Here we go, Round 4! –gasps overdramatically- Oh my gods, we're almost out of Sword Dancers! Just two more fights! (Well, one more fight for this story, and then he makes some more appearances in AEtT. At which point you will all either love him or hate him.)

Okay, getting sidetracked... Onward, brave soldiers!

"O flames of hell—What the fuck? Hello!" –Kairi

Chapter 9.6 – Back on Track
Part 83

"Kairi?"

Asch's voice drew me out of my shock, and I turned around to face him. Dark suddenly looked worried.

"Is this about what happened last time?" he asked. I swallowed, but couldn't force myself to answer. I knew, from his expression, that he already knew.

Yes. Yes, it was. I'd almost lost Seth last time. Almost lost him.

"We don't have to stop for it," Asch said. Sync looked almost hopeful that I'd given it up for a moment. Then he slumped and gave me a look. I reached out telepathically.

*But if we don't, we may never get to the last one. And you said you wanted to get Ultimatus for Asch,* he said, his reluctance written plainly across his face. I bit my lip.

*Ultimatus isn't worth someone getting killed.*

*Dark isn't a focused healer. Neither is Seth. Neither is Reighn. And you're not a healer at all. Tear is.*

And Tear was offering to help us.

I closed my eyes for a moment and wondered. Was it really worth it?

I felt disappointment, and my eyes shot open again, locking on my right arm where Silver Clematis rested. Then I looked up and around at the others.

"Are we stopping or not?" Jade asked. I nodded with barely a thought.

"Yes. Dark, you said you wanted to fight?" Dark nodded. "That means we'll have the two ligers as well... Tear, you're really okay with healing us?" Tear nodded as well, and I continued looking around. Do I want someone else fighting short-range, or another fonist? Hmm... "Selenia?"

The brown-haired girl perked up. "Yes?"

"You up for a challenge?"

She grinned. "Yes!" She stood up, twirling her staff easily, and Sync gave her a worried look. Ion looked at me worriedly.

"Are you sure, Kairi? You had a similar lineup for the last fight," he said. I nodded.

"Yeah, except none of them was real focused on healing until Seth got speared in the gut." Seth nodded a reluctant acknowledgement to this. "And Dark's light artes and mystic arte did a lot of damage. That, in addition to Tear's fonic artes if she isn't needing to heal us, Selenia's high fonic power, and me and the ligers keeping it mostly preoccupied..."

Asch crossed his arms. "Then, in addition to Natalia banning Dark's Sacrifice, I've got a ban of my own."

I flinched. "No Guardian's Pain. I know. I don't intend to use it again at all, if I can help it." I got a few confused looks for that, but given my statement and expression, no one bothered to ask.

"Hold on!" Noelle called. I had already felt the Albiore descending, but that was our warning for the landing, usually.

The quickly-becoming-familiar bump later, and I glanced around at the others. They nodded back, and we stepped off the Albiore, walking across the plateau to where Ultimatus stood, almost seeming tall and proud. I led the way, flanked by the ligers, and with the other three behind us. Everyone else collected in a loose group a ways off.

:You have returned... Yes... Let us see if you are truly prepared.:

The darkness lashed out, forming the usual barrier, and I let the fonons of my katana slip away from my arm. I heard Dark mutter something about weapons, but paid him little attention as I moved in to engage the Sword Dancer. Last time, I'd let the ligers do this on their own. But I knew there was only so much they could do in a situation like this one.

"O vile wyrm of the dunes..." I let loose a Havoc Strike and then ran back.

"Burst, o hellfire!" This one was Selenia, and the ligers ran back as well.

"Sandstorm!" Dark finished just as Selenia's chant ended, and the arte erupted. I glanced back, noting the way Selenia was holding her staff and the look of concentration.

Sandstorm ended, and the girl smirked, pointing her staff at the Sword Dancer. "Take that! Magma Plume!"

Whatever the arte was supposed to be, it sucked up the field of fonons and unleashed the Magma Plume on the Sword Dancer. Selenia and Dark both started casting again, while Tear let loose a Holy Lance. I had just run back in to attack when Selenia let off a happy whoop.

"Oh, yeah! Try this out!" I glanced over my shoulder, then immediately had to jump away from the Sword Dancer's attack. Then I glanced at Selenia again. No, I'd seen correctly the first time. She really did have dark blue Tales of Symphonia-style wings. "Angel Feathers!"

And there's the explanation for it. Damn. That's cool.

The Sword Dancer screeched and lashed out at the nearest target, which happened to be Twilight, just before Dark let loose with a second Sandstorm. It was obvious he intended for Sorylle to use it.

I ran in next to Twilight and spun on my heel.

What I didn't expect was for the field of fonons to collapse around me. I felt, more than heard, myself muttering the same verse I'd used last time against the Sword Dancer. Twilight jumped away from me, and I was silently grateful.

"Dark reckoning... Guardian's Pain!"

Except this time... There was a poison present in the arte, but it wasn't miasma, and it wasn't racing through my body. Either way...

"Kairi!"

I jumped up and ran away, standing next to Dark as I double-checked what I already knew. I glanced out through the barrier, and spotted Asch immediately, left hand clenched around his sword's sheath, right hand pressed up against the barrier. His mildly panicked expression faltered when he met my eyes.

"Move!"

I did, without even thinking about it. A good thing, too, as the Sword Dancer's sword cut right through the space I'd just been in. I rolled to my feet and hit him with a Havoc Strike before running off again. Tear was over there, Selenia was already casting Angel Feathers again, and Dark was off that way, casting... Stardust Rain, I guessed.

This time, when I ran in to cast Guardian Field, it worked correctly, and Twilight growled a thanks at me.

"Angel Feathers!"

"Stardust Rain!"

"Holy Lance!"

The Sword Dancer screeched again. Then it unleashed a shockwave, and I found myself flying through the air and cursing.

I barely got turned around enough to land on my feet. Twilight and Sorylle weren't so lucky.

"There's no way we'll get any damage in until that wears off," Tear called. I nodded.

"Try not to get hit."

Selenia rolled her eyes at me, but ran away from the approaching Sword Dancer anyway. I ran the other direction, and was mildly surprised when it decided to follow me instead. Okay. I can work with that.

I turned and let off a Demon Fang. It didn't really deter the Sword Dancer, and I hadn't been expecting it too, but that was fine. Any damage done would mean a shorter battle.

"Fireball!"

The Sword Dancer paused and turned on Selenia, who was already casting again. I ran forward, knowing I'd be regretting this if I wasn't careful, and gripped my katana with both hands.

It had been a long time since I'd used a two-handed style, but it felt just as familiar as it always had before. Even switching from a left-handed style to right-hand-leading wasn't awkward.

The one really nice thing about my two-hand style was that I didn't have to do a lot of twirling to put more force behind a strike. Which meant I wasn't turning my back to my enemy, for once, even for a moment.

The Sword Dancer swung at me, and my body acted before my mind could tell it that this was a terrible idea.

I raised my katana to block the strike.

I'd taken good care of that katana over the Auldrant year I'd had it. It saw a lot of use, but also quite a bit of maintenance.

That didn't mean average steel was going to stand up against a strike from the Sword Dancer.

I shifted my weight just fast enough to avoid taking too much damage from the blow myself, but with my katana now in pieces on the ground, I didn't have much of a choice but to run to the barrier. I couldn't use Silver Clematis, and Dark seemed to realize that, given the look he was giving me. I guessed his comment earlier was about the White Lotus chakrams.

So that just left my bow. In my wing pack.

I knew, under normal circumstances, it was possible, but not suggested, to be rooting around in a wing pack during a battle. But it only took one glance at my wing pack to realize that this was most certainly not going to let me go along with 'normal circumstances'.

No sword. No bow. Now what?

I scowled as Twilight got knocked to the side again and found myself running forward before I even realized what I was doing.

Dark unleashed a Sandstorm.

Sorylle, Selenia and I all pulled in the field of fonons at the exact same moment. Twilight once again moved to jump away from me. This time, he didn't succeed.

Sorylle's Glacier Stream froze the Sword Dancer.

Selenia's Magma Plume melted him again.

My Guardian's Pain hurt me—and the Sword Dancer—like a bitch. Much to his surprise however, it did heal Twilight.

I figured out a moment later—after running out of the middle of that mess again—that the pain I'd felt had been a health transfer from me to Twilight. I glanced up and cursed. The Sword Dancer was after me, and there was no way either of the ligers would make it in time.

Well... here's hoping sparring with Sync was worth the bruises in the end.

I quickly found a small positive in this situation, though, in that my agility was increased now that I wasn't holding a weapon. A Havoc Strike and a strange little twist got me past the Sword Dancer, and I ran over to Dark again.

"Why was I even worried? You're doing fine even without a weapon."

I snorted. "I'd be doing better with one," I countered, pulling in fonons and tapping my thigh for rhythm. "O flames of hell—What the fuck? Hello!" My fifth fonons disappeared instantly, replaced in a second by first fonons.

I recognized the arte that was forming the moment the first fonons flooded in, and smirked. Sure, I'd been poking around with it, but I hadn't expected something like this to happen. Oh well. My fault for using my fonslots for once, I guess?

"Bloody Howling!"

A screech, a Stardust Rain, and a shared glance later, and Dark and I raced forward. Now, this? This, I wasn't sure would work. I'd really only developed the theory, and never tested it before.

With that thought in mind, I braced myself when Dark unleashed his over limit, and then immediately let loose with my own. That would protect me from part of the backlash, at least, if there was any.

Dark's indigo wings formed quickly, and I focused on the first fonons still floating around from my Bloody Howling.

"O divine light of the heavens, consecrate these rotted souls so they may ascend to your holy lands!"

Certain that I had enough fonons on hand, I watched, and waited.

"Sacred Beacon!"

My fonons moved easily as Dark's mystic arte ended, and I held my arms wide as if offering an embrace. "Judgment from heaven? Ha!" My arms came down, and I turned and took a couple steps away, noting the chains that bound the Sword Dancer now. "I'll see you in hell," I called, grabbing one and yanking. Every other chain moved with that one. "Devil's Anguish!"

I smirked as the Sword Dancer screeched again and the arte faded. Once it was gone, I glanced around. The barrier was disintegrating, and our friends on the other side were looking relieved. Asch, especially.

:You are stronger than you appear... Perhaps it will be enough...:

The Sword Dancer began to fade.

I nodded. "Perhaps. Nothing's set in stone."

A dark, disembodied chuckle was the only response, and four weapons were deposited in place of the Sword Dancer. I walked over and looked at them.

"Hey, that blue one looks kinda like the red one from Tataroo Valley," Luke noted. I nodded.

"Flamberge, which I gave to you, and the Vorpal Blade. They're a pair. Fire and ice, offense and defense." I looked up, found Guy's eyes, and held it out. "I think you would be the best choice for this one."

Guy blinked a couple times in surprise. "What? But, wouldn't it be better for Asch?"

I shook my head. "No. Asch and Luke might appear to be a fitting duo for Flamberge and the Vorpal Blade, but those two are family. I'll tell you the story about the Eternal Sword later, to help explain why it matters, but for now..." I held out the sword again, and Guy sighed and accepted it.

"Ooh... Hey, Seth? Or Ion, or anyone that can read Ancient Ispanian? What's this say?" Selenia asked. I glanced over my shoulder and looked at the weapon she was holding out. I raised an eyebrow.

"That's an axe."

Selenia nodded. "Yep! But it's really light, and kinda cool, and... Well, it just kinda feels right."

Sync chuckled as he stepped over and looked at the inscription. "Gray Larkspur."

"Another flower weapon?" Asch asked, sounding suitably surprised. I shrugged.

"Looks like it. Now then... This is obviously for Tear." I held out the familiar Blue Crystal Staff you can get from the arena in Baticul. She held out a hand for it, and gasped softly before waving it around a bit.

"Huh... You wouldn't think the Sword Dancer would be carrying around a pair of guns," Dark muttered, reaching down and picking them up. He frowned at something on one side, and held one out to me. "I can't read that."

"And you're handing it off to Kairi?" Asch asked, apparently assuming it was Ancient Ispanian. For a moment, I agreed with him.

Then I spotted the runes.

My runes.

"Kairi?" Ion prompted. I held my hand out for the second gun, and Dark handed it over. I glanced over the detailing. On one of the two guns, it was white and red. On the other, white and blue. I smiled slightly. Yes... I'd definitely screwed things up in this universe.

But if it meant Ion wouldn't die, then so be it.

I flipped the guns around and held them out to Ion, who looked startled. "They are Aska, twin heralds of light."

Ion swallowed and took the weapons carefully, then seemed to steady his resolve. He looked up at me and nodded once.

"So, you wanna tell me what was up with using Guardian's Pain not once, but twice?"

I flinched.

"This sounds like a wonderful conversation to hold on the Albiore."

Yeah, nope. Not getting outta this one.

Fun Fact: Ion's new guns courtesy of one of the Archfiends in my Demon Lord series. (If I ever finish the Tales of Symphonia one, I'll start posting the Tales of the Abyss one, if for no other reason than because Colette and Anise make for a deadly combination of sheer 'cute'. Also, Jade just... -slumps- No words, here.) Thank you Xero, you are truly a helpful Archfiend, unlike Exodus. Exodus is useless, and I'm rambling. So yeah.