SailorStar9: With Chapter 24 uploaded, I present Chapter 25 of this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.
Disclaimers: I only own the plot.
Chapter 25: The Armor Must Be Destroyed
At the Catasota Gulch Pinnacles...
Halo, be reminded the Ronin Warriors' armors were created from Talpa's body. Athena's droned in Sage's head. If you rely only on your power, you will become no different from Talpa himself. Power alone is not enough, Halo. Body, skill and spirit: train your spirit, then light will come to your spirit.
The same as Talpa... Sage mused. "The power of the Dynasty." what is Athena trying to tell us? He wondered, making his way to a fresh water stream. I don't understand. How do I train my spirit? Taking a sip from the brook, he was alerted by the fluttering wings of a bird and he jumped onto the opposite shore, having donned on his undergear. "Thanks to Athena, I've become quite timid." he noted, seeing the hovering bird in the sky. "Dynasty Soldiers?" two flock of birds fled the forest as the water in the stream rippled to indicate an intrusion. "Come on out and face me!" he barked. Those won't soldiers. He frowned when silence greeted him. But I feel some kind of aura. The furious barking of wolves alerted the Warrior of Halo of another fight.
At the foot of the nearby cliff, a pack of wolves had cornered a herd of deer against the stone wall and the wolves pounced on their prey and forcing the deer to scatter and jump up the wall to flee. The one fawn in the herd missed a foothold and slid back to the ground. The worried mother called out to her fawn as the wolves pounced on the child.
Sage jumped in, swatting the wolves away. "I won't let you disrupt the peace of the forest." the swordsman declared.
The wolves cowered in fear at the brimming aura Sage emitted and stalked off.
"Don't be afraid." Sage turned to the fawn. "I'll cure that wound. Don't worry, I'm your friend."
The fawn shook off Sage and bounced off to its herd.
In the Dynasty...
"Cale." Talpa summoned his next Warlord. "The Ronin Warriors are struggling with themselves. Show them the grudge of the Dynasty. Show them the wonder of awakening the power of the Dynasty."
"It is natural to seek a greater power than to seek a lower power." Cale agreed. "I will make Halo realize that and make him submit to you."
"The Ronin Warriors are clouded by the notion of justice and their blind loyalty to Athena." Talpa remarked. "Drunk with battles and do not yet understand their true natures. I want you to make them understand. Then, they will naturally enter the Dynasty gates."
"As they have now taken their own separate journeys, it is not possible for them to summon the white armor." Cale added. "I am not one to pass up this opportunity."
With Sage...
"The animals seems afraid of you." Cale made his appearance in front of Sage. "Haven't you realized it yet?"
"Cale, Warlord of Corruption." Sage recognized his adversary. "You're still alive."
"Should I tell you, Halo?" Cale mocked. "Why the animals were so afraid of you? You are the same as us. You shall know this. Your body is a dangerous weapon. It is used to cause harm."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Sage snapped. "I am not dangerous and I don't cause harm."
"You have that aura." Cale droned. "The aura from from your body brings fear to the animals."
"I'm not like you." Sage retorted. "The Ronin Warriors are fighting to defeat the Dynasty."
"The new power that you have acquired is the power of the Dynasty." Cale declared, summoning the Dynasty soldiers around Sage. "It even shows in your aura."
"That's not true!" Sage insisted.
"Are you certain of that?" Cale challenged. "Don't be so confused." he drew his sword. "All you have to do is fight, Halo." he jumped down from the cliff he was standing on to engage Sage. "Suffer, feel the pain and submit to the power of the Dynasty." he declared, Sage having fought off the Dynasty soldiers attacking him. "I will then take you to Master Talpa. He will be more than pleased."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Sage snapped.
"It will happen." Cale chuckled. "Even if you reject it."
"Armor of Halo, Tao Rei!" Sage summoned his armor after jumping to dodge Cale's sword.
"Look at yourself, Halo!" Cale shouted, Sage having easily dispatched the attacking Dynasty soldiers. "You've become a fighting machine." he clashed with Sage. "It is the fate of one who awakens to battle to want to battle for the rest of one's life. You should be able to feel it yourself: the aura that you're giving off. Your body wants to fight and is reacting on its own." he parried Sage off, knocking him to the ground and allowing one of the surviving Dynasty soldiers to jumped the downed Light Warrior.
Sage dodged the thrust spear and was about to take out the Dynasty soldier when he hesitated, giving the soldier the opening to smack Sage to the ground. My sword is not shining. He noticed his nodachi's blade was dull. My spirit is clouded with confusion.
"Get up, Halo." Cale ordered. "It is time for you to fight with your Dynasty powers."
I'm not a fighting machine! Sage held firm in his beliefs, even when he was defeated by the Dynasty soldiers.
"What's the matter?" Cale was using Sage as a punching bag. "It's too late to give up and escape your destiny. Stand up and fight me. Fight and join our cause."
"How could I fight as just a mere weapon?" Sage growled.
"The aura is thick around you." Cale grinned, after Sage shed his armor.
Easily dodging Cale's blade, Sage took to the trees and fled the fight.
"You cannot escape it, Halo." Cale crowed. "The desire to fight is in your blood. You shall struggle with that."
Deeper in the forest...
Sage had fled to a waterfall for solace. "I won't be fooled by him." he growled. I only desire one thing. He sat underneath the waterfall to mediate. That is to bring light to other people's lives. Give me the light.
In a cave...
"Spirit of the caverns and the darkness," Cale chanted. "Give this Warlord of Corruption the greatest power." he case his area-of-effect ice spell, turning the entire forest and the plains into an icy landscape.
With Sage...
Is this Cale's doing? Sage found himself locked in ice as the waterfall froze over.
"Are you watching, Halo?" Cale laughed. "Look at this forest, this dying world. This shall soon be part of the Dynasty. Do you not want to help, with that aura of yours? It would be easy with the power of your armor. Now, draw your sword and let's rebuild the Dynasty together."
How horribly brutal. Sage was stunned when Cale's ice spell froze the flying birds in front of him. Destroying all these innocent lives.
"No need for the weak to survive in this world." Cale mocked. "Only the strong shall survive." he continued wrecking havoc in the frozen over forest. "In order to bring forth bitterness and death in this world, only the weak shall die. Halo of the Dynasty, I will be waiting for you."
At this rate, the human world will fall into darkness. Sage realized. The power pouring out of my body may be of the Dynasty, even if this power will try to corrupt my spirit, I cannot overlook their selfish behavior. I will fight as long as I have my spirit. He flared up his aura and freed himself from his ice prison. "Damn you, Cale." he cursed and hurried to face off his adversary.
In the cave...
"Now come, Halo." Cale grinned. "You will be relieved of your troubles as you awaken a new, evil spirit."
Still in his undergear, Sage fought his way to Cale, only to be met by the frozen forms of the deer herd.
"I've bee waiting, Halo." Cale laughed. "I'm glad you made it."
"What are you trying to do?" Sage demanded. "Do you enjoy harming the weak that much?"
"I thought I'd use them and complete you as a soldier of the Dynasty." Cale declared. "The creatures you want to protect, you will be forced to kill." he unfroze the deer herd. "Then, you will know that you are one of us in body and spirit. Get him, my gentle beasts." he ordered the herd to attack. "How detestable." he growled, seeing Sage was merely dodging the deer. "Has the notion of justice corrupted you that much? Don't be so gentle!" he jumped down from the cliff he was standing on and took out the herd himself. "As you try to escape, innocent creatures shall be destroyed."
"I will have to destroy you before I am corrupted." Sage declared.
"The weak shall be culled." Cale scoffed. "Here I come."
"Prepare to die!" Sage countered. "Armor of Halo, Tao Rei!" he donned his armor.
"That's it." Cale grinned, as the two warriors clashed again. "Fight with that evil aura."
"My power may be brimming with the evil aura, but my spirit is uncorrupted." Sage barked.
"Black Lightning Flash!" Cale released his sure-kill attack, forcing Sage to deflect the black energy rain.
"Ultra Ballistic Thunderbolt Cut!" Sage countered with his powered-up attack, the light beam shot up light a light pillar from the underground cave.
"Impressive, Halo." Cale praised. "Excellent power of the Dynasty. T he Dynasty has come to greet you." he turned to the large Dynasty gate in the sky. "You are now a warrior of the Dynasty." he then fell over.
With the Dynasty gate looming over him, Sage willed off his Halo armor. "If the power of this armor is of the Dynasty, that is destiny." he drew his nodachi. "But if my armor has awakened to evil, I cannot let it be. I will destroy it before my spirit gets corrupted. So long, Armor of Halo." he jumped and swung his sword down at the empty armor and slicing it right down in the middle. "The light is coming back to my sword." he blinked when his nodachi started shining. His armor had also started glowing as the cut receded back. "This must be... this armor is from Talpa's body. If I relied on its power, my spirit would be possessed by the Dynasty. But now because I decided not to rely on its power and fight with just my spirit, the aura of evil has disappeared and light has returned to the armor. I understand what you mean now, Athena." he declared, Cale's ice spell was lifted.
"Excellent, Sage of Halo." Talpa's mocking voice sounded from the Dynasty gate as it opened and extended two lightning ropes to Sage and the Armor Halo, pulling both into the gate. "I'm impressed that you have awakened on your own. Nevertheless, it was careless of you to remove your armor. Thought you may have seen the light, that new power is required by the Dynasty. Come to the Dynasty."
SailorStar9: This chapter is officially over. Read and review.
