Chapter 7: Darkness Rising

~~~~~~~~~~Continued from Last Chapter~~~~~~~~~~

'Uhn… my head, my side, my arm, my legs, scratch that, my whole body…'

The last thing I remembered before I passed out was… The Empress! Where was she! As I sat up I felt a sharp pain in my side.

"Please sit down sir… Phantom… your wound is not yet healed."

The voice came from the opening of the doorway of the white medical room that he was in. The Empress. Time for his best, "charm the lady" show.

"Why hello there Empress!" He said in an excessively cheery voice.

"Do nottry to charm me, thief!"

Well it's not like he wasn't expecting them to know his identity. He only had the highest bounty in the Maple World on his head.

"Oh Empress why would you think so badly of me?"

Her eyes narrowed in distrust, she was almost decieved by his looks and charms! Thank goddess Gilehart had warned her.

~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~

"Empress, you must not help him!"

"But Gilehart! He protected me with all of his strength, he was brutally injured for me!"

Gilehart had run into the medical ward where Empress Aria was personally attending to the hero, now turned villain in his eyes.

"Empress he is a menace! He is no less then the nefarious thief Phantom!"

Aria gasped, Phantom? The Phantom they had been trying to lure in for months now? The thief who had stolen not only the crown jewels Ariant but also burglurized the Elves?

"Call a different healer, I need to be alone."

"Of course Empress."

A thief, her hero had been a thief. Her charming gentleman, a thief. Damn it all!

~~~~~~~~~~Flashback End~~~~~~~~~~

"Well only that you are the most infamous thief to ever be known over the Maple World."

"Ah my reputation precedes me Empress." he replied with a smirk.

It was infuriating, she was shown reverence and respect wherever she went, so why was this thief able to speak to her this way?

"Because I'm a thief."

"What?"

"You were wondering why I talk so casually to you, well it's because I'm a thief, I have no respect for authority figures."

"Th-That's!"

"Oh please Empress no need to be so flustered, you're turning red in the face."

Oh how this man infuriated her! She could carry out an argument as well as the next ruler but something about this man was… different.

"Yoo hoo, I'm still here."

"I know that, you don't have to be so insufferable! You are in prison."

"Tell me Empress." Phantom completely ignored her protest. "Do you ever feel caged? A ruler in only name?"

"W-What are you talking about?" Though Phantom's words were frighteningly accurate to Aria.

"Woops just missed…" Phantom had just tried to take a half-hearted swipe at the Skaia which had been hanging from Aria's neck.

"How dare you!? This is a sacred artifact." She had to keep up the pretense after all.

"Well because that's what I came here for obviously. Why else would I come?"

"Ha, so Gilehart was right, the, "Master Thief" Phantom can't even see what's bait and what's not."

"No, really I knew there would be guards, but that would make it all the more fun."

"Y-You…!" She turned her back to him. "What kind of gentleman is so rude to a lady?" She said expecting a response. There was none.

'Hmph, fine.' She thought.

In any case he would have to stay in that room until- eh? Where had he gone?! A note had been left where he was sitting.

"Dear Empress, you are much too easily distracted. Never turn your back to a thief, especially me. -Phantom"

The day was noted as the day Empress Aria finally snapped, turning Gilehart into a steaming pile of flesh and bone when he asked what had happened.

'I swear I'll get him someday!' She thought furiously as her knights gave her a wide berth.

-Somewhere in Von Leon's Castle-

Footsteps could be heard coming down the dank hallway heading towards the main dining room of Von Leon's castle.

'What a pointless waste of time…'

The person continued walking down the hallway and stopped at the door. He could feel the sickening energy inside and knew that hewas in there.

'What a disgustingly stiffling presence.'

He opened the doors and walked in.

"Good evening Valfor" came and all too velvet covered greeting.

"Hello… Arcarium, good evening to you as well Von Leon, Lotus, Orchid." He greeted each in turn.

They were all seated, the Black Mages most powerful commanders all in one place.

"Please help yourself to anything." Came to gruff voice of Von Leon.

The spread on the table was fit for a king. Stir fried vegetables in a créme sauce, various seafood along the table, and a large chicken adorned the center.

"No thank you, let us move on to the order of business."

How he hated these people, selling their soul to the Black Mage for power.

"Very well then, today we are gathered here in order to begin our further expansion of his lordship's empire. We will soon enter battle against the Root alliance forces on the edge of the El Nath mountains."

This coming from the drawling mouth of Arkarium, nobody else seemed to care to try mediating the meetings.

"The one to lead this attack will be…"

"Will be you, Valfor."

Everybody around the table other then Valfor and Arkarium stiffened at the voice.

'How pathetic, they claim to be allies but stiffen with pressure at his voice…'

"It will be my honor." As he lied through his teeth.

-Battlefield-

"Charge!" came the cry of a commander. The Black Mage's Army was making slow but steady progress across the mountains of El Nath.

"Stop them my fellow knights!" Though the brave Knights of Aria were fighting around the clock to stop them. The Dawn Warrior's sent spinning blades of soul energy across the battlefield to decimate the enemies front lines.

"Fire back with your arrows." came the order of the opposing commander.

"Blaze Wizard's forward!" Shower's of meteors came to counter the arrow's that had been fired, burning them to pieces and further breaking apart the opposing army.

-Black Mage Command Tent-

"We can't hold the line any longer, we must retreat." Came the voice of a tactician. A hand made of shadows came forward to seize him.

"Retreat?" Came the voice of Valfor. "You are all a disgrace... Allowing those weaklings to push you around!"

The other officers nearly tripped over one another to bow to him.

"I will take the battlefield, tell the soldiers to assume flanking formation, provide support from the rear with our siege weapons. Have the mage's counter any spells that may be an attempt to slow me."

Yes he would fight and win, he knew he would, for nobody could stand in the way of his burning fury.

-Battlefield-

"We have driven them back! Now push!" came the cry of knights' commander. The Black Mage's army was retreating to the sides.

Or so they thought...

A blast of pure sound erupted from somewhere in front of the knights, blowing them all back and knocking some of them out. As the dust cleared, all the knights looked to see... a single man. But he was different, pale skin with blood red eyes. And most of all his wings... large purple bat-like wings, rotting with the evil energy placed inside them. And the most horrifying sight of all, was when the man leapt and soared toward's them, a hawk hunting it's prey.

"Judgement..." Before spikes burst forth from the ground, injuring some and killing others.

"Skilled knights, to the front, everybody else retreat!" The order was issued, but the panic was too much.

'A single blow and they are already defeated... how pathetic.' Valfor thought. "Nonetheless they must be destroyed I suppose..." Almost bored, he attacked with frightening efficiency, using his wings to obtain a birds eye view of the battlefield and finding which targets had the most people in them. Finally a group became organized enough to strike back, a group of obviously skilled knights.

"Shark Wave!"

"Meteor Shower!"

"Soul Driver!"

"Hurricane Spike!"

"Avenger!"

The five attacks hurtled towards Valfor and collided with a massive explosion.

"We got him!" shouted the Thunder Breaker. The other's nodded in agreement, nothing could have survived an attack like that.

"How weak..." They gasped, he had somehow teleported in between them. "Chaos Lock" The five were all binded in place. "Demon Cry!" The wave of sound blew them into their own rapidly retreating army, being bombarded by the siege weapons of the Black Mage.

Again stood the lone figure of Valfor, this time surrounded by the bodies of his enemies. Pity those who got in his way as he walked back towards his army.

"I will fight... and I will win... for my family..."

-Lumiere-

"I told you Master! But do you ever listen to me? Nooooo! It's always, do this Gaston, fetch that Gaston, don't worry Gaston. This time you were nearly done for!"

Phantom opted to not listen to the rambling voice of his butler reprimanding him. Instead he thought of the Empress, she was curious, nobody else talked to him like that. Usually they were too busy reaching for a weapon or something to call the authority's with. She interested him.

"Gaston." He said in one of his butler's pauses to breathe.

"What?"

"I believe that I have found my next great theft." He announced.

Gaston groaned, what had he done in his former life to deserve this?

-End-

A/N

Poor Gaston…

In any case, I apologize profusely for not updating sooner. I got caught up in some other things. School being one of them. (Damn AP History…) Forgive me please!

-Hides in bunker-

Read and Review please!

-Lunarfeather