A/N: Now for the conclusion to the previous fight. With the end of this chapter, the first arc will officially begin, titled "Haunting Past". This arc will mainly feature the first dark guild Scarlet Nova faces, Black Citadel. Some members will be haunted by people from their past and others will face terrifying enemies that they have never seen before. Hope this keeps you ready for more XD
Origm2012: Thanks for your feedback as always. More of Neo and Kaguro's pasts will be revealed as the story goes on. Hope this chapter will interest you even more, since it reveals even more about Black Citadel and their fighters.
Arclin: Haha, me too. I like power systems for villains especially since it sets the hierarchy straight which makes it more fun to come up with scenes such as insubordination. Muldoom will be featured soon XD
Martyn: Sorry man, rules are rules. Its difficult to contact users about their OCs without PMs and I can't possibly be replying you each time you review either.
KingKatsu: In due time my friend
W. R. Winters: Don't worry about it. Kozmotis will go ape in this chapter.
madmissY01: Don't die just yet cause the next chapter's here haha
Novachrono: Aww, thanks for the understanding.
Reven228: Thanks a bunch XD
OleanderBleedingHeart: Sure thing!
StattStatt: A new reader! Yays! Hope you will enjoy the rest of the story and thanks for the feedback provided XD
Anim8or: Great! I am glad that I managed to get Neel's personality right XD
Credits
Vale Sitri – Xy-Guy
Please read Chp 1 for disclaimers
Enjoy!
Scarlet Nova Guild Hall
The news was finally released to the public that very afternoon. After days of investigation, the magic council still had no clue as to who the intruders were. As a last resort, they decided to disclose the information to the guilds in the country, hoping that at least one of them would have an idea on the attackers. Scarlet Nova was included as well, despite the minor confrontation with Gram earlier. While Glaive was not all surprised when he heard the news of the attack, what really stunned him was the message left behind by the attackers. Their target was Scarlet Nova and that put him on high alert instantly. Believing that the raid on the magic council was just the start, Glaive immediately called for an emergency meeting with the S-class mages upon his return to the guild.
"What do you guys make of it?" Glaive asked in a serious tone as he addressed the 5 S-class mages seated in the room. The air in the room was so tense one could literally slice it into two with a knife. Otis and Aiden, who were both usually cheery and battle-hungry, understood the situation well. Gone were their smiles and replaced by frowns and furrowed brows as they were lost in thought. Hikari and Ryuga were currently flipping through past records of any requests they had taken up to exterminate Dark Guilds, searching if there were any prominent ones that had the abilities to inflict such damage. Scar just had her hands on the table, pondering deeply as well.
"Nothing," Ryuga stated when the two of them had finished flipping through the request history, "All Dark Guilds that we have eliminated thus far had either no powerful mages or were all detained by the magic council."
That was one lead gone.
"Scar, you have been in the underworld for a while before you joined the guild. Have you heard any rumors of particularly strong mages or a group of them?" Aiden asked, offering his suggestion.
Scar tensed up slightly at the mention of her past, only noticed by Glaive and Ryuga. While she would have normally glared and attacked that person, she decided to let the matter slide given the gravity of the situation.
"There is one man that comes to mind," Scar finally spoke as she recalled some details of a certain mage that she had witnessed once in battle. He had fought like a berserker and judging from what she saw, he was inflicted with serious wounds but he did not falter at all. He had also managed to detect her from her position which was far away from him, choosing not to attack her but instead giving her a V –sign as acknowledgement of her presence.
"Who?" came the collected response of the rest of the group.
"Neo Hiruko."
Now it was Ryuga's turn to tense up. That name rang a bell that was all too familiar to him. His face turned slightly darker and his fists balled up instantly.
"Do elaborate," Glaive said, though his attention was now focused on Ryuga who had apparently started giving off a dark aura though it was unnoticed by anyone else.
"He's known as the Immortal in Fiore, mainly due to his Blood Manipulation magic. He's fairly well known in the underworld and amongst Dark Guilds. No one would forget the name of the man who went up against a member of Tartaros single handedly and survived. As far as I know, he was a mercenary for hire 5 years ago but there have been rumors that he had been recruited into a group about 3 years later. That's all I know of." Scar explained.
"He's still alive," Ryuga uttered softly with disbelief, though Glaive managed to catch wind of it.
"Thank you Scar." Glaive told the S-class mage who nodded her head in recognition. "Are all our mages back yet?"
"No," Otis replied. "Seras said that a small group comprising of Kozmotis, Zion, Shinji and Hanaku left earlier this morning to handle a request in Sand Dune City."
That set off alarm bells in Glaive's head. "Are there any magic vaults in the city?"
"There is one," reported Hikari as she checked the records. "It houses a sacred jewel of some kind. Scarlet Nova was in charge of transporting it over 4 years ago."
"The Maelstrom," Glaive breathed in realization. So that's what they are after.
"Get those mages back immediately. They're walking into a trap." Glaive commanded. With their current level, they wouldn't last five minutes against their enemy. Ryuga and Scar got out of their seats immediately, only for Glaive to stop them.
"Ryuga you stay here, Hikari go in his place instead."
"What! Why Master?" Ryuga protested. He really needed to go on this rescue mission. There was someone he just had to meet.
"You're too anxious for this Ryuga." Glaive explained. "Besides, we need a team here on standby as well."
Ryuga wanted to protest further but the look Glaive gave him indicated that his word was final, causing Ryuga to curse silently as he returned to his seat.
"Don't worry, we'll handle this." Hikari placed a hand on Ryuga's back in reassurance while he just nodded slightly at the action.
"Grab Cora and Blitz while you're at it too. You're gonna need to get there fast and have a medical personnel ready as well." prompted Aiden, causing the other two S-class mages to nod their heads slightly as they acknowledged his words.
With that, both Hikari and Scar were off, on their way to rescue their guild mates.
"Please stay safe, all of you." Glaive prayed silently, hoping that nothing bad has happened to them.
Entrance to Sand Dune City
Unknown to Glaive, the team had already befallen misfortune. All of them had ended up in a skirmish with Kaguro's team and were currently knocking on Death's door. Two of their teammates were incapacitated already and the remaining two were also on their last legs.
"Damn it all," Zion cursed out loud as he tried to desperately remain standing. He could feel his vision getting cloudier by the minute and his knees were starting to buckle already. All around him, Kaguro's team began to box them in. With each passing second, they moved a bit closer and for the Scarlet Nova mages, one step nearer to their deaths.
Shinji was currently kneeling on the ground, his back against Zion's. Hanaku's head rested on his lap, badly bruised and swelling from where Hiura had crushed her. Despite the pain and his near broken legs, Shinji was thinking of a way to get them out of there.
"Ok, so we can't go near the edges." Shinji thought to himself, knowing that there would be nowhere to run should Sanan and company attack. "So the only way left is either up or down."
It was logical in a sense considering that magic barriers usually had a limit to being how far they could cover a certain region. If he got high enough, he could escape its effects but the only problem being was that his legs were broken and he could not jump high enough.
Then, a brainwave went through his head.
"Zion," he asked as the God Slayer turned his head. "How much strength do you have left?"
"Probably enough to hurl a person only since my left arm's busted. Why?"
"Throw me at Hiura." came Shinji's simple answer.
"What?! Are you mad?" Zion protested. He was going to indirectly cause his death!
"Trust me, I have a plan." Shinji retorted.
"But…"
"Don't but me!" Shinji snapped at Zion, dragging him by the collar down to his height. "Stop being a wuss and do it or we're all going to die here."
"Tch!" Zion growled in anger as he grabbed Shinji by the scruff of his neck, hoisting him into a javelin pose.
"I HOPE YOUR IDEA WORKS!" he roared as he launched Shinji with all his remaining strength, causing the mage to shoot towards Hiura.
"Fools. Internal struggle on the verge of death eh?" Remarked Sanan as he beckoned for Hiura to strike.
"Come on, please work." Pleaded Shinji to himself as he soared on a crash course with Hiura. Either way if the idea worked or not, they would be dead so why not take a gamble.
And the gamble paid off.
The moment Shinji got into close proximity with Hiura; Hiura sent an arm to uppercut Shinji in the jaw, sending him spiraling upwards towards the sky. That attack alone shattered Shinji's jawbone and almost snapped his neck, causing him to lose consciousness as he shot upwards. But by will and determination, Shinji opened his eyes once more, gazing painfully at the ground. This time though, he had snarky grin on his face.
'Is he mad? Why's he smiling like that?" Saiko asked as he scratched his forehead, unable to comprehend the mage's actions. Hiura and Haizen had puzzled expressions as well and only Sanan furrowed his brows, understanding the reason behind the supposed suicidal action.
"Aera: Wings" Shinji groaned weakly as he felt magic pulse through his body once more. An aquatic green magic circle appeared on his back as two white wings sprouted from him, keeping him aloft in the air. The distance between him and the ground was large enough to keep him away from Sanan's groups' attacks but close enough for him to launch his own.
With a fumbling hand, Shinji removed the gun in his right holster. This gun resembled a lot like a sawed off shot gun but with a single barrel. It had a silver cross insignia along the side and was jet black in color. Taking aim, Shinji let magic course through the weapon, causing it to glow silver as four magic circles appeared in front of the barrel. While usually he held back, Shinji decided to cut loose with everything he had. Hell it was payback time.
"Guns Magic: Vanity Volt!" Shinji called out with whatever strength he had left. Four streaks of black and purple lightning erupted from the magic circles, each thundering towards an individual member of Kaguro's group. With a mighty roar, the bolts struck their targets and pierced through them, engulfing them in a storm of lightning. Surprisingly while all Shinji's attacks hit their marks, none of Sanan's group uttered a word, simply falling over when the attack ceased. The explosion that followed soon after charred their bodies and the earth around them, destroying the barrier as well. Luckily for him, Zion had already dragged Hanaku and himself out of the barrier when Shinji's attack hit, staying clear from the blast radius.
"Are you trying to kill us too?" Zion raved at Shinji, barely having escaped the lightning and explosion. Shinji just simply shrugged his shoulders, wondering how Zion would have looked like if he was baked. But now wasn't the time for that. They still had to save Kozmotis.
"Talk later," Shinji replied, reminding Zion that they still had one more member in peril. Zion instantly understood the meaning behind his words, and carried Hanaku bridal style as he prepared to leave the clearing. At least they had won the battle for now.
Or so they thought.
"Leaving so soon," came a raspy voice from the explosion site, sending chills down Zion and Shinji's spines.
"Impossible," Shinji whispered as his eyes widened in shock and fear.
With Kaguro
"Awww," Kaguro whined as he watched Shinji fry his team, both literally and figuratively. Not that he was saddened by their deaths but rather that the fight was going to end very soon.
"They've done goofed now," sighed Kaguro. So much for them wearing the human skin to stay under the radar. Once they bust that up, they won't be able to control their powers anymore.
"Well Scarlet Nova mages, it was nice knowing you." He thought to himself. They were all going to die now.
With Zion and company
In the centre of the charred clearing lay 4 very charred bodies. They were what remained of Sanan and his team, utterly burnt beyond recognition. They had taken the attack head on without even bothering to guard, resulting in their bodies being mummified just like Kaguro's. Not that Shinji did not put any effort in his spell. It was one of his strongest spells, something that would have killed any lesser human or mage that was unprepared.
Too bad his enemies were neither.
"Do we really have to do this Sanan," whined a voice which was recognized to be Saiko's despite the 4 charred bodies looking exactly the same, "I really like the look I have."
"We have no choice. Either way the skin's destroyed already so we might as well go all out." Sanan replied in a monotone voice. "Let's finish this quickly."
"Roger that," replied Saiko in a dreary tone. He really did not like his true form.
With that, all four corpses exploded into a rain of blood and smoke.
"What the," Zion uttered as he shielded his eyes, unable to see anything. Shinji was having difficulty seeing as well despite his height. He was pretty sure that they exploded so when he saw the faint outlines of 4 figures through the smoke cloud, he was in for a rude shock. One of the silhouettes instantly shot up towards him and he reacted instinctively by darting backwards, missing it by mere inches. As the silhouette tore past him, it cleared up the smoke as well, allowing both mages to get a good view of them.
Neither mage was ashamed at that point when they felt something worse than fear for the very first time.
The feeling of utter despair.
The four figures that were once Sanan's team were now replaced by four gigantic behemoths. Each of them towered at 12'0, severely dwarfing the Scarlet Nova mages. With each step or breath they took, the air or earth vibrated slightly. Trails of dark energy were seen seeping out of various parts of their body and everything they touched instantly withered and died.
Sanan had revealed his true form, an enormous brown bat demon. He had two aquamarine eyes located on top one another, above a triangular jaw that was lined with narrow glinting teeth. Each of his feet sprouted three claws, large and sharp enough to snap tree like they were tooth picks. The boney appendages that formed his wings were replaced with large organic blades, forming a pair of bladed wings which looked identical to the ones he used as a human. Sanan was currently in the air, gazing over the battlefield as his form blocked out the sun completely, engulfing the area in shadows.
Hiura had transformed into a Cyclops with two sets of arms. A single crimson eye sat in the middle of what was presumed to be his face due to the lack of other identifying features such as his mouth. His green hair had also grown extraordinarily long, sweeping the floor behind him. He gave out a loud bellow as he smashed his knuckles against one another, ready to rip something to pieces.
Saiko was now a crimson squid that apparently could swim through the air. Two purple ringed eyes were located at the two sides of his triangular head that ended with a venomous barb. His tentacles had increased their numbers from just three to eight, multiplying the amount of force he could behind them.
Haizen had changed into a black and brown silkworm. He now had eight glowing eyes an two sets of jaws located above one another. Thousands of bladed appendages formed his legs and half of his body was upright, equipped with a set of barbed pincers.
All 4 of them had their sights dead set on the mages, fully intent on crushing them once and for all.
"You guys aren't human, are you?" Zion croaked out. While he was usually fearless, he was currently overwhelmed with fear, the same as anyone would when faced with a demon for the first time.
"Hmmph, indeed we aren't." Sanan confirmed. "We are lesser demons from the book of Zeref and serve under Lord Kaguro. In his name, we will destroy all of you."
With that, Sanan dive-bombed, his wings outstretched and ready to slash anything in their path. Fortunately for the mages, his larger size reduced his speed greatly, allowing them to dodge in time as Sanan hit the ground and shredded half the forest in process.
"Curses! Magma God's Sadness!" Zion charged up an arrow of black magma before firing it off into the sky. He winced slightly as he released the spell, holding back due to his injuries. The arrow arched slowly upwards before exploding into a rain of smaller magma arrows. The smaller projectiles fell all over the battlefield, dissolving whatever they touched.
"Haizen!" Sanan commanded to which the silkworm demon opened his first mouth, blasting off a cloud of green acid. The acid countered Zion's attack blow for blow, completely neutralizing it.
"My turn!" Saiko squealed as he swam towards Shinji, his head glowing red hot. Shinji narrowly dodged the thrust, firing off shots at Saiko. He watched in annoyance as the magic bullets just deflected off Saiko's slippery skin, failing to penetrate the demon.
"Try this on for size, Trident Revolver!" Shinji cried out as he fired off a trio of explosive rounds at Saiko. Saiko just cackled as he fired off jets of water from the edge of his tentacles, splitting the rounds in half and detonating them harmlessly. Saiko then rushed Shinji, spinning his tentacles in a cyclone fashion. Shinji instinctively surrounded himself with his wings in a futile attempt to guard, only for the barbed appendages to slash through his weak defense and tear at his stomach. With a scream, he was launched backwards, his blood trailing through the sky.
Meanwhile, Hiura had started ripping rocks and trees from the earth and hurling them at Zion. These were by no means small in size given Hiura's size and strength, causing Zion some problems with evading them quickly. While he had considered lowering Hanaku and distract Hiura, he was worried that they might target her instead. As a result, he ended up stopping every time a shadow was cast over him, shooting jets of lava with his free hand to destroy the rubble.
"This is not going anywhere," he exclaimed. He was running out of magic soon but his opponent seemed like he was just getting warmed up. He rolled to the side to avoid another rock hurled by Hiura before darting once again to the left to avoid an acid blast from Haizen. That was when a fist from Hiura came to his left, swatting him like an insect into a trio of trees. Zion cried out as he ploughed through the plants like they were toothpicks. He had been protecting Hanaku all the while so when the attack hit, he was practically defenseless. The moment he stopped, he coughed up a copious amount of blood, courtesy of a ruptured organ.
Shinji was not fairing so well either, simultaneously evading Saiko's aqua jets and Sanan's wings. While he had more mobility, his opponents were also considerably faster so they were currently on equal ground.
Shinji was starting to get tired, having sustained more damage than Zion. With each dodge, he could feel his consciousness starting to slip already. The blood loss was kicking in and what a bad time it was too. He fired off another few rounds at Sanan who gracefully evaded them, only for Saiko to descend from above with aqua jets blazing. Shinji winced as he felt the wounds on his chest worsening, evading the water blasts barely. At this point he couldn't think anymore and without warning he closed his eyes and began to plunge.
"You idiot! Don't sleep now!" Zion shouted at him, desperate to wake him up. His words fell on deaf ears as Shinji lost consciousness completely, his wings disappearing as well. "Shit!" Zion exclaimed as he ran for his fellow mage. If the demons didn't kill him, the fall would. Just as he neared him, Zion was halted by a blast of acid courtesy from Haizen. The moment he stopped, he watched as Hiura leapt over him, arms rose. Cursing, Zion ran again just in time as four fists plummeted the earth that he stood. While he was alright, he was far away from Shinji now. As such he watched helplessly as Sanan descended after him, fully intent on slicing him in half.
"SHINJI!" he cried out desperately.
Zion thought it was all over when the blade neared Shinji's neck. Just then, a blast black wind hit Sanan directly in the side, sending him spiraling off course. That made him avoid Shinji entirely, causing him to crash into the ground.
"Damn it! Who goes there?" Sanan roared, angry that he missed his kill. All three other demons glanced in the general direction to which the attack came from and Zion too turned his head to see his savior.
"Tch!" Scar hissed slightly as she watched the demon spot her from atop the stone pillar. She thought she had put enough magic behind that attack to kill it but apparently it wasn't enough. Concentrating, she gathered black winds around her hands once more before firing.
"Black Storm!" she called out as the wind warped into a drill like shape, tearing through the forest towards the demons. This time though, all four of them noticed the attack coming and swiftly evaded it just as the wind tore a hole through the earth.
In the mean time, Shinji had vanished from his current position. As Zion started to look for him, he too also vanished along with Hanaku. When he arrived at his new position, he saw Shinji on the ground with Cora right next to him. Behind him was Blitz, his hand currently over Zion's shoulder, indicating he was responsible for the teleportation.
"You guys alright?" Blitz asked as helped Zion to lie down, carrying Hanaku to his side as well.
"I've had better days," Zion replied in pain as he lay down, feeling his broken bones ache.
"Don't worry," Cora assured as she began to work her healing magic. "we got here just in time." This time, Zion let out a small smile. Never had he been so glad to see his guild members.
"Take care of them," came Hikari's simple instruction as she began to walk away, her fists clenched. These guys had hurt her guild mates and demons or not, she was going to destroy them.
"Wait," Protested Zion when he knew where she was headed. "I can still fight."
"Zion, you are staying put. Your injuries are too grave." Insisted Cora as she desperately tried to convince him to lie down. Zion shrugged off her hands, painfully getting up to his feet as he attempted to walk up to Hikari.
Hikari stopped in her tracks and turned to face Zion. As she gazed into his eyes, she saw neither fear nor despair. Just controlled anger that needed to be let out on those who hurt what he held dearest. Without warning, a golden magic circle appeared beneath her feet, her hand reaching out to touch Zion's chest.
"Toque de Raphael." She said silently as a brilliant glow enveloped Zion. When the glow died, Zion's injuries were completely gone and he felt his magic power recover instantly. Zion stared in disbelief at his body which was still glowing golden. He felt incredible, as though he was at maximum strength and there was no pain at all. He power also seemed to be multiplied a few times as well.
Hikari watched the mage intently, hoping he would not do anything rash later. Toque de Raphael was not a healing technique but an amplification one. For a period of time, the user would become powered up and his injuries healed completely but when the spell wore off, they would all resurface again and the damage would be accumulated, making him experience even more excruciating pain.
"Let's go." Hikari said as she took off into the woods.
"Hell yeah! Its payback time!" roared Zion as he followed suit after her.
In the meantime, Scar was handling all four demons just fine. She was like a wasp, darting about as she avoided the slower attacks hurled at her by Haizen and Hiura. With a swipe of her arms, she unleashed a slash of black wind, tearing through the attacks thrown at her and knocking both demons into the ground, causing them to roar in pain. Saiko had turned to trying to grab her at close range with his barbed tentacles, only for Scar to surround her body with razor winds, shredding the disgusting appendages as they came close. Sanan soared towards her with his blades outstretched, trying to cut her into half. Scar simply raised an arm and formed a wall of black wind to Sanan's assault. She then fired the wall of wind, sending Sanan tumbling end over end in the sky.
"Nine Tail Laser!" called out Hikari as she raised her hand, firing off nine streaks of golden lasers towards Hiura and Haizen. The two demons noticed her attacks a moment too late, roaring in pain as the laser streaked across their bodies and drew blood.
Zion decided to follow up, allowing his cheeks to swell as he charged his attack. "Magma God's Bellow!" he commanded as he fired a huge column of lava at Hiura. Hiura attempted to raise his arms to block, only for the stream to hit him straight in the chest. The demons roared in pain as he fell backwards, his chest badly scorched.
"Damn you, how dare you do that to Hiura!" Saiko screamed as he shot off a stream of aqua jets towards Hikari and Zion. Unfortunately for him, Hikari stood in his path. "Fatal Rain." She called out emotionlessly, absorbing the water blasts and transforming them into spears before firing them back at Saiko. Saiko cursed as he attempted to evade his own attack, only for a multitude of spears to pierce him and explode with blue energy. The squid demon roared in pain as he coughed out blood, swimming away to keep his distance from Scar.
With Kaguro
"So it seems that Glaive has some powerful one after all." Kaguro remarked as he watched Scar and Hikari best his team like they were nothing. Even after going all out, they were still weaker than the two S-class mages in terms of raw power.
"6300 and 6100. Decent power levels." Kaguro grinned as he observed their fight. They were good, powerful enough to hold their own in a fight even against otherworldly foes like his team. He might just have to step in to fight and test their strength.
At that moment, he felt a dark aura escaping from something near his feet.
"You have got to be kidding me," Kaguro muttered aloud as he watched Kozmotis start to stand from below him. He was pretty sure he had hit his vitals with that slash, so he shouldn't be getting back up so soon. What's more surprising was the numbers dancing before Kaguro's eyes.
"2000, 2300, 3100, 4000." Kaguro was quite surprised at the least, given the measly power level this mage had started out with. Now it was even higher than most of the others down there fighting.
"I wonder," Kaguro thought to himself, but before he could finish it, a fist ploughed his face, sending him crashing into one of the other stone pillars. The owner of the fist was Kozmotis, fully awakened and very, very angry.
"Not cool man," Kaguro remarked from within the pillar as he sat there cross-legged. While the attack did take him by surprise, he had hardly any effect on him.
"YOU BASTARD! I'M GONNA KILL YOU, I SWEAR ON IT!" he roared in anger. That bastard made a fool out of him.
He made him feel pain.
He humiliated him.
He made him angry.
And he was gonna regret it now.
"Demon Eye, Open!" he snarled as he removed his eye-patch. His left eye opened slowly, revealing a deep violet color with no iris at all. All around Kozmotis, the dirt began to swell and clump together as his anger began to peak. "Nemesis!" he called out as half a dozen sand devils appeared all around him in the form of various animals. With a deafening howl, they fired blasts of dark energy from their mouths and palms, all towards the hole which he had punched Kaguro through.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!" he roared with laughter as he felt all the attacks connect, not even bothering to stop when the pillar collapsed from the intensity of his attacks. Serves him right. The crime of pissing him off was death and he would make sure of that. There was going to be nothing left of Kaguro when he was done with him.
When Kozmotis finally stopped, the stone pillar was already reduced to nothing but rubble and dust. Sensing no movement or life from that direction, Kozmotis let out a loud laugh of pleasure and satisfaction, happy that he vanquished Kaguro with not a trace left.
An explosion then drew his attention towards the general direction of the rest of the Scarlet Nova mages.
"Tch! Why do I have to save their asses!" he snarled but still assumed a battle stance as he began to direct his magic towards the general direction. He licked his lips as he spotted Haizen, his first target.
"Wonder what a demon in pain sounds like," he smirked as he prepared his next spell. Oh how he was going to enjoy this.
"Demon Eye: Black Coffin!" he ordered as he manipulated the sand with wisps of dark energy. Silently, the sand around Haizen came to life. Haizen was so busy avoiding the attacks from Hikari and Zion that he failed to notice the sand beginning to constrict his lower body. Without warning, the sand tightened, rupturing his lower half. Haizen roared in pain as he attempted to escape, only to find his body completely immobile, making him a sitting duck for the rest of the Scarlet Nova mages.
"Chance!" exclaimed Zion as he noticed the trapped demon. "Magma God's Sin!" he cried out as he fired off a disc of black magma. This time his attack hit its mark, tearing deep into the skin of Haizen before exploding from the inside. Haizen bellowed as he felt his body slowly being destroyed, unable to do anything as he watched a gold magic circle appear beneath him.
"Espada de Gabriel." Hikari said emotionlessly as a blade made of lightning exploded upwards from beneath Haizen, cutting him into half. Haizen moaned softly as he felt his life slip away, the last sound he ever made before exploding into a ball of black dust.
"Haizen!" Sanan cried out as he noticed the death of one of his teammates. "Damn you!" he shrieked as he dive-bombed once more, intending on skewering Hikari and Zion for what they had done.
"You're not going anywhere." Scar remarked coldly as she appeared in front of Sanan, catching him by surprise. The winds around her hands were now extremely concentrated, such that her hands were vibrating ever so slightly from just charging up the spell.
"Shockringer!" she exclaimed as she brought both her arms down, unleashing a tornado that was laced with lightning. Unlike her previous spells, this one was larger in size and intensity, being reinforced with multiple smaller cyclones within the actual tornado itself.
"Tch!" Sanan cursed as he ducked out of the way, avoiding the spell but redirecting it to an unsuspecting Hiura. Hiura had his back turned when the spell tore through his chest, causing him to roar in pain. Even that did not last for long as the smaller cyclones began ripping his body apart piece by piece. His iron like skin did not last for long against the fierce assault, quickly shredding to pieces before Scar's fierce winds. By then, Hiura's body was entirely engulfed in the attack, helpless as it gradually closed in all around him. With a loud roar, the cyclone exploded, consuming Hiura and disintegrating him.
"Hiura!" Saiko cried in pain as he witnessed his former ally's death. It was only the two of them left and they did not stand a chance at all. While Sanan was only slightly bruised from Scar's attacks, Saiko was missing two of his tentacles and had holes in his body which were leaking black blood. The fight was lost the moment Haizen went down. He was the only one with ranged capabilities amongst them and the only way to turn the fight around was to strike from afar. Too bad the Scarlet Nova mages were not going to have any of that.
"Perish!" howled Kozmotis as he ordered his devils to fire off another barrage of dark beams towards Saiko. Zion had joined in as well, hurling clumps of magma at him. Saiko desperately spun his tentacles once more, trying to create a shield against the fierce assault. Instead it did just the opposite, ripping apart another three of his appendages. Saiko cursed aloud as he realized he was on his last legs, both figuratively and literally, unaware that Scar had snuck up behind him.
Scar brought her arm downwards, unleashing a sharp blade of wind towards Saiko, intending to cut him in half. When Saiko finally heard the whistling noise, his eyes widened even further as he watched the impending attack zero in on him, unable to do anything at this point. Luckily for him, Sanan grabbed him at just the last moment, ascending into the skies. Scar attack missed and carved a mark onto the earth, causing her to hiss in frustration at failing to kill Saiko.
"Thanks for the save," Saiko panted heavily although Sanan paid no notice at all. He was busy trying to find a way out of this mess. He could sacrifice Saiko if needed be but that did not guarantee he would walk out alive. Just as he cracked his brains for a solution, the answer came to him.
The four mages at the end of the forest.
"Saiko!" he commanded the squid demon, causing Saiko's eyes to direct their attention to him. "Listen well and listen good. Fail this and I will kill you myself, clear?"
Saiko just nodded his head in response as Sanan whispered what he wanted him to carry out.
At that point, Saiko eye-smiled. That might just preserve their lives.
"Now go!" Sanan cried out as he hurled Saiko as hard as he could into the ground. Zion and Hikari leapt back as the living projectile impacted the earth before them, tunneling through it.
"A futile attempt," Hikari remarked as she gazed at Sanan. Using his comrade as a projectile was a bad move and a useless one at that. There was no one left but him now.
Unknown to her, Sanan was smiling on the inside. His plan was working out well. Now for Saiko to do his job.
At that moment, Kozmotis noticed the ground beneath them shaking once more. "Move you fools!" he shouted, just in time for the Scarlet Nova mages to roll out of the way as Saiko tunneled out of the ground again.
But this time he was holding someone.
In each of his remaining arms, Saiko held Cora, Blitz, Hanaku and Shinji. His barbed tentacles were wrapped around them tightly enough to prevent their escape but not suc that the barbs would pierce their skin. The former two mages struggled to free themselves while the latter two just hung like ragdolls in a child's arms.
"You cowards!" Zion hissed when he noticed the hostages. "Release them now!"
"Unfortunately we won't." Sanan replied as he descended next to Saiko, his bladed wing now held inches from Cora's neck. "Not until we leave this place alive."
"You start a fight with us and now you want to leave? Have you no shame?!" Kozmotis snarled. He wanted to destroy the two of them right there and then but he feared injuring his guild mates in the process. He really hated this sort of scenarios.
"Your human codes of honor do not apply to us demons. We do as we please and we answer to nobody." Sanan replied in a serious tone. "Let us leave or your friends get it."
"Oh is that so?" came a mocking voice.
That caused everyone in the vicinity to freeze up in fear as they searched for the source of the voice. This was especially so for Kozmotis. He was sure he had wasted him.
"You guys lost already and yet you still act like sore losers," Kaguro sighed as he revealed himself to be on one of the stone pillars next to Sanan.
"Impossible," breathed Kozmotis. He hit Kaguro with everything he had in that attack and yet he didn't even have a scratch on him. Kaguro, noticing his shock, turned to face him. "You are one little boy, you know that. At least let me finish talking next time." He reprimanded Kozmotis as he wagged a finger in his face, causing the mage to hiss in anger at the insult.
"Kaguro sir, please wait a while longer. We are almost finished." pleaded Sanan. Saiko nodded his head fervently as well in an attempt to convince him.
"Nope I won't." Kaguro replied, this time with an ominous tone in his voice. Gone was that playful attitude, replaced with nothing but disgust. "You guys lack battle ethics," he said with narrowed eyes as he leapt down from his position to land right beside them. "When you lose, you don't take hostages."
Sanan was about to say something when he realized he couldn't speak anymore, a thin line slowly forming from his neck down to his pelvis. Saiko too, his eyes now diluting in color and rolling to the back of his head.
"When you lose, you die." Came Kaguro's simple reply.
With that, both Sanan and Saiko split vertically into half, warm chunks of their flesh and blood raining all over the clearing. While the two of them died instantly, the Scarlet Nova mages who were held hostage were unharmed, though horrified looks were written all over their faces.
"He just," started Hikari, the shock in her voice evident, "murdered his own allies." Scar was watching silently though the surprise in her eyes was evident. She was not expecting that from Kaguro at all despite having just met him.
"Well then," Kaguro started, his playful demeanor returning, "I apologize for my subordinates' incompetence." With that he bowed his head slightly, as though asking for forgiveness. "I would like to thank you for your assistance here. Without you guys, we couldn't have completed our mission."
That got everyone uptight again. "What mission? And when did we help you?" demanded Zion, not liking this one bit. They had just experienced a near death situation with his team and that was helping Kaguro out? Something was amiss.
"Well, there were two objectives in luring you guys out here." Kaguro stated with two fingers raised. "The first was to test your strength. While it is true that we need the magic power in Valgore for our own objectives, the main aim was to ascertain the amount of firepower we needed to claim the town based on your fighting strength." At this point Kaguro just sighed and chuckled to himself.
"What's so funny?" demanded Scar, the anger visible in her eyes.
"It's just so hilarious." Kaguro sniggered, unable to control his laughter. "I was expecting more from the guild whose Master put me in this shape but even with the two new arrivals," Kaguro paused mid sentence as he tilted his head in an awkward fashion to face the mages. This time though, there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. "I could still kill all of you singlehandedly if I wanted to." He finished the tone in his voice particularly low.
That sent scowls and protests across the Scarlet Nova mages. While they refused to believe his words, they knew deep down that he could do so if he wanted to, having witnessed what just happened to Sanan and Saiko.
"What's the second objective," demanded Hikari, bringing back the topic at hand.
"Well that," Kaguro started, only to interrupted by a massive explosion. All mages turned their eyes to the site, watching as Sand Dune City went up in flames from afar.
"Would be to stop you rescuing the city." Kaguro finished, a grin etched on his face.
Within Sand Dune City
Unknown to the Scarlet Nova mages, another regiment of Black Citadel was sent into the city prior to Kaguro and his team's arrival. While Kaguro was meant to stall for time, the other group had a more important job at hand.
To recover the jewel artifact within the city, no matter the cost.
To do that, they decided to overwhelm the city's defenses with force, in the form of an army of spirit warriors. The city never saw it coming. One moment everything was fine and dandy, the next moment they were under siege by an army. The city's defenders fell one after another as the warriors laid waste to anything and everything that they saw. They came in all different shapes and sizes, some wearing black and silver armor with wings of light which crushed everything they saw with their blades while others wore simple black cloaks with poisonous daggers, assassinating their targets in silence. Men, women, young or old, the warriors hunted anything that moved. Despite the desperate pleas from some citizens, the warriors ruthlessly cut them down still. The entire city was literally soaked in blood, pouring from all the bodies that were carelessly strewn around the streets. The only thing in common amongst all of the warriors was that they all wore a large hood over their heads, obscuring their faces completely.
That was not surprising considering they all came from the caster. They were not warriors of their free will, but instead part of someone's magic. This particular mage had the ability to deploy an army in an instance, delivering a strike-force whenever and wherever needed. That as why he was recruited by the guild.
As a member of Orochi.
Of course, summoning such a large army was not without its costs. Whenever he did that, he would be incapacitated for at least an hour, unable to use any magic. That probably explained why the mage was in the city's library, flipping through the ancient texts he had found. The mage had a pale well toned body which he kept in shape in case he ever got into a fight. He stood at a height of 5'11 with piercing ivory eyes and thick, unruly black hair that refuses to be tamed. His attire consisted mainly of a full suit of gold and red armor made to fit the image of a commander including a long red cape and large shoulder pads. A snake in the shape of the number seven was imprinted on the breast plate of his armor. Said mage was currently absorbed into the book he was reading, unfazed by what was going all around him.
Which was particularly frightening considering the number of corpses strewn all around the library. The floor was caked in blood and nearly half the library was destroyed, etched with claw and scorch marks. In the central hall, there stood a behemoth which would make even the bravest of men piss their pants. It was a large red, muscular, red-skinned man with a stature of 7'7 with golden gauntlets, bracers on his ankles, and a chest plate with large tusked elephant face. The being was in the midst of demolishing the rune knights in the room. They were foolish enough to confront him in small numbers and they were currently paying the price for it.
Balto watched in glee as he glanced down at his squirming opponents. With a swipe, he grabbed two of the screaming rune knights, plummeting them into the ground. When he removed his hands, there was nothing left of them but mangled bones and blood. The three remaining knights screamed in fear, trying to run away as Balto grabbed one of them by the collar. The helpless man shrieked in fear, flailing his weapon helplessly as he watched himself get swallowed by Balto whole. There was the crunching of bones and weird squelching noises from Balto mouth before all went silent. The two of his friends had collapsed in fear, refusing to believe that their comrade had just been eaten alive. "Nasty," Balto commented as he stuck out his tongue. "I thought the uglier they were, the nicer the taste." With that he spat out the man's skull towards his friends. The projectile was like an anti tank shell, tearing through the heads of the two rune knights and causing their bodies to bloom into little flowers of blood.
"Hey Vale, are you done yet?" Balto asked the other Orochi member. He had had his fill of food and fun already and was starting to get bored. He was under orders from Kaguro to protect Vale while he regenerated his magic but now that he had eaten/killed every rune knight in the city, he was itching to leave.
"Patience Balto," Vale replied without looking up from his book, still deeply interested in its contents. While his magic had returned to him some while ago, he was still waiting for something to be returned to him. As that thought passed, he heard the fluttering of wings as the windows near him exploded.
In stepped a spirit warrior which was holding a transparent box in its hand. It knelt before Vale, presenting the box to him. Within it, a violet jewel shone brightly. The main reason why they came here in the first place.
Satisfied that they had recovered the artifact, Vale closed the book he was reading and hurled it aside.
"We can go now Balto," he replied, causing the behemoth to smirk.
"Finally," Balto exclaimed as he dispelled his magic and returned to his normal size. He then tapped the open air with his finger, causing a small green ripple to appear which continued to grow in size. When it was the size of a regular human, Balto stepped through it followed by Vale, disappearing completely as they entered a different dimension. With that the ripple eventually ceased, leaving no evidence that the two mages ever visited the city.
Apart from the number corpses that lined the streets and the flames from the razed buildings.
With Kaguro
"You Bastard! What have you done!" roared Zion in anger as he watched the devastation in Sand Dune City.
"What was necessary for my guild of course," replied Kaguro with a smirk. "Till we meet next time, Scarlet Nova."
Kaguro drew his black blade once more, slicing the air before him to open the portal.
"Not so fast!" cried Scar as she descended rapidly, black winds swirling around her arms. She dive-bombed for Kaguro, her fist raised and poised to strike. Though she was fast, it was too late. Her fist came inches from Kaguro before he winked out of existence, causing her to strike the ground instead.
"Damn it all!" she cursed out loud as despair washed over her. They had saved their comrades but not the hundreds of thousands that were living in the city.
Her guild mates shared her sentiments, watching helplessly as Sand Dune City was consumed by flames and razed to the ground.
A/N: Well that's it for this chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Stay tuned for the next one and remember to review and favorite.
Death Obelisk signing off.
