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 eclipse, 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 Thal-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, Thal-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."

Natalie sighed. "If it's really bugging you guys so goddamn much, then I'll just go scout ahead."

The outside of the building was clear, there were no people around the buidling, and what Delta said appeared to be true, but the uncanny feeling that they were being watched was very clear.

Natalie's eyes scanned the building left and right, back and forth...

"See everything's clear." Delta noted.

"It doesn't feel like it..." Zero noted.

"Is it Conquest?" Sedna asked. "They're not normally this...good at hiding."

"I don't think they're really the 'hiding' sort." Nemi suggested.

The sound of something cracking echoed through the forest.

"What was that?" Zero asked.

"I'm...not sure..." Delta said. "My screen only shows you guys, I'm not seeing anything else!"

Natalie immediately froze... she took in her surroundings, the way the air felt, the scents that drifted on the wind... something felt very off to her. And very close.

Several rusty metal wheels rolled in around the team and all at the same time, they fell to the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Delta called. "No, stop! Don't come any-" The sound of a gun firing came from the comm link, and then everything went dead.

The wheels all unfolded into an unnatural mechanical cluster of technology, creating these robotic creatures that all stood up fully and stared at the group before releasing a barrage of gun shots.

A new figure jumped down in front of the group, wielding two giant shields. He thrust them together creating a ward that protected the group from the shots before three new robots wielding large blades on their arms dropped down behind him, and in front of the team.

Natalie looked pretty surprised... all this just for little old her? Now that's dedication. But she seemed worried about Delta. Her right hand disappeared into her hood for a moment. "Monica. I need you to proceed to these coordinates. Something's going on over there." Said coordinates were that of their base camp.

Natalie then turned her attention to the figure, glaring at them. "So... who the hell are you? Actually, it's not important; because in a few moments, I'm pretty sure you're going to be dead."

The figure looked over to her, giving a not-so-nice glare. "I stopped a bullet for you guys, and now you're threatening to kill me?" He asked.

Natalie blinked, then shrugged it off. "Who's to say I was? The people we're hunting down are pretty damn dangerous too, ya know," she said, trying to save face.

"Yeah, I can tell." He scoffed, bashing his shield into one of the robots.

Zero quickly ran his scythe through another bot, breaking it in half. "Got a name?" He asked.

"Rook." The shield-wielding human told them.

"Yeah... thanks for the help." Natalie responded. In the meantime, she "awakened" Orochi again, teleporting in front of a robot and delivering a nasty kick, accompanied by an energy pillar that reached into the sky. "Serpent's Infernal Rapture!"

More of the robots fired on the group as Knave took his blade and chopped through the last robot. "Strange that none of these robots seem to be posing a threat."

"You think they're distracting us?" Sedna asked.

"After what happened to Delta, I wouldn't be surprised." Zero noted.

"I don't know, I sent Monica over to investigate... strange how I haven't heard back from her." Natalie said, sounding... unusually worried.

"None of the runic knights are responding either." Knave noted. "They would have sent a message if something was happening there..."

The robots continued to fire, though Rook did not budge with his shields. "Maybe we can talk after these guys are gone?"

Natalie nods, tossing Orochi at another robot and zooming straight toward it with a powerful kick.

Sedna drug her claw through the toros of a robot, knocking it down into pieces.

Zero beheaded one more robot, ending it's shooting spree.

The last robot began to cackle with sound, creating some strange sounds that could be interpreted as a combination of static, roaring, hissing, and gibberish, and it was coming out at a huge volume.

"Eugh, what the hell is that noise? Shut that thing down!" Natalie hissed.

Zero pulled his scythe back.

"Wait." Sedna noted. "Hold on."

"Oh great, more draconic. Because's that's what we need." Eliza hissed.

"It doesn't matter how, the petals scatter now..." Sedna noted. "Every nightmare just discloses...it's your blood...that's red like roses..." She blinked. "I don't understand..."

"We need to get back to the main base." Zero insisted. "We have people who might be in danger back there!"

"He's right. Our mission was to get Neo Tranquil out of there, and we've given Christina, Knave, and Lexi ample time to do so. We should take our leave and report back to make sure everything is okay." Eliza nodded.

Sedna still seemed enraptured by the robots.

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.

"I believe, you have somewhere to be, Blondie." Knave said.

Lexi guessed that Knave meant that they should go check one of those doors. "I think we should get to that door we saw." Lexi muttered to Christina.

Zak looked over at them, then back at Knave. "..."

"What door?" Christina muttered back.

"The one that the crystal was leading us to." Lexi told her.

The Crystal led the two downstairs to a large stone hallway with several doors on all sides. The crystal seemed to be leading them straight down the hall, though the aura this place gave off made many people who came down here nervous.

"Oh boy..." Lexi gulped, moving carefully down the hall.

The room at the end of the hall loomed over the two, though it featured nothing inside, except for one interesting bit. On one side of the room was a window into another room, a darkly lit room featuring a man in all black, and a table with someone strapped inside.

"Where are they located?" The dark man asked, though not no reply from the person on the table. He pulled a level, and the room buzzed with an electric current as the person on the table screamed with agony.

"..." The person gasped for breath as the level was pulled back. "I...don't know..." He finally revealing who it was. It was Neo.

"That must be the guy keeping Neo trapped..." Lexi muttered. "But who's they?"

"Tell me where they are!" The man demanded. "Where are the shards of light!"

"I...I don't know!" Neo called. "I don't even know who they are!"

The lever was pulled again, causing Neo to release another bloodcurdling scream.

Lexi and Christina soon found themselves with a gun in their face as a purple wolf stared at the both of them. "Back up. Now!" She sneered.

Lexi was startled by the sudden gun to the face, by force of reflex she attempted to knock the gun out of her hand.

The girl quickly threw the gun up in the air, grabbing it's barrel, and tried to bash the butt of the gun on Lexi's hand. Not aiming to deal serious damage.

Lexi' hand gets hit by the gun, and she pulled it back. While not serious, it did hurt enough to get her off guard.

The wolf girl switched the gun's position aiming it at Lexi now. She looked over the two and paused. "You two part of Conquest?"

"Ow...No. Are you with Conquest?" Lexi asked.

The wolf girl gave a crooked smile. "Nope, passin' through." She said, lowering her shotgun. "Name's Jazz Aude, who are you two?"

"I'm Lexi." She answered. "And thats Christina."

Jazz looked over into the room, where Neo was being tortured. "He a friend of yours?" She said, pointing to Neo.

"I'm his cousin. She's a good friend." Christina told Jazz. "How do you know him?"

"I don't." Jazz said, cocking her shotgun. "I know the guy he's in the room with." And with that, Jazz raises her gun to the window and fires, sending glass shattering all over the room, and causing the bullets to fire directly at the executioner, knocking him down and creating a pool of blood. "That solves that problem." She cocked her gun again. "Grab your friend and get out. More are going to come."

"You heard the stranger, let's go!" Christina told Lexi, as Jazz lead the way out.

Lexi nodded and crawled through the window and picked up Neo and quickly followed Christina and Jazz. "Neo, you aren't dead yet, right?"

Neo didn't respond but his short and ragged breathing indicated that he was indeed alive, if barely. Something of note when Lexi picked him up is his weight. Being both a fox mobian and aerokinetic meant that Neo had always been light, but he felt way too light now. He must have been around 80 pounds and it was clear that he had been starving for some time now. It was also clear that if he did not get help soon, then he was going to die.

"...Well, he's not dead. But he's starving to near death.

"Not to mention he's hurt." Jazz noted. "He's been electrocuted several times over, and he doesn't look to be conscious." She looked up to the machine that Neo was hooked up to. "He's been electrocuted several times, and they've been messin' with his head."

"We should probably hurry out of here before he actually does croak." Lexi said.

Jazz kicked the door open and fired another slug into the chest of an incoming Conquest member. "Well we need to get moving then, get him to a healer or something..."

"What abkut Knave?" Lexi asked. "He's still fighting Zak."

"We'll take care of him." Jazz said. "I've got it."

As the trio, now carrying a nearly-dead Neo, they saw that the battle had been going on quite well. Knave and Zak were both still stuck in the fray but both of them seemed to be carrying a large amount of damage on them. Upon seeing the trio rise out of the basement. Knave noted quickly. "Good, you're both here..." He said, clearly winded.

"Three actually, love." Jazz said quickly, firing a buck into Knave's Back, ending his battle with Zak. Zak would recognize Jazz as his current commanding officer, although commanding wouldn't be the right word as the two acted more as partners, but technically Jazz outranked Zak.

Knave fell onto his knees on flat onto his stomach. "Good job dealing with him Marshmallow." Jazz said, turning to the other two she gave a big grin. "Now let's get your friend patched up back at base." It was clear now what had happened. Jazz didn't realize they were apart of the rebel side, she thought they were all with the government like she and Zak were.

Lexi was shocked and was really worried about Knave, but knew she had to get Neo some help fast.

Zak looked at Neo and looked at Lexi. To her suprise, he said nothing.

"Alright, let's get going." Jazz noted, stepping over Knave and continuing to move.

"Don't..." Neo muttered to Lexi in a daze.

Christina looked around, very nervous while carrying him. "I think we should save the food for a bit later." Christina told them, "What he really needs is water. I'm surprised he's still alive to be honest. You can go weeks without food. However it's a different story with water, since you can only go so few days without it until you die. I guess foxes are granted a longer time period before they get completely dehydrated."

"Yeah. Maybe you should go back to base first and we'll go there later after we figure out what to do with him?" Lexi suggested. She just needed a way to get Jazz to leave so they could escape with Neo and Knave.

Jazz gave a questioning look to them. "Wouldn't it make more sense to get him to base first? Who's your CO anyway?" She looked at the two from Christina to the child, before finally pieceing together what was going on. "Oh..." She said. She gripped her gun in one hand as she looked over the the two of them. You could see the gears turning in her head as she tried to figure out what to do, her eyes kept shifting from Christina to Lexi, finally resting on Neo. Finally she raised her gun, to the sky, and fired three consecutive bucks in the air. "Marshmallow, let's go back to base."

Christina raised her hand as a giant leaf shielded her and Lexi from any glass damage. Knowing that it would protect them, she didn't bother to look up, but instead looked around to find the whereabouts of Jazzy. She sees him with Zak. "Screw it!" she told Lexi rather quitely, "We don't have time for another fight. The top priority we have right now is rescuing Neo, and I won't let this harlot get in our way." Christina took the knife out of her scarf and started to flee from the area.

"The...flames..." Neo muttered.

Lexi quickly followed behind Christina. "Neo, we'll get you healed, then you can tell us whatever..." She looked down. "And maybe answer my question..."

(You can continue in Part 4. Quick question before you do continue, are either of you taking Knave?)

(Yeah, I think Lexi might be carrying Neo and Christina is carrying Knave.)

(Alright, just wanted to make sure I had that noted. Now, you can just start editing your arrival in part 4. - Neo)

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, her face washed over in sadness. "It's not fair... none of this is..."

The mysterious voice placed his hand on Masako's shoulder, looking over to her, it was revealed that the voice was Time Spinner. "Sadly, yes, but if he had lived on, I am sure that he would have been a pawn for Conquest until he died." Time Spinner held up the Jester's Axe. "But, what he said during his madness was true. Destruction is coming, he is getting closer and closer to the world each and every day. Once he arrives on Mobius, people will die, the entire planet will be destroyed, and everything that is good, will fall to chaos, no mortal, spirit, meta or god can stop him when he does arrive."

"Time Spinner..." Masako began to speak. "If it's something that can be stopped... then I need to know how. What do I need to do to give this world a fighting chance?"

"On top of that, how was he aware of Destruction in the first place...?" Lyndis questioned. "If he is connected to the Black Blood in some way... I'm afraid that there is little that I can do to help."

"He is what is known as a 10's blood." Time Spinner explained. "The way black blood works, generally people born with it, are put into three different categories: Jack Blood, which is sort of a military stlye people, Ace blood, which is a form of aristocracy, and Joker blood, a monk like people who focus on not using their black blood. When one of them wishes, they may enthrall someone by giving them the power of black blood. Although they are entrhalled, they still hold all of their memories, he may have overheard people discussing Destruction's return."

The Meta looked over the chaos emerald, pulling it from the Axe's divet. "It is true that when Destruction fully returns, this planet is doomed, but, from what I have seen, this world holds one last chance at finally killing Destruction and ending this madness for good." He offered the jewel to Masako. "The Mythic Knights need to be whole again, no shadow legion, no broken alliance, if this world is to survive, we need all of the Mythic Knights working together. Masako, as a guardian of this world, I need to ask you a great favor."

"You want me to bring the Mythic Knights together, in the face of what seems like a hopeless battle?" Masako looked away for a moment. "...Without Neo to unite them, that's easier said than done." She looked down at the jewel in her hands. "I know one thing for sure, though... we need to purify this emerald. Celia's in there somewhere, and a good man had to die for me to get it." Her guilt was still clawing at her psyche.

"Neo will unite the Mythic Knights, at least what we have now." Time Spinner said. "But in order to defeat Destruction, they'll need to expand. Masako, I need you to build an army." Time Spinner placed his hand gently on the crystal, over Masako's hands. "That jewel is the first step in that direction. This is bigger, than Radon, or the Remnents of the Scythe, or the Wicked, if this task fails, all of the world will be destroyed. We'll need an army in order to live, but to kill Destruction for good, we'll need the Shards of Light. If you can find those heroes, and awaken the power they have inside them, we can save the world."

"Not only that, but I have to find them before Conquest does. As it stands, they're a direct threat to our plan. Either we destroy Conquest at its core, or I make do with what little time we might have." Masako responded.

"...I'll see what I can do to summon my other Aspects. There's only three operating in the area at the moment: Masako is here, Natalie is with Zero, and the Aspect of Grace... Monica hasn't encountered the Mythic Knights yet." Lyndis said. "The other three are still located in Odyssey City."

"There's just one more thing before I return to Mobius..." Masako began. "If we have the time... I'd like to bury Edward myself. Not here, though. Someplace where his body truly deserves to rest."

"I'll take you there." Time Spinner nodded, creating a whirling portal near Masako. "I'd be cautious of the crystal, by the way. It holds hundreds of years of torment inside. Though he first began his insanity through being enthralled, most of Edward's problems came from the Chaos Emerald. I would not be surprised to find that it may try to whisper to you."

"I shall keep that in mind... I already know how dangerous one these can actually be." Masako scooped up Edward's body, approaching the portal. Her armor began to disappear as she was brought back to Mobius, leaving her with her usual uniform.

"And what would you have me do, in the face of what is ahead?" Lyndis asked Time Spinner.

"You?" Time Spinnder asked, an edge to his voice. "Don't get involved." He cleared his throat and regained his composure, for the very first time in a long while, Time Spinner had lost his composure slightly. "In all timelines I have viewed, one of the shards winds up dead, a butterfly effect due to your involvement." He gave a glare. "Funny that, if your kind would have helped during the first time demons fought with the forces of Mobius, Destruction would be dead right now, and we wouldn't have all those-" He paused again, giving a heavy sigh, the tension in the room, was high. "Don't get involved." Time Spinner said simply, following Masako through the portal.

The pair arrived in a large, open, golden field. It seemed that this place had not seen the touch of mobians for years, almost nestled somewhere within the hills of Otogi. "You wouldn't know it just from seeing it, but there used to be a town placed here."

"An entire town, just wiped off the face of the planet...?" Masako asked.

"An enraged dragon came here, destroying the town." Time Spinner noted. "This is the former grounds of Goldshire, a quiet little town once untouched by the corruption of the country. This is where Edward was born and lived for several years before he became the Jester."

"...What happened to the dragon?" Masako asked him.

"She lives, to this day, though she does not remember destroying this town." Time Spinner said. "She lost most of her memory after the attack. Sadly, the Meta are not premitted to mingle with her."

Masako thought for a moment. "...If you know so much about our timeline, then tell me this. What was Aero's plot? Why did he attack Ciel? Why has she disappeared since then?"

And the truth comes out.

"Aero?" Time Spinner said, his left eye turned blue. "I can see all of time, flowing like a river and yet there are still things I cannot see. Aero is a manipulator of time, one who is ruining the true timeline of this world. I cannot find him, and his ability to control time is far greater than even my own. I suspect he is getting assistance but from who, I do not know. The magic is similar to my own but far different, more potent and less refined, like a crude enchantment that should no longer work." He trailed off. The blue flame around his eye vanished. "I do not know where your friend is presently, I am sorry. I will check with Vitality and confirm if she yet lives."

"I see... thank you. I appreciate all the help that I can get in these trying times." Masako replied. "So, is this the burial site?"

"Indeed." Time Spinner nodded. "Where I come from, Zirconia, it is tradition to bury somewhere near their loved ones. Edward's parents, cannot be located anymore, but his wife was buried right in front of us. Sadly the dragon is destroyed his tombstone..." Time Spinner's face softened as he looked over the grave. "My wife's grave was also unmarked..." He noted sadly.

Masako laid the body down, looking over at Time Spinner. She didn't say anything, but she approached him with open arms. Perhaps she was trying to comfort him?

Time Spinner looked up, and gave the smallest smile. "I appreciate the comfort, but it has been several millenia since her passing, I have long since grown...numb to feelings, espeically ones of that nature." He pulled a pocket watch out of his jacket pocket. "Besides, I have...something else to worry about now." He handed it to Masako.

Masako looked at the pocket watch in her hands, then at Time Spinner. "What would you have me do with this, Time Spinner?"

"Open it." Time Spinner pushed. "It allows the time vortex to be manipulated in a way that Mortals may use. I don't believe we should leave these two with an unmarked grave."

Masako nodded. The pocket watch clicked open.

(Lemme know if I'm doing something wrong, here... -MHS)

The inside of the pocket watch held a picture of Lightstone, Time Spinner, Vitality, Vellem, Aselia, they were all there, looking extremly happy. The clock face swirled with magic, giving Masako the power to, oddly enough, create something.

(Describe for me the tombstone. Be as creative as you want. -Neo)

Masako decided that the best way to honor Edward was to dedicate a statue to him. Using marble as her medium, she shaped it into a figure kneeling forward on one knee, supporting himself on an axe with both hands gripped around it. She would etch her parting message into the base of the statue... however, she turned to Time Spinner, first. "Is there anything you would like to add?"

Time Spinner shook his head. "I know every little detail about him, but from his perspective I am just a stranger."

Masako nodded, and simply added this to the base:

"He smiled until the very end... the world has lost a hero this day."

Time Spinner waited for a moment. There was a long period of silence before either of the two spoke again. "Neo, Trinity, Treasure, Hart, Sierra, Thomas, Videlia." Time Spinner finally spoke. "Bravery, Persistence, Integrity, Patience, Kindness, Justice, and Conscience. These are the seven shards of light. When I first joined the team to re-create the shards of light, I had no idea what all that would entail. Dr. Radon, Dr. Mercury, and I worked dilgently and eventually discovered that the shards could be applied to a child still in the womb. None of these shards know of their existence as a shard, at least, not to my knowledge. You will need to find them, and then awaken their power. Within the next ten years, Destruction will rise again, and for five of those years the Mythic Knights will disappear from the world."

"The Mythic Knights will disappear?" Masako thought for a moment. "...So that's why you want me to assemble an army, is that right?"

"I want you to assemble an army because when Destruction returns, he will bring all of the underworld with him. We can only hope that while the Mythic Knights are away, the allies you have made will the defend the world in your abscence. I cannot view that part of the timeline, but the action that happen in that five year block, they are detrimental to how the world continues to exist." Time Spinner noted. "Can I show you something? Something in the future?"

"I'm almost afraid to see what happens... but alright." Masako agreed to his offer.

Time Spinner waves his hand of the area, drowning the world around them in a silver light before it begins to darken. A young woman in a dark hood roams the halls of an ancient crypt. She meets up with another person, a tall man in dark chain mail and a black hood, carrying a large red sword glowing on his back. They talk for a while and move through the crypt, down a particularly shadowy hallway. As the two move, they come to a cage containing two people, a human man and woman. The woman is clearly sick, her face long, her eyes red from many a sleepless night. Her legs shake as the two approach. The man in the cage is covered in gashes and cuts, making him a mess of red marks. The woman pleads for the woman in black to show mercy, and to kill her and burn her body. The woman in black turned and whispered to the man. "Silence her." The man pulled his sword off of his back and stabbed the woman in the heart. The man screamed in agony as the woman fell. He tried to approach her and attempt to heal her, but she gave a howling scream and pushed him to the edge of the gate. As she rose her skin started to prune, losing moisture and it all to quickly started to decompose. Her fingers grew into sharp claws and her teeth became more feral looking. She let out a bone chilling screech and attacked the man, tearing his flesh and eating it.

Time Spinner, of all people, turned away from the it, but that didn't help at all, as he could still hear the horrible sounds of tearing, ripping, chewing. A soft mewling from the woman could be heard from her, reveling that she was, in some small way, aware of her action but unable to stop herself.

Masako's face washed over to disgust... what she'd seen actually made her physically ill. "What the hell did I just see...? Time Spinner, what the hell was that?!"

Time Spinner gave a short sigh, as slowly the two glided around the area, revealing the young woman of being Masako herself, older and scarred more, but it was clearly her. "In two years time, this may be your future. Working alongside a man, The Warlock."

"The Warlock?!" Masako's eyes widened. "That name... just hearing it fills me with hatred for its owner... and yet, not once have I encountered them. Time Spinner, what's going on?! And why would I ever work with a horrible person like that?!"

"A disease approaches." Time Spinner said. "'Madness', a disease based on the mind losing control and succumbing to insanity. When Destruction gets closer to entering the world, Madness will spread through the world. Until the Seals of Fear are resealed, people will begin to fall to insanity. Even the Mythic Knights are susceptible, and some of you may fall to madness itself. In this timeline, The Warlock was not stopped and you fell to madness. After the death of Neo and Fey, The Mythic Knights had no leader. Zero and Leah attempted to reseal Destruction but after their deaths, the seals were broken. Many people died or went insane. You fell into Madness and eventually, your fear led you to join the Warlock and begin creating a plague to gain as many minions as possible in an attempt to defeat Destruction's army. It was a failure."

Time Spinner cleared the area, as if it was a cloud of smoke, the two appeared on the inside of a clock tower, with a doorway leading towards a long dark hallway. This was Time Spinner's base of power, the place where all of time flowed together into a single area. Tables were all around the outer rim of the room, each bearing a strange nick nack or trinket. Time Spinner poured himself a cup of tea, before continuing. "If I were to show the future of Saren or Zapor, I'm am unsure of how they would react. You, Masako Haruno, I am sure will not falter from seeing your future. Warlock is powerful, even with Susano'o and all of your current power, you will be unable to stop him. I can offer you something to help you before you go but...it will be dangerous for you to wield."

(Tales Decision: Take Time Spinner's gift or decline.)

"...There's a lot of things that you're not telling me, isn't there?" Masako questioned. "Are you afraid that I'll turn my back on the world if I knew what would happen if I accept this? But you and I both know that everything else we've tried is destined to end in failure. The only thing that can stop Destruction now is the will to change our fate." Masako sighed. "And if salvation comes at the cost of my life... then so be it."

"As the guardian of time, there are thousands of things I cannot tell you." Time Spinner said sadly. He turned around and looked over the tables. He finally found one and handed Masako a Pocket Watch. (Describe the Pocket Watch, it should be something Masako feels a strong connection towards, but you have free reign to do whatever you want with it.)

"Listen." Time Spinner said, leaving the entire room in quiet, with the exception of the pocket watch, ticking constantly. "The Ticking of a clock is an invaluable tool indeed. It gives mortals a small fraction of understanding of time and it's passage. But it is one which can, if we allow it, compel us toward madness. Keep with you this trinket, look to it in times of dismay as a helpful guide which can empower you with it's strength. But take care not to indulge in it's power for to long, young warrior. If you live and breath by it's hands, you will succumb to the madness of time itself. It may counsel but never control. It is true, that we are not the masters of time. Even one such as myself does know all of the secrets that time may hold, all of the madness that it may consume, but even so, we must not allow time to become our own master."

As Time Spinner spoke, Masako was already examining the peculiar device. At first glance, it appeared to be an ordinary pocket watch. Nothing unusual about it... until her crest glowed. The pocket watch seemed to react to it, the clock face spinning around and popping out of the base. Instead of telling time, the clock face became a window that showed a visual reenactment of the most recent events that occurred. From there, several more windows expanded outward in the four cardinal directions. The ones above and below it showed events from alternate versions of the timeline, had things occurred differently. The ones to the left showed past events that occurred. The ones to the right were supposed to show what the future would hold, but at the moment there was only static on the screens, as if the future was being recalculated by her choice. A larger clock materialized beneath the original clock face, but its functions were expanded to include even the current day and year.

Out of curiosity, Masako put her fingers to one of the windows on the left, sliding it over the clock face. The clock below it turned backwards to the day of that particular event.

"Looking at how this works... I think I see what you meant." Masako pushed the clock face back into its base. All of the other assets that appeared collapsed into the pocket watch. "I can imagine how something like this could be used the wrong way, but you seem confident that I'll use it to make the right decisions." Masako looked at Time Spinner. "Thank you for everything you've done so far. But there's one more thing I need to ask you. Do you know anything about these flashbacks I've been getting? Are these actually someone else's memories?"

"That is information that I cannot give you." Time Spinner shook his head. "You must go now. The Shadow Legion faces a threat like none other and they will need your skills. If the battle becomes to difficult, look to the pocket watch for guidence." A portal opened for Masako, showing a town consumed in flames.

Masako nodded, approaching the portal. She glanced back at Time Spinner, before continuing onward to the burning town.

Part 4: Back Attack
(As of now this consists of everyone who was in Part 2 (A))

The camp was a wreck, on top of the blue dragon prisoner being nowhere to be found, a fire had been set all over the camp, causing the flames to burn through most of the buildings. "Who started a fire?" Eliza asked.

"I have a few guesses." Zero noted.

Saren, who had wandered off on his own earlier just now returned to the group. "....?"

"No time! Where's Delta and the others?!" Nemi begged.

"Hm..? Something happen?" Saren asked.

"Something happened to Delta." Zero said looking over the area, unable to find anyone in the flames.

"There's a huge amount of...something over there." Sedna noted next to a building at an empty area

Saren nodded. "Well, might as well go check it out I guess..."

Upon closer inspection, it appeared as though the area were bubbled and upon making contact with it, a purple orb of magic showed, allowing the group to pass through. Leah stood in the middle of the bubble, constantly charging it with magic as she kept it up. Several people were inside, most of them all injured. Delta was among them, her clothes were torn up as if someone had gone to the trouble of tearing her. Kala and Leah were the only ones conscious here, though Leah seemed tied up in keeping everyone safe.

"You're back!" Kala noted. "Leah, they're back!"

"...Good..." Leah grunted. Apparently keeping the barrier up was taking a toll on the poor magician.

"Huh... All's well that ends well I suppose." Saren mused, a somewhat cynical tone in his voice.

"Something horrible is out there." Kala noted.

"What is it?" Zero asked.

"I...I...don't know..." Kala said quickly. "But it felt like Neo. It's a suit of armor, but it has the same aura as him and it's killing everyone in it's path!"

"Hate to cut in at a time like this." The scythe noted to Saren alone. "Also she's right. Neo's aura is currently inhabiting that pile of armor, oddly enough though it doesn't seem to hold his body, just his mind."

After a couple of minutes, Lexi walked through the bubble, carrying Neo, and panting from running such a long distance.

'And..? Do I just smash the armor?' Saren asked his scythe.

"Without your umbrakinesis, you couldn't." The scythe said. "I think I found a way to get that back, but it's going to take a lot of time, and you'll have to do that after the armor is dealt with."

Kala stared at Neo. "Oh my god..." She said.

"Neo's near death...and Knave's out too..." Lexi said.

Christina lowered Neo to the ground for him to rest. "More importantly, is there a place where we can find water?" She asked him, "I don't care if it's the purest, heck it can even be from the sewer for all I care. He needs it. Desperately."

"Well.. We did camp near a stream I hope.."

"Leah!" Kala called quickly.

"...Right..." Leah grunted. Despite the strain of magic she was using to keep the barrier up, she was still able to combine her fire and ice magic into a stream of water, with which Kala was able to direct into Neo's mouth.

"Can you fix him?" Zero asked.

Kala looked over his body. Using one hand she created a glowing green aura over Knave's wounds, and focused her task on looking over Neo. Her eyes shifted, and her magic continuted to change, going over the young fox. Her eyes looked up to Zero, giving a sad look. "You could put all of our healers together, and give us the power of the seven chaos emeralds and it still wouldn't be enough to heal him."

"What?" Zero asked.

"Christina and I could heal him physically, he's suffering from internal bleeding, most of his ribs are broken, as is his right arm, and both of his legs are bruised. Still, none of that is as bad as what is truly wrong with master. Mentally and emotionally, he's broken. His aura is nearly gone, and he is drifting in and out of sub-consciousness. Even if we heal him...he'd be comatose for the few days left that he would live. Eventually his brain would shut down...and he'd be dead..." She looked down. "We were too late..."

Saren walked towards Neo. "Then would it be right to leave him to suffer like this...? Why not put him out of his misery?" He asked.

"No! That's not true! We've come too far to fail now!" Nemi begged.

"Neo's dead...?" Lexi muuttered to herself. She couldn't believe that they were too slow to save him. Then she remebered something. Back at the came when she was talking to tge dragon statues, she said she wanted Neo dead. "Could that have been it? Did what I asked for come true?" she thought to herself.

Christina looked at Kala, then at Neo, and then back at Kala. Tears started to fill up in her eyes, "It's.... it's too soon...." She dropped down on her knees and lowered her head.

"....." Saren stood over Neo. "Should I do it..?" He asked Christina.

No!" Kala said. "He's still alive, there's...there's gotta be something! We could get Time Spinner or-or-"

"Do you honestly believe that the boy has any hope left?" Eliza asked. "Maybe it's best to end it for him now."

"We could try though, couldn't we?" Sedna hoped. "I mean, if there's even a slight possibility we could save a life, then shouldn't we at least try? He can't even feel any pain if his brain and emotions are gone anyway, right?"

"I have a question." The Scythe said. "Is he broken or is he shattered?"

"W-what?" Kala asked.

"In all of my life, I've never seen anything quite like this. Being broken, and being shattered are two different things. Furthur more if he is indeed mentally broken, then he shouldn't have any control over any of his bodily functions. He swallowed the water."

"Muscle memory?" Sedna asked.

"Has he done anything to show any signs of still being there? Moving or...talking even?" The scythe said. "Because if he has, then I theorize that he is not broken, but rather he is shattered. And if he is shattered, then we only need to return the pieces he has lost; His mind and his emotions."

"The...Armor..." Leah noted.

"Exactly." The scythe said simply. "Why does the armor have Neo's aura?"

"What are you trying to say? They're using the armor as some sort of vessel?" Natalie questioned.

"Neo is very powerful." The scythe said. "Despite the fact that he is fairly normal, he's not even that skilled in using his aerokinesis, but despite this fact, he is strong. If you could concentrate all of his power into something with no physical or mental barriers, you'd have a powerful warrior. What I believe happened is that they split Neo up to try and cover all of these bases. They tortured his body to keep his mind in panic. With no physical body, he can use all of his power without harming himself, and with his emotions in constant fear, his brain is pumping adrenaline throughout his body. They must have thought through what would happen if we stopped the armor. Because now Neo is in pieces with his body dying, his mind destorying, and his emotions being unable to be found."

"What's it all mean though?" Eliza asked.

"If we defeat the armor, we can restore Neo. He wouldn't be comatose if his mind returned. He would only lack emotion, until we discover it's location. In the mean time, that should stabalize him enough to the point where his brain wouldn't shut down." The scythe explained.

"Let's move out then." Christina told them, "It's gonna be tough, but we have to kill this thing in order to save Neo. It's our last and only hope left before he gets sent to the cemetery." She brushed his hair. "Everything's going to be alright, Neo...."

"Hold that thought." Natalie said. "If fear is what's driving him right now, maybe I shouldn't tag along. In case anyone hasn't noticed, I have a strong presence, and it doesn't really make people want to reach out and hug me. Me being there to fight him might actually make matters worse."

"I agree." Kala noted. "We need more people here anyway. If something happens..." Her voice trailed off.

"I believe that is best." The scythe said. "This battle is a dangerous one. You are going up against a corrupted Neo, the shard of bravery. Make sure you are prepared with everything you need. This is the most dangerous battle any of you have faced."

"Natalie, Nemi and Lexi should stay." Kala said. "So should Eliza and Sedna to. If we need to leave, we'll need everyone's help."

"You are wise, genie." The Scythe noted. "I appreciate your planning in case something goes wrong."

Nemi looked down.

"Something's bugging me, though. Monica still hasn't reported back yet. See if you can find her while you're out there?" Natalie asked.

Zero nodded, before turning around to face the bubble. "Let's go."

"Fine.. And here I thought I'd get to perform the grim deed sooner or later." Saren replied whimsically. "The only thing I really need to do.."

Part 5: The Fallen Knight
The Shadow Legion first found the dead body of The Mage who had seemingly been clawed to death by something, though by what it is hard to say. Furthur down into the flames they found exactly what they had feared. A large suit of pitch black armor stood, it's back hunched over, it's breathing ragged and animalistic, and shiny green claws arched from it's hands, the exact same claws that Neo had once used. It wasn't alone either as it looked as though a friendly face was keeping it from looking for Leah and Kala.

Trinity stood against the suit of armor, her blades poised, waiting for Neo to make a move so she could counter it. She looked exhausted and singed, but mostly intact and well preserved. She wasn't alone in her task as another face stood with her in this moment. (Go ahead and re-introduce Zapor)

Time Spinner seemed to know the exact location for Masako to go, as the portal led Masako out into the battlefield with everyone else, only a few feet from the Shadow Legion.

Zapor stood next to Trinity, his fur, some parts of his body, and clothes were a bit burnt. His goggles also had broken lens. Despite this, he stood nexi to Trinity with his pistols out in case he needed to use them.

Masako approached the armor, parting the Shadow Legion in her path. Her blade continued to rest in its sheath for now.

Trinity placed her arm in front of Masako, prohibiting further movement towards the armor.

The armor twitched, it's head and body bobbing at fast pace as it convulsed.

"Neo's in there." Trinity whispered to Masako. "I...I can hear him screaming."

Masako's stance lowered slightly. "That thing is supposed to be Neo?" She paused for a moment. "Conquest's cruelty never seems to end..."

"I...I don't know why, but I can hear him." Trinity' face looked grim. "He's scared...and hurt...and confused..."

"If we destroy the armor, we can save Neo." Zero said. Trinity gave a look of disbelief to Zero. "I know you have lots of reasons not to trust me." Zero started. "I betrayed all of your trust, I turned against all of you, but believe me when I say that we will save Neo if we do this!" The reaper's voice trailed off. "He's my friend to..."

Trinity's mind processed everything that he said, and in a second, her left eye erupted with a purple flame around it, just like what Time Spinner had done previously in a battle a long time ago. She nodded at Zero. "We'll save Neo together." She called out. "All of us, as the Mythic Knights!"

The feeling of inspiration they all shared was quickly cut off by Neo giving an ear-piercing howl, knocking them somewhere far away.

(Help Me - Corrupted Shard)

No longer within the confines of Otogi, the Mythic Knights found themselves in a dark arena, trapped under a black sky with no moon or stars. There were no light sources to speak of, except one corner of the arena, lit up by a purple flame. Neo stood in the center, still trapped within the confines of the armor and as animalist as ever, but a new problem had wedged itself into the battle. None of the Mythic Knights seemed to have any of their weapons, nor was any of their kinesis able to be used here, wherever here was. Noticeably, Zapor now held the red Chaos Emerald, Masako still held the Pocket Watch, and Saren still had the Reaper's Ring on, though his scythe was missing. Trinity held both of her daggers firmly in her hands, as she stared down at the beast. Who once again let out another howl, and sprinted to Masako, planning on jumping on her and beginning to claw at her chest and neck.

"Okay, does anyone have any ideas?" Zapor called out.

"We need to destory the armor, Neo needs our help." Trinity said, over confidently.

"We don't have any of our weapons, and I can't get my umbrakinesis or black blood to work." Zero replied. "We can't do this on our own!"

"We're never alone..." Trinity gave in an almost whispered voice.

Masako noticed that the armor was leaning forward, prompting her to jump overhead and dropkick the back of its head, propelling herself off of it.

Neo let out another howl, bashing his claws onto the ground, as two more sets of armor came out, rushing down Trinity and Zapor.

Trinity expertly managed to parry the claws, side-stepping, the young fox quickly led with a slash on the back and a kicked forward, knocking it to Christina.

Zapor quickly rolled back to dodge the attack from the second body of armor. He then pointed his chaos emerald at it. "Chaos spear!" As he shouted the phrase, a blast was fired from tge chaos emerald heading toward the armor.

The armor, despite it's speed, wasn't fast enough to side step the chaos spear like it intended, and the spear landed a direct hit on the torso. A green light encompasses Zapor's body before the armor switched it's target to Saren, this time only aiming to get close to him. Though his body stayed in the arena, the armor seemed to ignore him, while Zapor's mind was placed somewhere else. (Zapor can continue to 5 (A), everyone else will remain here for now. - Neo)

(Uhhh, should I go pester Saren and Piano? -MHS)

(My bad, I knew I was forgetting something. -Neo)

The armor glared at Masako, his gaze shifted from Masako's pocket watch to her, then he quickly rushed behind Masako, aiming to strike at her back.

"Neo!" Zapor called out. "Calm. Your. Face!" Zapor thrusted his hand out, and launched a fire wall to prevent the armor from getting her from behind.

Masako jumped up, hoping to avoid him by staying airborne... but what sparked his sudden interest in the pocket watch?

As Masako jumped, a large wall of flames erupted between her and Neo. The armor looked over at Zapor and quickly sent a large gush of air at the boy, attempting to knock him down.

Zapor was blown back by the wind, but he tried holding his ground.

Neo immediately pounced on top of him and began to try and tear at Zapor's chest with his claws. A dark gleam flashed from where the armor's eyes would be, and for a second a tiny voice saying, "Help" was quickly heard by Zapor, before Zero came in, knocking the armor off of Zapor with the back of his scythe.

Similar to Zapor, Zero also now featured a pink aura on himself, as he fought, with his scythe returned, it seemed that he had gone through what Zapor had recently gone through as well.

Zero gave a wide eyed stare from the armor back to Zapor, then back to the armor. "Did you hear that?"

(OH! I wasn't aware that I was in this part XD)

"The hell is with you people?" Saren asked.

"Yeah...what was that?" Zapor said getting up.

"I don't know...." Zero noted quickly before the armor that had attacked Zapor jumped up and swung again at Zapor.

While Trinity dealt with the set of armor that had attacked her first, another enemy came from it, and went right for Masako. This one was different though. It was armor, right? It had an amalgam of green fur and metal, ruined black clothes were worn over it's body, singed by flames recently. Although the helmet still looked as if it were metal, it also seemed like this time there was truly something underneath. Almost as if this armor was organic.

Saren quickly found himself dealing with his own armor set now, as Neo began to swing, trying to land a hit on Saren's neck.

Zapor quicky turned at the armor's arm and breathed fire at it.

And here she was, without her sword... maybe Masako didn't need it. Now might be a good time to actually test that theory, though. She flipped open the pocket watch to see what fates were in store for her.

Opening the pocket watch showed the image of the armor digging it's claws into Masako's chest, tearing her apart quite litterally. But the image quickly changed as the armor stopped and stared at the pocket watch. The image changed to that of everyone in the room, covered in some strange glowing aura, fighting against the armor.

Saren ducked before trying to hook his scythe into the neck joint of the armor. Only to realize he was missing his trademark weapon, so with a curse on his lips he hopped back to hopefully analyze the armor for any exploitable vulnerabilities.

(Saren doesn't have his weapon or kinesis here... -Neo)

(My bad. -Sar.)

Masako stepped back once she realized the armor was standing right before her, looking straight into its "face".

The armor stood, giving off an animalistic pant. It seemed to recognize the look of the pocket watch, which didn't make sense as the armor had no eyes, nor did it even have eye holes if there was a person inside of the armor. Perhaps it was somehow able to recognize that Time Spinner had given Masako the pocket watch, but that didn't quite make sense either as it didn't recognize other things like Zapor's Chaos Emerald. Perhaps it wasn't quite recognizing the pocket watch.

Perhaps it was recognizing Masako.

Masako stood where she was, starting directly at the armor. She was banking on the possibility that his consciousness was still in there, somewhere...

The armor stood still for a few more seconds before it finally rushed at Masako once more, resuming the fight. If there was any part of Neo still in there, he was starting to lose the fight.

Looking at the armor, it appeared as though there was no flaws. The armor was pristine in condition with no chinks, dents, or even scrathes. There was no person inhabiting the suit, so nothing could be exploited there. The armor had no eye holes, nor any hole on it's face for sight, hearing, or smell. This thing was a perfect fighter.

Except for it's loss of control.

After analysising it, Saren began to take on a red aura.

Saren blinked, noting the red aura. "Am I drunk again or is this really happening..?" He mused.

Slowly the world faded from Saren, and he found himself in a new place, though his body remained in the Arena, he didn't move, and the armor that he was fighting instantly lost interest in him.

(Saren go to Part 5 (B), everyone else will stay here. - Neo)

"No... you're not allowed to give up!" Masako tried to hold the armor back. She was strong, but there was no way she could stop it forever.

The armor wasn't backing down, it was going to keep attacking until it got what it wanted, whatever that maybe. It's attacks were fast, with no strategy or tact behind a single one. It appeared as though this battle would end with soon with one party torn to shreds.

Just as the armor began to try another assault, Masako began to glow with a yellow aura.

"Neo! Quit swinging dude!" Zapor ran in front of the armor, trying to get Neo's attention.

"So it's my turn, huh?" Masako sighed. "Guess things are going as planned. Whoever's watching over us, please... give us the strength to stop this..."

(Masako go to Part 5 (C), everyone else will stay here. -Neo)

Neo quickly turned to Zapor and tried to drive his claws across Zapor's face.

Saren grumbled, looking around before noting Neo about to drive his claws into Zapor's face. So, doing what no one else would do in his situation, he ran up to the armored Neo and attempted to land a jump kick across the cheek to knock him away.

"DYNAMIC EXIT BITCH!!"

"Woah...that was amazing!" Zapor said with inspired eyes.

Quickly Neo turned to face Saren only to wind up with a face full of feet as he is knocked yards away from Saren's attack.

"So you're back, then?" Zero said betweens swings against one of the sets of armor. "Did you two get your life changing advice too?"

"Yeah, I guess I did.." Saren mused, twirling his weapon. "And a temporary boost."

"I got my guns!" Zapor cheered. "But how are we gonna get Neo out of that thing? It's like a walking dog of metal."

Zero looked over the armor. "I've spent a long time studying and training in combat. Everything is supposed to have a weakness, and I cannot see one on this thing. No matter how many times we hit it, it can't seem to feel pain, and there's no weak spots in the armor that it is impossible to exploit. From what I can gather," Zero took a big breath. "This thing, is the perfect warrior. Neo cannot be defeated."

Trinity meanwhile, was still fighting her suit of armor. Seemingly determined to free Neo. DId she know something the others did not?

"Perfect warrior? Really, anything can be defeated if given the right circumstances and environments.." Saren said, glancing over to Trinity for a brief moment. "Should I help her..?"

Trinity continued her struggle, seemingly not needing any help, though from watching her, she seemed to be deliberatly targeting the armor's chest piece, as if she found a flaw in it somewhere.

Saren noted that with a smirk. "Aim for the chest plates!"

Part 5 (A): Zapor's Kindness
Zapor found himself on a coastline in the middle of the night. The blue waves crashed onto the brilliant white sand below him. Behind him, where a coastal town would normally be, was only an endless desert, haunting and almost taunting him to continue forward, edging him closer into the abyss that was the desert.

He wasn't alone here either, as a young girl, looking to be about his age sat on the beach, sobbing. She was an orange echidna with a light blue jacket, her left eye glowed a distinctive green, just like Trinity's had. She looked up at Zapor, and her sobbing was stifled for only a second, by a gasp she had let out. "W-why is he screaming?" She asked between sobs. "Why are they hurting him?"

"Uh, who's him? And who's they? And where exactly are we?" Zapor asked. Zapor looked around the area to see if anyone else was around. Maybe this kid's parents.

"I...I don't know..." She sobbed. "Can...can you help him?" She offered one of her hands to Zapor. The thought that her eye being similar to Trinity's brough about many questions, but it was a clear connection between the two. It seems this girl could hear Neo's screaming just as Trinity had said she heard before. How did they connect to Neo?

Zapor seemed a bit confused about all of this, but he took the girl's hand.

A green calming light exchanged from the girl to Zapor. The green light on the girl's eye dimed, but still remained eeriely present. "Please, save him..." Zapor's kinesis and weapons returned to him as he returned to the arena, now armed and ready to save Neo.

(Head back to Part 5 -Neo)

Part 5 (B): Saren's Paitience
Saren found himself in a coffee shop, the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the air. A delightful feeling of being at home was clearly defined in this area. The familiar sight of station Square lay outside the glass doors and windows of the cofee shop. The orange tinge to the walls provided a cheerful feeling to the area, despite the ongoing fight happening elsewhere.

Standing behind an orange counter was Hart, in his usual outfit, but this time his face looked estranged, and he seemed to be carrying something. Saren caught his eye and he immedietly showed Saren something.

(Describe what Hart is holding, something of sentimental value to Saren. -Neo)

Hart seemed to be holding a chipped light blue flask, it was worn with age and battle damage but it's lasted him throughout his life. However, with recent events the flask had shattered and Saren thought he lost it, being a sentimental item to him because it was a gift from an old friend before he kicked the bucket.

"Where did you get that...?"

Hart, still speaking no words at all, gave Saren a look. One that, despite barely knowing Hart, seemed to convey everything it needed. "I went looking for it." He seemed to be saying, and placed the flask down on the counter for Saren to take. He gave Saren another look. "I don't trust you. You're arrogant, loud-mouthed, and only care about yourself. Do you even care for anyone besides yourself? Did you care for this one?" He gestured to the flask.

Saren was silent, having to give a long hard think on that question, did he really care for others like he said? What about the flask. "...."

Finally, after a few long minutes, Saren answered. "I don't know, maybe I do care. Maybe I don't. But what would you know about me really?"

Hart gave another look. One that led Saren to believe that Hart knew way more than he was letting on. The thought from out of nowhere came into the world for only a second. "What even was Hart?" Looking at him now, it was clear that the man standing in front of Saren was not Mobian, Human, or even Spirit. His eyes, his non-existent voice, his very presence, he wasn't anything normal. He was something far different from any species on mobius. The question lingered again. "What even was Hart?"

Hart didn't back down from Saren. He didn't see Saren as something to be scared of, nor was he something trivial. Hart looked at Saren like an equal. "Did. You. Care. For. This. One?" Hart pressed again.

Saren looked at Hart with annoyance clear in his eyes. "Most likely, now what the hell are you?"

Hart gave an offended look, as if Saren should already know what he was though there was truly no way to know. Hart gave Saren another look. "Do you care for the ones you're with now?"

"Oh don't get pissy because I don't know you, as for that.. No, I really can't say I do." Saren replied offhandedly. "They don't truly know me at all and I don't know them much either, infact I'll probably dissapear once I get my powers bacl from that bastard who duped me!"

Hart shook his head. "And then what? Go back to what you did before? Sit around drinking, doing more mindless work so that you can buy more drinks? Doesn't that seem tedious to you? You've met Destruction first hand, and you don't want to get revenge on him?" Hart played with the blue flask a little bit. "We're trying to help you here." He raised the flask, indicating the person who had given it to Saren. "All of us."

"And what then? Might I add? What happens after I get revenge on Destruction.. Do you all just forget about me after its finished? Or maybe you hang around for a while before slowly distancing yourself from me until I end up alone and back to doing what I've always done?" Saren remarked bitterly, very reluctant to take the flask and accept help.

"Is that what you honestly think is going to happen?" Hart gave another look. "Do you think that's what they think? People left you before because they died! You're undead, but not everyone can live as long as you can! Do you think that's what they all think? To most of them, you're the only family they have left!" Hart slammed his hands on the counter. "To them, every member of the Mythic Knights is family, and that includes you. Echo, Delta, Zapor, Zero, Leah, Trinity, Celia, they are your family! And they aren't going to leave you after all of this!"

Hart gave a silent sigh. "Right now, they need help. They need your help."

Saren sighed. "You're right.. Now what do I gotta do?" He asked, reaching to take the flask.

Hart looked up at Saren, for just a moment, he didn't look like himself, he looked like someone else. Someone familiar to Saren that he couldn't quite place his finger on. Was Hart the one who gave Saren the Flask?

"Right now, you need to get back in the fight." Hart gave a determined look. "Right now, Neo is being manipulated into using his shard of light powers, knocking most of you into a shard of the world of light, a place that he has full control of. What you need is the temporary power of another shard to gain your powers back while your here." Hart's eye was lit aflame, a red flame matching Trinity's.

A red aura once again lit Saren up, giving him temporary power in this realm. For the first time, Hart spoke, his words physically burning through Saren's ears. Each tone was painful to listen to, literally tearing his brain apart. It was a power that couldn't kill, but it was enough to drive insanity into anyone who listened long enough. "I will help you, Saren." He spoke.

(Saren can now return to Part 5, he can use all of his weapons and for this battle he can use his light kinesis and his shadow kinesis, though the shadow kinesis will go away again after the battle. -Neo)

Part 5 (C): Masako's Justice
A jury room. That's where Masako had been taken. A jury room with warm red carpet and black office chairs all surrounding a mahogany table. The room was sealed fairly well, as to keep everything inside the room safe from harm. There was some form of energy through the room, one of excitement, fear, and anxiety.

A small boy sat in one of the chairs, holding his head in his hands He looked to be about 15, not too much younger than Neo was. He didn't notice Masako yet, he simply stared down as if he were trying to deal with a headache.

Masako found herself pacing around the circumference of the table, observing her surroundings. She stopped when she was behind the boy, noticing that he was troubled.

The boy didn't seem to be paying her any mind as he simply stayed where he was, unaware of anyone else within the room.

"Hey, umm... can you tell me what's wrong? You don't seem to be feeling well..." Masako tries to put a hand on his shoulder.

Immedietely the boy jumped at the first touch of mobian contact. A look of panic and fear spread over his face as he looked over Masako. "H-how? W-why?" He seemed to be unaware of where exactly he was ,or how he got here. A moment passed by before he quickly jumped at the chance to speak again. "N-neo?" He guessed Masako's identity.

"Last time I checked, Neo wasn't pink..." Masako shook her head. She smirked, being slightly amused.

"Then...who are you?" The boy asked. "Who is Neo?"

"My name is Masako. And right now, Neo needs help," Masako explained. "More help than I alone can provide."

"Neo...needs help?" The boy asked. "I...I can help him!" His left eye flashed a brilliant gold color, similar to Trinity's as Masako was once more enveloped by the golden aura and returned to the arena with all of her weapons and kinesis.

(Go to Part 6 -neo)

Part 6: Save Him
With the team returned all together to the arena, it was finally time to finish the armor off. Bright lights had shone throughout the arena now, each represeting the colors of the aruas used by each Mythic Knight now. Neo still stood in the center, still as a monstrosity. In the distance there was a sound that could be heard. Only just barely but it was clearly there. It was Neo screaming. Somehow these people with the lights on their eyes were able to hear Neo scream, and now that the Mythic Knights had their powers for a short time, they could hear this as well.

Now that Saren had found a weakspot, things were now coming together as finally the Mythic Knights could save their leader and friend, though something did come into question, why was the chestplate the most vulnerable part of the armor? In the end, it didn't matter as long as the team could defeat the armor, and save Neo.

"Okay, let's get this chest!" Zapor said, firing a fire shot at the armor's chest.

Saren channelled his newfound power through his scythe, adding a twirl as he swung it at the chest plate with a showoffish smirk.

The bullet hit the chestplate of the armor, though it didn't really seem to do too much damage, as the chest plate had caused the bullet to bounce off. The scythe however, managed to strike right through the chest if the armor, the blade sticking out of the other end.

Saren tried to yank his weapon out of the chestplate.

THe blade pulled from the armor quite easily, almost like a knife from butter. The large jagged hole from the armor was evident, but that didn't seem to bother it at all as Neo quickly pulled his claws up in an uppercut fashion towards Saren's face.

Saren leaned back a la matrix to avoid the claws, raising his scythe up as he leaned back before crouching down and thrustibg the butt of the weapon inside the hole so he could lift the armor up and basically suplex it.

As Saren did this, Masako zooms up to the armor, attacking its chest with four clean slashes before flipping backwards, firing a blade of ice at it.

The armor swung into the ground by Saren's Scythe, but not before Masako managed to get her strikes in, dealing even more damage to the armor.

Something Masako may notice about this fight was starting to come to light. This battle had gotten a lot easier, as if the armor was beginning to lose power. It could very likely have been the large hole in it's chest, but Neo would have put up a bigger fight if he was here, and this armor, that had managed to kill several people out in the town only saved only by Leah's shell spell, was somehow not fighting at his best.

This entire time he was not fighting to the best of his potential.

Saren removed his scythe, still spinning it, and swung the blade down at the armor's helm. "Y'know.. I've needed this for a long while~"

The blade crashed into the helmet's top, piercing it directly into the cranium of the armor. In doing so, immediately something felt wrong, as if Saren had unleashed a huge torrent of negative energy.

Saren had one word to sum up this little screwup of his. ".... Shit."

"This may be bad." Zapor added.

"Shit, shit! Get down!" Masako raised her blade up, creating a barrier of stone.

An explosion of orange energy fills the arena, luckily the barrier had managed to protect them from a good portion of the damage. Where the eye would be on the armor was erupted into orange flame and the Mythic Knights were taken somewhere new.

This new area was a destroyed version of Tranquil Manor. Broken furniture, smashed windows, torn wallpaper. Oddly enough there were paintings all over, with the faces of several members of the Mythic Knights, each torn or destroyed in some way. The sight itself was chilling to see as were the sounds coming from the room next over, what the group would know would be the den, which had two paintings that of people no one recognized, except Zapor.

(Zapor, these two paintings are Zapor's parents. Describe the two, what has been done to the paintings themselves, and how Zapor feels about this. -Neo)

As Zapor looked at the paintings, he noticed two that seemed a bit familiar. One of the paintings had a tall female hedgehog. She had long, flowing red hair, and wore an indigo dress with matching high heeled shoes. In the picture, most of her midsection was torn while her face had red liquid covering her entire mouth.

The next photo showed a male hedgehog, Zapor's father. He had purple quills with black loops on each one, had a heavier build, and seemed to be wearing a suit vest and tap dancing shoes. However, this was based off of a wild guess, because the picture was in terrible condition, to the point of where you would have to go on small hints. Not only was it cut up, but it was also burned on most of the body, and the eyes and mouth were seriously scratched out and also covered with red liquid.

"Are those my... parents?" Zapor asked to no one in particular. He never really knew his parents since they were killed when he was a small baby, and only went off of the description his aunt gave him of them. He felt, slightly disturbed. He always had some sort of thing with blood making him feel happy (occasionally), and up until now he didn't care about his parents since he never remembered them. But this felt... different somehow. It felt disturbing.

Zero shook his head. "Where the hell are we now?"

Trinity looked over the paintings, as if she had made some sort of theoretic-connection between the people in the paintings. Before more rustling could be heard from the Den.

Sitting in the Den was Neo, pacing in a very short distance, which had scribbles in large red letters behind him, several words were written but there isn't any connection between them, as if Neo had gone made. A look of terror gleamed from his eyes, though he didn't even seem to be paying any mind to the new guests he had, he only rambled under his breath and continued to pace. The room itself wasn't any better than the rest of the house, as it still held the broken furniture and the torn wallpaper. Saren noticed something the others didn't at first, a weapon.

(Saren, describe a legendary scythe that looks like it may have once been tailored for an insane Saren. -Neo)

The weapon looked like a scythe, about 6'3" in height. As for what it was made of, well it looked like someone had decided to harvest the bones of various creatures and weld them together with obsidianate. Resulting in a twisted mess of slightly charred bone and Obsidian mixing together to form the shaft of the scythe, the head seemed to have some sort of demon's skull with branching horns growing from the back of the skull, with three open eye sockets and the mouth opened up to hold a wicked curved blade that was a dull grey and had thin serrated notches on the blade for added tearing through flesh and bone. The butt of the weapon also had a preserved eye hanging from a small chain, whether as a good luck charm or not was unclear.

The scythe itself clung into the ground, corrupting the very land that lay at it's hilt. It was only a few feet from Neo and radiated energy. It was nothing seen before. It defied everything that could have been. The Scythe was neither of good or evil origins, it had somehow met a cross in between, it was an elegy of insanity.

Zero cocked his head at the blade before looking back to Saren, then to the blade again.

Neo continuted his muttering, "BlOoD ThAt'S rEd LiKe RoSeS..." He muttered before going back to words that were incoherent.

Trinity shook her head. "What...happened here..."

Saren shrugged, walking towards the scythe. "Hmm.. Dunno what this is but its a cool looking scythe." He mused, reaching out to touch the scythe.

Immedietely upon getting close to the scythe, a huge wave of energy exploded out of the blade, with enough force to knock a building down, not allowing Saren to wield it. The scythe itself seemed very familiar to Saren. Had he held this weapon before?

Saren blinked. "You were mine at one point right..? So why won't you let me use you!?" He said with a growl as he stood up and reached to grab the scythe again.

The scythe again resisted him, pulsing with energy once more to repel him. He had indeed wielded this scythe before, in fact now it was clear who's scythe it was. This was Fey's Scythe.

It seemed like this scythe was telling a story. That in some version of the timeline, it seemed that Saren had left the Mythic Knights at some point, taking with him a deceased Fey's scythe and using it as his own. He fell to madness, and the blade itself corrupted, now not being even stronger than it's once master and now searched for someone of madness to wield it again. This scythe had killed Saren for succombing to Madness.

Neo stopped his pacing and swiftly picked the scythe up, holding it skillfully, and he seemed to sing to it, like a father would sing to his child. He gave grim face, looking up at the team. "No AsSaSsIn KiLlS fOrEvEr." He growled.

"You're right, no assassin does kill forever.. Then again, nothing lasts forever, but this isn't the future. This is the here and now, and I'm still leaving a bodycount!" Saren retorted. "So, this something you want to open up Neo?"

(Oh crap I totally forgot to edit yesterday rip - MHS)

(You're fine, after Saren, Masako is also going to have a moment, and then Zapor before the big final battle so it's all good. -Neo)

Neo dropped the blade of the scythe to the ground, dragging it as he slowly walked closer to Saren. "ThIs Is My WoRlD, AsSaSsIn." He chortled, lifting a finger and dragging it across Saren's face. It felt like a burning ciggerette, enough to show power, but not enough to do any permenent damage. "YoU cAn'T kIlL mE hErE. yOu CaN't DiE hErE eItHiEr, So I cAn KeEp ChOpPiNg YoU iNtO pIeCiEs OvEr AnD oVeR aNd OvEr..." He swung the scythe back. "HaVe DoEs It FeEl, WaTcHiNg EvErYoNe DiE aRoUnD yOu? YoU aRe WoRtHlEsS tO tHe WoRlD, oNcE sOmEoNe FiNdS tHe CoUnTeR tO tHaT NeCrOmAnCy, TiCk ToCk tIcK!" He swung the blade through Saren's neck, only to disappear as an illusion for Saren to see.

Neo still muttered in the corner and the scythe was never there to begin with.

Saren only chuckled, a little shaken but he wasnt going to show it if he could help it. "How does it feel you ask? Maybe you should ask yourself that question kiddo because believe it or not, the afterlife is more boring than the line at the DMV.. As for the necromancy thing, it's quite obvious and if people havent figured it out by now then I have to wonder if this current generation grew up with a monkey beating a jar inside their heads.."

"What are you talking about?" Zero asked. It seemed the entire situation was in Saren's head. Was this from losing kinesics or was it from his interaction with Destruction? It could have been from being in this...place as well. Only one thing was clear though.

Saren's subconscious was talking to itself.

Saren blinked, rubbing his eyes for a moment and taking a quick breather. "It's nothing... I hope it is at least.." Saren said. Muttering that last part to himself however.

"Neo...?" Trinity asked taking a step towards the madman, only to be stopped by Zero.

"That isn't Neo right now." Zero stated. "That's some sort of...creature."

"But look at him, he just needs help!" Trinity argued.

"I don't think we can. Not right now, at least." Zero said.

While this conversation happened, there seemed to be something in the neighboring room. It could be seen by most through the corridor, but Masako was able to catch it, there was someone in the room next door.

Masako's ears perked up, her attention diverted to the room nearby. She quietly tries to slip away from the group to investigate.

Once inside the room, it looked as if a grizzly murder had happened. Neo's corpse laid in the center, his face looking up at the ceiling, the entire room was torn apart in some horrible fashion, as if a struggle had happened, and Neo had failed. The most interesting bit, was the murder weapon, still stuck in Neo's chest.

(Describe Susan'o if it fought for Vengence, rather than Justice. (And perhaps not wielded by Masako at all.) -Neo)

"What the hell just happened here...?" Masako approaches the body, taking note of the room. She runs a finger across one of the slice wounds on Neo's body. "These cuts... they're too clean. No sloppy bladework to be seen here... am I the one who supposedly created these wounds?" She shakes her head in denial. "No, this has to be the work of someone else... otherwise, why would I justify an act as gruesome as this?"

As the rest of the team entered the room, they came to find, the murder that Masako had already found. Zero seemed to be connecting the dots. "When we all had auras." He started. "Did anyone else find themselves in a different place afterward?"

"Uh, yeah. I was at some sort of beach desert. There was also this kid there."

"And where I went there was a girl, but the thing is, there was only one of them. It seemed like where we went, the people we talked to had some sort of connection to the location we were in, which ties into Neo since this is his home. Our bodies stayed where they were, but our minds were placed somewhere else. So here's an important question, are we in Neo's mind?" Zero asked.

"It's gotta be the Shards of Light." Trinity explained. "We're interacting with them."

"Apparently the Shards of Light are very powerful, it's possible that their power is being represented to us by the mindscape they have created...no, not mindscape, this is something different like an aura-scape. So here's the question; if the one spouting random nonesense were to be his mind, and this was his body, what if we combined the two?" Zero said.

"Then we just need his emotions." Trinity nodded. "Then we could save Neo!"

"Then we must find them. Neo's strength wanes by the second, and we cannot afford to lose him, especially with what lies ahead of us," Masako urged. Her attention was drawn to the body once more. "This could've been anyone's doing... why did it have to be mine?" She mutteredm

Zero looked over the sword. "Maybe...you should pull the sword out of him?" He suggested. "If we have to move him we can't really do it with a blade in his chest."

"But what if he can't be saved..?"

"I'm not even going to entertain that thought, Saren." Masako draws the blade from the corpse.

"Don't you dare say that!" Trinity said.

"Honestly, I don't know." Zero started. "But I just have a feeling that 'Shards of Light' are a bit tougher than the rest. If nothing else, Neo is a bit tougher than that."

As Masako grabs the sword, and the blade is pulled just an inch out of the ground, Neo's arm flies up and grabs the blade.

Of course, to anyone except Masako, they do not see the corpse, or Masako, do anything.

"Well sooorry if I'm being the cautious one." Saren snarked at Trinity.

"Yeah, the cautious one," Trinity burned up. "You were SO cautious when you lost your umbrakinesis, weren't you? When you were tricked by Destruction and failed that mess of a trial that a weapon gave you. But, I forgot, your the cautious-"

"Trinity!" Zero cut in, stepping between the two as he noticed Trinity's hands descend towards her daggers. "We're not here to fight against each other. Right now the everything and everyone on this planet is teetering towards madness. If we're going to save Neo, or get any power back, we need to work together."

"Oh sure I lost my shadow gimmicks, but I got something else from it too! Sides, what can you do? Aside from bitch and whine eh..?" Saren retorted, sure he lost his shadow abilities because he made a deal with a literal devil and it bit his ass in the most literal sense.. But he got back up and continued on instead of moping about it.

"What can I do?" Trinity exploded in fire, a litteral bomb of energy swept off of her. "How about being the only person here who can put your sorry ass into place, huh? Unless you really want to try your luck against me?" It was clear that Trinity possessed a huge amount of power, far stronger than any other member of the team. With this new power of hers, it was clear that she was also a Shard of Light, and now that she had discovered this power, she may possibly be the most powerful mobian. Even with all of his power, even if the entire Mythic Knights stood with Saren in a battle against Trinity, at this very moment, she could kill everyone.

Part of it was loss. Trinity has lost so much in her life, for someone of such a young age. It is terrible what she has had to go through, lossing her pervious team, the Mystic Magi (Which Saren was witness to a flashback of) but right now she might have lost her best friend. Not even she was certain if Neo could be saved or not, all she could do is hope. This whole moment seemed familiar.

(Saren, describe a happy memory of Saren with the friend who gave him the flask. A name would also be nice so I can stop calling him Blue Flask Person in my notes. -Neo)

The blue flask that Hart had given to Saren began to grow warm, as if filled with a delightfully familiar beverage and a distant memory of something far gone. That same insufferable smirk on Saren's face was still there. "Put me in my place eh~? Better men and women than you have tried, sure you may be more powerful than me physically, but its nothing new.. You're still the same bullheaded twit who'll just use brute force to get her way, and I'll tell you what I told that so called goddess who harped at me about redemption. Redemption is nothing more than some stupid fantasy, it's not real nor is it worth searching for.." Saren retorted, reminiscing on a happier time on a small farm many years before these events happened.

Rather, he had been hiding out from some people who wanted to chase him outta town because he was an incorrigable asshat. Kinda like now, only with a touch more childish naievity and less jaded cynicism.

Saren took out the flask. "Apple Cider mixed with Gin.. It's been a while since I had this.. Tell me Jugo, if you were still around now, what would you think of the situation I found myself in eh~? Even after those few short years of helping you run the farm.. We had our fights, and we had our laughs.. If I was honest I'd say those were the best years of my unlife really, you matched my wit and you weren't afraid of me no matter what I may have done.." Saren sighed wistfully, closing his eyes before downing the contents of his flask.

"How are you going to redeem your power if you don't believe in Redemption?" A voice said in Saren's head. It was clearly Hart, the presence was clear, but the voice was that of Jugo. "Actually, ignore that question. Here's the more important one; You know what all you need to get your umbrakinesis back. right?" "I'm not seeking redemption, sheesh, and I figure I'll get it back if I put the business end of my scythe into Destruction's skull..? Isn't that how it works?"

"I don't believe Destruction has a skull. He's a body of black blood solidified into a mass." Hart noted. "It's going to take a lot less than killing Destruction to get your powers back, but it's not going to be easy either. Normally when people loss their kinesis it's impossible to gain back. However there is a legend which says otherwise. 'Are you seeking Courage, Knowledge, and you lost in the hours? Go forth in the Darkness, consult the three powers.' Apparently Courage, Knowledge, and Time can grant you your umbrakinesis again."

"That's where the easy part cuts off though. You'll need the ability to meet them if you are to get it back. Which means you'll need people who can get there. Knowledge, for example, requires a genie to open the portal to get there. Courage requires the Phoenix's wings to get you there. There's only one Genie who can help you, and only one person who has a direct line to the Phoenix. You just so happened to piss off one of the only people who can help you with that and the other one doesn't like you either so..." Hart trailed off.

"Sorry, but I think i'll go with the route that I know. Killing the guy who stole it from me, if that don't work then I'll just move on. But I refuse to play nice to anyone just to get my power back.." Saren snickered. "They don't like me, they can take it up with the thousands of other people who don't like me."

"Let me be real with you for a second." Hart said. "At this moment in time, you... are an awful fighter. You know how to twirl a farming tool, and you can probably outwit most combatants, but your umbrakinesis is a crutch that you need. Kala could kick your ass, and that's a problem because she is the weakest link of the bunch. You don't have to play nice, there are other methods of handling the situation. I want to help you Saren." Something clicked when Hart had said that, something that seemed to all make sense. Did Jugo ever have a son?

As far as Saren remembered, Jugo didn't have a son. "Yeah, like how..?" He snarked, really irritated at the moment.

"Well, I want to you to become the strongest person in the entire world." Hart noted. "Eventually Destruction will return, and it's theorized that the Shards of Light are the only people who can kill him. I doubt that. I think if we combine all the powers of this world into one single being, we can kill him. A living host couldn't holdn't hold all that power and live, but your not exactly living."

"I don't know who you are but I like that idea very much so.. Only problem is getting them to lend me the power of their shards.."

"I was thinking about things on a different scale." Hart noted. "You don't need the shards, they wouldn't work with you anyway. I think the first thing we should try is making you omnikinetic. In order to do that though, we're going to need you get your umbrakinesis back first. Which means, we'll have to deal with Trinity and Kala later."

"Does this mean I'll have to play nice with them..? Hart?" Saren asked.

"Perhaps, but perhaps it's not neccessary." Hart noted. "Deception could be another option."

"... Deception it is." Saren snickered. "I'm glad we can come to agreement on something.. Jugo.." He muttered to himself silently.

"Ngh?!" Masako almost seemed to jump at the sudden action.

The body looked decayed, and broken, as if the sword had been plunged into it's heart decades ago. Neo's corpse started up at Masako as it slowly lifted the blade out of it's body and stood in front of her, still holding the blade in it's dead hands with a tight grip.

Masako appeared reluctant to draw her own blade. She defensively holds her arms out in front of her. "This must be where the timelines intersect... Neo, how could I have possibly done this to you?"

As if to answer this question, Masako's pocket watch heated up to a very warm temperature, and Masako got to view a moment in history.

Masako, dressed very similarly to Warlock, stood in the streets of Station Square, Echo's dead body lay in front of her, dead, murdered by Masako. Neo stood behind her, his clothes were a dark uniform grey jacket, with black pants. His claws were missing, and he seemed distraught. "You killed her." Neo noted. "Of all the things you could have done with any of them, you killed her. Just like you killed the rest of the Mythic Knights. Even Saren knows that what you are doing is wrong."

(Would you have the honor of controlling Corrupted Masako? -Neo)

"I didn't have a choice! Veresa, Lyndis... they're all dead! There are no Gods or Goddesses that can help us now! The Mythic Knights stood in the way of our only salvation!" Masako hissed. She flipped her blade around, and pointed it at him. "Now stand down, or I'll end your life as well."

"You're a monster." Neo spat. "You destroyed our chance to live. Ever since you teamed up with Warlock, you've become a monster."Neo took a step towards the blade. "End me now then. Finish the job and kill the last Mythic Knight left." He swung the words 'Last Mythic Knight' like an insult towards Masako.

"You would taunt me in your final moments?" Masako's grip wavers for a second. "We could have worked together. All of us. Our combined efforts would have brought all of this to an end. Instead, your opposition forced me to eliminate you. There was no turning back after that... not even the other Aspects could stop me."

"Then kill me!" Neo shouted. "Prove yourself to that abomination. To think I once trusted you as a friend..."

"Shut up!" Masako strikes at him.

The blade sunk through Neo's chest as he collapsed downwards, the last Mythic Knight had fallen.

Of course Masako didn't seem to last long after that, as another figure had dropped from the top of a building and had stabbed Masako in return, his face was hidden but he seemed oddly familiar.

And then the glimpse through time ended.

Masako collapses to her knees, horrified. "Oh, Goddess... how could I have done this?"

Neo's body still clung to the blade, turning it ever so slowly so that it pointed to Masako.

Masako silently looked up at him. She would not ready her blade, nor attempt to flee. She refused to repeat what she had seen.

He raised the blade and stabbed Masako in her chest, similarly to the person who killed her in the glimpse. For just a second he looked like someone else. Was it Aero who stabbed Masako? No this person was different, it was a green female fox. Trinity, perhaps?

The vision faded, and Masako found herself unharmed back in the room. Her hand still on the blade. It had never left Neo's corpse, but it seemed unable to be pulled up.

Masako awoke with a gasp as she came to her senses. She shook her head, releasing her grip on the blade. "I can't seem to pull it out..."

"Hey. Did something happen?" Zapor asked, looking up to her. "You seemed kinda out of it."

"What happened?" Trinity asked.

Zero went to the sword to try and grab it, only to be met with the weapon turning into dust. "Well then..." He muttered.

Saren looked around after finishing his talk with Hart, the two having come into agreement on how Saren was going to take the steps to become an omnikinetic, he figured he might try to at least smooth things over with trinity. So, putting on a somber look on his face he walked towards Trinity.

Masako held her head. "I'm fine..."

Trinity paid little mind to Saren, still very clearly upset. "We need to keep going." She urged.

The orange light around them glowed again, and this time we got see Neo, a normal Neo, sitting on a stained glass picture of Station Square.. He looked up at the Mythic Knights before dropping his sight to the ground again. "Oh. There you are."

"Neo! You're okay!...um, are you okay?" Zapor asked.

"Okay?!" Neo asked in an almost accusing tone. "I've been tortured for days with illusions and visions of people dying, constantly subjected to electro-shock therapy and had my mind, body, and spirit torn apart from one another! So, yeah, I'm feeling absolutely fantastic right now, Zapor!"

"... So last thursday?" The ghost cat asked whimsically, trying to crack a joke.

While Zero seemed to appreciate Saren's sense of humor, Neo didn't really seem to catch on that it was joke. "Were you here?" Neo askeed. "When I saw you...down here...on all the pillars with that...guy who gave you the scythe and the woman who kept talking down to you...what were they're names?"

Saren shrugged, if he knew he probably wasn't going to tell anyone at this very moment.

"Where is here anyway?" Zero asked.

"Hell." Neo told them. "Or at least that's what it feels like. Constantly hunted down by people I think I know, running from pillar to pillar to try and find some safe place to be, only to be met with a spirit or some...dark figure asking me about my life."

"Did you tell them anything?" Zerp asked.

"No." Neo noted. "I just went from one pillar to the next to try and get somewhere they couldn't get to me."

"Damn, and I'm all out of Jack Daniels.." Saren sighed, he probably would've given Neo and Zero if he had any on him.

As Saren finished that statement, everyone with the exception of Trinity and Neo began to glow their aura colors. Trinity's blue flame on her eye glowed more than it had before and Neo started to gain an orange flame around his eye.

"What the f--k is going on now!?" He jolted backwards, readying his scythe out of instinct.

The glass pillar cracked and finally shattered as the Mythic Knights all fell into the darkness.

And just as quickly as everything went dark, the world came back to them. They stood in the real world once more, with a pile of armor lying in a heap on the ground. It seemed that with all of the Shards of Light combined, they were able to do what may have once been unthinkable.

They saved Neo.

Epilogue
(So special epilogue time, let's close this mini-arc with everyone participating in this Epilogue.)

Lexi found herself looking over a battered Delta, who was placed far away from the others. The other members of the team all sat talking to each other away from her, leaving Lexi to be the sole caretaker for the unconcious girl. That is, until a familiar grey unicorn sat next to Lexi. "How has she been doing?" Time Spinner asked.

"...She's still unconcious." Lexi answered. "I don't know why this is happening. First, the team splits up, I lose Zak. Next, I learn that Neo knew where my sister was the whole time and didn't even bother to tell me. After that, something happens to Zapor, and I don't even know if he's alive for sure or not. And now Delta's hurt!" Lexi moaned, holding her head in her hands.

" Zapor is in fact alive " Time Spinner asked. " But do you know why Neo didn't tell you?" Time Spinner opened a silver pocket watch, which played a flashback from when Neo found Treasure.

"Aren't you coming back?" Neo asked.

"No, never." Treasure said.

"What do you mean?" Neo asked. "You've got to come back! Lexi is looking for you, everyone is looking for you! What am I supposed to tell them?"

"Nothing. You won't speak a word of this to anyone." Treasure told him. "Neo, I've got my own things to do. There is some evil out there that I have to stop. If I can't do this on my own and succeed than everything is going to fall apart."

"I don't understand." Neo said. "What are you fighting against?"

"Nothing that should concern you. I'm heading to somewhere very far away. Do not go tell my sister." Treasure told the fox and quickly turned and walked away.

Time Spinner closed the pocket watch. "Neo was given very specific orders to not tell you. She was headed to fight something that only she could face, and did not disclose her new location. As a result you would have been back to square one even if Neo had told you."

Lexi paused for a moment. "But, what did she have to go fight?"

"Treasure is currently at war with herself." Time Spinner said. "Facing off against her will to try and defeat destruction but she recently learned a terrible truth. Treasure and you are both decesendants from the king of the Order of the Scythe; Balador. Which means, both of you have the potential for Black Blood coursing through your veins, as does your cousin many times removed, Zero. He is the true heir to the Black Blood kingdom, but you two have it as well. Treasure wishes to rid herself of the corruption by dealing with a former collegue of mine, the Meta of Destiny."

"So, she wants to just go and get the meta of Destiny to get rid of it?" Lexi asked.

"Yes." Time Spinner answered. "Though, to face the Meta of Destiny is a dangerous task, it is understandable as to why she didn't want you to know where she is. There must be an heir to the throne if she were to die. Not that I see a future in which she is killed by him." Time Spinner paused. "You are meant for something greater Lexi, but due Destruction, that destiny has been taken away from you. You are the last hero of morality, as the others have long since been killed. I wish to make an offer to you. As of this moment there is a lot of questions everyone is having, I am sure. I cannot answer their questions, but I can answer yours. If you have any questions at all, I will answer any of them."

"Okay...so, there's this book that keeps popping up every once and a while. It has stuff on the heroes and can translate draconic. Do you know what that has to do with anything?" Lexi asked.

"The Book of Prophecies." Time Spinner nodded. "It was a book originally written in Draconic, but is able to translate it's words. It is a book pertaining to the heroes and the future, and thus will follow the leader of the heroes. Being that they are all dead, it now follows you."

"Okay." She paused. She knew what the deal was with the book, and she learned why Treasure left without telling. She basically had all the questions she wanted answered. "Um, what was that offer you were talking about?"

"Any question you have, I will answer it for you." Time Spinner noted. "Anything at all."

"Uh, what are the chances that I'll become corrupted from the black blood?" Lexi asked.

"Slim to none." Time Spinner nodded. "You're bloodline thrives with Black Blood, dating back to the most powerful black blood user there is, but the royal family has gone long with out a black blood user. The Devil Blade should also cancel out any chance of Black Blood forming within you. Sadly that won't be a repellent against anyone using it against you."

Saren was met with the company of another as well. It wasn't Hart and it wasn't the spirit of the Scythe either, who both had been very silent, almost as if they had been driven out of Saren's head. Perahps the Shards of Light had gotten rid of both of them. Thinking about it now, hearing voices in your head isn't exactly the greatest thing that can happen to someone. Anyway, Saren was met with a young woman who wish to speak with him. "Saren...?" Echo asked the Lynx. "Are you okay?"

Saren rubbed his head to stage off an incoming headache, grumbling about weird events and a bloody lack of booze to help with the coping. Though he was quite surprised to see Echo when he had just been... Well somewhere that sure as hell didnt have Echo with him.

"Yeah I'm fine.." Saren grumbled, lost, confused and quite annoyed at this moment. "Echo..? Where the hell am I and what are you doing here..?" He asked, taking a look at his surroundings.

Echo pulled a metal flask out of her pocket, very clearly taken from another soldier, and handed it to Saren. "You're back in Viola City or what's left of it. A lot of people have been talking about you. A few of them support you, and...a few of them don't...and...someone mentioned Destruction and..." Echo paused and took a deep breath. "Have you been hearing voices?"

"Yeah.. Why?" Saren took the flask and downed its contents.

"Delta and I have been hearing them to." She said. "And Zero mentioned hearing them before my father was killed." Echo seemed puzzled and nervous. "I think we're being tricked." She paused for a second. "The voices you heard took you to that temple, right? Where you were all alone with a woman who wanted to kill you, and lead you straight to Destruction, right? Isn't that weird? There were voices telling Delta to go to that same temple!"

"... Was she dumb enough to go..?" Saren asked, a bored expression on his face that hid the humor he found in Delta potentially not surviving the trip to the temple that he did. "Not too sure about a woman when I went.. must've been a foggy night."

"She never went but don't you find it weird how we're all getting these voices to go to that location?" Echo asked. "You went...and...lost your umbrakinesis, what could they take from the rest of us? Zero's black blood, the full potential form from me, Delta's Dice. They even took your-" She stopped, not wanting to continue on. One thing was clear with that sentence though. She wasn't talking about Saren's Umbrakinesis.

"They took my what..?" Saren pressed on, he wanted to know what else was stolen from him. That, and judging by the look on his face when she stopped, Saren might be willing to go to certain lengths to get Echo to reveal what else was stolen from him.

"Delta was still looking at her screen when you went in and when you came out..." Echo started. "She was able to see that you're...dead...but when you came out your vitals started dropping and she came to the conclusion that something happened in there. Whatever was keeping you together is slowly being drained from you. You're dying and we don't have any necromancers who can put it back to normal. We don't even know if a necromancer could put it back to normal."

"... So... I'm actually going to die.. How long do I have left..?" Saren asked, oddly calm about this. Though given that he already died once before it might not be so odd for him to stay calm.

"We don't know, it's not going by too slowly...maybe a week or two?" Echo noted. "But! But, we've been thinking about something. I think I know a way to save you. Maybe even give you more life than you had with the necromancy." Echo pulled a few cards from her deck and laid them on the ground, it looked almost like an elemental circle, showcasing the opposites of every element. "If you take away all light, there is only darkness. It's a key rule in magic. Necromancy is a sub-school of Conjuration, pulling elements from the Arcane and the Dark. Right now all of the darkness was taken away, but oddly enough you still control a fraction of Light Kinesis, so what if we did that with magic? If we used holy magic and Arcane, we could use that to return you to life. Necromancy has draw backs on the reciever but Holy magic takes it's toll on the caster, meaning you wouldn't even have any problems in the slightest."

"... This is gonna hurt... Eh, either way it's worth a shot.. So how will we do it..?" Saren asked, consenting to the act.

"That's the thing. We need someone who can use a large amount of holy magic." Echo noted. "No card tricks, gambits, power of the heart, or kinesis. We need pure holy energy. Fey would be perfect for it." Echo paused. "Or we could try Trinity. If we could seperate the fire from the holy magic, we could use that. Kala might be able to do something, like, call to one of the other spirits or something...Leah also might know something about it." She picked up her cards.

"Hmm.. I'll try Kala first.." Saren said, remembering what Hart told him about how he could get his umbrakinesis back. ".. Hey, Echo.. Could you get Kala to come over here~" He asked, ruffling her hair.

"She's doing something right now with Neo." Echo noted. "Masako is over there too, we should probably wait."

Masako sat in an almost meeting-like setting with Trinity, Zero, and Kala, with an unconcious Neo between them that Kala was working on. It was almost like a meeting of the Mythic Knight leadrers and a Genie. Conversation had been interesting as they suggested what they do next, when Kala perked up. "Show it to me." Kala noted to Masako in a dull, unemotional voice that she had never heard from the genie before. "Show me the Emerald."

"You know about the emerald?" Masako questioned. She seemed curious because it hadn't been brought up in Kala's presence. "Here it is..." She unwrapped it from a small piece of cloth. She held it rather protectively, as if deciding who she could trust with all of the lives trapped within.

Kala carefully looked it over, combing it for details.

"Is that a Chaos Emerald?" Trinity asked.

"Sure doesn't feel like it..." Zero responded.

"This emerald is corrupted." Kala pointed out. "I feel like...there's a whole bunch of people in there." She paused for a moment. "I see..." She backed away from the emerald. "We need to purify it, no? Unfortunatly we're going to need someone with pure light kinesis for that. Unfortunatly that leaves us with only two options. Fey would have been great at that but..." She shook her head slowly. "You're other option is going to be a bit tougher to crack." She looked up to where Saren was talking to Echo. "He's the only one left with light kinesis..." Her voice tinged with concern.