Roleplay:We're all Mad Here!

This Roleplay is Closed! Sorry!

Overview
The morning after Sedna's death, the Mythic Knights are still in mourning when they are pushed to continue their quest and hunt down the Queen. With the help of Ann Denerim, they find the Queen's location, only for everything to go south as a new villain shows his mask, and the Mythic Knights learn that it wasn't Madness that was thrown into the world yet, but something far more sinister; Stigmata.

Meanwhile, Saren, now armed and ready to fight the Decider, faces the man that is slowly stealing his life from him, in a battle far stronger than any he has faced yet. With nothing but Fey's Scythe and the Gifts from Diety at his side, everything is about to change, the Shard of Deceit is here.

Participants
NeoExlucky

Characters
Zero Evol (Neo)

Knave Veron (Neo)

Echo Radon (Neo)

Leah Dubio (Neo)

Trinity Moon (Neo)

Delta Radon (Neo)

Ann Denerim (Neo)

The Queen (Neo)

The Deciever (Neo)

The Rook (Neo)

Saren (who else but Saren)

Natalie Alister (MHS)

Monica DeLouise (MHS)

Ciel Mackenzie Fay (MHS)

Nemi Harper Fay (MHS)

Masako Haruno (MHS -- Odd that I'm listing her last.)

Zapor the Hedgehog (Z888)

Lexi the Hedgehog (Z888)

Part 1: Vengence
Zero and Leah sat at the table, the morning after Sedna's death. Trinity slammed the table, one her of daggers sticking into the wood, some new form of resolve had taken shape inside her. "We need to hunt her down!" Trinity told Zero.

"Gods, give us some time to mourn Trinity, it hasn't even been twenty-four hours..." Zero told her.

"While we're here 'mourning' and feeling sorry for ourselves, the Queen is out there getting stronger!" Trinity argued.

"She's right." Knave told them, walking into the room. "We can't hope that the Masked guards are going to stay hidden forever. Eventually she'll want blood for what happened to her, we need to strike before they do."

"About that..." Natalie emerges from the shadows in the corner of the room. "Masako's already gotten a head start since yesterday. Comms are dead, so I can only hope she's out there clearing a path for us."

"We don't know that for sure, Natalie," Ciel states as she hovered into the room. "We spoke with the Fallen Knight. Most of what she said implied that Masako might do something in her time alone that will endanger us all." She nervously glances around the room. "I know it's not really my call whether or not we can trust the Fallen Knight, but Masako's all by herself right now. Who knows what sort of things she's done, or what sort of people she's talked to?"

"So Masako's gone to look for the Queen? I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Lexi said.

"Speaking of people being gone, has anyone seen Kala?" Leah asked.

"She probably went out, she'll be back..." Zero told her.

"Luckily, we have a contact in the city who owes us one, that might be able to tell us where Conquest is." Knave suggested. "I'm sure Ann has some sort of information that we can use."

As if answering their call, there came a knocking on the front door.

"I'll...get it?" Echo suggested, unsure of how to react to that.

Ann stood in the door, her hands around her back. "We need help." She said immedietely and walked right into the room. "We are dealing with a pretty big problem in the city right now."

"Such as?" Knave asked.

"Currently, we're dealing with something really big that you guys need to see." Ann told them and fumbled with some photographs that had been taken just recently. There were pictuers of mobians and humans with holes in the hands and feet, as well as burns being discovered on their wrists and constant bleeding on the crown of the head.

"What is this?" Knave asked.

"We don't know, it just showed up over night, like some kind of disease." Ann explained. "We've been calling it Stigmata."

"Stigmata?" Echo asked.

"It comes from an old king here, who had banned death by crucifixion. A long time ago, whenever someone was sentenced to death, the most common form of killing them was with crucifixion." Ann told them. "People would have their hands and feet nailed to boards, and ropes tied around their wrists. A crown of thorns would be placed on their heads and people would be left their to die for seven days, and if they survived those seven days, they would just be stabbed with a spear. It was an inhumane way to be killed and it's always a death sentence. These people are randomly experiencing the symptoms of being crucified without anything actually happening to them. People are beginning to die from it already."

"Ouch. So who's doing it to the people?" Zapor asked.

"Something like this seems far from natural. Someone has to be perpetuating this epidemic," Monica said. "Things like this don't just magically crop up overnight. There's gotta be a person at the source, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're connected to Conquest."

"And we're gonna put a knife through his throat, right?" Natalie scoffed.

"This doesn't seem like just any disease to me..." Leah said. "It's being controlled...like some kind of kinesis."

"That's the problem we're having." Ann told them. "There shouldn't be any member of Conquest able to do this."

"She's right." Knave said. "Otogi Citizens don't have kinesis like you guys do, none of Conquest can do anything like this."

"Destruction, maybe?" Echo suggested.

"Destruction would give Madness." Zero said. "Stigmata is something far different than that."

"Like what? Fear?" Zapor asked.

"Pain." Ann noted. "People who are afflicted with it mention feeling a lot of pain."

"I don't think your far off though." Zero told Zapor. "Pain leads to fear and it's fear that will help Destruction rise. If Destruction himself isn't doing it, my bet is that it is someone trying to help him."

"So this guy is a Destruction supporter. Maybe their apart of the third army?" Lexi suggested.

"We might be dealing with something bigger than Conquest. Destruction gives cause to all sorts of fanatics, not just the ones that we can put a name to," Ciel said.

"But if there is someone outside of Conquest doing it, perhaps one of the higher members knows who it is." Zero said. "Like the Queen."

"The power of the Dragon's might be able to do this." Knave suggested. "They are the only ones with kinesis in Otogi and their omnikinetic. Remember, Sedna suggested the possibility that the rebellion is working with Conquest.

"The rebellion?" Ann asked. "We have information that suggests the blue dragons are working with Conquest."

"Here's an idea." Zero said. "Conquest is only after one thing; Destruction's rise. If fear and chaos are what would bring him back, you would start a war. If you stir up fear on both sides, you'd get a lot of that, so what if there wasn't a war to begin with?"

"This entire time, it was Conquest tricking soldiers on both to fight in a war that doesn't even exist." Leah nodded. "That explains how the government knew all of our tricks in Viola City, and why one of the blue dragons was so quick to betray her siblings."

"And how they knew our locations when we fought here." Zero said.

"Ciel is correct, there is the possibility that someone entirely new is involved, we can't rule that out." Delta added. "A meta could easily be able to do this."

"If there's a meta involved, then that complicates things. They're few and far in between, and even if we do manage to find them, you already know what a meta capable of," Ciel said.

"This speculation is getting us nowhere! We need to start looking now," Natalie urged as she paced to the other side of the room. "There's other things that need to be dealt with, and you know damn well what I'm referring to!"

"But where do we even start? That's the issue that hasn't been tackled yet," Monica replied. "We can't go chasing shadows."

"Well," Ann said. "There are some ruins outside of the city but..."

"But?" Zero asked.

Knave looked down. "I know where, I'll take them to it."

"Knave?" Leah asked.

Knave let out a sigh. "I think...maybe we all need some answers. There is a reason I was assigned to be with you guys, I think it's all coming together now. Get ready, because we're going to Camelot."

Paralogue 1: Diety's Coin
The sun had just risen over the horizon. It was almost time for Saren to end this. The gifts were a little strange, those bright orbs seemed to have some form of sentience, they sort of hummed to one another in Saren's head, talking to themselves. It didn't hurt per se, but it was something that the orbs made sure Saren recognized about them.

Diety leaned against the fence, waiting with Saren. "Are you sure you're ready?" Diety asked. "Like I said, this is a battle I cannot see the outcome of, it is sure to be difficult."

"Ready as I'll ever be dude.." Saren shrugged, it was now or never.. He needed to do this, not just because Deceit was stealing his life, but for more personal reasons..

"Okay," Diety said. "There's nothing else anyone can do for you, flip the coin once your ready."

Saren flipped that coin like a motherfecker.

Gold magic whirled around Saren, taking away the familiar surroundings of Eclipse Manor and taking Saren somewhere far away.

Saren found himself in a dense forest. Everything was perfectly silent, no birds or wind, it was dead quiet. The dark sky above left nothing illuminated, leaving it so dark that it was impossible to see. The Aqua Gift appeared out of Saren's chest, giving a soft light to the area around him. The orb let out a simple hum that Saren somehow could understand as "Know this place."

The dense forest showed three pathways, but what was most interesting about this was the large stone gate behind him, black letters had been burned into the stone in some language that Saren could only believe was Draconic. Upon getting closer one would find that they were still warm, as if they were just burned into it. The blue orb was able to understand it and translated it to Saren. "War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. What are we?"

"Hmmm... The four horsemen of the Apocalypse?"

The gate became even more warm in response to Saren's answer and opened up, revealing the dark hall within. The aqua orb let out another hum "Phoenix Temple..." It said. "No...darker..." It seemed to notice that this place was somewhere it should not be, a twisted version of where it may have came from.

"Looks like someone's overcompensating with all the dark themes here.." Saren shrugged, a bored look on his face as he walked through the hall and looked around.

Entering the temple led to hall filled with several different statues of a phoenix all around, The aqua orb illuminated the light over the statues which revealed more text that Saren couldn't read, and an alter at the end of the hall. Behind the alter was a large pitch black room, and standing there was the Deciever.

Saren shrugged, entering the room with a lackadaisical smile on his face; like he didnt really have a care in the world. "So there you are, y'know; you could really use some pointers on how to welcome a guest mate.. The dark and creepy venue just doesn't work for you. Have you tried going for the modern day household look?"

The Deciever let out a sigh as if an annoying coworker had just entered the room. "It's nice to you as well Saren, what do you want?"

"Oh don't be like that, you probably should've seen this coming right..? I mean you are the one currently sapping away at whatever's left of my life right now; and I still have things to do before I eventually kick the bucket for a second time.. See where I'm getting at buddy?" Saren asked, eventually coming to a stop just a few inches away from the Deceiver.

The Deciever shook his head and chuckled. "So here we are again, just me and you, with your special little orbs from that Meta, and the scythe of a failure who couldn't even be smart enough to save herself. Diety thinks that by arming you with the power of 'friends', that you'll somehow be able pull through, but let's be perfectly honest here, you're an honorless, lying coward, who's scared of responsibility and who's too stupid to realize that the power to defeat destruction is the Mythic Knights. You're hopeless, I mean, your so starved for more power that you blindly trusted a voice in your head who gave you a scythe, versus the people who trusted you from the start. I've done a bit of digging on you Saren, and I've found some interesting things. I've learned that you've hurt a lot of people, and there are plenty of them out there who wish you were dead. It seems only fair that those people be the ones to help me kill you."

With that the Deciever summoned a snow white energy to clutter the room and fill it with a strange cold cloud with all seemed to morph and whirl together into a white orb, not unlike the gifts that Diety gave Saren. The Deciever plucked this energy out of the air, and it flew into his chest. The Deciever inhaled very slowly. "So, let me ask, why are you here?"

Saren just chuckled, exhaling and closing his eyes for a bit. "Of course I'm honorless, honor is a fools prize afterall.. Of course I'm a liar; and I accept that.. A coward? Maybe, but I sure as hell wouldn't be here facing you right now if that were completely true now would I..?"

He opened his eyes, that lazy smile still etched on his face. "Hell, you're right about the other things as well; I won't deny it.. But the thing is, you call me all of that, but you probably forgot that it takes an even bigger coward, an even worse liar, an even more honorless pile of trash to know that trash.. Bottom line is; you're an even bigger tool than I am, you just don't know it.."

"As for why I'm here..?" Saren chuckled, opening his eyes and staring at the deceiver with a casual expression etched across his face. "Would you believe me if I told you I'm here on a whim..?" Saren spoke as he twirled Fey's scythe in his hand, finally resting it on his left shoulder.

"You never cease to amaze me Arcturias." The Deciever shook his head.

(Prepare to Just Die - The Deciever's Final Step)

"Let's finish this." The Deciever took his claw and dragged it down his arm, causing a mass of black blood to pool onto the floor, and with that, he quickly appeared behind Saren and aimed to slash down his back.

Saren crouched down to avoid the slash, quickly spinning on his heel he swung Fey's scythe at the Deceivers legs before leaping back, Saren wasn't expecting the blow to connect but if he was able to hit the deceiver in the legs than that was fine; however he seemed to be priortizing maintaining some distance from the deceiver in order to gauge his abilities over blindly rushing in

Trinity's Integrity quickly activated, increasing Saren's speed by a lot more than the Deciever expected, which caused the blade to hit. Neo's Courage also activated causing the blade of Fey's Scythe to chop through the Deciever's legs, making fall to the ground, and create a pool of Black Blood. The other gifts activated themselves as well, giving their power to Saren, although one felt missing from the others, for some reason, Echo's Gift was not activating. The powers of the gifts quickly echoed through Saren's mind.

Orange - Neo's Courage - Increases attack power

Aqua- Trinity's Integrity - Increases attack speed

Blue - Leah's Wisdom - Increases Intelligence

Purple - Zero's Determination - Increases Defense

Green - Knave's Honor - Increases Pain Tolerance (Health)

Yellow - Celia's Cunning - Increases Dodge

Red - Echo's Hope - Allows Saren to Endure

However this didn't seem to help as the room went dark for a just a moment, it could have easily been misunderstood as a blink, but when what little light returned, The Deciever was now face to face with Saren. "This just got a lot more interesting..." He thrust his claw forward, hoping to dig into Saren's stomach.

Saren twirled his scythe in a downward full circle, taking advantage of Trinity's Integrity to alter the direction of the attack to the left using the shaft of the scythe while hopping backwards in the hopes that the scythe blade would embed itself inside the juncture between the Deceiver's left shoulder and neck.

And there the Scythe landed, and Black Blood gushed out of the Deciever. Saren would have noticed that the Deciever made no attempt to move. "Okay." The Deciever said, and lifted his right hand and grasped onto the blade of the scythe, dragging it over the blade unter it finally grasped the shaft. He pulled the scythe out of his arm and rose from the ground. "Now let's really get going." With that the puddles of Black Blood all formed a circle around Saren and exploded, releasing a series of sharped nails to pierce through Saren.

Whether through sheer luck, or Celia's cunning, Saren was able to dodge most of the needles; with some grazing him. "So you're also a copy cat I see? Taking some tricks out of my official handbook?"

The white orb came out of the Deciever's chest and took the shape of Saren for a just a moment before it went back in. "Just using some tricks you pulled on others." The Deciever once more tried to thrust his claw through Saren's chest, using his other claw to grab for Saren's face.

Saren noted the white orb taking his shape for a moment before reentering the Deceiver's chest, but otherwise paid it no mind as he coated the blade of the scythe with light kinesis and tossed it at his foe's chest using a circular motion not unlike a rotary saw when its being used. All the while he hopped backwards and stuck his arm out to recall the scythe whether or not it made contact.

The Deciever grabbed the Scythe right below the blade and gently placed his hand onto the sharp edge, allowing Black Blood to coat the blade, and then harden, finally shattering the blade itself and leaving Fey's scythe as more of a staff. "When are you going to learn that your precious little light isn't going to work against Black Blood?"

"Precious..? Nahhh, I prefer the shadows over the light really.." Saren chuckled, spinning the impromptu staff around. "This reminds me of that one kung fu movie I watched..? What was it.. Wrath of the Dragon? No.. Man with the Iron Fists..?" Saren asked out loud, it seemed like he wasnt taking anything seriously.

"Okay, if that's how you want to be." The Deciever controlled more of his Black Blood to form a square around Saren, rising to the shape of four small walls and a roof, boxing Saren in.

"Oooh, someone's getting mad~" Saren teased, tapping the walls with his impromptu staff. "Salty that I don't take you seriously anymore? That I find you not worth the energy to hate?"

"Stop...Talking..." The Blue orb hummed to Saren.

"Listen..." The Yellow orb hummed.

The faint sound of sand being poured could be heard, but it wasn't coming from outside of the walls, it came from Saren's chest.

Saren blinked, looking at his chest in confusion. '?'

The Blue Orb bestowed wisdom onto Saren, revealing that the sound of sand may be The Deciever draining Saren of his Life Force.

Saren blinked, he had to find a way to stop this.. But how?

The Blue Orb informed Saren that he could stop for a short time by sacrificing one of the gifts. Saren could feel the six working orbs in his chest, all he had to do was kill one, just deciding to kill one would be enough to kill it, no scythe swing or special action about it.

Saren thought about killing the Orange one, swinging his staff at the walls holding him.

The Orange Orb twinkled slowly out of existence, the staff Saren held now felt weaker, like he could shatter the staff in two. The sound of sand being poured was now replaced with the sounds of Neo screaming, as if Saren was torturing Neo, killing him.

The Black Blood walls may have been destroyable, but without Neo's Courage Saren did not have the attack power to destroy them.

The walls quickly lowered as Saren now found himself surrounded by the white energy that had taken shape of all the people who hated Saren.

'.....' Saren blinked. 'Even if these aren't real.. I can't get rid of them.. Damn it Neo.. Hope you can forgive me if that orb was tied to you..'

He looked at the literal army of copies, yeah, a lot of people hate Saren; and most of them he probably never even tried to remember. "Really? Copies man..? I know we hate eachother but come on; at least have the stones to do shit yourself instead of spamming copies."

A tapping on Saren's shoulder alerted him to the Deciever's location. "What copies?" Upon turning around Saren found that the copies had all disappeared. "It sounds to me, that you've just about run out of magic to keep you alive. You're running on fumes now, aren't you?"

"Fun.. Oh well; can't be any worse than my high days.." Saren muttered, swinging the staff at the deciever.

The Deciever raised his arm and the staff swung into it. Saren no longer had the strength to deal damage to The Deciever. "You know what I'm going to do after this?" He asked. "Once your dead, I'm going to go visit your friends. With the gifts you've brought me, they won't stand a chance. All of them are going to die, and trust me, I'm not going to let them die so easily. I wonder how much pain Echo can handle before she finally kicks the bucket, hm? If only you had come a little sooner, I could have gotten to play with that idiot dragon girl. I suppose a death that you caused is just as much fun to watch."

"No, I don't think you will.. Because I am cutting you down here and now!!" Saren hissed, going to headbutt the son of a bitch. "You'll have to kill me first you scum sucking piece of shit!"

Part 2: Camelot
"Okay, run this all by me again." Zero said, as the Mythic Knights walked down a dirt road outside of Crystal City.

"Time Spinner has friends." Knave explained. "And while he was busy prepping you guys, his allies are out there prepping others. Aselia was the one prepping me."

"Prepping us for what?" Echo asked.

"I'm sure it's not that far of a concept to grasp that not every fairy tale is just made-up story." Knave began. "Genies, demons, you've encountered them all. It only makes sense that if the Excalibur Blades were real, that Excalibur was real, and that King Arthur and the Round Table are real too."

"Sure, I suppose that makes sense." Leah said. "But why exactly were you being prepped? Why were we being prepped?"

"You weren't just chosen because you were in the right place at the right time, you were chosen because a good number of us happen to be the new Round Table. According to Aselia, we are reincarnations of King Arthur and his...others." Knave said. "For instance, I happen to be the reincarnation of Sir Kay, possibly one of the worst knights on the table ever, but I was at least on the table. Neo is the reincarnation of the Black Knight, and Fey is our King Arthur."

"Slow down." Zero started. "Why does that matter? What does any of this even mean?"

"Plus what does this have to do with any of the Excalibur Blades?" Zapor asked.

"In a sense, everything. Excalibur was originally a weapon designed to hold one of the shards of light." Knave explained. "When it shattered, the shards of the blade still held some form of their power within it, so when the shards were each taken and reforged into their own blades, they still held that power. The Excalibur blades hold the true power of the Shards of Light."

"Oh. So does anything happen if they're all gathered in the same place?" Zapor asked.

"That does seem to beg explanation. There must've been some reason as to why the shards of Excalibur were deliberately kept apart instead of just reforged into the original blade," Ciel said.

"From what I've been told," Knave explained. "The shard of light gave all of it's power into the blade and it was used for a while by King Arthur himself. However, when the blade was shattered it was decided that all of that power should be spread out amongst those on the Round Table, so that way all that power wouldn't be kept my one person. Thus, the Excalibur Blades were forged."

"You said Neo is the Black Knight, but the Black Knight was never on the Round Table." Leah said. "Why was he reincarnated?"

"Certain people who the shard deemed worthy were reincarnated." Knave answered. "This included people like Arthur's wife Guinevere, and The Black Knight. Aselia has everyone, but I don't know the entire list."

"So, who's who?" Zero asked.

"I don't know everyone for sure." Knave answered. "I know Kala is the Lady of the Lake, although that's not really an incarnation, she was there. I believe Zero is Lancelot, Trinity is Gawain, and Leah is Guinevere. Delta I think is Merlin, which might mean Echo is Morgan Le Fay but that's hard to figure out too soon. Saren is without a doubt Mordred. I believe Masako may or may not be Sir Bors, and Zapor is Percival.. Oddly enough Lexi does not share any trait with any of the Round Table, at least not that I can see yet. She may in fact be Galahad, but that does not seem likely."

"Why's that?" Leah asked.

"Galahad dies." Knave told her. "He drew the Sword from the Stone, went on the Holy Grail Quest, saw the afterlife and died."

"Why does any of this matter?" Trinity asked. "The power went into the Excalibur Blades, so why is this important?"

"History repeats itself." Knave shrugged. "Remember, this is not the first time the Shards of Light have come to the world and tried to defeat Destruction, this is the third. The first was when Time Spinner and the meta used the shards. The Second was when King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the humans used them. The Third time is with the Mythic Knights and the Mobians. Even if the knights themselves didn't have any power, they were still quite skilled and were considered the best of the best."

Lexi suddenly got worried. If she was the reincarnate of Galahad, would that mean she would die? "Um, Knave? What exactly was the Holy Grail Quest?"

"But that doesn't you would die if you were Galahad." Knave told Lexi quickly. "I mean, all the Knights on the Round Table died."

Nemi seemed concerned about Masako now. "...Can you tell us about Sir Bors?"

"Sir Bors was one of the three knights who made it to the end of the holy grail quest." Knave said. "He witnessed Galahad's death. He let his brother Lionel die in order to save a young girl. He fought on Lancelot's side during the war between him and King Arthur. Sir Bors is one of the only knights who survives every quest."

"Wait. If we're all knights of the round table, and King Arthur is getting mentioned, who's King Arthur?" Zapor asked.

"It seems that Fey is." Knave said. "Or at least, that is what Aselia believes."

"You doubt that?" Zero asked.

"I guess I just haven't been around her long enough to tell for certain." Knave shrugged.

"And you keep on mentioning Aselia. Who's that?" Lexi asked.

"Aselia is one of the Meta." Knave answered. "She mentioned meeting you all before, something about a tournament I think."

"The Leo Tournament." Leah answered.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Knave gestured.

"But aren't there only certain people that can pick up the Excalibur Blades?" Lexi asked.

"That would be correct. However, would it also be true that each blade may only be wielded by a specific person?" Ciel asked.

"Something along those lines," Knave said. "Certain weapons are more picky than others."

"Like how Apollo was able to use Nightmare before Neo got it." Zero nodded.

"Okay. Knave, you said that we needed to go to Camelot because apparently that place has answers. What exactly are we gonna find?" Zapor asked.

"Camelot is where the Excalibur blades were first forged." Knave said. "It's full of a bunch of different information that could be useful to us. Conquest also seems to like hiding out in the ruins scattered around Otogi, if they're anywhere, they would be inside Camelot."

"All this talk about this stuff has me thinking..." Zero thought out loud. "Wayward Castle shares the same building material and designs as the ruins here. If all of the ruins here connect to Camelot, does that mean Wayward Castle does as well?"

"Wayward Castle was built by the Order of the Scythe though, right?" Echo asked.

"Unless there's some connection between the Order of the Scythe and the Round Table." Leah nodded.

The Mythic Knights soon came upon an ancient stone castle. Truth be told, it looked very similar to Wayward Castle, with stone walls and dusty windows. A large hole for a gate leaked sunlight into the stone floor. It may have once been a beautifiul fortress but now it lay in shambles.

"So I have a theory." Knave told them. "This place very well might be connected to Wayward Castle. So, if that is the case then there is something we need to consider. What did you find in Wayward Castle?"

"That's the place where we found Fey." Zapor told him.

"You think that someone could be in there?" Leah asked.

"It's just a theory." Knave reminded her. "But, around the same time Wayward Castle appeared matches up to when Camelot appeared, and it didn't take long before we got signs of Conquest's existance. It's possible that the person leading Conquest might have come from here."

"Actually, hold on... remember that temple we found near Station Square, and how the place was lined with draconic runes?" Ciel questioned the group. "That temple belonged to the Order of the Scythe, and Ages said that they found the very same writing within the walls of Wayward Castle."

"So you're saying, that the two groups really are connected?" Natalie asked.

"Yes! But... I don't know where it could have gone from there. What split them apart?" Ciel paced as she pondered further.

"The Arthur-Lancelot war could have done it." Zero suggested. "That was when...Queen Guenivere and Lancelot had an affair, right?"

"And Arthur declared war on Lancelot and his bloodline, yes." Knave nodded. "And, Clarent is the weapon that was used to kill King Arthur. What makes Clarent such an interesting weapon is that it takes the shape the user wills it to, and when it was used to kill King Arthur, it was a scythe."

"But if Fey is the reincarnation of King Arthur, then..." Ciel was practically banging her head against a wall trying to come to a conclusion. "What does it mean?!" She shouted aloud.

"It's best not to think about it too deeply." Knave suggested. "History repeats itself, but so far not everything has followed the same patterns. Gawain and Arthur are uncle and nephew, but I don't think Trinity is related to Fey. Not to mention there isn't any war that will start. Unless Zero is going to have an affair with Leah after she gets married to Fey."

"Yeah, I think I'll leave Fey for Neo..." Leah quickly said.

"But this does bring up the same question; Why does this matter?" Zero asked.

"Well there are parts that did happen I guess." Delta suggested. "When Zero was working with Dad, I suppose you could consider that a war. Neo was 'captured' by me and Bravo not long after that and Fey took control of the Mythic Knights. Technically at that moment it was a 'war' between Zero and Fey, or Lancelot and King Arthur. Not to mention Kala could have been the Lady of the Lake, not really giving us a sword but she has helped us. The Leo Tournament could easily have been the same jousting tournament that was held a few months after the Holy Grail was found, which would line up to shortly after we met Fey with her sword, the Holy Grail."

"Exactly." Knave nodded. "We can't pinpoint what exactly will come true and when, but we might know what will happen based on the roles we have. The problem though comes when we consider who killed who. In arthurian legend two people are often credited with Arthur's death. Lancelot, and Mordred, Different legends say it was one or the other. Since Lancelot, Mordred, Zero, and Saren all use a scythe, we ultimately have no idea who might kill Arthur."

"But, neither of them have a legitimate reason to kill Neo." Zapor said. "And aren't most of those things only slightly but different in their own ways?"

"Who knows if it'll even come down to that? You're the Mythic Knights, why would you try to kill each other?" Monica questioned.

"Speaking of killing, when am I gonna get something to do? I'm bored and still pissed off," Natalie complained.

"But there is a reason we would kill Fey." Delta noted. "When we first encountered Neo, he was trapped in that suit of armor, and we could save him because he and Trinity both had a shard of light. The energy of those two clashing forces did something to both of them. But if the same thing has happened to Fey, who doesn't have a Shard of Light..."

"We might not be able to save her..." Zero sighed.

"After everything that's happened so far..." Natalie growled. "Dammit, when I see that bitch's face again..."

"But, it's not like they know a way to do put Fey in a suit of armor like they did for Neo." Zapor said.

"In any case..." Knave began. "This is where we'll get some answers."

Upon entering the castle, the knights were greeted with a long hallway filled with ancient paintings of random people. Notably, all of them were human. While most of them were nothing worth noting, there was one painting with a few knights standing in front of an encaged area filled with different mobians. For those with some knowledge of history, they would know that this was an enclosure for mobians, who had recently been captured by humans. They were often enslaved or otherwise used in archaic experimentations.

"Someone wanna tell me why those knights have those mobians locked up?" Zapor asked.

Ciel looked closer at the painting. "I... don't suppose this has anything to do with the knights being reincarnated, does it?" She nervously asks.

"I doubt it." Knave said. "Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur, was well known for his 'hunting trips' where he would catch mobians. Normally they were sold off as slaves, sometimes used to try to gain some understanding of kinesis. There were other things they were used for. Sometimes their fur was used for clothing."

"That's gross..." Echo noted.

"Mobains sometimes enslaved humans on some of the other countries, so it's not that weird." Knave shrugged.

"Mages always treated humans and mobians differently." Leah said.

Zero however was not convinced and continued to stare at the painting. "But Lancelot was a mobian, right?"

"Arthur was known to have friends who were mobians as a child and so many people who he knighted were often mobians." Knave nodded. "That includes Lancelot, yes."

Zero continued to stare at the painting. "This looks familiar..."

"Have you seen it before?" Leah asked.

"Maybe..." Zero noted.

"Bleh...What good would getting our fur do for those humans?" Zapor questioned.

Lexi looked at the painting. "Where would you even see a painting like this?" She asked Zero.

"Enough about the fur, kid..." Natalie barged her way into the conversation. "So, King Arthur was a racist asshole. He got what was coming."

"No, no you miss understand." Knave said. "This was Uther, Arthur's father. Arthur himself was not raised by his father and was in fact, living amongst other mobians as a child. Arthur, despite some of the negative things he has done, stood against the enslavement of mobians. One of the biggest statements he made about this was when he knighted Sir Lancelot, who became one of the best knights around."

Zero shook his head. "Let's get going..."

"Eyes and ears open, everyone. Conquest could be watching us," Monica said.

As the knights continued downward, they found a large room with a grand staircase headed towards one part of the castle and an opening headed towards another. To their right was a set of gates which is where the main entrance must have once been. The thing that was most intriguing about this area was a set of gears floating in the corner.

"There's a lot of magic coming from those..." Leah noted.

Ciel walks up to the gears, looking at them up and down. "Umm... aren't these supposed to be attached to something?"

"Great. More puzzles," Natalie groaned.

"Do you know anything about these, Knave?" Monica questioned.

"Maybe each gear goes in a certain gate?" Zapor guessed.

"I've never heard of gears being important in the story..." Knave noted.

"I don't think I've ever felt magic like this before..." Leah said.

Trinity walked over to the gears and looked over them. She took one of her daggers and quickly struck one of the gears, causing it to start turning, which caused the rest of the gears to turn with it.

"Trinity!" Leah gasped. "What was that for?"

"If you want to know what it does so bad, why not just hit them?" Trinity shrugged.

Quickly the room grew dim and the colors changed to make everything black and white. Suddenly the area was filled with guards, all armed and ready. A woman walked down the stairs, she too was human, and wore a very long dress. A large crown sat on her head, implying that she was the queen. "Where is my husband?" She asked one of the guards.

"He's at the Round Table with the knights." One of the guards croaked.

"Well see to it that he is informed that there may be someone upstairs." The queen said, then flipped her long red hair and walked upstairs.

The room gained it's color once again and the people disappeared.

"Queen Guenivere..." Knave muttered.

"Who's that?" Lexi asked.

"She was... the wife of King Arthur, right?" Ciel answered.

"I have a gut feeling that she'll end up becoming a pivotal character to the story behind this place..." Monica said.

"The reason for this being here, though... this must be some sort of residual paradox effect from our travels through time, right?" Ciel asked.

"But wouldn't we be seeing alternate timeline stuff? All we did when we time traveled was jump between timelines." Zero suggested.

"Having Time Spinner here would make this a lot easier." Leah noted.

"Yes, have the unicorn lie to us some more, sounds great." Delta scoffed.

"Well, we should go to the room with the knights, right?" Echo said.

Sure enough, as the knights ventured furthur into the castle, they found a giant dining room with an ancient wooden table, with chairs surrounding it. It should be noted that two chairs stood out. The first was a rusted old chair that looks like it may have once been made out of gold. The second was a black wooden chair that was colored darker than the rest. Sure enough, another set of floating gears sat in the corner. On the edge of the table was a dagger with a pure white color scheme and a red jewel above the hilt. "No way..." Zero quickly scooped up the dagger. "This is made out of the same material Fey's armor is..."

"So it's safe to say that Fey used to be a part of this place?" Zapor asked.

"It might be. We're still just scratching the surface of this place, though," Monica said.

"What a startling conclusion," Natalie mocked. She gave the gears a quick poke.

The gears quickly turned and the ruined hall that the knights had once been in had turned into a bustling dining hall that was filled with the cheers of several drunk knights. King Arthur could easily be seen sitting on the once rusted chair that was now shining with gold. He looked very drunk, but his eyes were very similar to that of Fey's. To his left was a man with ember-like eyes, Sir Gawain, and to his right was a mobian, who was the spitting image of Zero.

One of the guards quickly ran to King Arthur's side. "Milord, the queen has requested a knight's help! She believes that there is someone upstairs!"

"I'll go." Gawain quickly stood up.

"Sir Gawain, this is a feast in celebration of part of your deeds!" King Arthur laughed heartily. "Dame Bors, would you please check upstairs for us."

Another mobian, who looked exactly like Masako stood up. "Right away." She said.

"Let me accompany her." Lancelot quickly interjected.

"Sir Lancelot, you wish to help the Dame?" One of the knights said. "Could it be that you believe a woman couldn't possibly handle this threat?"

"I wish to see my lady, the queen, safe in her own home. I have no doubt of Bors' skills." Lancelot corrected the knight.

"By all means!" King Arthur said loudly. "I doubt it is anything, but just to be safe, I'll allow you to accompany Dame Bors on this mission." With that Bors and Lancelot stood and walked out of the hall. Afterwards another person stood from the table and carefully crept out of hall as well.

The color returned to the room and the images disappeared.

"There were rumors of Sir Bors actually being Dame Bors." Knave noted. "I suppose that makes sense. A woman and a mobian on the round table would be quite scandelous. If she pretended to be a man, she would gain a lot more respect that way."

"I suppose...Did anyone else see something weird? Some other guy left after they did." Lexi said.

"Who was that exactly?" Leah asked.

"I could not see their face. I cannot be sure." Knave noted. "I suppose the only thing to do would be to keep going."

"Talk about weird..." Nemi noted.

"Yeah, I mean... how the hell did the reincarnation of Dame Bors end up all the way over in Japan?" Natalie shrugged.

"That is of little importance..." Ciel commented. "So, they were headed upstairs, right? There has to be another scene there picking up from where this one left off."

Continuing back through the previous room and up the stairs, the knights found another set of gears in a long hallway. The scent of mold and dingy walls filled the air, leaving a bitter scent. Parts of the floor seemed like they would give way under any form of weight.

Trinity quickly knocked one of the gears, causing it to turn with the others.

Bors and Lancelot ascended the stairs into the hall where Guenevere stood. "I'm sure there is someone else up here."

"My lady, there are plenty of people moving through the castle, are you sure that it is not just a servant?" Bors asked.

"If it was, they would have came when I called, but they have not yet..." Guenevere told them.

"Alright." Lancelot pulled his scythe out. "By order of Lancelot du Lake, of the Round Table, I order you to come on out!"

A small orange echidna girl scurried out from behind one of the potted plants. "Lancelot...?"

"Why did you not ome out when I called?" Guenevere stamped her foot.

"I thought you might hurt me..." The echidna girl squeaked. "Like you hurt the others..."

Lancelot and Bors both raised eyebrows at Guenevere. "Come along child, let me take you back home." Bors sighed, taking the child with her downstairs.

"What did she mean by that, my lady?" Lancelot asked.

"She is a child, surely it is just an over active imagination." Guenevere said, not meeting Lancelot's gaze.

"I don't believe that is the case." Lancelot accused. "Do I need to know something my lady?"

"Just the terror about to befall this kingdom." A voice said behind Lancelot. He was a human, but with hair and eyes that matched that of Saren.

"Sir Mordred?" Lancelot asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Why, I just caught you having an affair with the queen." Mordred gave a wicked smile, as Guenevere quickly took Mordred by the arm.

"Shame how the best knight on the table would disrespect the king like this." Guenevere gave a laugh. "But then again, how can you trust a dirty fur flinger?"

The color soon returned to the world and the images disappeared.

"...Racism was still deep-seated within the kingdom, it seems," Natalie growled. "Disgusting."

"Is there anything that doesn't piss you off, Natalie?" Monica shrugged.

"It would seem that Mordred betrayed Lancelot here... and that he and Queen Guenevere conspired to frame him for the affair in a bid to turn King Arthur against him," Ciel observed. "But why? Why would they try to dissolve the Round Table like this?"

"Maybe because they were racist and wanted mobians and humans to split up?" Zapor suggested.

"Well, Mordred is the bastard son of King Arthur." Knave offered. "This may have been his way of trying to get the throne back. This entire plan backfires on Guenevere since later she is burned at the stake by King Arthur after he became ill."

"Ill?" Zero asked.

"Yes, quite a mess actually, he lost sanity shortly after this. The partciular word for it is Madness. A condition that spreads to those around it, being more like a disease than a mental disorder. So Madness was then decided by historians to be a disease." Knave explained.

"Not stigmata then?" Zero pressed.

"No, not stigmata." Knave shook his head.

"So, where did King Arthur die?" Leah asked.

"I believe in his chambers, near the top of the castle." Knave said.

"Is it possible that another set of gears are up there?" Zero asked.

"It's possible, I suppose." Knave said.

"That seems likely enough... what happened to Mordred, though?" Nemi asked.

"Well, after Arthur's death and Lancelot leaving with his nephew Balador to go somewhere across the ocean, Mordred ruled for a while. In the end, he was killed by a red dragon." Knave noted.

Lexi's Devil Blade began to hum very loudly, seemingly trying to get Lexi to go somewhere.

"Huh?" Lexi looked at her Devil Blade. "..."

The Devil blade tried to force Lexi to turn around and move downstairs.

"Oh...I see..." Knave noted. "Let's follow it."

The blade led to one last area in the courtyard of the castle. A stone circle, with small streams of water all circling around a stone pedestal.

"Lexi, can you place your blade inside the pedestal?" Knave asked.

Lexi nodded. She walked over to the pedestal and placed her blade inside of it.

With the blade placed inside the pedestal, a clicking sound echoed from below, as if something had just been opened.

Knave approached the pedestal, wrapping his hand around the Devil's blade's hilt and pulled, but he could not lift the sword from the stone. "Pull it out." Knave suggested.

Lexi would find that the sword was simple to pull from the stone.

Lexi pulled the sword out of the stone with no effort.

"Well that is something." Knave noted. "Only three people from Arthurian Legend were recorded to have pull a sword out of stone like that; Arthur himself, Sir Bolin, and Sir Galahad."

"Since we already know that Fey is King Arthur, that means we can narrow down who Lexi is..." Leah noted, a slight hesitation in her voice.

"They all died, why would it matter if she was Galahad anyway?" Trinity asked.

"Galahad's death was needed in order to complete the quest for the Holy Grail." Knave said.

"But Fey already has the Holy Grail." Zero said. "It's her sword, right."

"Exactly. A quest to find her, is a quest to find the Holy Grail." Knave told them. "If Lexi is Galahad, I fear she may end up becoming like he did."

"Oh." Lexi said, a bit worried as her ears began to droop.

"But! Knave said may. So there isn't any guarantee that you could die." Zapor told her.

"You could also be Bolin, which would be even better, since he left the round table before the lancelot-arthur war, so he lived. Even if you are Galahad, there's still a chance that finding Fey the first time was the Holy Grail quest, and you lived through that." Knave tried to start.

"What was that clicking sound?" Leah asked.

"That would be me." Standing there was a slightly familiar face. A purple wolf girl holding a shotgun, and her partner. Lexi and Knave would recognize them as Jazz and Zak.

"Hello again, Knights." Spat another familiar voice for all to recognize, the queen, with a demonic black arm holding Mjolnir now that her real arm was cut off.

"We-we'll get em for you boss." Jazz gave a depressed huff, she seemed like she and her partner had been run ragged and were treated more like slaves than soldiers now. Lexi might recall how when she first met Jazz, she and Zak were not working for Conquest at that time.

"Zak, you're alive! And some other wolf girl! And...Standing next to the Queen?" Zapor looked a bit confused.

"Not you too..." Lexi muttered, not wanting Zak to be apart of the same group that killed Sedna.

Zak looked down on the ground. "..."

Ciel anxiously looks at Jazz and Zak.

"You bitch... I'm gonna tear you apart!" Natalie hissed, drawing her knives.

Jazz fired a slug from her shotgun at Natalie. "Back. Off."

Natalie took the round directly in the chest, being bent backward by the impact. Smoke rose from her chest.

"Natalie?!" Ciel called out.

"I'll be back then, you two kill them." The Queen noted, before quickly disappearing into nothing, leaving nothing but a drop of black liquid behind her.

Jazz rested her shotgun on her shoulder. "I'm sorry...I didn't want it to happen like this..."

2 Large dog-like demons walked ever so slowly onto the battle field with them. They dripped with a black tar-like liquid, with claws like onyx jewels. Each one gave a wicked howl that echoed off of the walls.

Paralogue 2: The Gifts
(Prelude of Destruction - Shard of Darkness: Deceit theme )

"Honestly, I don't even know why you try." The Deciever mocked. "There's nothing left for you in that world or any world. Your worthless to everyone you meet. What, do you think your 'friends' actually care about you? They all know what you really are, the only two people there who may actually like you are an idiot girl who killed herself and a ticking time bomb waiting for the right moment to kill Neo. Your friendships don't matter anymore." The Deciever opened one of his claws and an orange orb of energy appeared above, it was Neo's Courage. Slowly, The Deciever wrapped his claws around the orb and crushed it, sprinkling the remaining dust on the floor. "They're gone. And it's only a matter of time until the rest of your gifts are gone, and then you too. You're an absolute dipshit if you think your puny ass can stand up against a demi-god chosen by Destruction. Alas, it's time to die."

The Deciever grabbed Saren's staff and pulled it away from him, throwing it back into a pool of Black Blood. The sound of sand being poured echoed from Saren's chest. (Kill off another Gift)

Saren only chuckled. "Demi-god you say.. Pffft, not even the real deal..? Man you must be an even bigger retard then I am if you think that you can't be killed~ If it can bleed, it can die~" Saren spat at the deceiver, if he was to die then he was going to spite this piece of shit all the way to the bowels of hell itself; and he would do it his way.. Without sacrificing others like pawns.

The Blue orb told Saren that was being an idiot, if he did not sacrafice one of the gifts, he would die. It had to be done. All five of the remaining gifts offered themselves up for sacrafice.

"... If you guys say so.." He muttered, thinking about sacrificing the green orb now.

The image of a scythe ripping through Knave's spinal cord burned itself into Saren's memory as the green orb faded away and the sound of sand stopped.

The Deciever came forward and tried to grab for Saren's ankle.

Saren jumped up to avoid the grab, intending to deliver a mid-air kick to the deceiver's face.

The Deciever grabbed Saren's foot in the process of the kick, and tried to throw him to the wall.

Saren cursed, as he was flung into a wall. "Tch!"

The Deciever pressed forward sending ripples of Black Blood towards Saren.

Saren scowled, moving to dodge these ripples while looking for something that would break this jerkbag.

The blue orb looked for every little thing that could break the Deciever, but there was nothing that Saren had that could damage him. The only thing that might work would be for Saren to keep dodging and have the Deciever run out of energy, but that might take far too long and with the idea that Saren was constantly losing magic here, it was safe to say that he didn't have that time.

Speaking of losing energy, once again the sound of sand being poured echoed from Saren's chest. The four remaining orbs offered themselves.

Saren offered up the blue orb with a wince, before chucking his impromptu staff at the Deceiver.

The image of a scythe driving through Leah's chest played in Saren's head, as did the image of Leah's betrayed face.

Without the wisdom provided by the Blue Orb, Saren had no way now to tell how to beat this guy, although the advise that it gave already would hopefuly work.

The Deciever grabbed the staff, and threw it into a pool of Black Blood, where it sunk below the sludge and away from Saren's grasp. Then the Deciever used his orb, the orb of Saren's Karma, and pressed forward, walking very slowly towards Saren, while the orb gathered energy from around them.

"The hell are you tryna pull now..?" Saren grumbled, keeping an eye on his surroundings.

"Wouldn't you like to know." The Deciver gave a big grin. "You know what's so interesting to me? Every time that I tricked you, everytime you tried to make a grab for more power, you only made yourself weaker. While, I just kept absorbing all the magic you had left." The Deciever stopped reletively close to Saren. "When you see Sedna in hell, tell her I said I'll come down there and visit soon."

At that moment the sound of something metal clashed onto the ground near Saren. Looking over it was a very familiar sword. Saren had never seen it before, but it matched a description that Knave had given not that long ago. This was Clarent, the sister blade of Excalibur. For some unknown reason it felt like this Saren had known this blade all his life, like he used it before. This somehow provided Saren with the knowledge of it's special ability. (Feel free to describe it and all of it's forms.)

(Clarent's special ability is that it can take the shape of any weapon Saren wills it to, he doesn't even need to be holding it to do that. There are limits to this however, it cannot provide ammo for a ranged, so it can turn into a gun, but it won't have any bullets, likewise a bow won't have arrows, etc. It can also only turn into one weapon, so not a set of daggers or anything like that. Lastly it cannot turn into an explosive or any other self-destructing weapon. Other than that, it can turn into anything else Saren might need.)

Saren grinned, taking hold of the weapon as he envisioned the weapon to be a sort of futuristic looking scythe with the blade wreathed in a power field for better cutting power. This particular power scythe was actually called Manreaper.

(I'll describe the forms as I use them, is that alright? XD -Saren)

(Yeah, that's what I meant to say XD My bad -Neo)

"Just what I was expecting..." The Deciever noted coldly, finally releasing the energy that Saren's Karma was charging, causing a large explosion to envelop the room.

Saren scowled, raising Manreaper to shield his eyes.

After the explosion had hit, Saren could look out to find that The Deciever was no longer in sight.

"Come ouuuuut.. I don't have all day ya know~" Saren sighed, looking around.

As the dust from the explosion settled the white Saren from the orb rushed Saren, intending to have his scythe chop through Saren's waist.

Saren blocked using the shaft of Manreaper, holding the weapon upside down as he slid it towards the White Saren and spun it like a buzzsaw, intending to cleave this copy in two.

The white Saren, thrust his scythe between the shaft and the blade of Manreaper, stopping it from moving.

That would've placed the White Saren in an awkward position where his balance was easily knocked off, something which Saren took advantage of by pulling his scythe towards him in the hopes of pulling White Saren towards him as he hopped into the air and attempted to harshly plant his foot on the copy's nose with a sort of corkscrew motion before shoving himself off and hopefully wrenching White Saren's Scythe out of his hands.

Saren would have found that while most of this was possible, the scythe would not come out of white Saren's hands. It seems that the scythe was apart of white Saren and when his fooot tried to hit the apparition's nose, it went through it's head, and felt like Saren had plunged his foot into a deep puddle of mud.

Meanwhile, the Deciever had snuck up behind Saren and thrust a claw towards the small of Saren's back.

"!?" Saren's eyes widened, coughing up bits of blood as he felt the claws pierce through his unprotected back.

Zero's Determination quickly activated, once the Deciever had pulled out his claws, the wound instantly closed and the pain had numbed so fast that it didn't seem like Saren has stabbed at all.

However the sound of sand once again echoed from Saren's chest. The last three orbs offered themselves to the slaughter.

Saren offered up Zero's determination as a sacrifice while trying to gain more distance, this time changing Clarent's form to resemble that of a Crozius about as tall as he was, the head of the weapon essentially looking like four half circles with four spikes interconnecting at the center of the weapon's head had been fused together. To top it all off there was a rather pointy spike jutting out of the top of the weapon and a blue shimmer of crackling energy encased the head of the weapon.

It felt like Saren had Zero's blood on his fingers, causing them to stick together.

White Saren quickly jumped up and ran towards Saren while the Deciever simply stood there with a large grin on his face.

Saren growled, so what if he had blood on his hands; that wouldn't change and he knew that. "Cheap copies of me eh?" Saren chuckled, swinging the crozius at White Saren.

The white Saren jumped to the side of Saren, not aiming his scythe at the lynx, but rather into the wall behind him, trying to go up.

Saren let it go, the copy wasn't his focus anyways.

White Saren quickly got up as far as it could, then took the scythe and tried to land the blade on Saren's shoulder, using it's own weight to dive through.

The Deciever quickly ran towards Saren, trying to stab him with his claws again.

Saren just waited, waited until the last possible second before diving and grabbing one of the Deceiver's claws in an attempt to force him into the path of the copy's scythe.

The Deciever moved his other hand up, grabbing white Saren's arm and throwing him towards Saren, using the Black Blood in his body to move while in the air.

Saren cursed, before attempting to vault out of the way. "Bloody hell, really starting to hate you right now.." He muttered, glaring slightly at his copy.

The sound of Sand once more echoed from Saren's chest, there were only two gifts left, which one would he give up now? (Kill one of Saren's friend's gifts.)

Saren offered up Celia's cunning this time with a wince. "Bloody hell, and here I thought I could deal with this guy.. Oh well, if I die then it'll be dying on my feet." He muttered, talking to the accursed crozius before he willed the weapon to change into a simple Black Iron dagger with no real ornamentations or gilded iconography.

"Let's see how long I'll survive eh..?"

But it was not enough. Celia's cunning was not enough to fill the void of Saren's magic. The sound of sand continued to flow. There was only one gift left, and it had to be given up.

The Deciever stood by and watched, stopping any action that may happen, and had white Saren return to his orb form and go back into the Deciever's chest.

Saren sighed, sacrificing the last gift to try and stave off death further. ".... Shit."

(because aside from the red orb that allows him to endure, echo's something, I forgot which gift was left.)

(I forgot also, I had to look it up. lol -Neo)

Trinity's Integrity quickly faded out as well, leaving Saren with nothing. The world itself changed around Saren. The Deciever quickly faded out of Saren's sight, leaving him in a pitch black room, that could give someone vertigo.

Quickly Saren found something in the dark. The bodies of the Mythic Knights. It started with Echo's smashed corpse. Followed quickly with Neo with cuts going down his arms and chest.

Zero's mutilated corpse, which had meticulously had been chopped into bits, leaving only a torso and head recognizable.

Knave's body had the spine partially ripped out of the back.

Leah's hands had been cut off, and her mouth had been sliced open giving her a permenent smile.

Then came Celia's body which seemed to have bits and limbs of other bodies sewn onto her, as if trying to experiment on the fox.

Then there was Trinity, her fur ripped from her body along with bits of her skin, the skin on her fingers had been burned off with a powerful flame.

Finally, there lay Sedna, still in the hospital bed, wired up to an assortment of computers and medical equipment the constant sound of her flat line echoed through the chamber.

"...." Saren was silent. "No, this shit isn't.. Real!!" He hissed, trying to close his eyes.

A chorus of voices began a low chant, each voice being distinct and familiar, and all belonging to the people Saren had hurt in the past. Each one screaming "Your Fault!" Over, and over, and over again. Getting louder each time they said it, all of whom wanted Saren's death.

And then came a voice that cut through the entire chorus. Everything was silent, except for the gentle crashing of waves. "Saren?" Came Fey's voice, and then everything changed. Saren was no longer in some dark room, and the mangled bodies of his friends had all disappeared. He was now on a beach in the middle of night, the sun sat on the horizon, being the only source of illumination in this place. Sitting near the water was Fey, in her usual armor. "Are you okay?"

".... I'm not sure if i'm hallucinating again.. But no, I'm probably going to die and I haven't even killed the dickbag who screwed me over.." Saren answered after a long sigh.

"Oh..." Fey noted. "Then, let's talk." She patted the sand beside her.

For a moment, Fey's image had faded, and revealed something inside of her. A black orb. She was another gift created, like the one's Diety had made, but she was slightly different. She was unlike the ones made by Diety or the Deciever, something different from both. The words 'Fey's Trust' came to mind when looking at her.

Saren sat down next to her, though he did glance at the black orb in confusion for the brief moment that it showed up. "So, what'd you want to talk about Fey..?" He asked.

"About everything." Fey noted. "It hasn't even been two weeks since you've been in this country and so much has happened to the Mythic Knights, but you specifically, you've had your own things to deal with alongside everything else."

"When I pushed Neo to form the Mythic Knights, I knew that I specifically wanted you to be apart of the team. You were different from the others. You knew what this world was, you had experienced that the rest of the knights at the time didn't have. We needed someone there to remind us of the reality of the world and that is why you are here. Because you're a realist, if you weren't around, Bravo might not have died, and he could have killed a lot of people. There's no telling what could have happened if he lived."

"Then you got here, and Neo and I were captured, and the Mythic Knights started to crack. You were pushed by the Deciever to make choices that he expected you to make. He made you meet with one of his minions; Eliza, and he forced you to hunt for power that he knew would require you to betray us. Because he knew what would happen once he enacted his true plan. When you lost your umbrakinesis, you also lost a bit of magic that held you together, that necromancy that kept you alive. With it draining, you became a sort of...new creature. Something between a mobian and a spirit. All spirits hold the Power of the Heart, strength based on one's relationship with others, when you lost your umbrakinesis, you gained the Power of the Heart. There was no heliokinesis, that was your new power, that was me."

"I don't think the Deciever counted on Sedna. She changed something in all of you. I think, I see it the most in you. When she died, it made a lot of the knights closer to each other, and it did something to your powers, something that Diety saw and tried to show you. The gifts." Fey noted. "You see, the Power of the Heart is a really strange thing, you gain strength based on the friendship with others. The gifts were the manifestation of your relationships with the knights. Diety gave you a push, to try and make them, give them a body to recognize them. Eventually, you subconsciously made one on your own, the moment you lost your umbrakinesis." Fey's imaged faded again into the black orb. "I'm the first gift you had, and giving you heliokinesis wasn't the only thing I did." The handle of Clarent felt a little warmer than normal in response to Fey's words.

"But why though..? You probably saw what I did, what i've done.. Why help me with him..?" Saren asked, listening to every word Fey said.

"I trusted you." Fey said with a smile. "I trusted you from the day we met because I had no one to trust. I trusted you when we fought against Radon because you kept coming back. I trusted you when we came here because we were a team, and I trust you now because I think you need someone to trust you. If anything else in this entire world, know that I have faith you in, Sedna had faith in you, and the Mythic Knights have faith in you. You're our friend and our family and we care about you more than you will know. Yes I saw what you did, but I also saw a man who has been broken, hurt, manipulated, and betrayed. I know that you can be more than this, that you're more than the drunk who agreed to join a 'little club'."

"..... Alright then.. So how do I beat this jackass.." Saren sighed, this may have been touching but Saren wasn't exactly known for his tact.

"How indeed." Fey said looking back out into the ocean. There was silence for a while before Fey spoke again. "I think we should do what started this whole mess; make another grab for power. Right now you've sacrificed the gifts that Diety allowed you to see, but that's not entirely true. You've allowed Diety to use those powers when you did that, so we need to get back all of the gifts that he took." Fey paused for a long while.

"That includes the white Saren." Fey said. "Diety is using the bits of you that you deny made into a weapon. You need to face yourself, like Neo did not long ago. Like I did, a very long time ago. He's making it look like it's all the people that have something against you, but I don't believe that is true. The problem lies in what part of you that you deny, nobody knows that except you."

"That's the confusing part.." Saren sighed.

'Well, only you can figure it out." Fey noted. "Is it...the betrayals? The lust for power? Maybe something from before you met the knights?"

Saren sighed. "Soul searching, one of the most boring things to do.."

"I know," Fey said with a little laugh. "But it's not like there is much else to do here." The knight looked back out to the horizon, her brow furrowed and she looked back. "Sedna, Echo, can you two come out here?" Two small red orbs floated gently out of Saren's chest and landed on the side beside him, they both took form just like Fey, one as Echo and the other as Sedna.

".....?" Saren blinked. "... I'm high again aren't I?"

"No, just really close to dying..." Echo said, concern in her voice.

A light fog slowly began to cover the beach.

"You're starting to wake up." Fey told him. "When you wake up, you'll be back in your battle with the Deciever, but I need you to listen to us." Fey placed her hands on top of Saren's. Echo quickly did the same, and Sedna followed suit, leaving her hands on top.

"No matter what happens, as long as you have hope everything will be alright." Sedna told Saren. "We're going to beat this guy,"

"Got it." Saren chuckled, smiling slightly for once.

Part 3: Regicide
(Red Like Roses - Vs. Jazz and Zak)

The dogs both gave off a spine-chilling howl that echoed off the walls of the courtyard. Jazz raised her hand, and both dogs quickly swooped with, trying to get a bite into any one of the knights.

Delta already had pulled her screen up. "Both of those things are made out of Black Blood..." Delta noted. "Wait...not just those things...Zak and that woman seem to have Black Blood in them too."

"They're being manipulated against us..." Zero said. "If the Queen can control Black Blood, that means she can kill them with whatever amount is already inside them."

Zapor fired a few bullets at the dogs from his guns. "Then how do we un-Black blood them?"

Natalie re-asserts herself into her upright position. She cracks her neck one way, then the other. "Let's just stick with what we know how to do for now." She manifests Orochi's energy and uses it to dash through one of the dogs, spinning around with her knives and slamming it down into its back.

Ciel targets the other dog, working in tandem with her daughter to bombard it with energy blades. "We have to come up with something soon! We can't let her get away!"

(I want to bring in at least one version of Masako here. I can't decide which. -MHS)

(Maybe Fallen Knight to help save our asses here, and then Masako can come when we fight the Queen? -Neo)

"I've been waiting for this all day." Trinity slammed her fists together and erupted in flames, not the normal fire that surrounded her before, her fur was physically on fire, the area around her began to burn, and her aqua fire on her right eye lit up, tinting the flame to look blue. She quickly smashed into one of the dogs, causing it to erupt in fire, but just like every other attack, the dogs seemed to just take it, not showing any sign of damage at all.

"They're not just Black Blood things." Leah pointed out. "These are demons, I don't know if we can do anything."

Jazz aimed her shotgun at Zapor and fired another slug at the hedgehog.

Zapor quickly sidesteped out of the way, and threw a fireball back at Jazz.

Jazz ducked under the fireball, and fired back again. "Zak...we have to..."

"..." Zak slowly took his sword, and nodded, not wanting to hurt his friends. He then quickly ran towards Lexi while she still had her guard down, and performed an upward kick knocking her back.

Zapor narrowly dodged the bullet, and looked over at Zak. "Dude, can't you not do this?" This left him completely open.

One of the dogs quickly ran into Zapor, taking a swipe with one of it's giant paws.

Zapor realized the dog too late, and was hit by the claw swipe, sending him flying back.

Lexi tries swinging at Zak with her sword, in which he effortlessly manages to deflect. He jabs he with the handle of his blade and spin kicks her.

Monica throws herself into one of the dogs, firing a shot into its jaw at point blank. "Eat it, mon cheri!"

Ciel looked down at the fog at their feet. "Huh?"

Jazz doesn't seem to notice the fog and fires her shotgun off again at Ciel.

The dog that Monica had shot winced, but it didn't seem like any actual damage had been done to it.

Delta's screen flashed as it told her someone else was joining the battle, and judging from the fog, she had a pretty good idea who it was. "Oh great, here we go again..."

"What?" Zapor asked, getting up from that last attack and throwing a fireball at one of the dogs.

Suddenly, there was a flash. Standing there in front of Zapor's target was the Fallen Knight, cutting clear through the beast's neck to weaken it.

"Wh-why is she here?" Ciel seems surprised by her presence.

"I don't know but she's managing to cut through the demons." Leah noted.

Jazz quickly aimed her shotgun at the Fallen Knight and fired.

The Fallen Knight froze the shotgun shell in ice, moving directly in front of Jazz. She raised her hand above her head and attempted to exorcise the black blood from her body, exerting her control over the vile substance.

"What the fuck...?" Natalie watched as she tried to fight off the other demon.

From being closer to Jazz now, The Fallen Knight might be able to sense that this form of Black Blood was strange and different. It was mutated and corrupted beyond anything that would have been deemed normal in her timeline. It's safe to say that the Queen's Black Blood was something else entirely. She may also notice, that this form of Black Blood was closer to Zero's than her own.

The Fallen Knight seemed to have her work cut out for her. "I'll see if I can keep these two busy, finish these demons off!"

Natalie tossed Orochi at one of the demon's legs, restraining it. She leaned forward as a rift opened up behind her, bombarding the dog with countless serpents.

The dog gave a loud whine as the snakes attacked it, unsure how exactly to deal it them, it simply started shaking. Something about the Fallen Knight's precence was making them weaker.

Leah shook her head before she began drawing something on the back of her arm and muttering some form of incantation.

With a pair of clicks, Monica reloaded her revolvers, blasting away at the other demon. She was soon assisted by Ciel and Nemi, who attacked it with countless blades of their respective elements.

The dog growled at the trio and swiped at them with it's paw, trying to knock them down.

Jazz fired another slug at the Fallen Knight, aiming at her throat.

Lexi went to slash at the other dog's legs.

The Fallen Knight blocked the slug with her arm, seemingly unfazed. "I can't simply bring the black blood out of you, can I? But perhaps there is another way..." Her own brand of black blood seeped from the wound. It lashed out and tried to force its way down Jazz's throat. "It's gross, but it's the only plan I have."

Nemi dashed in front, creating a psychic current that threw the dog sideways upon contact.

"You don't understand it won't work." Jazz told the Fallen Knight, firing another slug at the ground and using the recoil to move away from her. "She already thought of Zero trying something. The moment the Queen feels anything happen with the Black Blood, she'll set it to reject the both of us, resulting in it exploding. We'll die no matter what happens." Jazz paused for a moment. "Unless the Queen is killed first."

"Then that's just what we'll have to do, with or without you." The Fallen Knight stabbed her blade into the ground, causing it to freeze over. It quickly moved toward Jazz and Zak, attempting to freeze them solid.

Jazz allowed the ice to freeze her, not moving when it came, she knew that something was about to happen, even if the Queen was killed, there was no guarentee that she still had her life.

Leah finished drawing on her arm, and both of her hands were covered in magic. She created these magical hands and grabbed one of the dogs and crushed it in, causing blood to pour out from the hand that she had created.

Paralogue 3: Karma
The dark room quickly came back into view for Saren as the Deceiver sat back and watched the Lynx with a grin. The feeling of the three orbs in Saren's chest was quite clear, although it was unknown as of now what they did, if Fey's Trust is correct, this could be the turning point of the battle.

"So now you have no gifts left." The Deceiver chuckled apparently unaware of the three remaining orbs as of yet. It may be beneficial to keep them a secret from the Deceiver. "No powers, no gifts, no hope, no chance. Honestly, what did you think was going to happen? Were you drunk when you came in here or just really stupid? Never mind, I'm sure it was a bit of both. I could just kill you here, but we're not done just yet. I want to see you squirm, I wonder how you'd feel about going up against your friends?" The Deceiver raised his hand, and the orbs that Saren had given up all rested on his palm. White puppet strings connected them to the white orb above them, controlling their every move. The Deceiver gave a hearty chuckle as he allowed the orbs to fly into his chest. "Let me show you how powerful true hatred can really be..." His hands were raised and he released a pure white beam of light at Saren.

"Now!" Fey's Trust quickly rushed outwards and took shape, taking part of the blast, while Saren took the rest. It seems that whatever she did, it caused something to change because now Saren was in a pure black room, and standing across from his was Saren's Karma.

No that wasn't quite right, now was it? The pure white beings and different patches of color on his jacket, each one had one of the colors of the stolen gifts. This being was incredibly more powerful than before, since now it seemed to be using Saren's team's hatred as power.

"I'm going to try and free them as they take control." Fey's Trust hummed. "Once they have control, you need to reason with them, this isn't a battle you can win by defeating them with your scythe, you need to talk them. They're being deceived so you need to make them see the truth."

"So I have to talk to them... Well, here goes nothing..?" Saren sighed, tossing his scythe to the side. "Let's talk.."

(Karma - Saren's Truth Theme)

"Nobody really likes this world. They like to hide away from the truth, distracting themselves with whatever little thing they can find." White Saren told his double. "Deceit needs to exist, because people want it to exist. Don't you get that?" White Saren rushed forward, slashing his scythe downwards at Saren's shoulder.

Saren sidestepped the slash before attempting to deliver a palm thrust to White Saren's nose. ".... Eh, can't argue with that really. But like it or not, its the only world we have; so we have to make do with what we got.. Both the good and the bad y'know."

White Saren balanced himself on his scythe, and quickly allowed it to fall backwards so he'd land on his feet. "Good? What good could there possibly be? This is a world where everyone around you dies! A world where no one understands who you truly are!"

An explosion of energy around White Saren caused him to change shape, becoming light blue and taking Trinity's shape. "Everyone around you burns in this world and there is nothing you can do about it!" Her corrutped voice echoed. "How is this world good? DON'T LIE TO ME!" She quickly exploded with darkness, and summoned her daggers out of ice, attempting to stab Saren as fast as she could.

"This is also a world where you can make friends, forge bonds with people and support them as they support you.. You don't have to besr the weight of the world on your shoulders alone." He spoke, crouching down to sweep Trinity's legs out from under her.

"Tragedy can happen, yes, but every tragedy can just as easily be turned into a happy ending if you just try."

"A happy ending?" A HAPPY ENDING?!" Trinity jumped over Saren's leg, and threw one of her daggers at the lynx. "WHERE'S THE HAPPY ENDING FOR THE MYSTIC MAGI? WHERE'S THE HAPPY ENDING FOR SEDNA!? HOW DO YOU MAKE A HAPPY ENDING OUT OF DEATH?"

"The fact that all your trials and tribulations are over, that you can spend eternity with those you cherish in the pearly gates of heaven..? I've died once before so I can confirm there is a heaven and a hell, I can also guarantee Sedna's and the Mystic Magi are in Heaven because if they aren't I will personally go up to god and shove my foot so far up his or her ass that he or she will bur burping out shoe leather."

Saren spoke, rolling to the side to avoid the dagger that was tossed at him.

The darkness around Trinity grew smaller, it seems that Saren was finally getting through to her. "But we failed them. I failed them. I'm just too scared to face what they would think..."

Scared...

"Yes, too scared..." Neo's corrupted voice came and the image of Trinity changed to Neo, wielding Nightmare as he stood against Saren, glaring at the Lynx. "That's what we all are, too scared to face the harsh truth of reality. Why bother living in a world of fear when we can make a world of lies!"

"You and I both know that isnt the answer to anything, because no lie lasts forever; and once it shatters around us we end up left with nothing.. With fear we can atleast replace it with hope.. That's why we fight afterall.. For a better tomorrow, even me I guess.. The traitorous drunk."

"And what happens when we're too scared to fight? There's so much to worry about out there, death, betrayal, Destruction, everything. What happens when we screw up, when one of us dies, and it's all my fault?" Neo fell to his knees and leaned on his sword. "I'm just...I'm scared...scared of the future, of us, of them...of Fey...what will I do if Fey dies, if you all die?"

"Then we die, though death is only permanent if no one remembers.. Death comes for all Neo, even the deathless can die if given a reason.."

"And what if I'm not the thing everyone wants me to be?" Neo asked. "What if I've just been set up for failure, what if, this whole, we've just been deceived?"

Deceived...

And that brought White Saren back, his shape taking over instead of Neo's. Looking at him though both the orange and aqua patches were gone, so it appeared as though Saren had done something right.

"Do you enjoy being deceived?" White Saren asked. "Does it thrill you to know that you're being fooled? I only ask because of how much you seem to fall for it."

"That's a part of life dude, of course I hate it and try to avoid falling into the machinations of others like the Deceiver; but no one is all knowing, and everyone can be deceived; all you really can do is pick up the pieces and move forward.. If you're me, or even my Karma you should know that shit by now.."

White Saren clapped his hands. "You're finally learning something for once! Good for you." He said in a patronizing voice. "I'm you, and you're me! I'm the embodiment of everything, your sins, your good deeds, your relationships, I'm all of that. See, when the Deceiver took me in, he gave me the gift of 'intelligence', I know, big word. I'm trying to figure out how stupid you could possibly be. Voices in your head, scythes from out of nowhere, a woman who wants to kill you, that suddenly defects to your side because you had a talk with her? Let me remind you that Echo, Delta, and Zapor, all children by the way, were also given the same temptation that you fell for. Two of which were smart enough to realize it was a trick and the other relied on his friend in order to get help. Meanwhile, you greedily accepted any morsel of  'power' thrown at you and even betrayed the people who were on your side from the start."

"Also, guess again on that all knowing bullshit. Destruction, The Deceiver, and Time Spinner all happen to be pretty omnipotent, and Diety's pretty close to it since he can see the destinies of everything around him! Gods you're dumb, no wonder you're the reason Fey is going to die."

Saren just shrugged. "So, I never once claimed to be smart. Just someone only interested in himself, you're just the piece of me that couldn't catch up to bite me in the ass even with help; so.. Anything else you feel like saying..?"

"Where do I start?" White Saren noted. "I mean there's not really much I can say that you don't know, we're the same person we know the same things. I just think this is pretty pathetic of you. I mean, look at where you were two years ago before any of the Mythic Knight bullshit, you were fine back then, and now? Look at all the weaknesses you've developed! Being with those idiots only makes you weak."

"True, but then again, I actually like those idiots."

"Why? What is there to like about those idiots! You're too stupid to see the truth in front of you!" White Saren told his counterpart.

Stupid...

Leah quickly replaced White Saren's form. "We're all too stupid..." Leah noted. "I've seen what Destruction can do first hand, I know there's no way we can make it out of this. We're not smart enough to stand against a god..."

"Yeah we're all stupid.. But we're also smarter in other things as well; we have eachother's back and we cover our weaknesses by working together Leah, unlike destruction we're a family.. And we'll send his raggedy ass back to hell together, sides.. Challenging a god amd winning requires stupidity to pull off, because that allows for the unconventional, the bat shit crazy yet still able to be pulled off..!"

Saren told Leah, he never was capable of expressing how he felt but he found it easier to do here for some reason. "God knows I'm the biggest fucking idiot here, so if anyone has the right to say this it's the biggest damned idiot around.."

"You don't understand, we can't send Destruction back!" Leah shouted. "Not after what I did, not after the seals opened up."

"Then we kill him, and guess what? If it can bleed, it can die."

"But he doesn't bleed. He doesn't even live, he just is! You've never seen him before, but I've gotten close, I've fallen into a seal, I've seen what it's like down there! No one really even knows how to defeat him, I don't know how to defeat him, and if I don't know then what good am I?" Leah said.

"Why not just give up?" Zero's corrupted voice came as the gift took on Zero's shape. "I mean, if we have no hope, why bother right? Better to spend that time with people we care about then to waste it on finding a method that doesn't exist."

"Why give in? If there's no hope than make it.. it's better to die standing then die on your knees." Saren retorted.

"Well, giving in is certainly easier than working towards a bleak future, no?" Zero asked. "And what's it matter how you die? On your knees or standing, it doesn't really matter. Not like we have some honor to follow anyway. Just accept that Destruction is coming and that we're dead."

"Correction, I don't have honor; and its because I have no honor that I refuse to submit even though it would be more honorable to do so.. Also, a bleak future; its always changing so there's no guarantee what the future is gonna be."

"Do you believe in destiny?" Zero asked. "I do. It's destiny that all of these things happened. It's destiny that we wound up here, that we all met each other, and it's destiny that people die. Sedna, Radon, Bravo, my sister, it was predetermined that they would die, so what's the point of trying?

"Because destiny is a load of horse shit? Seriously, if it was destiny that determined how things went then I would've kicked the bucket for a second time a long time ago and you sure as shit know that. We fight it because we have the power to carve out our own destiny, to make it a better one despite what is tossed our way.. Anyone have a bottle of whiskey for this? For old times sake, even though I should kick the habit?"

"You're in a metaphysical state here, you wouldn't even be able to taste it, let alone get drunk." Zero said. "If destiny isn't real then what? Is it all our fault? I can't live with that guilt. Maybe it was destiny that you avoided death? Maybe it was destiny that everything ends? Can you even say anything about it, you came here because of destiny."_

"I came here because I chose to, destiny is nothing more than a cowards rationale and you know it.. So man the fuck up!" Saren snapped. "Zero is a lot stronger than this!"

"Zero is a broken man too helpless to actually do anything for himself." Zero said in third person. "Do you remember the first person you killed? Zero remembers the first person he killed. It was the first time he had ever used Black Blood. His father, one of the best men he had ever known, died because of how uncontrolled Zero's blood was. His mother was able to soothe him enough, enough that she sealed it away for a long time but not before Zero took her life as well. Combine both of those with his sister, who died because of him, and it's clear why he gave up."