Hey guys MT here

I'm a bit sick so that's why this chapter is coming out a bit late.

Also, sorry if it isn't as good as it could be since my not feeling well usually messes me up.

I hope you guys like it and now, without further ado, ENJOY!

UPDATED 8/5/15

Chapter 23

"Supreme General! We are nearing the enemy camp. We will take the camp and the enemy will be defeated," reported one of the battle surveyors. Saito and Louise had gone to rest behind the main line to recover for when they hit Ivarod.

"Alright, we will go to the front line now," said Saito as he got up before helping Louise up.

"You needn't bother Supreme General. We still have more than 50% of the total forces and they don't even have 10%. We will wipe out the remaining and defeat the leader," said the battle surveyor. Saito ran over to the man and grabbed him by the collar.

"Are you underestimating the power of a Void mage? You realize his Void power is super speed, right? You wouldn't stand a chance," said Saito, seriously, causing the man to shrink back in fear. Saito released him and sighed in annoyance before leaving the tent, closely followed by Louise.

The pair moved through the front line, Saito armed with Derf and his katana which had a chip here and there, but was mostly intact. As they made their way up, they could see the tent where Ivarod must have been hiding and the last remaining Valkyrie who continued to fight.

Saito moved in and Louise pointed her wand out.

"Remaining members of Ivarod's army! You have lost! Give up and we will spare your lives! We want to meet with your commander!" shouted Saito, Louise still pointing her wand at them. Whispers broke out among the enemy units and they discussed whether or not to take the offer. One of the Valkyrie left to tell Ivarod about the situation and the two sides remained silent as they waited. A few minutes passed and suddenly a scream could be heard and the Valkyrie flew out of the tent, encased in a fire ball. He landed on the ground in between the two armies and Saito ran over to him.

"W-Why…L-Lord…I-va-rod…" said the Valkyrie, tears in his eyes. Saito watched as the Valkyrie burned into ash and the fire dissipated. Saito growled in anger and screamed out.

"IVAROD! You bastard! Is this what you do to your kin? Those who risk their lives fighting for you?!" shouted Saito, angrily. The enemy soldiers were all a bit panicked and were wondering what was going on and why Ivarod had attacked one of his soldiers.

Ivarod stepped out of his burning tent and brushed the ashes off his armor. He was closely followed by Toriyama who was dressed in chain armor.

"Lord Ivarod! What is going on?" asked one soldier.

"Yes! Why did you attack one of our own, my Lord?"

"Please tell us, my Lord! We don't understand!"

"You fools!" shouted Ivarod, suddenly, silencing his men. "Pitiful, worthless, beings thinking you can just give up to save your lives. Your job is to fight for your country and wipe out as many of those filthy humans and the elves who have sided with them as you can!"

All of the remaining soldiers stared at Ivarod in shock; even Toriyama was behind him glancing back and forth between his lord and the soldiers. One soldier broke through the line and walked close to Ivarod.

"Alright then, we have to kill him then," said the soldier, pointing at Toriyama.

"No, he is an exception," said Ivarod, plainly.

"No he isn't. You said wipe out as many humans as we can, and he is human. There are no exceptions!" shouted the soldier. In almost an instant, his throat had been slashed and he was gasping for air before collapsing to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

Many of the soldiers on both sides gasped and the Valkyrie were afraid, but also furious that another of their own was killed. Several more attacked Ivarod and all met the same fate. Before another could go out Saito broke through their line and pulled Derf in front of him.

"Bastard! I'll kill you and avenge all the lives that were lost for no reason!" shouted Saito, angrily. Toriyama moved in front of Ivarod and moved into a defensive stance with his Anti-Void blade.

"I can't let you do that, Saito. My Lord cannot fight you until you have defeated me," said Toriyama, sounding almost unsure about his decision.

"Toriyama!" shouted Asuna as she broke through the line to be next to Saito. "Toriyama! Why are you doing this?! I thought we were friends! What happened?!"

"…We were never friends. It is time for you to die, Asuna," said Toriyama, calmly and coldly. Asuna's eyes began to fill with tears and she leapt at Toriyama, Chichi in his claw form.

"Asuna, no!" shouted Saito, reaching out to pull her back. Asuna ignored Saito and leapt at Toriyama, cheetah speed. She slashed at Toriyama a few times, said man dodging it flawlessly, and was forced back when he slashed at her. She leapt at him again, catching his sword in the crook of the claw in one of her hands and using the other to slash at him. He grabbed her hand and held it back, just inches from slashing at his abdomen.

Chichi transformed again, this time into his dagger form, and she slashed at Toriyama again, this time aiming for his exposed neck. She was suddenly smashed backward and found his fist in her stomach, metal knuckles digging into her. Toriyama threw her back onto the ground and was about to pierce into her while she was distracted by the pain in her stomach and head (from hitting the ground).

Before he could stab her, though, Saito had thrown his katana at Toriyama who dodged it at the literal last second. Saito ran at Toriyama and pushed him back while Louise broke past the line and helped Asuna up.

Derf and Toriyama's sword smashed together, sparks flying everywhere, and they struggled against each other. Saito watched Asuna and Louise leave from his peripheral vision and turned his attention back to Toriyama.

"You think I'd let you kill Asuna that easily?" asked Saito, angrily. Toriyama grinned, obviously enjoying another fight with Saito.

"Of course not, but I just love to push your buttons. You've always been especially protective of Asuna, even after you guys broke up. I just wanted to piss you off so I can try and see some of that power again," said Toriyama in a happy/psychotic tone. He glanced into his peripheral vision and noticed Louise and Tiffa coming to help with some soldiers from the Halkeginian army. He pushed Saito back and pulled out a bag of seeds from his pocket. He flicked out the 20+ seeds and activated his powers as Myoznitnirn, causing the seeds to turn into gargoyles. Louise and the others were distracted by the gargoyles, leaving Saito to fight alone.

"Tch, trying to keep anyone from helping?" asked Saito, pressing Derf against the Anti-Void sword. Toriyama grinned and pushed Saito again before slashing at him. Saito jumped up to avoid said slash and smashed his sword down on Toriyama who blocked it with the metal plate guard on his wrist.

Saito decided this was taking too long and chanted the incantation for one of Derf's form changes. The blade suddenly retracted, causing Toriyama to stagger back in surprise. A blade of lightning came out of the hilt and condensed into a blade of power. Saito slashed at the air, causing stray lightning bolts to fly around in the direction he slashed. Toriyama managed to absorb a few with his sword, but wearing metal armor may not have been the best idea. One bolt hit his left shin plate causing him to wince in pain and stagger. Saito took the opportunity to slash at his opponent but Toriyama blocked it.

"Seems I may need this," said Toriyama, pulling out another small bag, this one having a strange insignia on it. Toriyama grinned as he popped one of the strange red orbs into his mouth. He crunched down on it and his runes began to glow their normal purple before changing to a reddish color. He suddenly pushed up on his sword, throwing Saito back, and got up. "I think we're even now."

Saito scowled before slashing at the air again. Lightning bolts flew all around Toriyama and, in a moment, he absorbed all the bolts, moving his hand at unimaginable speeds.

"W-What the hell did you just take?" asked Saito, taken aback by the sudden difference.

"A power pill that activates with my power. It's also…your demise," said Toriyama, darkly. He disappeared for a moment and slashed at Saito, causing him to stagger. Saito clutched at the small gash in the middle of his chest and glared at his opponent.

"I won't let you win!" shouted Saito, angrily, before slashing at Toriyama. Toriyama blocked his attack and growled because Saito's strength had increased.

Must be his emotions again, thought Toriyama. He pushed Saito off again and lunged at him, piercing into his right shoulder.

"Agh!" shouted Saito in pain, causing Louise and Asuna, who had recovered and was fighting the gargoyles, to look over at him.

"Saito!" they shouted in unison. Louise blew up her gargoyle with an Explosion and Asuna cut hers up with her claws. Both girls raced over to them and Toriyama crunched on another orb. This time he breathed out flames, hitting both girls and burning them.

"Louise! Asuna!" shouted Saito. He glared at Toriyama and an aura began to form around him. Said aura was not a pleasant one, but filled with anger and hatred.

Saito's eyes lightly glowed red and his runes were glowing brightly. He disappeared and smashed Derf into Toriyama's blade before growling as he pushed Toriyama back. Toriyama grunted as he was pushed back and smashed his heel into the ground before pushing off to get more force into a slash aimed at Saito.

Louise hit Toriyama with a fireball, catching him off guard, and he was thrown back into a boulder. He clutched his chest which was probably burned and growled at the girl. Saito smiled at Louise, glad she was okay, and turned his attention back to Toriyama who was running at him. He threw up his sword, anticipating a slash but instead, Toriyama thrusted his sword onto Derf and used it as leverage to get over Saito. He leapt over Saito, said man was frozen in surprise by the tactic, and Toriyama ran over to where Louise and Asuna were.

Saito spun around and chased after said man but was a bit late. Toriyama had dodged a few stray attacks Louise had sent out and slashed at both girls, eliciting screams of pain from both of them.

Toriyama grinned at his work, a large gash across both girls torsos, not deep enough to kill them but it would leave a nice scar if he let them live. He turned around to face Saito who had frozen when he saw his wife and close friend attacked.

Saito's bangs hid his eyes and he clutched Derf, tightly, causing Toriyama to grin at the pain he caused his fellow familiar. His grin was quickly dashed, though, when he felt a chill in the air. One that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand and that caused goose bumps to plague his skin.

"You…" said Saito in a demonic voice. Toriyama became a bit defensive at hearing such a tone and could almost see the anger radiating off Saito in an aura. "You did this…"

Saito lifted his head enough for Toriyama to see his eyes and Toriyama was frightened by what he was. Saito's eyes glowed red and his cornea had bent into the shape of a shuriken. His hair was also standing up on end and was spiked up in an intimidating fashion. Saito gritted his teeth, his canines had extended from the transformation, and even his runes glowed a bright red.

Meanwhile, Louise and Asuna had fainted from their wound and were currently bleeding profusely.

"S-Saito…?" said Toriyama, staggering back a bit from the immense pressure coming off his foe.

"You. Die. Now," said Saito, angrily and with a demonic voice. He gripped Derf and positioned himself to get ready to attack, causing Toriyama to tense and prepare to block. Within a moment Saito was gone and smashing his sword into Toriyama's. Toriyama was now feeling something he hadn't felt in a long time, fear.

"S-Saito! You can't defeat me!" shouted Toriyama in Saito's face. Saito growled at him and pushed him back. Saito chanted some kind of demonic incantation which made Toriyama uncomfortable so he decided to attack Saito once more. As he was running over, poised to slash, Saito finished his incantation and a wave of energy blasted off of him, blasting Toriyama back.

When Toriyama regained himself and the dust settled, he was very much intimidated by what he saw. Saito was standing above him, a dark aura waving off of him, and Derf's blade had switched out for a black lightning blade which was encased in a red aura.

"Lucifer's Blade," said Saito, darkly. Toriyama slid back on the ground and threw out some seeds as well as called his gargoyles back in an effort to distract Saito. Lightning flickered off the blade and destroyed the seeds and gargoyles in an instant, freaking Toriyama out even more.

Saito glanced at the armies nearby and gave them an evil stare. The Valkyrie army fled in fear and Tiffa and Gwen picked up Louise and Asuna and took them with their army as they moved away.

Once everyone was a safe distance, Saito turned back to the man lying on the floor in front of him.

"It's time, Toriyama. I'm sorry we couldn't stay friends," said Saito, calmly but still with his dark voice. Saito lifted up his sword and pierced where Toriyama was, causing a massive explosion which blasted out in all directions and scared the living hell out of everyone there.

The resulting explosion took 10 minutes to settle and for the dust to dissipate. During which time, Gwen had been healing Louise and Asuna with her combined water-Void-healing spell. When everyone looked they saw Saito standing there, piercing the ground but there was nothing around his blade. Then they noticed, Ivarod behind him, holding an injured Toriyama.

"Seems your little attack failed," said Ivarod, calmly and surprising Saito.

So? What did you guys think?

Ivarod is an ass and Saito lost it for a minute there.

Still, Ivarod hasn't shown his true power yet so look forward to that in the coming chapters!

Review to let me know what you guys thought, and until next time...byeee :D