(A/N) Last update before school starts, so I made it lengthy. Hope you all enjoy! Thanks to my awesome reviewers! I have a couple of replies to you guys:

Waitingforagame and Arodelle- I can't keep secrets with you guys, can I? xD I'll let you know there will be more interaction with Nyx in the future, and we'll get to her part soon. It'll all tie together! As always, I really appreciate the input!

1412 karasu and Marina Ka-Fai- you guys and your regular reviewing always makes me smile, thanx a ton for keeping up with this story!(and my sister says thanks btw Marina x)

Disclaimer: I wish I owned, but I don't.

Chapter 21

Martel navigated quickly through the dank chambers, the sensor doing the majority of the work. The chill of the temple ran down her spine and put her on edge. Something powerful was at work here- something that rolled through the entire building as an invisible, broiling force. They were close to the center of the mass of mana, to the point where even Xilia, unable to sense it, was shifting restlessly and probably felt the tingle of energy on her skin. The eerie quiet between the three was a suspenseful one, and Martel could feel the rising tension about to break. As if they would have to take action at any second.

The ornate stone walls swept open to either side ahead, and she could see a dim room larger than any other they had passed through. Mithos' blonde shock of hair bobbed up and down as he walked beside her, but his steps were light and wary as he experienced her same feelings.

This was it.

They crept cautiously into the room. Martel was aware of monsters stirring on the periphery of her senses, but they were oddly dormant like everything in this temple. As if to contradict her, a bright flash flared across the walls, the color of a chill purple, lighting the outskirts of the chamber like torches as they caught and encircled the area. The three of them jolted in surprise, Mithos bringing up his kendama and Martel her staff automatically. However, when no attack came, they looked about the room curiously as it was now well lit in a fashion that made it seem cooler than it actually was.

"An automated lighting system?" Xilia asked with a fair degree of incredulity. Martel shook her head while taking in the dais ahead of them and the ample walls with a higher ceiling looming above them.

"The area responded to our influx of foreign mana and ignited. I'd think it was similar, but those aren't any form of traditional light I know of." She shut her eyes for a moment to confirm it, "It feels like the mana is caught in a sustained state of burning. It's pure energy." The sensor was off the charts, and she slid it back into Xilia's pack. It was fairly useless this close to the anomaly. Scouring the embellished floor for any sign of the cause of the power, she couldn't see anything. Mithos visibly shivered behind her as she took a couple of steps deeper into the room for a better look.

"This place all of a sudden seems-" he shrugged with a frown turning the corners of his mouth down in confusion, "alive." Martel hummed in agreement. The place was waking up at their presence, something she both heavily anticipated and guardedly feared. Reaching a short set of three stairs, Martel realized something odd.

"It's an altar of some sort." Xilia had flew to her right side and knelt down to examine the floor where deep ridges were cut into the stone in an apparent pattern. Running her finger through one of the neatly carved gouges, she met the same conclusion.

"You're right. It looks like a type of charmed circle- I can't tell, it's rather intricate." Martel's eyes darted about the large blueprint at their feet. She recognized little about it, the flowing lines were twisted into an ancient magic. Mana was clearly concentrated at the precise center, rippling out in unsteady waves, but despite everything, unseen. Martel cautiously approached the center of the circle, but caught herself in her steps when it began to faintly glow through the cracks. The purplish light was the same as that which lit the rest of the room, but the light beneath the circle was different in a way. It was brighter, more intense, and powerful. Martel hurried to remove herself from the dais and jumped down the steps to reach Xilia and Mithos' sides.

"Something's happening." Mithos dully observed, but he trained a distinctly worried look on Martel, "What's happening?" His eyes were wide with both eagerness and perhaps a little bit of fear. Martel was about to offer him some words of comfort when a crackling, deep, and gravelly voice hissed from somewhere above them.

"A Summoner?" The bodiless words floated through the room and sent shivers up Martel's spine. Mithos froze at her side and gripped at his kendama more fiercely than before. She felt her breath catch and looked about the room frantically. They were clearly the only ones present, so who could have spoken in such a manner?

"Who's there?" Martel bravely projected her voice outwards without the slightest tremble to betray her unease. Xilia, meanwhile, oddly looked oblivious to their newest surprise.

"What are you talking about?" She half-whispered, half-spoke. Martel's eyebrows creased in confusion. She didn't hear it? Mithos gave her an annoyed glare, only made less meaningful by the way his eyes flitted about the room.

"Are you deaf? The voice." His tone would've likely been condescending in any other circumstance, but instead it was simply snappish and devoid of any true implication. *

"What voice?" She was taken aback, confirming Martel's suspicion. Xilia couldn't hear it for some reason. Did that make the voice an arte, or spell cast on them alone? The voice had said 'Summoner', and for some reason that word seemed familiar. Her father had used it before.

"Xilia, do you know of Summoners?" Humans had long kept historical records after all; maybe the researcher could spurn her memory. Xilia's eyes were now on the glowing circle, but she nodded all the same.

"It's a part of ancient legends, almost a religion. It was said that before Mana was worshipped as the only God, there were many other deities of lesser power that were prayed to in times of crisis. If I recall properly, Summoners were elves who were said to be capable of borrowing the lesser beings' powers for a time. As far as I know it's a myth, because the ancient stories heavily rely on Summoners as the hero figure, and Summoning was called quote 'a rare and powerful gift passed down through blood alone'." Xilia punctuated her opinion with a shrug, "and they were told ages ago, before the War began and before the Church of Mana was founded. I'm fairly certain the Church was created a good thousand years before the War began, too." Martel's mind was working furiously to connect the strings. Xilia's information sounded fairly correct, but she had heard that word before. It was like a light bulb had clicked on when she remembered- a feat in itself, for it was more than ten years ago.

Her human father used to humor her with stories of their elven mother whenever she asked. One particular story stuck in her mind as fantastic and magical when she was little more than eleven years of age. That was likely the reason she could recall it with such clarity even today.

"Father!" A young girl with shoulder length tufts of sea green locks called after a man with thin framed glasses and dark brown hair. He had turned with a bright smile on his face, stopping in his tracks to allow her to catch up.

"Yes, Martel?" They were outside of their home, a small wooden building on the outskirts of Yggdrasil, the front side facing the forest, while the backdoor pointed back along the path to the center of the village. With the house situated in this manner, the Great Tree was visible above the tree line, looming as a beacon of energy over the town, grand and magnificent. However, the sight was commonplace for an eleven-year-old Martel, and she kept her eager gaze trained on her father.

"Where did mother go?" She would often approach him in the same way throughout the past few months, her thirst for answers manifesting itself at a young age, but more so the lack of response was egging her on. The question was spoken every day since the beautiful, tall woman had disappeared.

She had left the same night that she gave birth to Martel's new baby brother, leaving the girl with a boatload of questions. The elven woman had been gone for long periods of time before, so it was curiosity and not yet worry that drove her interrogation. As always the smile faded a bit from her father's face, and she had figured that this time would be as fruitless as the others. Deflating a little, she was surprised when her father made to sit on the long wooden bench that rested on their porch. Her enthusiasm picked up almost immediately and she sat right next to him.

"Your mother went back to her elven family in Heimdall." Her father kept his voice even, but Martel saw the sadness in his eyes and the limpness of his posture. Martel got the feeling he would continue, so she kept quiet.

"She still loves you and Mithos, but she had to leave because the elven elders decided it so." Martel's eyes widened in realization.

"You mean she's not coming back?" Her own voice sounded lost to her ears, smaller than she remembered. A solemn shake of her father's head answered her question, and her sadness was replaced by defiance.

"Well, why not? Why does she have to do what they say?" The little girl's hands were curled in fists, gripping the fabric of her own pant legs with a desperate ferocity. At this, her father looked a little less melancholy and he put a direction to the conversation.

"Your mother is very special to the elves. They have a few people who have a special ability, people with a power even bigger than ordinary magic." Martel's blinked owlishly. Even more powerful than magic? She couldn't fathom such a thing. "The power is important to them, not because they need it, but because they don't want to lose it. Losing it could have consequences in the future, after all, what if they end up needing it like they once did to survive?" Martel nodded. It would be a shame to lose something so extraordinary.

"Well, the elves were negligent. Thousands of years passed, and slowly, some of them began to die. It was not out of the ordinary, for elves live a remarkably long time, but only one bloodline carried this special talent. Many of them did not want to share it, even though most of those with the proper blood still did not have the ability- only a few could use it, but all carried the potential to pass it on." Martel swung her legs absentmindedly off of the bench back and forth while she thought. If such an ability was rare, they'd have to keep track of quite a few things to keep it alive within the elf population.

"But as I said, the elves grew lax in their previously strict ways and each did what they wanted. Some stayed in Heimdall, while others began to explore Symphonia and meld with the human populations. Despite the factor of longevity, many elves saw themselves in the humans and lived alongside them. Your mother was one of those elves, and when we met we fell in love. A few went to live in Mizuho, whereas others travelled away from the holy ground of Kharlan and passed through the main continent." Martel had never met any elves besides her own mother, though, and she imagined what the others might have looked like.

"While your mother stayed here, the elders found that they could no longer cleanly track their most cherished bloodline. They considered it tainted with the blood of humans and useless to them in that regard, for humans surely could not harness their rarest artes, even if their blood was half-elven. The greatest portion of those carrying the hereditary gene had moved to Mizuho, and that village was the village of the ninjas. The elves were horrified to find that they could not locate their kin because Mizuho was always moving." Martel knew the ninja town to be a temporary one and their stealth skills were unmatched. Even the elves couldn't find them.

"Your mother carried this gene, though she could not use the power, and the elders knew this. They knew that she had moved here because of her correspondence with her brethren, and after Mithos was born, they deemed it necessary to move her back to the village to start anew. She was not the last of them, but there were many nearing their final years as elves. The elders would not allow such an asset to dissolve into nothingness while they could still help it. So they requested she return." Martel felt herself grow angry again.

"But it's their own fault! They forgot, and now they have to face the consequences. Mother can do what she wants!" Her father rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

"Despite loving us all dearly, your mother also cares about her cultural roots. She would much rather stay here, but her elven ancestry is something that she is honor-bound to protect. She had no other choice than to return. As we speak, they are attempting modern transfusion techniques to spread the bloodline, but your mother will likely not come home for many years." Martel felt her fury eclipse into misery.

"So I might never see her again?" She choked back a sob.

"You may, and you may not. It is up to fate to reunite us all." Her father pulled her into a hug and they sat on the wooden bench while she kept the tears at bay until Mithos began to cry from inside the house. The sun was especially bright, and the birds especially loud. The liveliness made the melancholy worse, but Martel shifted uncomfortably before speaking again.

"What kind of power is it? How can it be so important to them?" She sniffed a bit and wiped her nose. Her father sighed softly, and she found that the conversation was taking as much a toll on him as it was on her.

"It was called Summoning and it allowed the elves to ask upon long lost creatures for power in exchange for a promise. The ancient elves that first came to Symphonia on the comet Derris Kharlan used such grand power to transplant the Great Seed to their new home, and from it grew the Great Yggdrasil itself." Martel ran her hands through her hair and stood tiredly to go comfort the still crying Mithos. Such a power was immense, she supposed, but it did her and Mithos no good to go on motherless because of it.

Martel broke from her reverie after the sharpness of the memory faded into the present. The voice had called out to both Mithos and herself- had called one of them a Summoner, which meant the mana fluctuations were sourced from true deities, from spirits. It was possible to borrow power from whatever creature lurked in the spirit world then?

Summon spirits.

She could only imagine how much power a single magical being could direct and influence, if this area was simply its resting place. If the being was conscious, then they were likely in for either enormous fortune or an enormous fight for their lives.

But which of them carried the prowess that could change their fates? Herself? or Mithos?

She had no more time for contemplation, because evidently the spirit had grown bored or woke completely, because a dark mass of mana centered on the altar shifted to the form of a large being with folded wings. As it materialized, the creature revealed a back with bony vertebrae and a head full of fanged teeth and gleaming red eyes.

Kratos and Yuan had traveled without break into the night, making excellent time, oddly the woods were still and quiet without obstacle. Yuan had voiced this several times and he did so again while his light danced between the sparse branches to reveal a clear and unobstructed path in their desired direction.

"Doesn't it seem too tranquil around here?" Yuan felt his cape flit about him as a light breeze broke through the trees ahead of them. A breeze meant that the forest would end soon, for the wind was not broken by enough trees to dissipate as it would have been within the deepest parts of the woodland.

"The calm presents an ominous sense of foreboding." Kratos agreed, quickening his pace when he could hear the crackling of lightning beyond the trees that obstructed his view. He could feel them closing in on the vast presence of mana, similar to that of Triet, but also different in a way. Triet could easily be mistaken by its population, but this was out in the middle of nowhere. Something was stirring there, massive and unknown.

The break in the trees signified a biome shift, and Kratos grateful stepped out to get a better view. The dark night sky was covered with thick and churning clouds, black above them and flickering with the contained energy of the rolling thunder. The lightning provided a flashing effect that lit the grassy plain before them in irregular bursts. Kratos took another step forwards and heard the crackle of dried grasses below his boots. He could see a low building in the middle of the plain, the center of the windswept maelstrom. That had to be their destination.

Taking yet another step as he heard Yuan right behind him, he threw a glance over his shoulder. The half-elf's face appeared paler in the shifting light, but he managed to crack a smile.

"At least it's not raining," Yuan supplied optimistically as they walked through the tall prairie grasses. Kratos sighed slightly and gave him a pointed glare.

"That was a stupid thing to say." Sure enough, the pattering of raindrops began to plummet from above and plop to the earth in fat droplets. Kratos couldn't feel it, but from the way Yuan twitched, he guessed it was cold. Yuan swore and trained a hateful gaze back at Kratos.

"You do know that this is all your fault, right?" The damp teal strands of shorter hair drooped over his forehead and made the scene comical. Kratos shrugged, figuring his own hair looked equally ridiculous in the intensifying downpour.

"Isn't it always?" He smirked slightly and added, "Anyways, you asked for that one. You should know by now." Yuan shook his head to rid the water in his eyes and muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'best friends with a friggen hex', but Kratos payed it little mind. He was more interested in the pillar of rock that drew his attention, dominating the landscape in front of them.

It seemed as if strong earth magic had constructed the solid peak, and it was subject to a shattering mass of constantly striking lightning. The pillar was an ingenious method to guarantee safe passage to the building. Kratos shielded his eyes from the blurry streams of water that ran down his face and sized up the stone.

"Clever." He noted, and saw Yuan nod to his side while trying to ring out his now soaked cape.

They continued on around to a tunneled entrance that was accompanied by thin trails of water. Evidently it was slightly downhill, but it was cover nevertheless, and Kratos reveled in the instantaneous muting of the rain when they stepped within the hall. The assault on his ears had been less than pleasant, but now it was dull drumming on the stone roof and rustle in the grasses beyond. The water dripped off of their clothes in to small rivulets that lead down the hall along grout lines in the stone.

"I'll bet they're in here." Yuan mock-supposed with enthusiasm, letting his flaccid cape sag behind him as he strode in plastered steps down the hall. Kratos shook his head free of water and followed his companion, feeling the omnipresent power even larger than before.

"A dragon?!" Xilia yelled, while dropping behind them faster than she thought she was capable. Mithos swiftly began casting another earth-based spell, impressing Xilia with his response time. Smaller monsters began to spawn on the dais as well, circling and hissing in the strange electrical fashion that seemed to permeate the entire region. Xilia's gaze remained fixed on the beast that dominated the stage.

"It's a drake, actually." She heard Martel correct her while she quickly cast a guardian around them to deflect the flames that poured out of the creature's mouth. Xilia could feel the heat blistering in waves as it split neatly in half around Martel's defenses. That gave Mithos the proper time to finish his enchantment, and soon enough another pillar of earth shot up underneath the drake's scaly stomach. The scales were clearly tougher than they let on though, because despite being hit solidly by the stone, the beast shrieked shrilly and twisted to its side with a flap of the large and leathery wings. It turned with a swoop of the skeletal appendages to head straight for them.

Martel's magic defenses would not block such a physically based attack. Xilia realized it first and yelled in warning to the others.

"Get down!" Both she and Martel were forced to the right while Mithos slid to the left instead, separating them while an angry drake cut fiercely between where they had just been standing.

The other monsters did not stay idle for long, and the wicked torrent they flowed in seemed never-ending. Martel was in the process of chanting a light spell, but she was repeatedly interrupted with the need to evade electrically based attacks. Xilia noted with disdain that each of the creatures had an affinity for lightning style magic- excluding the now furious drake. Martel was doing her best to keep Xilia covered and protected, but it was more than difficult to say the least.

Mithos was holding his own, yet Xilia could tell that Martel was aching to run to her brother by the anxious glances and agitated maneuvers she managed while still engaged in battle.

Eventually Martel completed her light spell while the drake clawed its way towards Mithos, whom constructed a quick, but flimsy barrier out of earth. The blonde boy sent fireball after fireball to keep it at bay, but it was clear he wouldn't be able to keep up such a pace.

"Grand Cross!" Martel cried, and a glowing path writhed itself underneath the drake, the light from her staff directing the magic. The beast was immobilized and blasted into the air upon a blinding glyph that then crushed it into the ground. The scaly serpent shattered into a cloud of dust as it dissipated, leaving Mithos unharmed in his crumbling array of defenses.

Xilia sighed in relief, but none of them were given time to rest, for the lesser monsters were upon them.

Yuan's eyes roamed the darkened walls of the echoing temple. The darkness was near complete, but what he could see of the inside was ornate and magnificent.

"I wonder how long this has been here." He mused aloud, tracing his fingers along the cool stone walls to guide him as they walked. Kratos walked to his left in the center of the hallway, and Yuan questioned whether or not he was capable of seeing in such obscurity. Evidently so, because there was no falter in his step.

"It appears it may be hundreds of years old." Kratos' voice was deep and contemplative, "We have records dating back to before the War began, and it seems the researchers were ignorant to its existence beforehand. It must be very old indeed." Suddenly the sound of Kratos' footsteps ceased and Yuan knew he had stopped. Mouth open and about to query as to the reason of the sudden halt, Yuan was assaulted with the sense of a mana explosion.

It was not an explosion, per se, but more like a sudden flux like an enormous concentration of monsters, and something more he couldn't name. The closeness of it all was an immediate affront to his senses, like an overload. They must be very close, because amidst the chaos, Yuan can pick out three distinct mana signatures belonging to people like flares in the darkness.

"Oh God." Yuan breathed, and both he and Kratos broke into a sprint down the nearest corridor, feet pounding hollowly in what they had thought to be a relatively empty temple.

The likely raging battle was more than enough to guide them through the crisscrossing pathways to the proper room, but Yuan hoped that they would get there in time to stave off the dark auras he could feel rising in number.

Mithos put up a guardian just in time to deflect another branch of lightning from the curious-looking stones that twisted and floated as if they were living flesh and not unforgiving rock. He hissed a curse to himself when he felt his magic weakening. He twisted to his right and chanted a brief spell to hold off the enclosing spheres.

"Air Cutter!" His mana stirred in to a sharp gust of slicing wind that cut straight through several of the stones. However, there were five more hanging back, and casting lightning attacks in such a way that he had no time to do anything but dodge. Martel was having the same difficulty while keeping the human protected, and he felt as if they were set up to fail. Eventually they would tire out completely in this loop of evasions and be left for dead.

Too caught up in strategy, Mithos moved slower than he should have to dodge another crackling arc of lightning and several of the spurting tendrils grounded on his shoulder. Thrown back by the jolt of electricity, Mithos landed heavily on his backside as he slid across the stone floor. The pain wasn't as bad as it could have been, but he was open to attack during his recovery period. He scrambled as fast as he could to his feet, already knowing he would be too slow again while he braced for the impact.

"Mithos!" he heard Martel cry out in desperation after seeing him struck.

Was this really how it was going to end? In a dirty temple doing research for his sister?

In a flash of color, though, Mithos found the incoming magic completely averted from him by a transparent green guardian barrier. Hearing the thrum of lightning snap harmlessly off of the defense, Mithos' eyes widened. A stranger had whipped onto the battlefield with an iron sword drawn, and he wielded it something ferocious. Mithos could watch in awe as the auburn haired man maneuvered expertly among the monsters while deflecting and dodging bursts of magic. He used powerful strokes of his blade to hack the possessed stones in half with speed and precision.

Mithos' attention was then swiftly drawn to his sister's side of the room, where yet another unknown savior had sprung into action. The teal haired man twisted a peculiar double-handed and double edged sword in sharp thrusts at the offending monsters on that side.

"Kratos, behind you!" The elven man called out across the room where his redheaded friend was almost surrounded. Upon warning, though, the human twisted into a one-eighty and jumped over the creature behind him. With a flick of his sword mid-leap, the monster was reduced to ashes.

The once endless profusion of monsters now lay in crumbling stone piles and clouds of dust in a mere couple of minutes.

Mithos' mouth gaped open, and he saw Martel and Xilia were in a similar state to his own. When the tall auburn haired human turned to face him, Mithos was met with a reserved, yet somehow anxious expression of concern and strikingly russet almost crimson eyes.

"Is everyone alright?" His gaze lingered for a moment on Mithos before drifting to scan over Martel and Xilia. The half-elf across the room strode to his companion's side. Mithos immediately got the impression that the man expected more danger from his rigid stance and fidgety figure, but his azure eyes were sharp and his hair was strung back to lay upon a very sodden cape.

"No one seems to be hurt." The half-elf let the tip of his blade sag down towards the stone floor. The purplish light was dancing across all of their features, and Mithos finished sizing them all up.

"Who are you?" Mithos found himself asking their saviors rather awkwardly. The half-elf snapped his gaze from Martel to Mithos and let a sharp laugh ring.

"You're welcome, you know. We did just save your butts." He ran a hand through his hair as his shoulders relaxed. "I'm Yuan." Mithos shifted his stare back to the human.

"And you're Kratos?" He had heard the half-elf call the man as such. The wine colored irises seemed to communicate a sort of disapproval to Yuan, but he nodded nevertheless after shooting his companion a very pointed glare.

"Yes, I am. Personally, I am only acquainted with Xilia, though I am pleased to meet the both of you despite the circumstances." A slight incline of the head substituted for a formal bow and Mithos blinked.

"You're pleased to meet us?" The incredulity in his voice rang flat while Martel strung an arm around his shoulder to quiet his skepticism. Was he mocking them with graciousness? Confusion clouded the human's eyes, but he answered anyways.

"Well, yes, or I wouldn't have said as much." Kratos swiftly turned his attention to the quiet researcher that still stood a ways behind the rest.

"Xilia, I apologize for my absence, but an emergency came up I could not ignore." Mithos bristled at the end to their conversation, but gauged Xilia's reaction. She pushed up the spectacles and squinted a bit as if she wasn't sure she knew the man at all.

"Daisuke Hayato?" Mithos didn't miss Yuan blanch at the name and slightly hang his head.

"It's true that I went by that name five years ago." Kratos sheathed his blade with the grating noise of metal on metal, looking a bit put off by revealing such information. The stoic nature of the two of them made Mithos a bit edgy. They felt like somewhat shady characters, but that couldn't be true if they willingly stepped in to help their own losing battle.

Xilia's eyes widened in either recognition or realization and she nodded her head. Her surprised expression shifted into a curious one.

"Well, then, Kratos, I had thought you either dead or long gone. My exsphere research was put on hold indefinitely not long after your disappearance." Her frown dissolved into a look of gratefulness, "But I am in your debt now. You have impeccable timing. Is there a reason you've come to find me after all these years?"

"Actually-" He stopped midsentence and Mithos understood why a split-second later.

"Summoner, you and your companions are strong. I shall test your power myself." The crackling and hissing rumble of a voice returned in a low drawl. The newest additions to the research party readied their swords, once again rigid in anticipation of a new enemy, and shifted into a well practiced battle stances. Mithos' breath caught when he felt the mana condense and ripple in a power on an entirely separate level than he'd ever experienced. The flickering purple light cast over the now feverishly glowing glyph on the dais as the center grew brighter and more unstable.

The mana in the air around them grew tumultuous and charged with a type of static energy, and Mithos gripped his kendama so hard that his knuckles turned white.

A being materialized in a shower of sparks on the altar- though being was a loosely used term. It was almost entirely energy, in its purest and most condensed form, like a violent ball of live lightning. Only when it began to shift, did Mithos see deeply set and glowing red orbs that looked eerily like eyes.

"Prepare yourselves!" Kratos barked out to them, both him and Yuan set for battle. When the voice came again, Mithos knew with all certainty that the creature in front of them was its source.

"We shall see if you are worthy" The power rolling off of each word was tangible and Mithos broke himself from his frozen posture into his own casting stance.

"Keep him off my back!" He called to the strangers in front of him as he readied his best earth spell. A determined nod from the half-elf told Mithos he had not been ignored, but he didn't focus on that for long because right after the world turned into a raining hell of lightning.

He barely swapped his spell for a guardian and strained under the sheer pressure of the coursing electricity. It appeared that everyone had blocked in time, Martel shielding Xilia, and both the strangers sporting their own magical guardians.

Mithos grit his teeth and planted his feet when the blasts of lightning subsided, a new fierceness to his stance when he realized what they were up against. Hissing his next spell, Mithos let himself be absorbed into his magic. A grim smile crossed his lips at the challenge.

Let it begin.

* Volt is referenced often as only heard by half-elves (like Raine and Genis) so Xilia can't hear his voice. Kratos can hear him because he has many elven characteristics thanks to his exsphere, and I imagine that the majority of it is because half-elves can sense mana while humans can't.

(A/N) Yes, they finally meet! Stay tuned, and I'll try to keep updates regular but it'll be difficult. Review xD?