Roleplay:Off with her Head!

This Roleplay is Closed! Sorry!

Overview
With the Death of Echo Radon, things have started to take a turn for the worse, starting with the infighting of the already unstable Mythic Knights. Saren doesn't seem to be taking to well to the team after Echo's death, Lexi seems so distracted by something it's like she's not even there and the physical manifestation of Masako's guilt soon comes running towards the team. All while Time Spinner takes on a litteral god and keeps the world from ending at the same time. This assassination attempt through time is going to be one hell of a ride...

Participants
NeoExlucky

Characters
Zero Evol (Neo)

Knave Veron (Neo)

Echo Radon (Neo)

Leah Dubio (Neo)

Trinity Moon (Neo)

Delta Radon (Neo)

Sedna the Rat (Neo)

Kala the Genie (Neo)

Time Spinner (Neo)

Era Tranquil (Neo)

Aero Facade (Neo)

Saren Arcturias (Saren)

Moros Nekrozia (Saren)

Ciel Mackenzie Fay (MHS)

Masako Haruno (MHS)

Natalie Alister (MHS)

Monica DeLouise (MHS)

Zapor the Hedgehog (Z88)

Lexi the Hedgehog (Z88)

"The Fallen Knight" (MHS)

Part 1: It's about time!
"What do you mean save Echo?" Zero asked, the runes being undone on everyone except Saren and Knave.

"As a meta of time I have a multitude of power," Time Spinner started. "One of these powers allows me to see every moment in all possible Time lines, and the thing about Echo is her right arm. In all timelines there is a clear cause and effect when it comes to her, that being that she will always lose the arm and whenever she does death always follows shortly afterwards."

"Skip to the parts that matter." Era chided the meta.

"Echo isn't supposed to die here. There isn't supposed to be any paradoxes created by Masako and Lexi, and Clemont should have already been found by now, but none of those things have happened. This isn't a timeline problem anymore there is something far greater than time being played wtih at this very moment and we need to fix it before anything else happens." Time Spinner explained.

"The only problem with that is that by traveling through time to an event that happened 2 hours ago with all of you involved is going to cause just as many paradoxes as we would be fixing, basically meaning that if we save Echo, we're going to destroy all of time and with it, everyone in existance ever." Aero reminded him.

"But as a meta, as long as I keep my focus, I can prevent Paradoxes from happening at all, I can use the Deja Vu effect to prevent anything like that from happening, as long as the paradoxes aren't too strong. So don't go touching any of the past versions of yourself." Time Spinner argued.

"So wait," Delta started.

"We don't have time to wait, we have literal demons coming after us, as well as monsters, paradoxes, soldiers, futures versions of yourselves, oh and possibly Destruction himself so we need to get moving!" Time Spinner noted. "Just so you know, I am not the Time Spinner from your time, I am a future Time Spinner coming back. Your Time Spinner is off doing something else, if you need a person to thank, look at Aero and thank him."

"None of this makes any sense." Delta shook her head, still looking at the blue hedgehog girl. "Who are you?"

"Monica DeLouise, the Aspect of Grace," she answered. "Yeah, I'm the idiot who tried to take on Neo alone... heh..."

Another tremor.

"Oh great, now that bitch is trying to bury us alive. Y'know, on top of all this timeline shit going straight to Hell!" Natalie ranted.

"I... don't think that's the case, here..." Ciel said.

"Yeah... Time Spinner, you said something about future versions of ourselves, right?" Masako inquired.

"Yes," Time Spinner noted. "Since the timelines are collapsing we've basically the got multiple versions of the end of the world running around able to jump through time now. Specifically there is a Neo who thinks he's king, and a destroyer of Mobius with the same name as you.."

"King Neo and The Fallen Knight." Aero muttered. "The good news is that they don't think they're on the same side for now. Give that a few minutes and we'll see where that goes."

"C'mon My Little Time Traveler, open the portals already!" Era chided.

"I'm working on it!" Time Spinner noted.

"Here's where things are going to get weird. With all these people following us, we're going to need everyone we can get to go through as many timelines as possible. If we can lose them somewhere else, the better." Aero explained giving everyone their weapons. "It's going to take a while, but we're going to save Echo. Saren, Knave, Trinity and Kala are going to save her." He looked at Saren. "Your goal is to save the girl, not kill the Queen. You'll have your moment once she's safe."

"Lexi, Era, Moros, Monica and Zero are going to try and take the hammer from The Queen. We need that hammer gone and Lexi is the only one who can pick it up right now." Aero continued.

"Masako," Time Spinner stated. "You and Delta are the only ones who can stop the Fallen Knight. You need to know that. I'm sending Ciel with you as well. In the end only you and Delta can kill the Fallen Knight."

"I can't believe we're doing this last one..." Aero shook his head. "Zapor. Leah, Sedna, and Natalie are going on a distraction team. You're job is to keep the demons away from the main three groups. Which means a lot of fighting and running."

"And death!" Leah protested. "You're sending us on a suicide mission!"

"I'm sending you four because I know you won't die." Aero said.

"More grunt work. Pathetic..." Natalie complained.

"Trust me, Natalie. What you'll be doing will be very important. If anything happens, if any of the three groups fail... this world is lost," Ciel said.

On the other side of the room, a huge darkened icicle crashed through the ceiling. There was a Conquest member painfully impaled on the end of it.

Masako observed it from her spot. "Are you sure the Fallen Knight can even be killed? And if so, is it worth the risk? For all I know, I might just be her only target."

(Basically, what I had in mind was that future Masako kills the Queen here, absorbing her power as she continues on her quest to... well, kill herself. It would be undone when the group travels back in time. -MHS)

"Yeah yeah, I'm more concerned about Echo than revenge.." Saren sighed.

Moros nodded. 'What can the hammer do anyways?' He asked, just because he's a voidling doesnt mean he knows everything.

"If we don't kill her she could wind up jumping through the tmelines even after we fix all ths. She could kill a lot of people if she isn't stopped here." Time Spinner said. "We have to at least try to kill her."

"Well, looking at it," Era started. "It seems like it can bend energy around it. Kinda like kinesis. Specifically lightning apparently..."

The four portals opened in front of Time Spinner, just as he was about to say something though, a being came from out of nowher a slammed Time Spinner into the back wall. He carried a large spear and was in a dark hood, hiding his face. Time Spinner quickly called out, "Go now!"

Aero started to lead people to their portals when the queen entered the room. "What is-"

(Do it MHS. -Neo)

Moros blinked, looking at the queen for a bit before inching towards his assigned portal.

Saren took the first portal.

Before the queen could finish her sentence, the Fallen Knight made her appearance, gripping her by the neck. The black blood -- the source of the Queen's power -- was being drained from her, her body being physically torn apart in the process. "Surrender now... to oblivion."

Masako watched in horror as Ciel dragged her into the portal with Delta.

"Hey, Monica! Don't die out there, alright?" Natalie shouted as she backed into her respective portal.

Zapor ran into his designated portal while Lexi ran into hers.

Part 2 (A): Blinded by Light, Corrupted by Shadow
Saren, Knave, Kala, and Trinity found themselves in Station Square again. Home, where everything was supposed to be safe.

Only it wasn't. While the city looked perfectly normal it didn't feel normal. Something in the air felt off, like they were in some sort of twisted land.

"Tranquil Manor is where the next portal is." Aero told them through some form of telekinesis. "If you find your way there you can get back home."

"Can you tell us anything about this place?" Knave asked.

"Yeah, this is a timeline where there is only light and shadow kinesis." Aero told them. "Hurry up, despite there being time travel, we don't actually have all the time in the world."

"Why would there be any difference with just light and shadow?" Knave asked.

"Light and Shadow are the two strongest forms of kinesis there is." Kala explained. "They mess with your head though. If you have one or the other they change your perspective in life, make you well, not you."

Trinity looked at Saren the entire time Kala explained that. "Huh." She said.

Saren looked back at Trinity. "Y'know, if you have something to say just say it instead of looking at me like a poece of meat."

Trinity pointed to the sign behind Saren. On it was an ad to vote Saren for Governer, a white suit and a smile that almost everyone in the group found creepy was plastered on this version of Saren.

"Guess you're trying to actually do something in this timeline." Trinity noted.

"5th term." Aero noted. "Apparently he's not bad. The people like him, at least."

"..... Holy shit I look like a f**kin f****t! God no! This shit isn't right damn it!!" Saren ranted. "God if I didnt care more about saving echo I'd be tempted to fix this mess up the old fashioned way!!"

"Wouldn't you die if you killed your..." Kala took a moment to ponder if that was Suicide or homoicide.

"Don't even worry about it, I'll kill Saren." Trinity said.

"Anyway," Knave tried to get them back on track. "We need to figure out where Tranquil Manor is."

"I know! We're two block south of...Hart's Coffee Shop! Which means we're about half a mile from Tranquil Manor!" Kala stated.

"The only one who kills me is me!" Saren retorted.

"Doing that creates a paradox that would kill you." Aero said. "If you want to save Echo, you need to keep moving, forget about him."

The shadowy figure who Saren had seen walk into the antique building stood in the distance, watching the four talk. Saren and Kala noticed him.

"Not this again.." Saren whispered under his breath, the last time he saw the shadowy figure he ended up being captured and echo ended up dying to the bitch queen.

More and more of them started to line up, not doing anything, simply watching.

"That doesn't feel right..." Kala noted.

"C'mon then..." Knave told them. "We need to go."

As they walked, with Kala leading them, the shadowy figures continued to follow, though they still did not do anything, at one point Knave had suggested they take refuge somewhere safe, and that safe space was right in Hart's Coffee Shop.

It looked the exact same as it had in the other timeline as well. It was empty, with Hart standing behind the counter, cleaning. Upon seeing Saren enter, he smiled, held a finger out as if to say 'Wait a moment' and began making him a cup. It seemed that Saren was a reguler here.

At least this Saren's taste was similar to Saren's. Hart presented Saren with an irish coffee, made using a whiskey that was very similar to the kind Echo had given Saren in Eclipse Manor earlier.

Saren downed the coffee with a few gulps. "Ah! That hit the spot..."

Hart nodded at Saren and went back behind the counter, he handed Saren an envelope containing what felt like cards.

Saren opened the envelope.

Inside the envelope was exactly what it felt like, a bunch of cards had been filled into the envelope, judging from the back of these cards, it was clear that these were Echo's. The fronts of the cards all lined up, it was the same circle that Echo had made back in Eclipse Manor, and two other cards and a note.

The first card looked almost burnt up, heat still radiated off of the cardstock. It had a 4 in each of the corners with a chibi picture of Time Spinner in the center, reading a book. It seemed Echo had used this card previously.

The next card was very similar with an 8 in each corner and a chibi picture of Saren in the center, drinking something. It was unclear what this card did.

The note was written in very fast, hardly legible handwriting, but after some time it could clearly be read,

"Saren, I drew a Time Spinner Card for the first time today. Turns out it gave me the power to see the future, and I really wish what I saw made me happy but it doesn't. By the time you have read this, I will be dead, that's what I saw. I know that Time Spinner will try to fix it, I know he'll try to turn back time and make everything right, but he can't. You can't bring me back from the dead, he doesn't know what will happen to people when they go through time like that, and he's letting his past judgements cloud his thinking. In the end, you need to know that you can't bring me back from the dead, I know what everyone will be thinking and wanting, but you're the only person who can make that decision to bring me back or not.

"You also need to get to work on saving your own life. You need to talk to Trinity and Kala, and I know that you'll need them both on their good side if you want both of their lights, but listen, you need to talk to Kala. Start asking questions, ask her about the shards of light and the Echo Project, she is where everything comes together. Kala is the reason Zero has no family, why Neo and Fey were captured, why Trinity was ripped from her home, why Zapor lost his parents, and why everything is going really badly all of a sudden. Kala is what brings everything together."

-Echo

Saren closed his eyes for a moment after reading the message, allowing himself a small moment to mutter an apology before neatly pressinh the card into his coat pocket and turning towards Kala.

"Hey.. Kala, mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"I...guess..." Kala said.

"We really need to keep moving..." Knave muttered.

"No one's there though." Trinity said. "We can wait a few minutes."

"What exactly are these shards of light really, and the Echo project... What's going on with all of that?"

"I mean, you already know everything that I know about it." Kala said.

"No, we don't." Trinity crossed her arms. "You said earlier your the reason we're here. You were around long enough to have been in the demon-spirit war, you're leaving information out, aren't you?"

Kala didn't answer for a while. "It's a long story..."

"We got all the time in the multiverse." Trinity gestured outside.

"When the multiverse was first formed," Kala started. "There was a single diety. Not all these 'gods' that are walking around now, there was only one. He or she eventually left us, all of the multiverse, for unknown reasons. All that we have left, are the 'gods' that we have now, and The Guardians."

"The Guardians are these strange stone-like objects that exist in the dimenion in between all of the universes. The home of the Meta. Their purpose was simple, find people with specific qualifications and moments after they are born, they are given incredible power. That's how meta are made. After the first meta came to be, they begin to find other universes for more meta to be found. One meta from each dimension, ten meta in total. Universe number 8 finally was found one day, our universe."

"Among them were three really important meta, Time Spinner, Diety, and Aselia. These meta came in during a war against demons and Destruction, one we were losing. The meta offered their help, but they needed a guide. So, the Elemental Spirits created a spirit, a spirit consisting of all the elements in existant, someone who could rival the Elemental Spirits in strength. She became known in war as the Elemental Spirit of All, Sihr. Of course she choose a different name for herself; Kala." The genie sighed.

"But what's all this got to do with the Shards of Light?" Trinity asked.

"Well," Kala began. "As time passed, I joined the meta and became a guide of sorts for them, I knew all of the planet's locations from the moment I came into existance. We scoured the land for everything we could use to turn the war around, and we found a small point in our universe, one that led to the center of the entire multiverse. There we found two of the most power items in existance, The Light and The Darkness. Two crystals with so much power that they could disintegrate a meta by merely touching them. Time Spinner had an idea, and with the help of the other two meta, he broke The Light, into seven fragments."

"Spirits could not use the shards, so it was up to seven meta to become the Shards of Light. Time Spinner and Diety were two of them. Suddenly we were winning and in one battle that could have led to Destruction's death, everything changed forever. I was caught in a fight away from the others, and I was going to die. I had accepted my fate when Time Spinner came to save me. Instead of going to the battlefield, he instead chose to rescue me, and that is what caused everything to happen in the first place."

"Destruction had killed Diety on the field of battle. Meta are not supposed to die while they are active. A meta can die only when they have given up their meta powers. Diety's death led to the destruction of the Shard of Conscience. We no longer had the power to kill Destruction. The sky darkened and in the chaos of Diety's powers we got the Chaos Emeralds, and the world was never the same. Suddenly now we couldn't kill Destruction, why hope for something that isn't going to happen, right? Time Spinner came up with an alternative, we could seal Destruction and his demons in the underworld, if all the shards worked together, and they did. We all knew though, that one day Destruction would come back, Time Spinner had to be ready."

"So he changed everything. He changed the lives of everyone, every member of the Mythic Knights, he was always behind the scenes causing everything to happen. Zapor's parents, Era's lonelieness, Masako's destiny, Zero's sister, the Mystic Magi, Leah's mentor, Delta's brothers, even your death, Saren, Time Spinner helped you wind up dead. He can whisper things into people's heads, change how everything plays out, influence people to do certain things, so that other people won't notice it."

"So you're the reason Destruction is still here and Time Spinner is just using us to clean up his mistake?" Trinity asked.

"Yes." Kala continued. "At one point I helped King Arthur and one of his knights, Balador. After sometime, Balador left the round table and established his own kingdom, along with a new form of fighting, with Black Blood. Balador was the first Black Blood user, and taught all in his kingdom how to use it. I helped him through everything, even when he wrote a theory about a possible war machine, it was all possible, but it needed technology that didn't exist. So he kept his writings along with the shards of a crystal he found and saved it for the future. I was imprisoned in a lamp for what I had done, unknowing that it was that small echo in time, that caused Dr. Radon to create the Echo Project. In his madness he didn't know what he was doing, but Dr. Radon eventually decided to use those two crystals in two of his last experiments. Project Delta, the shard of Deceit and Project Echo, the shard of Apathy, two of the Shards of Darkness."

"Echo and Delta...?" Trinity asked. "They're...shards of darkness?"

"Influenced by Destruction and made to one day kill the Shards of Light, yes." Kala nodded.

Saren took all this in, and his conclusion to this was unsurprisingly snarky. "So in essence, all the shit we've had to deal with was a result of Time Spinner's monumental retardation..?"

"That's what it sounds like..." Trinity growled.

"At the same time, by doing that humans and mobians came to exist as well." Kala tried to argue. "It's not his fault! I should have listened to him and Diety and not gone to that city, it's not his fault, it's mine, he's just been trying to stop Destruction, any way possible."

"So instead of it really being Time Spinner's fault, in all reality it's yours." Trinity said.

"Is everyone just going to ignore the fact that the girl we are trying to bring back to life is a shard of darkness?" Knave asked.

"Yeah.." Saren looked off to the distance, a rather forlorn look on his face.

"What would you have us do Knave?" Trinity asked.

"Gods, I don't know!" Knave shouted. "We can't be like Kala or Time Spinner or whoever. Destruction needs to die. The only way for him to die is with all seven shards of light and if they are meant to kill them..."

"Do you think they would do that?" Trinity argued.

"Do you think they have a choice in the matter? You're one of the people they're trying to kill! If they become anything like Neo did in that armor, then they won't even know what's going on!" Knave said.

".... As much as I really hate Knave, I'm afraid I'm going ti have ti agree with him.. Sides, something tells me Echo forsaw her death and what would happen if Timespinner's attempt to bring her back actually succeeded."

"Is that what the note said?" Trinity asked. "How do you know this isn't Destruction messing with us? Even if it was Hart who gave it to us, that Hart is from another dimension and could have been tricked."

"Considering that Destruction seems to enjoy tricking Saren, the does sound plausible." Knave siad. "Of course, I don't really think that matters, since it was the real Kala that told us what Echo really is."

"Maybe we need to ask Echo." Kala suggested. "If we keep going with this, we can talk to Echo in the past."

"Wait, how the f**k did you know about that? I kept that shit in my pocket."

"You...read it." Knave noted. "We saw you read it..."

"..... God I miss the simpler times.." Saren sighed.

Saren has begun to notice that the room around him is starting to get darker. Not from the lights being taken out, but rather that his vision is beginning to fail him.

Saren started to rub his eyes. "Damn it, not now.." He muttered.

Suddenly everything went black, followed by a fall and the sound of flesh and bone meeting the ground.

Some time later Saren regained his sight, Kala looking over him. He was accompanied by a massive head ache, and the feeling that his left arm was missing. Of course, it was there, but it was still there, one could very easily see it, but it felt like it wasn't there at all.

Kala's worried face looked down over Saren, upon his eyes opening, Kala's expression quickly changed to sheer joy. "Oh, thank god you're alive!" She exclaimed. "I-I...saw your aura disappear, you were dead! I...I thought we..." The genie seemed very worried about Saren's condition, showing some sort of affection towards the lynx.

"Yeah, kiiinda dying.. Again; not as fun the second time." Saren chuckled, sitting up.

"Dying again?" Knave asked.

"Necromancy running out?" Trinity asked. "Spells can only last a certain amount of time..."

"I can't fix that..." Kala said sadly. "I...I need..." She looked around, flustered and confused, as if there was a tool around here somewhere that would suddenly cure death. "

"Considering the way he's acting he either has it figured out or he's okay with dying." Knave told Kala. "We've been here too long, we need to move. Can you walk fine?" Knave asked Saren.

"Jeez, ya act like i'm gonna croak any minute now; don't worry too much, I've cheated death before on numerous ocassions and I'm certainly going to do so again." Saren cracked a grin; hopping to his feet.

"Couldn't you?" Knave asked.

"You're aura is wavering really fast, I think when we entered the time portal it might have sped up the effects of the magic leaving your body!" Kala exclaimed. "You don't have long left!"

"If he says he's fine, he's probably fine." Trinity started. "Let's hurry and leave."

Upon exiting the coffee shop, Saren came to find that the Shadowy figure had been waiting for him, along with several other figures, formed like a mob, rallying behind one single man. The Deceiver.

"Why hello!" The Deceiver smiled at Saren.

Saren cracked his knuckles; giving the deceiver a deceptively kind smile. ".... Listen; you guys.. Don't revive Echo, and most importantly; go on ahead.. I have a feeling this guy's after me; So I figure I'll do something free of charge for once and handle this asshat to buy you guys some time.."

"But you can't!" Kala urged. "You could die again, what happen when your aura is completely gone!"

"Kala, we need to go." Trinity urged the genie. She gave a look back to Saren, and went on their way. As they began to leave, a small shimmer of light, almost like a tear, floated through the air. The Saren Card activated, trapping the light within. One of three ingredient needed for Celestial magic, of course it was useless without Zero and Leah, but it was there. It would also be useless if Saren did in fact die in this battle.

Knave however didn't leave, in fact, he stepped forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with Saren. "I'm not going to leave you." His voice was concrete, there was no convincing him otherwise. He put his hand onto the runes that restricted him from fighting, the same runes Saren still had on him. No kinesis, no weapons, even the act of moving too fast would hurt them. There really wasn't a way to engage the Deciever in any battle, let alone defeat him. "That letter wasn't written by Echo. How did Echo know that Kala was involved with all of this, if that Time Spinner card let her see the future? Or that fact that whenever she uses a card, it disappears and goes back into her deck once it's been uses. There isn't a way that she was able to use the card and put it into the envelope. Not to mention that she managed to give it to someone in an alternate universe."

The Deceiver smiled, walked towards the two.

"You're going to turn this into a joke, or call me stupid, I know that you are, but I've seen this team long enough to know what really matters to them. You matter to them. They care about you, all of them. I've heard Trinity talk about you, Kala praising the influence you've had on Echo, Zero studying the way you fight, Leah was the one Echo and Delta went to when she realized you were dying and they both wanted to help you." Knave told the Lynx, revealing that he knew what all was happening. "She helped Echo with the theories, they have been working tirelessly to find a cure for you, because they care about you, Saren. They don't need some useless knave, they need a knight like you."

"........." Saren was gobsmacked, he honestly thought most of them didnt give a rats ass about him; so he acted the same... "Fine.. Just try not to end up dying.."

Knave gave a small chuckle. "No kinesis, no runes, no weapons...it'll be an easy fight."

The Deceiver stood roughly 20 feet away. "So, there you are. Ready to offer yourself up on a platter? You can't fight! You should have just kept running, like the rat you are. Honestly, Saren, I thought you would do better."

"Sure; whateeeever you say dude~" Saren shrugged, giving the Deceiver an aloof grin that suggested he didnt care what the deceiver had to say about him.

The deceiver smiled at Saren, walking closer to him. "Whatever you say, sir." He corrected Saren, his tentacle-claw grabbing the Lynx's shoulder. "And you brought some lackey along with you? This simply will not do, it is supposed to be about us, Saren, not some third party."

"I just wanted to see what all the fun was." Knave grunted.

"You share Saren's ill humor...interesting." The deceiever turned to Saren. "So then, are you ready to lose what little power you have left?"

Saren grabbed the tentacle-claw. "You sound so sure of yourself~" He said with a smirk.

"The fox and the Genie are gone by now, already through the portal to the next world. It has closed, and now you two are stuck here. What could you possibly do to stop me Saren? I have outsmarted you, you have no weapons, no kinesis, and even if you try hand-to-hand combat those runes will continue to restrict any movement you make. You are powerless." The Deciever told him.

Saren only grinned wider, attempting to raise his free hand and using it to flip the Deceiver the bird before firing a beam of light at the sod; he still had his light kinesis and by god he was going to enjoy using it to blow this ugly bastard's head clean off.

The Deciever simply lifted his hand to catch his light. "Right now, you are in my land, your powers mean nothing here." His hand raised, almost covering Saren's face. "Goodbye, Saren."

A bright light shone out in the distance, as a red blade rushed through, cutting the arm off before it could come into contact with Saren.

Aero stood next to Knave now, quickly breaking the runes and giving Knave his blade back.

"Saren!" Aero threw Saren a strange white stone, the same stone that Fey had worn on her clothes before, upon coming into contact with Saren's hand, it changed into her scythe.

Knave quickly threw his sword into the ground, creating several boulders to be thrown at The Deceiver knocking him back.

(Time to Make History - Saren, Knave, and Aero vs Shard of Deceit)

Saren twirled the scythe. "Merry Christmas asshole!" He lunged at the Deceiver; twirling Fey's scythe in hand.

The Deciever's arm quickly grew back with a squirt of black blood, which he turned into a wall to block Saren's path.

Saren just swung his scythe at the wall, coating it with light kinesis.

The Black Blood oozed through the light, breaking it up until there was nothing left. The Deciever sent the wall directly at Saren, but a Black rune appeared in the way, ceasing it's movement, before it was sent into the ground by a brown rune.

Aero fought the deceiver, blade to claw, keeping the monster's back towards Saren, allowing the lynx to get a strike in.

Saren grinned, twirling his scythe and swinging it at the monster's exposed back while covering it in light kinesis.

The blade of the scythe hit it's mark, clawing directly into the back of the Deciever, who let out a howl of behind before turning quickly and slashing at Saren with his claws.

Saren held onto the scythe, and assuming that it wasn't dislodged when the deceiver spun around, Saren would've been taken along for the ride.

Black Blood oozed out of the wound now, dripping onto the scythe, causing some alarmed as it plastered itself to the blade and began to encase the blade, in an attempt to shatter the blade.

Knave quickly threw a black rune under the Deciever adding a huge amount of gravity to that area, slowing him down, while giving another Black Rune to Saren, speeding the Lynx up.

Saren grinned; attempting to remove the scythe while coating it in light kinesis before attempting to feint a swipe for the Deceiver's legs that, if successful, would leave the beast open for an upward slash with the scythe.

The blade hit the Deceiver's legs but did not manage to cut through. It felt like his legs were made out of concrete now, or rather that his blood was now as solid as concrete.

"Damn! You made of concrete or some shit..!"

The Deceiver smiled. "Black Blood can be hardened at will. Including inside the body." He turned and swiped at Saren.

Saren leaned back like he were playing a game of limbo to avoid getting his head slashed off; then hopping back to get some distance. "Really? Man that shit's a pain in the ass to deal with."

The rune that had been placed on the Deciever caused him to move even slower then before.

"Need I remind you two, that you have a little girl to rescue? Kala and Trinity will not be able to accomplish that on thier own." Aero told them.

"And leave you to this thing? There is no way you can beat him!" Knave urged.

"No, at this point, none of us can beat him, even when we're all together. I can hold him off while the rest of you move on." Aero said.

"Sure." Saren shrugged, before attempting to grab Knave and bail. "C'mon dude; now's not the time to self-sacrifice yourself."

"Where do we go? If Kala and Trinity are already through that portal, then there isn't one for us to go through." Knave told Saren under his breath.

".... Shit, I didn't think of that; for now lets bail." He whispered back.

"You are not leaving with my power!" The Deciever called, he pooled into the ground and quickly moved through the shadows, much like Saren used to do, and came up quickly next to him, grabbing the Lynx with his tentacle and draining more of his power.

Knave drew his blade, forcing it into the side of the beast, while Aero quickly intervened, once more cutting the arm of the Deciever off, freeing Saren once more. He slashed his katana in the air, creating a red sand portal that he normally walked through. "Go now!" Aero shouted.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Saren muttered, flipping the deciever the bird before hopping through the red sand portal. Hopefully Knave followed behind Saren.

Knave looked from Aero and quickly entered the portal after Saren, it closed behind them and they walked through a dark corridor in silence until they entered a new, familiar area.

(Head to part 3(A) -Neo)

(Please read this and make all comments there, thank you! -Neo)

Part 2 (B): Tranquil Kingdom
Lexi, Era, Moros, Monica and Zero found themselves in a twisted form of Station Square. The biggest glaring issue was the giant castle that stood in the center of town. The buildings had changed, as had the layout of the city. This town was so strange, the people who flooded the streets looked tired and constantly in a state of what looked like Delirium.

"What the hell happened here?" Zero muttered.

"Remember when we mentioned King Neo?" Aero asked. "This is where he's from. This is a timeline where the Order of the Scythe never existed. Without it, there was no Fey, no wayward castle, and no previous kingdom established here, meaning some other family established it. Take a wild guess who's king here."

"Where's the portal?" Era asked.

"The only place with enough power to support it. The caslte gardens." Aero answered.

Moros blinked, looking around with a curious expression. 'owo?'

"So... how much danger are we in right now? I get the distinct feeling that we can't afford to stay here for very long..." Monica asked.

"Considering your all dead in this timeline and were previously wanted criminals?" Aero asked. "A large amount of danger."

"Great..." Zero muttered.

'Even me..?' Moros asked.

"Do not lose sight of our goal. We find the portal and make a swift exit -- that's our plan for now," Monica said. "If we're forced into a fight, there aren't any consequences to neutralizing anyone who might want to kill us... right?"

'Mouuu, I wanna get a cinnabun though... Era forgot them back home.' Moros pouted slightly.

"We'll get them later!" Era chided Moros. "Honestly, you're a child."

"How...did you two beat us again?" Zero asked rhetorically.

"Considering you all are dead, including you Moros, don't worry about coming into contact or killing anyone you need to." Aero told Monica. "You might want to hurry though, there is going to be a change in the guards here soon."

"Right... I'll try scouting for the safest route to the garden. I'm light on my feet," Monica said.

Moros nodded, still pouting a bit. "Mouuu, so mean.." He said, looking at Zero.

"We need to move somewhere safe." Zero noted quickly. "I think...we're being followed."

Monica tucked down as she proceeded forward.

Moros actually started hopping around, a bit of a spring in his steps. Clearly he doesn't get out much,

"That black blood got you all paranoid, huh?" Era asked. "I don't see anyone."

"Don't look, feel them." Zero told her. "I can feel other black blood users approaching."

"If the Order of the Scythe never existed how is there black blood?" Era asked. "They made it, it should only exist if they exist."

"Unless Destruction found some pawns here to." Zero noted coldly. "Hurry up."

Entering the crowd provided a sense of security, though as the group progressed they found that these people acted less like people and more like zombies, not really living but just...existing.

Moros gulped. 'Z-Z-Zombies...? q-q' He gulped, watching too many late night horror flicks in his free time kinda ended up giving him a classic case of unrealistic fear.. Kinda like scooby-doo.

As she was moving, Lexi got a bit nervous. The way the crowd was moving was a bit creepy.

Monica already moved to the end of the crowd. She waited for the others.

"I don't think they're actually zombies..." Era shook her head.

"I know where we can go." Zero said, taking the group through the city, to an alleyway with a dead end. Zero took a running start and quickly used his scythe to swing onto a pipe, where he continued to jump higher and higher.

Era watched as Zero climbed higher up, finally landing on a ledge in the side of an old building. "So can anyone else actually do that or am I just gonna need to fly us up there?"

Moros tried to open two small rifts, one right next to him and the other next to Zero.

"Can you fly me up there?" Lexi asked Era.

"Yeah, I'm... fine with climbing, don't mind me," Monica said. She looked a little tired, though. Her injuries hadn't fully healed.

Era gave a little sigh, creating a platform out of dark poison and hardening it to the point of it being a strong structure. It rose up from the ground, under Lexi, Era, and Monica.

Era truly was Neo's sister. A strong gust of wind formed under the platform, raising it to the floor of where Zero had gone. Once everyone had stepped off the platform, it returned to a liquid state and fell to the floor.

They had entered a very normal looking apartment. There was a couch, in front of a TV, a small kitchen area, a hall leading down to two simple bedroom. It looked so very normal, with the exception of part of the wall being gone.

"This is one of the outposts I used when I came to report to my partner about Echo's status." Zero noted. "This is an A.R.T.E outpost. I doubt they're around now."

Just as Zero had predicted a small group of roughly three or four different guards roamed the streets, looking up and down for the small team that had practically vanished from view. What was most interesting was who was with them. A familiar archer, and mage. Celia was in obsidian armor allowing her great movement while also giving her great defense. Leah wasn't in armor, instead she wore a black dress that many would find at a formal event. The black was moving however, and anyone who looked long enough would find that it was actually made out of Black Blood.

Moros closed the rifts he made before starting to look around his surroundings.

Lexi looked around at her surroundings, and noticed Leah's dress. "A black blood dress...?" She muttered.

'I don't even want to know how that's plausible.'

Zero looked over them before backing away from the side of the building. "Let's wait until they go away."

'Awwww, but I wanna have fun with theeeem qwq'

"That is arguably the worst tactical decision we could make in this situation. Zero's right, we wait," Monica said.

"Black Blood can be controlled in a lot of different ways, including the ability to harden it and make almost as dense as concrete. It's great for when you need to defend yourself." Era explained. "It works just like Dark Poison, makes sense since Dark Poison is based off of a specific school of Black Blood..."

"Eh, It's defensive properties are kinda moot when it comes to me anyways; Remember what Magic I use Era~?" Moros asked, an excited grin stretched across his face.

"When it comes to Dark Poison, your void magic is more than capable to pierce it, but Black Blood requires a bond with a demon in order to gain strength, that bond is what makes Black Blood far stronger than my Dark Poison. While your void magic would excel at killing the demon itself, it would be useless to even try against a Black Blood user. You would need to out smart them, or gain Black Blood yourself." Era stated very matter-of-fact-ly.

"You've been studying?" Zero asked,

"Despite what my brother would have you believe, I am not an idiot. Do not get this little alliance of ours mixed up, I have been promised all of your Chaos Emeralds in exchange for my services. Once we are done here, I will resume my attempt to murder all of you." Era sneered at Zero.

"Aye, she's the smartest one here I'd say.." Moros nodded in a  matter of fact way. "But try not to die before Era can kill you, I'll never hear the end of it qwq"

"Black blood can do all of that?" Lexi said to herself.

"At cost of selling your soul to a demon? Yes." Era jabbed at Zero.

"I was born with Black Blood. I did not do that." Zero retorted back.

"Sure you were." Era scoffed.

"Ehhh, what good is a soul..?" Moros asked, clearly he wasnt versed in soul theorem and all that stuff despite being a spirit many times older than everyone here.

"You clearly don't need one." Era said, a proud smirk on her face as she looked to her ghostly companion.

Moros rubbed the back of his head. 'True. ^^;'

Monica cleared her throat. "Well, now that I've been thoroughly disturbed..."

While they were waiting, Moros occupied himself by looking around the area they were in.

"May I ask what you're doing here?" A voice came from behind the group, standing behind them was Celia, her bow already drawn and pointed at Zero.

Moros conjured two floating ethereal blades pointed at Celia in response.

"Put those swords away or you will have a very shocking revelation, Moros." Celia told him.

Zero slowly turned around. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions..." Zero started.

"Yeah, considering I saw you all die." Celia told them. "None of you are supposed to be here, I watched 'his majesty' kill all of you." Celia lowered her bow, unstringing the arrow from it.

Moros dispelled the swords. '.... Eraaaa, she's mean and grumpyyy.. qwq'

"What even made him do it?" Lexi asked.

"He's always been like this." Celia told Lexi. "The Tranquil family was fairly kind for a time, before King Markus was born. His heir, Prince Ages suddenly wound up ill, and died shortly after. Some suggested fowl play, but no one knew for sure. After King Markus wound up in the same boat, everyone was sure who did it, but by then there was nothing they could do, King Neo was crowned shortly after. Princess Era wouldn't stand for it, and started a rebellion, taking talented warriors all across the country, and they were successful for a time, even managing to kill the former general Fury Robin, but things started to take an even darker turn after King Neo was married to Queen Leah. In a battle against the queen, you were all killed by both the queen and her royal guard-captain, Chelsea Takashi."

"So the bitch down there with Leah..." Era started.

"Is my sister, yes." Celia told them.

"Wait; How are their multiple versions of me that I don't know about?"

"Well, I'm going to guess that the void exists in a timeline, so there are probably multiple versions of the void and all who inhabit it." Era shrugged. "Or maybe you're not a voidling in this timeline or something. I don't know how spirits work in alternate timelines."

"The concept of the void is literally nothing; no age, no time,  no physical form, no cinnabuns; it's really booooring.. Which is why I left.. And yes; paradoxes can happen."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Era assured Moros. "If a mage can use the energy of the void for magic, than maybe it's just unused energy. 'Sides, can't be all bad if they can make badass ghosts like you!"

"Celia, our timeline isn't looking any better. We need to reach the courtyard. That is where our exit is... no telling how long it will stay open," Monica tried to get back on topic.

"The courtyard? You couldn't pick somewhere a little less harder to get to?" Celia asked.

"We didn't really have a choice." Zero noted. 'Also, you're taking this whole different timeline concept a lot easier than I thought."

"Honestly at this point, anything could happen and I doubt I would bat an eye." Celia sighed. "If we take my sisters armor, I can lead the rest of you in there under the impression of prisoners."

'^w^'

"Hopefully, you won't be expected to treat us as such. We can't afford to take a detour to the dungeon... or worse," Monica said.

"In order to get to the dungeon, we'll need to go through the courtyard, which is why it would work in the first place." Celia noted.

"Fair enough. For your sake, I hope this works... I don't want you getting in trouble," Monica said.

'If she gets in trouble we could always bring her with us.'

"Isn't our Celia dead?" Era asked.

"She's...trapped in a Chaos Emerald actually..." Zero corrected her.

"Damn, you guys f*cked up." Era joked.

"I assure you I will be okay. The real question would be if the rest of you are okay. You're all dead but...there are other people..." Celia eyed Zero specifically.

Lexi looked at Zero and back at Celia. "What do you mean other people?"

"Your sister is currently in the dungeon. She's not doing so well here." Celia told Zero.

"My sister is dead where I'm from." Zero told the fox.

"There could be others, that I'm not aware of right now." Celia told the rest of the group.

'Okay.. The spoopying intensifies~' Moros grinned.

Zero looked down. "I want to save my sister." He told the group.

"Whoa, hold on, I am not getting paid to go on a rescue mission. My job is to get you guys to steal some hammer or something and that is it." Era noted coldly.

Moros was obviously going with what Era decided.

(Please read this and make all comments there, thank you! -Neo)

"...I'll go. I don't know what it feels like to lose someone so close to you, but we're a team. We work together, we're all parts of a whole. That and Masako won't let me hear the end of it if I say nothing," Monica said.

"Ugh, she's not even your real sister, she's her from another dimension." Era complained.

"So when will you stop acting like a total bitch?" Zero asked the fox. "What would you do if Neo died?"

"Before or after I stop laughing?" Era asked. "You know what? Fine, we'll go save the stupid girl from jail."

"Our biggest issue, will be dealing with my sister." Celia noted. "I can get her attention but I will not be able to beat her on my own."

"I guess I could help.." Moros offered.

"What exactly would you want us to do?" Zero asked. "Kill her?"

"If you can kill her, then you won't need my help into the castle." Celia joked. "We just need her unconscious."

Lexi nodded. "But we'd need her away from the other Leah to do that, depending on how strong she is."

"Well.. How do we lure her away, who would act as the bait?" Moros asked.

"Bait...?" Monica didn't really like where this was going.

"Yeah, we're all dead in this world correct? So the reappearance of that which was supposed to have died would definitely turn some heads, hers being one of them I would assume; and naturally she'd take the bait.. Afterall how bad do you think it would look for them if rumors that we weren't actually dead started spreading?"

"Luckily, no one would have to be bait. Leah can easily be subdued. She's strong, but I know her weakness. It's my sister that has always been the problem on my own. If you can take care of her, I'll handle Leah." Celia told them.

"Alright." Zero sighed. "Let's get to work."

(Head to Part 3(B) -Neo)

Part 2 (C): City that never sleeps
Zapor. Leah, Sedna, and Natalie found themselves not in Station Square for once, but rather some place much worse for wear. Giant glowing neon buildings layerd the skyline, there were so many bright lights that even though it was dark, it could easily be mistaken for day time. Many vendors called crowds over, people were gambling left and right. While the others may or may not know where they were, Zapor would know, since he had been here before.

"Huh," Aero noted. "So you're not in an alternate timeline here. It doesn't matter anyway, where you are right now will work just fine for trying to lose King Neo. You need to find the portal, it shouldn't be that far ahead. Oh and Zapor, welcome back to Reale City."

"Guh... this place is so damn bright, it's obnoxious," Natalie complained.

"This place again? It seems brighter than I last remembered." He muttered. "Where would the portal even be?"

"Big casino somewhere?" Leah asked.

"Really big casino." Aero corrected Leah. "Dreams Casino to be exact. That's where the mayor's office is."

"Doesn't the mayor of Reale City want Neo dead?" Leah asked.

"Not the real mayor, just the fake one." Aero said.

"Why is there a fake mayor?" Zapor asked.

"If you'll recall Millie Woodthorne was the mayor before you left, and was taken hostage afterwards. There is a fake mayor in place now; Fury." Aero noted. "So you may want to lay low."

"Or... we enact a hostile change in management," Natalie plotted. "Uhh, later anyway. Whatever, we've still got a job to do."

"I reccomend later." Aero noted.

"Dreams Casino..." Sedna noted. "That's in the center of the city, right? It's there." She pointed to a large building in the center of the town.

Natalie may have noticed that some of the members of the crowd have started to approach them.

Natalie observed them, her hands tucked into her cloak.

"Areo, while we didn't travel in time, what are the chances that something affected the people here?" Zapor asked.

"From the time travel itself? None whatsoever. From Destruction or the Meta of Destiny? Very high." Aero reported.

"Oh great..." Sedna noted.

"Just walk." Leah said quietly, turning to Dreams Casino. "Even if there is someone evil controlling the town that doens't mean the people here deserve to get caught in the crossfire we are having."

Zapor nodded and began to walk to the casino.

"If they're smart, they won't start a fight with us," Natalie grumbled.

"Except they aren't..." Sedna said.

"We can't kill them, they could be normal people under Destruction's influence." Leah told them.

"Does it really matter anyway? In a second we're going to go back in time 4 hours." Seda asked.

"I don't know if we're already back there or not." Leah looked back at the group following them. "If we're already back, then we can't save them with time travel."

"Wait, already back...4 hours..." Zapor was lost in the whole dialogue. "Uh, what's gonna happen when we get to the portal?"

"We figure out who's messing with the timeline, and we kill them! Simple as that," Natalie said. This was one twisted chick..

"I don't think that's going to happen." Leah told Natalie. "The person messing with the timeline is a meta, like Time Spinner and if he's just as strong, than we need to concerned. When we get back to the portal, Considering we spent roughly two hours being dragged and put in jail, we have about 2 hours to stall, while Saren stops the kill, and Lexi takes the hammer."

"Leah, he doesn't know..." Sedna reminded the mage.

Leah stopped walking. She contemplated something, then knelt down to Zapor's height to look the boy in the eyes, placing a hand on his shoulder. This wasn't the first time she had done this. "Zapor...we all failed our last mission and was captured by Conquest...Echo...was executed. She's dead."

Zapor made a face which look like a kid that had all of his hopes and dreams crushed, combined with the face of being stabbed in the gut. "...She's....dead...?"

"I mean technically not right now, we're already back 4 hours in the past and Saren is working on saving her from bring Executed! Everything is going ot be fine, Echo will be safe once all of this is over!" Leah assured him.

Zapor slowly smiled. "She will?"

"Sure, sure. But kid, we need you to be angry for when we deal with the Queen. I want her deader than dead, got it?" Natalie said.

"She'll get what's coming to her eventually, but right now we need to focus on getting out of here." Leah said.

Zapor nodded. "Right. To the portal thingie!"

Just as Leah was about to get back up, a man in a suit placed his hand on Zapor's shoulder. "Excuse me, what are you doing here?"

Zapor turned around, midwalk and looked up "???"

The man was not familiar, Zapor had never seen him before, but judging from his look, he was clearly a security guard of some sort. He knew who Zapor was, and that was not good.

Zapor looked away for a minute, and looked back up at the man. "Uh, do I know you?"

Natalie attempted to take Zapor by the hand. "C'mon, kid, we don't have time to waste."

"You know my boss, Mr. Fury, perhaps?" The man pulled a gun on the kid. It was tiny compared to the guns that Zapor had.

Leah didn't seem phased. "I think you are mistaken, sir." Her staff was in hand, and the slightest hint of a spell being cast was noticed on the end of her staff, as the mage's eyes shifted left and right, looking for something.

Zapor chuckled. "Oh my gosh, did he just...? He tried pulling a gun on me? Wow, that small thing is wthe only thing you have? My guns would literally wear that thing like a scarf." Zapor said, completely unphased.

"I'm the bait." The man said, several red dots appearing on the foreheads of every mythic knight there.

Zapor looked at the dots on their heads. "Oh. Didn't expect that. Well played."

Natalie just looked around at the lasers trained on their foreheads, and chuckled. "Boy...  YOU JUST MADE THE WORST MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE! " She didn't hesitate to unleash Orochi right then and there. The latent power left over from the incident in the palace burned and coursed through her veins. Everyone's worst fears would begin to surface.

"...However long it may be." Natalie lunged at the man, her knives coated in daemonic fire.

The sound of bullets firing filled the air as Leah also jumped into action, slamming her staff onto the ground, creating a barrier large enough to block the bullets from hitting their targets, as soon as they were done, the barrier shattered. "We really don't have time for this, we need to go!" Leah urged.

"Then go, damn it! I'll find you after I make sure no one's left alive to stop us." Natalie snatched one of the gunmen from his position with Orochi, pulling him into the blade of her knife before teleporting behind him and kicking him sky-high.

Zapor looked with inspired sparkling anime eyes. "Woah...She's a badass...wait, but if we get to the portal, what'll we do if it closes on you?"

"Just get to the damn portal! This'll be over soon enough!" Natalie raised her hand up, striking another assailant skyward with a phantasmal snake. "Do whatever it takes to survive!" She yanked him down with Orochi, jumping up and throwing him behind her before landing several knives into his body. She teleported out of sight.

"We are not killing all of these people!" Leah said. "Not everyone here needs to die, we need to go now, and you need to come with us!"

Several seconds pass.

Natalie appears at Leah's side. "I'm sorry, what was that? Would you rather have Fury's lackeys peppering our tails with bullets?" She let out an irritated growl. "Look, it doesn't matter. We're going back in time anyway, so none of this actually matters unless one of us dies! Right, Sedna?"

"I...I don't know. It makes sense that the portal would take us 2 hours back already, and if we kill someone here while also being abducted somewhere else, I don't know how time would work!" Sedna exclaimed.

Considering the non-existant respone from Aero, it seemed he either was doing something else or didn't quite know what would happen either.

"Wait, if we kill someone and go 2 hours back, they wouldn't be dead. But the butterfly effect would make it that by not killing them, something will happen in our future. ." Zapor was really confused and lost with everything about time travel. "....Yet if we kill them, then by law of time travel being a pain, it'll possibly come back to bite us...then again..."

"Grrr, you're making my head hurt! Don't overthink it!" Natalie complained.

"Then let's not take any chances and just run!" Leah said, holding another barrier around them to protect them from future bullets.

"Leah's right! As much as I wanna headshot these guys and be done with it, I dont think we have the time to deal with them." Zapor said, ducking.

Leah pushed the barrier out, encompassing a larger area, turned, and ran off towards where the portal should be, Sedna followed closely behind as Leah kept the barrier with her.

Zapor quickly followed behind Leah and Sedna.

Hurrying through road, many more bullets bounced off of the barrier, but as time passed cracks began to form on the outer sides. It seemed to be just enough though, as the team finally found a small purple swirl of magic very close to the center of the town, right next to Dreams Casino.

"Okay. Unless I'm mistaken, that's the portal that we need." Zapor said.

(Please read this and make all comments there, thank you! -Neo)

"Come on! Let's get the hell out of here!" Natalie shouted.

Leah held the portal as long as possible, after everyone had entered the portal she followed, and it closed behind them just as the shield fell.

(This group goes to Part 3(A) -Neo

Part 2 (D): The Home of Time Spinner
Masako, Ciel, and Delta found themselves in a very strange place. Not even on Mobius at all but rather somewhere else entirely. Something told them it was the Meta of Destiny's doing that caused them to be here, but that was neither nor there. RIght now they were trapped somewhere very far away and couldn't even get Aero to contact them.

The city they were in was quite beautiful, the buildings were made out of some sort of stone that shimmered in the sunlight. The grass was a shining green color that reflected the sunlight, causing it to look an amazing gold color. The oxygen was rich and clean and far better to breath than that one Mobius. It felt like a beautiful spring morning here.

Delta pulled her screen up and was looking through it. "I have no earthly idea where we are." She said. "My screen really doesn't like this place for some reason..."

"What...are you?" Came a femine voice. Behind the trio was two girls who looked to be about the size of a teenage human. They were made entirely out of crystals. This shining, clear quartz that gave the slightest tint of white behind them. One had very long crystal hair, and wore a simple dress made from some teal colored fabric. Her eyes glowed blue as well, with a smile formed through the crystal as if someone had cut through the stone with a smooth knife. There was some strange marking on her forehead that indicated something.

The girl next to her was the same color of crystal but her hair was much shorter. She wore black pants and shoes with a studed leather belt. Fingerless gloves graced her crystaline fingers and her shirt was bright red with a grey skull on the chest. Her eyes matched the other crystal, possibly indicating that they were sisters, although the mark on her forehead was missing. Rather, there seemed to be some strange glowing marks on her back instead.

"No seriously, what are you?" Came the girl with short hair.

"They look tired Pocket Watch, maybe we should leave them alone..." The one in the dress told her.

"You don't even know what they look like normally, how are you supposed to know they're tired?" Pocket Watch said.

Delta looked up from her screen at the girls, then back down to her screen, and then repeated this several times. "Oh." She muttered. "Considering they have the same energies, wave lengths and vital signs as our time traveling friend, I am going to come to the conclusion that they are the same species." She swhispered to the two mobians. "This is where the Chronomancer is from..." She was obviously talking about Time Spinner but the way she said Time Traveling Friend and Chornomancer possibly indicated that she believed it best to not use Time Spinner's named.

"Are you tired?" The girl with long hair asked. "My name is Silver Chain, by the way, this is my sister, Pocket Watch."

"...Masako Haruno. I don't mean to be rude, but 'tired' doesn't even begin to describe how I feel right now..." Masako answered.

Ciel paced around, taking in their surroundings. "This place is so surreal, I'm not even sure what plane of existence we're on..."

"We're in Emerald City." Pocket Watch told Ciel. "In the country of Glamour? On...Millennium? Aliens have never heard of us before?"

"We're not aliens, we're mobians and technically we're supposed to be time travelers." Delta defended, still scrolling through her screen.

"Mobians? What kind of dumb name is that?" Pocket Watch asked.

"Clear Quartz probably isn't any better to them." Silver Chain hushed her sister. "What are you...people doing here?"

"It's a really, really long story," Masako answered. "Our world is in danger, and we've been jumping through timelines to save it. And by some odd circumstance, we've been brought here. We have to find the portal back to our world."

"Well maybe we can-" Silver Chain started to say when she was quickly interrupted.

Neo appeared behind them. No, not Neo, he looked like him, but his clothes were more flashy, and his had a dark tint to them. "There you are~" He called out to Masako, pulling his claws out. They were just like Neo's claws, but darker, sharper, covered in a large amount of Warfarin poison, made to cause pain to others in the worst way possible. "Now, where are you going?"

"Dude's a creep!" Pocket Watch stated coldy.

"What sort of fool do you take me for?! I will not waste my time on you!" Masako barked. "Back to the void with you, whelp! You are not prepared!"

"The pasts, presents, and futures of every single timeline are starting to blur together! We have to stop this!" Ciel warned.

"This guy is botherin' you?" Pocket Watch asked.

King Neo shook his head. 'Tsk, tsk, tks, you know better to act like that." He walked calmly forward, using his aerokinesis to subtley shorten Masako's breath.

Masako growled, unsheathing her blade and letting loose a powerful gale around her to force him back.

King Neo grabbed the gale, holding it like a spear. "I am the true king of everything? Why would you even bother using the wind against-"

Silver Chain interrupted him, sending a large boulder of earth magic crashing against his side, and knocking him over. "I'm sorry!" She called to him.

"Uh..." Pocket Watch started. "What do we do?"

"We can...um..." Silver Chain thought while King Neo got up. "Castle of Green Glass! We can take them there!"

"You little bitch!" King Neo called out. "I will shatter you!"

"Run!" Silver Chain squaked, running towards the city.

Pocket Watch's hand shifted from their normal hands into large blades, she stared down Neo but begrudingly followed her sister.

"Once we enter the city we can't risk King Neo in combat, he could hurt the other crystal people." Delta told them. "But if there's a portal it's not going to last long and we need to find it."

"If there's a portal. If there isn't... well, we are in a world of Metas," Ciel said. She looked to Silver Chain. "Nice save, by the way."

"I was... trying to use his cockiness against him back there. As it turns out, I was the cocky one for thinking his aerokinesis was weak enough for me to pierce his chest with the gale he held in his hand," Masako said.

"Time Spinner told Neo once that there are only 10 metas in existance at one time." Delta said. "These aren't metas, these are the people Time Spinner was before he became a meta, which means that they could be incredibly less powerful."

"I don't think he likes rocks." Pocket Watch said. "Just keep hitting him with those."

Masako looked at Delta. "...Well, that's our best option so far."

As the entered the town, they could see why it was called Emerald City. The buildings had been decorated with strange green gems, all embezzeled into the walls. More crystal people roamed the city, besides the clear quartz that Pocket Watch and Silver Chain were, there were other colors as well. Orange tiger's eye, green malachite, white marble, and plenty of others. They had gathered in small groups, as if they had met in a forum. Many smaller crystals ran around playing what looked like was a game of tag. All in all, the town was quite clean and peaceful.

That is, until King Neo showed, throwing a tornado at the team, which Silver Chain defeated by created a large wall of rock.

"Oh, why do you have to be like that? I just want to talk to you!" King Neo told them, his voice getting much creepier than before.

"This way!" Pocket Watch ran.

Silver Chain knelt to the ground. "That...that tornado was really...really..." She fell to the ground, unconscious.

Masako saw Silver Chain drop. She barely knew her, and yet... her protective instincts kicked in. "...No one left behind."

"Warfarin is such an amazing toxin when thrown into the air." King Neo smirked.

"We can take her with us, let's just go!" Pocket Watch noted.

Masako hoisted Silver Chain onto a sort of ice surfboard, riding it alongside Pocket Watch and Delta.

King Neo dug one of his claws into surfboard, holding it in place. "I wonder how this one would fare..." His other claw raised into the air,forcing it down towards Silver Chain.

Pocket Watch quickly came in, her crystals, parrying the claw. "What is that smell?" She asked.

"Warfarin, my favorite toxin." King Neo's claws shined, litterally dripping with poison.

Delta's blade shined a brilliant red color as she struck King Neo's side, knocking him down, and forcing his claw to release from the surfboard. The red aura coming off the blade seemed almost familiar. A sudden thought came to the surface, what was Delta's blade called again?

"Queen Anne's Revenge... of course!" Masako muttered. "Delta, your blade! We can send King Neo straight to the void right here and now!"

"How do you want me to do that?" Delta asked, striking Neo's claws once more in an effort to land a blow on him.

Several of Ciel's blades whooshed through the air as she attacked King Neo. "Only you can unleash the blade's true power!"

King Neo swatted the blades away like they were nothing. "Hmph, you're starting to make me very upset." He stomped his foot on the ground, knocking Delta several feet away on her back.

"Run." Pocket Watch murmured.

Masako growled. "FREEZE ETERNALLY!" She stabbed her blade into the ground and created an insurmountable glacier to block King Neo's path, buying them time to escape.

King Neo bashed his claws against the ice, unable to get passed for now and roared. "I'll come find you!"

Entering the full city revealed several more crystalline people, and a large green church-like building surrounding by smaller buildings of different colors and shapes.

"Castle of Green Glass is right there." Pocket Watch told them. "If we're inside we should be safe."

"And there should be a portal..." Delta muttered.

(Please read this and make all comments there, thank you! -Neo)

"It's too bad we have to leave so quickly, I'm up for exploring this place," Ciel said.

"Are we?" Masako questioned. "I'm just not sure about leaving King Neo on this planet. The chaos he's capable of...

"I think he's after us anyway." Delta noted. "I doubt he'll stay if we leave."

"I hope you're right, Delta," Masako said.

Leading them inside the Castle of Green Glass revealed that it was less of a castle and more of a church. The building had no guards but rather priests, who walked through, giving prayer at some form of alter at the front of the church. Many of the priests were too busy handling other matters that they didn't notice the newcomers who had entered their building.

Delta looked around. "Here!" She pointed to a small purple swirl of magic, barely large enough for a finger to enter. Upon getting closer, the swirl became larger, allowing people to finally enter through it.

"Listen, I don't really know what you're doing here or what is going on with you..." Pocket Watch started. "But that guy is strong. We haven't seen anything that strong since I was a little girl in the battle with Black Moon, and she killed an entire Millenium army, led by one of the best tacticians ever. That thing, he'll kill you."

Masako set Silver Chain down. "Wait, who is this 'Black Moon' now?"

A bang from the doors echoed through the building, reminding everyone King Neo. "Our big bad." Pocket Watch said simply. "Now hurry and get out of here!"

"Come on." Delta urged, entering the portal.

Masako stopped before entering the portal. "...I am sorry for bringing this monster to your world."

"Please, stay safe!" Ciel called out.

Just as they had left, King Neo burst through the doors and entered the portal before it could close, following the group closely. The portal closed quickly after him.

Pocket Watch shook her head. "I don't think I'll ever get used to a life like this." She still held her sister on her back. "C'mon, we still got to find them." With that the Crystalline girl made a portal of her own, out of a gold and silver magic and entered it, going off onto her own adventure.

(Move on to Part 3(C) -Neo)

Part 3 (A): The weight of Death...
Saren and Knave found themselves coming out of a red sand portal in Crystal City. They were back surprisingly. It wasn't their time period though, judging from where the sun was, it was safe to say that this was early morning, before the Mythic Knights had even left Eclipse Manor. They were reunited with Trinity and Kala who both looked at them with surprise.

Speaking of suprises, the group that was formerly in Reale City entered the scene, coming from their purple portal which happened to be very near the other four, putting the two groups together. It was interesting to see half of the team back together again, although it was also very questionable. One team was meant to be bait, to act as a suicide mission squad and lead something away, but now that they had intercepted another team, something was bound to go wrong and very quickly.

"......" Saren just had that feeling, and it was nagging at him strongly.

"Never fear, your glorious executioner has arrived!" Natalie announced. "...Wait. How'd you end up here with us?"

"Portal hijinks, and glorious executioner..? Needs more grim undertones." Saren joked, albeit he looked rather haggard; like he happened to age a few years in the span of a few minutes.

Zapor looked at Saren's group and back at his. "Are we supposed to all be in the same timeline?"

"More than likely this is a mistake..." Leah noted, still trying to catch her breath.

"Brings up a bit of an interesting question though." Trinity noted. "What universe is this?"

"Who knows.. But.. Anyone have a cigar? I could use the nicotine right now.."

"Well, what universe could this possibly be if not ours?" Natalie said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Unless this is our universe..." Knave noted, looking at a clock nearby. "If it is, we're about four hours behind."

"We noticed." Sedna said.

"So we just need to fight stuff...In our universe." Zapor said.

"Frankly that's the most normal thing I've done since I met you guys.."

"What if we just..." Sedna started. "We could kill the Queen before she ambushes us, right?"

"Hah! Now you're talking my language, girl!" Natalie cheered. Following a moment of silence, she sighed. "...We still need that warhammer though, don't we."

"Yep, that's why we kill the queen. She's bound to have it on her soon to be corpse~"

"But if we do attack the queen, Saren and I can't be there for it." Leah said. "I'm there during the ambush and Saren comes out not long after. We couldn't be there for that battle. Not to mention we don't know where the Queen is exactly."

"I'm sorry...what battle is that?" A voice came as a man approached them. He wore think heavy armor and carried around two giant shields. It was Rook, with a squad of different guards from Conquest.

"Psh, got nothin' to do with you. Stay out of our way," Natalie hissed.

"Is that right?" Rook asked. "I don't believe we've met, my name is Rook, I am third in command of Conquest and sworn to protect my superiors, including the Queen, which it sounds like you plan to kill."

"Whoops, I just dropped all the fucks I don't give," Natalie mocked as she brandished a knife behind her back.

"I have a lot of pent up frustration involving that bitch that I can't vent on her, but you're the next best thing~" Saren smiled.

Rook raised an eyebrow, his eyes shifting from Natalie to Saren. "Are...you two okay?" He asked. "You're both acting very rude right now."

"We're just not very happy about your queen." Leah noted coldly.

Rook pondered what Leah had said. "I'm...not sure I understand what you are refering to. I know she can be a bit of a...excuse my language...bitch...but we are not murders, I assure you." Despite the fact that you know damn well that the Queen is a murderer, it's also clear that Rook genuinely believes what he just said.

"Dude, I hate to break it to you, you seem like a cool guy, but a bit of a bitch is kinda an understatement." Zapor said.

"And I'm the President of the United Federation, 'Rookie Boy'." Natalie scoffed. "What absolute BULLSHIT!"

Something suddenly pinged in the back of her mind. A detail she might have missed. What if things really weren't as they seemed? What if, in some place and time, Conquest wasn't the sworn enemy of the Mythic Knights?

Natalie had to ask the question.

"Hey, Rookie Boy. Why'd they send you, anyway? Where's Jester?"

"Dead unfortunately. He was caught up in the middle of the battle that happened in Viola City not to long ago. We're not really sure why he was there in the first place, he had no orders to be in Viola City, but then again his daughter was located there not to long ago as well. I believe he wanted to see her...now both of them are unaccounted for. Are you sure you all are okay?" Rook asked. "Do you maybe want to go see a doctor? Some of the best doctors in Otogi are in Crystal City."

"Uh, no. We're good." Zapor said. He then turned and whispered to Sedna. "Sedna, this dude seems too nice to be a part of Conquest."

".....?" Saren was now confused, what in the 'ell did he stumble into this time?

"So this is our world after all..." Natalie thought to herself. She looked to the others, desperate for some sort of direction.

There was a very awkward silence that passed between the group for a long time before finally Rook spoke again.

"Well..." He started, not really sure where he was going with this next sentence. "This is a bit...um...on the strange side..." He looked around for a while. "I'm heading off to see Queen right now actually...so..." With that Rook grabbed a familiar looking hammer off of his back. "I should be going now..."

A sudden thought came to mind now. If the Mythic Knights wanted Mjolnir, they needed to kill Rook for it.

"I mean, I guess not every member of Conquest has to be a jerk." Sedna whispered back to Zapor. "It kind of makes sense that there would be some nice guys in it."

"Hey.. I never asked this before but what's the hammer?" Saren asked, maybe he didn't have to kill rook to get the hammer; if he could just convince rook to let him hold the hammer he could essentially run off with it.

"It's called Mjolnir." Rook said. "It's Queen's weapon of choice. It has the power to summon lightning from out of nowhere with no kinesis required. The only downside is that only a chosen few can wield. So far that being myself and Queen. I prefer my shields and anyway, I don't have the authority to claim the weapon from her anyhow." Considering only a chosen few can wield Mjolnir, it's safe to say that Saren probably could not wield it, neither could any of the other Mythic Knights here, with the exception of Lexi, as Time Spinner pointed out when he told her to get it. With her not being here, that made things much more complicated.

Another thought struck Saren, this might be an alternate timeline; so killing Rook and taking his hammer to get back to their original timeline might not be a good idea, paradoxes and all that stuff associated with having two of the same godly relics in one timeline.

'Huh... Looks like all those Science Fiction Rustic had me read weren't so cringingly retarded afterall..?'

Sedna seemed to pick up on the same idea as well, causing her to think for a moment about something that could prove if this was there timeline. "We'd hate to be a bother, we'll just be going." She said quickly to Rook, who raised his eyebrow at her.

The rat girl waited as the squad went by, until they were out of earshot and explained her idea. "If this isn't an alternate reality, than we can find out really quickly." She told them. "Let's go visit Neo."

Saren nods.

"Where would Neo be 4 hours earlier?" Zapor asked.

"In bed writhing in pain..." Natalie answered.

"Exactly!" Sedna said. "If Neo is still there, then we can know for sure if this is our universe."

"Or this is just a universe that is really similar to the one we're from." Leah told her. "Without Time Spinner or Aero we can't know for sure if this is our timeline or not."

As if on cue, a swirl of red sand opened near them and Aero walked out, breathing heavily. "Why...are you...here?" He asked.

"The portal took us here, dude. Also, why are you breathing so hard?" Zapor asked.

"Cut him some slack; I assume he had a tough fight on his hands." Saren shrugged.

"Why...back...here...?" Aero asked.

"Is this our universe?" Sedna asked.

Aero huffed some more but managed to nod his head.

"That will be alright." A voice came as a golden portal opened, revealing a man. He was clearly a meta, as he shared the same strange-looking mobian body that Time Spinner and his team had. He looked very much like a yellow wolf, only his ears were slightly more pointed than a normal wolf-mobian's. His clothes were old red armor that looked worn and used often, and he carried a spear on his back, that made the team shiver in fear. Something about that spear was very wrong. "Greetings." The mobian said in a very strange, high tenor voice.. "My name is Diety, a pleasure to meet you."

"Uh...Hi?" Zapor muttered nervously.

"Why are you here?" Aero asked. "Does this mean that Time Spinner...?"

"He's just...resting...it isn't his destiny to die today." Diety told him. "I'm here to...talk some sense into you all."

"What do you mean?" Sedna asked.

"Pop quiz Mythic Knights! What happens when you turn back time to save someone's life?" Diety asked.

"I...don't know." Leah answered.

"They die again!" Diety told them. "Every living being in this universe has a thing called 'life force'. You can think of it as a soul, or whatever you truly wish to call it. When a person dies, that life force is stripped from them and taken by death, forever gone if enough time passes. Time Spinner could easily turn back time without all of this nonsense he is having you do, but even if you were to jump through timelines or change time, you would steal that life force back. No matter what you do, there is one clear law in this multiverse; no one can cheat death. Pop Quiz Mask Boy, tell the Mythic Knights what happens if they bring Echo back!"

Aero looked down. "Echo will continually be put into situations that will result in her death. It's impossible for someone to truly save someone's life after they have died like that."

"So, one more question Mythic Knights, why is Time Spinner doing all of this if it is impossible to save Echo?" Diety asked the Mythic Knights.

Zapor's ears drooped. "I don't know...because he doesn't know that's its impossible?"

"Why wouldn't he know that it's impossible to cheat death..?" Saren asked.

"Oh but he does." Diety told them. "Most notably, the time he tried to cheat death to save his family. You can clearly see that didn't work out well for him since he's here. Even if he hadn't experiemented with it, he can 'see all the different timelines', he knows it's not going to work."

"Who are you anyway?" Knave asked. "Why should we care what you think?"

"I am the Meta of Destiny." Diety answered. "I seek to tell you only the truth. I'm someone who will never lie to you. Everything I tell you is the absolute truth."

"And we can just believe that?" Knave pressed.

"It's in the gig! As a Meta of Time, Time Spinner cannot tell you things, there things that he knows that he cannot tell you, for example, how you are going to die? Where are you going to find the rest of the shards of light? Who is the boy under the mask and why does he hide his identity? All things he could easily tell you, but of course, he cannot. Likewise, I cannot tell a single lie." Diety answered.

"So what is all of this, huh? Why are you telling us all this?" Sedna asked.

"I told you before that I only want to talk some sense into you. Time Spinner is not someone you can trust. You have blindly trusted him because, what? Because he saved his pawns? Because he is fighting the same enemy you are? Time Spinner has betrayed people before and he will do it again." Diety told them.

"Of course you would say that." Aero spat. "You're one of the Shards of Darkness! You're working with Destruction!"

"And again, Time Spinner lies to you all." Diety said. "Destruction has been made into this anti-christ figure for you all to hate, when that isn't ture. Hell, some of you have Black Blood, his gift to the world. Destruction doesn't wish for us to all be destroyed! He seeks to destroy the corruption in the world, and that is what he has been doing since the start. He created humans, which caused mobians to exist. He fought his brothers and sisters because he saw a world that not all of them could share equally, where some had more power than others. A world with no corruption in it, does that truly sound evil?"

"Oh, because if everyone's corrupt, then no one is, right?" Natalie spat. "Please. Get the hell outta here before I stab you, alright?"

"Do you not see it?" Dietty asked. "Corrupt politicians, corrupt leaders, people who are extorting others for their gain? The wicked? The Order of the Scythe? You have met those two, you know clearly that there are corrupt people out there. We're not trying to make everyone corrupt, we're trying to get rid of the corruption all together! I'm not asking you to do anything big, or to prove yourself in any form, this isn't some trial. I want you to think clearly about all of this. Think about who's side of this war you want to fight on. Think about joining Destruction!"

"Are you crazy?" Leah asked.

"I know, this is a lot to take in and i wish i could have gotten to you sooner. In the end, all I'm asking you to do is think about joining the right people." Diety turned and his golden portal opened up behind him. "After all, one of you already has." And with that, the Meta of Destiny walked out, the portal closing behind him.

Saren blinked. "Well this is odd.. Any idea what he meant by that...?"

"So, there's a traitor among us?" Sedna asked.

"Not this again." Leah said. "We just got past the idea of traitors being with us, and now he's telling us there's one we didn't get?"

"He's talking about Delta, right?" Knave asked. "I mean, if she's a shard of darkness, than he might think she's on their side."

Saren shrugged. "I have faith that she isn't.."

"Yeah. Grape Juice is alot of things, but I don't think she's double crosser." Zapor said.

"Who cares? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now we've got bigger things to worry about," Natalie urged.

"Natalie's right, we need to get that hammer." Leah said.

"But only certain people can pick it up, right? I don't think any of us could do it..." Sedna told them.

"What else could we do?" Leah asked.

"Unless that answer is to wait, there really isn't much." Aero said. "We just need everyone together now."

"Are we even in the same reality as before..? Because if not and we bring the hammer to the present we will have essentially caused a paradox of godlike proportions..." Saren sighed.

"It's not like the answer is gonna come through some magic tunnel." Zapor said to himself.

(Should we bring the people from part 3 in now?)

(Yeah, you can. -Neo)

"Yes, you are." Aero told Saren. "This is the same timeline that you were originally in, your timeline."

Just as Aero finished answering, another purple portal opened near the group. The group that was previously in the castle now joined together with this one.

Lexi was the first one to walk out the portal. She looked at the group. "So what did we miss?"

"Right.." Saren blinked; things were just too weird for him to begin with. "Oh not much.."

Zero walked out of the portal next, still silent.

Era came third, and taking a look around she gave a smirk. "So nice to be back home." She said. "Now, who do we kill first?"

Moros finally arrived, with a few cinnabuns in hand.

"Did we have to stop to get those?" Era asked Moros.

"Well, apparently we just need to wait around." Leah noted.

"Once Time Spinner is here, we'll explain everything." Aero said.

"Let me try to understand something." Leah told Aero. "Is everything that Diety said true?"

"When Time Spinner get here-" Aero started.

"That doesn't answer my question." Leah interrupted. "Is everything that Diety said true?"

"...Yes." Aero told them. "The meta have interesting rules about them, and Diety is correct in his rule, he is not allowed to lie, so everything that he has told you is true, or at least what he believes is true."

"So what the hell was the point of this?" Knave asked. "What was the point of coming all this way if Echo can't be saved?"

"What do you mean we can't save the kid?" Era asked. "You mean to tell me we did all of this for nothing?"

"Have you been lying to us?" Zero asked. "Who's side are you on? I thought, you were trying to help us?"

"I don't know." Aero told them. "Right now, Echo's fate is up in the air, as far as I know, once someone dies, that's it, they're gone. The only exception is with necromancy or revival, and even then, only a fraction of that person returns, to my knowledge, Echo is gone and there is no way to save her."

"So then why put us through all of this?" Zero asked.

"Time Spinner might have something up his sleeve, I don't know. I've tried saving people and it doesn't work but maybe he has some meta power we don't know about yet." Aero explained.

Moros nodded fervantly. 'Yes, yes we did.'

"I doubt it.." Saren muttered, a bored look on his face to hide all the nasty thoughts he kept bottled up inside. "If there is no way to truly bring her back, then let her rest in peace.."

"Diety's forgotten a pretty important detail, though. Time Spinner ain't a stickler for the rules. He breaks 'em whenever he needs to," Natalie said. "That's his bane and benefit."

"How long do I have left to 'live' anyways?"

"Without Delta we can't really tell." Leah told Saren.

"More of a bending the rules than breaking them outright, but same concept." Aero said. "Time Spinner has tried before to bring people back to life only to learn the same mistakes, but this is a Time Spinner from a future point in the timeline, there is no telling what he does and does not know."

"So where is Time Spinner?" Lexi asked.

Saren shrugged.

A silver portal opened in response to Lexi's question. "There." Aero said.

"That's convenient~" Saren chuckled.

Part 3 (B): Dark things to Come
The street was empty when Celia made her call to her sister and Leah. The small group of knights, the captain, and the mage had all turned towards the lone archer, no longer alone as she was now backed up by the Mythic Knights, or at least members of it. "And what exactly is this?" Leah asked. "Where did you learn to bring failures back from the dead?"

Moros blinked. "Failures? How rude.. qwq"

"Hmm. Maybe you just weren't thorough enough, Leah," Monica provoked.

"I'll make sure I am this time." Leah formed a staff from black blood but before she was able to do anything, Celia fired an arrow into the side of Leah's dress. This caused the black blood armor to shatter, revealing her normal dark purple dress underneath.

Chelsea however took her bow and fired a red tipped arrow at Monica.

Moros fired a thin beam of Void Magic at Leah from his pointer finger.

Monica flipped backwards as she summoned her revolvers. "Try harder!" She mocked in her obnoxious French accent, and lined up a couple of shots.

"I will." Chelsea assured Monica, firing four more red tipped arrows, then rolled to the side, and used a button to make all five of the arrows explode.

Monica was thrown forward, ending up in front of Chelsea. "...Duly noted." She moved to sweep her leg across Chelsea's feet.

"Huh, guess I just sit back; watch and continue acting adorable I guess.." Moros said, truthfully he really didn't mind; it meant he didn't have to fight.

Chelsea jumped above Monica's leg, took the side of her bow and tried to bash it into Monica's side.

"Hyah!" Monica rapidly spun her revolvers around to block it, then slammed them together to form a rifle. She tried to blast Chelsea at close range.

Chelsea extended her hand creating a shield of sorts that held the bullet in place. It seems as though Chelsea has Ferrokinesis, or metal manipulation.

Ferrokinesis probably shouldn't actually work on Monica's bullets, but it does. Monica steps back and reforms her revolvers, slamming them together into the shape of a cross.

"Detonate!" the bullet suddenly erupts into a powerful arcane explosion.

Chelsea is knocked back by the explosion, although she manages to land on her feet. She takes her bow and fires a blue tipped arrow at Monica.

Era sat back watching most of this take place. "Moros. I'm bored." She huffed simply. "What if we sneak up on them and killed those two now?"

Monica slides under the arrow, firing a shot at Chelsea's legs. "There!"

Moros nodded. "Mhm!" Seems he agreed with Era's plan.

Era told Moros to go for Chelsea while she took care of Leah, using her Aero kinesis to rise to the rooftops around them and snuck around the battle, getting the jump on Leah.

The shot hit Chelsea, causing the fox to take a knee. "Ah!" She let out in pain.

Moros gathered void magic in his pointer finger, pointing at Chelsea's back; more specifically aiming for the left lung before firing a thin beam of void magic. Essentially sacrificing A.O.E for piercing and precision.

"Hey, hey!" Monica shouted, flipping around and swinging her heel into the side of Chelsea's head to knock her over. "These aren't the terms we discussed! We kill only when necessary! Right, Zero?"

Era jumped down onto Leah, takeing her blade through Leah's chest and killing her. "She would have killed you." Era justified.

"That's not how we do things." Zero told the two.

"No, that's how we do things." Era told him. "Maybe if you did what you were meant to and killed people, Conquest wouldn't have so easily ambushed you and killed Echo."

"Stop. Right. There." Zero raised his scythe to Era. "Don't you dare pin the blame on anyone here."

"If you think I'm scared of you, then you're wrong." Era took two fingers and pushed the scythe out of her face.

"She's right." Celia noted. "They both would have done terrible things if we let them live. It's a good thing they are both dead. Now isn't the time for fighting, we need to get to the castle."

Moros was calm, ignoring what the others thought of him. 'You guys have your way, we have our way.'

"How terribly unrefined," Monica cursed through clenched teeth. She crept close to Zero.

"Right right; unrefined, and that is coming from the woman who's weapon makes an even bigger mess than I do at an all you can eat cinnabun buffet? Not to mention it's quite loud..?" Moros asked, glancing at Monica.

"Let's get ready." Celia said quickly.

Celia walked in front of the group, carrying her bow on her back, and wore her sister's armor. They very quickly approached a large stone castle. Those who were aware of it's existence would notice it was very close to the location of Wayward Castle. As they approached, the group saw two guards, one skinny dog and one very large gruff dog, standing at the gate. Upon getting closer to the gate, the two dogs crossed their weapons in front of the gateway.

"Whatcha got there, Chelsea?" The big dog asked.

"Are those who I think they are?" The smaller dog asked. "I thought they were dead?"

"Apparently not." Celia told the dogs. "We're going to hoid them for questioning in the dungeon. Her highness is currently off on a search of her own, trying to find my sister.,"

The dogs uncrossed their weapons, and the gate was raised.

"Have fun stormin' the dungeon!" The big dog told them.

Celia led the team quickly into the castle gardens. Large hedges had been trimmed into many different ornate shapes, such as swans or lions, there were stone pathways lined with red bricks and flowers growing all around. The cobblestone walls of the castle were well kept and decorated with plants on the window sills. In the center of the garden was a stone plaza with a beautiful fountain running in the center. Moros might notice there was a strange magical energy in the water, as if someone had imbued it with magic.

"What's with the magic in the water..? The water's completely saturated in magical energies..?" He asked.

"It's hard to explain." Celia said. "It's an inverse mana fountain. It drains kinesis and magic from others and collects it in the fountain. It's used for the prisoners, you need to have some weird bracelet thing in order for it to work on you."

A tiny purple swirl of magic could be visible in the corner of the garden. Zero spotted it first. "Isn't that the portal?" Zero asked.

"Good, you have you're way back home." Celia told them. "Come on." She led them to a door by the garden. Upon entering they found a very dank and dimly lit storage area filled with boxes of all sorts. They kept going through the storage area to a hallway, filled with jail cells all around. After a brief bit of searching they found a purple hedgehog in a cell. She looked up as Celia began to pick the lock.

"Celia?" She asked, not able to see the rest of the team yet.

Zero shivered at the sound of her voice. "We should get going..." He said slowly.

"You gonna be OK, Zero?" Lexi asked.

Moros looked at Era. 'Creepy use of magic qwq'

Monica kept watch behind the group, revolvers raised. "Are we set?"

Zero shook his head at Lexi, "This isn't her..." He said softly. "As much as I wanted it to be, this isn't my little sister."

Moros would notice Era's expression change, just ever so slightly. For the first time ever she didn't have a quip or remark to make about this, which she did quite often to others. For some reason, she was showing some fraction of compassion. "Yeah, we're set." Era told them, her voice genuine.

The coffee colored fox led the group back out to the courtyard, and walked towards the portal. "Everyone got their things?" She said. "We're not coming back."

"I have all of my stuff." Lexi noted.

Moros nodded, glancing at Era with a hint of concern in his normal expressionless eyes.

"Alright." Era said, approaching the portal as it grew to fit them. "Everyone, get in."

Moros nodded, going to enter the portal.

Lexi followed them into the portal.

(Everyone head to Weight of Death! -Neo)

Part 3 (C): Denial and Acceptance
Masako and her team found themselves somewhere very familiar. At least, for Masako and Delta it was, Ciel would not recognize this place. They were now in the ruins of Crystal City, two people had began to glow and disappeared in front of them, leaving only one person left for them to meet once more; Quantum Spinner.

It didn't take long before King Neo came through behind them, grinning madly. Now they had another danger to deal with, however. It was brief but clear that there was someone else coming, the one that Time Spinner had said could only be defeated by Masako or Delta. She was coming.

"We've got company!" Ciel warned.

"You don't know how right you are..." Masako muttered, looking off in the distance.

"You brought another one?" Quantum asked.

"You look familiar..." King Neo noted. "I'm sorry, but you're just going to get in my way..."

"Excuse me?" Quantum asked, clearly enraged.

Delta quickly realized that something was going to happen and threw her blade into the ground, taking her dice and rolling her dice, creating a cube shield to protect herself, Masako, and Ciel.

Quantum rushed the King, his blade extended. Unfortunatly for him, King Neo had fought far more experienced warriors than this boy. He stepped to the side, using Quantum's momentum to redirect the boy's rapier into his own chest. King Neo quickly turned him around, taking his claws and dragging them across the boy's throat, and for good measure, turned the boy around and placed both of his hands on Quantum's head, and effortlessly snapped the boy's neck, killing Quantum.

A huge font of silver and red energy exploded from the boy's body, creating a beam of energy to the sky, which illuminated the area around them.King Neo placed his hand in the energy which stained the fur on his hand blood red. He painted his body in the energy, gained a red tint to his blood, his eyes changing to a silver color, he turned around, his claws glowing with the power from Qunatum's death. "Now then, let's start with the punishment of that one." He pointed to Delta and rushed them. Of course the cube shield held, but King Neo kept going, strike after strike after strike until finally Delta couldn't hold the shield any longer and it shattered.

Before King Neo could hit anyone with another strike, another set of claws entered the fray. Standing beside them now, gasping for breath as if he had just finished running a marathon was Neo. Not some alternate timeline Neo or twisted form of him, this was the real Neo. His wounds had not healed yet and judging from the strain on his face, he still had not fully recovered from the torture or his fight as the suit of armor. "I'm sorry...could you repeat that?"

"What's this? Is my clone here to fight against me as well? I'm you boy, what do you think you can do?" King Neo asked.

Masako's Pocket Watch grew very warm at Neo's presence. Begging to be opened, and considering who was coming to join the battle next, Masako would need every drop of power she could get now.

Neo held the crystal prism in his hand, clutching to it, to the point where his knuckles were turning white. "I'll face myself...no...no you're...nothing...like me. You're not me..."

Masako pulled the pocket watch open. She was almost afraid of what she would see.

As if on cue, the Fallen Knight made her appearance. She approached Masako, holding a two-bladed weapon in her right hand. "It's time I ended this."

Ciel looked around. "Everyone! Pick your targets!" She moved to support Neo.

(The Fate of the World)

King Neo smiled creepily as Neo raised the crystal up and shattered it in his fist, causing the colors inside the crystal to swirl around the fox, coloring his fur into a golden color and increasing his power.

The Pocket Watch now didn't show anything, instead there was a swirl design on the face, with a power emenating from it, almost asking Masako to touch the center of the swirl. Trying to grant her the power of the time vortex. Of course, Time Spinner's warning still warned of the dangers of using it, but right now there needed to be a really huge surge in power of King Neo and the Fallen Knight were to be defeated.

(If Masako does touch the center of the swirl, describe her new time themed super form. -Neo)

"Time Spinner warned me about this... how this power could..." Masako shook her head. "Forget the risks! If we die here, there will be no tomorrow!"

"No! Don't do this!" The fallen knight called out. "You don't understand! Your destruction is the only way this timeline can be restored! If I let you escape, this world is doomed!"

"You don't know me! You're nothing but a twisted shade of this world's darkness!" Masako reached her hand into the spiral. Her fur turned white, almost like strands of silver. A long, flowing raiment unfurled behind her and her blade turned pure white, as if she held a sliver of the Light in her hand. "Time and space is my ally. I control my fate!"

"You think a little change to your fur is going to be enough to defeat me? I am the herald of destruction! I am the lord of death itself! I am King Neo Aero Tranquil, and you will not stand a chance against me!" King Neo shouted at the two.

Neo knew that this power wouldn't last long. His body couldn't hold out right now and despite the front he was trying to put up, he was in a world of pain. Still he knew that if anyone was going to take out this bastard, it had to be him.

But something told him otherwise. If he came into contact with himself, that would generate a paradox wouldn't it? He remembered Time Spinner mentioning that a long time ago, and if it was true, then he couldn't lay even a claw on King Neo. Then again, what about this form? Sure Neo existed in another timeline but did Glimmer Neo? Would using a super form be enough to not cause a paradox?

Masako seemed to notice Neo's condition, and crept close to him. "Got a plan, Neo? One of these paradoxes is bad enough, but taking on two..."

"If we hit ourselves...we make a paradox..." Neo told Masako. "We need...to...fight each other...for the time...being..."

Of course that wouldn't work. Masako could defeat King Neo while she was like this, there was no questioning that, but Time Spinner told her that it had to be either Masako or Delta who defeated the Fallen Knight. Neo could not do it.

"I'll support you both from the back." Delta reported, pulling her screen up. "I think I have an idea on how to beat them."

"Shoot..." Neo huffed.

"It's only if they come into contact with you that you will cause a paradox, but if there were a shield around you, then they can't touch you." Delta explained. "We can use the same technique Echo did before..." Her voice trailed off. "...I think I can activate both of your empowered hearts while you're like this."

"Try it!" King Neo zoomed with incredible speed at Neo, who held his claws up to deflect the edges. Metal scrapped against a glass like substance as Delta managed to activate Neo's empowered heart in time.

"Go for the kill." Delta told Masako.

Masako charged toward the fallen knight. Susano'o clashed with with a pitch-black warglaive. "For the Mythic Knights!"

"For Mobius!" Ciel sent her blades chasing after King Neo.

King Neo came back in for another strike, which Neo expertly parried. The two continued to trade blows with one another for some time, each time claws connected with claws. despite all the changes, all the differences between King Neo and Glimmer Neo, they were both still the same person; Neo. This bout continued on for a while before finally Neo began including aerokinesis into the mix, adding golden pillars of air to his string of attacks, this prompted King Neo to add more complex attacks with his claws effectively pinpointing Glimmer Neo's weakness.

Something about this battle was all wrong. Fighting King Neo, left Neo with a pit in his stomach. Despite how different this guy was, despite the murder he had caused just recently, despite everything that Neo could think of to not like this guy, he still did like him. Because King Neo was still Neo, and that meant that they were the same. Two very different outcomes of the same Neo.

"Neo, wake up!" Ciel shouted, urging Neo to continue the assault

For the longest time, it didn't seem like Masako could overcome the Fallen Knight, nor could her adversary find the strength to strike her down. In a duel of blades and spells, neither one seemed to have a chance of winning. The Fallen Knight may very well have become too strong in the course of two-hundred-and-forty years, and Masako was giving it all she had just to match that strength.

Neo awoke once more to barely parry a strike from King Neo. "...!" He threw more aerokinesis into his attacks, but King Neo threw just as much back at him. This was a battle that he could not win on his own.

The pocket watch that Masako carried finally revealed it's true power. Not just the form that used or the ability to look through time, but the true power that it held, and the one that Time Spinner hoped Masako would never have to use.

The metal device warmed again, and the sound of something tearing echoed through Masako's ears as she witnessed an axe join the fray. Standing there as a ghost of the past, was Edward, the former Jester, killed by Masako. "Don't you dare lose hope now." He told Masako. HIs figure was there, but it was blurry and it looked like he was covered in some thick dust. Of course only Masako and her enemy could see Edward, to everyone else, it was as if he wasn't there at all.

"You know not what you do!" The Fallen Knight argued, clashing her warglaive against Edward's axe. "The fate of the world rests on--"

"Me." Masako shifted behind the Fallen Knight, and her adversary's movements slowed to a crawl. The Fallen Knight moved her blade behind her, thus allowing Masako to simply strike the blade out of her hand and send her reeling backwards. In a panic, she repeatedly threw up barriers of black blood, each one destroyed by Masako's blade as it practically erased the vile substance.

The moment Masako saw an opening, she sliced the Fallen Knight's left arm clean off, sending her to the ground with a shriek. She'd landed next to her own blade, which she'd fearfully raised to defend herself against Masako.

Neo and King Neo continued their battle, claws meeting claws, wind meeting wind, these two were the same in every way. As this battle continued, Neo decided to try something.different, something that King Neo couldn't do. Neo drew his sword, Nightmare and continued the battle. Now using a weapon and tactics that King Neo didn't have, Neo was able to finally outsmart him.

Delta knew what he was doing. By changing weapons, Neo was able to completely change how he was fighting, which was a change in tactic that King Neo couldn't pick up on the change in tactic quick enough.

Neo fought differently, using the techniques that Fey had taught him, which were few and far between, but it was with those techniques that he was finally able to land a hit on King Neo, his blade hit the side of King Neo's chest, which stunned him long enough for Neo to sweep his legs with his, knocking King Neo to the ground. Neo held the blade to King Neo's neck

"What are you doing?" King Neo asked. "Kill me already! Take your crown, boy."

"I...think I understand...this now. I think...I understand you know." Neo huffed. "You're...me...and that's not ever going to change. You are what...I wanted to become...what I would have become...before any of this happened. You're everything...that I fear...I will become. You...are a killer...and a scoundral...who thinks he...deserves anything he...wants...you force people to...do what...you want...them to. You...are all of...my fears...you are...me..."

Neo pulled his sword away, and in that moment, red and black energy left King Neo's body flooded towards Neo's. A cloud of smoke covered him before all of the energy finally collided together. There stood Neo, now in shining gold armor with silver streaks down the side. A long royal red cape flowed down his back, the edge lined with black and white fur. Nightmare had changed into a golden sword with a shining silver blade, pulsing with magic energy. This was the new King Neo. It seemed as though the defeat of King Neo had awakened some form of power in The Excalibur Blade; Nightmare. The combination of the Crystal Prisim and the Excalibur's blade's power had gave brith to some new kind of strength. In esscence, Glimmer form has given rise to Excalibur Form.

Massko turned to Neo and nodded, then brought her blade down to finish off the Fallen Knight.

...And was promptly denied her rite.

Masako was thrown back by a strong bolt of chaos cast by a shadowy figure, who now blocked her path to the Fallen Knight.

"Would you sooner forget the weight of your own sins than to carry this burden to the very end... Savior?" The darkness dispersed, revealing a tall mongoose carrying a wicked greatsword. "I've learned to embrace mine, and it's only made me stronger as a result. Do you think you can face me the way you are? If you want this girl to die today... you're only hope of doing so is to defeat me."

"The hell is this guy...?" Masako stepped backwards alongside Neo.

Neo looked the mongoose up and down, his eyes slimmed as he felt the new energy burning inside him, the adrenaline hid the pain from his wounds and made him more brave than normal. "I don't know. But he is nothing to a king. We'll cut through him just as we have cut through others."

"Such words are unbecoming of you, boy." The mongoose challenged them with his arms outstretched. "Come!"

Neo sent a golden pillar of wind at the Mongoose, attempting to see what he had in store.

The mongoose shifted above the mighty gust, swinging his blade toward the earth and cleaving a vast crevice in front of him.

Masako races toward him, rapidly slashing at him more times than anyone could care to count. He predicted her every move, effortlessly parrying each strike.

"Your time is short!" The mongoose blasts Masako back using powerful ice magic.

Neo looked between Masako and the Mongoose. They needed a way out of here and quick. "Delta, how do we get out?"

"There...might be a portal closeby, a few blocks away, it looks like a purple swirl thing." Delta said. "But I don't know if we can go if we don't kill the Fallen Knight."

Neo looked to Mongoose again. "Dammit..." He grasped the blade in his hands. "I hope this armor is good for something..." And Neo quickly joined in the fray, trying to land a blow on the mongoose.

"'Only you and Delta can kill the Fallen Knight...'" Delta murmered, unsheathing her cane sword. "Justice and Vengence..." And with that, Delta ran for the body of the Fallen Knight.

The mongoose spotted both Delta and Neo approaching, and smirked. He raises his broadsword up. "Heart of Fate!"

A larger figure manifested itself above him. Its shape was that of another mongoose, only this time it was a woman. Her eyes were obscured behind a blindfold, and she was chained at her wrists. Her fur was colorless. Overall, she looked cold -- lifeless, even.

The chains forced her to raise her staff to the sky. Crystals began to rain from above, hurtling toward the battlefield and shattering upon impact, turning the very terrain into crystal that threatened to impale anyone who got foolish with their movements.

"Get down!" Ciel moves in to protect Delta.

Neo grabbed the side of his cape and held it up, blocking damage that might be coming towards him.

Delta threw her cube barrier up again, causing her to stop in her tracks. "We need to get to the Fallen Knight, that's all we need!" She told Ciel.

Masako was being targeted by several crystals at once. Finding herself in a seemingly inescapable situation, she exercised some of her new powers. She spun her blade around and stabbed it into the ground, creating a field around herself that stopped time for anything that entered it. One by one, she shattered the crystals using wild magic, using them to create dozens of blades imbued with elemental power. She aimed them toward the mongoose, then flicked her own blade out of the ground and hurled it towards him as well.

Neo trudged forward, keeping his cape up to protect himself as he moved.

Delta watched, noting her proximity to the Fallen Knight. Taking a chance, she rushed forward heading to the body, if not stopped, she aimed to stab the blade through the Fallen Knight.

The mongoose effortlessly defended himself against each of Masako's attacks, not turning away from her until the last minute when he noticed Delta's plan. He moved toward her and swung his broadsword down on her blade, allowing himself to be impaled by Susano'o in the process.

Masako teleported to him and drove the blade deeper into the mongoose's body, causing him to stumble as she let go of her blade.

And yet, he still grinned, acting as if he'd already won. "A bold move... but how can you possibly hope to kill a man who can't possibly hope to die?"

"You're kidding... are you telling me this guy's immortal?" Ciel shuddered. "Just one more thing to add to our problems..."

Delta was jolted back, but was caught by Neo who deftly spun his feet around, allowing himself to change places with Delta. "You'd be suprised how easy it is to someone who can't be killed."

Delta took this moment to keep heading towards the Fallen Knight, her blade now glowing red once more

"Mere moments ago, your body could barely hold itself together. And here you stand before me, the way you are now." The mongoose shook his head. "The power of a king, and the mouth of a child. Are you aware of how many lives you hold in your hand right now?"

Unfortunately, the mongoose bought enough time for the Fallen Knight to recover, who was now stretching her hastily-reattached arm as she noticed Delta. She faced her, holding her blade up defensively.

Delta stopped in her tracks for just a mere moment, a sign of hesitation, her mind filling with thoughts. She was not supposed to be on the front lines, this was not where she was supposed to be, but she wanted to go home. She wanted to do whatever it took to save her little sister.

Most importantly; She wanted the head of the bitch who stole her sister from her. It was with this conviction that Delta threw caution to the wind, and abandoned her purpose as a tactician since her creation. With dice in one hand and the Queen Anne's Revenge in the other, she took her vengence to heart and enganged the Fallen Knight in battle, with a strange new conviction to kill whatever stood in her path.

Neo narrowed his eyes. "It's funny that you mention that. Before, I never even thought to consider the lives of those depending on me. In fact, it wasn't until this battle that I decided to actually think about it, and you know what I realized? That if I lose here, all of those people are going to die. It is my destiny to destroy Destruction once and for all, and that means I can't let anyone get in my way. It will be a cold day in hell when I let someone like you defeat me!" Nightmare began to glow gold, as Neo took a slash at the Mongoose.

The mongoose stopped him by literally grabbing Nightmare by the blade and forcing it down. "You are wasting your time." He draws Susano'o from his body and throws it down in front of Masako.

"Our time." The Fallen Knight tries to harmlessly shove Delta away with her blade.

"What? You're just going to blow us off after all of this?" Ciel called out.

"The boy has fulfilled his purpose in this timeline, but the sins of the Savior shall continue to burn. They will hunt her down until she dies, or until she is finally ready to face them. She will gain no benefit from either outcome."

"So that's it then? This was all just a test?" Masako barked. "Our friend's life is in danger, and you're testing us now?!"

"Enough. If you truly want answers... you will find me on the ruined shores of Valhalla." The mongoose creates a void behind him and the Fallen Knight as they attempt to leave.

Neo narrowed his eyes as he watched them go. "We'll be waiting..." Neo muttered under his breath.

"It's about time for us to be heading out as well." Came a familiar voice as Time Spinner appeared out of a silver portal, battered, but alive. "We have much to discuss." Neo was about to ask a question when Time Spinner put up his hand. "There is no time for this. I'm afraid questions will have to wait. A life hangs in the balance." He created another silver portal, for the team.

Part 4: ...Executioner
Time Spinner was the first to step in, upon doing so, a bubble formed around the Mythic Knights and company, turning the outside world black and white.

Neo was the next to step in, Delta following closely behind, but upon doing so, Neo's super form finally gave out. The crystal prisim recreated itself in his hand and he fell to the ground in pain. Kala immedietly began work on healing him as best as she could.

"I told him that pushing himself too hard while like this was a bad idea..." Time Spinner rolled his eyes. "I know you all have a lot of questions, I knew that a lot of this would happen once Echo was killed, but let me explain some things."

"We already know." Zero told Time Spinner. "Can you save Echo?"

Time Spinner didn't answer for a short time. "Yes." Time Spinner said. "But...there is a catch. As most of you are already aware, if we simply reverse time and prevent Echo's death, she will continue to die in the near future. However, there is a way around this. A spell known as Temporal Replacement will allow someone else to take Echo's place. The catch being...that person will have to die instead."

There was silence for a while before a voice finally spoke up.

"I'll do it..." Sedna said in a quiet voice.

"So our efforts weren't wasted after all?" Natalie piped up. "But..."

"Sedna..." Masako somberly looked down as she trailed off.

(Somnus - Marching Toward a Cruel Fate)

"Don't start, Masako. She's made her choice now, it's your job to honor her decision and make sure it isn't wasted!" Natalie hissed.

"She's right. Not even the most powerful of magicks can change the course of fate, not even the light of Lyndis." Ciel sighed. "I'm sorry. But this has to be done. We need to kill the Queen for there to be a shred of hope in all of this."

"But why does it have to be her?" Knave asked. "Couldn't someone else do it? I mean, we have immortals with us!"

"We need someone with a similar life force." Time Spinner said. "Echo already has a very unique life force being a member of the Echo Project, but adding in her...secret...her life force is extremely unique and there are very few people who could successfully replace her. Sedna's dragon soul gives a life force to rival that of Echo."

"She's my sister." Delta spoke up. "I'll do it instead."

"You know as well as I do that you were artificially created. Echo was a person before the Echo Project. You do not have a life force equal to hers at all." Time Spinner told her.

“There’s gotta be another way.” Zero shook his head. “We

don’t...we don’t need someone else to die.”

“There isn’t.” Time Spinner told Zero. “I’ve...looked into this. A younger me might have agreed with you, but I know now that there is no other way. Echo’s life force is unique, there is almost no other person in this world who can match it...Sedna is one of those people who can.”

Are you sure you didn’t look over something?” Trinity asked. “What about...what about revival?”

“We could use the same tactic to save Saren, to save Sedna.” Leah nodded quickly. “Wouldn’t that work? Couldn’t that save her?”

“On a normal person it might, but Sedna, as the reincarnation of the red dragon, cannot be revived. Once she is dead, her life force is gone, reincarnated into the next dragon. There wouldn’t be enough magic in the world.” Time Spinner said.

“I-It’s okay…” Sedna told them. “I...want to do this. I know that there is something really big about to happen. I know...I can’t really be apart of it. There’s so much at stake and everyone is going to get hurt unless you all help them. In the end, I’m not really important…”

"But you are important. To all of us..." Masako said.

"And anyone here would have done the same for her if they could," Monica said.

"Which is why she has to do this, Masako. The fate of this godforsaken planet rests on her," Natalie said.

Masako shakily took out her pocket watch and gripped it tightly. Her thoughts raced through her mind; conflicting, arguing, trying to reach an impasse. When they finally did, Masako took a deep breath and approached Sedna. "I know we don't have a lot of time left before we have to do this, but... is there anything you wanted to do, before... you know?"

Saren sighed, staying silent for once.

Sedna shook her head. "The only thing I wanted was to be with my Mom and Dad again. I didn't get that...but you guys made me feel like I had a family again. As long as you guys are with me, everything will be alright…” As clear of a lie as any, but Sedna’s words hung in the air for a bit.

Masako embraced Sedna in a hug. "It'll be... alright..." Her tear-stricken face might say otherwise.

Natalie sighed. "Damn it, this sucks..."

"...I suppose with what little time we have, a last meal would be out of the question," Monica said.

"Yes." Time Spinner said simply.

"And you're sure there's no other way?" Trinity asked.

"No." Time Spinner told her. "Once Sedna takes the hit, Echo will be safe, but Sedna will take the fall."

"But still, that kinda sucks..." Lexi said.

Zapor didn't say anything. He wanted Echo to be alive, but he also didn't want any more people he knew getting killed. "..."

Time Spinner began to channel his magic, silver energy coming from his hands. “Are you ready?” Sedna nodded, but Time Spinner looked down. “I...need to hear you say it…”

“Yes. I’m ready.” Sedna’s voice shook.

“Thank you.” Time Spinner said simply.

The even changed, everything outside of the bubble started to move very quickly, until finally they came back to the execution scene. Things changed, the bubble pulsed, until finally the Mythic Knights were back, lined up.

“One of you,” The Queen said. “Will be executed.”

“By some worthless queen?” Sedna called out, some strange form of courage pumped in her chest.

“Excuse me? What was that, ‘little dragon’?” The Queen asked.

“You’re just some woman who think’s she so much stronger than everyone else! But you know what? You’re just an old bitch trying to bully others so that you can get something stupid that you want!” Sedna shouted back, as rain now began to fall.

“Funny you mention bully.” The Queen drug her hammer towards Sedna and away from Saren and Echo. “Let me show what it really means to bully someone.” The queen raised her hammer, electricity arced down the handle, The Queen pulled back and threw the hammer forward, to hit the side of Sedna’s face. Not enough to kill her, but causing her a large amount of pain. Blood splattered and Sedna let out a spine chilling shriek.

And all too quickly everything was interrupted. A blade chopped through the Queen’s forearm, causing black blood to splatter out of the stub. Standing there was Era Tranquil. “Moros, now!”

Moros opened a rift where the hammer, and limb that was holding the hammer when it was slice off, would land before flipping the queen the bird.

(Sacrifice - Final Stand )

Era threw a bag containing the weapons of the Mythic Knights. Knave quickly took the runes off of everyone.

Somewhere in the chaos of the incoming battle, the Queen managed to get away, but the focus quickly changed as several masked guards surrounded the Mythic Knights as they gathered around Sedna. There was just the tiniest bit of hope that Time Spinner was wrong, or that Sedna could be saved. Kala ran up to Sedna. “I’ll heal her, move!” Kala tried to use her magic, but it had no effect. The green magic on Kala's hands turned silver, denying her the ability to heal Sedna. “What? I...I don’t understand!”

One of the masked guards ran towards the group gathered around Sedna, but he was quickly dispatched by Era. “Come at them, all that you want!” Era taunted. “I will strike you all down! I’ll kill every last one of you! So come on, then! Bring the fight to me! I’ll take every last one of you f*ckers down! For everyone that we’ve lost, for everyone that I lost! You will not get by me!”

Saren smiled, grabbing his scythe and tossing it at one of the guards with a spinning Arc to it.

"Die!" Masako swept her blade in a full crescent, unleashing a furious storm around her to dispatch multiple guards at once. She fought like a woman possessed.

Natalie hacks and slashes from one guard to the next. "You get a knife, and you get a knife..." She dives over several guards and throws a flurry of knives below. "Everyone gets a f*cking knife!"

Ciel fights her way through, noticing a familiar psychic blade pass by her. She quickly looks around. "Nemi...?"

Monica teleports a magitek cannon into her hands and starts blasting guards away. "Era! Use this!" She teleports it to her for her temporary use.

Era grabbed the cannon and began to open fire on every last guard around them.

More and more masked guards came towards the group, but the protectors of Sedna made sure that every last one of them didn’t lay a finger on the Mythic Knights. Blood soaked the pavement as bodies continued to pile up.

Another blade joined in to protect the Mythic Knights. Aero stood with his katana in hand. “They need this time. You do not. I recommend running.” Aero stood opposite of Era, and tore threw the guards as they came. “You clearly know nothing of loss!” He shouted at them. “This girl was killed, by your leader and you’re just going to pretend that it’s fine? This little girl is losing her life because of you people! You don’t deserve to even be alive for the sins you have committed!”

Knave had enough, he pulled his blade off the ground and stood to defend the Mythic Knights, by standing against his former comrades. “How could you? How could any of you? You’re supposed to be Runic Knights! We are supposed to be the highest honorable guard there is! What about letting a little girl die is honorable? What about any of this is honorable? There is no honor in any of this! You are nothing to me!”

More and more guards came to fight, and more bodies began to pile up as the Mythic Knights tried to save their friend.

"Please, please work..." Kala continued to try to get her magic through, but despite everything she gave, nothing was working.

Delta had pulled up a screen and viewed Sedna's vitals, giving out those vitals to the team, while also making sure that everyone else was okay.

Trinity was using her fire magic to cauterize as many wounds as possible, keeping Sedna's bleeding to a minimum.

Leah kept wards up on Sedna, keeping the pain that the rat girl felt down, and trying her best to heal her with magic.

Zero watched in awe of this, feeling helpless and hopeless. Unsure of what to do in the first place. It was clear to him that despite anything they tried, they could not be the ones to save Sedna.

Leah recalled something that Rook had told them before. "Hospital!" She said clearly, picking up on the same idea that Zero had. "We need to get her to a hospital!" The mage created a telekinetic barrier below Sedna, and picked her up on the table. "We need to go!"

Trinity and Leah moved with the table, as did Delta, keeping the screen with her. Zero pressed forward with them, keeping his scythe out and any guard that could get through the defenders away.

Kala stood up where she had knelt down and watched as those few members of the Mythic Knights carried Sedna away. The girl that she was supposed to save. The girl that died because of her in the first place.

(Your welcome to coup de' grace the masked knights as much as you want, when your done, have your characters follow Sedna and Leah. -Neo)

Ciel and Nemi now stood back to back, arguing as they fought. "Nemi, what are you doing? You shouldn't be here!" "I don't care, mom! You had us all worried sick! And someone had to fill in for you!"

"We don't have time for this..." Masako held her blade to the strength. "Divines, grant me strength..." Her prayers were seemingly answered as she held her head, a violet glow embracing her irises. From the mists behind the Mythic Knights emerged a shady figure on horseback wielding an impressive blade, and dressed in traditional Japanese garb. He offered a hand to Masako, hoisting her up as he raced around the room, slaying droves of guards with every stormcrack delivered by his blade. There was no doubt now that Masako had summoned Susano'o, the shinto God of the storm. As their numbers thinned, he tossed his blade into the air, prompting Masako to dive after it and throw it down below her. The ground burned and bled as a great storm engulfed the chamber. Susano'o rode into the mists, disappearing without a trace.

Moros was just.. Standing around and waiting. '... Era's got this'

Zapor fired bullets at the guards. "Bullets! Bullets! And just as a little gift..." Zapor shot fireballs the guards. "Possible burns!!"

Lexi cut the guards using the devil blade. "Where's that hammer...?" Lexi muttered to herself.

More and more guards appeared, which resulted in more and more bodies piling up. Finally, after some time, the group managed to escape from the battle. While escaping, a few people may have noticed one particular person watching the battle, in horror. It was Rook, who witnessed the execution nearly happen, and felt a great pang of regret, realizing who he was working for.

Epilogue
(Shaking things up a bit here, I want you three to help me with the epilogue this time around. -Neo)

Sedna was admitted into one of the finest hospitals in the city, with the help of Ann Denerim, who appeared out of hiding after the battle. It was reveled that it was Echo who saved her, by using one of her cards to teleport Ann elsewhere.

Mjolnir was never recovered, in truth the hammer is still out there, as is the Queen. Somehow though, the Masked Guards disappeared for a while, giving the town enough time to rest, and The Mythic Knights time to hope Sedna recovers. Unbeknowest to them, it was Rook who had called out the guards, and made sure the Mythic Knights stayed safe.

It took three days of waiting before there was any report on Sedna making progress. Three days of tension, sleepless nights, and constant shifts of one knight always being outside Sedna's hospital room, to report on anything happening.

Finally, there was a call in the middle of the night from Leah, the one staying at the hospital at the time. "The doctors want you guys here..." She sobbed. "They...don't think she's going to make it..."

This resulted in the entire Mythic Knights (Except Neo, who was still recovering) to move to the hospital as quickly as they could.

"Are you her Family?" The nurse asked.

Zero looked around. "Yes." He said softly. "Y-yes we are."

(Everything's Alright - Sedna's Theme)

The nurse nodded and led the large group into the dragon girl's room. Surgical white walls and the equally obnoxious floor could blind someone. There was a large hospital bed with teal blankets on the top, covering the friend of the Mythic Knights. Sedna was hooked up to so many wire and cords that she could have been a machine. An oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth, and her eyes barely fluttered open when they entered. A heart monitor beeped in the corner, signaling her heart still beating.

"Sedna~" The Nurse said gently. "You're family is here to see you."

Now that they could look closer, a clear fog was forming in Sedna's eyes, it was obvious that she was losing her vision. "Guys..." She said slowly. "Where...are you...?"

"We're here." Zero grabbed Sedna's hand. "We're here Sedna."

"...Hi..." Sedna gave a delayed reaction.

"C'mon Sedna, you gotta fight." Zero told her. "Remember the promises we made? We have to fight together, remember? We promised that we'd help everyone here, you and I have to keep fighting. We told each other we would, we made a promise!"

"Don't...go..." Sedna said.

"We're not going anywhere!" Trinity told her. "We're staying with you! We're your family!"

There was silence for a long time before Sedna spoke. "C-can you guys...hear me...?" She asked. "I...can't...see you anymore..."

Zero gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, he slowly opened her hand up, and touched the edge of his fingers with hers.

Trinity caught on to what he was doing, and she also joined two of her fingers on Sedna's hand.

Leah, and Delta continued this trend. Knave quickly opened Sedna's other hand, and did the same on that one with Kala and Echo.

((Tales Decision for each of your characters: Do they touch Sedna's Hand?) You can add extra details, such as your character's thoughts or if they say something when making this decision -Neo)

Saren reached out to touch Sedna's hand, but he remembered.. It was because of him that Echo originally died.. It was because of him that Sedna ended up having to sacrifice her life for Echo to live on... The guilt nagged at him so he just.. Turned away, its his fault she's dying, and while he might not've been particularly close with Sedna; it bothered him all the same.

Zapor reached to touch Sedna's hand. On one hand, Echo was safe, as a result, Sedna had to sacrifice herself. He never wanted any of his friends to die. He just wanted everything to work out like it usually did. They go on some mission, some stuff happens, but in the end everything turns out fine. But this was the exact opposite. He had to experience a death of a someone on the team, the team is still somewhat broken up, and this is no where near fine.

Lexi felt the same way, with the added fact that she has her own thing going on. She reached and touched Sedna's hand and looked down on the floor.