Harumi and Olive had already leapt into another taxi as soon as Lulloyd and Lloyd arrived at the bottom of the elevator ride. The two hopped inside, with Olive moving forward and taking control over the car with a small device that extended from her arm. The car swerved off of the preset path, allowing for them to arch their way onto some of the lower lanes. Olive sent a message stating that the vehicle would be programmed to return to the depot once they had finished with it. A long string of numbers caused the red lights on the screens to stop flashing.
"I thought the Hypnobrai burned down the Monastery," Lloyd pointed out, "What happened to it?"
"My father rebuilt it after he had me," Harumi explained solemnly, "After he started training me, that's where I lived. The Elemental Alliance uses it as a headquarters if we have to deal with big enough threats. The Twins probably found that out and went right in for the attack."
As the two drove, Olive filled them in on other matters, "The Elemental Alliance continued with the next generation of elemental masters. So far, over three-quarters of the elements had been passed onto the next generation. Each of those of that generation had reaffirmed their pledge, and in turn created a new system. If one master called in a threat, the Alliance would determine how many members to send. Once the problem was dealt with, they would disband. So far, Harumi had only had the Alliance called in thrice."
The taxi stopped once the machine came to a screeching halt, refusing to go any further. Olive ordered the group out. After nearly five minutes of flying, they had reached the outskirts of the city. They were standing on a metal platform, one that overlooked buildings that were more akin to the size the other two Lloyds were used to. Harumi didn't stop to acknowledge this and instead nodded to Olive.
The taxi shut its doors and flew away. Harumi exhaled, unleashing a burst of energy and causing the Green Dragon to form in front of her. Harumi yanked its reins, causing it to spread its wings and soar up into the sky. The beast was a spitting image of Ion in female form, with the same long neck, thin head, and wyvern styled wings.
Likewise, Olive brought her hands forward, producing a large burst of light as the sight of Zane's own dragon was in front of him. The beast, likewise, was sleeker and more streamlined than that of the one Lloyd was familiar with, but likewise a beautiful sight in its won right. Harumi pulled its reins herself and it flew up to match Olive's own. Seeing the two beasts up close gave Lloyd a strange sense of familiarity with the two women atop them.
"Did I not mention that I inherited my father's elemental powers?" Olive asked curiously as the dragon let out a bellow into the sky.
Not to be outdone, Lulloyd pulled the mechdragon brick he'd been carrying around all day and threw it onto the ground. The brick hissed and suddenly turned into hinges that began to rapidly expand outwards. Soon, the head of the mechdragon was sitting on the ground, with the hinges still unfolding. Within a few seconds, the entire brick-built dragon was standing tall and firm, its jets unfurling out from its sides. The dragon's head let out a bellow as Lulloyd grabbed Lloyd's hand and leapt up into the air with him.
"A mechanical dragon? I believe we can assume that elemental ability does not manifest in the same way in you, Lulloyd." Olive confirmed.
"Yeah, but, my dragon can do this!" Lulloyd felt a little rush as he gripped the control sticks and thrust them forward. The jets unfolded into another set, flaps retracted as the dragon lowered its head. Its legs thrust off the ground, leaving dents in the metal as it shot into the sky between the other two. Lulloyd let out a holler as the dragon spun in a circle, cutting through the air and sending them far ahead of the two.
Harumi quickly had her dragon flap its wings, bringing her towards his direction. Olive did the same, producing two earpieces from inside of her arm again. She surrounded them both in ice and had her dragon take them into its mouth. It shot them both forward, sending them right towards the spinning dragon.
At the last moment, Lloyd noticed them and quickly moved his hand up, catching them and breaking them out of the ice. He stuck one on Lulloyd's head and then the other in his ear.
"I believe you said you were aware of the existence of the Monastery in your own world, L" Olive's voice came over the mic, "Are you aware you are heading in the wrong direction?"
"I am?" Lulloyd turned to Lloyd. Lloyd just sighed and raised his hand to point in the right direction. Without saying a word, Lulloyd turned his dragon towards that direction, hiding his blush under his hood.
The flight towards the Monastery was toughtly thirty minutes by dragon. Thanks to Lulloyd's boosters, the mechdragon could perhaps make it in twenty. When asked what fuel the dragon ran on, Lulloyd had responded that it ran on simple gas with nitro intakes. Olive states that she would work on the device later to make it run on a far more sustainable source of energy, at which point she'd gallen silent trying to analyze the bricks that made up the dragon.
Harumi stayed silent over the comms. The only time that Lloyd heard her voice was when she sent a message forward to any members that had arrived at the Monastery to await to engage unless necessary. Lloyd tried to talk to her directly, but Harumi hadn't responded, even after Lulloyd had asked her if they had to end messages a certain way.
Despite the massive changes to Ninjago City, the landscape of Ninjago appeared to be widely unchanged. It was a straight shot east to get to the Monastery, and the softly rolling hills appeared to be nearly identical to what Lloyd remembered. For Lulloyd, he was still trying to take in the fact that not one of those hills had any amount of grass that wasn't individually swaying.
"When we get to the battle," Harumi's voice rang out on the comms, "Keep your hoods on and stay out of it until I say so. I don't need to explain why my dad suddenly came back to life, or why one of them is moving like his body locked up permanently."
"I believe that is a wise decision," Olive responded, "We can keep them in backup. In the meanwhile, can you please relay any information about these Time Twins that we need to worry about?"
Both Lloyd and Lulloyd quickly unloaded information onto them. They discussed the Vermillion, the Iron Doom, the Time Twins somehow gaining the ability to Master Build, and most importantly, the fact that they were likely after elemental power. After explaining everything, Olive pondered that last statement.
"Do you believe that their mech needs more power?" She asked curiously, "If they have the power of two Lloyds inside their machine, why would they need a third?"
"Because we've ticked them off," Lloyd explained, "I'm pretty sure if they do try, at this point it's just out of anger. Which… might be another reason for us to stay behind."
"So, all we need to do is defeat these two, get inside the Iron Doom, and break the crystal that's holding your powers," Harumi formulated, "If we have Karlon there, then that should be easy."
"I'm… guessing that's Karlof's son?" Lloyd asked. Olive responded.
"Yes, it is tradition in Metalonnia for the son to be named after the father. For example, Karlof's father was Karlog, and his grandfather Karlor, and great grandfather Karler," She paused, "Harumi, I have also just confirmed Viper and Umbra have arrived as well. Mizuko and Carnelian have arrived as well."
"Good," Harumi stated firmly, "The more of us, the faster we can end this."
Rather than ask who they were referring to, Lulloyd activated the boosters on his mech dragon, sending them soaring forward into the sky. Harumi and Olive both followed suit quickly.
As soon as Lloyd saw the telltale fog, he knew that they had arrived. Harumi and Olive pierced the cloud wall, while Lloyd and Lulloyd landed the mechdragon on the side of the Mountain of a Million Steps. Its feet dug into the rock, anchoring itself. The entire head rotated around and then ratcheted out horizontal so that Lloyd and Lulloyd had a horizontal surface to rest on.
"Remember," Harumi affirmed again, "Stay out of this. Unless I call for you, don't get involved. You already told us what we need to know. Lloyd Garmadon is dead, and it needs to stay that way. Got it?"
Lloyd nervously affirmed with an 'understood' over the comm. Lulloyd meanwhile stood up and walked over to the rock wall, running his hand against it. Feeling little pebbles dislodge, he looked to the cloud layer just above them and slowly chuckled.
"This kinda reminds me of the Temple of the Fragile Foundations… or, well, apparently it was my dad's childhood home. We went there to get the Ultimate Ultimate weapon to defeat Meowthra… uhm, do you have a Meowthra?"
"No, that name doesn't ring any bells…" Lloyd took note of Lulloyd's dejected expression and followed up with, "How about you go ahead and fill me in about your home, so we can see what we do have in common?"
"Sure, here I think I even have some pictures up in here…" Lulloyd tapped the dark green screen to his dragon and pulled up an image of his mother, "So, this is my mom, Lady Iron Dragon. Her name is Misako but my dad always called her Coco…"
Harumi forced her gaze forward as she watched the two versions of her father hide away under the clouds. The last thing she wanted right now was to even have them here, yet in her haste to leave, she hadn't told them that she didn't need them. With them already on the flight over, it was impossible to get them to turn around. The last thing she wanted was them here, for a fair number of reasons.
"Harumi," Olive switched her comm to a private channel and spoke into Harumi's ear, "Are you in an apt condition for this battle?"
"Of course I am!" Harumi responded curtly, "Let's get rid of these two and get the other two home!"
"I believe I am detecting a large amount of anger in your voice," Olive paused, "Emotional instability is a major factor in battle readiness. Do you believe you can fight?"
"Olive, if I say I can fight, I can," Harumi groaned, "I'll be fine, that's why I'm having them stay out of the battle until we need them. See? I've already accounted for this."
"Yes," Olive spoke cautiously, "But I have encountered a significant number of times that someone has told me they were 'fine' when all sensors and context would indicate they are indeed not 'fine.' Please do not be upset with me for asking: do you believe you can fight today?"
"I can fight just fine," Harumi's hands tightened on her reins, "Olive, just focus on the battle strategy right now, okay? Can you get into contact with anyone?"
"Communications currently are down, I believe a short-wave jamming signal has been established," Olive responded, "Once we are in proximity to the Monastery, radio channels should be fully operational."
"Thanks, Olive," Harumi snapped down on her reins, "Let's make good time, we don't want them finishing the battle without us."
"The chances of that are slim," Olive responded, "But I share the sentiment."
The two both brought their dragons towards each other and began to spin around each other, cutting through the air and allowing them to form a slipstream for the mechdragon behind them to fall into. Harumi found her gaze occasionally drawn back to try to see more of it. Something about it didn't look right to her. It didn't look like any mech she'd seen. It looked strange, and the closest she could put to it would be 'plastic.' But she didn't let herself stare.
Harumi shook herself. She had to focus on what was happening right in front of her, not on her dad that had just barged back into her life. She put him out of her mind as best she can and instead made a mental calculation. Given their rate of travel, the Monastery would appear within two minutes, perhaps shorter if she flew faster. Flying faster seemed better to her, and Olive followed in kind. She heard the noise of something unfolding from the mechdragon to keep up with them.
The cloud layer in the distance was suddenly punctured by a massive mountain, and Harumi brought her dragon up through the layer. Once the two breached the clouds, her eyes were immediately trained on a towering figure in front of them. That had to be the Iron Doom. The thing was massive… the only time Harumi had seen something that large was perhaps… no, she didn't want to think about that either. She shook herself and instead narrowed her gaze while Olive and Harumi banked in opposite directions. The beady eye of the mech turned towards them. The sight was enough to make her shudder.
"Harumi, look at the east wall," Olive pointed out with her hand. Harumi blinked and looked towards the area, only to narrow her eyes in confusion.
The Iron Doom was not standing on the mountain. The eastern wall was almost completely gone, leaving a massive opening that the soldiers that Harumi guessed were the Vermillion were now pouring into. It wasn't as though the wall had been broken by force; in fact, the sides of the wall that remained had strange little rectangular slots that jutted out. It looked almost like the wall had been removed expertly in a chunk.
What was even more odd was the fact that the Iron Doom was currently on a large platform that didn't look like anything she had ever seen. The platform had lines all across it, like it was made of… bricks? The platform extended out in a flat bridge to the section of wall that was gone, forming the path the Vermillion were using to attack. She took note that one of the arms of the Iron Doom didn't look like the rest of the mech, having what looked like a shark head for a hand, and a very thin top section. In fact, it looked like the mechdragon.
In the middle of the courtyard were a number of figures. Blasts of water and lightning arced about the air, followed by that of fire. Harumi quickly counted and took stock of whom she had to work with. Her mind was already formulating her attacks, even as she took note that some of them looked worse for wear. How long had they been fighting already?
"Circle around that thing and see what you can analyze from it," Harumi ordered, "I'm going to go down and help the others!"
Harumi closed her eyes, forming a disc in her hand. She expanded her hands until the disc had a diameter roughly the size of her stance. She launched the disc from her hands, sending it soaring into the air. Her dragon disappeared. She formed two green energy balls in her hands, firing them backwards. The force propelled her forward enough that she landed on her disc. Her right hand guided the disc in a large arc down until she was on the top of the Monastery roof.
"NINJA-GO!" Harumi shouted, picking the disc up and sending it straight down towards the gap in the wall. A small explosion formed when the disc hit the ground, sending armor and snakes in all directions. She landed on the ground in the middle of a throng of her allies.
A small line had formed of elemental masters. More blasts of water and fire rung out, followed by that of wind and stray ice blasts from Olive above. A girl with yellow hair emblazoned with red stripes turned around, grinning at Harumi as soon as she saw her land.
"There she is!" Carnelian grinned as she blasted a fireball into a Vermillion, extending her other hand towards Harumi, "Think I can get a boost?"
Harumi rolled her eyes and reached out, grabbing Carnelian's hand. The girl grinned and turned around to face the oncoming horde, her flames turning green as she rammed her fist into the chestplate of a Vermillion soldier. It exploded into snakes.
"Harumi," Mizuko gasped as she formed a ring of water around her body, "You're finally here! These things, they won't sto-"
"Karlon!" Harumi shouted, "You need to crush the armor so the snakes can't get back into them!"
Her command was issued to a male in metal armor. He wore a large metal helmet and full chainmail, with the symbol of Metalonnia carved into a large shoulder guard. In his hands, he was wielding two small but dense metal hammers. He blinked his red eyes and then nodded his head, turning and pointing his hammer towards a Vermillion warrior. Its eyes bulged out as the metal start to bend inwards, crushing the snakes inside. Those that didn't find themselves condensed quickly fled.
"These things are the Vermillion!" Harumi shouted, "They're just a bunch of snakes. Just find a way to not let them back inside the armor!"
None of the masters present had any desire to question her. Mizuko focused her powers and shot water into three warriors at once, then began to force the water to expand back out from inside the metal. Snakes not drowning quickly escaped as the pressure expanded. As water shot out forward into the snakes, the metal armor they wore would start to contrist as Karlon crushed it. What snakes remained inside of their armor were rapidly blown apart by massive gusts of wind. Fire rang out across the battlefield as Carnelian extended her hand with a grin, heating the metal up until it was unbearable. As several warriors became doused in Mizuko's streams, lighting shot out to electrify them.
A male with brown hair panted heavily, his arms outstanded from the lightning arcs and eyes hazy. Mizuko launched forward and shot a water bolt in front of him, stopping a warrior from taking advantage of his lapse. He turned and muttered something to her as he dropped to his knees and launched himself up the wall to rain lightning from the roof. More warriors had their metal bent out of shape as Karlon picked them up and flung them backwards. Blasts of green energy broke them apart as Harumi focused her powers, making a large green ball. She extended her arms with great effort, raising the ball to form a shield in front of her allies.
Those warriors that hadn't already been defeated rapidly began to retreat. A large blast of wind came from a male standing next to the lightning user, holding him upright as blood ran from many of his wounds. The lightning user collapsed into his arms as more blasts of wind began to throw them off the makeshift bridge and into the misty clouds below. Harumi suspected that her father copies would see them as they went down.
"Harumi!" The wind user called out, "Come on, help me get Raiden inside!"
Harumi turned towards Mizuko, who quickly shot water out in front of her and used it to skid herself over towards the two. When she stopped, she tried to take Raiden out from under the wind user's grasp. He growled at Mizuko in response.
"I'll take him, Souma!" Mizuko huffed, tugging Raiden's limp body forward, "You need to go and help the others!"
"What I need to do is help Raiden!" Souma shot back, "He held off the entire army himself until we got here! I'll make sure he's okay then get back to the battle, but right now I need to help!"
Part of Mizuko seemed to want to argue with him, if the twitch in her face was anything to go by. Instead, she sighed and drew the water she'd slid across the ground to surrounded the three of them in a small sphere, giving them shielding as the two dragged the unconscious master towards the Monastery entrance.
"Where's Umbra and Viper?" Harumi shouted to Carnelian. The girl grabbed Harumi's wrist and used it to flip herself over Harumi's head to deliver a hard kick to a warrior getting up behind her.
"Not sure," Carnelian lit her fists on fire and grabbed the hand of a Vermillion, the heat making it drop the blade so she could in turn grab it and cleave it apart, "They should be on their way!"
Harumi grimaced slightly, "So it's just you, me, Olive, Souma, Raiden, Mizuko and Karlon then?"
Carnelian smirked, "Yep! We get to have all the fun!"
Harumi held her hand out, taking the sword that Carnelian stole. She focused as the sword lit up into bright green flames, which she passed back to her friend. Carnelian stared at it and then her grin turned wicked as she poured more flames into it, making its light almost blinding. She swung it to her left and then outwards, carrying the flames across the battlefield. The flames consumed several warriors, only to then arc up and catch the monastery roof on fire.
"Come on, Carn!" Mizuko shouted as she ran forward, launching a few jet streams at the fires to quell them, "You can't just light everything on fire!"
"Hmm… you're right!" Carnelian extended her hand, "Why not let me handle it then?"
Mizuko stared at her for a moment and then turned around, jumping back into the air and using her water streams to get herself onto the roof. Like Raiden, she began to rain punishment down upon the army that was still converging upon them.
Harumi looked to what Mizuko was doing, then grabbed Carnelian's arms and turned her body towards the jet streams. Carnelian nodded her head and fired fire right into the water, causing steam to rapidly billow upwards and fill the area with it. The warriors were surrounded in the obscuring mist, at which point Harumi launched herself forward and into the crowd.
Warriors that weren't able to see her coming were taken out left and right as Harumi sent her fists into them. Each collision set off a little green burst in their faces, either knocking them backwards or dispersing the snakes. Carnelian followed suit, using her stolen sword simply instead of her flames to obscure herself. Mizuko, still on the roof, followed suit with more and more water that blew apart the snakes.
The fear the three spread throughout the Vermillion ranks were enough to cause the majority of warriors to freeze or begin to retreat. After punching, watering or cleaving apart the warriors for what felt like minutes, soon there were none left to attack. The steam they created began to billow away, revealing that the warriors were indeed on the retreat. Slowly, Harumi panted and straightened herself upwards.
Karlon raised his hands, crushing what armor remained on the battlefield. Unable to get inside anymore, the snakes instead grabbed the twisted plates and began to drag them back towards the hole that Iron Doom had made.
"Status!" Harumi shouted.
"Vermillion warriors have retreated but are not reforming into the mech as Lloyd stated," Olive omitted those last three wrods to all but Harumi over the comms, "Unable to assess material Iron Doom is utilizing, analysis indicates matter deconstruction. Structural integrity of Monastery at 86%."
"Platform not made of metal, Karlon already tried. Karlon could crush machine," Karlon punched his gauntlets together, "Need time to pull it off, though."
"Alright, you get on that," Harumi ordered, "They've retreated for now, but I'm sure they'll strike again. We need to get onboard that thing and take them out before they can get in another attack."
"Once we have Cole here, that'll be no problem," Olive's voice rang out on their comms, "He has already been contacted and is en route. Time to arrival is estimated at twenty minutes."
"Souma!" Harumi shouted, "I need you out here with us!"
After a few seconds of her call, the sliding doors to the Monastery opened, with Souma stepping out. He looked back towards Raiden, currently patched up and breathing faintly on top of a small pillow, and stepped out. He brandished what looked like two sharp talons on the end of wires, one in each hand. He ran up to Harumi and paused.
"Raiden will be fine," Harumi sighed to him, "Are you okay, Souma?"
"I'm fine, Harumi, and yes he is fine!" Souma frowned, "But I have a question. How did you know about the Vermillion?"
"They were in some old texts that I was studying," Harumi lied quickly, "And these were close enough that I figured that they were, you know, the same."
"You sure about that?" Carnelian raised an eyebrow, "Anything else you know we can use?"
"Yes…" A voice rang out behind them, "Anything else you have to tell us now, Harumi?"
The group turned around to see a man with black hair standing on the brick-built platform. He gently brushed his cape back up his arm and let it reveal a large sparking green blade in hand. His eyes shone with a hard tint of arrogance, even beneath the strange paint he had applied to them. He grinned and took a few steps forward, pointing the blade at them. Its green power flashed, and then the man was standing in the middle of them.
"You're rather sly for a ninja," He pointed the blade at Harumi as its green power crackled, "Tell me, who told you about our little army?"
The entire group jumped to attention instantly. Carnelian lit her fists on fire and pointed them directly at the intruder. Mizuko leapt off of the roof and whipped her water out like a whip, grabbing hold of his arm and knocking the time blade out of it. Karlon, who had stepped aside to begin working on what he had planned, spared his attention to grab the metal armor on the man's arm to hold him still as well. Souma stepped back as he unsheathed what looked to be a pair of thin wires he began to spin rapidly in circles, which formed small wind funnels over his arms that threatened to strike him off the cliff.
"You're rather cocky if you thought you could attack me like this," Harumi stated coldly. He simply blinked, then he let out a laugh.
"Am I, Harumi? I'm sure the others have told you all about this by now…" He turned his head to look at the group, "Are you the generation of elemental masters that succeeded my brother and I? Well… here I guess you're the second successors. You're missing a few, by the way."
"What do you want?" Carnelian frowned, "You can't seriously think you can take us all on at once."
"Did I try to?" He pointed his words at her, "You just saw me teleport. I could easily have stabbed any of you if I wanted."
Harumi picked up the time blade from the ground. She looked over it for a few moments, then she attached it to her belt. She shifted her robes about and then stepped forward so she was close to the man.
"I don't care what you think you were doing," Harumi growled, "You can't think that you can win this fight. Call off your warriors right now and we will take you in without injuring either of you."
The man looked around at the five warriors above him. Olive, still in the sky on her elemental dragon, hovered lower towards the ground. A single gust of ice froze his feet to the ground, immobilizing him even further. His only response to this was to just laugh.
"Is this all of you?" He paused, "Well, except for that little zapper earlier. He put up a good fight while the rest of your got here."
"Why you!" Souma let a bit of the wind he had in his right hand loose, blasting the attacker clear in the face. Had Karlon still not been holding his metal-clad arm still, he would have gone flying.
"...Well, I think that response says what I need," He laughed, "I needed all of you here for this, anyhow…"
Harumi noticed something. A flash of orange. The flash came from another man, this one with gray hair and a near identical set of armor, standing on the outstanded arm of the Iron Doom. His face was full of concentration. Before Harumi could cry out, an orange beam shout out as the entire group, Olive and this man included, were entrapped within the reverse blade's effects. All of their perceptions were lost as the blade forcibly time backwards. The forward blade Harumi held onto was reversed to end up back within the man's hand. At the same time, the shark-arm of the Iron Doom took hold of its sword, drawing it up to loom over the Monastery.
As soon as Harumi and the others could see, the black haired man was back on the platform with the forward blade. He became perceptible to them just as the copper sword came crashing down in the direct center of the monastery. The front gate was split in half, along with the roof of the building. Carnelian launched into the building and grabbed Raiden, dragging him out with two bursts of flames from her feet. Souma launched his hands up, the wind stored in his weapons catching the falling debris in the wind before they could crush his team. Another slice of the Iron Doom's sword cut through what he was holding and sent it over the walls.
"Your little team is missing an element, is it not?" The younger one smirked, "Well then, Harumi, let me impart some wisdom upon you! Control time… control everything!"
Harumi, Carnelian and MIzuko all formed Rhotatae discs, firing them off directly at him. His blade recharged just enough for him to catch them in the green glow. They reappeared far further along in their arcs, flying off into the distance. He grinned.
Harumi and Mizuko were fast enough to react. Carnelian's disc vanished, but the other two arced around and flung right back at the man's back. The twin had just enough time to see them out of the corner of his eye before two Vermillion threw themselves behind him and took the blows to their torsos. They both were over the sides of the platform into the clouds below as his's grin dropped somewhat..
Another massive swing of the Iron Doom's arm caused the entire east wall to be reduced to nothing more than rubble. The sound hurt Harumi's ears as the ground shook underneath them from the impact. The pieces fell off into the clouds and down towards the surface below. The damage to the monastery was rapidly causing their available fighting ground to dwindle, and as such Harumi quickly fired off another disc at the younger one. This one instead missed him entirely and flew up into the Iron Doom to try to attack where she'd seen the elder one. The disc hit the machine, but the machine didn't budge.
As the arm moved to swing again, this time it was stopped midair. A massive creak split the air followed by an ear-piercing screech. Karlon let out a yell of exertion as the entire joint of the Iron Domo began to twist and peel apart. The snakes inside were exposed as the arm began to convulse. The behemoth roared out in confusion as it was unable to move. Already, Mizuko and Carnelian were racing forward towards Acronix.
"Master… of metal!" Karlon shouted with a small snide grin, "Twins make big mistake using metal machine!"
"A valiant effort! But, sadly, I'm not losing another arm!" The projected voice of the elder one filled the air to combat the sound of the arm being torn open. As more metal plates were twisted, the other arm moved and the shark mouth opened. Karlon turned to try to grab the arm as well, yet his efforts didn't work. The shock of his powers not working on it let the opened mouth reveal two red-tipped missiles that glowed for a brief moment, then fired out towards him.
"Karlon!" Harumi shouted, sending a blast of energy from her hands. It intercept the missiles just in time, yet the explosion on impact sent the entire group flying across the ground. Karlon lost his grip as he was thrown into what remained of the eastern wall, causing the sword arm to resume its motion. The sword cleaved directly down into the very middle of the monastery once more, causing massive cracks to spiderweb over the entire grounds. Harumi was knocked from her feet once by the explosion and then sent up up into the air again by the massive strike. She opened her eyes to see the sword was only a few scant feet from her legs.
Harumi's ears rang from the sound of the explosion. She groaned hard and pushed herself upwards towards her feet, only to have her vision wobble. She struck her head with her palm and forced herself upwards until she was on her feet.
"Harumi!" Lloyd's voice rang out on her comm, "The debris, they're-"
"I've got more important things to worry about!" Harumi cut them off with a tap of her hand. Instead, she raised her hands and blasted two large green energy fireballs directly towards the Iron Doom once more. The two balls merged together and swung right into the sword, causing it to wobble in the machine's grasp. It didn't budge.
"Harumi," Olive spoke up over the comms, "I will distract the Iron Doom, are you alright?"
The rest of the team had slowly gotten up from the massive impact. Karlon had lost his concentration, and his helmet had been knocked off to reveal his blonde hair spilling out over his face. Blood trickled down the side of his temple. His left hammer was broken, showing his hand clinging to a now useless handle. Carnelian had gotten back up and somehow retained a massive cocky grin on her face even with her outfit now gashed open in several places. Souma seemed to be the only one that was unhurt due to the wind tunnel he had around himself, Mizuko and Raiden. Harumi grimaced at that even as Mizuko flashed an apologetic smile.
Harumi looked up to the sight of the icy dragon flying around the Iron Doom, weaving in and out of sword swipes at itself. Olive froze random pieces of the Iron Doom's armor, only to have the snakes break it apart. Harumi looked over across her group, then slowly stood up herself. She wiped away some sweat from her face and then responded slowly, "We're fine, Olive."
A massive amalgamated screech drew the group's attention. The younger man stood at the front of an entire group of warriors, grinning at Harumi. His time blade was now back in the Iron Doom's dial, and instead he had a silver katana in hand. He smirked at the injured group before turning his back to them.
"Now…" His blade flashed, "Let's see what you all are made out of! VERMILLION WARRIORS! DEVOURER EVERYONE IN SIGHT!"
The man stepped backwards and was swallowed by the oncoming warriors. The warriors began to advance, and then split into two ranks. One rank began to march forward across their bridge, while the other stood still. Carnelian frowned heavily at the second rank and raised her fists.
"Oh yeah?!" She shouted, "Go ahead and devourer THIS!"
Carnelian focused and formed a massive disc. The disc grew in diameter to almost the full size of her arm, at which point it began to crackle and burn with flames. Carnelian's feet lit up with flames, at which point she launched up into the sky with the force and fired it. The disc flew directly towards the Vermillion rank that had held back, slamming into them with an explosive force that sent them directly over the bridge and into the clouds.
"Woah…" Carnelian stumbled as the exertion of such a disc suddenly hit her, "...Might gonna… heh, nngghh that was kinda intense…"
Despite Harumi's annoyed glance at her for such a reckless action, the other had already rushed forward. As the Vermillion began to pour in, Karlon, still trying to reorient himself, reached out to throw a warrior up into the air and slam him into the group. Mizuko launched a stream of water into the horde, followed by Souma blasting the snakes on the ground with gusts of air. Harumi dodged oncoming strikes and surrounded her arms in energy to begin pummeling any of them that got close to her.
The Vermillion that were broken apart, however, weren't now reforming. Instead, the snakes were dispersing in all directions. Souma's wind and Mizuko's water had broken apart many of the warriors that were oncoming. Harumi knocked the head of a warrior off of their body, which happened to fly into Mizuko's water stream to knock another to the ground. More warriors began to burn as Carnelian's flames danced across their metal, heating it up once again. Souma brandished his weapons and spun them hard, forming the wind currents around them again. He brought them together in front of him, causing a massive thunderous clap as a massive wind burst blasted into the warriors.
The snakes spread out along the ground, forming a red mass that began to pour over the group's feet. Instantly, the group began to retreat as the snakes slithered around them. Harumi and the others backed onto the remains of the entrance to the former building. The snakes poured out under the wood, forming a red sea in front of them. Souma blew a massive column of wind into the snakes, yet those that were flung backwards just continued to absorb into the mass. Harumi looked around the floor in confusion, unsure what was happening.
"This… that is too easy…" Harumi muttered, "Something wrong, we need to-"
"HARUMI!" Lloyd's voice rang out in her comms, "Listen to me, you guys need to retreat, now!"
Before Harumi could bark at him to be quiet, there was a massive rumbling sound. Slowly, Harumi and the others felt the floor under them being shaken, then the wood cracked. Almost instantly, Misuko looked up to Olive in the sky, who nodded back to her. Mizuko sprayed water out from her hands, while Olive quickly froze it. The others quickly scrambled up the icy path using small stairs Mizuko created. Mizuko anchored the platform with pillars into the ground.
Harumi turned around to see what the creaking was. As the group watched, the entirety of the building that remained was lurched upwards from the ground. The remaining back wall of the Monastery was completely upended, breaking apart in several places as it was sent backwards over the cliff. Yet even as it fell, the group saw that it only fell a small distance. When it hit the cloud layer, it stopped.
Mizuko dispelled the water and Olive the ice, letting the group fall back down to the ground. Harumi had no time to mourn the loss of her childhood home, as now she saw it in front of her. The group watched as a massive humanoid figure rose up, a hand made of rubble slamming into the side of the monastery grounds to pull itself up. Its body was a massive conglomeration of pieces of wall, roof, rubble and furniture that had been ripped from the Monastery. The creature had four large serpentine heads that all writhed about and hissed. When it climbed its way up opposite where the Iron Doom lay, it rose to almost five times the height of Harumi. Red snakes pulsed and swirled about, their necks holding the pieces together.
The creature hissed out, revealing the older man sitting atop its shoulder with a dark grin. He pointed outwards with his right hand and tapped his temple with the left. The amalgamation swung its fist down into the group, scattering them as it added to the splintering of the mountain. The cracks deepened even as the creature readied another attack.
Souma put his hands together along with Mizuko and Carnelian, blasting away at the pieces that the snakes were using to hold such a form. The man simply waved his hand to cause the beast to raise its hand up, using the roof tiles embedded into its forearms to black their blast. Harumi tried to back up to aid them, yet she could her back now to more warriors. The warriors that Carnelian had blasted off the platform had crawled back up the mountain, and now with no wall to stop them, were reinforcing the snakes that had formed the massive creature. The two divisions had trapped them.
Harumi thought fast and quickly fired off four small discs with her hands. She opened her arms and sent the discs into the air. The first flew towards the older man, whom dodged with a simple sidestep. As soon as the disc started to turn back to him, he picked up a piece of rock from his creation and flung it directly into the disc, shattering it. The other two came down, severing two heads on the beast. As a few snakes were severed, the creature bellowed. More snakes began to take its place, moving up and reform the heads. What snakes weren't killed rejoined the mass when they hit the ground.
The fourth disc began to rapidly spin as Harumi focused hard. It became a whirling saw, which arced into the chestplate of the beast. It cut directly through the roof tiles used to form its chestplate, lodging inside the mass.. Harumi quickly began to move it around and about, carving up whatever snakes it could find.
Suddenly, Harumi felt a searing pain in her shoulder. Her concentration was lost and the disc disappeared as she saw the tip of a Vermillion blade in her shoulder. The warrior laughed at her, only for its helmet to be carved inwards by Karlon's metal power. Harumi hissed as the thrust her shoulder forward to remove the blade.
Before she could react, the fixt of the creature was already hitting the ground. Harumi was sent flying again, landing as gracefully she could on the ground and panting heavily. The cracks in the floor only grew in size and scope as the Vermillion poured in from one side and Krux's creature on the other. Souma quickly blasted himself off into the air and then landed behind Harumi to defend her back.
"Harumi, severe structural integrity damage has been detected to the mountaintop," Olive landed behind Harumi and covered her wound in ice, "The mountain cannot sustain repeated impact. Chances of total collapse are at 45%."
"You're saying that thing is strong enough to break the mountain!?" Harumi asked nervously. Olive gave an 'affirmative' to her.
"Harumi!" Mizuko, whom had now dragged Raiden into the center of their group, groaned out, "We can't wait! We have to get out of here!"
Harumi weighed her options. Right now, Raiden was down, and Karlon was worse for wear. They were between two entities, one of which being made of enough of the Monastery to prevent them from breaking it apart. The adaptability of the army was staggering. She still had enough power to form her elemental dragon, but even then, the Iron Doom could fire off shots. Would they even make it far?
"Olive!" Harumi called out, "Stay down here with us, I have a plan."
"Understood," Olive nodded her head, using her robotic arm to help pull Harumi upright, "What do you have in mind, Harumi?"
Harumi put Raiden in the middle of them all, then she used her elemental power to draw a massive circle around them that crackled with green energy. The masters quickly formed up around it, making a makeshift ground for them. Olive, Harumi and Mizuko faced the warriors, while Souma, Karlon and Carnelian pointed towards the behemoth. Harumi waved her hand in a circle, then closed her fist.
The group instantly recalled her strategy. Slowly, each of them formed a disc in their hands, focusing until the discs were almost two feet in diameter. Once they were, they each fired the disc off in front of them, then arced them about the center of their small circle. The discs increased in speed until they formed a band around them, a ring that became incredibly deadly. Harumi and the others focused hard as their speed increased faster and faster until finally Harumi hit her foot onto the ground.
Instantly, the discs all shot off in random directions. With their speed and gathered force, it translated directly from rotational into tangential momentum. They each shot out, three of them cleaving right into the Vermillion ranks and not stopping until they had arced out far past the Iron Doom. The other three curved upwards and dove into the chest of the behemoth as Harumi had done, each cutting down warrior after warrior inside. The discs held on for several seconds before they disappeared.
Both of the men rubbed their heads and winced. Quickly, the older one ordered the remaining snakes to devourer the corpses of those that were cut down. The others watched as the warriors fell upon their brethren, leaving nothing but the armor behind. The snakes that ate looked towards the group, their eyes glowing as the warriors raised their blades and charged.
Olive let out a massive wall of ice in front of them. Warriors rammed into it, their swords picking it apart. Mizuko lobbed shots upwards over the ice wall into said warriors. Harumi did the same, thinning those that were trying to get over them. Meanwhile, Souma sent two wind tunnels into the creature looming over them, holding it at bay. Karlon formed another disc and sent it flying up into heads of the creature. Carnelian sent a column of fire directly into the base of the creature, trying to knock it off the mountain.
"LOOK OUT!" Karlon's shout rang out across the battlefield. Harumi and the others watched as the right arm of the almost forgotten beast grew in size as rubble shifted from the body into it. The older man brought his own right arm up, then slammed it down. The now enlargened arm slammed into the ground, cracking it further. It then swept its arm over the floor, aiming to sweep the entire group, Vermillion included, off the mountain.
Carnelian ran forward, grabbing Karlon's arm. The two nodded, then put their arms out in front of them. They let out equal shouts of effort in preparation. The arm swiped towards them, at which point the two punched into it. The rubble on the arm cracked as they yelled in sync, holding it back. Quickly, the group scrambled forward and leapt to get out of the way. After a few seconds, the war of strength won out as Carnelian and Karlon were thrown over the cliff side.
"I got you!" Souma shouted, his feet forming little wind pockets as he leapt off into the air. He shot forward, his hands reaching out to go and grab the two. Both of them were flailing as they tried to grab onto something. Souma outstretched his hands, preparing to grab them both.
A roar from under him quickly preceded Souma being flung backwards by the sight of Lulloyd's mech dragon rising from the clouds. His eyes were wide with confusion as he watched the mechanoid creature twist its body to use its front feet to grab Souma and Karlon, then throw them directly back over onto the ground. As soon as the dragon was visible, Krux stared at them in shock.
"What?!" The older man sputtered, "Those two, already?! It certainly explains things…"
The dragon wasted no time. The talons shot off from the feet, all rocketing forward as missiles to slam into the cobbled creature. While it did little to damage it, it succeeded in throwing the older man off balance. Lulloyd followed this up by spinning his dragon in a circle, causing the tail to whip outwards and crash forward into the perch atop the behemoth. In order to evade, he was forced to leap off the creature.
"Set her down!" Lloyd shouted. Lulloyd responded by arcing his dragon so that its massive body surrounded the group that was sitting among the now razed ruins of the Monastery, wrapped around them in a protective shell. The dragon roared and let out a massive spray of green fire towards the Iron Doom in a predatory manner.
Both the green ninjas leapt off of the dragon, hoods on. As they landed, Lloyd drew his twin katanas and Lulloyd his curved blade. They rushed forward to take a stand in the small opening left between the dragon's head and tail, staring the Iron Doom down. Almost instantly, Acronix snarled behind the controls.
The Vermillion warriors suddenly halted their progress, swords raised and ready to bash the mech dragon into submission. The massive cobble creature hung limply in the air, awaiting an order as the mass swarmed to keep it together. Krux slowly made his way towards the Iron Doom around the mech dragon, standing in front of the group with a hard frown.
"You two…" He growled, "I thought I sent a clear enough message with your little ninja team," He gestured to Lulloyd, "That you were not to follow us. Apparently, wisdom is wasted on the young."
"What are you doing here?!" Harumi hissed towards them, rushing forward to stand behind them, "I told you to wait for my signal!"
"Your signal was letting several chunks of that building nearly crush us hiding on the mountainside like that," Lloyd shot back, "We're here to help you."
"Oh, new guys!" Immediately, Carnelian rushed forward with her hand outstretched, "Heya, I'm Carnelian, what's up with the outfits, guys?"
Harumi swatted her hand away before Lulloyd could reach out to shake her hand. Carnelian rolled her eyes and stepped backwards, looking to the other masters. Souma panted hard, the exertion of using his wind like that taking its toll. Karlon, no longer able to stand, slumped to the ground and groaned as he got onto his hands and knees. Mizuko had gotten down and began attending to Raiden. Olive, unscathed, looked to Harumi nervously.
"Harumi," Olive spoke quietly, "I do not believe we can take anymore of this. Cole has not given a status update yet. I don't believe we will receive any reinforcements before this battle concludes."
"That guy looks really bad…" Lulloyd looked to Raiden, "Listen, if you need me to, I can get us all out of here on my dragon here. I'll just, need a distraction…"
"We can't run," Lloyd shook his head, "The Iron Doom is way faster than you can take off. Even if we did, we can't fit everyone on that. And I'm sure they're too exhausted to make their elemental dragons." Lulloyd blinked at that.
"Can you?" Harumi muttered. Lloyd shook his head and pointed to the Iron Doom.
"My power was taken from me and is powering that thing right now," Lloyd stated bleakly, "I have just enough to defend myself but that's it. I don't have enough to make my dragon either."
The sound of a sword hitting the ground drew the group's attention. The younger man had strolled up alongside his brother, knocking a simple katana against the rocks. Neither of them held the time blades nor helmets on. Harumi quickly confirmed they were now plugged into the Iron Doom.
"Krux!" Lloyd growled, "And Acronix. You should have known that we would follow you!"
"Uh… Flux and Ardonix?" Mizuko blinked.
"Older one is Krux," Lulloyd pointed with his blade, "Younger one is Acronix. Or, that's what I've gotten so far."
"Perhaps a battle like this… was in haste," Acronix spoke calmly, "I think right now, a… negotiation is in order."
"A negotiation?" Olive blinked, "The circumstances do not lend themselves to that. Why are you offering this?"
"Because we've gone through more snakes than we want to," Krux explained, tapping his head, "We have a telepathic connection to the hive. We feel each and every one of the deaths that it suffers. We would prefer to minimize that tonight, if we can."
"You should've thought of that before you attacked us!" Carnelian frowned hard, "We're not just some kids, you know!"
"Harumi…" Souma spoke up, his fists becoming the center of mini tornados, "Give me the word, and I will blast these two right off this rock. I'll hurt them like they've hurt us!"
For a moment, Harumi weighed her options. Without the master of earth, they couldn't knock the Iron Doom off the cliff. Karlon was hurt from the explosion and Raiden had taken extensive damage from before she'd arrived. The group had been fighting for awhile, and the constant attacks had worn them down. If she started a fight now, would it work?
"Wait a minute…" Lulloyd spoke up, looking at the platform the Iron Doom stood on, "Those… those are bricks! Where did you get those?!"
The twins looked to one another for a moment. Then Krux started to snicker. Lulloyd wasn't sure what that meant, but the two didn't seem to care. They just continued to snicker to one another for a few moments before Harumi cut them off.
"Fine, let's negotiate!" She spoke firmly, "What do you want?"
The twins stopped their little chuckling and reoriented themselves. Acronix lifted his blade up into the air and slowly hovered it around the ground. Lloyd and Lulloyd raised their blades to attack him. The point of the sword, however, didn't move forward, and instead moved to point to Harumi.
"You," Acronix smirked, "You will come with us as insurance that we will not be attacked as we leave. It's as simple as that."
The group behind Harumi immediately tensed up. Each of them slowly began to summon what little of their element they could, getting ready to attack. Harumi's expression didn't change as she looked back and forth to the group that was behind her. She looked to Lloyd.
Lloyd turned towards Acornix, "How do we know you won't hurt her?"
"I don't think you have any say in this," Acronix's smirk fell, "You two are a third party in this. I think you should sit this one out!"
With that, Acronix suddenly flung several Vermillion snakes from underneath his cloak. Both Lloyd and Lulloyd were struck by them. The snakes moved fast and constricted around their hands and feet, restraining the two of them. A simple shake sent the two onto the ground. Another two snakes crawled up and positioned themselves onto their necks.
"Move, and they will bite. Vermillion are bred from the Devourer… and trust me," Krux sneered, "We've already seen that they can devour people just fine."
Harumi wanted to move to intercept the snakes, but doing so would put the two at risk. Slowly, she turned to the group, and to Olive specifically. Olive slowly looked back towards the group as well before a hatch in her arm opened up. She walked up to Harumi and gripped her hand tightly, looking up at her. Harumi turned back towards the twins and took a deep breath.
"Fine," Harumi growled, "Do what you want with me. But you are to leave the rest of them alone. Is that a deal?"
The group shouted in protest. As they each cried out in shock, Harumi raised her fist and closed her hand. The group silenced themselves as she slowly exhaled and took a step forward.
"Harumi… you can't trust them!" Lloyd shouted. The snake on his neck bit down lightly.
Harumi looked to the two for a moment. She frowned hard at him, "You can't tell me what to do. I have to protect my team."
Harumi paused and stepped forward towards Olive. She gently leaned in and whispered, "When I hit them, flash freeze them, got it?"
"Affirmative," Olive nodded her head, "I will keep the team safe in your absence, Harumi."
Thankful that Olive had picked up on her subtlety, Harumi took a deep breath and stalked forward. As she passed her two downed fathers, she gently let her hand curl up and begin to charge a tiny dense Rhotate disc. It wouldn't be enough to take them down, but it would be more than enough to stun them. Harumi stepped forward towards Krux and Acronix, whom parted to let a group of Vermillion warriors move forward and grab her lims and restrain her. She turned her head away in disgust as the snakes that formed the 'heads' of the creatures leaned towards her and hissed in her face. The disc in her hand grew larger.
Before she could do anything, the disc that Harumi held was extinguished as a Vermillion reached forward and forced her hand shut. Her eyes widened as she let out a gasp, struggling to tear her arm away. Snakes rapidly began to curl up and around her body. Acronix walked forward and moved to put himself directly into Harumi's face as he let out a little condescending 'tssk tssk tssk' towards her.
"That little trick won't work on us… but we could use it," Acronix turned his back to them, "You ninja, never an honest fighter. I guess you deserve something for trying such a cliche trick like that. Vermillion… devour her."
"HARUMI!" Lloyd shouted, only to feel the serpent bite down again. Blood started to trickle down his neck as Krux shushed him.
Harumi let out a shriek as several snakes lashed out from the warriors, swarming over her body. They quickly wrapped around and constricted around her, covering her body in their tendrils. A warrior moved in front of her, smiling at her until its face melted into the tens of serpents all pointed towards her, their fangs open and moving forward straight for her face. Harumi's eyes widened as all of the snakes reared to bite into her.
A sudden flash of white blinded Harumi. In a split second, Olive had launched forward, showing inhuman speed as she passed thrust Krux and Acronix aside to get to her. Her hand reached out and gripped Harumi by her outfit and pulled her directly out of the mass. Harumi was flung off to the ground as Olive turned, holding icy orbs in her hand as she raised a fist to flash freeze a warrior solid.
She never got that chance. In a split second, Krux had gotten back to his feet and rushed her from behind. With his knee to her back, Krux grabbed her right arm and pulled back as hard as she could. Olive stared in shock as he twisted with enough force to break a human's arm. While her robotic parts weren't enough to snap, it caused her hand to malfunction. Krux let go, then used his knee to kick her forward directly into the swarm.
"OLIVE!" Harumi shouted as Olive's body was rapidly consumed by the snakes. They bit down into every facet of her body, sinking their teeth past flesh and metal and into what was underneath. Sparks emanated from the group as each portion of her body was bitten open and then ripped apart. Olive's eyes flashed for a brief moment before those two were bitten into. A twisted sound of metal being ripped apart accompanied her head being ripped from her body as the warrior collapsed into a mass, all ripping apart Olive's body right in front of them all.
As Harumi watched in horror as they consumed her friend, Krux's expression was livid. He looked to Harumi on the ground and then growled. In his anger, he and struck the ground with his foot. The rocks that were there suddenly turned a light blue, and then they burst apart. Gray bricks of the same color were scattered everywhere, only for his body to rapidly pick them up. Lulloyd immediately saw a technique he knew far too well used to create a massive crude hammer that Krux grabbed and flung over his head, striking the group directly in the center.
Quickly, they scattered. Lloyd took a deep breath and focused all the power he had into his hands. They glew brightly with energy, and the snake that was attached to him was rapidly burned away by the power. His hand immediately grabbed the one on his neck, burning it away until its grip loosened on his neck. He shot his energy ball into the one that was biting into Lulloyd, causing it, too, to wither away.
Krux and Acronix both focused. The snake mass around Olive had disappeared, leaving nothing in its wake. The snakes reconstituted into their warrior forms, drawing their blades. The Twins looked upon the group and simply smirked, taking a few steps backwards as the warriors moved to protect them. It was a simple walk to the base of the Iron Doom, and by the time the group was fighting the snakes again, the two quickly rushed inside.
The warriors descended on the group, climbing over the mech dragon to try to pour into the center. Lulloyd hit a button on the side of his dragon, causing the spines to fire off and force them down. Lloyd rushed up to his feet, drawing his swords. The Iron Doom stared down at them, bathing Lloyd in a red glow. His confidence wavered as such a massive foe stared them down.
A scream of exertion made Lloyd turn around. Karlon had stood back up, his hands outstretched and face twisted with effort. The Iron Doom was frozen, and then began to shake. The elemental master began to stretch his hands outwards, as though he was trying to push apart several hundred ton blocks. A large seam formed straight down from the chest to the bottom of the Iron Doom, one which began to creak and split apart. Karlon shouted harder as the metal seam split further and further apart.
Gusts of wind began to batter the Iron Doom. Souma had joined in Karlon's effort, blasting the Iron Doom with gale force winds. The machine began to sway as the sheer force rocked it. Columns of water shot up from Mizuko's hands, battering straight into the hole that Karlon was ripping apart. Carnelian had her arms outstretched two, one hand firing a column of fire that began to rapidly heat the metal the snakes resided in.
Harumi remained on the ground, stunned. Her breath was coming in short gasps, and a cold feeling was spreading through her. She slowly looked up, however, as she saw Lulloyd rushing in front of her. His eyes were trained on the platform the Iron Doom stood on. He looked back to the group fighting, then to the platform again.
With as much speed as he could muster, Lulloyd ran into the crowd. Harumi watched with vacant eyes as he swung his sword into each oncoming warrior, fighting to keep them at bay. When they became too thick, he jumped up and used their helmets as stepping stones. The Iron Doom couldn't see him through its ordeal as Lulloyd grew closer and closer to the platform.
With his fist pulled back, Lulloyd shouted and struck the platform as hard as he could. The bricks quivered, and then began to fall apart. Technic beams having held up the platform broke and fell off. The entire platform broke apart as the Iron Doom began to fall backwards from the assault. Lulloyd closed his eyes and delivered an even harder strike to the platform, hard enough to throw himself backwards.
The entire shelf broke apart. The Iron Doom bellowed in terror as its body rocked and then was sent falling off into the misty clouds below. The bricks rapidly moved and reformed up until they had all joined together to form a completely untouched portion of the Monastery wall. Once they had, the blue glow surrounded them again. They immediately returned to the matter that they had apparently broken from.
As Lulloyd stared in shock as this development, Lloyd ran and leapt up into the air. He landed on top of the newly built wall and looked down into the clouds. Nothing rose up from it. After a few seconds, the cobble creation behind them suddenly collapsed apart, the snakes dispersing in all directions. The group tensed for a moment, then watched the warriors on the battlefield do the same. The snakes scattered about, all swarming about in various direction. Souma directed his fists down onto the ground, blowing them either towards or off the cliffsides as fast as he could.
"Did…" Lulloyd gasped, "Did… we win?"
Lloyd opened his mouth to speak. Then, the anguished wailing of Harumi from behind them stopped him. She pressed her head into the ground where Olive had been ripped apart, tears pouring from her eyes as her entire body was wracked with sobs. The answer to the question lay within her cries that filled the air around them.