Roleplay:The Third Army

This Roleplay is Closed! Sorry!

Overview
As the Battle for Viola City has ended and troops everywhere are recovering Zero decides that it is time that the team look into the third army and where they are based. As Zero and the Shadow Legion journey further into the outskirts of town they find the vicious wildlife, the ruins of some ancient culture, and the man who has been pulling strings for both sides to be fighting against one another, The Jester.

Participants
NeoExlucky

Zapor888

MaverickHunterSig--RYUUJIN NO KEN O KURAE

Timesmashaperil

Characters
Zero Evol (Neo)

Knave Veron (Neo)

Eliza Hamilton (Neo)

Sedna the Rat (Neo)

The Jester (Neo)

Wildlife (Neo)

Vex Robotics (Neo)

Lexi the Hedgehog (Zapor)

Nemi Harper Fay (MHS)

Natalie Alister (MHS) (Probably.)

"The woman who will strike you down." (MHS)

"The assassin split between heroics and self interests." -Saren

That Lawyer Person Who's Always Late For Everything (Time)

Christina the HedgeCat (Piano)

Part 1 (A): Living for another Day
As all of the troops came back to the main street, they found that the reinforcements for the rebellion had arrived, and had set up a village of sorts consisting of tables lined with food, and tents scattered all over, some holding medicines, others being empty, and some containing weapons and armor. A station of sorts stood as a place where Rune Knights could recharge their powers. Everything here seemed calm, almost friendly.

Zero sat at a table alongside Knave as the rest of the Shadow Legion, exluding Saren, arrived back in town. "So what happened out there?" Zero asked. "To everyone?"

"Well, I found the princess, we said some stuff, got captured, saved Grapes and Kala, talked with the princess, she said Zapor wasn't iced, and we sorta formed an alliance." Lexi told him. She then dropped the dragon to the ground. "We also got this guy."

"And...who is that?" Zero asked.

"Wait, you formed an alliance with the enemy?" Knave asked. "How?"

"Well, this is one of the princess's brothers. We knocked him out before he could execute anyone." Lexi said, pointing at the dragon on the floor. "And Aqua said she knew about the third side, and her part of the army wkuld help us take them down."

"The third army..." Knave muttered.

"Besides Tenor and Soprano, did anyone else run into anyone part of the third army?" Zero asked.

"I didn't." Lexi answered.

Sedna, the small wiry rat girl came forward dragging Alto with her, somehow she managed to identify Zero and Knave and threw the girl in front of group, with Clock and Nemi behind her.

Nemi was telekinetically dragging Alto's blade behind her. "...We need her to start talking. Now."

"And...who are you?" Knave asked, with Zero standing up looking from Alto, to Sedna, to Nemi.

"My name is... wait, my mom never told you guys anything about me?" Nemi put her hands on her hips, looking a bit concerned. "...Anyway, it's Nemi Fay. I'm here on OmegaCorp's behalf... sort of."

"Fay?" Zero asked. "You're related to Ciel then?"

"Of course. She's, uhh... having a bit of a problem right now, though..." Nemi replied, looking down.

"I'm Sedna." The rat girl said. "I'm a...uh..."

"A...?" Zero asked.

"She's a dragon." Knave muttered. "Or at least, the reincarnation of one."

"Yep!" Clock-Watch replied. His jacket was covered in dirt, and torn in a couple of places. His hair as well, it was quite messier than usual, and had dirt caked on it in various places. It seemed he must have gotten into some sort of fight earlier. "I ran into all of these guys during a bit of investigating. Well, I only met Sedna. I encountered the others on my way back, when she kinda tried to murder me and both of these guys." He continued, pointing at Alto.

Nemi levitated the blade toward the group, out of Alto's reach of course. "Maybe you might want to check this out."

Knave picked up the blade with ease. "It's a runic focus."

"A what?" Zero asked.

"Runic knights require a focus to use Glyphs, often times we have them installed within our weapons so that we can have an easier way of carrying them around." Knave explained. "I keep mine in my clothes."

"Wonderful." Zero noted, clearly unimpressed. He walked over to Alto, grabbing her by her hair and pulling her up to meet his face. "Where are your 'friends' hiding?" Spill."

Alto replied with nothing.

"Where's your mother?" Knave asked Nemi.

"She could get her to talk." Zero noted, throwing Alto to the ground. "Or Neo..."

"Ciel?" Nemi asked. "Oh, uhh... s-she's around."

...Well, there would be locks and chains appearing in front of Nemi after that statement, but quite frankly it wouldn't take a detective to figure out that she was withholding information. And that she was terrible at hiding it.

Zero blinked, not being able to see any of the locks and chains, that would have to be something Clock would look into later. Though Zero knew that something was going on. "Right...anyway." Zero picked Alto up and threw her down in the seat next to Knave. "Spill."

Knave picked his sword up and smashed it down onto Alto's blade, shattering it. "You'd better start talking. You have no way to fight back anymore."

Alto gave a deep sigh and lifted her head with a grin. "It doesn't really matter. You're not going ot have a chance to fight against Conquest."

"And what would that be?" Zero asked.

"Conquest? Only the destruction of both the government and the rebellion!" Alto spouted. "Not even your scythe guy could stop him, and he seemed like the strongest one here!"

Zero, unsure if she was talking about himself or Saren paused for a moment. "You mean the Jester?"

"And he's only a pawn compared to the Emperor! Just wait until you meet him and you won't stand a chance!" Alto said.

"Big talk, coming from someone who's never faced someone from Id Lux Ultima before." An unfamiliar voice was heard nearby, belonging to an approaching lynx. She was dressed in a modified sneaking suit, the top half of her face being obscured by a thick, black-and-gold hood. There was also something very off about her... the mere sight of her was enough to send chills down one's spine. "We're OmegaCorp's first and final response to every crisis that develops on the planet, and have ended more conflicts than any other registered PMC. Now tell me this, have you really never heard of us? Or are you that big of a moron to think that OmegaCorp wouldn't send us in?"

Alto grinned. "We know exactly who all of you are. Look around, tell me who's missing?" Alto laughed.

"Alright then, tell me. If you know so much about us, then why do you suppose we're the only ones allowed to operate as individuals?" Natalie hissed. "You can't even begin to fathom what one of us alone is capable of."

"You ever heard of these guys?" Zero asked, partially trying to ignore the newcomer who he believed to be some sort of soldier from the rebellion.

"Yeah." Knave noted. "But there's not really much to go on. Except for a handful of reports..."

"Conquest is a cult." Sedna brought up. "They're an organization who choose to believe in a diety besides the two dragons, and is considered to be the anti version of the red and blue dragon religions.They're known for worshipping random ruins found around the country and constantly defacing anything to do with the red or blue dragons. They don't even have names, they give those up to call each other by their titles, which makes me really question her name."

"Ruins?" Zero asked. "Like what?"

"Well nothing to bad, just like some old castles or whatever, not anything we keep up with." Knave sighed. "In fact the reports show that these castles didn't even start appearing around here, until about a year or so ago, where they just sort of...teleported in."

A flash of understanding washed over Zero's eyes. "Just like Wayward Castle..."

(Oh that's right, I'm terrible at making entrances. Sorry. -MHS)

"Umm... d-do you suppose there's any relation to the Remnants of the Scythe?" Nemi asked. She must have been looking over Ciel's notes at one point, but not enough to fully grasp the situation.

"I was thinking the exact same thing." Zero nodded, looking over again towards the new figure, and tried to remain as brave as he was, though a visable shiver went down his spine as he looked again. Something about the soldier made him feel, off. Almost like he should be scared of her, though he never would admit it. "So, Tall, Dark, and spooky, you want to come j-join the r-rest of us?" His voice trembled near the end, but for the most part he remained rather composed.

"Well, that's why I'm here, isn't it?" Natalie replied. A smirk briefly appeared on her face as she passed by Alto. She loomed over Zero for a moment. "...I'm sorry, am I scaring you? I understand if you're afraid, but maybe that'll change after I show Conquest just what they're dealing with, here."

Natalie Alister. Formerly a vigilante serial killer who exclusively targeted other murderers to appease her "Dark Passenger", now employed as OmegaCorp's deadliest assassin. Although, being the Aspect of Terror probably makes it difficult for people to get used to her...

Christina walked in upon what is just happening right now. She decides to hide the knife, that she successfully kept from her fight with Tenor, in her scarf in a position that would not stab her, with the sharp end facing outward.

Zero recognized the name Natalie Alister. He recalled reading about her when he and Neo fought the Necromancer. Another chill shot down his spine, and his face washed over with sadness. That was when his sister was killed and turned into those...things. He remembered the stench of necromancy, and the rage he felt of his sister being taken away from him, leaving him all alone. He opened his mouth to say something to Natalie, but the thought of Dusk overtook his mind, and what was originally going to come out as something he hope Neo would have said then, came out as a short, saddened sigh.

Knave however didn't recognize the name. "Can you fight?" Was the first thing he asked. "I mean, you look scary, yeah, but looking like a fighter and being a fighter are two different things. Like shrimpie looks like a little girl, but she's actually a dragon."

"Shrimpie?" Sedna asked. "Are...you talking about me?"

"Anyway." Zero interrupted. "Yes, she can fight. Now, if we could get back to interrogating our target."

"And what could you do to make me talk?" Alto asked, her grin still giant.

"Well," Zero started. "Just so happens we have a pyromancer here and most of the rebellion brought steel chairs. We could put you on one of those, have Sedna get under it and just start blowing fire. Fire and steel...well, they don't quite go together."

"...That actually sounds like a great idea. Let's watch and see what happens." Natalie said, kicking up a chair and sitting on it... backwards.

"Erm... r-right, I'll go get one..." Nemi said, darting off in a direction. She seemed to be looking for an excuse to get away from the situation... she just wasn't very good around people.

"Thus, the steel chair effect begins." Lexi said to herself.

"W-wait." Alto began, realizing that they meant what they said. "A-alright, I'll talk."

"Good." Zero said. "Where is Conquest?"

"Conquest is outside of the town..." Alto began. "They're out in the forest, past the shadow alter. There's another set of ruins down there, that's where they are hiding."

"Well, we've got what we needed. Let's head out. And leave the kid here," Natalie said, referring to Nemi. "She's not even supposed to be a part of this operation... besides, someone's gotta watch the prisoner."

"We could take her with us." Knave noted. "It's not like we aren't taking other children with us and we could see about Delta or Kala keeping her."

"What do you want to do, Nemi?" Zero asked.

"I helped bring her here, I think I have as much of a right to battle as anyone else here." Nemi argued.

"Well, I can't really argue with that." Zero noted. "Knave grab Delta and make sure she watches her."

"Got it." Knave nodded and left.

"Anything else you can tell us about Conquest?" Zero asked.

"The jester isn't the only commander there." Alto offered.

Zero squinted his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"The jester is strong, but he is the weakest general we have, there are three others, all stronger than him!" Alto sputtered.

"Good, then I guess that means that they won't bore me to death." Natalie scoffed.

"That's what you think! Just wait until Rook finds you, then you're going to wind up dead!" Alto laughed.

"Whatever." Zero rolled his eyes at her words, though he knew that if these generals were any stronger than Jester, then they were going to have a problem.

Knave returned with Delta, who had kept her cane unsheathed. "I'll see if I can get anymore information out of her."

Knave gave Christina a strange look. "Hey Blondie, you know anything about a prism crystal or something?"

"You know how to contact us if you find anything, right?" Nemi asked Delta.

Christina looked at him, "The Crystal Prism? What about it?" She asked Knave.

Delta nodded and using the dice in the hilt of her blade, she pulled a screen up showing a map of the area and everything nearby. "I can contact everyone from my screen using sound manipulation with the dice."

"Good girl. Keep the place nice and quiet while we're gone." Natalie said.

Knave held the Crystal Prisim out to Christina. "One of our scouts found this with a charred black coat. That Treasure girl mentioned it's name before she took off."

Christina looked down at it, "It's been a while since I've seen this." Christina grabbed the prism. Everything looks normal, so it's not a bomb this time.

The crystal glowed with the seven colors of a rainbow. Having knowledge of it previously, Christina would know that this crystal shined with colors connected to emotions. Red was anger, orange was love, yellow was joy, green was disgust, blue was sadness, indigo was compassion, and violet was fear. The crystal shined the color that the person connected to it was feeling. In this case, Neo was the one connected to it, and violet was the color shining brightest. It was clear was Neo was feeling right now. However, the other colors could be used to track Neo down as they would shine brighter the closer they got to Neo.

Christina saw the violet color. Suddenly, now she felt connected to it. "This must be about Neo." Christina told the group, "Neo's afraid. Deathly afraid. Terrified. I was able to read these colors, and violet means fear. The other colors look really dim, but this would be a great idea to keep track of how closer we were to freeing him. Somehow the colors are dim but I know that once they become even more brighter and vibrant, that means we're getting closer!"

"Then that makes you the most qualified to lead the way, whoever you are..." Natalie trailed off.

"Christina Transon." Nemi said.

"Thank you--Christina, if Conquest is holding Neo, you'll need to lead us to the ruins that they're operating in. So, it's really important that you stay close to us at all times." Natalie stated, walking to the side of her.

"You can save Neo?" Zero asked.

"Who's that?" Sedna asked.

"I think he was like, their leader or something..." Knave said. "I only got to read their dossier for a little while."

"If we can save Neo, than we..." Zero stopped and turned around, very quickly pulling the blade of his scythe at Alto's neck. "Where are they keeping Neo?"

"Who?"

"Green fox, black clothes, big ego, thinks he's great at everything." Zero said coldly.

Alto gulped. "Uh..." She said. "He's here...he's in a ...uh...part of the ruins."

Delta was looking over with her map. "There are a lot of people in the ruins." She noted. "But...I'm picking someone who's heart rate is a lot different then anyone else's. I think that's him!"

"Then we go." Zero said. "Christina, lead the way."

Lexi wanted to ask about where Yreazure may have went, but stayed silent about it.

Part 1 (B): Wisdom, Valor, Greed, Wrath
Saren found himself still with Wisdom at her glass pedestal. The new path teemed with life but looking at it, for some reason, gave the feeling of a pit in one's stomach. It was certainly not pleasent to look at, which made no sense as it looked like the other stained glass paths that had been seen. Wisdom opened her book once more and continued to read, and spoke almost as if she were reading it from the book. "You have the wisdom and courage to be a hero, you realize this fact. Everyone see's it, regular people think you are, yet you will not submit to it's will..." She muttered.

"Because I'm only in this for money! Jeeze! Why should I submit to what other people think of me anyways!?" Saren retorted.

"Why?" Wisdom asked. "Well I can tell you plenty of reasons why, but that would be time wasting, now wouldn't it?" She scoffed. "Give it time, Mortal, you will learn why you need to be a hero soon. Now go further, you have a battle awaiting you."

"Yeah yeah, now let's get this show on the road.." Saren sighed.

The next area featured a new face, this spirit glowed brigh red and held a giant sword in his hands as he kept smashing it against a training dummy, constantly attacking his target with a variety of tricks, styles, and techniques. The new stained glass was patterened with a several different creatures which were very difficult to identify, but a clear dark aura was coming from them. Something about the aura seemed strange, almost familiar. The figure looked up and placed his blade on his shoulder. "Well look who decided to show up."

"Yeah yeah, let's get this over with so I can go back to doing whatever the hell I feel like and getting paid while doing so." Saren sighed. "Wrath is it?"

The spirit smirked. "You got it. So, why are you here, mortal?  Near-death experience? Devestating Trauma? Tried to learn something out of your reach?"

"Does eating a ball of pure light to acquire new power to fight a new foe count as any of the three?" Saren asked with the sort of smirk that just made him look like an ass.

"This isn't some joke right now." Wrath spat.at Saren. "You tried to use the power of light in order to stop someone. Your shadows were strong enough, why did you think you needed light as well?"

"Because there is no such thing as too much power, it's the same with money.. And if you're the aspect of my wrath than you'd have an inkling as to the reason I would even go so far for extra power.. But just in case you haven't figured it out yet, it's because there is no kill like overkill, and I don't want to simply defeat them, I want to utterly crush them. If that means I have to ingest some weird ass lightbulb and prevent four supposed virtues from killing me than guess what? I will!"

Saren started snickering, slowly getting more and more serious as he explained his motives.

"Clearly you're not thinking at all, dumbass." Wrath told him. "If you died, we would die to, clearly it's not our intent to kill you. Valor's just stupid enough to think that he could try. You wouldn't even be here with us, if you hadn't eaten the dumb light anyways." He cleared his throat. "I know your goals, to become the most powerful being in the world, kill anyone who stands in your way, but I wonder if your seeing the whole picture here, or if maybe your time playing hero left you soft. You know what needs to happen after you kill the Jester. You need to kill the Mythic Knights. They're only going to get more powerful from here on out, and if anyone in this entire world could stop you, it would be them, kill them now and they'll never have a chance to stomp you out of existence."

"Hm.. Can't have that now can I..?" Saren mused. "And you are a part of me, so you should already know if I'm getting soft jackass."

"It's true." Wrath glowered. "And it's true that you're getting soft right now. Let's see how much Wrath you really have." A part of the glass floor closer to the edge of the abyss began to change color as Neo appeared on the glass. He looked very realistic, every detail was down, but looking at the eyes, it was clear that it wasn't him. Wrath gave a hearty chuckle. "Take your scythe and slice right through him. Show me how much Wrath you have."

(Tales Decision: Attack Neo, or attack Wrath.)

"Easy.." Saren swung the scythe in a decapitating arc at Neo.

The swing shattered Neo's entire body, it appeared as though Neo was made out of glas, and his shards were scattered everywhere. The glass pillar gave a slight tremble but all was well a second later.

"Keep going.' Wrath noted, giving a glass copy of Fey this time. "Kill her."

(Tales Decision: Attack Fey, or attack Wrath)

"Hm...? Don't you think it'd make more sense if they were the real deal?" Saren asked as he cut the fake down with practiced ease.

"I cannot summon them here, I am no god." Wrath noted as Fey shattered. "For now, I require you to prove your wrath once more." More glass figures appeared, this time Zapor and Eliza were both presented for Saren to decide what to do.

Saren smirked, cutting zapor down. "Hm.. Eliza wouldn't stand against me.. In fact she would be useful so I see no reason to direct my wrath onto her.."

The glass Eliza looked different then the others, her eyes were not the same as anyone else's thus far.

"She will stand against you. She holds a virtue you do not. Honor. You had her pledge herself to the Mythic Knights, and she'll find anyway she can to hold that. Now, end her!" Wrath commanded.

(Tales Decision: Attack Eliza, or do not)

"Honor.. Now that does make things annoying.. Very well." He brought his scythe up to bear in a downward slash.

And immedietly the scythe bounced off Eliza, not doing a single hint of damage to her.

"Huh?"

Wrath placed his hand onto Saren's shoulder.

But it wasn't a hand.

A gruesome mix of claw and tentacle gripped itself onto Saren's shoulder. A cold aura very quickly overcame the area, as Wrath drew closer, his hot steamy breath reffuled itself into Saren's ear. "Kill her now." He whispered, but not in the egging that he did before, this was calm, almost as if it were trying to tempt Saren.

Eliza didn't move, didn't change, didn't do anything, her glass statue simply stayed.

"..... If I must.." Saren muttered, going to swing his scythe at her neck.

The scythe once again bounced off of Eliza, vibrating again.

The tentacle-claw hybrid gripped Saren's shoulder harder than before, but he said nothing.

"Why won't you die!?" He shouted, getting irritated as he swung the scythe harder and harder at the glass figure of Eliza.

No matter how hard Saren swung the scythe continued to bounce off of the glass. "Saren..." A faint familiar voice said. "Turn around..."

"Do not let him fool you, my child, his gifts are tricks to have you serve him." Another familiar voice spoke.

Saren turned around. "Eh..?"

The claw-tentacle hybrid continued it's grip on Saren's shoulder, the figure itself was something awful. He towered over Saren, being somewhere around 9-11 feet, his face was shrouded behind a hood, but tentacles could be seen coming out, his body was covered in tattered robes, his feet were something similar to hooves, though they were sharp and jagged. His hand, or whatever it could be called, oozed a strange goop that felt familiar to Saren, like blood but black.

Black Blood.

He was absolutly terrifying for any normal person. His form gave off waves of fear, just glancing at him caused one's mind to scream in agony, his oozing liquid instilled nasuea, the scent of body burning, death, and something wretched could make anyone gag. Yet as he oozed disgust and fear, and madness, he radiated power. Not just physical strength, but mental and kinetic strength to. Two things were made very clear in this short instance of only looking at him. He could kill Saren at any time he wanted, and he could grant Saren the power of the universe.

"Hello Mobian." He spoke, causing one to wince in fear. His voice was a variety of different pitches, almost different voice, but a low bassy voice was most prominent. "You have crossed paths with the spirit of destruction, you may simply refer to me as Destruction, milord, or perhaps, uncle, is the proper term." He gave something similar to a laugh.

"So what warrants this meeting? Uncle was it?" Saren asked, straight to the point.

"You are the kinetic child of my traitorous brother." He hand tightened it's hold on Saren's shoulder, nearly breaking his bone. "To kill you would be of great amusement for myself, but..." He grip loosened. "You were not around for my brother's betrayal, and you do not know of what it has done, perhaps, it would be unfair to punish you for what they did to me..."

The more he stared at Saren, the more reality around Saren began to distort. "You are strong and wise and will make an excellent enemy to lose to my demons...or you can join the winning team." Destruction offered his hand to Saren. "I offer you the power of Black Blood, with this unholy gift, you may destroy those who stand in your way. Anyone who dares to defy you, any mortal, that is. All I ask, is that when the war comes, you will fight against those who stand in my way. The Mythic Knights...slaughter all of them."

(Tales Decision: Betray the Elemental Spirit of Shadow, Eliza, The Mythic Knights, and the current world, and accept Destruction's Dark offer, or, decline Destruction's offer and give up any hope for obtaining his power.)

Now this was something Saren had trouble thinking about, sure he craved money but he did have a few friends, and his scythe taught him some useful things. So he was quite hesitant on betraying them, on the other hand this entity was offering him unholy magicks to crush his foes. But the price might've been too steep.

"Holy hell..." Saren muttered. "But.. Would any of them take the same offer in a heartbeat, just to get rid of me?" Saren asked himself.

Whether it be the insanity destruction caused around him or perhaps the world in between at work, several voice began to speak in Saren's head.

"You are valorous, honroable, you do not need this thing's help, mortal." Valor spoke

"I thought you didn't like Traitors...." Wisdom put bluntly.

"You're my friend." Neo noted genuinely. "I care about you."

"Being a hero," Fey began. "It's not going to pay you in beer and money, but it will pay you in a lot of other ways, maybe even in the form of treasure! I...don't know...I just want you to be happy...and I think you can if you were a Mythic Knight..."

"I don't even know what it is..." Zero said sadly. "But so far it has been nothing but trouble for anyone,"

"I look up to you." Echo voiced. "Please don't do this..."

"If you take this, you'll be the next version of my dad." Delta chided. "I believe in you to be better than that!"

"If I can gain satisfaction from the Mythic Knights, then you can gain it in not taking this offer." Eliza told him.

"Taking Destruction's offer is nothing but a death sentence." The scythe said. "You cannot take it."

Then the other voices spoke.

"You'll still kill people either way." Kala scoffed. "What does it matter if you take it."

"I'll find a way to stop it no matter what." Celia said coldly. "Take it or not, I'll find a way to kill you."

"This is the easiest choice in the world, and you're questioning it?" Leah asked.

"You'll be just like me." Era voiced.

"Of course you'd be the one to take it..." Apollo noted.

"in this world it's kill or be killed." Wrath said harshly. "You take it, and no one can stop you!"

Suddenly reality snapped back, Destruction still offering his hand. "Well, Saren Arcturas?"

"Fine.. It's like they say.. Taking your offer is a death sentence, but I'm already a dead man walking.. This world needs to burn Anyways." He tossed away the scythe and took Destruction's hand.

The shook hands and for a second unlimted pwoer coursed through Saren's veins, power to take on anyone, now Jester was just a drop in the ocean of people he could kill, power surged, strength multiplied, everything became so much stronger.

And all to quickly it was taken away. All of it. Saren's power was drained from his body in this oath. Destruction gripped tighter, digging the claw parts of his hand into Saren's skill, drawing blood onto the glass, as power was drained from him. More than he was given. "Oh little Mobian. You are so easy to trick." Destruction said harshly. "What was the term you used? You despise Traitors? Let's see how the knight react to you now as the very thing you hate."

It was Saren's greed that led to his fall. Litteraly, the glass shattered, and Saren fell into the dark abyss below. For a long, long time.

Part 2 (A): The Ruins
Opening into the forest, and past a small shack, the Shadow Legion found themselves led into a series of strange looking, gnarly trees, with stone pillars every once in a while, but no buidling. The cystal though, began to shine more brightly as they continued on.

"Man, what a dump... maybe a bit of their blood on the walls might spruce this place up." Natalie commented.

A sweat dropped from Lexi's head. "Right...gonna keep that in mind."

"Someone has to die, that's for sure." Zero noted. "Neo's been gone for how long now? At least five days? He's probably been tortured ever since he first got captured."

"Do we even know if he's alive?" Knave asked. "Like, what does the crystal do when he's dead?"

"I would assume that it wouldn't react at all..." Nemi said.

Natalie looked down at the ground. There was a thin layer of fog around their feet. "Ngggh... watch your step, people."

"What is that?" Sedna asked.

"Huh?" Nemi looked at Sedna inquisitively.

"I thought I..." Sedna trailed off. "Nothing..."

Nemi's ears flicked as she heard a twig snap. "W-was that any of you?"

"I thought that was what I heard." Sedna growled.

Zero quickly drew his scythe. "Christina, you, Lexi, and Knave should go after Neo."

A familiar figure dropped down onto the ground, holding his giant axe behind his head, he grinned at the group. "Well Hello!" He laughed. "I didn't know that you made house calls!"

"Is that him? This so-called 'Jester'?" Natalie asked Zero.

The fog slowly began to grow thicker.

"Yeah..." Zero gruffed. "That's him..."

The jester cackled maniacally.

"Zero, please please stay safe!" Christina told him, "I wish you the best of luck, we can't lose another one! Come on guys, let's go find Neo." And with that, Christina lead Knave and Lexi to go find her cousin.

"Well... this ought to be fun." Natalie grinned, drawing her knives. "Come on, you little shit. Play with me."

The fog was up to their waists now.

"This fog is getting rather thick... what the heck is going on?!" Nemi trembled a bit.

The jester's ears twitched, and he looked around. "Come and find me fox!" He shouted out into the open and ran off into the forest, but not before having a gang of five people in clown masks and joker outfits surround the legion.

"Let him go." Zero noted. "We have other people to deal with."

"Gladly." Natalie still had a huge grin on her face. The ground began to tremble a bit. "Restriction 666 Released, Dimensional Interference Field Deployed! Code S.O.L...."

The ground stopped shaking. "Wait, that's not the right incantation. Let's try that again..." The shaking resumed. "Aspect of Terror, heed my call! Awaken, Octavus Serpentum: Orochi!"

A green ring surrounded Natalie, and the image of what appeared to be eight serpent heads flashed behind her for a brief moment.

The joker's only laughed coming closer to the group.

Sedna gave a growl at them, fire beginning to burn from her mouth.

Zero held his scythe up high, waiting for someone to make the first strike.

Natalie whipped out Orochi, tossing it at one of the jokers. It snapped onto them, allowing her to pull herself toward them using its chain. She slashed down their chest using both knives.

Another Joker came up on Zero, sending a sword downwards that he mentioned to push back and slice with his blade.

After both of them fell, two more Joker's appeared.

(I believe you mean Zero, Neo. Or did you actually mean for Saren to be at that location? -MHS)

(Nope, meant Zero, I don't know what's wrong with me today. XD -Neo)

Natalie buried her knife into another joker, kicking them upward as they tried to retaliate with their sword.

Nemi was having trouble with one of the jokers that attacked her, fighting them off with a psychokinetic blade and trying to blast them backwards.

Sedna hurled a fireball at one of them, but as they kept falling more kept arriving. They were never ending.

A scythe imbued with a hint was tossed at a group of jokers. "Come on asshats.. I've had a shit day and you all volunteered for stress relief!!" A familiar Lynx shouted as he went to tackle the nearest joker.

"Well look who decided to show up." Natalie lunged forward, transforming into a phantasmal snake and dashing through more of the jokers, cutting straight through them.

"Can it lady! I don't want to hear it right now!" Saren growled, having jammed his thumbs into the eyeholes of the one he tackled.

He got up and retrieved his scythe, avoiding a slash and kicking the offending copy in the knee cap before jabbing another in the throat.

"What? I just wanted to know what took ya so long! I can't kill these things by myself... as much as I'd like to." Natalie remarked. It was... somewhat encouraging.

"Just cover your eyes.." Saren replied as he closed his eyes, trying to channel his heliokinesis in the form of a bright flashing light to temporarily blind anyone who didn't close their eyes when the light flashed.

More of the Joker's began to focus their attention on Saren as he moved closer, though they were all blinded by the light he was able to use.

Sedna thought nothing of it, not knowing Saren before this, and simply did as she was told.

Zero though used the shadows as a shield for his eyes, in a similar form of sun glasses, and witnessed Saren using light. He felt something odd in Saren when he first arrived, but having heliokinesis couldn't have been the only thing different. On that note though, how did Saren have Heliokinesis? Zero studied all forms of combat in school, and he knew that you are born with the kinesis you have all your life. The only way to gain more elements is to use magic, but that wasn't magic! What did Saren do?

Natalie simply pulled her hood down to avoid being blinded... she didn't know Saren from the start, therefore she thought nothing of his use of the light. Maybe. I don't know.

Nemi was turned away from Saren, however. She hadn't covered her eyes, but would she have been blinded by the light?

Nemi probably wouldn't have been blinded, though the jester copies might've.

The copies all struggled to regain sight, as they seemed to be grabbing their eyes and wincing in some form of pain.

"They're weak to light." The scythe noticed.

"Huh, well whaddya know." Natalie said, casually burying her knife in a copy's throat.

Saren blinked, then smirked as he tried willing thin arrows of light into existence before firing them at the copies. "Ahhhh, stress relief."

The arrows did as they were told, creating finely turned arrows making their marks against every joker before more arrived. It seemed that controlling light was roughly similar to controlling shadows, as everything bent to his will in the same ways he bent the shadows. The difference though was the feelings that came from using light. Unlike the shadows, which were a comfortable pit of acceptance, the light left a lingering Tranquility which pushed towards feelings of joy. It was easy to see how someone could be blinded by using light, how zealots could justify their actions with light rather than shadow, these feelings were strong, yet easily ignorable.

Ignoring things was something Saren has proved quite adept in over and over, so he found it quite easy to ignore the feelings of tranquility as he focused more on his pent up anger and hatred both towards himself and the jester copies. Spamming more and more arrows that kept growing in size as he used them. "Come on..! Get some you pit wankers!!"

A volley of golden arrows was released, each arrow hitting copies, and when those copies made copies, they were shot down as well, an endless supply of arrows killed the endless supply of copies, until one detailed arrow of light, longer than the other ones hit the ground and arc out, creating a chain of light hitting black puddles of blood, previously unseen by the group. The arrow seemed to purify the land, clearing up those areas of the gunk, and stopping anymore jokers from appearing.

Zero stood up with his scythe, and looked at Saren. "So..." He started. "How did you get light?"

"Great story actually," Eliza noted, dropping onto the ground next to Saren. "Let's let him tell it."

(Tales decision for Saren only, Tell what happened (Omitting anything incriminating) or, tell the whole truth)

"Screw it, my day can't get any more craptastic... So why not explain the entire damned story.." Saren muttered, choosing to tell the full truth, not a lie, not a half truth. But the full truth, including the incriminating parts."

"Basically I had to go through some weird ass trip through the mind, dealing with my virtuous and sinful aspects.. Wrath had me smash fakes of you guys. Something I did with no remorse because it was obvious they were fakes.. Then I met destruction, aaaand I let my greed get the better of me and sacrificed everything that supposedly mattered to me for power.. Course he conned me, so I lost my shadow powers in favor of these light powers..."

"So..." Zero noted. "You tried to kill us, huh?"

"What he didn't bother to tell you," Eliza said. "Was how he looked when he was doing it, sure looked like he enjoyed killing them, Wrath even mentioned that he would have to kill us since we would get in his way, and he agreed that he 'couldn't have that'."

"It should also be known," The scythe quickly said. "That he was being manipulated, we don't really know how much was him, and how much was Destruction..."

"Well," Zero started. "I..." He didn't seem to know what to say at this point. "Fey would focus on the protection of this group and Neo would focus on furthering the group's progress on escaping, I don't really know what to say..."

"Does it honestly matter?" Sedna asked. "I mean, he was with a guy named Wrath, lost in some place made of darkness, and later found himself talking with someone named Destruction. He knew they were fakes, and maybe he thought he couldn't beat them, I don't know." She paused and gave Saren a strange look. "I'm willing to bet that he has plenty of reason to be upset." The way she worded it, it might seem normal to the rest of group, but the way she looked at Saren while saying it, it gave the impression that she knew something about Saren the others did not.

Saren looked at Sedna with a curious glance. 'Just what do you know woman...?' He thought to himself.

Natalie stayed silent, because honestly she didn't know shit about Saren besides what she's already seen.

"...I suppose." Zero noted. "At least for now." He looked around for a moment. "So, the only one who knows where Neo is, is Christina and she's gone now. So...now what are we supposed to do?"

"Judging from the tracks," Eliza started. "We could go find them, or..." She pointed in a different direction. "There are really old tracks headed that way. It looks to be where more Ruins are."

"You heard what the twerp said earlier. There's more than one asshole leading Conquest... do you think they can handle themselves down there?" Natalie asked. It should be noted that the feeling of dread that emanated from her has since faded away, along with the green ring surrounding her.

"But wait... isn't there someone else we're supposed to be looking for?" Nemi chimed in.

Saren stayed silent, having nothing to offer to this.

"They'll be fine." Zero noted. "There's Fey, but we don't really have anyway to find her. If we had Neo, we could find her just fine, though."

"I get the feeling there is something really bad out there." Sedna noted. "Is everyone sure they're ready?"

"Just let me know when you want me to unleash Orochi again. I was barely scratching the surface of its capabilities." Natalie boasted.

"..." Nemi stayed silent.

Zero nodded at Natalie and led the group further into the woods. They happened to find several different sets of ruins; towers, gates, houses, oddly enough, everything was preserved exceptionally well. It looked as if these buildings were just built today, if it wasn't for the clearly ancient architecture. it could have easily been mistaken as such.

Speaking of the architecture, that was the other thing interesting about it, these buildings didn't look like anything seen before. Traces of it were clearly found at Wayward Castle, but they were not the same style. A building there, which appeared to be an old form of a theater was clear, but some of the other buildings didn't. One building appeared to be only halls, and for some reason was very tempting to enter. On the inside were carvings, clearly ancient, all of which was written in Draconic, a language only spoken by Kala and dragons, sadly no longer practiced.

Sedna looked over the carvings. "Natalie, did you happen to inherit Orochi?" She asked, out of the blue.

"What do you mean by, 'inherit'? Like a family heirloom?" Natalie asked. "Because it ain't. You could say... it was a gift."

"It must be ancient." Sedna noted.

"What do you mean?" Zero asked.

"This wall here." She noted. "It's telling a story. It says here that there were a group of people who existed long ago, who helped the people who build their land defend against something known as...Vex. One of the people listed is...Ophiuchus, serpent bearer. There's a couple of them. Star crossed lovers, the reaper, the weapon, the exclipse, witchdoctor, it goes on, but I can't really read it..."

Luckily, Delta spoke up quickly. "Luckily, I've been watching." She noted.

"Let me see." Kala noted. "It's not exactly a story, it's a timeline, going over a group of people, known as...the word is Thal-salas, which doesn't really have a translation in Common, but it could be taken as people who hold the seven holy virtues. Bravery, Persistence, Integrity, paitence, kindness, justice, and conscience."

"What does the timeline say?" Zero noted.

"It says that Thal-salas was plauged by souls, then there was some form of war, disease spread, a word that means something like Necromancer in common came, then something that is sort of a mix between death and blood, quantinu, or quantum comes next, and then..." Kala paused while trying to read the next word.

Natalie appeared to be sort of stuck on this whole "seven holy virtues" thing... there were six Aspects of the Goddess, including her and Masako, so it couldn't possibly involve her in some way, right?

(A bit of my continuum's lore, sorry. -MHS)

"What's wrong?" Zero asked.

"This next word is Verintorium, directly translated, it means moonlight in Common, but...that's not what it's referring to in this timeline." Kala noted.

"What does it mean then?" Sedna questioned.

"A long time, when mobians first began to walk the earth, there was a group known as Thas-salas, a team consisting of seven members who each represented one of the Holy Virtues, they protected mobians from all manner of beasts and were known as heroes. In fact they were so legendary that an ancient mobian title, Thas-salas, was given to groups of people who performed a great feat, so the people the timeline is about, are not the same group. When the original team disappeared though, it was said that all Thasintorium, or sunlight, disappeared from the world and they were nearly pushed to extinction. Due to the disappearence of their supernatural guardians, something had to be done, and the first mobian army was created out of normal mobians, they became known as Verintorium, or moonlight, and they saved the mobian people with no powers to speak of. It started a legend, where many people began to believe that gods, power, royalty, they came from the sun, but dedication, perserverence, and true strength, came from the moon." Kala explained.

"So what's that got to do with the timeline?" Zero asked.

"They are referring to an army that should no longer exist in this time." Kala said. "These ruins can't be older than I am, but Moonlight died out millenia before I was spawned, meaning they cannot exist at this timeframe."

"Temporal shenanigans.... Fffffffffffffff I can't do it..." Saren muttered. "Now the question is why they're here?"

"That part, I don't know." Kala noted. "The timeline doesn't mention anything after Moonlight."

The sound of something shattering echoed through the building.

Natalie's tail thrashed. "...I'm not the only one who heard that, am I?"

Clock turned towards the noise, his hand instinctively reaching towards his sword. "No, I heard it too."

"We may have a fight on our hands.." Saren muttered, readying his weapon.

Zero turned around. "Oh great...more batshit crazy cultists..."

There was silence for a bit before the strangest thing rolled towards the group. A bolt, covered in oil.

"Well." Clock tilted his head, and looked at the object for a while. "That's a bit of an anticlimax."

Saren looked at Clock. "I bet you five bucks that something caused that bolt to roll, and that something is probably going to jump out at us like in a shitty horror flick."

"That just seems so weird, though..." Nemi commented. Suddenly, her ears perked up. "...What do you think that bolt was holding...?"

"Who knows, maybe some cool ancient weapon or some eon's old prisoner?" Saren responded.

"I don't think anyone is going to be alive after all those years." Zero noted.

"I'm not getting any life signs..." Delta said. "Did one of you, bump into a wall maybe? No one is around for almost a mile, except for you guys."

Part 2 (B): A Traitor's Life
Saren found himself now, back in world of the living. Eliza stood away from Saren not bothering to look at him at all, while the scythe lay next to Saren on the floor. "7000 years." He noted harshly. "I've been on this planet for 7000 years and not once have I ever seen a bigger idiot than the one I am staring at now! I told you from the start to never accept his offer, it was obvious he was tricking you, I even tried to pry you out, I warned you that I was getting you out of there when Eliza couldn't be shattered, and you still did it!"

"Thanks for trying to break me by the way." Eliza scoffed at Saren. "Felt real good to know how much you want to kill me."

"And do you want to know the best part?" The scythe asked. "Guess what he took away from you? Say goodbye to your best skill ever, you're no longer an umbrakinetic."

"......" Saren was silent for a few moments. "Live and learn I suppose, sides it was a fake, something I could cleave through with no regrets.." He replied, apathy in his voice.

"So now I'm what I despise most.. Feel free to use that scythe over there to lop my head off, it's what I deserve after all.." He muttered, standing up. ".... The little I had and I threw it all away for some attempt at power."

"I'll gladly do it!" Eliza said, poison dripping from her words. It was clear that she was pissed.

"Eliza calm down." The scythe noted. "You betrayed everyone who was on your side, almost sided with the one who wants to destroy this world and even lost your umbrakinesis for all of it! But...you are still my kinetic child, and thus, I am not going to abandon you. I'm sure Neo would say something similar about being a Knight. Eliza give him the ring."

Eliza threw an ornate black ring at Saren.

"This is the Reaper's ring. Originally it would give you the ability to take on a super form, now that is no longer the case, but it will allow you to use light umbrakinesis, you cannot control it, nor give it shape, but you can hold it, thus I will still be with you." The scythe explained. "And though you lost your most powerful abilities, it should be noted that you practically traded one kinesis for another. You now are a heliokinetic. Strangely, it seems Destruction did not drain that from you, possibly because he did not know that you have it."

Saren blinked, pocketing the ring. "Kinetic child, power, all of it means nothing now... All I can do is move on with my unlife just like before.." He muttered, a somber look on his face as he grabbed his scythe and turned away. "I might as well just continue on the path to hell anyways because there is no paradise at the end of the tunnel for me, just the knowledge that I have to keep on doing what I gotta do."

"And why's that?" A tranquil female voice asked. "There is always room for redemption for those who seek it." A figure appeared in a flash of light, her face pure white, her long golden hair swaying, she wore a long white robe with some ornate patterns designed on it. "Even for those such as yourself."

After all of this, Saren finally gave into expressing his rage. "Redemption!? What a sick joke!" He balked, rage clear in his eyes. "The whole concept of redemption is just some falsehood to get those seeking it to die for a cause on the hopes that they'll be absolved in death! So tell me, whoever you are? What's the point of trying to offer a farce to a dead man walking?"

Saren growled, after all he just did he was still against the idealistic naivety of redemption. "All I seek is to move forward with my life.. If they hate me than so be it."

"Show some respect!" The scythe barked at Saren. "You're speaking to Veresa the Goddess!"

Veresa only smiled at Saren. "I suspect I would know more about Redemption than you would. Redemption does not mean you need to die. Redemption in fact means that you need to move on from this, and focus your life to do better things."

"Do better things? I'm not some charity case, so find someone else for this."

"Would you cut it with the alpha male bullshit!" Eliza snapped. "You're in a room with a god, the ruler of shadow and a queen and you're sitting here constantly complaining about how you don't need anyone's help, when it is very clear that you do! Maybe if you would have asked for help you wouldn't have lost your umbrakinesis in the first place!"

"Eliza." Veresa said in a tone that seemed she was trying to remind Eliza of something. "Saren, why do you think yourself not worthy of redemption? Why do you think it is impossible? There are many tales of heroes redeeming themselves and I believe you know by now that all of them were true. King Arthur betrayed his best friend, and later atoned for his actions to wield Excalibur, King Balador wielded Black Blood after making a pact with a demon, so that he may protect those who he treasured. Redemption is real, and it is possible for anyone to redeem themselves, so long as they strive for it, and believe in themselves. So why do you not believe you are capable of it?"

Saren looked at Eliza with an annoyed expression. "Yeah, a queen of a war torn country, good job with that by the way.." He replied with little care in his voice. "And that's just it, all those tales about great heroes and shit, whereas you get me. A greedy killer with no intentions of playing the role of hero because there is no profit in it, so let me ask you this? What's the point of all this when you probably know that my response to this will probably be the same no matter what happens?"

"Because you deserve the chance." Veresa said. "Because whether you realize it or not, you've saved countless lives, and all of Station Square. When you killed Radon, you saved thousands of people. Men, Women, Children, all of them are saved because you were driven to stop a man from harming people. You stopped anymore people from being trapped in the agony of another abomination that is Omega. The thing about being a hero, Saren, is you don't have a say in if you are or not. To the people of Station Square, to the Mythic Knights, you already are a hero and this is just the beginning of another legend."

"Great, just.. Frickin.. Great.. Well since i'm stuck in the bloody role even though I was in it just to murder him and Bravo because he had it coming, lets just see it through to the end." Saren sighed, still very bitter about the whole thing. "Just don't expect much from me, I don't need anymore crap to deal with."

Veresa gave a warm smile. "That leads me to my point. What is it about being a hero that makes you so upset? It cannot simply be just money, heroes get paid in all legends with gold and treasure and riches. This tale is no different, what do you think these ruins hide? You already found a ring that might fetch you a pretty price. Many heroes are drunkards, Chen Stormstout, Jinyu the Monk, Aladdin, none of them stopped drinking to be a hero. So why do you turn from it?"

"Because, the hero ends up dead.."

"King Balador died of old age after living for 200 years, I think you'll be okay." Veresa chuckled. "After all, you have companions who care about your well being, who all wish for you to be okay."

"Not to mention you have the power of light to learn how to control." The scythe reminded him. "And since that focuses on protection and healing, you'll be okay."

"God, if you do exist, please smite me now?" Saren muttered to himself. "What do I have to do.."

The scythe would have given Saren an inquisitive look if it could, he was talking to a goddess, did he really just...-Perhaps now wasn't the time to question that.

"You do not have to do anything, but exist." Veresa noted. "That is all you have to do but your friends currently need the help of someone skilled in combat, much like yourself."

"Fine, where are they.." Saren replied, not really having much hope for the future. "And if you want to go into semantics it's more of an unlife."

"If you want to get technical..." The scythe noted. "Best not to mention that to the others though..."

"They are further in the forest, they just passed you recently." Veresa mentioned. "If you hurry, you can make it still."

Saren barely gave a response, putting on the ring and grabbing his scythe before running in the direction specified.

Eliza looked back at Veresa after Saren left. "He's supposed to be a hero?"

"Whether he realizes it or not, he was brought to the Mythic Knights for a reason." Veresa answered. "He may very well be the key to defeating Destruction once and for all."

(Just head up to Part 2 (A), I imagine Saren's pissed so don't be afraid to have him just, slaughter every joker. Maybe even experiment with Heliokinesis. -Neo)

Part 3(A): Trapped like a Fox
Further into the ruins, the Crystal led the trio deeper into the hole of madness that was these strange buildings. More stone buildings arose as they passed through until finally they came to what appeared to be some form of fort. It was tall and looked similar to that of an old time-y church, in fact that may have been it's original purpose, but it was reformed to make protected windows and walls made to keep people out. "This place gives me the creeps." Knave muttered.

"You're telling me. Are we even close?" Lexi asked.

The colors were more vibrant. "We are according to the Crystal" Christina told them, "But I've always loved churches."

"Something tells me this isn't a normal church." Knave said. "It was connected to the uh...Order of the Scythe, was it? That sounds kind of like a cult to me. Like, their worshipping some octupus god or something..."

"How would a church be connected to them?" Lexi asked.

"God, I really hope this place doesn't have a bell tower...." Christina told them.

Knave looked over the top of the building, noting that he couldn't see any bell on this side before he pushed the door open.

The inside of the church was huge. There was a long tall room with several destroyed pews all over. A place for what looked to be holy water was filled with blood. A spiral stairway led to what may have been the balconies above, and where the paster would have been preaching were two more doors leading to opposite ends of the church. The most unsettling thing about this place was the cross at the back of the building was stained with blood and turned upside down.

"This is some horror movie shit." Knave muttered, creating a mint green glyph on his hand which lit up the area around him.

"It looks like there was a giant massacre here..."

Lexi shuddered a bit, wanting to get out quickly.

Knave examined the blood stains. "It's old." He muttered. "A few months, I want to say. Problem is, blood after a time begins to dissipate over time unless there's a lot of it, and well..." He trailed off.

The crystal seemed to be directing the group into one of the doors next to the cross. They were getting closer.

Lexi gulped. "I really hope Neo's behind this door and not anything else."

(I feel like around this time might be a good place to re-introduce Zak if you'd like, I have a different boss planned here, but since we've resolved most of the traitors, we can resolve Zak to. -Neo)

(I'll reintroduce him as best as I can. -Zap)

Behind the group, there were small footsteps. Lexi shuddered and slowly turned around. There appeared to be some small white creature with rabbit ears behind them. But since it was still shadowed, she wasn't able to see something was off about it. For starters, the ears were shorter than they were supposed to be, the creature was much more circular than normal, for some reason it had little orange feet, and to the best of their limited visual range, it seemed that it had the same sword a certain puffball they knew had.

Knave, not really recognizing the shape, immedietely drew his sword and pointed his rune in his direction. "Stop where you are!" He commanded. "We are here on offical orders of the royal family, if you move, I will not hesitate to end you."

The puffball like creature slowly took out it's sword. A part of the sword then changed into a dark blue, circling his feet.

Lexi started to recognize the figure. "Wait...Zak, is that y-" She couldn't finish what she was saying because the figure quickly dashed and kicked her across the room. On closer inspection, it was Zak, except he had pulled down his rabbit hat pulled down to cover his head.

Christina giggled, "You can calm down Knave," she started to say, "It's a...... ummmm........ I dunno what that is, but it certainly looks harmless~!"

Knave looked from Lexi, to Christina, then to Zak. "Whether it is or isn't, it certainly looks dangerous to me..." He growled, though it was mostly at the beast.

Zak then removed his sword completly off of his back, it now gone from blue to red, and lifted his hat off of his face but still had it on. "...You guys look well."

Lexi shook her head, recovering from the kick. "Zak? What are you doing?"

"You were part of the knights when they were first captured..." Knave noted. "Which means that you're a traitor now."

"He looks dangerous to you, Knave?" Christina asked him once more, "I haven't seen a thing this small since Milkshake~!"

"Blondie, you're not a fighter, I don't expect you to understand." Knave noted, in an almost insulting tone. "But judging someone by how they look, generally is how people wind up dead."

"Zak, how'd you even find us?" Lexi asked.

"Really?" Zak said with a sigh. "I hacked your signal from that chip Piano place in us." Zak told her, pulling his rabbit hat down back over his face, with little eye holes making it a makeshift mask. "Now I have to deal with you."

Lexi knew she might not be able to keep up with him in a sword fight. "Z-zak, we don't have to-" She was cut off from what Zak said next.

"Quit talking..." Zak said, his sword glowing red and a red star shaped marker glowed on his back. "..and all of you get over here and fight me."

Knave stayed where he was, blade extended, waiting for Zak to make the first move.

"..." Zak remained silent and still for a moment, before rushing toward the trio, sword out ready for a dash slash.

Immedietely, Knave created a black rune between the group and Zak, changing the gravity to start pushing against Zak.

Zak was forced back from the gravity, jabbing his sword into the ground so he wouldn't be blown back. He looked around and inhaled any boulders he could find and shot them at Knave.

(Is this working? -Zap)

Knave quickly cut through the rocks, leaving himself unharmed from the rocks, he still awaited the warrior's blade.

Zak quickly dashed toward Knave once more, slashing at him multiple times.

Christina crossed her arms as she watched the two have at it. However, very silently and discreetly, she shook one of her hands slightly. From Zak's side, sharp, large crystals started to very slowly grow from the ceiling.

Knave held his blade like a wall, keeping Zak at bay as long as possible.

Zak stopped slashing, and jumped back. He then stood motionless with his sword ready.

Part 3 (B): Dancing Mad
 SEALED SPACE - VALHALLA  Hover between hope and fear

The thick fog lingered around the Jester, obscuring his vision. Something felt odd about the space around him. The sounds of the forest had long since faded, being replaced with the occasional gust every now and then.

But wherever he was now, he wasn't alone.

The Jester laughed stopping his efforts to run and stood his ground. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He called.

"Now that you're here... I'd like to take a moment to tell you what I've been going through lately." The Jester could hear someone talking to him, but the fog was too thick to see who it was.

"I've been getting... flashbacks. Every event that I have recalled thus far has never actually happened. But deep in my heart, there's a burning feeling that I can't describe, telling me that they were as real as you, me, and the sins crawling on your back."

The jester shuddered at the orgasmic thought of slaying another person. "I've been around for a long time," He started. "Dreams happen to have that effect on people."

"This is all just some sort of game to you, isn't it?" The voice hissed.

"Why bother with a world of black and white when it's so much more fun in the form of a game!" Jester laughed. "How much red can we add to the world?"

"You can't possibly understand how this feels." The fog was beginning to fade. "The Celia that I remember... she was different. She was kinder. Her intentions were nothing but pure. She was one of the greatest allies that I could have ever asked for. Perhaps if things were different, she could have still been the heroine that my memories depicted her as."

Masako slowly stepped into view, the expression of malice plastered across her face. "But you murdered her. And for what reason? In the name of a dying cause? Or do you simply just enjoy the grief and the pain that you inflict unto others? Whatever your reason may be... it doesn't matter anymore. My name is Masako Haruno... and I will purge your existence from this world."

The fog began to clear. It was revealed that the two were standing upon a floating island. Unfamiliar creatures roamed the plains beneath them. A bright palace could be seen in the distance, overlooking the battlefield.

Masako drew her blade, holding it up high. The ground beneath them began to tremble. "Aspect of Justice, heed my call! Awaken, Tempestatum Lustitae: Susano'o!" Divine powers began to transform the vixen, beams of light shining out from where her eyes should have been. There was a bright flash. When Masako emerged, she was clad in the armor of the goddess, an aura of light trailing behind her. "This will be your final battle."

(He Who Laughs Last - Masako, the Savior vs The Jester)

The Jester smiled at Masako. "I know something, you don't know." He sang cheerily. "And I have something you don't have." He giggled, and held in his hand a blue diamond which throbbed with light, it was a chaos emerald, he pushed the emerald into a slot on his axe, causing it to thrum with power. "Let's see how you handle the forces of this world turning against you." He giggled and threw his axe at Masako.

"You fool. You don't have any control over this place." Masako created a seal in front of her, slowing the axe to a crawl mid-flight as it was struck. She immediately shifted in front of the Jester while leaving an afterimage behind, and switched her Blade Art to "Frost End", making each strike as cold as death itself.

"What's the matter? Your feet are trembling." Her blade danced elegantly as she slashed at him several times in quick succession, being extremely hard to track.

Each strike plunged it's way through the Jester, but that only made him more tough, he grabbed the blade, gripping onto his so that hand began to bleed leaving a black ooze on Masako's blade and all over the floor where he was bleeding, his free hand summoned his axe back to him, where pulled his arm back and swung at Masako's torso. His grin only growing and his eyes slowly changing to something different. "Now matter how many time you hit me, I am not going to die." He chuckled as his wounds closed up almost instantly after he was attacked, the pool of black ooze under him grew much larger now, and his body began to become much harder to chop into as it felt less like attacking a person and more like attacking concrete.

Masako growled, unleashing a blast of cold air from her other hand that instantly froze into icicles. She jumped back, and called Susano'o back to her hand. "It matters not. I will kill you, and cleanse this world of the misery you've caused."

The Jester laughed. "But you can't cleanse it, can you?" He raised his hand forcing the black ooze to form a wall which shattered the icicles before he lowered the wall again. "Let's play with the idea that I somehow die, you can't bring anyone I've killed back from the dead. You can't bring Celia back, well you could, but she'll be miserable if you do." He took his axe and cut down his arm, releasing a large torrent of black ooze. "I'm sure you've heard of black blood, but would you like to see someone competent use their powers?"

"All that matters to me right now is that I end your life, for her sake and everyone else's!" Masako created a shield to protect herself from the torrent... moments later, it exploded, forcing the black blood back. "Whatever happens after that is up to my discretion alone!" She stabbed her blade into the ground, freezing it solid... when the ice reached the Jester, an immense blade of ice erupted from beneath him.

But the ice never reached the Jester. The black blood seemed to be doing something to the ground it touched, corrupting it, forcing a world he had no control of into his control. He slammed his axe onto the ground, causing the black ooze to move further out, gaining more land. The land itself was what powered him. As long as he had corrupted land, he would have power, the question was, how could this be used against him?

Masako looked all around her, and sighed. "Sorry about this, Lyndis." With that, her blade grew to immense sizes, gaining seven branches along the sides. She leaped upwards, away from the black blood.

"You can't hide forever!" The Jester said, jumping up to meet with Masako, and taking a swing at her.

"Sword of Justice." Masako swings downward at the Jester as he came to meet her... and in turn, fracturing the island as her blade struck it.

The jester tried to swing his axe up to meet Masako's sword, but he was too slow, sending him cascading downwards, though he managed to find himself on his corrupted land. "That one hurt a bit..." He noted coldly.

"Well get ready, because it's going to start hurting a lot more!" Masako's left hand glowed as she descended toward the island, building up power. "Ultima!" She struck the fracture in the island with her fist, unleashing a huge arcane explosion centered around herself. Theoretically, this would cause the island to shatter.

As the land began to sperate from itself, almost everything was destroyed, all except a ball of black blood, which had been used to absorb the attack. The ball unfurled and revealed the Jester sitting on a chair that he had conjured from the black ooze. "Are you done with your tantrum yet?" He asked simply.

Masako stood upon a fragment of the island, still suspended in the air far above the plains. "Oh, I don't know. Have you realized the situation that I've put you in, yet?" Masako switched her Magic Arts to "Frostbite", drawing her hand away from her blade, as if it were a bow, and creating a huge lance of ice. "Because if you try to engage me like this..."

"The thing about this game," The Jester started. "Is I always win, so I want you to come down here and attack with your strongest attack you have."

"Quite frankly, I don't give a shit what you want. My world, my rules." Masako asserted.

The Jester shrugged and looked around playing with his axe for a bit. "Booooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnngggggggg." He said simply, still playing with the axe. "World won't protect you for long...not after Destruction gets to mobius, he's coming soon and when he does, all worlds will be his." He noted.

Masako took this moment of exposition as a sign of distraction, firing the ice lance at him.

The black blood reacted instantly, grabbing the ice lance with morphed tentecles. The Jester smirked, and tapped the tip with his finger. "Well, then." He noted. "Now can you come down here, I'd like to go back to having fun!"

If he'd bothered to look, he'd notice that Masako had already left her position... shortly before he'd feel cold steel carving up his back.

The Jester simply stayed sitting, while the icicle remained in his blood's grasp. Oddly enough, he wasn't moving from the blade, in fact, it seemed as though he were pushed himself towards it.

"...!" Masako attempted to draw her blade away from him.

The black blood had already formed around them, leaving Masako stuck inside with the Jester. "Swinging weapons inside isn't very good." He noted reaching out to grab Masako's blade. "You don't have enough power to get a full swing in, even my axe won't do to well here, but I happen to have Black Blood on my side." He called for the black blood to begin to move closer. "I believe, this is where I win."

A voice spoke to Masako, calm, intelligent, but somehow young, and very familiar. "He's holding onto the icicle." He spoke. "If it were to shatter, perhaps it could be enough to distract him."

Masako gritted her teeth as she clenched her left fist, shattering the lance into hundreds of icicles.

The shards of the ice scattered everywhere, hitting the Jester when he wasn't guarding, causing several to impale his back, and for the black blood to immedietely fall, allowing one final move to be performed.

"Owari da yo." Masako's voice echoed as she dashed straight through him, striking him several times with her blade. Switching her Blade Art to "Afterburner", she circled around him, striking him several more times, trapping him in a raging inferno. She switched her Blade Art to "Mercurybrand", and forced him backward as she continued her onslaught, leaping upward as she carved up his front.

Susano'o once again transformed into the Sword of Justice. "Drown in Chaos, you abomination." Masako cleaved downward. There was a bright flash upon impact.

The Jester lay on the ground, his body battered and broken, he still lived, but judging from the amount of damage he had taken and all of his wounds, he wouldn't stay that way for long. He chuckled slightly, "It's all just so funny..." He laughed. "In the end, I still have one more secret..." He lifted his head and gestured for Masako to come closer to him.

Masako simply walked behind his head. "...Out with it." She could tell his wounds were fatal, but wanted to remain out of his reach whatsoever.

The Jester gave a small chuckle before he stopped, his face gaining a serious tone for the first time. "Celia was my friend too..." He said.

(A guardian, to the end - Jester's death)

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt..." Jester started. "I thought I could change their minds, I could make Conquest better...but...that's not what they wanted...so instead, I trained hard, I became their assassin, so...I could stop the death...at first it was easy but...they became aware and...they made me into their thrall, they forced Black Blood onto me so they could...control what I did, but I still wouldn't kill people. I used...that Chaos Emerald...to save lives." He looked up to Masako. "I never killed anyone...they're souls were stored in the Chaos Emerald, so that no one could get hurt...I made sure...no one...died...because of my mistake..." He reached out for the axe, taking a shaking hand he gave it to Masako. "If you can...purify...the emerald...you can save everyone..." He coughed up some blood, weakening him more. It was clear that not even Kala or Time Spinner could even heal him now. He was a lost cause. "You need to stop Conquest...do what I couldn't...make sure no one dies...no more..."

"..." Masako knelt down, taking the axe in her hands. "All this hatred for a man who hadn't harmed a single soul... what have I done...?" She winced, holding back the pain of her guilt. "No... this was all that I could have done. There was no way that I could have known. But all this time, I blamed you for everything that Conquest and their use of the Black Blood was responsible for." She put her hand to his head. "...I'm sorry."

Masako thought for a moment, perhaps less than a minute. "But if their souls are stored in this Chaos Emerald... what's stopping me from doing the same to you?"

"I'm already dying..." The Jester said. "The axe can't save me...not anymore..." He coughed up more blood. "You had to...kill me...Conquest would have just kept using me to...kill others..." He coughed again. "My name...is Edward...by the way..." He laughed again. "Why am I just now...remembering that...that's...funny..." His blood's color slowly shifted from black back to red. He lifted his hat and mask off, revealing that he was a mobian, a wiry rat to be exact. "I...I have a daughter, you know..." He laughed. "Do...you think...she'd be proud of me...?"

"That is a question that I don't think I can truly answer." Masako responded. "You came into this world with the greatest intentions... and with the Goddess as my witness, that is how you shall leave it. The Jester was an entirely different person... a manifestation of the Black Blood's depravity. But you've done more good in this world than the Jester could have ever hoped to erase." She sighed. "If only you had the chance to approach your daughter as Edward, one last time..."

"That could be arranged." Another woman's voice could be heard. It belonged to what appeared to be a mongoose, her fur being a beautiful shade of gold. A soft, gentle glow emanated from her as she approached them. "Who am I to deny him of the answer he so rightfully desires?"

"Lyndis? I... why would you come now, of all times? Couldn't you have done something to save him before I drew my blade at him?!" Masako asked her. She was quite outraged.

"Sadly, no... despite my power as the Goddess of Fate, the power of the Black Blood is beyond my control. Even as Edward's breath wanes, I cannot alter the course of his fate to save him. I'm afraid that this is where his life ends." Lyndis replied, grimly. "However... I will be able to preserve his soul... to allow him to see the effects of his good deeds, and to reward him accordingly. If he wants to see his daughter one more time, then I shall manifest him on Mobius to fulfill his final wishes." She walked to Edward's side, kneeling down. "What say you, Edward?"

"No..." Edward coughed. "No...this...I don't want...her to see me like...like this...she'll only cause...more destruction...if she knew...who I was...what I was..." One more great big cough came. "It's funny...the biggest trick...I played...was...against....myself..." And with that, the world, lost a guardian.

"It's sad, isn't it?" The familiar voice said behind Masako. "In all timelines, this is where he died. Edward's death was a universal constant, no matter what, he is always destined to die here. Odd, I thought it would be Saren who killed him."

"And I had to be the one to do it, instead..." Masako kept her head held low. "It's not fair... none of this is..."