one who has been marked.

~保護者~

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Hello, MelGamingPlays! Haha, yeah, it is. Sorry about that XD Thank you so much for understanding, it really does mean a lot. Hopefully your wait will prove to be worth it. ^-^"

~保護者~

"Bloodline Trait"

~保護者~

A light flicked on, disturbing the deep shadows that Espio had been comfortably reclining in. He frowned deeply, almost squinting, and kept his eye shut until the light ceased to sting. When he opened said eye and looked toward the door, he saw Cream walking over to him. She took a seat against the wall beside him, smiling as usual. "I'm sorry about the light. I can't see in the dark like you can."

It didn't matter to him, so he brushed off her contrite demeanor. "It's fine," he murmured, already looking away.

He could feel her gaze resting upon him still. "You missed breakfast." A pause. "Are you not hungry?"

She must not have been told. Recognizing this fact, Espio blinked once. "I don't need food."

Surprise positively radiated off of his companion. "Truly? Why?"

That was a question he himself wasn't sure how to answer. "I don't know," he admitted, shrugging slightly with the only shoulder he could actually move. "I merely took notice of it one day."

Her surprise hardly diminished, not that he had expected it to. "That's… odd," she finally commented. When he didn't verbalize a reply, she changed the subject on him. "How are your wounds?"

In response, Espio glanced down at the injury he had sustained to his torso the day before. "Shadow underestimates himself," he finally stated.

Catching on to the implications, Cream leaned over to look through the torn fabric of his kimono. Though she saw as well as he that the wound was not present anymore, she didn't dare touch regardless. "It's healed," she realized aloud.

A nod. "He said it would be healed by last night or so," he recalled quietly, "but it was healed hours before then."

His statement earned a bright smile. "That's wonderful," she stated warmly. Once more, he didn't reply. It wasn't that he didn't have a response to make, per se, but for now he simply felt like keeping his peace. The way of the ninja was a quiet one, and he had learned to embrace that with all of his being since childhood. It was part of who and how he was, and Cream well knew that by now. As such, his silence did nothing to take away from her joy. "I'm so glad that you're better now, Mister Espio."

At least someone was. Gladness wasn't an emotion he had yet begun to feel again, not to mention the felt that he had never been a very glad or otherwise happy person to begin with. He'd always been fairly mellow overall, and that was no different here. He wasn't glad he was better, nor was he particularly glad that she was glad. Still, he appreciated her warmth and care for what it was. It isn't for no reason that she cares, he reminded himself, though it was a hard lesson to keep in mind at times. She cares because she believes with all of her heart that people matter.

Cream shifted back into her previous position. "Mister Espio," she began, speaking slowly, "may I ask you a question?"

Here it comes. This was it. The dreaded question. She was going to ask about Nakea, wasn't she? Sonic had certainly done so (and yes, Espio had heard about that). "What is it?" he asked, made almost physically uncomfortable by the feeling of dread that had entered his heart. The feeling felt foreign because it had been so long since he had last felt it. He wished the feeling would leave.

Thankfully, her words immediately alleviated his concern. "Hyale," she murmured, her smile fading. Her voice took on a strong note of sadness. "Is it… still around?"

This was not what Espio had expected to be asked about. Hyale… I raised her there. The mere question, along with this thought, send a flood of memories through his mind. Vanilla passing away, Cream leaving with him on his travels, them eventually settling down in his home in Hyale, her spending what remained of her childhood in the village… But that was the past. This was now. And she… needed reassurance, it would seem. "It still stands," he assured, hoping a calm tone would aid in lessening her sadness. "It has grown and changed, but at its core… ultimately, it remains the same."

Her smile brought him a measure of relief. Seeing her misery had never been something he had liked. "That's good," she murmured.

A thought crossed his mind. With scarcely a second of consideration, he decided to follow through with his little idea… if only because he needed a new kimono. "...You could come see it," he offered.

She perked right up, clearly excited. All traces of sadness vanished from her in an instant. "Truly?"

"Truly," he confirmed, standing up. He slipped his sheathed katana back into the sash around his waist, being somewhat careless with the position of it for now. It wasn't as though he needed to be able to draw it quickly at the moment.

Cream quickly stood as well. "How will we get there? Are you able to teleport?"

While a simple "yes" would have sufficed, Espio decided to just do the act instead. They reappeared in the front room of his home, and he gestured to the large open doorway leading to the outside. She took the hint and practically bounded outside. A part of him wondered briefly if she would slow herself down in time to not fall out of the massive tree, but he turned away and walked toward his room. It would be difficult to change with only one arm, but he could take his time… if Cream had anything to say about it, they would be here for a while.

Once in his room, Espio slipped Tails's makeshift sling off and let his paralyzed arm dangle for the moment. He carefully worked himself out of his ruined clothing, then began searching for a change of clothes. Eventually, he settled on a simple kimono with dark blue fabric and some dark purple accentuations on it. It wasn't an outfit he had ever exactly intended on wearing (he really wasn't very fond of blue on clothes), but for now he was resigned to his choice. Using his one good hand, he got himself halfway dressed with practiced ease.

He had just set about attempting to get his shirt on when he thought he sensed a fluctuation of energy in the air. As the energy was still new to him, it took a second for him to recognize it as Steam's. Realizing the hedgehog was likely about to appear, he quickly pulled his shirt the rest of the way up and at least got his good arm through it. He then carefully pulled his other arm through its own sleeve. At least this way he could hold his shirt closed for now. Later, when Steam was gone, he'd worry about tying it shut properly with the sash (though that was a damn chore and he hated it).

Like Espio had suspected, Steam appeared soon after he managed this and blinked. "Shit. That was almost a bad time, eh?" Espio just huffed at him and looked away. "Okay, okay. Sorry for busting in like this. I just wanted to talk to you."

"So talk," Espio invited, tone much calmer than such a terse sentence would have otherwise implied. He busied himself with stepping back into his sandals.

"Back to that time in the forest. You don't really know your family, do you?" Steam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I said I didn't," Espio simply reminded. "I wasn't lying."

A shrug came in response. "I doubt you of all people would really have the care to lie. Anyway, the matter of your family is… concerning at best, especially since it's a part of you."

That brought Espio's focus fully back onto Steam. "What are you talking about?"

Steam sighed softly. "All of your family, save for your parents, were evil. Truly evil," he murmured bluntly.

Espio stared at Steam for a long, long moment with a deep frown. When he finally spoke, his tone was carefully guarded. "How would you know?" he asked slowly. Mostly, he asked to buy himself time to fully process what he'd been told.

"First off, I've been through this shit with you and Nakea. I learned a lot about you in my timeline through that whole situation. Those markings are from your family's clans." Steam huffed, crossing his arms.

Clan markings… That little revelation conjured up various teachings from his childhood about the history of his people. Clan markings were just that, markings that had supposedly distinguished one clan from another from another, and so on. Such marks were hereditary and important as a result, but most of his people had never had them. Only those from certain clans ever had. Nevertheless, he had supposedly been taught about all of the markings as part of his history lessons growing up… but he had never heard of marks like these. Did this mean he had been deliberately kept in the dark?

Gritting his teeth, he shifted so that he could (awkwardly) pull his right sleeve up. "These," he demanded in a falsely calm tone, "are Clan Marks?" Revealed on his upper arm was a thin black line that extended down from his shoulder somewhere under the fabric of his sleeve. That line curved into a swirl that then branched off into a connected but barely formed second swirl. This second one was fading deeply and almost wasn't there anymore. The first, while also greatly fading, was still plainly there to be seen.

Steam tensed at the sight and held off a faint growl, though it wasn't pointed at Espio. "When did they show up, Espio?" he demanded back, stepping closer to inspect the marks. God damn it. This is not good.

Though barely inclined to at this point, Espio wanted answers. So he opted to give one himself. "Several days ago."

"Why the hell didn't you say something when I asked about it the first time?" The hedgehog groaned openly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Espio let his sleeve drop. "I had little cause at the time to believe it mattered," he responded pointedly.

Steam stepped back and fixated the chameleon with a hardened expression. "This is a bad situation. The more this continues, the more you're gonna revert to a personality like they had, and then those marks will appear in greater numbers." Espio was silent, listening with an open frown to what he was being told. "Look, Espio. I'm not trying to make you sound like an issue or anything, but this really is a bad thing. The worse this gets, the more likely you are to become a serious threat."

At that moment, Espio decided that he was done with this. Grabbing his sash and sword, he disappeared entirely. He would confront this issue alone… away from prying eyes. Steam gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to hit his head against something before walking along toward Cream. If he was about to deal with part of the problem, she didn't need to be alone for a potentially long period of time. She was easily located outside, admiring the scenery from the ground far below with her usual smile firmly in place. The smile faded slightly in favor of something a touch more concerned as he approached, however. No doubt she could already sense Espio's disappearance. "Hello, Mister Steam."

"You don't have to call me 'mister', Cream." Steam smiled to her, chuckling a little. "I don't deserve that kinda respect."

"Don't be silly," Cream giggled softly. "That isn't true at all."

Steam smirked faintly. "I can have this argument all day, kid. And yes, I'm gonna call you 'kid' because you're millenia younger than me." She just giggled again and didn't bother to argue further with him. "Alright, come on. I gotta get you back to the tower for the time being while I go deal with someone." He held out his hand to her, a gentle smile on his face.

"Alright." Reaching out, she took the offered hand. The moment they made contact, the two teleported directly back into the living room of the tower. Cream bid him a quick farewell and went to find the others.

Steam's expression hardened once more and he teleported off with a noticeable burst of flames in search of the current source of his ire. That woman is gonna pay for all this crap.

Said woman was currently sitting on a deeply charred rocky outcropping on a very desolate world, just checking on the state of her gear and several scrolls she had with her. When she sensed him, she idly turned to look. "You again, I see…"

"I'm gonna be a pain in your ass if you keep messing with them," he answered bluntly, shrugging.

One eyebrow raised. "Pray tell," Nakea drawled in a tone that clearly communicated just how much she didn't care.

Steam shrugged. "Nah. Not worth wasting my time. I'm basically here to cause problems." He smirked at her, noticeably amused. He would have fun with this for sure.

Nakea stood and turned to face him. "I see…" she smirked faintly. "So you're out searching for some semblance of vengeance, is that it?"

"Sorta. I got a lot of things I'm searching for, and it is pretty high up on the list. You certainly piss me off by fucking with people I care about," he responded, the venom entering his tone suddenly.

His emotions only served to feed her rapidly growing amusement. "Pity you chose them to defend. True, they hardly need it against most foes… but you cannot aid them even when it is needed, it would seem." Weak insults. She wasn't even trying.

Another shrug served as a response. "I'd rather not have them be my enemies. You seen what the kid alone can do? Ship slamming giant monsters to death. Then you have the ones born to be powerful. I think it's better I defend them over you pitiful bastards."

After a brief but nevertheless thoughtful pause, she canted her head at him. A glint in her eyes seemed to communicate that she had just figured something out that even more greatly amused her. "Ah… I see. You're here on behalf of my little sparring partner, aren't you?"

"Actually, I'm here on behalf of myself and already hating your guts." He openly feigned a smile, watching her. "Can't stand you. Neither could my friends."

"False," she reminded him with a small laugh. "As you may recall, one of them quite prefers having me around."

Steam blinked a few times. "Huh? I never got close to anyone who liked you. I mean, I know a few people but they're not my friends."

Her amusement never waned. In fact, it only grew. "Unless I'm mistaken…" she responded slowly, "you discovered the beginning results of my years of effort." She grinned a bit, very early. "Those marks… beautiful, are they not?"

Steam blinked at her again. "You're a right pain in the ass. So, how about this? Don't come near any of them again or I'll make sure shit goes downhill for you and all your allies."

"Your little threat," Nakea smiled, "is meaningless. I have no cause to heed it… and even supposing that I obeyed you, it would change nothing. What has been done cannot be undone, and the darkness will continue to spread with or without my continued help." She said so much, revealed so much. It wasn't like her... but she had her orders.

There was a noticeable change around Steam, the air being affected as energy built up inside him. "That's not the problem. I'm not trying to stop it. I'm wanting to get rid of you because you're really starting to grow agitating." Nakea just laughed at him, not at all bothered by his displays of hostility. "I'll go ahead and warn you once more. Get the hell out of here." His hands clenched as his stance shifted.

"And leave such a worthy opponent," she answered with obvious sarcasm lacing that one word, "to bristle here all alone? I think not."

"Alright then, cocky son of a bitch. Come at me." Steam didn't even bother drawing his sword, flames dancing around his body in a display of his anger toward the comment.

Nakea, however, chose to simply smile at him… and then give a simple warning. "You openly revealed yourself to everything on this world… and your presence here irritates him already. It will be fun watching you two brawl." And with that, she quite wisely vanished as a very particular demonic energy made itself known in the distance.

"Great, great. Just fucking great." Steam sat down and simply waited. He was not in the mood to be dealing with this before calming himself down. With a hollow roar, a demon deep below the ground audibly burrowed away from Steam's location in fear mere seconds before it's very God appeared by Steam's side. The man didn't immediately speak or do anything in particular, choosing instead to briefly survey the area and Steam himself. Steam did nothing more than stand up after a moment, his energies built up within having died out before the God ever arrived. "Hey, there. Great timing you had." he said sarcastically.

Glowing demonic eyes shifted to fully rest on Steam, slightly narrowed in irritation. Still, his voice was eerily calm in tone when he spoke. "Answer me something," he replied slowly. "Why, exactly, did you believe that coming here was a good idea...?"

"Did I ever say it was a good idea?" Steam countered lightly, sighing. "I came solely to deal with that woman. Then you showed up as well. That's the extent of my thought process on this situation." His response was calm and almost unbothered by the God of Demons demanding information from him.

Almost idly, the man watched as more demons began to arrive in the area, eager to feed off of this new source of power and energy and blood. If a fool dies, he dies… I take no pity on the weak. Still, he decided for now to warn the hordes off. He wasn't finished here yet. A surge of power that were merely felt and not seen was more than enough to send the lot of them scattering in mortal fear for their lives. The fact that it didn't bother this stranger came as no real surprise, given the boy's attitude up until this point.

Steam turned to him finally, blinking once as he regarded the God. "So, I assume there's more information you want from me? You would've already run a blade through me if it was only about encroaching on your land."

The idea of doing just that and being done with it was tempting, but earlier battles had sated him enough for now that he possessed more than enough patience to focus on speaking instead. "You don't exist in this realm," he murmured coolly. "You came here from elsewhere, intent on aiding the Immortal iand his friends."

"Ah, damn. Shoulda known you'd catch on, of all people." Steam's response said plenty in lieu of a normal answer.

The God seemed ready to say something else when his gaze suddenly flicked to the side… and down. Just as he looked over, a small child lowered their disconcertingly bloody dagger down in an almost confused manner, demonic eyes looking up at Steam. Visibly irritated, he walked over to the child and very cruelly knocked them back several feet with a hard kick. The child yelped in surprise and pain, dropping her dagger as she hit the ground."Let go of your penchant for mercy, girl," he growled. "It will not serve you here."

This earned a severe reaction from Steam, in the form of a hardened glare. He knew better than to do anything directly against this man, but the thought of hurting a kid… that just infuriated Steam. And he had a mouth. "The hell is your problem?" He teleported between the God and the kid, arms crossed.

That didn't really earn an answer, if only because the God was still focused on the girl. She had received a tiny dose of purification years ago and still to this day it was causing issues… If she was going to go for a kill like this to prove herself, she had to actually follow through. Thanks to the interference of her, however, it seemed unlikely that such a thing would come to pass any time soon, if at all. All thanks to the work of one woman. Damn her.

Definitely more irritated now than before, he watched the child stand up and, head bowed submissively, she retrieved her dagger. "Father-" she began, hoping to lessen the danger she was now facing.

"Leave," he cut in coldly. "Return to your sisters."

She knew better than to disobey. Within seconds she was gone, and he was free again to focus on the man who had decided to trespass here. The simple matter of trespassing wasn't what was currently making him so damn agitated, however. His mind flashing back to who he encountered just the day before, he muttered a small accusation of sorts. "You travel with the boy."

"And?" Steam asked in response, tone even and a touch uncaring. "I know the weight behind my choices."

This reply earned little initial reaction beyond slightly narrowed eyes. He hadn't expected a bigger response, anyway, but the way said response had been delivered irked. He is either entirely too careless… or confident.

The green hedgehog raised an eyebrow, tapping his fingers against his side lightly. If he was honest, this situation didn't bother him. He was more concerned with what was definitely inevitable in this situation. "I assume you're not gonna let me leave."

The fuck he would. He could sense what this kid was, and he wasn't about to go and let a Balancer walk away. Not without at least a… small fight. He did so enjoy testing new opponents, after all. That was one of the few things that hadn't at all changed. "No," he answered simply, already drawing his blade.

Steam shrugged. "Alright. Just know it'll be a hell of a time to actually kill me off." Within moments, he had his own blade drawn and was several steps back. He was confident, yes, but not so much so that he would stand that close to the God before a fight. Said God opted to give into curiosity for the moment and let his opponent go first. With a frown, Steam shifted forward and let out an explosion of Light simply to get things going.

A smaller and much more tightly controlled surge of Darkness pressed against the Light, blanketing the area in a layer of malice and dread and horror. Despite its considerably different size, this surge pressed back against Steam's Light effortlessly. Steam growled faintly and teleported a distance away, intent on not getting caught up in the attack as he released a few more quick explosions. God, I need to find a way out of here. I do not want him knowing what I've got.

The God dodged all of this easily and hurled several disks of razor-sharp Darkness at Steam. But he was barely trying, and it showed. The green hedgehog snapped his fingers and dispelled the discs flying at him with bursts of golden magic, a deeper frown forming on his face. He brandished his blade and shot forward at the God, forming a barrier around himself while performing a quick slash.

Once more, Steam's attacks were dodged. This time, the God countered more properly and sent massive tendrils of Darkness shooting up from the ground both within and around the outside of the barrier. The vine-like appendages stabbed through the barrier at lightning speeds and also attempted to spear Steam through in the same motion. Steam hissed as he was forced to absorb some of the attack into himself before teleporting back and clutching at his head. "Dammit, you bastard!"

Somewhat amused, the God smirked. "I would mind your tongue," he reprimanded mildly, even as he sent more and more Darkness Steam's way.

Steam snapped his gaze upward and blasted the attacks with a mix of his magic and Light to once again dispel the attack. Every muscle in his body was beginning to tense and he was definitely not happy about it. "I don't give a shit," he muttered angrily, eyes shifting to a golden color.

Well aware of what this magic was, the God immediately began to work on quelling it by encasing Steam in a sphere of Darkness and compressing it. The goal was to see if this could succeed in overpowering Steam… or if the boy actually had some backbone. Steam visibly struggled against the Darkness for some time before he began to create an outward pressure using Light and practically clawing his way out of the sphere. The God added additional pressure to this because, of course, he was trying to get a vague idea of what Steam was capable of.

This resulted in a very pissed off Steam, the hedgehog literally forcing his way out with explosions of Light and his magic with considerably more force than before to free himself. "You are really pissing me off," he hissed, eyes glowing from the energy he was keeping stored in his body currently.

It went without saying that the God didn't care, a fact which his continually bored yet amused demeanor showed through and through. He started to gather more energy in order to further torment Steam, but suddenly paused. His eyes shifted to somewhere in the distance and without a word he just… watched. It would seem this has drawn some attention… typical.

A voice sounded off in the direction the God was looking, speaking in low tones with a language only he would recognize immediately. His ears shot up and a look of recognition flashed through his eyes, closely followed by a soft, "Tch," as he prepared for a much messier confrontation.

It was only moments later that a black cat appeared and frowned faintly, an annoyed sheen to his eyes as he regarded the God quietly. The God returned this look with one of irritation. Why is Steam here? He does not belong. The cat's gaze flicked to the green hedgehog who was currently surveying the situation, using his blade to stand straighter. The kid is gonna get himself murdered.

"Ylden," the God called in a now eerily calm voice. He said nothing more, merely acknowledging however briefly who the man was… and carrying in his tone a clear warning of what was to come should the cat stay.

"I know precisely what I am doing. You of all people should know that." Ylden spoke easily and calmly, inherent neutrality spreading over his face as he explored the several potential outcomes of this bout.

That jab was hardly worthy of a response, so the God didn't dignify it with one. Instead, he tossed a sharp glare at his hoards, which were again inching closer to the confrontation. The boldest of the lot didn't beat a hasty retreat with the rest, choosing instead to inch toward Ylden. He let them, deciding that if Ylden didn't kill them he would. But he had other matters to focus on besides just them. "And when, pray tell," he drawled, examining the edge of his sword, "is she going to show herself?"

Ylden didn't answer at first, turning and summoning his scythe in hand before tapping the ground with it. Shortly after, the demons began to be killed off by what seemed to be an invisible blade the cat was controlling effortlessly. "I do not know. I am not her caretaker."

The God knew she was around, that she was coming, but it seemed she was taking her time. It was irritating, though not so much so that it showed. Titling his head slightly, he murmured almost to himself, "Without her, you'd have died where you stand, Ylden."

"And… I care?" he asked, somewhat genuinely. There was a certain level of Ylden not seeming to be bothered by that fact.

At this, he smirked faintly, almost as though amused again. "You should… as few others would bother to defend your daughter in your stead…"

The cat's eyes narrowed faintly. "In that case, I would love to see her grow and kick. Your. Ass." He smirked in turn, as he knew this was merely a joke.

"Unlikely," was the mild retort. "Vaguely possible… but unlikely nevertheless."

"You're not touching my kid." Ylden said easily. "I won't allow you to." A brief flash of his anger appeared in his eyes, his neutrality taking back over soon after.

Luckily, he had no real plans to do any such thing at the moment (he'd just wanted to further entertain himself in a perhaps petty way, and had definitely achieved that goal). There were far too many other matters that he needed to focus on, chief among them being that damned hawk. However, that could wait. He'll return on his own another time… there is no reason to seek him out. Focusing again on Ylden, he goaded smoothly, "Attempt to stop me, then… by all means."

"That's more my job." Someone familiar said from behind the God, a female with a noticeable ring of wisdom and power in her tone.

Unaffected, the God turned to face her without a hint of concern. His arms were comfortably crossed with his sword still in hand. Said blade was still coated in crimson from his earlier violent contact with Jet, as was the battlefield they were standing within. He expected this to anger her to some degree, but it didn't worry him in the slightest. Her status and abilities meant nothing to him. "Feel free to attempt it, then," he offered, his casual tone fully revealing his boredom.

"Get the hell out of here, Steam," The goddess said suddenly, a blade forming in her hand as she regarded the God. "You have to get somewhere safer." She and Ylden both suddenly got themselves ready as Steam teleported away. The God observed this with rapidly increasing boredom bleeding into his eyes… which was seldom a good sign. Boredom in demons tended to evolve rapidly into bloodlust.

Noting this, Cere opted to take the first strike and created magic circles around what would shortly become their battleground and vanishing only to appear directly behind him mid-swing with her signature halberd. Ylden took the opportunity as it came to litter the area with blue flame-like wisps, opting to stay still for the time being with his scythe at the ready. The God of Demons eyed them both silently, clearly unimpressed, and shifted to ready his sword if need be. He clearly could not have cared any less about their show of power, nor did he express much desire to toy around with said power as he normally would. He was so bored that he was only interested in full and proper bloodshed. Still, he let loose some of the energy within himself regardless. If the opportunity presented itself, he would still find time to entertain himself as usual.

The goddess dropped low and touched her fingertips to the ground, creating another magic circle at his feet. From it emerged sturdy walls that reflected the energy back inward (not that it could hurt the demon), allowing her to twist and bring her weapon around in a shockingly fast arc for his legs. He leapt over the attack and swung his sword down toward her face. Demonic energy crackled ominously all over the length of the blade. Her halberd slammed into the ground and she used her momentum to carry herself around the blade nimbly, a blade of magic launching from her foot upwards at him. He knew better than to pit his magic against hers (his simply not the best matchup against it), so he wisely threw himself to the side just in time to dodge. He then retaliated by unleashing a torrent of Hellfire at her from his free hand.

The wisps encircled Cere suddenly and gyrated around her body, offering her protection long enough to teleport herself out of the way of the attack and throw her own retaliation in the form of an amassment of red, crackling energy. He very quickly examined the energy with cold and calculating eyes, then made an unexpected move. Without warning, he suddenly removed many of the chains holding his power within himself and let it loose, a move which would temporarily grant him extreme invulnerability against most types of attacks.

"Mors Abundate!" Ylden suddenly yelled, blanketing the area in layers of magic that, upon touching the circles left by Cere, let itself be absorbed into them. Cere nodded on instinct, showing her approval and let them all suddenly activate. All manner of Cere's magic based attacks were launched directly for the God of Demons while several immensely sturdy barriers sprouted all around, offering some semblance of protection for the two allies.

Seeing that he had next to no room to dodge (he refused to teleport away, as that railed against the demonic instinct to never flee), the god decided to make a very rare move… something that he almost never did even before being corrupted. Focusing his energies, he ascended into his full God of Death state (as he had been the god of such since his birth well before being turned demonic). His body changed into little more than an ominous shadow with no discernable features, not even eyes or a face, but retained the shape of his normal body. That shadowy form came equipped with an equally ominous aura, both of which were completely passed through by all of the oncoming attacks.

Cere watched this and instantaneously performed a similar action, allowing herself to ascend to her Goddess of Judgement state. Her body shifted to a form of her red energy, the energy that allowed her to call down judgement upon any who dared stand against her on the field of battle. She was in a similar state, almost no features shown except that she kept the faint outline of her body. The air around her boiled as her power directly began to oppose the very existence of this planet. Now pressed to act and not continue, well, not bothering, the god allowed yet more power to flow free from him and began pressing back against all of her power with his own. He wasn't at all gentle about it, either, letting the energy stab and crush and slash and even burn all at once.

Cere retaliated in an equal manner, primarily countering then unleashing a full assault on him as she charged forward with a blade of unbridled Judgement. The God of Demons surged forth as well, fully prepared to obliterate her at even the slightest chance. Very quickly and suddenly, a storm of concentrated Light fell upon the God of Demons. The Light burned like hell as it always did, and the God hissed under his breath as he went against his instincts and teleported out of the way of the Light and its power. Furious, he stared at the green hedgehog from earlier as the younger man emerged into view.

"Damn it all. I almost forgot how much I despised you and what you did once you became a demon." Light surged around Steam, his hands curled into painfully tight fists. "I almost remembered what you used to be like and how awesome you could be."

Though it couldn't be seen due to his current form, the god bared his fangs in a silent snarl and simply prepared another attack in response. In turn, Cere did the same, positioning herself to form a triangle around the god with Steam and Ylden. This attack absolutely had to be their all if they wanted any chance of getting out of here alive. Ylden's eyes glowed, his understanding of the situation certainly following what Cere was thinking. He stabbed the blade of his scythe into the ground and spoke almost inaudibly, "Omnes Ave perditionem devorans." Magic gathered at the end of his weapon and rippled before launching forward for the enemy, the ground and air it touched during its travel vaporized.

Having had enough of their presence by now, the God of Demons used a spell of his own, one that wasn't truly magic as it interacted more with his other energies instead. Barely biting back an irritated growl, he muttered, "Tene tenbris." Pure, unabated, and utterly hellish corrupted demonic energies and Darkness exploded everywhere, taking out everything in the area. Even his own demons, their homes, and so on were not spared.

"Coraea Peialo," Cere whispered, equally hellish and concentrated arcs of her Hexan magic and Judgement energy were brought down and dispelled small portions of the God's attack, clearing herself and her allies from danger as well as clearing the way for Steam. He charged forward with animosity blazing in his eyes with his Light surging forth, followed by a sword slash that freed the last of the energy he held within him for the attack, all aimed directly for the man who was once his idol.

Watching the play of emotions in the other hedgehog's eyes, the god stood from his crouch. With scarcely a thought, he focused his attack and channeled it all right for Steam. There were multiple reasons for this. The insolent brat had burned him. He had Light within himself to begin with, and that alone was vexing. He was associating himself with Jet and…

The boy…

Narrowing his eyes, he strengthened his attack and let it fly.

~保護者~

6,447 words this time. Life, guys... life. It happens, and it gets in the way, and sometimes schedules just don't work together. On that note, I am so sorry for the delay in posting. However, I should be completely back this time around. Now, with that said, here are a few quick notes:

1. The spells are all in Latin (and, for the record, I don't know what any of them mean except for the one the God of Demons used).

2. Ylden and Cere are two more of Blazing Winds' characters. Ylden's name (if I remember correctly) is pronounced "Yeel-den". Cere's is pronounced "Seh-rae".

3. For those who may have forgotten, Hexans are the powerful race of magical beings that Wave is half-descended from (thanks to her dad).

Lastly, thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all his help! Another chapter will be up tomorrow.