No sooner had the match ended than the explosions started.

"What in the blazes is going on?!" Fleaux yelled, running to get outside.

He never expected to see what he saw. There were bird tribe members everywhere: flying in the sky, attacking civilians; burning houses. Amongst the turmoil of it all stood one figure he couldn't help but identify: Tryval. Fleaux was stunned, but more than stunned, he was horrified. It was easy to tell that this wasn't a coincidence: Tryval was commanding the assault.

"Tryval!" the elder bellowed. All the noise seemed to stop and movement slowed; the two men's eyes met.

"This has to be some sort of trick! My own son would never betray his clan!"

Then it hit him…his son was dead. This had to be some sort of glamour; what other explanation was there?

"I know what you're thinking old man," an figure stated, appearing from the shadows, "Your son's dead...am I right?" Fleaux couldn't help but wince when she saw who had spoken to him. It was the messenger that had informed him of the bird tribe's whereabouts…obvious lies now. "You're right, he is dead…and now he is my loyal slave."

"Impossible, my own servant witnessed his cremation, this can't be him!" Fleaux dared to challenge.

"Cremation is all too easy to rectify. All you need is the ashes and you can recreate the body," the man sneered.

Fleaux couldn't help but lose his words then…he had assisted this man and had been played by him. He was opened up and read like a book by the necromancer…everything that had occurred since his arrival had probably been played out straight from the beginning and all measure planned…but how is it that this man could come to know him so well?

"You still seem confused," the man sneered, "Maybe this will help you…" The man reached in the bag he had slung over his shoulder and pulled out a full body suit: completely black.

Fleaux's eyes nearly popped out of his head. This messenger wasn't just a random messenger…he was one of his personal staff. This man had reported his son's death to him and, now more obvious than before, had probably been the one to deal him the fatal blow.

"I won't let you desecrate my son's memory…" Fleaux whispered to himself, closing his eyes and beginning his incantation.

"Bad idea…" the man stated, sending Tryval forth.



Tryval had been studying martial arts since the day he had learned to talk, but Fleaux had to assume that, since his death, his abilities had been lost. He was wrong.

Quickly, too quickly to see, Tryval unsheathed his swords and was on the offensive. Had he been alone, Fleaux wouldn't have lived long enough to see Tryval's attack, but as the swords swung down, another two reached up to greet them. There was no longer just the one son he remembered standing before him, but two identical men clashing swords.

Kotaro knew before he even clashed swords with Tryval that he was in for the fight of his life.

The two moved at lightning fast speeds; the only signs that they still existed were the sparks caused by the clanging of their weapons and, every so often, the tiny droplets of blood that hit the ground.

The remaining soldiers, those that were still conscious, began to file out of the coliseum, and immediately joined in the fray; moments later, all that could be heard was the roar of battle and the clanging of weapons.

Negi had exited the coliseum only moments after Kotaro, and was now watching the fray intently. Kotaro was lost to his eyes…even he knew when he couldn't keep up. His focus was less on the battle at hand and more so what causes this may have.

"We've got to stop this…" Negi whispered to himself, trying to think of a way to cease the fighting.

"I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon…" Yue replied, causing Negi to jump.

"How about…instead of stopping this battle…we move it?" Asuna asked, looking to the others.

Negi smiled…why hadn't he thought of that? But the task of teleporting an entire town full of people was rather demanding, even for a high class wizard…the only spell he knew that could move everyone at the same time would require much more time and magic than he had at his disposal, and even if he actually succeeded in doing it, he would be left completely drained of magic for a very long time.

"We don't have the power to move everyone at the same time…" Setsuna added in, interrupting Negi's train of thought.

This was where Yue and Asuna smiled. They both knew what was about to happen…Nodoka had finally joined them.

"Well, since we can't move everyone at the same time…how about we stop them?" Nodoka asked, pulling out a peculiar shaped wand with a large crystal on the top.

"You're actually going to use that?" Negi dared to ask.

Nodoka looked up at him and smiled…that was the last thing he saw before he started falling.

In order to travel through time, the cassopedia has to make very exact calculations. If anything were to go wrong, the spatial difference in time frames could cause you to appear in midair or in a solid object. 

Nodoka has a very curious ability. Much like the cassopedia, she has abilities that can cause time to stop for certain persons or objects, but they still follow the spatial pattern and are connected to real space time. Her wand, which Yue had amply named 'Existence', was created by her using her own special magic mixed with Emerald, her birth stone. It allows objects to freeze in both time and space. So while her time magic causes objects to flow with normal space parameters…Existence deletes those parameters entirely…causing the chosen objects to seemingly faze out of space. Put simply, instead of staying in earth's gravity pull…when frozen in time with Existence, the object would seem to melt into the earth. In this case, she waited for the earth to spin for a few more seconds after using it so they appeared in the air several miles away from the town.

Negi landed lightly, followed instantly by the others of his group: they had only been a few feet in the air.

"So instead of moving us…" Negi commented, "You moved the universe…"

"Pretty much, yeah," Nodoka replied.

There was a sudden shower of sparks above the two. For a moment, they had forgotten that Tryval and Kotaro were still locked in combat.

"We've got to enter the fray," Negi told the others, "You know what happens…it's got to be now."

Setsuna and Konoka nodded and withdrew a few yards. Setsuna knew what was to come of the ordeal, but Konoka was just doing as Setsuna suggested…she had no idea what was about to happen.

The others rushed into the fray leaving Konoka and Setsuna to whatever they had planned, and Tryval to Kotaro.

The battle that ensued was a bloody one…neither of the sides had expected an actual resistance from the other, but neither would back down. From afar, Setsuna could see bird tribe members being knocked from the sky by some of the airborne wizards…though they seemed to be taking them down in pairs instead of as individuals…perhaps they knew they had little chance in a fair fight. This was war…there was no room for a fighting chance. Inversely, many of the bird tribe members were being forced to attack the humans in pairs…while they weren't much in the air, the humans could put up quite a fight on the ground.

Amidst all the fighting, several individuals stood out. Negi was blasting away enemy by enemy, leaving Nodoka, his ministra, to cast protective spells or physical enhancements on both him and their allies. Asuna was doing just as she normally does…using the bird tribe members as feather dusters. No sooner would they turn to face her than they would be face first in the dirt. Fleaux had set up several golems and was casting spells while his golems acted as guards, and Shenmei Ru was tearing through the enemy in lines. All in all, the battle was progressively turning to their side…but she couldn't find Yue, Chisame or Haruna.



The next thing Setsuna saw was a giant cloud of dirt and a fierce tremor, but she couldn't make out what was happening in the midst of it all.

"That hurt…a lot…" Kotaro muttered to himself, standing to his feet, "Where did he…umf…"

Kotaro had been slammed to the ground by Tryval's mass. His weapons had been lost when he collided with the earth, and now he lay helplessly on his back with the warrior pinning him to the ground. He didn't have the time or energy to transform…and Tryval's hands were too swift. Tryval's weapons were quickly flipped around and he stabbed down at Kotaro.

Kotaro closed his eyes and turned his head as the blow was made. He had no desire to watch the end as it came. But a few moments later, he still hadn't felt anything and dared to open his eyes. The sight in front of him left him in awe: Yue had caught the blades with her left hand. While the sight of something like this would have shocked him one way or another, he couldn't help but wonder how. He looked at her hand and there was no blood…but instead it looked as though she was wearing a white metal gauntlet…one that formed to her hand and arm perfectly.

Kotaro looked to Yue's face…but what he saw there wasn't what he had expected. Her eyes were crazed…almost as though she had been turned into some sort of demon. She issued a low growl and focused in on Tryval…and that was it. Tryval's secondary existence ended there…she sliced him in half with her right hand…also covered with the shiny white metal.

"Yue…" Kotaro began, grabbing her shoulder.

The look she gave him made him quickly remove his hand…what had happened to cause this?

"Yue?" Kotaro asked, almost pleadingly.

Her look softened and she smiled at Kotaro, "Sorry…guess I sort of lost it there…"

"It's fine…what's happened to your arms?"

Yue looked down to her hands and gave Kotaro a look of utter bewilderment. It was quite obvious she didn't know what was happening either.

"I think it may be similar to my transformation…" Kotaro began to explain after looking at her arms a little closer, "I transform into a fox, but you're a Kitsune…already part of the Inugami tribe and a fox to boot…it looks like your body will just cover itself with this armor…"

Kotaro ran his hand along Yue's arm.

"I can feel that, you know…" Yue stated, quite confused about what was happening to her.

"What?" Kotaro asked, now just as confused.

Neither of them got a chance to continue on their conversation. They had forgotten the battle surrounding them; it had stopped momentarily after Kotaro's collision with the earth. They were 

brought back to reality with a dreadful conclusion. Neither of them saw the attack coming. The sword pierced Kotaro through the chest, much as it had on Tryval…the same exact sword that had pierced Tryal.

Yue lost it…her fear, confusion, and pain of what had just transpired. She screamed to Konoka, and she could see the healer running towards her, casting magic to stop Kotaro's bleeding from as far back as one hundred feet. She could only pray that the magic reached him in time…but slowly, her anger at what that sinister man had done began to take over…and the metal covering her arms began to spread…it covered her entire torso first, and then her legs…and slowly, it made its way to her neck and finally formed a fox-like mask on her face. Her anger knew no bounds…it was no longer just this one man she was mad at…it was everyone…everybody there was the cause of her and Kotaro's pain…and the demon in her blood came flowing out.

This was what Setsuna had been waiting for…the ground had begun to shake and there was a monstrous roar…the skies got darker and eventually blackened, and in the middle of the battle, a gigantic red demon arose. Its body was made purely of energy…the hateful energy that was being released by everyone engaged in battle…but at the center of the energy was something white and shining. This was what Setsuna had been waiting for. She had to destroy the Demon Fox of Nine Tails.

- - - - - - - - -

Author's Notes

I would like to formally apologize for taking over a month to post the next chapter. I'm sorry.

As for those of you who are reminded of Naruto, forget it, this it nothing like Naruto and the next chapter will prove it so. The Kyuubi demon mentioned and for some strange reason centered around Naruto is actually part of Japanese legend. It, along with the other tailed demons, were known to be preludes to great disasters.

I would like to give thanks to TaraneePheonix for her helping me out with the continuation of the story. I appreciate having fans and I'm sorry for taking so long to get this up (yes, I know I said it, I just really wish I could have gotten over this writer's block sooner).