Disclaimer: See the prologue.
Extraneous: Also see the prologue for any marks that I will be using.
Despite the best efforts of Shaft,
Menace was defeated by the forces of light.
As Cruz advances at the head of his forces,
old enemies become new allies,
but not all is as it seems...
The Inverted Castle is a twisted place:
a palace of illusion and intrigue.
Only the strong of will can survive
as the true hunt begins...
-Prophecy di luce e di ombre: Lines LXXXVIII-XCVI
Chapter 12: Into the Inverted We Go!
Last time:
The various teams were scattered throughout the castle, each battling both old and new foes. However, despite the efforts of the Dark Priest, all of the guardians were defeated, allowing Soma and his friends access to The Abyss. Once there, it didn't take long to find the door to the Inverted Castle, but the group had to first defeat The Forgotten, a massive demon that had been chained to one of the walls. After working together to crush this nuisance, they were faced with an even tougher challenge once they arrived on the other side: Menace. After a long, hard battle, the beast was finished-off with a collective tsunum, and Soma finally ended the nightmare by Sealing him away for good. We now rejoin the team, moments after the battle.
Following Soma&Co: Boss Room: Inverted Abyss: Castle Dracula (Inverted): Walachia Province: Transylvania
Time Period: 1666 AD
"Well, I'm thankful that Menace is finally gone for good," Soma Cruz said, wiping his brow in relief as the companions wandered towards the next boss room. "I have to agree with you on that one, Cruz," Saito added, also fairly relieved. It had taken them nearly an hour to fight and permanently defeat Menace, but there was still a fair amount of relief that the task was complete. As they came across the next door, Soma paused for a moment before looking back at his friends. "So, who wants to go in first?" he asked jokingly before tracing the Paranoia Seal on the door. The dark aura vanished, and the door opened, revealing a practically barren room. Soma took one step through the door, and it immediately slammed shut behind him. The reincarnation's eyes wandered the enclosed space until they spotted a familiar, four-armed figure. Soma smiled before stepping forward into the light once again. "Hello Abaddon."
The infernal conductor jumped in surprise and spun on his heels, already raising his baton to give the locusts a command. However, when he saw who it was, he reluctantly lowered the piece of wood. "Shaft thought that you wouldn't make it this far, and so he charged me with guarding the way out. Unfortunately for him, he is blinded by both arrogance AND stupidity." Soma looked at the man curiously,allowing his expression to ask the question. Abaddon chuckled slightly before opening both doors. "What Shaft doesn't know will kill him in the end. Is it alright if I join you, since I've been stuck here for way too long?" Soma suddenly cracked a smile before nodding. "Sure!"
As soon as Saito saw that Abaddon had not been slain, he raised an eyebrow at Soma, but then he understood what was happening. "Lemme guess. Shaft was being a total jerk, so you decided to join us when we crush him instead, right?" The conductor nodded, and Saito grinned. "Welcome to the army, my friend." With those simple words, another person joined in the fight against the Dark Priest.
As they proceeded towards the exit, Saito began to think. Well, it looks like Baal wasn't the only one who was unsatisfied with the way Shaft was treating him. You have no idea how RIGHT you are, Oricaltos. The mage paused for a moment, stunned by the response. BAAL? How in the heck did you know that we would be here? It actually wasn't that hard to figure out. The only thing that would give me any indication was my own senses. What do you mean by... Wait a minute. Weren't you saying something about Menace threatening you? Yeah, and now that he's gone, the feeling went with it. That's how I knew you were here in the Inverted. Well, you were saying about others that were unsatisfied? We already know about Malphas and you, and now Abaddon. Who's next, Medusa? Probably. Thanks for the hints. You're very welcome. Oh, and one more thing: Shaft is in the Observation Tower. Thanks for the warning, Good luck, and welcome to the Inverted Castle. In simplest terms: Welcome to the madness.
It appears that there are several bosses who are unsatisfied with the way Shaft is running the show. Let's see what happened when he figured out that Abaddon had betrayed him...
Following Baal: Boss Room: Inverted Observation Tower
Shaft could not believe his eyes, or his ears. "WHAT? How is that possible? I mean, I know that the health benefits were decent, but this is absurd!" Baal was watching from the doorway, silently laughing at the poor man. "Maybe if you would let them DO something, rather than just sitting around in their rooms, they might remain loyal to you. Did you ever think of that?" "Shut up," Shaft snarled, refusing to turn around and look at the grin crossing the face of the Lord of Terror. "If I had known about this earlier, than it wouldn't have happened!" "How are you so sure, Dark Priest?" Baal asked, slightly amused. "After all, YOU might not be the only reason." The dark priest paused for a moment to consider this new statement, and then what Baal was saying truly dawned on him. "You mean that it might be due to the Count?" Baal nodded, and Shaft began to chuckle slowly. "Heh, well, I can fix that!"
What in the hell is Shaft planning? We'll find out soon enough, but let's first rejoin Soma and the others for another battle...
Following Soma&Co: Boss Room: Inverted Silenced Ruins
With Saito leading the way, it didn't take long to reach the Ruins. As was not unusual, the diralec was granted the task of going to check and see if the Boss Room was empty. However, as soon as he passed through the door, it slammed shut behind him. Almost immediately, a red armored figure descended from the ceiling, wielding two massive swords. "Well, it looks like things are about to get interesting," Saito said aloud as he drew his own sword before spreading his wings and rising from the ground. As soon as he was in the air, his adversary launched both swords at the mage. Slightly annoyed, Saito deflected both before charging forward, determined to take-out his opponent in record time. Looking back, he noticed that the swords were now approaching from behind. "Son of a...!" was the exclamation that escaped his lips before he dove out of the way. The monster smiled before catching both blades and preparing to throw them once again.
At this point, Saito's eyes narrowed to slits and began to darken. No more Mr. Nice Guy, he thought as he began to spin his sword. He then split the blade, leaving him with two exact replicas of his own ultimate weapon. "If you play with fire, then you have the nasty tendency to get burned," he called gleefully as he charged forward once again, closing the gap between them with alarming speed. The Flying Armor only had time to barely raise his swords before the onslaught began. To say the least, Saito was ruthless in his assault. He pulled-off every sword trick known to man, and several of his blows managed to sneak past the monster's guard. Then the mage landed his crushing blow.
His swords appeared as a mere blur as he struck, and the monster didn't even have time to think before blocking. There was a loud crash, and both of the monster's swords shattered on impact. Wasting no more time, Saito recombined his swords and thrust forward once, piercing his opponent's heart in a single, swift motion. The beast collapsed, leaving the ruins of both swords behind. "Well, I'm glad that it's done," Saito sighed with relief as he sheathed his sword before picking-up the shattered remains of both swords. As Soma and the others filed into the room, the Oricaltos stored the broken blades in his inter-dimensional pocket before turning to lead the way out.
They had been going for quite a while when Etna suddenly stumbled shortly before collapsing. Saito looked back, slightly surprised, but then it dawned on him. What in the name of Hell was I thinking? I can't expect these people to keep going until they drop-dead from exhaustion! Besides, even though I rarely sleep(which is actually true in real life), I know that they all need to rest sometime. Saito suddenly stopped in his tracks and leaned against a nearby wall. "I know what all of you have got to be thinking right now. You all think that I'm nuts for trying to press-on when we are all about ready to drop from exhaustion. Well, I think that it's about time that we all take a fairly long break." Everyone else gave a mental sigh of relief as they all began to lean against the walls, or simply dropped to the floor. Saito looked over everyone else, slightly worried. Then he looked over at Soma and Vlad, who actually seemed to be thriving on the energy that was flowing from the keep. What? Don't you guys need to rest? Nah, not really. Being a creature of Chaos does have its benefits. That, and wearing the Chaos Ring helps too.
Saito almost immediately smacked himself on the forehead. Of course! I completely forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder, Count. You're very welcome, Saito. The mage reached into his pants pocket and slowly drew out the small object. It seemed almost insignificant, but as soon as he had placed it on his right hand, he felt the flood of extra power. Talk about an adrenaline rush... You were right, the Chaos Ring really DOES have an effect. Turning to look at the rest of his forces, the mage allowed a small smile to cross his face before he relaxed and slid down the wall. His eyes wandered from one face to another, noting how peaceful they appeared while they were sleeping. And just to think that these are the men and women who helped to defeat one of the nastiest demons of all time. Ah well. It's time that I let them rest, and I think that I might actually be joining them this time! Keep your eyes peeled for any signs of trouble, Soma. I need to take a nap. With that, the mage closed his eyes and drifted into a dreamless slumber.
Dracula looked over at the mage and slowly shook his head before turning back to Soma. "It's quite hard to believe that, despite his appearance, he is a man who is more than willing to lead an army into battle, even if it will cost him his life." "Ah, but that's the beauty of it," Soma responded, leaning on the opposite wall. "He knows that as long as hope exists, we will be willing to fight. He also knows that he can not fail, and that is where his determination comes in." Cruz sighed before looking over at the ring on Saito's finger. It had a gold and black band, with a crystal-blue stone on top of it. Within that stone was the Chaos symbol, and Vlad's reincarnation could not help but smile as he thought about what had come before. He relaxed against the wall and drifted downwards, allowing his mind to wander.
While Saito and his friends are catching-up on their sleep, let's go see what Baal is up to!
Following Baal: Teleport Room: Inverted Dark Chapel
Thank God that Shaft doesn't watch the teleport rooms, Baal thought to himself as he padded softly through the corridors leading towards the first boss room. He took this time to reach-out to try and find Saito, but all he got back was no response. Must be resting, and he deserves it, too. The Lord of Terror had returned to his human form, but that didn't mean that he was harmless. When multiple bats descended at him, the demon sighed before uttering a short prayer, materializing an energy sword, and then sweeping it in an arc directly over his head, slaying all of them in an instant. He then proceeded towards the room, and he knocked once he reached the door.
"Come in!" a sweet, feminine voice called from within. Baal cautiously opened the door and proceeded inside, but he stopped abruptly when he saw exactly who the occupant was. His forest-green eyes widened in amazement, and his jaw dropped as he struggled to compose himself once again. "M-m-m-Medusa? Is that really you?" "Of course it is, silly! What made you think that it was someone else?" "Well, it could be any number of things, but I think the main thing was..." "my hair, right?" Baal nodded, dumbfounded as to how the female Gorgon could somehow regain a part of her lost human form. He heard her silent laughter, and then he heard her response in his mind. The Oricaltos and the Seraph achieved this together in 2040. However, the spell was so powerful that it somehow managed to transcend the barrier that Shaft established, and it changed me here as well. And THAT, my dear Baal, is the reason why I will be joining them when they come through these corridors once again. The Lord of Terror smiled before nodding at the young woman. My reasons are different, but I never liked Shaft anyway. Me neither. You better get moving. I think Malphas wants to talk to you about a couple of things. Thanks.
Baal proceeded through the next corridor and ended-up running into the King of Ravens. "Medusa mentioned that you wanted to talk to me about a few things?" "That's right. First, however, I want to know the reason why you hate Shaft so much." Baal sighed aloud and settled onto the floor across from Malphas. "Well, it all started when I realized that he wanted to shape the world in his image. Now, don't get me wrong or anything, but altering the history of a planet is something that I want to avoid at all costs. Unfortunately, we didn't exactly see eye-to-eye, and so that idiot summoned Menace to try and keep me in line." Malphas winced in sympathy, knowing what the demon was capable of. "OUCH! I bet that wasn't the only thing he did to piss you off." "You're right. He also took my only sword, and threw it into the center of the Chaotic Realm, with absolutely no idea as to how it would affect events of the future." "Dude, that is just plain WRONG! Anyway, thanks for clarifying."
Baal nodded, but then he noticed that the man's wings had been repaired. He raised an eyebrow. "Let me take a wild guess as to why you hate Shaft so much: he did something to your pinion feathers, and you want revenge." The King of Ravens slowly nodded his head. "Correct, but that bastard had the nerve to order one of the Aluras to do it for him." At this statement, Baal's eye's grew slightly wide, but then they narrowed to slits. "That coward. He can't do ANYTHING on his own. Rather, he'll just order everyone else to do the jobs that he should be performing." Malphas smiled and nodded in agreement. "However, that isn't why I needed to talk to you. You see, I have this slight problem. I have no idea when Saito and the others will be arriving..."
The discussion between the Lord of Terror and the King of Ravens continued deep into the night. Eventually, however, Baal was forced to return to the Inverted Ceremonial Room. After wishing Malphas luck in his coming trials, the demon returned to his quarters. We pick-up the next morning, just as Saito is finally waking-up. It has been nearly ten hours since the mage first called for a break.
Following Saito&Co: Save Room: Inverted Silenced Ruins
Time Period: 1666 AD
The Oricaltos slowly rose and stretched. Looking around, he remained silent, his eyes watching the shadows for any signs of movement. His hand strayed to the top of his right boot, and he slowly removed the throwing dagger before flipping it up and grabbing the point between his fingers. Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly spun and launched the dagger. He was mildly surprised when it suddenly stopped in mid-air, as if someone had caught it. Then, when the dagger approached him, he realized that someone actually had caught it. Saito whistled lightly under his breath. "It appears as if your reflexes have improved quite a bit, Overlord." Laharl stepped into the light, holding the point of the dagger between his thumb and first finger. "Why thank you, Saito. I was just coming to let you know that all of us are ready to move-out now. It looks like the Count was right about the Chaos Rings helping us to recover." Saito smiled and slowly shook his head as he took his dagger from Laharl. "Let's get moving. We still have a lot of ground to cover."
It didn't take very long for the mage to catch-up with the majority of the group, and it took him even less time making sure that everyone was truly ready to continue onward. He allowed a slightly chilling smile cross his face as he addressed everyone once again. "Okay people, listen up! We have a lot of ground to cover, and time isn't exactly on our side. However, I have received confirmation that two more allies are waiting for us in the Dark Chapel." Upon hearing this, Soma grinned before raising an eyebrow at the Count. Kindness goes a long way, but I don't think that it's the only reason. You're right on that one, Soma. Part of it is thanks, and part of it is revenge. Fine with me! As Saito once more took the lead, Soma settled at the back of the group, making sure that no one fell behind.
The skills of even Abaddon were put to the test in the next major battle: the fight against Beelzebub, the massive rotting corpse referred to as Lord of the Flies...
Boss Room: Inverted Underground Cemetery: Castle Dracula (Inverted)
When Laharl entered the room, he immediately pinched his nose and coughed. "What is that awful smell?" he asked aloud, and Abaddon's response was merely pointing a finger at the massive green corpse hanging on the far wall. "You mean that we have to fight that? But it's already dead!" "The question isn't really if we have to fight it, Laharl. The real question is how we are going to fight this thing." The Overlord scratched his head before turning to look at his father. "Any ideas, old man?" Nicholai Krichevskoy thought for a few moments, and then he shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to take this thing apart, piece-by-piece." "That's how I beat him the first time." Both father and son turned to look at Alucard, who merely grinned. Upon seeing the expressions on their faces, however, his smile faltered. "What did I do wrong?" he asked aloud, and the Seraph chuckled. "You forgot to mention that earlier. I think that's the reason why they are pissed at you."
Saito slowly shook his head before "flickering" his hands once more. Upon hearing an ominous buzzing noise, his hand almost instantaneously flew to one of his daggers. He drew it and threw in one smooth motion, nailing one of the flies that appeared out of nowhere. "There are more of them coming!" Abaddon yelled, and Saito nodded before roaring out orders. "Spread out, ladies and gentlemen! I need half of you to focus on getting rid of our pest problem while the rest attack the corpse. Any questions?" "Yeah. Who's attacking which one?" The mage looked over, slightly annoyed. "I'll leave that to your own discretion, Maderas. Just don't get on my nerves." The Nosferatu chuckled as he rose from the floor, already preparing to launch the Chaos Fire.
As soon as everyone had finished dividing, the swarm of insects arrived, and the battle was joined. Abaddon summoned his locusts in response to the threat, so it became an interesting fight. On one side was the massive swarm of flies, which were poisoning the air and trying to take Saito and the other fliers out of the picture. On the other side were Abaddon and his locusts, who were darting about and inflicting damage to the flies in any way possible, in addition to cleaning-up the air. However, the locusts alone were not enough, and so the Oricaltos and several of his fellows took to the air, determined to eliminate the threat. Soon enough, multiple fireballs and bolts of lightning were slamming into the flies, as the locusts weaved around the projectiles in a lethal tapestry. It was truly a brutal battle, and as it wore on, it began to take it's toll.
Laharl was quickly tiring, and he knew that the fight would be lost if any of them fell now. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Literally. He began to charge the energy in his fists, and upon seeing this, Krichevskoy was quick to call to Abaddon in warning. "Get those little friends of yours away from the flies! I have a funny feeling that my son is on the right track with what he's doing." The infernal conductor nodded in agreement and made a sweeping gesture with his baton. Immediately, the locusts dispersed, leaving Laharl with a clear, unobstructed look at his targets. He grinned wickedly, and then called out his attack. "Overlord's Wrath!" The golden spheres of energy shot away from his fists, hovering in the air around him, waiting for him to release them. The Overlord's eyes then narrowed, and he roared three words as he let his arms fall. "Bite the dust!"
Oddly enough, the attack connected beautifully, wiping-out nearly all of the flies and giving Saito and the others a much-needed breather. During this time, all attacks were focused on the corpse on the wall. And, much to the dismay of Alucard, there was very little damage that had been dealt to it. That was, of course, until Saito noticed the same thing. His eyes instantly narrowed to slits, and then they darkened to flat-black in a matter of moments. Noticing this, Maderas gulped and moved out of the mage's path, even as he prepared to launch another Chaos Fire. Flonne was in the middle of launching yet another Holy Arrows when she heard the familiar call. "Tsunum!" The silver fireballs soared from the mage's hand, impacting all over Beelzebub's body, causing massive burns to appear. Alucard nodded at the results, and then he began to charge his own magic as he called to the rest of the group. "Everyone, use your fire spells! It appears that they are the most effective." All nodded, but then the Seraph noticed a slight buzzing sound that was growing steadily louder. "Here they come again!" he called as the flies returned in full-force.
This time, however, Saito was the one leading a two-sided attack. Half of the vampires, including Laharl, Mirer, and Walter, were continuing to attack the great corpse, while Saito was out in the thick of things, his blade running green with the poisonous blood of the flies. It had taken them nearly an hour and a half to get this far, and the Oricaltos was not about to give-up. Suddenly, he found himself in a clear space, and he looked around in wonder. All around him, the flies were dropping to the ground, dead. What in the hell is going on? The mage thought before he turned towards the corpse on the wall. Well, what was left of the corpse, anyway. The Overlord had done his work, and all that remained was a charred skeleton and a dark portal. Krichevskoy was quick to trace the seventh Seal, and the portal vanished, taking the remains of the monster with it. Saito looked over at Nicholai, nodded weakly, and then tumbled out of the air. He barely managed to catch himself just before hitting the ground, and upon landing, he keeled over.
Marjoly was the first to reach the fallen weredragon, and she bent over him worriedly. She then turned to Rena, barely concealed panic on her face. "He has been badly poisoned, and I'm not sure how much time we have before he fades on us." Krichevskoy's bride nodded quickly before falling silent and concentrating a small amount of energy in her hands. She then held her hands over the wounds, muttering a silent prayer before calling out one word. "Espoir," she called gently, and Saito was bathed in a pale green light as the healing magic went to work. Soon enough, the mage was sitting upright once again, slowly shaking his head as if just waking-up. He looked over at Rena, and allowed a small smile to cross his face. Thank you, Lady Rena. You're very welcome, young master Saito. Now let's see what we can do about those other injuries of yours...
While the witches were busy healing the various injuries and bandaging open wounds, Setsuna was holding a conference with the other leaders, trying to determine a strategy. They were well on their way when Saito wandered over, and offered the simplest of solutions. "Well, since we are all basically taking the same path, how about we split-up on our way into the Garden of Madness?" "I have no objections to that," D voiced, and he was quickly joined by the other leaders in agreement. "Well, we can work out the details later, but for now, I think it's about time that we kept moving." "Agreed!" called Hector as he stood up and stretched. "I have a funny feeling that I know which boss is next." Saito tilted his head to one side, but refrained from asking as he went around, making sure that everyone was fit to travel.
Well, as it turns out, Hector was right about knowing which boss was next...
Boss Room: Inverted Subterranean Hell
Hector entered the room, followed closely by his wife. Priere and her younger brother were next, and the door closed shortly after they passed over the threshold, not even giving anyone else a chance to enter the fight. Immediately, Hector drew one of his beam sabers before summoning Corpsey once again. He then turned to the others who managed to make it through the door. "The Skeleton Diver is a nuisance, especially when he is joined by that massive fish of his. Keep moving, and above all else, stay out of the water!" Priere nodded at this, but then here eyes narrowed slightly. Shoving a surprised Hector out of the way, she brought her baton up in a block, stopping the descending spear. The monster snarled, unamused that it had been stopped by a woman. He then began to thrust with his weapon, hoping to find a way past the defense of the Alternate Overlord. However, she defended herself well, and seemed to be unphased by the constant onslaught. Turning slightly, she nodded at Culotte before sidestepping to her right, tripping the monster as he charged...
...right into range of her younger brother's spell. "Giga Thunder!" Culotte called, watching in satisfaction as the massive bolt appeared out of nowhere to fry the monster. Unfortunately, it didn't exactly finish the battle then-and-there, leaving a rather pissed-off Skeleton Diver behind. "Aw crud!" Julia turned around just in time to see Culotte being hurled towards the edge of the platform. Knowing that she had to act quickly, she established a barrier around the outer edge of the structure, and offered a silent prayer that it would contain the speeding angel. Her fear proved to be groundless, as the young angel managed to right himself before going over the edge. He smiled and waved before turning back towards the center of the platform. Drawing his sword, Culotte flapped his wings twice and rushed over to aid his sister, who was now being forced towards the opposite edge.
Priere kept her baton moving, but she soon realized that it alone was unable to deal any sort of damage against her skeletal foe. Sighing inwardly, she reluctantly drew the sword that she had gained back in the Machine Tower. Forgive me if I do this wrong, Saito. It's just that I don't have all of the time in the world. Priere! What are you... Oh, wait a minute. I see what you mean. The mage's expression darkened, and then he responded once again. Let me help you, Alternate Overlord. Just please try to pay attention. Fine with me, she responded before relinquishing control to the Oricaltos. She immediately felt herself adjusting the weightlessness of the blade, and her stance was soon set, even though she no longer had control. She was seeing everything that Saito was doing, and she began to learn in earnest.
Outside of the room, everyone looked quizzically at the mage when his eyes seemed to glaze over for a few moments. Those expressions soon turned to alarm when the mage drew his sword and set his stance. However, Kurtis was quick to notice that the mage's eyes were still slightly glazed-over, and he made an assumption. "My guess is that he is helping either Priere or Culotte to learn how to properly use a sword. He's probably using mental control, his moves being mirrored inside the room." "Well, let's see if you are right on that count, scientist," Soma commented as he drew Saito's laptop out of the man's pack. Flipping it open, it took him little time to hack into the security grid. Scrolling through the cameras, he soon found the one that he was looking for, and he maximized the window before turning the screen towards the rest of the group. "You see, Kurtis was right. Saito is helping out Priere right now, since she has no knowledge about the use of a sword." Everyone reluctantly nodded in agreement before paying attention to the action on the screen.
Hector sat-up and winced immediately. Damn! I never knew that Priere could be that strong! Looking across the platform, he beckoned to his wife, and then sent his Innocent Devil over to aid Priere. Julia hurried across the room and bent over her husband's injured body. She then flinched back violently before lifting her eyes to Hector's face. "It looks like you have a few splintered ribs that I'm going to have to set. This may hurt a little," she whispered as she removed her waist sash and began to wrap it tightly around the Forgemaster's injured ribs. Hector bit his lower lip in order to keep from complaining, but his eyes obviously showed his pain. They then rolled to look over at Priere before widening in astonishment.
Julia also looked over in that direction, and her jaw dropped in amazement. Priere was busy dueling with the Skeleton Diver, and she was winning! However, that wasn't the amazing thing. Last time either of them had checked, Priere had no knowledge about sword-fighting, except what she had seen when Saito dueled. Yet there she was, dueling as if she had known how to use a blade her entire life. Looking closer, Hector suddenly realized the reason why the Alternate Overlord was acting so strange when he took a closer look at her eyes. Rather than their traditional blood-red color, her eyes were now nearly black, and that led the Forgemaster to the only logical conclusion: Saito was in control.
The Alternate Overlord was moving without even thinking, as if she no longer had any regards for her own safety. She was swinging her sword expertly, blocking with little effort, and causing massive damage with each blow, as she seamlessly weaved her blade around her opponent's defense. The Skeleton Diver couldn't stop the assault, and it reeled back in shock when Corpsey suddenly appeared and launched a Bone Storm. Unable to counter, it fell to the last stroke of Priere's sword, a two-handed backhand slice that separated the head from the body. Then, after sheathing her sword, the young woman then proceeded to trace the seventh Seal, locking the monster away.
As she turned to look over at the Forgemaster, her eyes returned to normal, and she winced slightly as she stared into Hector's eyes, the guilt clearly rising. "I'm sorry for being so abrupt. It's just that there was no time to warn you before you would have been stabbed." Hector slowly shook his head and smiled. "It's alright, Priere. As long as we all get out of this place alive, then I can live with a few splintered ribs." The Alternate Overlord sadly smiled before she conjured her own magic to heal the man's injuries. She then looked over at the door, just in time to see Soma shut the weredragon's laptop with a click. He then looked over at her and grinned broadly. "Nice fight." She lowered her head and whispered a modest "Thank you" before everyone rushed into the room. Saito was the last one to enter, and he smiled easily. "I told you that it would be easy to pick-up." "You're right about that!" she responded, her smile matching his. Congratulations were offered all around, and then Saito and Soma took the lead once more.
While they are busy covering the distance to the Inverted Dark Chapel, let's go check-in on our resident idiot, the Dark Priest known as Shaft.
Following Shaft: Boss Room: Inverted Observation Tower
The emerald-eyed man was livid. "What will it take to eliminate these fools once and for all? How much more do I need to do in order to halt them for a significant period of time? I mean, they blew through Beelzebub faster than I anticipated, and my timetable is already behind once again. Why does this always have to happen to me?" he whined, turning away from the screens and kneading his temples. He could feel a migraine coming, and he also knew that it wasn't due to changes in air pressure. Grumbling aloud, he began to rummage through his desk drawers, searching for his headache medicine, only to remember that he had run-out during the battle with Menace. Cursing under his breath, he reluctantly left the control room.
After searching for several minutes and coming-up with nothing, Shaft returned to the control room only to discover that Baal had decided to waltz in and start watching a few DVDs while he was away. Cursing his rotten luck, he began to rummage through his pockets, looking for his keys. After finding them and then fumbling at the lock trying to find the correct one, he managed to open the door. "BAAL! Did I ever give you permission to leave the Inverted Ceremonial Room?" The Lord of Terror (still in human form) turned around in Shaft's chair and smiled innocently. "No, but you never said that I wasn't allowed to." The man groaned in annoyance, and the demon smiled to himself as he turned back to watching the TV. "Pull-up a chair. I'm trying to finish watching Hellsing, but you interrupted me again. Now I'll have to restart this episode." Shaft could barely contain his anger, but he managed to find his way to one of the other chairs. "How many episodes left on this DVD?" "Two, and after this, I'll head back to my room, okay?" Shaft nodded and settled down to watch, not noticing the smaller screen that was following the progress of Saito and his friends. However, Baal saw the progress, and he secretly smiled. All was going according to plan...
As if Shaft's day couldn't get any worse, he now has to deal with the betrayal of not only Abaddon, but also Malphas and Medusa! Talk about bad karma... We now rejoin the Oricaltos and his allies as they enter the Inverted Dark Chapel and see Malphas once again...
Following Saito&Co: Boss Room (high): Inverted Dark Chapel
After everyone had filed into the room, Saito was slightly surprised when the doors refused to close. "Um, Soma? Is it just me, or are the doors broken?" "It's not that. It's just that I felt like joining you in order to get revenge on Shaft." Everyone turned towards the voice, and Mina smiled gently as she stepped forward once again. "It would be an honor if you would join us, Master Malphas. However, I have a question for you." The King of Ravens gestured for her to continue, and she then proceeded to ask. "Do you know who else will be joining us?" Malphas scratched his head for a few moments, but then he shrugged and smiled. "I'm not exactly sure, but I think the other one might be Medusa. Why don't we head down and ask?" Mina nodded in agreement, and the group then proceeded to follow him down the corridor to the adjoining room. Malphas knocked three times and then waited, and the door soon opened.
Medusa poked her head out, and blinked in surprise before smiling and bidding the companions to enter. The diralec was one of the last to enter, and he whistled at what he saw. The room was relatively neat, and there were several chairs set-up around a fairly large projector. She grinned sheepishly at the mage and shrugged. "I was setting-up to watch a few movies, and you guys kinda caught me off-guard." Saito shook his head sadly before lightly smiling. "To tell you the truth, we came down here to ask you a question, but we also need a break, so this shouldn't be too bad." Medusa laughed aloud before gesturing to the chairs. "Have a seat then. I just need to make sure that my DVD player is working properly." She was stopped by the curious look on Saito's face, and she read the question in his eyes. Laughing, she mentally answered him. Shaft has no idea that Baal used his credit-cards while in 2040. I can't wait to see the look on his face when the bill arrives later this month. Saito cracked-up before openly gesturing for the young Gorgon to make herself comfortable. "My laptop doubles as a DVD player, plus I can also hack into Shaft's security cameras." Seeing the shocked look on her face caused the mage to grin before he called-out to the rest of his companions. "Animation Break!" Everyone was quick to pull-up a seat, and Saito passed his DVD collection over to Medusa. "Since it's your projector, you get to choose the film." "Why thank you, Saito!" she said happily as she browsed through his collection. Noting one that she had yet to see, she passed it over to the Oricaltos, who nodded at her selection. Closing his DVD case, he opened his laptop and slipped the DVD in. Navigating through the menus, he waited for everyone to settle down before he began to speak. "Listen-up people! We will be watching the original version of Final Fantasy: Advent Children. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! Setsuna, please hit the lights." There was a distinct thud,followed by the lights dimming, and then the movie began. (1)
While they are busy relaxing and watching a movie, let's go see what Shaft has planned for our heroes later in their journey...
Following Shaft: Boss Room: Inverted Observation Tower
"Well, now that your DVD is done, could you please return to your quarters?" Baal pouted slightly before leaving the room, allowing Shaft to access the security cameras once again. After scanning the rooms once more, he established contact with the Inverted Master's Chamber. "This is Control calling Clone Lead: Is everything ready for our guests' arrival?" "This is Clone Lead. Yes, everything is ready and waiting for our guests to arrive. All we need now is the exact time frame when they will be arriving." "I hear you, and will get back to you as soon as I know. Control out." The Dark Priest sighed aloud before turning back to survey the boss rooms once again. Spotting one that was a little different, he quickly maximized the screen. He let his jaw hang for a moment, but then his gleeful yell rang up to Baal's ears. "Baal! Get down here, quick!" "What is it, Shaft?" "They're watching Advent Children in Medusa's room!" "WHAT?" The Lord of Terror rushed back down the stairs and burst into the room, his eyes immediately wandering to the monitor. He grinned and quickly pulled-up a seat. "If I had known that Saito had the DVD, I would have invited him in earlier," Shaft said as he leaned his seat back. "This is the life."
He was interrupted when the radio went-off shortly after they started watching. Annoyed, Shaft hit the button. "This is Shaft. Go ahead." There was a momentary pause, and then he heard a voice that slightly chilled him. "I noticed that all of the cameras suddenly rotated to see the screen. Is it just me, or do you want to watch as well?" Baal chuckled and reached over to hit the call button. "Do you think that Saito could split the feed between your projector and ours, Vlad? I really wanted to see this earlier, but I didn't have the opportunity." Count Vladislav Tepes III il Dragulia laughed aloud before responding. "Let me check with the Oricaltos first." There was a momentary pause, and then the image on the screen suddenly swam into focus. Then Saito's voice came over the radio. "Since you guys joined us about three minutes in, I'm going to restart from the beginning. Is that okay?" "That's fine with us, Oricaltos. Just get this thing started!" "As you command, Dark Priest!" Saito called back, much to the amusement of the rest of his friends, before hitting the "Play" button once again.
MUTUAL BREAK! Everyone took two hours to kick back and enjoy one of the mage's DVDs. When the movie finally ended, Medusa willingly joined Saito and his companions. We now join the final coalition of forces that are determined to put an end to Shaft...
Following Saito&Co: Inverted Forbidden Area: Castle Dracula (inverted)
As they headed through the corridors, it soon became apparent that the mage's next destination was the boss room of the area. Medusa had offered her services as a guide, and Saito had willingly accepted. In exchange, much to the surprise of the Seraph, he managed to somehow restore Medusa's legs. It was actually quite funny to watch, and there were plenty of priceless expressions. However, Saito also had a sword for Medusa, and she accepted her blade with a smile and a nod. She then proceeded to lead the group deeper and deeper into the depths of the castle. She stopped upon reaching the doors, and she turned to look at the mage with a worried expression on her face. "I'm not really sure if this would be wise, Saito. Draco is known for being very temperamental." The Oricaltos snorted before gesturing for her to stand aside. "I can handle this battle alone. It must be dragon versus dragon, and I know what must be done." He dropped his pack on the ground, and then reached into it. Pulling out his laptop, he tossed it to Soma. "That way, you won't have to go rooting through my pack again," he stated, causing all to stare at their feet in shame. He then strode through the door, and it slid shut behind him.
Saito took two steps into the room and grinned wickedly. It's time that I prove who's truly stronger, he thought as he began to transform. The room was massive, but it suddenly seemed fairly small with two full-sized dragons occupying the space. The Oricaltos merely allowed his grin to spread as he stretched his wings. He then flapped them once, rising from the floor. He stopped a few feet above the ground, and a sneer crossed his face as he looked at the other dragon. Draco was a massive, serpentine dragon. It bared it's fangs at the mage, unfurled it's wings, and lifted-off the ground. Saito merely snorted as he flexed his claws, and then lashed-out towards his adversary's wings.
Outside, everyone winced in sympathy as Saito's claws shredded Draco's wings effortlessly. Not a single eye left the screen as the two dragons continued to duel. Saito continued to shift from side-to-side, avoiding the snapping fangs and ripping claws, all the while trying to land a blow on his opponent's chest. However, Draco was as elusive as the mage, managing to dodge several of the more crippling blows in order to get in slashes at Saito's wings. BUT, due to the fact that Saito's wings were scaled, as opposed to being leathery like Draco's, it was much harder to tear holes in them.
At long last, Saito decided that he was tired of playing around. He immediately began to charge for one of his nastier attacks, and Draco saw what he was trying to do. The serpentine dragon tried to disrupt the rhythm of the attack, but it wasn't enough to stop the determined mage. The Oricaltos continued to charge his attack, ignoring the numerous blows that continued to land. Eventually, the mage finished charging for his attack. Looking down at Draco in annoyance, he unleashed his frustration at the monster as he called-out his attack. Darkness Wave! The attack shot away from his wings, slamming into Draco and pinning it to the far wall. It then continued to wash over him, causing him to collapse. Saito reverted to his Warrior form and then drew the Patriarch's Seal, ending the battle. Well, it appears that I was the better.
It didn't take them very long to finish traversing the distance between the Forbidden Area and the Study, and it took them even less time to enter into another fight...
Boss Room: Inverted Study: Castle Dracula (inverted)
Soma led the way into the next boss room, shortly followed by both Mina and Vlad. Thursday was quick to follow, and then the door started to close. It was only through pure luck that Gordon was able to dive through at the last second. Turning, they all watched as the door sealed, and then they turned back towards the center of the room. "Well, it is certainly good to see you again, Count. Ever since my perspective changed, I've been dying to get another shot at you!" Dracula snorted a laugh before his face became serious once again. "Your puns are starting to get old, Dullahan. Besides, you are starting to bore me with these petty games." The formerly headless knight emerged from the shadows, followed closely by the Skull Knight and the Minotaur. They all snarled at the group before moving to attack.
The Minotaur was the first one to make a move. Swinging his axe, he tried to split Thursday, only to have the machine slide to the right. Thursday then charged forward, delivering several thousand volts of electricity to the beast. The Minotaur bellowed in pain before lunging forward again, only to be grabbed and tossed high into the air. The robot then vanished from the ground, only to reappear in flying-saucer form to slam into the Minotaur from various angles. He then appeared above the beast, and slammed it back into the ground with enough force to crack the backbone of the monster. The monster died instantly, never to bother the mage or his allies again.
Skull Knight was the next one to make his move, charging at Gordon. The Slayer of the Netherworld stepped to his left before drawing his gun and firing twice. His first shot hit the shield of his opponent, while the second nailed the undead creature between his eyes. He snarled and swung his sword, trying to spit the man, but Gordon was one step ahead. Stepping to his right this time, the man holstered his gun and drew his longsword. Parrying the first two thrusts, he then countered with an overhead slash that split the monster's shield. Hissing in annoyance, the Skull Knight unleashed a beam attack, only to have it deflected by Gordon's sword. The Slayer then rushed forward, sheathed his weapon, and then began to land blow after punishing blow, leading up to his finale, the Gordon Blitz. Everyone stopped fighting and looked on in amazement as the Slayer of the Netherworld landed seventeen consecutive blows before kicking the beast into the distance. "Justice shall prevail!" he called, just before the remains of the ruined boss landed in a crumbling heap of ash.
Dullahan shot a nasty look at Gordon before placing his head on one of the nearby tables. Drawing his sword, he then proceeded to rush at Dracula. The Prince of Darkness was quick to draw his sword and parry, causing sparks to fly. He then counterattacked, knocking the fiend backwards. He stumbled back a few steps, righted himself, and then charged forward again, only to meet the flat of Claimh Solais. Soma shrugged, tossed a short salute to his counterpart, and then he lashed-out, bringing his blade up and across the ribs of the monster. The head howled from its stationary position as the body clutched a smoking slash across his ribs. The headless body then struck back, laying open Soma's left shoulder. Dracula's reincarnation winced and immediately summoned his Alura familiar before settling against one of the side walls, allowing Mina to carry-on the fight.
Mina murmured a quick prayer before drawing her scythe. "I never wanted to do this, but you left me with no choice. You seriously injured my boyfriend, and now you are going to pay," she snarled before lunging forward, the miniature sickles already appearing at random and closing the distance between them rapidly. Even though the body tried to dodge, he couldn't keep moving forever, and the sickles just kept coming. Eventually, he tried to take the offensive. BIG mistake. Mina shifted her scythe into the traditional sword-form that she had utilized during her fight against the Doppelganger in 2040 (back in Chapter 8). She quickly raised the sword in a block, and then she raked her blade across the monster's ribs, in the same exact way as Soma had. The corpse hissed in frustration before lunging once again, only to be blocked once again. Mina spread her jet-black wings and lifted a few inches from the ground before launching her next attack. "Wing Shards!"
The sharpened projectiles slammed into the monster's arms and legs, pinning him to the wall next to Soma. Cruz looked up, weakly smiled at Mina, and then drew a dagger and drove it through the corpse's right foot, pinning it to the floor. The head screamed from its position on the table, and Mina gave a slightly annoyed look at it before turning to Vlad. "Would you please be a dear and plant a blade between his eyes?" she asked, gently teasing the Count. Vlad smiled, bowed, and then launched a dagger that he had conjured out of thin air. The blade hit its mark, and the head fell silent, leaving Mina free to switch her weapon back to scythe form. She then looped it around Dullahan's back, and then swiftly pulled it back towards her. The blade sliced through the monster's waist, cutting it in half and causing the body to collapse into shadows. Soma slowly raised his right hand, and Mina helped him to rise as he traced the Seal, locking away the dark power once more.
With the battle now over and done with, both Mina and Lily (Soma's familiar) settled down to try and mend the muscles and bones in his left shoulder. He winced in pain as Lily wrapped her vines around his shoulder, and Mina looked on in concern as her vines gently kneaded, regenerating much of his muscle mass and knitting broken bones. Death's reincarnation then turned to the other witches who entered the room, and Lisa's hands dove into her bag before emerging with a needle and some flesh-colored thread. Mina gently smiled before taking the offered objects and turning back towards Soma. Gently pinching the skin together, she began to sew. After nearly ten minutes, Mina was done, and Soma's shoulder looked as if it had been uninjured. Saito smiled at the couple before turning to the rest of the group. "Okay everyone, time for a short break."
After allowing everyone to sit-down and catch their breath for a few minutes, Saito insisted that they continue onwards. He was determined to continue into the depths of the keep, but Soma stopped him. "If we keep-up with this pace, then we should be fine. Don't worry about trying to push yourself too hard." Saito nodded, but then his eyes wandered to Alucard. "Well, so far, you have allowed three of your familiars to change into their human shapes. What about the other two?" Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes slowly shook his head and smiled at the mage. "I was planning on letting them out right before we split going towards the Garden of Madness." "Fine with me!" the Oricaltos responded before turning back to the main path. Soon enough, however, they entered the Inverted Chapel, and that was when the ghosts appeared in full-force.
Saito drew his sword and was swinging in all directions, trying to clear a path. It was turning out to be hopeless, but then Alucard hit upon a brilliant idea. Summoning his own Ghost familiar, he gave it a few orders and then released it. The familiar was quick to take the lead, and the assault soon ceased. The Oricaltos raised an eyebrow and looked back at Vlad's eldest son, who merely shrugged. "They always say that it's best to lead by example, and so I'm letting Lucian do that." Saito shook his head and grinned before turning back towards the opposite end of the corridor. Why didn't I think of that before?
Boss Room: Inverted Chapel: Castle Dracula (inverted)
Setsuna volunteered to go first, and the door slid shut with a whisper right after he entered. Looking around, he didn't notice anything unusual, with the lone exception of the hooded figure resting in the center of the room. "Why do you serve Shaft?" the hybrid asked curiously, and the figure sighed. "It is because I do not have enough skill to challenge him on my own as a Necromancer. However, that is about to change," he snarled before turning and lifting his face to stare at Setsuna. "By absorbing your powers, I will be even stronger that Shaft could ever dream about! I will have more than enough strength to crush anyone who dared to cross my path!" "Unfortunately, you wouldn't get very far. The Oricaltos would squash you like a bug once he found out what had happened to me. Trust me, you do not want to get on his bad side," the holy/unholy priest muttered as he drew his staff. "If you are so confident, then how about we have a little contest? The winner walks out in one piece, while the loser has all of his power taken from him." "Agreed," the man sneered as he began to draw strange symbols in the air.
Immediately, the walls lit-up, displaying writing in a language that Setsuna could not understand. As he watched in horror, the letters and symbols began to flow down the walls, collecting in an acid-green pool in the center of the room. "It is time that I show you the fullest extent of my translation work," the cloaked figure called out as he stepped into the pool of light. In an instant, he was transformed into a great, black dragon. Setsuna looked-up at it, and nearly panicked. There were crimson rivulets all over the body, and that told him that he would need more than just strength in that fight. The Necromancer had gone Tyrant, and it would take all of Setsuna's skills to survive.
Outside, Saito took one look at the screen and swore out loud. "DAMN IT! Setsuna's going to need some help on this one." "Why is that?" Priere asked, taking a look at the screen. Then she noticed the pattern on the scales of the dragon. "Aw crud! I think he's going to need more than just a little help on this one. After all, he is facing a Tyrant Dragon right now." Nicholai raised an eyebrow before looking at the diralec. "Hey, isn't that the form..." "...that my father took on your wedding day?" Saito finished the question before slowly nodding his head. "I need to get in there, or at least find some way to help him out." The others nodded swiftly in agreement. They were not about to let one of their own fall in combat.
Setsuna was doing his best to dodge as many attacks as possible, but he knew that he could not dodge everything. However, when the beast launched a Soul Rend, the holy/unholy knew that it was imperative to dodge. Gathering his legs, he leapt upwards, causing the beam to miss by several feet. Unphased, the dragon then proceeded to launch beam after beam in Setsuna's general direction. He continued to roll and dodge, praying all the while that Saito would find a way to open the doors. He knew that he was ill-suited for facing a beast such as the Tyrant, but he knew that he had to try. Taking a deep breath, he leveled his staff at the dark dragon, and a glowing white seal appeared both beneath his feet AND directly in front of him. "Holy Arrows!" he called, and the white quills shot from his staff, slamming into the Tyrant's stomach before detonating.
"SAITO! You'd better take a look at this," Priere called to the Oricaltos, who was busy trying to figure out how to open the door. He turned and raised an eyebrow at the Alternate Overlord. "What happened?" "Oh, nothing much, except that Setsuna landed a Holy Arrows on the Tyrant." "WHAT?" Saito, not trusting what Priere had said, rushed over to take a look at the screen. Sure enough, Setsuna had managed to land his Holy Arrows. What was even more interesting was the fact that they did a massive amount of damage. He looked at the screen, then looked to Priere. His face then split into a wide grin. "It looks like he may not need our help after all!" Priere bobbed her head in agreement before settling her eyes on the screen once again.
The Tyrant snapped angrily at Setsuna, hoping to catch him off-guard. However, that wasn't going to happen. Now that Setsuna had managed to punch a hole in the Tyrant's thick hide, he now had a target to aim for. He continued to dodge about, launching the occasional fireball when he had the time to aim it. As a result, all of the blows were landing in relatively the same place: the hole in Tyrant's stomach that had resulted from the Holy Arrows. The Necromancer knew that he could not hold-out for much longer, and decided to end it with one last blast. Gathering all of his energy into one final blow, he unleashed one of his nastiest attacks, the White Wave. What he did not anticipate was that Setsuna was hoping for this exact attack, and he reflected it beautifully. The wave bent backwards, slamming into the Necromancer.
Now, for those of you who do not know what this attack does, allow me to explain it in the simplest possible way. If you are in dragon form when you are hit by this attack, then you will be instantaneously knocked back into your human form. It hurts. The Necromancer had no time to block, so in addition to being tossed forcibly back into his human shape, he was also flung into the far wall. There was a distinct crack as his skull connected with the stone, and then the doors opened as he slumped over, dead. Setsuna took all of the man's energy and knowledge, in accordance with the bargain that had been made at the beginning. He then turned towards the door, smiling. "It wasn't hard once I managed to land the first blow." "That's what everyone says," Saito grumbled as he lead his laughing army through the room, back into the Inverted Entrance Corridor.
Boss Room: Inverted Entrance Corridor
Hector poked his head into the doorway and looked around. Upon seeing what the boss was, he immediately recoiled. "There is absolutely no way that I am entering that room until someone takes care of that stupid armor again! I've already done it twice, and I refuse to do it again." The Oricaltos shrugged before turning towards the rest of the army. "Okay then. Who wants to try and fight this thing?" Laharl stepped forward, followed closely by Flonne. "We might as well give it a try, seeing that Hector doesn't want to fight it again. My old man told us how it attacked, so it shouldn't be too difficult." Saito nodded in agreement before gesturing towards the door. "Go right ahead, Overlord. Get rid of that stupid thing, and let us continue on our way." Laharl nodded and then proceeded towards the door. However, he stopped halfway there, fiddling with something at his throat. "Oricaltos? Do you mind holding onto this for me?" he asked, tossing the mage his cape without even looking back. Saito caught it with a grin. "Not at all, Overlord. Just try to come out with all of your feathers intact." The Overlord grinned openly before tossing the Oricaltos a salute. He then proceeded through the door, followed closely by Flonne.
Marjoly could not help but stare at Laharl when he removed his cape. For that matter, none of the women could. It was the ultimate shock for both Priere and Marjoly, who had never seen what he was hiding, but they were both equally stunned when Laharl's wings were revealed. They were pitch-black, marking his status as a fairly powerful demon. However, they were also feathered, revealing a side of his nature that neither woman had any knowledge of. They had both assumed that he was a full vampire, but the revelation that the most feared of all Overlords was a dhamphir was a truly massive shock.
Laharl smiled to himself when he heard most of the women gasp when he revealed his wings. He then strode into the boss room, with Flonne following closely on his heels. The door sealed behind them, and the Crazy Armor suddenly shuddered to life. Turning, he nodded to Flonne before spreading his wings and rising from the floor. The Armor lashed-out with its long limbs, trying to crush the Overlord against one of the walls. However, he proved to be too elusive, and he darted in from time-to-time in order to land crushing strikes to the front armor plate. Soon enough, the neck of the Armor began to stretch, and it began to launch fireballs at the couple. However, both managed to dodge fairly well, though Laharl was scorched once or twice. Flonne utilized her Holy Arrows from a distance, causing massive trauma to the neck joint and nearly taking-off its head. Unfortunately, the neck joint shifted before the last quill landed.
Unchanging in it's resolve, the Crazy Armor continued launching flaming projectiles at the pair, but they continued to elude the attacks. Eventually, however, Flonne grew tired of dodging. Enough messing around Laharl. How about we show him one of our team attacks? The Overlord suddenly grinned as he caught-on to what Flonne was thinking. Which one should we use? I personally think the the Divine Ragnarök would be a little too much for the situation. I agree. How about the Hellpyre Arrow? We haven't used it in a LONG time. Agreed, then. The pair soon stopped in mid-air, and began to charge for the attack. Flonne started to pour her energy into Laharl, and when he couldn't take any more, she pulled her hand away and began to charge for her Holy Arrows. Laharl, in the meantime, was charging for a Blazing Knuckle. When both energies had reached their peaks, the two called-out in unison. "Fallen Overlord Combo: Hellpyre Arrow!"
At that point, Flonne shot her Holy Arrows into Laharl's back, shooting him downwards at a tremendous speed. As he continued to travel, the flames around his fist grew bigger and bigger. That is, until he impacted with the Crazy Armor. The Blazing Knuckle hit the monster like a ton of bricks, and then Laharl punched through the armor plating and managed to connect to the ground, causing a massive pillar of white fire to rise and incinerate the remains of the mechanical creature. It dropped into a heap of ashes and melted scrap-metal, and then the doors finally opened once again.
Hector was the first to poke his head into the room, and he immediately whistled when he saw what had become of the Crazy Armor. "And I thought that ripping apart the front plate was enough to stop it! Why did you do that?" Saito walked in, looked at the melted remains, and then turned to look at the Forgemaster. "Allow me to put this into the simplest possible terms, Hector: To a demon, there is no such thing as 'overkill.' That is because they always take things to the absolute maximum. Isn't that right, Laharl?" "You're right about that, Oricaltos. Permission to catch our breath before moving onwards?" "Granted with pleasure," the diralec said with a smile. "You two deserve it."
After about ten minutes, the Overlord and his chosen were once again fit for travel. After a small argument broke out between Etna and Karina (thankfully, it was broken-up by the Oricaltos before things got nasty), it was decided that part of the group would stay behind while the others moved forward to eliminate a few of the greater threats. Leaving his laptop and pack behind (so that the others could watch the progress), Saito set out at the head of a much reduced group, determined to create a clear pathway to the Inverted Master's Chamber.
Following Saito&Co: Boss Room: Inverted Dance Hall
Saito entered the room, closely followed by Seth, Ria, and Tim. However, as soon as the elder Belmont had passed through the door, it slammed shut. Tim jumped slightly in surprise, but then his feet appeared to be glued to the floor as his eyes widened with shock. "Holy mother of...!" he exclaimed, taking a closer look at the massive form lying in the center of the room. "Is it just me, or is that thing a really big snake?" Saito slowly shook his head before looking back at the man. "That thing is a Serpent Dragon, and a rather big one, too. From what I heard, it took a bit of effort to bring a normal-sized one down, so that means that we are going to be in deep trouble unless we figure something out."
"Well, one of us could always try to distract it, leaving the others free to attack," Riala suggested, and then Tim came up with an idea of his own. "Aren't dragons like this one usually susceptible to lightning attacks?" "Yeah. What are you getting at?" Saito asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. Tim smiled as he reached into his belt pouch and drew out a small ring set with a transparent blue crystal. "This is commonly referred to as the Aguen. It is mainly used to summon holy lightning. By pairing it with any number of metal weapons that we already have..." He trailed-off, and Saito suddenly grinned. "That might just be crazy enough to work! However, we still have the problem of how to get the weapons through that thing's thick hide..."
At this point, Riala stepped forward once again. "Excuse me, but I might be able to help you out a little bit here." "Why is that?" Seth asked, slightly curious, but he fell silent when his girlfriend glared at him. "I'm naturally stronger than most normal people. I am also fairly accurate, so it shouldn't be too hard for me to plant a few blades in the soft spots of that thing." "Ah, but how do you know where the soft spots are?" Tim asked triumphantly, only to fall silent when Saito hit him on the bridge of his nose. "She is an indirect descendant of Cornell, and he had to deal with these beasts on more than one occasion." She nodded in confirmation, and then Saito drew four of his many daggers. These he willingly passed over to Riala. "Make them all count."
The dragon lazily opened one eye and scanned the room. Seeing only four people there, it snorted and went back to sleep. However, it was soon to be in for a rude awakening. Riala crept fairly close while keeping an eye on the dragon. When she had reached the maximum range, she turned and looked questioningly at the mage. Saito nodded, and then the werecat planted the daggers right where she wanted them to be. At that point, the Serpent Dragon's eyes snapped wide open in shock that someone had dared to prick it with daggers. However, it had no idea what was coming next.
Timothy raised the Aguen above his head, and called upon the power stored within the ring. As a result, multiple bolts of lightning flew from the ring, and, attracted to the metal daggers, struck the dragon repeatedly. Saito decided to add some of his own lightning to the mix, and he immediately used his combined Lightning Doll/Rycuda soul to speed-up the process. Within minutes, the beast was slumped over on the ground, and then it dissolved into a pile of ashes. Seth walked over to them, slowly shook his head while making the Sign of the Cross, and then he doused the ashes with holy water, causing them to completely disappear, and also unlocking both doors.
Onto the next fight, ladies and gentlemen!
Boss Room: Inverted Inner Quarter
Saito poked his head into the door, took a swift look around, and then pulled-back in just the nick of time. "Damn Cyclops!" he snarled, but then he saw that Marjoly was wickedly grinning at him. "And WHAT do you think is so funny? That thing nearly took my head!" The witch merely shook her head before responding. "I've dealt with the Cyclops before. Let me handle it." Saito raised an eyebrow, but then he stepped out of her way. "If you insist, Marjoly."
Soon after the witch had entered the room, the door slid shut behind her, leaving her trapped with the same monster that she had defeated while retrieving Juste. Drawing her quarterstaff, she began to circle the monster, searching for an opportunity to strike a crushing blow. However, with the way that the monster was flailing about with his hammer, there weren't many openings to take advantage of. Then again, she only needed one in order to end the battle, and the beast gave it to her completely by accident. Swinging his hammer forward, he missed when Marjoly stepped to her right. The hammer stuck in the rock floor, giving the witch a perfect chance to strike. She seized her advantage by casting Terra Ice first, and then following immediately with Terra Fire, causing a rather interesting reaction. When the monster's body temperature went from one extreme to the other, the Cyclops promptly died when all of his blood boiled-off in an instant.
Dude, that was rather quick! Anyway, now onto the toughest of fights before the battle of the Master's Chamber...
Boss Room: Inverted Final Floor
Saito had allowed everyone to come and join them for the last battle before the Master's Chamber. However, he would only allow two others to enter the room with him. After much debate, it was decided that he would be joined by the Alternate Overlord and the Seraph. As Priere and Michael prepared their weapons, Saito sat down to reflect on the events of the past several days. All too soon, it was time to enter the room and fight. The Oricaltos let Michael lead the way, and the doors sealed shortly after he had entered, leaving the trio trapped in a room pulsating with evil.
Outside, everyone crowded around Saito's laptop, but upon seeing what was inside the room, Leon Belmont's eyebrows creased with concern. "I sure hope that they know how to take that thing out." His fears were soon put to rest when Saito began the battle by asking Priere to use her Spirit Wind to take out the eyes in the four corners of the room. Leon sighed with relief as the eyes were destroyed. Well, it looks like I didn't really need to worry that much...
However, the battle had only begun. Multiple snakelike creatures began to rise from the floor, and they began to circle the heart-shaped object which suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. My best guess is that we should target the heart, Saito mentally called to his two compatriots, and they both nodded before splitting up and circling around the massive target. Then the creatures attacked, each one launching itself at one of the three with a tremendous amount of speed. The first one to reach the Seraph met with a brilliant flash of light as it connected with Michael's barrier spell. The others were faring well, as Saito was cutting them down with his claws, and Priere was merely beating them to a bloody pulp with her baton. They just kept coming, and soon, even the ever-patient Seraph was starting to lose his cool. They aren't going to stop until we destroy that thing, Saito! Then what are we waiting for? Let's get down to it!
With that, all three drew their swords before charging, unleashing one of the most demanding of all the technical skills: the Tri-cutter. The trick for the technique was that they could not run into one another, but that was the easy part, due to the fact that they each moved at a different speed. Saito was the first to strike, slicing the heart dead down the center. Priere was the next to connect, moving from lower right to upper left. And finally, the Seraph's path mirrored Priere's, as he blurred from lower left to upper right. The end result was spectacular. The heart sat there for a few more seconds after the Seraph passed, and then it promptly imploded, collapsing inwards as all of the snake creatures gave tiny howls before bursting into flame. Saito, however, kept his sword out as they advanced beyond the room. Soon enough, they came to a staircase that caused most of the Belmonts to pause. Soma looked over at them, slightly puzzled. "Why are you stopping?" Simon sighed before explaining. "This is the final staircase before the Master's Chamber. It was always the final place to stop and heal before going onward to face Dracula. Somehow, it just feels wrong that the staircase is upside-down." Soma chuckled along with a few of the others. "I had to climb these stairs too, so don't worry about it." With that, they all proceeded down the steps and stopped before the door, Saito took a deep breath before opening the door, and then he stepped in, followed by the rest of his forces.
At long last! Saito and his friends have reached the halfway mark of the castle, What awaits them inside of the Chamber? Well, they always said that "you are your own worst enemy," so let's go finish those idiots once and for all!
Following Saito&Co: Inverted Master's Chambers: Castle Dracula (Inverted)
Soma slowly shook his head as he looked around the room. Nothing really changed about this place, he thought to himself as he drew Claimh Solais and prepared himself for the final battle against himself. Cornell's eyes narrowed as he saw one different figure inside of the room, and he snarled a single word. "Ortega." The dark-skinned beast cocked his head to one side before emerging from the shadows. "Ah, Cornell. I'm surprised that you made it this far. However, I am sorry to say that this is the end of the line for you and your precious friends," he snarled as he beckoned forth his minions. Leon groaned at the sight that greeted them. "Not this again!"
Doppelgangers. A little over five dozen of them, and each one bore the face of one of his companions. He was also certain that they also bore some sort of enhancements that would try and give the monsters an advantage. Raising his gauntlet, he allowed the purple crystal to remain in place while he drew forth his cross. Looking over at Juste, he nodded once before beginning the assault. The cross in his hand vanished, but then it suddenly and violently came crashing down from the heavens once again, with two big differences. The first difference was the fact that it had grown exponentially in size, and the second difference was the fact that it was covered in holy, blue flames. The cross connected with brutal accuracy, slamming down in the center of the group, causing massive damage to the vampire Doppelgangers residing there.
Saito almost immediately raised his sword in order to defend himself against his copy. The other Saito sneered before lunging forward, spreading wings that were the direct opposite of those of the Oricaltos. Saito reluctantly spread his own as he continued to dodge his copy's strikes. He knew that there was a particular pattern to his opponent's movements, he just had to figure it out and exploit the gaps, which shouldn't be too hard. It didn't take long to discover that his opponent refused to use any special attacks, for fear of messing-up, and the Oricaltos smiled to himself. SO, it appears as if he fears to use his own magic. Well then, it looks like I know what I am going to use to beat him. He mentally chuckled before drawing out a small deck of cards. When his opponent looked at him strangely, he smiled, shuffled, and then activated the Killer Clown soul, allowing him to hurl the cards with tremendous strength and accuracy. He then began to flick the cards at his opponent with tremendous speed, and the man was unable to move out of the way in time as the cards cut into him again and again. The final card lodged in his throat, forever silencing him, and causing the Doppelganger to collapse into ashes. The Oricaltos bowed his head for a brief moment before finally looking over at the other battles around him.
Michael and his double were trading distance attacks, but the copy was not faring well, especially when the Seraph decided to unleash Armageddon once again. The attack hit head-on, obliterating not only his copy, but also seriously damaging another group of copies. Smiling at his handiwork, the Seraph then turned and thrust with his white broadsword, piercing one of the outstretched wings of Etna's copy. The demon snarled and partially turned, dealing the head angel a nasty backhand. He stumbled back, not realizing how much force she had put into the blow until it had already struck him.
Laharl lunged forward to try and land a few blows under his copy's guard. Unfortunately, he wasn't having much success. Tired of trading sword strokes, he suddenly sheathed his sword and leapt into the air. His copy looked at him strangely, and then realized what the Overlord was trying to do. He turned to run, but it was already too late. "Blazing Knuckle!" Laharl roared as he plummeted back to the ground. His fist slammed into his opponent first, and then it slammed into the ground, causing a pillar of flame to rise underneath his adversary. The pillar also tossed his copy into the air, leaving it no time to dodge the Overlord's next attack. The Overlord drew his sword and leapt after his copy, knowing how he was going to end the battle. Because the flaming pillar had tossed his opponent fairly high into the air, Laharl smiled as he began the multiple-stroke attack known as Nightsever. Upon impacting the ground once again, the copy disintegrated into a pile of ashes, leaving Laharl free to aid his fellows.
Etna was busy trading spear thrusts with her copy, hoping to find a weakness in her defense. However, the copy was quick to leap away and begin to utilize her distance attacks. As the fireballs began to soar past her on all sides, the real Etna began to dodge around, hoping to make-up lost ground. Then again, her copy failed to notice a certain Overlord sneaking up on her, at least until it was far too late. All of a sudden, the copy was unable to move her arms, and she immediately began struggling, trying to get free. "I can't hold her forever, Etna!" Laharl called, and his chief vassal nodded. She knew that she had to be precise with her next attack. Rushing forward, she nodded to Laharl, and he let the copy go, just as Etna disappeared into the air. The Doppelganger looked around in confusion until it noticed the shadow around it's feet growing bigger. Looking up in alarm, the clone had no time to dodge the Avalanche that Etna had started. Kicking her opponent into the air as part of the attack, she vanished once again, only to appear in front of the copy. With a final snarl of "DIE!" she stabbed the Doppelganger three times, sending it crashing back to the floor in a ruined heap. It struggled to rise once before collapsing. The vassal nodded at the Overlord once in thanks, and then she went to go aid Morian.
Soma spread his wings before drawing Claimh Solais and rising into the air. His duplicate followed closely, and then several of the other vampiric copies reluctantly took to the skies. All were determined to see Soma and his friends dead, but that wasn't going to happen. No one seemed to notice that Cruz's blade was glowing a brilliant green. At least, until he began his final downwards stroke. "Dimension Slash!" Soma called, watching in satisfaction as he managed to split his copy directly along his spine. The copy smiled once before falling to the ground in two halves, and Soma merely smiled before turning to the other copies behind him. "Who's next?" he asked, almost too casually.
Thursday, unlike the others, had no direct opposite. Rather, he was forced to face a variety of werebeasts, all of whom he promptly beat into the ground. Despite the overwhelming odds, the robot managed to defeat all of his foes without shorting. Scanning the remainder of the room, he saw that there were no situations that immediately required his attention, and so he settled back to wait for an opening to exploit.
D was having a little bit of trouble with his Doppelganger, but Etna could not see the problem at first. Then she noticed the thing in the copy's left hand, and her eyes narrowed. Her suspicions were confirmed when the hand absorbed a full charge of lightning, only to spit it back at Vlad's younger son. "Morian, I think that your copy made an allegiance with your former parasite." "I think you're right, Etna. After all, how else would he be able to counter my spells so easily?" At that point, the parasite finally decided to speak-up. "Well, if you hadn't removed me, then you wouldn't be in this situation right now, correct?" it snarled at D, but instead of causing him to cringe back, the remark only strengthened the dhamphir's resolve. Lowering his left hand, the copy lunged forward, hoping to catch Morian off-guard. However, things didn't exactly work out.
You see, the Doppelganger forgot to add one more factor into the equation: a certain red-headed vassal going by the name of Etna. In the blink of an eye, the copy was thrown against the far wall by a well-aimed Prinny Raid. Etna looked over and nodded at Vlad's younger son, and Morian smiled at her once before lunging at his adversary. The copy struggled to raise his blade in time, but it was too late. Morian Alexander Tepes' thrust passed directly through his opponent's chest, causing the copy to collapse into a pile of ashes. Morian smiled, baring his fangs, before turning and nodding to Etna. "Thanks for the help." "You're welcome!" she replied cheerfully before looking at the other battles raging around them.
Riala and her opponent were circling one another, each looking for an opening. Seth, meanwhile, was closing the distance between himself and his copy, forcing the battle into a game of whip skills, in which he knew that he was far superior. The Doppelganger also knew this, and was thus trying to keep his distance in order to get free shots with his sub-weapons. Then again, the copy was also slightly worried about trying to dodge any other attacks, especially those of the opponents who had already managed to defeat their duplicates.
And so, while he was busy defending himself from the magical attacks of the Oricaltos, Seth managed to score several blows against his opponent's back, and then he landed a crippling blow. At first, the copy thought that his whip arm had gone numb for a short period of time. However, when he tried to move it, he nearly screamed aloud in pain. Seth had managed to dislocate his adversary's shoulder, and he took full advantage of the lack of motion to press his attack. The copy was forced to toss the whip to his left hand, but he was unable to keep-up with the speed of VampireKiller. In the final lingering moments before the final blow was struck, Seth shifted his whip into a fire sword, and then he dealt the final blow. His blade separated his opponent's head from his body, cauterizing the wound instantaneously and allowing no blood to escape. Ria raised an eyebrow at this before continuing her fight.
Upon seeing that Seth's copy had fallen, Ria's copy resigned herself to the same fate. Allowing her guard to drop, she looked-up and nodded at her opponent. Riala swallowed hard before acknowledging the gesture. With a whispered "I'm sorry," the werecat brought the claws of her left hand across her adversary's throat in a mortal blow. The body dissolved in seconds, and Seth walked over before dropping to one knee and holding his tear-stricken girlfriend. "It's alright. She wanted you to end her suffering, and you did the right thing." Ria sniffed once before looking-up at the only man that she had ever loved. "When will the fighting ever end?" "Probably after we finish obliterating Shaft and sending Baal back to his proper time and place," Saito called from across the room. The werecat dried her tears, and then her eyes hardened. "Let's get to work."
Malphas decided to join forces with an airborne Soma when he noticed that his copy was no longer on the ground. It was easy enough to spot the Doppelganger, but it was an entirely different matter when it came to forcing the man to land. Then again, that is what Soma had taken to specializing in. The copy of the King of Ravens eventually landed on his own, having grown tired of constantly dodging fireballs and lightning bolts. Once on the ground, though, he was still forced to dodge a variety of projectiles, ranging anywhere from ice spikes (Frozen Shade soul) to locusts (Abaddon soul) to the occasional stray knife or axe coming from one of the other fights. However, he soon had something else to deal with. This came in the form of Malphas himself, wielding his broadsword expertly.
The copy drew his own version of the blade and swung it across, blocking the main stroke from Malphas' blade before countering with a stroke of his own. The two circled, striking furiously, each hoping to land a fatal blow. The copy's eyes narrowed, and then he dashed forward. Well, that was a stupid move, Malphas thought as he sidestepped to the left, only to find his legs tangling with the tail of the false Medusa. SHOOT! He planned for me to step this way! Now, how in the hell am I going to get out of this situation alive? He wondered as he struggled desperately to his feet and lifted his sword in time to block the downwards stroke of his adversary's blade.
However, the fears of the King of Ravens were soon put to rest through the rather timely intervention of the resident diralec. One moment, the copy was lunging forward on the attack, but in the next, he was stumbling backwards, trying to fend-off a furious series of strokes from the mage. Saito turned slightly, winked at Malphas, and then resumed the fight. The true King of Ravens was rather quick in managing to untangle himself from the tail of the false Medusa, and he was even quicker to take-over the fight from Saito's hands. It was only a mater of seconds after he had resumed the fight that he managed to land a mortal blow across his adversary's stomach. Nodding once at the mage, Malphas then settled back to watch the rest of the fights unfold.
Mirer was blocking and counterattacking his opponent, with a sword in his right hand and his left reverted to the steel claw form. His duplicate, on the other hand, had shifted both hands into claws and was trying to land several quick strokes. Unfortunately, things weren't going well, and the copy continued to fail at landing any sort of blow. However, Mirer couldn't land one either, so the two were dead even. When Mirer's blade slipped out of his hand after a rather hard strike, the Doppelganger took full advantage by lunging forward and nearly planting his left hand in the vampire's chest. Mirer just barely managed to avoid being skewered, and he scrambled to try and get his blade back. The copy, however, refused to allow him anywhere near his blade, putting the pure-blooded vampire at a serious disadvantage.
Then again, the copy was just trying to get the blade for himself, so he never noticed when a black-gloved hand wrapped around the hilt and lunged forward. The Doppelganger sensed the danger at the last second, and he barely managed to turn aside in time to dodge. Medusa flashed Mirer a brilliant grin as she rotated the blade in her hand, offering it hilt first to the vamp. He took it with a nod before mouthing "Duck!" and Medusa took his advice in order to avoid having her head prematurely removed. Turning, the female Gorgon snarled before once more drawing her sword, her tail lashing against the floor. Mirer, meanwhile, continued his duel, now knowing exactly what he needed to do in order to win. The master vampire spun around once, noting as his adversary ducked under the blow.
The duplicate smiled as he dodged under Mirer's stroke, failing to notice that the vampire was also swinging with his claws. He noticed it soon enough, as the steel cut across his stomach. Hissing in anger, the copy recoiled, trying to defend himself with one hand while holding his stomach closed with the other. It wasn't really working out, as Mirer continued to press his advantage. Soon enough, the duplicate was no longer capable of holding himself together. Resigning himself to his fate, the copy rose to his full height, baring his throat for the final blow. Mirer looked-up, nodded, and then spun around in order to execute a perfect finish. His left claw met no resistance as it sliced through the neck of his adversary.
Meanwhile, Medusa was having a bit of trouble on her own. No one knew how hard it was to fight with a three-bladed sword, except for maybe Saito or Hector. Yet, there she was, managing to hold her own against an opponent who was the spitting image of what she had been. The writhing snakes for hair, the long, snake-like body, and the blatant disregard for appearance were all there, and Medusa cursed under her breath. Because of the actions of the Oricaltos, the Doppelganger was now inaccurate, and was no longer as effective as it should have been. The copy attempted to wrap her tail around Medusa's throat, but failed to get a grip as the young woman slid out of her grasp. The two had been dueling since the beginning, and both were getting a little tired of the game.
All of a sudden, the copy's eyes hardened, and Medusa was suddenly paralyzed. She mentally began to scream at herself as the numbness spread upwards from her ankles and shins. Dear Lord, help me now. I don't want it to end like this! I absolutely REFUSE to go down without a fight! Well, it looks like you and I agree on one thing, Medusa: This is definitely NOT the way to go out. Saito? I could use a little help over here! The young woman called as the stone continued to spread upwards from her waist. Soon enough, she could no longer move her arms, and she began to try and shake free of the accursed stone, only to find that she was making it worse. Her eyes rolled desperately, making contact with Saito's just before her neck became immobile. Hurry up! I don't know how long this will last, but I don't want to die like this! I'm coming as fast as I can. Try not to worry so much,
Saito rushed over and raised his sword in order to block a downwards stroke from Medusa's duplicate. The copy hissed in annoyance before turning her stone gaze on the mage. Unremarkably, the look didn't phase the young man one bit. Raising a slightly skeptical eyebrow, he then proceeded to attack with his bare claws, leaving several scratches on the duplicate's hide before she pulled-back in stunned disbelief. Medusa herself was no longer aware of what was going on around her, but her sword had remained untouched by the curse. Saito smiled at this and began to circle, forcing his opponent to do likewise. That was, until the copy had her back to the living statue. In that moment, the weredragon lunged forward, forcing the half-snake creature backwards. Right onto the sword of Medusa. The copy tried to scream, but the only thing that emerged was a gurgling sound, because the blade had punctured not only her heart, but both lungs as well. Once the copy had collapsed into dust, the stone shell enclosing the young woman finally shattered. Medusa blinked twice, took a stumbling step forwards, and then collapsed into Saito's arms. "Thank you, Saito." "You're very welcome, Medusa," he said with a smile before helping her to walk over to where Malphas and a few others were sitting and enjoying the fight.
Leon was once again face-to-face with his Doppelganger, and things were not going exactly as planned. For starters, the copy was using his daggers in creative ways to foil Leon's whip strikes, all the while managing to land blows of his own. On another note, the copy refused to draw his whip, a sure sign that he was no longer confident in his abilities. Well, if you want to play it that way, Leon thought as he put away the whip and drew his sword, then I'll play by YOUR rules. He then began to strike his opponent repeatedly, not allowing the copy any extra breathing room. He smiled when he noticed that most of his blows were now landing, and his grin only grew broader when he managed to bring the flat of his blade into contact with the Doppelganger's wrist. The duplicate yelped in pain as he dropped his knife, and Leon took the opportunity to slit his adversary's throat. Looking over and nodding at Malphas, he then hurried over to help-out his bride.
Sara was twisting and turning, landing blow upon blow against her duplicate's weapon. The copy defended herself well, only allowing tiny lapses in her defenses. However, Sara was taking advantage of these, and the damage was slowly beginning to mount. She managed to anticipate most of the strikes, but she was not able to anticipate when her adversary would shift into bat form in order to dodge another thrust of her sword. The copy shifted-back during her recovery and swung cross-wise, scoring a blow across Sara's ribs. The young woman hissed in pain and annoyance before resuming her stance. The two women continued to circle, their swords constantly in motion as each was hoping to land a fatal blow. In the end, Sara was the one who got a lucky break. Leon had finished-off his copy, and he rushed over, sheathing his sword and redrawing VampireKiller. He then swung it once, pinning the copy's arms at her sides, allowing Sara to land a fatal blow. The vampire's blade pierced her opponent's chest, puncturing a lung before twisting inwards and stabbing the heart. The copy dropped in a pile of ashes, and Leon quickly lowered his whip in order to keep it from connecting with his bride. Sara smiled before leaning over to kiss her husband, and then the two of them turned and wandered over to Malphas, who was merely watching the remainder of the battles.
Croix and Alouette were once more back-to-back, dueling for all they were worth. However, both were tiring, and the copies, sensing this, began to press their attack. They knew that the fight was going to end soon, but they were unsure how. The answer hit one of the copies in mid-thought. Literally. "BITE THE DUST!" Laharl called, and the glowing spheres of energy slammed into Alouette's copy, utterly destroying it. Croix's copy turned to face the young Overlord, disbelief stamped all over his face. "How in the hell is a kid like you so powerful?" Laharl merely shook his head and grinned. "Maybe it's because I'm not as young as I look, you idiot!" With that, he nodded at the couple before spreading his wings and soaring-off to aid Soma in trying to force most of the airborne enemies to land.
Alouette flashed Laharl a brilliant smile as the Overlord managed to eliminate her duplicate in a single, brilliant stroke. However, the battle was far from over, and both of the angels knew it. Croix wasted absolutely no time in taking the offensive, forcing his adversary back through a combination of sword and shotgun skills. Eventually, he drove the man into a corner, and began to score repeated hits. The copy knew that he could only hold-out for so long, and Croix knew it too. They looked at one another, nodded, and then charged forward. There was a rather nasty slicing sound, and then the two were on opposite sides of the room, their backs towards one another. Croix coughed hard a few times, trying to clear his slightly punctured left lung. The Doppelganger, however, was lying on the floor. In two pieces. Croix turned and relaxed against the wall, smiling in satisfaction as he allowed Alouette to work on his injuries. It was either him or me, and I sure am glad that it was him who took the killing blow. I don't know what I would do if I died again. Quiet, Croix, and quit moving around so much. I need to bind these injuries of yours. Croix gave a mental sigh before replying. Yes Alouette.
Éclair and Homard were also back-to-back, trying to defend themselves from the ruthless assault of their opponents. When the man suddenly and simply crossed both of his sabers, Éclair grinned. Are you sure about this, sweetheart? Trust me, my dear. This is going to work out just fine. "Double Cutter!" Homard called as he quickly uncrossed his swords, the friction giving way to the crossed energy blasts that shot forward. The copy's eyes grew wide as he tried to dodge, but it was already far too late. The energy attack rose slightly, removing the duplicate's head without leaving a mark on the rest of the body. It quickly collapsed, leaving behind nothing but ashes.
Éclair's copy looked slightly nervous holding her electrified lance, and the real princess smiled at her discomfort. This should be a piece of cake, she thought as she drew her own lance. Looking down at it, she began to concentrate, and the blade immediately began to change shape. The first change that anyone noticed was the fact that the hilt had shrunk down to the size of her hand. The second thing that they noticed was that the blade was no longer massive. Rather, it had also managed to shrink along with the hilt, leaving the young woman holding a rather nasty-looking saber. Éclair smiled at her duplicate before she began to circle, looking for an easy opening. The copy was trying desperately to get in a few free stabs, but her unwieldy weapon proved to be more of a hindrance than a help. The Dark Paladin easily exploited the lapses in concentration in order to land blows of her own, and the damage soon began to mount. In the end, the princess charged a ball of lightning in her fist and let fly, striking her adversary right across the bridge of her nose. The electricity was paralyzing, and it provided Éclair with the opening that she needed to end the fight. One moment, the copy was standing upright, and in the next, it was doubled-over in pain from the saber sticking out of it's stomach. The Doppelganger then collapsed into ashes, leaving behind no trace that it had ever existed.
The duels were actually going rather well for the witches. Actrise had managed to fry her opponent with an early Omega Fire, and she was working together with Sypha in trying to get her duplicate to hold still. Eventually, the two women grew tired of the copy moving around so much, and they froze her feet. They then proceeded to release an increasingly nasty series of spells, leading-up to the final casting of Divine Ray, which shredded their opponent as if she had no purpose in life. Other than that particular battle and one other, the duels were relatively short, and almost always one-sided.
Meanwhile, Rena was busy dodging spells from her copy once again, but she was quickly growing annoyed, especially when the duplicate was firing at her rapidly, but taking her time to aim spells at King Krichevskoy. It really got her ticked, and that was an understatement. In rapid succession, Rena unleashed every single one of the Terra-level spells on her opponent, saving the best for last. First, the Doppelganger was tossed high into the air, and then she was hit by a rather massive lightning bolt. Afterwards, she was slammed back into the ground when a star came out of nowhere to crush her. Finally, Rena pulled-off the trick that she had learned from Marjoly, casting both Terra Ice and Terra Fire, one right after the other. The end result was a rather messy explosion as the copy's blood boiled-off in an instant. Thanks for teaching me how to do that properly, Marjoly. By the way, what in the heck is that combination called? I'm not really sure, Rena. I never got a chance to learn the proper name for it... If I believe correctly, that particular combination is referred to as the Antipode, but that is usually when it is cast using both normal versions of the spell. I believe that the proper term for the spell that just happened was Antipode5. The level of the Antipode corresponds to the spells used to form it. Other than that, I know nothing else. Thanks for the information, Saito! Heh. You're very welcome, Lady Rena.
Nicholai was busy trying to do two things simultaneously. On one hand, he was trying to attack and defend himself against his duplicate, while on the other, he was busy trying to dodge the spells being thrown at him from his wife's copy. The false Krichevskoy grinned wickedly as he waited for the perfect opportunity to attack. However, that chance never arrived, as Laharl came soaring to his father's aid. Dropping-in right as the Doppelganger was trying to stab, the Overlord swung his sword upwards and locked his blade edge against that of the spear. The copy snarled before pressing down even harder, only to find that the young dhamphir would not be moved. Laharl suddenly twisted upwards, removing his right hand for a split-second in order to deliver a right-hook to the man's jaw.
The punch caused the copy to stumble backwards, and Nicholai nodded at his son in acknowledgment. Rena had just mentally contacted him, letting him know that her copy would no longer be an issue in the fight. Putting away Longius, the former Overlord looked to his son. "What do you say? How about we finish this thing off with an Overdrive attack?" Laharl grinned as he sheathed his Cosmic Blade. "I was thinking the exact same thing, old man. Let's do this."
The energy began to build in the fists of both father and son, and the Doppelganger knew that his fate had been sealed as soon as he noticed the look on both faces. Both pairs of eyes showed absolutely no mercy, and there was nowhere left for the copy to run. Instead of continuing to dash backwards, he suddenly lunged forwards, only to be cut-off by a wall of flames that rose between himself and his target. Rena smiled easily as she maintained her spell, allowing the two to finish their preparations. As one, the two of them called out one particular phrase. "Dual shadow overdrive: Overlord's Inferno!" The energies left the fists of father and son, and the energy orbs merged and grew in number and strength. The orbs then began to circle. Faster and faster they spiraled inwards, creating a raging vortex that was centered on the Doppelganger. The orbs merged just before impact, ripping the monster to shreds.
Flonne was rather unhappy when forced to face her duplicate. However, the copy was eager to eliminate the young Fallen Angel, so Flonne really had no choice in the matter. She defended herself rather well, determined to make the fight end both quickly and painfully for her opponent. The first opportunity came when Flonne's duplicate mistimed an attack, and the young Fallen Angel was quick to take advantage of the lapse in concentration in order to score a rather quick blow to the side of her opponent's head. The Doppelganger stumbled backwards, trying to maintain her balance while avoiding the attacks, but she had no such luck. Flonne allowed her copy only three steps backwards until she launched her next attack. "Holy Arrows!" she called as the white seal appeared in front of her. Then, the feather-like projectiles came shooting out, pinning her adversary to the nearby wall before promptly exploding. The damage was severe, and the end result was rather stunning. When the smoke from the explosions faded away, there was only a small pile of ash that indicated that the Doppelganger had even existed. The young women examined her work before nodding once in satisfaction. She then turned and skipped over towards one of the other battles. Even though she was a little tired, she knew that she could still help out.
Culotte was up in the air, exchanging blows with his duplicate, when he felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck. Spinning around, his eyes widened when he saw the bolts of lightning heading straight for him, and he immediately beat his wings in order to gain some altitude and avoid the electricity. His opponent, however, had no such luck. His eyes grew massive when he saw that there was no way to dodge, but then he sighed and extended his left hand, absorbing the lightning without a second thought. Looking up at the young angel, the Doppelganger smiled before releasing the lightning directly at him. However, there was one thing that the copy had not anticipated. That was the intervention of a certain Fallen Angel.
"Reflection!" came the call, and the electricity abruptly turned in mid-air and headed back towards a very surprised Doppelganger. He had no time to think before the bolts hit him, frying his wings and sending him spiraling back towards the floor. Culotte looked over and nodded at Flonne before drawing his sword once again. Diving towards the ground, he pulled-up just before hitting and somehow managed to land on his feet. Turning around, he raised his sword almost unconsciously in a block, stopping his adversary's blade less than three inches from his own skull. His eyes narrowed in that moment, and the copy knew that he was in trouble as soon as Culotte raised both hands. "Omega Wind!" he called, unleashing a massive twister to rip his opponent's wings apart and permanently ground him. The spell had the desired effect, and the young angel smiled as he leapt into the air. And now, for my finale. "Omega Fire!" The massive blast incinerated the Doppelganger, not even leaving ashes behind.
Aramis was more than a little eager to face his duplicate. Drawing his katana, he quickly set his stance before beckoning to the Doppelganger. The young man's copy smiled before pointing his sword at the ground, summoning several zombies. Unfortunately for him, the real Aramis was quick to banish them. "It's just you and me, idiot. No outside interference, and no zombie summoning. Agreed?" The duplicate nodded once before charging forward, swinging his sword across in an attempt to remove the young man's head. Aramis ducked the initial blow before bringing his sword up to block the return stroke. His red eyes suddenly narrowed to slits. "First, you try to impersonate me. Second, you try to use my own abilities against me. For that, I'll have to make your death excruciatingly painful," the zombie master snarled as he braced his feet against the ground and prepared to launch into the air for a Winged Slayer. When he finally left the ground, his copy could only watch in shock and amazement.
"Here I come! Winged Slayer!" Aramis called as he dove towards the ground once more. His adversary was too stupid to get out of the way, and he was subsequently cut to ribbons. The young zombie master landed with his feet already braced to rush forward, and he hit the ground running. His initial target was unclear, but that debate was about to be settled as he crossed the room with alarming speed, his sword dealing minor cuts that proved to be major annoyances.
One of those so-called "distraction blows" happened to be directed at Abaddon's copy, and it was quickly apparent that the young man's attack was more than just a nuisance. The blow had actually managed to damage one of the duplicate's lower arms, so he was no longer capable of directing the locusts as his counterpart. Abaddon took full advantage of this by slicing-off the other lower arm, thus severing any connection that the duplicate still had with the insects. Immediately, the locusts reformed into a living shield surrounding the real Abaddon, leaving the copy rather open to attack. The infernal conductor then proceeded to redirect the locusts into a rather massive cloud before ordering them to attack. The Doppelganger didn't stand a chance as the locusts slashed him again and again. In the end, it was Abaddon himself who dealt the final blow: a fatal rapier thrust through the heart.
Almost all of the Belmonts gathered together into a rather large group, working together to eliminate their adversaries. For the most part, it was smooth sailing, at least until the copies began to use the Item Crashes. At that point, all hell broke loose, and it suddenly became a free-for-all. However, this didn't prevent several instances of teamwork from ruling the day. Christopher and Soleiyu were back-to-back, flailing about and managing to score multiple hits on their respective copies. They were shortly joined by Richter, who had managed to take-out his copy through the sole use of VampireKiller. All in all, it was a rather amusing scene to watch, as the Doppelgangers were all outnumbered and slowly being overwhelmed.
Hector gazed around the room before slowly shaking his head. Looks like the Belmonts really did know what they were doing, he thought as he clashed once more with his own duplicate. There were only a few Doppelgangers left, and his was one of them. Sighing to himself, he put away one of his beam sabers before switching the other into whip-form. He then began to lash out hard and fast, giving his opponent multiple burn scars. The Doppelganger snarled before retaliating with a five-fold blast of lightning, which happened to stop just short of the Forgemaster. Looking off to his left, Hector smiled at Julia before turning back to the task at hand. Allowing the whip to hang loosely in his right hand, he took two steps forward before raising it and slashing it across in one fluid motion. The blow connected with frightening ease, separating the head from the body in a single stroke. Both soon vanished, leaving Hector and his wife to survey the remaining battles.
For the most part, the fighting among the humans had come to a standstill, while the vampires still had their hands slightly full. And then there was the battle between Cornell and Ortega. Both had assumed their beast forms, and they could only be seen as blurry shapes as they clashed again and again. Their speed was tremendous, but they each had only one objective: rip their opponent to shreds before he did it to you.
Even though Alucard was the first to finish his battle, he decided to wait in order to see if anyone else needed his help as the duels continued to wind down. Upon seeing that his services were not required, he turned away from the main portion of the field in order to watch his wife duel with her own duplicate. He raised a slightly amused eyebrow upon seeing her stance, but his expression quickly changed when he realized what Maria was doing.
The blonde-haired women was cautiously backing away from her duplicate, but her eyes appeared to be focused on a point immediately behind the copy. Unseen by the duplicate, Elizabeth Bartley was making her presence felt by obliterating her own duplicate through the use of Black Hole, one of the spells of darkness that she had an opportunity to research while recovering from the birth of her son. It was her first time using the spell in combat, but it had exactly the desired effect that she was hoping to see. Her duplicate had immediately doubled-over in pain, just before completely imploding, leaving behind a rather compact sphere of flesh and bones. Elizabeth had picked it up, and was now preparing to throw it at Maria's copy. However, at the moment that the sphere left Bartley's hand, the duplicate turned around, trying a sweeping cut at Maria's neck that the young woman just barely managed to duck. The duplicate's eyes narrowed as she saw the projectile approaching, and she contemptuously whacked it away. Unfortunately for the Doppelganger, it left Maria with a rather easy way to finish the battle, and Renard seized her opportunity. One moment, the Doppelganger of Maria was standing upright, and the next, she had collapsed onto the ground with two punctured lungs.
Malus was making quick work of his duplicate by using a combination of the Legion and Gergoth souls to deal a massive amount of damage in a relatively short time period. The lasers emerging from his hands were rather large, and when they were combined, the effect was devastating. His copy was unable to dodge in time, and he disintegrated when the blast passed over him. Malus smiled as he continued to turn, sweeping the destructive beam in a long arc that nearly split several of his fellow vampires in half. "MALUS! Enough with the dual-lasers already!" Vlad yelled, and his grandson slowly lowered his hands. "Sorry about that, Count. I just got a little carried away."
Dracula slowly shook his head before turning back to his own task. So far, the duplicate had proved to be rather resourceful, using both his fellows and Vlad's allies to help shield himself from any attacks. All the while, he was launching the Hellfires repeatedly, trying to land an easy shot or two. However, the Count was also in constant motion, hoping to close the gap between them so that he could finish his adversary with Claimh Mortuous. The Doppelganger did not want to be caught, but both knew that it was only a matter of time. Soon enough, the Doppelganger stopped dodging and suddenly rushed at the Count. Dracula raised his sword in a mock salute before sliding to his left, tripping his duplicate and causing the monster to end up face-down on the blood-covered floor. Reaching down, he then casually lifted the copy before smiling wickedly, baring his fangs. "It has been an excellent battle, but I am afraid that your time is up!" he snarled as he suddenly twisted the monster's head to one side and sank his fangs into the being's neck. The Doppelganger tried to put up a fight, but it was too late. Count Vladislav Tepes III il Dragulia had already won.
The Slayer and his companions were taking their time in order to get used to fighting one-on-one. Kurtis was up in the air, trading sword strokes with his duplicate, while Gordon and Jennifer were engaged in a rather amusing firefight with their copies. Eventually, Gordon's duplicate ran out of ammunition, and the Slayer of the Netherworld smiled at Jennifer before rising from his position and lining-up one last shot. He pulled the trigger, and watched in satisfaction as his duplicate's head ceased to exist. At that point, Jennifer's copy came sprinting across the floor, and she managed to land a nasty right-cross to Gordon's face before he could finish reloading his gun. The Slayer went reeling back, and the angered duplicate followed, murder shining in her blue eyes.
Unfortunately, the Doppelganger forgot her real opponent, and Jennifer was quick to line her up for Cosmic Arrow. The duplicate never knew where the attack came from, but she certainly knew the end result as she looked down at the smoking hole in her chest. Slowly turning, the duplicate barely managed to see Jennifer's face before collapsing into a pile of ashes. Jennifer stepped over the pile on her way to Gordon, who was nursing a few bruises, in addition to a blackened left eye. She winced sympathetically. "OUCH! That has got to hurt!" "You have no idea," Gordon chuckled as he leaned against the wall, his eyes wandering the room until he finally spotted Kurtis.
The former cyborg was having a relatively easy time keeping-up with his opponent, especially since he had managed to master so many of the Ability Souls in a rather short period of time. At one point, the duplicate risked launching utilizing the Malachi soul against Kurtis, but the scientist sliced through the sphere of darkness with ease before continuing his assault. The copy was unable to counter all of the attacks, and it proved to be his downfall as one of the strokes hit him right across the eyes, effectively blinding him. The duplicate flapped his wings furiously, trying to escape, but to no avail. Kurtis slowly shook his head before stabbing the copy in the left eye and pushing his blade forward into the copy's brain, putting him out of his misery.
Mina had yet to change her weapon from scythe to sword, and she was merely watching the progress of the battles around her. Looking across, the room, she nodded at her duplicate once, and then went back to watching the battles, while her duplicate did the same. Then again, they both knew that, in the end, there could only be one true Death. They were content to watch the fighting, neither of them getting involved unless one of their fellows was in serious danger.
Meanwhile, Priere was having a rather amusing experience while dueling with her duplicate. The Doppelganger had absolutely no clue as to how to properly utilize a baton, and the Alternate Overlord managed to land blow after blow. Eventually, the duplicate forcibly hurled the baton at Priere's head before drawing her sword, and the Alternate Overlord smiled. This is going to be FUN! she thought as she slowly began to twirl her baton. The duplicate took no notice of this and advanced with her sword raised, determined to take Priere out as fast as possible. However, when the duplicate brought her sword down for the killing blow, she found her edge locked against the baton. Snarling, the copy swung again, only to be stopped once more. This cycle continued for a few minutes, at least until Priere grew tired of being forced to block. Spinning her baton at a tremendous rate, she lunged forward, bringing it across her adversary's ribs. The duplicate yelped as the baton cut through her outfit to leave a rather nasty looking cut on her lower ribcage.
Staring into the blood-red eyes of her opponent, the Doppelganger quickly realized that she didn't stand a chance against a rather furious Priere. She attempted to retreat, but by then, it was far too late. The blows began to rain down, hard and fast, and the duplicate had no choice but to suffer through all of them. When the final blow arrived, however, it came as a total shock. For only the second time in her life, Priere drew her sword, and then she stabbed forward, planting it in her copy's neck. The Alternate Overlord's hiss barely managed to reach the ears of the Doppelganger before the monster died. "NO ONE replaces me!" She then slowly rose, before a warning yell reached her ears. "DUCK!"
"DUCK!" Joachim yelled at Priere, silently offering a prayer that she had heard him in time. Thankfully, she did, and managed to avoid being cut-down by Walter's duplicate. The white-haired vampire swore under his breath before summoning his swords once more. It had been a long, tiresome battle against his Doppelganger, since they both managed to anticipate one another's moves. Eventually, both knew it would come down to who could land more blows, and that was what Armster excelled at. Sending his swords away with two words and a gesture, he looked at his adversary, waiting for the other vampire to make his move. The duplicate smiled before gesturing upwards, sending his swords into the air. Then again, the Doppelganger was oblivious to the white portals that were forming around him. By the time he realized what they were, it was too late to pull his own swords back down to defend himself. Armster smiled and then called out two words as all five swords emerged from the portals, skewering his opponent. "Sword Church."
Walter cursed virulently when his Doppelganger tried to kill Priere. Nodding his thanks to Joachim, he then lunged forward, hoping to skewer his opponent. However, the duplicate turned and managed to raise his rapier in a block. But at that exact moment, the duplicate's eyes widened in shock and pain when Priere reached-up and smacked him upside the head with her baton. She then watched, slightly amused, as Walter ran his duplicate through. "Thanks for the distraction, Priere." "You're very welcome, Walter. Just try to be a little more careful next time, okay?"
Maderas could only shake his head before grinning to himself. That was kinda' funny. What do you mean by that, Maderas? ACK! Don't do that, Priere! I'm in the middle of a fight here. Well, the two of you aren't doing much, and it's a little hard to keep your thoughts to yourself, especially when they involve others. She heard a mental sigh, and then the Nosferatu responded. I guess you're right about that. Anyway, can I get back to fighting now? Who said that you two ever stopped? Hmmm... You have a good point there. Priere mentally laughed before giving him a slight push with her mind. Don't try anything stupid with me.
The vampire shook of the conversation and got back to the task at hand. His job was to eliminate his own weakened duplicate, but it was harder than it looked. The other vampire was shifting around a bunch, using his shape-shifting abilities to dodge a variety of attacks. He could not, however, dodge the cloud of holy water that surrounded him, forcing him from bat back to human shape. Grimacing, the Doppelganger looked-up, only to have his eyes widen in surprise. You see, it wasn't a Belmont who had thrown the holy water. It was another vampire, Karina, to be precise. Both she and Orlox had managed to finish their duplicates at roughly the same time, and then they noticed that Maderas was struggling against his copy. "Desperate times call for unfair advantages," Orlox whispered as he passed the young woman a vial of holy water. "Use it wisely." She nodded, and then proceeded to boil it off, creating a cloud that engulfed the copy's bat form. She nodded to the Nosferatu once before stepping back, allowing Maderas room to eliminate his adversary. The vampire stared at his duplicate for a few moments, and then he grinned, baring his fangs. "Chaos Plasma!" he called, engulfing the surrounding area in a white light. When the attack had ended, the only thing that remained of the copy were a pile of ashes and a lone pair of fangs.
Most of the women had finished-off their duplicates by this point, leaving only Marjoly and Mina with opponents. Then again, Cornell and Ortega were still trying to rip one-another apart, but they weren't bothering anyone else. Mina and her copy were still content to wait-out the rest of the battles, leaving Marjoly alone to face her copy. The duplicate smiled before putting her staff away and drawing a katana. At the sight of the weapon, Marjoly's eyes widened slightly as she recognized the designs on the blade. How in the name of the Netherworld did she manage to get her hands on Crowdia's sword? It wasn't hard to take it. I merely asked, and she gave it up right away. Why you little... How DARE you impersonate me? I will make sure that your death is slow and agonizingly painful!
With that, the Witch of Beauty Castle charged at her opponent, blatantly disregarding any of the surprised shouts from her allies. Spinning her staff in much the same way that Priere had with her baton, she swung hard, only to have her blow stopped just short when it intersected the katana. The Doppelganger gave Marjoly a wicked smile before swinging her blade at the witch's head, determined to remove it before the fight dragged-on, and she lost her advantage. Then again, neither of the two women expected outside interference, but when it came, Marjoly was rather glad for the help. She had been steadily forced backwards, constantly defending herself from the lethal skills of her duplicate. Marjoly's aid came in the form of a tsunum from Kurtis. The duplicate had to turn away in order to block the chartreuse flames, and this gave Marjoly the opportunity that she was waiting for. "Dark Conjuration!" the semi-prone witch cried, engulfing her Doppelganger in a rain of dark energy. The spell connected multiple times, crushing her adversary's skull and killing her almost instantly.
Kurtis reached down to help Marjoly rise, and as she took his hand, a light blush spread across her features. "Thank you for helping me, Kurtis. I really appreciate it." The scientist swallowed hard, but he refused to look straight at the witch. "You're very welcome, Marjoly. However, you might want to ask for some help first rather than just charging into battle." "But she was... You're completely right. I'm sorry if I over-reacted a bit. It's just that the katana she was wielding belonged to a close friend of mine." Kurtis blinked a few times before tilting his head to one side. "You mean to tell me that you had friends? I thought that was impossible!" She laughed lightly before slinging an arm around his shoulder. "Nothing is impossible, scientist. I thought YOU would have learned that already!" she commented, poking him rather hard in the ribs. She then reached down with her free hand and picked-up the weapon before watching it vanish. Good. That means that Crowdia is still alive. I sure hope that I get to see her sometime in the near future...
Mina sighed aloud before looking over at her duplicate. Well, it appears that our time has come. You're right, of course. However, there MIGHT be another way to do this... Mina was slightly puzzled by this statement. What do you mean by "there might be another way"? What are you suggesting? Have you ever heard of cross-fusion? No... Don't worry, I'll explain it. You see, it mostly applies to those who have either been cloned, or thrown into a parallel universe or alternate timeline. The concept allows for two people to be combined into one, who happens to have the knowledge, expertise, and strength of both. So, let me get this straight: You're suggesting that we might be able to accomplish a cross-fusion? Yup! Well, that works for me! BUT I think we might have a problem... What are you talking about? Do you know the proper spell? 'Cause I certainly don't. Well, to tell you the truth... I have absolutely no idea. Great. This is just PERFECT! Hate to insert myself into this conversation, but I know how to properly pull this little trick off. Why didn't you say something earlier? Well, if I had known about this, then I WOULD have. Unfortunately, we're a little too late for that now, aren't we. I guess you're right. Well, are you ready? Whenever you are. Saito? Let's do this.
All activity (even the fighting between Cornell and Ortega) ground to a halt when both Mina and her duplicate began to glow. Mina was glowing a brilliant red, while her duplicate was glowing a much deeper shade. However, they were not the only ones who were glowing. Saito had placed himself between the two, and his hands were glowing a brilliant white. Looking from one to the other, he asked, "Are you truly prepared for this?" Upon seeing both nod, Saito took a deep breath before beginning his intonation. "All powers, both light and dark, I ask that you grant me this request: Fuse them together in mind, body, and soul, so that they may be perfect in all aspects. CROSS-FUSION!" With his arms now crossed over his chest, a beam of white light emerged from either hand, striking both glowing figures in the chest. Saito then quickly uncrossed his arms before taking a few steps back. The beams reacted to his hand movements, bringing both young women together directly in front of the mage. There was a blinding flash of light, and when it had faded, there was only one person standing before the Oricaltos.
Soma blinked in surprise, but then the woman smiled as she lowered her hood, revealing no immediate changes to her features. "Don't worry, Soma. I might have gotten stronger, in addition to gaining a better understanding of what is going on, but I'm still the same young woman." "I'm glad for that, Mina," Soma replied, the relief evident on his face. Saito chuckled. "What, you actually think that I was going to do something that would kill-off your girlfriend? Are you out of your MIND, Soma?" "No, but I just had to make sure for myself." The Oricaltos slowly shook his head before looking over at Cornell and Ortega. "Hey. Don't you two have a battle to finish?"
Cornell nodded before turning back to his rival. "It's time that we finish this, once and for all." "Agreed," Ortega snarled, the red seal beneath his feet glowing. "I don't think so," Dracula called, extending his right hand towards the seal. In an instant, the runes lifted from the floor and rushed into the elder vampire's hand. He held them for a moment before absorbing them, and then he stared at a rather stunned Ortega. "Because you have sided against me, I have revoked your ability to turn into a Chimera. Consider this as punishment for defying my orders the FIRST time I issued them." Turning his back, he strode towards the doors. "Cornell? Kill him." The white-haired werewolf nodded and bared his fangs before shifting into his other form. "With absolute pleasure, Count." He then turned back to Ortega, and the beast swallowed nervously. He knew in his moment that his fate had been sealed. Desperate to escape, he rushed towards the door, only to be stopped short when Cornell slid into his path, snarling and lashing out with his claws. Ortega tried to defend himself, but Cornell's wolf form was too fast. Cornell finally finished toying around and brought his hand across in a killing stroke, severing Ortega's jugular vein and spilling even more blood onto the floor of the Master's Chamber.
Saito looked around at his fellow fighters, and allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. Well, we made it halfway through this thing, and we even managed to gain a few allies along the way! However, I know that our troubles have just begun, and there's no turning back. Shaft MUST be stopped, and once his plans are ruined, then we can all head home. "Listen-up people! I know that this fight has been rather taxing, so I'm ordering that you all take a break for the next several hours. After all, I think that we could ALL use a little rest." "Agreed!" Soma called from the door. "However, I have a better place to sleep than a blood-covered floor." "Lead the way, then."
As it turns out, Soma led the group to one of the teleport rooms, and from there, back to the Inverted Inner Quarter. It didn't take long to set-up several of the spare beds, and it took even less time for everyone to fall asleep. It had been a long and rather exhausting day, and the allies had earned their rest.
1. I know that I am taking a few artistic liberties with how I am portraying the castle. If you want to complain about it, then feel free. It's MY story, and I will do what I will. Anyways, thanks for bearing with me up to this point.
Author's note: At long last, after 23 days of writing, I can call this chapter completed. I know that I probably took way too much time writing this, but I had to. I didn't want to promise something, and then under-deliver on that promise. Anyway, only a few more chapters until I am finished with this story. YAY!
They say that things get worse before they get better. Then again, they never had to visit the Inverted Castle. It will only grow tougher from here, and it will take every single ounce of skill for Saito and his allies to even REACH Shaft. Will they be able to pass through the lethal traps that the Dark Priest has established? Or will they fall to one of the many revived opponents that populate the Boss Rooms? Find out during my next chapter, Old enemies, new challenges. Also, please remember to both READ AND REVIEW. Thank you.