Sutoratosu

with all the hacking and computer stuff, this reminds me a lot of the game "Watch Dogs"... well... let's see what I can come up with.

"We needn't any of that Liar'sss blood." The Naga leader stood and beckoned his underlings over. They left Zoliver's side, having made sure the young man was stable. Each of them stood in row formation, at crisp attention, just like trained human soldiers would. Their leader paced up and down the line, looking each Snake-man in the eyes for a few moments before moving on. The soles of his bare, scaled feet made a noticeable Swish sound as they moved across the cobblestones at a brisk pace. "Which one of you hasss thisss child'sss blood on your handsss?" he asked pointedly, his voice barely above a hoarse whisper. The Naga soldiers shifted nervously and glanced up and down the line, curious as to which of their fellow warriors would step forward to their leader's inquiry. A few seconds passed. Then a minute. Then finally one of them took responsibility for the deed, moving out of line and placing himself ahead of his comrades. "I did, Ssssir." Their leader said nothing. He walked over to where Stratos and he had mediated peace... and picked his sword up from off the ground. He returned to his men, and handed the weapon to the Warrior who had stepped up. The soldier didn't question his commander's actions, simply took the weapon with both hands. "You have broken our lawsss..." The leader hissed. "You drew sssteel againssst a little one. You know what the penalty for thine crime isss..." "To draw steel upon one'sss sself..." The Soldier responded. His face was expressionless as he gazed down at the boy. The sickled blade gleamed silver in the light as he raised it to his chest. The point poked into his skin just above the sternum. He held it there, applying pressure on the weapon. a tiny droplet of blood tricked down as the epidermis was pierced. "Sssstop." the Leader ordered. The warrior paused. "Sssir?" "That is enough. only a drop is what is needed. Any more will sssurely kill the little one. Hand me the blade." He grabbed the handle as the soldier passed it back. Absalom had grown even paler on the ground, his face ashen despite his Dirosi complexion. The Naga swiped his hand across the face of the sword, wicking away the small amount of blood there. His hand gleamed scarlet as he knelt beside the child, pushing Gideon out of the way. The boy didn't respond to the new presence. There was barely any sign that he still lingered. The Naga cupped his hand into a funnel and held it over Absalom's mouth, allowing a tiny droplet of his subordinate's life stuff to pass through the child's lips, a drop, and no more. His body jolted as the blood hit his tongue, spasming for a moment before going still again. He was still unconscious, but his face had noticeably regained it's color. His wound's slowly began to heal. Consciousness awareness began to slowly trickle back into his mind as he opened his eyes. "Where... who?" he seemed to be in complete confusion. "What...just happened? Am I dead...?"

oh, and don't look for all the bidoofs... just don't.

A wild war criminal Erick appeared! If only he had that Garchomp back then... oh...wait... that's right. never mind...

Ethic nearly burst into War Mode right then and there.. but then he restrained himself for a moment, which, by the way, was by now a feat in and of itself. He took a moment and thought about what the Giant had said, about the word choice... and the fact that there was a grin on it's face, not a menacing one, but more of one an eager kid might have...coupled with a matching tone of voice... how interesting... perhaps... "Do you like playing this game that Chef has you in?" He asked the Titan. He figured he might as well go out on a limb and call it that. "Where you Kill the little living people and everyone takes turns getting dead?"

"Oh great..." Black Jack muttered. "Here comes to condescending simple talk, like I'm just some dumb animal to be tamed and used..." The Shadow Mare set his attention to Aaron as the young man stood silently mulling over something in his mind. He glanced back at Logan. "You know what?" he said. "If this is the type of patronizing you're going to show towards me, then fuck you, good sir, and fuck this whole conversation too. I'm going to go see the Nix Killer over there." All Trystane heard was a curt snort. then the Horse seemed to get angry and walk away from him, heading towards Aaron... Was it just him, or was that horse moving quite fast compared to other steeds? it seemed to almost be dancing across the shadows in the night. And then Trystane's own wondering was answered when he saw the Horse disappear suddenly as it stepped into the shadow of Ko'Luki's home, shooting across the road and into Aaron's own shade. The thing seemed to ripple like water as Black Jack re-emerged from Dark Trotting, pulling himself back into this plain of existence right behind where the Key Bearer stood. if anyone else had been watching, all they would've see was a pitch black horse with silver eyes appearing behind him out of nowhere. The Shadow Mares are a strange race of Horse, one must understand. They do not simply trott and jog and gallop every where. oh no no no, they are far to special for that mediocrity... Instead, they get from point A to Point B by Dark Trotting, most easily compared to how humans used Light Walking. just like Black Jack had just done to sneak up on Aaron. "Hey, you there..." he said. Aaron was broken out of his chain of thought as he heard the voice. he looked around, trying to identify the speaker. "Who...where?" "Behind you..." He turned to find Black Jack standing there. He took a few steps back, a bit surprised to find the horse there. "You?" He asked, a bit surprised... "Did you... just talk?" it seemed far fetched, but there didn't look to be any other explanation. "Yes, I just talked..." The horse answered, rolling his eyes. "All us horses talk... but that's not important. You just burned all those Nix down to nothing, right?" "Yes, but..." "Well congrats," Black Jack said, cutting him off. "Because you just got yourselves some new friends; Me and my fellow herd members. quite a few of us got snacked on by the bastards while they were sitting around waiting for god knows who to show up here. We can't keep going on our own; We're too few... so, this is the most mutually beneficial choice. You can provide us the protection we can't give ourselves anymore, and in return we can take you wherever you want, in the blink of an eye. Deal?" Aaron looked around, unsure of what the hell to say to this... "Um... let me take a rain check on all this..." He walked over to Trystane, the only other person in the group with any experience with horses. Black Jack Dark Trotted behind him, following him like a shade in the night. "Hey...I'm probably crazy..." he began. "But tell me, do you hear this horse talking?" "Oh lord..." Black Jack sighed. "Why are you going to go ask this guy? of course he's going to say that he can't... patronizing bastard..." This time, however, Trystane did not hear a snort... he heard what Black Jack was actually saying. unbeknownst to either of the three of them, the glyph on Aaron's right hand was blazing to life. *** The Metalic Object hinged open as Maximus pulled it up, revealing a small hatch leading down into darkness... it smelled of Death and Decay. Something could be heard moving around down below, something that screeched and hissed and moaned. Then he heard the sounds of claws scrapping against metal, and he realized that there was a small iron ladder leading down... and that whatever was down there, was heading right for him.

((OCC: God damn... I am just killing off my own characters left and right right now, aren't I?)) As Darius moved his fingers to take Stratos's Pulse, the Markings on the man's neck blazed a fiery red. The young knight damn near seared his fingers before he felt the sheer heat emanating from the jagged scars. It was only when he retreated his hand that the heat died down and the glow faded. over where the Naga's were tending to Zoliver, only the leader could be spared to see what was wrong. the Other snake men had their hands completely full with unconscious knight. "He'sss been put into ssssome type of cursssed trance..." He said as he knelt beside Darius. he ran his hand along the black markings, burning his hand badly before he even realized what was going on. "And it'sss powerful beyond belief... I don't think theresss anything we can do for him..." As if on cue, a young boy's voice could be heard nearby. "He... he...h-he....needs...an Elixir..." Absalom managed. he was sitting against a wall not far away. A deep sword wound was in his side and shoulder. He was bleeding heavily, blood trailing down his arm and collecting in a small pool on the floor. His face was ghostly white. It was obvious that the boy was on the very brink of death. A fragment of the sword that had cut him down was actually still embedded in one of the wounds, right in his rib cage. The boy entered a violent cough fit, sending flecks of his life stuff to the cobble stones before falling over, threatening to take the secret of how to save Stratos to the grave with him...

"Dear Sweet Mother of God!" the Keeper of the Hermit yelled. He tried to close the rift and get away before the table leg could make impact, only to find Maxwell standing on the path behind him. "Move!" he ordered. The Lawyer instead began to move forward. "I don't think so..." The older man began to step back as the Lawyer drew closer. The Fiend's eyes flared a bright sulfuric yellow. "I think I'm gonna help Ethic out on this one..." he said. "So...bye-bye, Monty!" Monty attempted to run away back down the shinning path, only to realize that he was headed right back towards the rift. It was a mistake that would prove to be his last. Maxwell rushed forward while the elderly fool still had his back turned, tackling him and sending them both through the rift. A moment later the Table leg made impact, shattering the stones with it's force and leaving a sizable crater in the floor along with making a very loud BOOM! Ethic looked up at the Turtle Shelled Titan, grinning as the dust cleared. "I'm sure that your master will love the souffle you just made," he jested. "I have to say... that's quite the creative way of making one." over near the far edge of the crater, Maxwell could be seen crawling away from the incident. He stood up when he reached the lip, tearing open a rift and disappearing without being noticed by Ethic. Meanwhile the young man began to move on from the scene, turning his back on the giant. he focused himself on the presences nearby again... and then turned right around... There was something wrong here... he could still sense this keeper in his mind. He wasn't dead. Ethic turned his gaze back up to the titan. "Actually, my friend... it seems that this dish isn't quite ready... maybe you should smash him again, just to be safe; you wouldn't want to make Chef sick, would you?"

The Naga Warrior beckoned his Brethren forward. They made their way over to the wreckage, helping in the effort to clear it out of the way... and already, they were having much more progress than the Quartet was. Stratos drew Adurmedes' spear from the ground and set out to help them, only for the Drake Lance to suddenly spark to life again. The Dragon's ancient voice echoed through his mind. "We are not done here... something else is coming... something far worse." Stratos turned his head, looking around him and trying to find what Adurmedes was talking about. His sight finally fell upon the crater he'd left in the earth... It was empty. He suddenly had a very bad feeling... "In front of us..." Adurmedes said. Stratos turned his head again, leaping backwards in shock as he saw what his new Soul-bound was talking about. Standing before him was the massive silhouette of a person. It stood at least ten feet in height, towering over him and peering down with an eyeless face made of writhing nothingness. He could whispering voices as it neared. All of them were silenced when the thing began speaking. "You can not stand against us... boy." a pair of male and female voices said. "Nor can your little allies in the north, or those who ride with you even now..." Stratos tried to lift his Spear to the ready. A Strange feeling of paranoia had fallen over him. He couldn't shake off the feeling that he was about to be attacked. He found that his arms weren't responding to him, and neither were his legs. His limbs had a strange tingling sensation, as if they'd fallen asleep... He was frozen in place by whatever this thing was. The Silhouette leaned down close to his face and continued. "We are older than time itself... older than even God himself. Resistance is futile. we shall triumph over you all no matter what you may try to do. And then we shall return all things back to zero... just as they are meant to be." Stratos struggled against the invisible bonds the fiend had on him, fighting back with all his strength. But it wasn't enough... it was no where near enough. "Ah...see?" the creature asked, caressing his face with a shadowy palm. the warrior recoiled in disgust. The thing continued it's unwanted contact. "This is not even a fraction of what we are capable of... If we so desired, we could easily crush you like a mere gnat, along with all those you care for." "Everyone I've ever trully cared for is dead..." The Sky Slayer retorted. He kept trying in vain to get away from this thing. "Ah...not true..." it replied. "Not true at all, Stratos... there is still one, is there not? yes... her. The Witch of the Seal... she despises what you have become, you know. Despises the things that you have done... how ironic you still feel some affecti-" "Technically, I only did those things she despises me for in name," The young Warrior interrupted. "Not in person... but it hardly matters seeing as how the memories are all mine now... I might as well have actually done it all myself at this point." The being moved it's hand down to his throat. it's fingers extended into long claws and it began to wrap them around his neck, trying to chock him... "If you do not stop this foolishness..." it snarled. "We will find that little bitch...and we will tear her apart and force you to watch...and then you'll be able to join her as well." "You do that..." He attempted to snarl. "And I will bring down the whole fucking sky on your head... and all the stars along with it..." Thing only laughed at that. It continued to squeeze down on his trachea. He could feel himself beginning to involuntarily gasp for air. it pressed down harder. and then even harder after that. He could feel his consciousness beginning to slip, his life beginning to fade as the thing's grip grew more intense. he tried to break free again, and had even less success than last time. Finally Adurmedes voice rang through his mind. "We... must...f-focus..." he said. his voice was labored, as if he was under the same force Stratos was. "Together.... don't give up on me, Stratos... fight this... FIGHT IT...." Stratos tried to do just that... but it was too little, too late. His eyes slid shut as he stopped gasping for air and lost consciousness. The fiend loosed it's grip on him and allowed him to fall to the stones. It stood back upright, towering over the fallen Champion. Black claw marks were permanently burned into the flesh of his throat, jagged and tatoo-like. The beast spread a pair of pitch black raven wings from it's back, flapping them and preparing to take off. "And remember..." It said as it began to gain altitude. "We are the perfect balance... we are as all things should be. And we can not be stopped... will not be stopped. All things will be returned to their natural state of being. Not even God shall escape." With that said, they took off into the air, passing over the group as they dug for Zoliver in the rubble. The four warriors couldn't help but look up as it's massive shadow darkened the area around them all. What they saw was a massive black shape flying high above, seeming to disappear into the shadows of the ceiling of the cavern. While they all watched, the Naga Warriors uncovered Zoliver and worked together to pull him free of the wreckage, managing to dislodge the rubble that pinned him and get him free. it wasn't long before they all took a limb and carried him away from the scene, setting the unconscious young man on the ground nearby. If any of the Trio looked over at Stratos, they'd see him on the ground, so still that one could easily mistake him to be dead...

Maximus soon reached a deep enough level to top digging. the Grave was done. All that was needed now was to bury the urn... and say a few words for the departed... or at least for those believed to be departed. And even besides, he couldn't go any further if he wanted to. The shovel hit something made of solid steel with a loud CLANK! and broke on impact, leaving the head snapped off from the handle and shaft. *** Black Jack stood there on the edge of the wood line, peering out at the group of travelers as one dug a ditch and the others seemed to listen to a bard play hymns. his shimmering pitch black mane and silver eyes analyzed each of them in turn, sizing up the humans. He'd been standing there observing for a quite a while now... "They the ones?" his older brother White Hoove asked as he trotted up beside him. He was aptly named, White Hoove. For though he was a Night Mare, his hooves and fore legs were brighter than a fresh snow drift. "Indeed they are..." Black Jack answered. "The boy there," he pointed his front hoove at a young man of about Seventeen. he bore a funeral urn under his arm. on his face sat a pair of wire rimmed spectacles. "Him?" White Hoove asked skeptically. "He took out all of them?" Black jack lowered his Hoove and turned to glanced at his brother. "By himself in fact. The other's all just stood back and watched as he set the evil bastards to the torch." "Then it is him we have to thank this night... I have just finished the head count... and it is not good even in the least." Black Jack turned his full attention to this comment, very concerned. "How... how bad...?" "We've lost at least seven..." White Hoove sighed "And four more are now missing. That's cut our numbers down by quite a bit... I fear for the future at this rate..." Black trotted forward, glaring at the travelers from his and his brother's hiding spot. White hoove trotted up next to him. "Are you thinking what I am, brother?" he asked the white footed stead. "No," White Hoove shook his head. "But then again, I'm fairly certain that no one can ever be thinking what you are..." Black Jack trotted forward and walked out of the hiding spot. White Hoove had no idea what the hell his sibling was up too, but he trusted that the young steed wouldn't do anything that could make the situation any worse than what it was... but one could never be too safe. He backed into the shadows of the tree line a little more, keeping a close eye on things as his brother approached the humans. **** Black Jack intentionally stepped on a sizable twig as he made his way towards the group. Trying to be stealthy would have no use right now. He needed to draw attention. It seemed that the sharp CRACK! of the branch wasn't enough to turn any heads though. He'd have to try a more direct method... and he was dreading the one sided conversation he would inevitably have to start in order to do so. "Hey, you there," he said as he trotted up behind Trystane. He knew that the young man would have no idea as to what he was saying. he got a little closer. "God... I do loathe how you human's seem to be so dull... all your cities and buildings and architecture, and yet you can't understand the words coming out of my mouth plain as day. It's a bit ironic, if one thinks about it..." All that Trystane heard was a horse's whinny coming from behind him... very close behind him... as if it were breathing down his neck, which, it was.

You know... I knew that something was missing here... And I just figured it out. We need a "World" section in the OP. An entire post that gives details about the current nations of the world and all the recent events (Since the story's opening.) and stats about the environment and population densities and *Goes on Rambling*... well, time to go butcher a political world map to my liking...

1. Are you interested in this? Hell yes, man! this sounds just so... wow. I gotta say, I'm impressed. 2. Do you have a better name for the Antagonist team? xD I'd shorten it to something cryptic, like "Novus" or something like that, and drop the "Team" part of the name. like dobby already said, This would open up a lot more opportunity for the development of it as an actual organization instead of just the stereotypical team of terrorists that Pokemon has kinda made a tradition by now. 3. What type would you like to see for an E4 member? (I gave the options I was thinking about but feel free to add your own) How about a Grass type? or a Flying type or electric type... or even... a fairy type? I honestly think that Grass, flying, and Electric tends to get glossed over pretty damn hard during the late game stages in most Pokemon games... so, why not? 4. Would you prefer the option to play as a member of Team Apocalypse? If there’s interest in this I need some extra time to come up with a storyline for them. (and I can use a co-host with this) Hmm... interesting Offer... I don't really know. but whatever you decide to do, just make sure you don't kill yourself with the work load. 5. If question 4 is used, should I use a separate thread for students and antagonists? Yes, this would probably be a good idea to keep it from getting tangled and jumbled together. 6. Any questions / remarks? Damn man... I'm impressed... just... wow. That's all I have to say about this....just... wow.

As Darius approached the flaming spear, he became engulfed in a silver light. His wounds healed completely, his fatigue melting away. it was as if he had never been stabbed at all. Stratos looked around the area. "Actually..." he said. "Now that you mention it... where did the surviving warriors go? It's almost as if they disappeared into thin air the moment the battle began..." just then there was a hissing sound from behind the two. Stratos turned to spot just the individuals he was inquiring about; The two naga warriors who had been accompanying Marcelos earlier. they both held their Shields up high, weapons at the ready... and there was about five others behind them, all in the same stances. "Youuuuuuu...." one of them snarled... which sounded rather strange with their reptilian tongues. "You have slain Marcelosssss... you have taken away our only chance to live. Are you happy now, Human? I hope that you are, becaussssse either way, you make your peace now! If we are to all die, then we will take you with ussss!" The Naga clanked his sword against his shield and gave a fierce war cry, his brethren followed suit. The Warrior then charged at Stratos, leveling his blade and preparing to run him through... and Stratos not only let him, but he also spread his arms and exposed his chest, making an even bigger target for him to hit. The Warrior was confused for a moment, but didn't stop to think about it in depth, continuing his wild charge. He and the God Slayer were soon face to face, and he Raised his blade, preparing to bring it down on the man's jugular... but he paused. He paused... because Stratos had his hand around the warrior's wrist. it was a light hold, not even powerful enough to be called a grip, and yet it was still enough to make the warrior pause in his rampage. he looked into the Sky Slayer's eyes, which returning to their human, iris shape, transforming back into the deep shade of green they were before. They weren't full of anger or the heat of battle, as the Naga thought they surely would be... there was something else there, something that the Naga's hadn't seen in eons... "We don't have to fight one another anymore." Stratos said simply. and there it was... the thing they hadn't seen since the days on the surface... this stranger's eyes said it all, said that one simple sentence... that one sentence that had the force of a waterfall upon the Naga's weary ears. We don't have to fight anymore, No one else has to die. They all mummered and hissed amongst themselves as they heard his words. The Warrior who had his sword prepared to kill him lowered his weapon to his side. "We don't... have to fight anymore..." the Naga repeated. "Thesssse wordssss... God, how we've wanted to just hear those wordssss for so many yearssss... But I'm afraid... that it isssn't true... not anymore." the murmuring all stopped. Each of his fellow tribe warrior looked at him in surprise, unable to process what he'd just said. "We have no choice but to fight now..." he said, looking at them all and explaining. "That man... Marcelossss, he made usss a promissse... if we help him, we can live asss we once did... he sssaid that we would never have to kill anyone or go to war again. He sssaid that he would give usss peace... But we ssshall have no peace now... becaussse thisss man shattered every possibility for i-" "What did Marcelos say he would do to give you this 'peace'?" Stratos interrupted. the warrior turned to him irritatidly. "he never sssaid anything about how..." he answered. "But..." "How many years have you all been down here in this city?" The Sky Soldier asked next. "Four hundred..." the warrior said. "He sssaid that we were to help him by guarding what lies in the top levels of this place... or rather, guarding yo-" "Yes, I already know that it was me you were guarding..." he again interrupted. "and over these years, has he ever once showed any sign that he would repay you? that he would keep his promise?" "well..." "Did he? anything at all... he could've helped you all survive, made you better adapted to this place, given you food... anything." "He...he never did anything for usss." the Naga soldier admitted. "He sssimply appeared every once in a while, isssue usss ordersss... and then disappear again... we never saw him except for when he wasss not pleasssed with our performance..." the light of realization dawned on his face. "We've been...usssed." he said. "All this time... our people has been usssed by him." "Good," Stratos said. "Then you at least realize that he has been using you like a tool. And he did the same to me even before that. But he's dead now, he's gone. I have no more reason to fight under his orders and carry out his will... just as you do not either. His lies can only live on now if you chose to continue believing in them." he stuck out his hand. a gesture of peace. there was a pause of several seconds. then the clanking of metal on stone could be heard. The warrior had dropped his sword to the earth, as had the others, along with their shields and spears. Stratos's gesture of peace was accepted. the Naga shook his hand. "you are right... Sssky Ssslayer." he said. "No blood needsss to be spilled between usss... becaussse we follow GOD no more... we follow you now." Off in the distance, a loud crash could be heard as a building collapsed in on itself from the structural damage it had sustained. It was the one that Zoliver was inside of... *** As Zoliver sat at the forge, he felt a rumbling through his feet. the house was groaning. But he dismissed these things as nothing and focused on the task at hand. what he didn't know, was that up stairs, where he'd been thrown into the building's wall, the central support beam had been broken by his landing. and now the roof and floor, which had both been anchored to the wooden pole, were starting to give way under the weight of the structure. The groaning continued... and then it got louder. this had finally been enough to catch the young man's attention, but it was far too late. The ceiling came down on top of him, a piece of rubble striking him in the back of the skull and knocking him out. He fell to the floor, pinned under the debris as the rest of the place came down on top of him. The house leaned a little bit, then caved in completely, collapsing atop itself and drawing the attention of everyone outside. Zoliver was in great danger... the majority of the house had been made of wood. and the fire he had used for the Forge was still burning under the rubble... except now there was no one to tend to it and keep it under control. ((OCC: and just to clarify, no, it is not the entire tribe of surviving Nagas that are standing before you all. it's just seven warriors who happened to survive the fight just now.))

Zoliver had just made a very big mistake... he had forgotten what happens to cold metal when huge amounts of heat are suddenly applied to it... though, in his defense, he couldn't have possibly known that when he had used the sword to try to hit Marcelos earlier, the temperature of the steel had dropped to freezing point from making contact with the shadowy beast. And so it was that the moment the silver and gold combined to make Electrum and then were poured onto the blade, the thing cracked all along it's length. That said, however, his armor had been at a far warmer temperature from his body's heat and had fared just fine from the reinforcement... though it was still far too hot to consider putting back on.... *** Meanwhile, outside of the ancient dwelling where Zoliver tinkered with his gear, the battle was still raging on. The Shade had been sent reeling in agony from Gideon's savage assault, and was now noticeably trying to back away from the warriors... heading towards it's other half, which was faring far worse against Stratos. The Sky Slayer noticed that the beast he was fighting had begun to retreat, and didn't allow any such thing. He reached out and grabbed the Shadow being, pulling it back. The things body was battered and beaten. It bled Black blood from countless wounds, most of which were slashes and stabs centered around it's abdomen and face. In short, the Demon looked like complete hell, yet Stratos didn't have anything worse than a few scraps...along with a busted lip and small gash on his fore head. his eyes still held that strange, Draconic feature that resembled a lizards, and they still blazed a subtle orange. "You're going no where..." he snarled as he held his hand up under the thing's chin, choking it. "And to answer your earlier question, I think I've proved that I can indeed back up my words even when others are at stake." the fiend began gasping for breath, clawing at Stratos's Guantleted hand and trying the break free. It was time to end this little dance of death they'd both been engaged in.. He could tell that the quartet would probably get killed at this rate if he let it drag on any longer. He reached behind his back with his free hand and retrieved Adurmedes, feeling the connection in his mind growing even stronger. The spear crackled with a familiar monochrome lightning... and then it did something that no one alive had ever seen it do. The power coursing along the weapon focused itself towards the head of the spear, forming black, diamond shaped rays of power ringed with white. They began to rotate around the Drake lance, faster and faster, until they became a mere blur in the air. He tightened his grip on the thing's throat in his other hand, and tossed it up high into air, the thing wasn't that heavy... in fact, during the battle, Stratos had found that this beast seemed to lack weight at all. Marcelos hit the appex of his ascent, then began to tumble back down to the street below. Stratos crouched down low and launched himself up above his foe, spinning his weapon skilfully before bringing it to bear against the Demon. he plummeted towards Marcelos, far faster than he should've been falling, and drove the Drakelance downward with as much force as he could muster, unleashing the full brunt of his final attack as the weapon became engulfed a silvery black fire, leaving a blazing trail in the air and driving them both to the earth and causing a massive crater as the hit impact, breaking up the stones of the street and sending out a black and white series of Shock waves that threatened to blow the quartet of Warriors away as they watched. Smoke and dust hung heavy on the air, obstructing everything... "It's over..." a voice spoke as the smoke cleared. The group could see stratos standing in the crater, kneeling to the ground and examining what was left of his target. Adurmedes still crackled with the strange fire from moments before. The man's wounds were beginning to heal as it coursed up his arm and throughout his armored body. Over where the group was, the Shadow beast that had been getting their asses handed to them by fell limb and faded away into nothing, apparently having been dependent on the continued existence of it's maker. all was silent... the fight was over. Stratos stood and looked the warriors over, taking in the damage they had each taken and prioritizing who would be the first to be healed. Darius was by far the very worse, bleeding from two wounds in his Abdomen... in fact, he seemed to be the only one who was seriously injured at all. "Darius..." he called. "Come here, lay your hands on the fire... it'll help with the wounds." he sunk Adurmedes into the ground as he spoke, allowing the weapon to stand upright on it's own like a sign post. it was obvious that he was referring to the silver and black flames still engulfing the spear.

Whoops... sorry, kinda forgot to include you after you posted...

The beast reeled in Agony, backing away from Zoliver and merging into the shadows as black blood began to spew from it's head... all was silent. that is, until a loud screech sounded and Zoliver found himself being picked up and thrown through the air like a rocket and slammed into the face of a building, going clear through the wall and collapsing into the ancient living space beyond. he could taste blood in his mouth. he had bitten his tongue during the impact. His helmet was badly dented... but he was lucky seeing as how it only got that way because it took the brunt of the force, along with his now battered and abused armor. if he hadn't been wearing the gear, he would've gone splat. The Creature turned it's sights on Gideon now that the obnoxious knight was temporarily out of the picture. it extended it's black claws, charging at him and tearing up lose stones from the road as it did... but the turk had recovered from the daze now. it closed in and opened it's gaping maw, exposing hundreds of serrated teeth as it tried to take a bite out of crime out of Gideon's jugular.... though the Dirosi man was saved by another burst of black lightning from Stratos, sending the creature flying to the side and roaring in agony... and even more, the Creature's attention was now on him instead of Gideon.

The sword passed through the being as if it were made of butter... but it didn't seem to do any harm. The thing kept coming at Zoliver, hacking and slashing as it drew closer to his face... only to be blown away by a blast of Monochromatic lightning from Stratos. The warrior stood nearby, his palm steaming from the attack he had just unleashed. "Steel won't hurt the fuckers." he said. "You'll need either muinnat... either that, or gold." he nodded his head towards the cobble stones in a implicative matter. if the group looked, they would notice that Star Ripper was strapped to his back now, and a golden brick torn from the road was gleaming in his hand... which was stained in black blood. The Marcelos he was fighting came around again and took a slash at him, he broke of his attention on the group and went back to his own fight, bashing the brick into the side of the boy's head before tossing it to Zoliver and retrieving Star Ripper, black and white electricity coursing up it's length as he thrust and stabbed and slashed at the beast he was facing, dealing more damage with each blow...

((And... you double posted. >.<)) Marcelos shifted his focus to Gideon as the turk came at him, slashing and cutting... but even he was not fast enough. the Marcelos fighting the quartet grabbed hold of both of the young man's weapons and delivered a fierce headbutt, sending the Dirosi man sprawling backwards in a daze. The beast then turned his attention on back on Darius, tearing the dual blades out of his chest and throwing them hurling them both at Zoliver fast as Lightning, breaking through the young man's shield and ruining it. the thing then charged at him, losing all human shape now and merging into a wisp of shadows with a sheet of gleaming scarlet eyes. it outstretched it's black claws and was upon him in a minute... meanwhile Darius was beginning to bleed heavily from his injuries and Gideon was still seeing Stars across his vision... ((Hukuna, oh hukuna, where art thou? thine ninja turtles needest thee!))

Typlhlosion, Erick isn't down there in the pit with Logan. he's up at the top and shining a flash light on him.

Surge looked at Lars and Lionel, face palming as he grumbled. why is it that today was the day where shit kept having to happen? "Look... show me where they all went..." he snarled. It was obvious from the tone of his voice that he was gonna want to have a very long talk with them all. "And you better pray to God that none of them are drunk..." *** Erick ran up to the lip of the crater, making sure not to fall this time. he could hear a familiar voice coming up from the bottom. "Hey, Logan!" he called. "That you, man?" he looked around, wishing that he had some god damn flash lights or something... oh. wait... that's right. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the light there, flicking the beam to life and casting it down into the hole, stopping his sweep of the bottom when he finally found Logan. **** "Are you fukcing kidding me!?" The male technician said. "Twice in a one freaking day!?" as he spoke, a muzzle flash could be seen from somewhere on the Tarmac, and the male technician fell to the ground as a stream of automatic fire tore across his chest and hit him squarely in the heart. "Sir!" the burly female technician knelt by him, checking for a pulse... she looked up at the offer Aircraft Mechanics who had come out to investigate. "Raise the alarms, and find the General" she ordered. "Fort Bexley is still under attack. There's a casualty already." they rushed off to fulfill her orders. Another muzzle burst fired off from the Tarmac as they did so, but luckily they all took cover and proceeded in stealth towards their objective. Though she hadn't been. "Get some damn cover, Privates!" she roared as she clutched her bleeding shoulder and followed her own advice. she reached down to her belt and pulled off a capsule, sending out a large mammalian creature with a child GAO in it's front pouch. The Creature roared protectively as it fired a beam of fiery orange energy from it's mouth, using it to sweep the area where the muzzle flash came from...

Marcelos released his grip on the dual blades, leaving in Darius's abdomen and leaping back, dodging Zoliver's attack with ease and snarling like a rabid wolf. He turned his sights on Stratos, who was storming towards him with fiery orange eye that looked like they belonged to a wyrm... because they did. "You die here!" he literally roared in fury... the very roof of the cavern shook from his voice. He jabbed forward with his lance, catching GOD in the chest, snapping the boy's ribs before quickly retrieving his weapon and swinging the head of his drake lance in a harrowing ark across Marcelos' face, severing the boy's nose and sending golden blood flying upon the stones. the wretch fell to the ground from the force of the attack, and Stratos brought down his lance upon his skull, crushing it like a tomato... then he stepped back, cleaning his lance on the other man's cloak... and then Marcelos got up again as if nothing had happened. His pitch black eyes held no emotion there as his skull reformed and the blood that had been spilled made it's way back into his body. He stared emptily at Stratos, all the arrogance and psychosis from before was gone. "A nice try..." he said in a completely different voice. "But you just signed your own death warrant, Stratos..." with that said, he reached up and sent a blast of energy through the other man, sending him flying against a nearby wall. the sky slayer shook the shock of the attack off, angered even more than before. his draconic eyes blazed with orange heat as he shot off towards Marcelos, bringing around his lance and cutting a large swath of flesh off of his rib cage as he passed by, spilling countless amounts of the GOD's blood. The ground was covered in liquid gold. he came back around, gripping the man's hair and slamming his head into the earth before pulling back and tossing him like a rag doll across the far wall. "GET UP!" he roared as he stalked towards him. his voice was combined with that of another... someone who sounded ancient and powerful... someone...who sounded like a wyrm. "GET UP SO THAT I CAN PUT YOU BACK DOWN!" Marcelos simply chuckled in that same, eerie voice. "Ah..." he sighed. "I see you and your new soulbound fight well together... but you can not stop me..." he clapped his palms together, a shockwave of violet energy issuing out as he did so. behind him an exact look alike of himself came into existence. the two faced Stratos and the Group, speaking simultaneously. "You can handle one..." they sneered. "But how will you fare... AGAINST TWO!?" One of them sprang towards Stratos, the other went for Zoliver, his hands transforming into a set of evil-looking claws as he went in and cut the young man's blade in two before slashing for his chest, intending to kill him and move on to finish Darius...

The vision shattered around Darius. He found himself standing back where he had been before the illusion.... Stratos was still on the ground, clutching his skull and screaming. Boho was fighting a few Nagas as they tried to hold him back from helping the Sky Slayer, but it was a battle that they were losing since Boho was cutting the bastards down as they got in his way. He broke through and knelt beside stratos, reaching out his hand to try and break him free of the storm... only for his entire body to be broken into shards of light as he made contact... and then they blew off in a wind. The only remnant of Boho was his Glasses and white cloak, along with the blade he had borrowed from Stratos. "Oooooh...shouldn't have done that, Boho..." The cruel little son of a bitch sneered from his perch on the roof. "That's for Stratos only... touching it is rather...detrimental to your health." Then he turned his sights on Darius. "And you've got some stones, Darius..." he said. "Able to resist such a vision... but will Stratos be able to? he doesn't seem like it... who knew a champion would be so damn weak of heart..." "You shut your damn mouth!" A voice called up as an arrow flew through the air, narrowly missing Marcelos. Abaslom notched another arrow, only to be cut down by a Naga Warrior before he could lift his weapon again. His father cried in agony. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" and then he two felt the sting of a Naga's blade....and the father son team of explorers lay bleeding on the stones. Stratos saw all of this... how first Boho had tried to help him... only to be destroyed... and then how the young boy who'd saved him earlier was Struck down in cold blood along with his father... And he could do nothing to stop either events... he was powerless, a bitch to the memories forcing their way into his mind, inserting themselves as if they belonged to him... he saw countless things spanning hundreds of years...far longer than was possible for any person. he saw it as if he were watching someone else. he saw aweful, horrible acts being commited by his hands... he saw himself through the eyes of an observer, saw the Sky Slayer... and he knew that what he was looking at was a complete monster. He couldn't conceive of possibly doing any of these things... why would he... how could he...it made no sense... but yet sure enough, the man Stratos saw in all these memories had his face... his spear... and was riding his soulbound Drake... and then Stratos saw the Sky Slaying unfold before his very eyes... and then the memories were done... and he found himself back where he was... still stuck inside the prison. his voice was hoarse... and he realized he had been screaming the whole time. he forced his hands away from his head. "You..." he snarled at Marcelos..."You claim...claim to be God... but yet the things you do speak of the exact opposite... I just saw you kill a man and his young son in cold blood... and you murdered Boho!" His eyes held a deep set contempt. "I know what happened now... that man I slew, he was indeed my doppelganger... my replacement... you made the perfect copy... and then deceived and corrupted it to your bidding... the things you ordered him to do in your name... the people who fell by his hands... by MY hands. You are no god...no diety could prove as horrible as you... and if you are, then I'll just have to exchange the alias of Sky Slayer... for GOD SLAYER!" he tried to stand, ready to tear this whore son to shreds... finding himself met with crushing force the likes of which he'd never seen. he was forced back to his knees in an instant. Marcelos simply laughed. "You think you can stop me?" the little sociopath asked delightedly. "That'll be a show for sure... en garde!" he whipped out a rapier from beneath his cloak and leaped down to the stones, stalking towards Stratos as the man still struggled to break free of the light prison. he whipped the blade around in an arc, cutting clean through the thing and striking the High Champion on the breast plate, sending him to his back. the prison fell apart around him. the warrior found that he could not move... his body refused to listen. Marcelos continued his advance, raising the rapier high and preparing to strike a fatal blow. "well... I was wrong..." he sneered. "This was not entertaining in the least bit... how disappointing." he brought down the sword... only for a storm of monochromatic lightning to erupt from Stratos's spear, forcing the boy backwards and sliding across the stones. Stratos heard a voice in his mind... "Enough..." it said it was an ancient, sagely."Enough... I STAY SILENT NO LONGER!" The spear began to crackled fiercely with monochromatic lightning as a Stratos found his vision fading away into that of a large cavern adorned with diamonds and crystal. standing in the middle of the sparkling cave was a Dragon... one with gleaming black and white scales, a master of both light and darkness. the wrym had a beard hanging from his throat and chin. his eyes were old and weary, yet filled with the fires of war. He glared at Stratos with fury. "Stratos Adrius Valgiri!" he roared in the warriors mind. "Soul bind to me! NOW!" "Who are you!?" he responded. " and I can have no other soul bound...Thead and I" "Thead's contract with you is over! By order of myself, Adurmedes!" the wrym roared. and Stratos knew that what he said was true... he now longer felt Thead's constant presence in his mind. "He is your friend and ally no longer!" the dragon continued. "You and those beside you can not hope to defeating a force such as Marcelos commands on your own! if you wish to live, then forge a contract with me NOW!" Stratos said nothing else... he didn't know why, but he trusted what this wyrm said. He held out his palm, and a tether of white light emerged from his chest and connected to a glowing circular glyph hovering in the air. A tether emerged from the Dragon's chest and connected on the other side. The conditions of the contract they were both making flared across their vision, and without hesitation, both man and wyrm shouted. "I ACCEPT!" and just like that, the contract was made. and the vision faded. and Stratos found himself still on the ground... except that now, Star-Ripper was in his hand... well, no. no. this spear was not named star ripper. it's true name... was Adurmedes. He got to his feet, Glaring at the boy... glaring at God himself. "I will tear you limb from limb for the things you have wrought and have made me wrought in this world!" He roared with the fury of a Dragon. "Terror, Despair, Suffering, Chaos, Death, Agony... all these things were you're wills, were they not, your DAMN ORDERS! You are the Monster at the gate! Not your damn brother, but YOU! You have caused far more horrors than he ever has!" he could feel Adurmedes' presence in his mind, just as he could once feel Thead's. the two of them were already beginning to synchronize much better than he and Thead ever had. His spear crackled with wrath. "And I will give you a fate worse than even death for what happened to Boho and Absalom and his father!" Marcelos only smirked arrogantly. "Big words..." he said. "But can you back them up... when the lives of your allies are at stake?" with that said he then rushed hard to the right and came straight at Darius and Gideon, splitting his blade into two and slashing at both of them in a fiery arc before Stratos could launch an attack... he was aiming for Gideon's throat, and for Darius's solar plexis... and his eye's were pure black.

it's pretty damn big... like a third of the entire Tarmac went down with it. and no, it's too dark for you guys to see Erick, but he'll be able to hear your screams as you accidentally walk off the edge of the hole... because it's like pitch black over there and you can't see it.

((I am soooo damn sorry for what I'm about to do man...)) As the young knight drew his sword, Marcelos gave a wave of his hand in annoyance... and the next thing the young knight knew, his surroundings melted away and he was standing on a darkened street. it was a moonless night, the sky was pitch black. the only light available came from a street lantern done the way. underneath it stood three people, two young men and a young woman. voices could be heard as some sort of struggle ensued. "Let go of me!" the young woman demanded. "Oh come now..." one of the young men said. "We just want to have some fun now... no need to be difficult..." "Aye..." the other one said "We can pay you...so let's get to it." "NO!" she protested. "No... Stop! Get away!" she tried to pull away from them and run... but one of the church soldiers had an iron tight grip on her wrist. They attempted to drag her off into an alley way. she fought back as hard as she could, reaching down near her ankle for something... it was a serrated knife. Darius found his view of the scene shifting As the struggle continued, he was now watching from the end of the alley. He saw as his older sister ripped the serrated dagger from it's sheath and slashed at one of the young men, going for his face. and then as He proceeded to slam her against the wall. "Bitch!" he yelled, clutching at the long cut she had left across the bridge of his nose. "I'll make you pay for that!" "Oh god...oh god..." one began to panic. "Tim... look!" "What!?" Tim shouted in a fury. then he saw what his friend was panicking about. "Oh god...what did we...What have we done!?" a blossom of crimson was spreading across the young woman's blouse as the two men back away. Darius's perspective shifted again... this time he was standing right behind the two... and they passed right through him as they continued backing up in horror of what they had done. and Darius could see what had them so panicked... his sister's own knife was embedded in her ribs. Vocies could be heard not far from where they were. "Oy," one said. "I do believe I 'eard that screaming from down 'ere!" "There, I see someone in that Alley!" another shouted. "Stop there, you rapists!" another yelled angrily. "I shall gut you like a damn pig!" Tim looked at his friend, his eyes were alight with fear. "W-we have to run!" he said. "Now! Go!" with that the two dashed off as fast as they could, heading for the end of the back alley and jumping the small brick wall there. Darius was left standing there alone now... alone except for his Sister who lay dying on the ground. She looked up into Darius's eyes. There was fear there, fear and sorrow and pain... the pain of death. "W-why, Darius..." she asked, struggling just to breath...it was obvious she had a punctured lung. "Where were you? why didn't you help me? why...?"