Light Vs. Darkness: The Hero's Return

Xero could only stare at the Guardian, a mixture of shock and fear ran through her head. The memories were all coming back, all the things she did against her will. It was such a painful time.

The sound of metal hitting the ground was heard as Xero dropped her scythe. How could have this happened? She was sure everything that had to do with Ansem was gone. But apparently there was still something there all this time.

Now Lexcifur was exposed to His darkness.​

Lexcifur was about to charge once again but suddenly felt something wrap around him. He was about to throw whatever it was off of him but stopped when he saw that it was Freya.

"Don't use it. Please. You must sense that something is off with that darkness as I do. Please, what if it does something to you that you can't change? Don't use it Lexcifur. If you need help against your mom let me fight rather than just support. Just don't use it."

Lexcifur just stood there, getting more and more agitated. He listened to the girl's words, and he agreed that the darkness he had found within his mother was strange. But this anger was something that he'd been holding in for so long. Something he had been needing to let out.

He simply stared at Freya for a moment, the anger in his eyes beginning to subside. But then Blanc stepped forward and told him to stop, his anger had come back. The ghostly creature behind him growled at Blanc as if it reacted to Lexcifur's anger. Lexcifur pushed Freya away enough to get free from the hug and began to almost stumble over towards Blanc.

"Get out if my way..." He said, his voice was raspy and tired. His steps and his body felt heavy, as if something began draining away his energy. He was about to have the creature swipe at the boy but suddenly dropped to his knees. Everything hurt. He began to pant and sweat, his body refused to move as if from fatigue. The creature rose it's hand and was about to hit at Blanc, but suddenly began to fade away.

Lexcifur sat there on his knees trying to regain his composure. Everything was slowly beginning to come back to him. But his right eye stayed the same, it didn't go away. He looked at the gauntlet with confusion. Was this really what caused this? He looked back to where his mother was only to see that she was gone.

Taking a deep breath, Lexcifur slowly stood up. He looked over to Freya, his breath still panting and then to the ground before mumbling, "Sorry..."


Xero had stumbled out of a dark corridor, her eyes filled with fear for her son. What was going to happen now? Was he going to come back? Questions began to practically blow up in her mind. Painful memories also started to swirl in the mix.

"No... No, no, no, no..." She didn't know what to do. Xero finally looked around for where she was and saw that she was back on top of the mountain. She ran her hand through her hair as she was frantically trying to think of what to do now.​

 

​

Gritting her teeth, Samsara rushed behind the procession of Sages, zooming by Ananta. Startled, Ananta dropped the picture of her late husband on the ground, shattering the glass. Samsara turned her head to look behind her long enough to lock eyes with Ananta. She gave her the deepest, darkest glare that she could muster before she jumped up and above the building. Falling to her knees, she wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. Instead, she felt the anguish and fear deep within her culminate and begin to strengthen her. "So, is this what darkness makes you feel like?" she thought, standing back up and sporting a blank expression on her face. Swiping her hand in front of her, Samsara summoned a dark corridor, stepping through it and appearing on the other side, in front of her house. Memories of her childhood flowed into her mind, especially spending time here with her brother Ohm, having him protect her was the best thing to ever happen. But now, she was strong enough to stand up on her own. She didn't need him anymore.

Walking up the pathway, she stopped at the front door. Her hand rested over the doorknob, not touching it just yet. "There's magic here...if I touch the door, she'll know I'm here..." she said, looking around the exterior. Her eyes stopped on a window that was open. "Parvati and Sati's room..." she spoke to herself, gulping. Hopefully, they wouldn't tell Ananta that she was here. Hoping up, she jumped inside and landed with a roll. Standing up, she found the room empty. Sighing, she was happy that her siblings weren't in here. Tip-toeing towards the door, she opened it quietly and soon emerged in the hallway. Stepping quickly, she made it to her parents' room and walked inside. Stepping close to the closet, she reached down under the rug to reveal a storage space. Inside was a box that was locked without a keyhole. Samsara knew that the lock was hidden from everyone else who are not keyblade wielders. Holding her starseeker keyblade, Samsara opened the box and looked inside at the keychains her parents had accumulated over the years. Her hand dug through the box and yanked out one she liked. Removing the previous keychain from her keyblade, she replaced it with the new one and watched as it's shape changed before her eyes.

Samsara returned the box to it's original place and stood up. She was done with this world and would rather never see it again. Swiping her had again, she made a dark corridor appear before her and stepped inside, appearing behind Alisia and Audrey. Looking up, she was just in time for Dane to start retaliating against Juliet. Samsara frowned, not caring that Dane had to fight, but she cared that Juliet was stupid enough to try and fight Dane. Looking to her right, she saw Audrey was at least preoccupied with a story for the time being. That didn't last long, seeing as the young girl started pleading for Dane to stop attacking Juliet. Or rather, she pleaded with her mother to stop attacking Dane. Perhaps even for Alisia to stop the spell. Either way, Samsara felt that this girl would cause trouble if she wasn't restrained. Samsara knelt down and grabbed the girl. She tried to keep her turned away from the battle, but was unsuccessful. Instead, she opted to at least keep her arms tightly around the girl, covering her eyes when the most gruesome parts happened.

 

The Behemoth was pathetic, it was slow and weak. Ohm could take it out in one stroke, albeit he had to use one of his runes but regardless, it wasn't even a challenge. He sighed and brandished his sword, sheathing it and started to turn to try and see how his comrades were doing, but lo and behold another stood in his way, a lot smaller than the behemoth and humanoid, with silvery hair, a weird arm and...a keyblade.. It was just like his sister, this man was a wielder, did he have a connection with what happened to Anadi? Was that keyblade the source of darkness and corruption that overtook his sister. Regardless, the man presented himself as a threat and Ohm responded almost automatically. He drew the Rune sword, brandishing it slowly and held it behind him, taking a stance. Maybe this man would present more of a challenge to him, and totally NOT PULL AN OP DICK MOVE RIENZEL >.>. I'm getting off track, sorry guys. Anyway, Ohm readied himself and his legs moved for him. He charged at Beuce, giving a sharp cry as he swung the blade horizontal, aiming to cleave his unfortunate challenger in half at the waist.​

 

Spoiler: Olympus Coloseum

"Challenge accepted!" Hunter exclaimed in response to Gwen's post. He didn't respond to the whole 'it's Beuce you idiot' thing, and why would he? Clearly she wasn't talking to him, for he was not an idiot, and it was rude to interrupt a lady while she is attempting to kill something. However, she had made a remark on the kill count, and at that Hunter allowed himself a sly smirk. "I had more than you in Bloodlust, and unlike you i've actually killed a named npc in this rp. So, you got some catchin' up to do" the man responded. He dodge rolled out of the way of Stratos' attacks, abusing the invincibility frames like an absolute boss, and quickly got to his feet. Normally, he would have tried to attack Stratos, but the information bar specifically said to attack Dante. Not Beuce, no there was no Beuce there. Hunter wondered where he'd gone, what RP he had made his way to. The more he rambled on in his post, the more lengthy it looked, and therefore looked far more impressive and awesome, so ramble he would, on and on and on, until he had gathered enough words to create the illusion of good writing. Had he accomplished that? Not quite, so he continued rambling in his narration. It was rather cool, being able to do this, but it was time he actually did something.

He re-equipped his bloody chainsaw, causing it to appear in his hands once more as he started it up. Running at Beuce, he raised it above his head and swung it down at him, sawing straight through the aeroza shield and bringing it down upon the white haired fool. However, as it connected, it bounced back and simply disappeared. For a brief second, Hunter was confused, but then he remembered; there was a rule against killing other peoples' characters. Well, death wasn't an option anymore, that sucked. Using his lustor strength, Hunter stepped forward and slugged a punch in Beuce's direction, hoping to at least get through the aeroza shield once again and maybe do a little damage.
​

Spoiler: Great Forest Abridged

Audrey could take no more. Her mother was being beaten right before her, and Alisia wouldn't help. She had to take matters into her own hands, she had to stop Dane herself, she had to become someone far more powerful than her. Audrey had to embrace her destiny, for she was the child of prophecy, the legend passed down from generation to generation. Getting up and stopping her tears, Audrey leaped over and summoned a kingdom key as she flew past her mother, decapitating her in a single stroke and placing the head in a glass case filled with some kind of strange liquid. She turned and looked at Dane. "You'll never seperate us ever again. Now mother and I will become one" the little girl stated.

Hurrying over to a small log for dramatic effect, the little girl climbed onto it, pulled the case close to her, and then leapt off of it. What was only about a metre in height felt like it took forever to hit the bottom. Normally, she would have had only a small bruise, but it was somehow enough of an impact to shatter the case. Audrey clutched the head close to her, and then looked up in time to see Dane leaping at her with his scythe raised, attacking out of desperation. Using one hand, the girl held up her keyblade and somehow blocked the strike because logic.

She watched as Dane opened his eyes, and saw the shock on his face. For there was no longer a little girl standing there. No, the girl had doubled in size which was just ridiculous, had grown long, silver hair, and now had this sexual aura which caused all women to be drawn to her naturally. However, she was still in her normal clothing, which looked stupid as hell, but the sheer badassery made up for it. To complete the transformation, her keyblade began growing in size and length, becoming abnormally long and changing its appearance to look exactly like the fenrir keyblade. The no-longer-little-girl opened her eyes and looked at Dane, smirking. "Good to see you, Dane" Audreyroth said, knocking her opponent back with her keyblade.
​

Spoiler: Great Forest - Audrey

As Audrey was still shouting and crying, Alisia backed off a little bit. She couldn't believe it; she had thought Alisia was her friend, why was she doing this? She was going to try once again, but she felt her arms being restrained. Alisia told her to be safe, and then turned and started leaving. A distraught Audrey began furiously squirming, trying to get out from Samsara's grip. As she saw Bartholomew, she couldn't explain why but her fear only intensified, giving her a huge burst of adrenaline. Trying once more to escape, she succeeded and dove forward, grabbing onto Alisia. Her friend yelled that she couldn't stay any longer, that she had to escape, and through tears Audrey simply refused to let go. "So you are going to run away while she dies? You're going to save yourself instead of her? I thought you were my friend, but you're just as bad as he is!" Audrey screamed as she was pried off of her and found herself grabbed by Samsara once more. ​

Spoiler: Great Forest - Dane and RIP Juliet (kinda lengthy)

As the fight progressed, Juliet's body began radiating an aura of both light and dark. Embracing it, she entered a new form; the form she had used when she had wielded the x-blade. It wouldn't last long, and she knew that, but hopefully it would be enough. She took off, much faster than she had been before, and swung her keyblade at Dane, who attempted to block it but whose scythe was dislodged because of the sheer force behind the girl's attack. She then brought both her hands forward and fired a beam of purple and yellow energy, light and dark magic in one. The beam hit Dane, who began yelling out in pain as she continued her assault. She rushed forward and raised her keyblade up above her head, prepared to deliver the killing blow; and that was her mistake.

Laying on the ground, Dane was genuinely surprised at Juliet having the advantage, but she'd left herself open. Seeing his opening, he took it, thrusting his hand straight into Juliet's chest. The effect was instant, Juliet staggering backwards slightly as Dane got up. He continued pushing, beginning to extract the excess darkness within her. The girl was weakened, which made her an easy target. Within seconds, her form reverted, unable to sustain itself due to the lack of energy, and Juliet collapsed onto the ground. All the excess darkness was gone; she wouldn't be able to use any magical abilities for a while, but it wasn't enough. No, she had to pay.

Continuing the extraction, he began shifting the balance inside of the girl, causing her to scream in pain as the lack of balance her body was so used to was slowly being removed. It would be like nothing else she had ever experienced, no pain could compare to it, and yet Dane continued. She began screaming louder, twisting and writhing around as it went on, all the while Dane's sadistic grin widening further. Eventually, the doom counter hit 0, and suddenly there was no more screaming. Juliet's body turned much darker before turning into complete darkness and simply vanishing, leaving nothing but a black cloud of vapour behind.

Standing up, Dane stretched out his arms and yawned. He wasn't tired, rather the opposite; after extracting so much darkness from a person, he felt rather energetic and healthy. "Well, that was anti-climatic. Hey, next time why not make the counter hi-" he started, before realizing only one of the two people he had been interacting with was still there. Alisia had tried to run away again. She'd taken advantage of his bloodthirsty nature and run, even after he made the effort to try and convince her it was a bad idea. Well, the time for games was over, she needed to know the consequences of her actions.

He found her in no time at all. She wasn't particularly quick, but he was moving much quicker than normal due to the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Without a word, he grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up into the air, before turning around and walking back to where Audrey was. Audrey was a mess, she was held there by Samsara but the soil around her was damp from all the crying she'd done. Dane threw Alisia onto the ground with no effort made to protect her from harm, ensuring that she would have to look at Audrey. "You see this girl, Slave? This girl trusted you. She sought safety from you, she thought you were her friend, and how did you repay her? You killed her mother. You might think it was me, but whose spell was the one that killed her? You betrayed her, and now you're going to do it again. You think you'll never be like me? You're right, you won't ever be. I'm a fighter, I'm a survivor, I'm the guy who has a choice in the end. I would've given you a little more freedom, maybe made you not kill people so much, but after I was being all nice to you you betrayed me too. So, consequences of your actions, doom her" Dane stated, pointing at Audrey. He waited for a moment, and he saw the hesitation in Alisia. Swiftly, he kicked Alisia in the back, knocking her forward onto the ground. "I gave you an order!" he yelled angrily, his usual half-assed attitude completely gone at that moment.

He waited until the doom counter appeared, then watched it tick down until it got to 5 before holding up a hand. "Alright, call it off" he said simply. He needed Audrey alive. If Gexln had used darkness, and Juliet had used light and darkness, there was no telling what Audrey could do. Maybe he could make her something better than either of them had been. Once the doom counter had vanished, he held out his hand to Alisia, trying to look as calm as possible. He waited until she accepted it, then he simply backhanded her across the face and let her fall forward. Kneeling down, he glared at her.

"You think that after what you did, that I'm ever going to help you again? I'll keep you alive for now, but that's it. You can be beaten half to death, and I'll let them do it, but the moment they try to kill you I'll stop them. I want to watch you suffer, I'm going to enjoy the pain you experience. Whether Xander's here or not, you're going to pay. Speaking of which, he's a dead man now. Next time I get the chance, I'm going to kill him, and right before I do I'm going to tell him that it's all your fault. That if you'd played nicely, he'd be alive. You thought things were bad when I destroyed your world, you thought your life sucked when you became my slave, but you haven't seen anything yet, Slave. By the time I'm done with you, you'll wish that it had been you that was killed by Doom" Dane hissed, before standing up and walking over to Samsara. "As for you, I'm going to guess by you being back here that you failed, but that's okay. At least you did something useful by keeping that kid under control, and at least you didn't try to stab me in the back. You did well, Samsara" the shadow reaper congratulated. ​

 

• ...Rules are Rules...
• Jackie and Blanc

• 
  
  
  After Lucien had told his piece about not fighting to the death here, it was more than obvious that they were not listening. He let out a pained sigh and had a mournful expression on his face as he looked away before the fight began. Whatever happened from here on out in this fight, was going to happen. There were any number of things he could do to stop it, but, those were against the rules. Not just the rules of the reality he was bounded in, but rather the rules of fixed points in time. Dane was going to fight her. Juliet was going to die. Alisia would kill her. And Audrey would watch. Everything else was irrelevant to this event. The only factor was when, and as all the pieces were in place now, and as the first given opportunity to do something was when it was taken, the when was chosen to be now. As the fight started, he did nothing but watch onward, and see the two fight each other will brutality and magic. While Dane seemed to have the upper hand, it was only inevitable that he would lose it, only to gain it back due to his own powers. Alisia running away was completely irrelevant to the event. As was Audrey running after her. As was Bartholomew's existence. As was Samsara's departure and return. The fight when ahead all at it was planned, and it ended with the doom counter hitting zero, thus killing Juliet.
  
  This was, without a doubt, the worst part of Lucien's existence. Knowing things that he shouldn't, knowing how they happen. Knowing that whatever he does, it wouldn't change it. It was just a general curse to have, but it was only made more apparent and all the worse when it happened right before him. However, there was still something else he could do now. The event had passed, and another event wasn't exactly keyed in to happen any time soon. Which meant this was a flex point. One that could happen in any number of ways but still not affect the overall timeline. With a somber expression on his face, he walked over to the area where the woman had vanished from. With a somber grin appearing on his face, he simply said,"sorry to see you go Jules. Just got born into the wrong life I suppose. I'm not sure what kind of domino effect this will produce, but it's okay. Before long, your goal here will have been completed and your overall importance will probably manifest through that. Sorry though, I'm gonna have to borrow something first." Bending down, Lucien had picked up the keyblade that belonged to the woman. It had been a long while since he had actually held a weapon, but it was like riding a bike. Never forgot.
  
  He turned to the weird fear guy and looked at him with a serious expression on his face. Speaking clearly, and in a way that he knew everyone would understand him, he said, "listen, I know your presence so far has been either inconsequential or strangely helpful. So make it the latter for me, and keep Samsara busy because I doubt she's going to like this."
  
  Spinning the keyblade in hand, Lucien walked with the same serious expression on his face, as he made his way over to Dane, who seemed to be beating down on Alisia. "Quite the words of a hypocrite, aren't they Mr. Erapper. I mean, if I recall she doomed everything you wanted doomed, and even had the decency to not do it to you during her escape attempts. I mean, I guess of the many things she did do, the one thing she didn't do was not run away. Though, I'd say neglecting one of many is far more reasonable than neglecting a singular request that someone gave you." His serious expression then had an odd smirk appear on it as he said, "but hey, what's done is done. Granted, it was still to do it on your own time, probably would have been all the better for you, than on my time."
  
  Pointing the keyblade of the fallen at Dane, he then looked to Audrey and said, "it's alright Senka. I'm just gonna borrow Mommy's little toy for a bit. I'll be sure to return it to you or daddy dearest once I'm done here, so just bear with me for a bit." His attention then turned to Dane as he said, "and as for you. Well, I didn't like you to begin with, granted I don't like most people, but especially you. And here you are, just doing something that'd make me dislike you all the more." He then shrugged as he said, "now then, I can't kill you right now, against the rules an all. However, there's nothing stating I can't kick a few pegs up your ass. Now then," he pointed the blade at Alisia as he said, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't use your little death machine over there. After all, this works for both of us. I don't have to fight under a time limit, and you get to not be labeled as the guy who has to rely on a little girl to do all the major killing for you. That is, unless you're too afraid without that little safety net." His expression turned to a cross between sinister and serious as he brought the keyblade back to his side as he said, "so, shall we dance?"
  
• 
  
  
  Blanc held his ground firm, even as Lexcifur's guardian was getting ready to strike at him. He was not going to budge for this construct of darkness no matter what, though he did not have to lift a hand to stop it. It merely stopped on its own. Jackie stared in awe as the entire scene had unfolded before her, and her involvement in it had been practically zero. "Wh-what exactly was that?" That was the only real thing she could say to the scenario and was still kind of on edge about Lexcifur's eye looking all weird and fucked up. It was then that Freya had mentioned that she didn't want to take the chance of running into that black haired woman again, and that they should leave, which Jackie could only agree with. Nodding her head, she said, "ye-yeah, there's nothing left here anyway, so let's get going back now. Honestly though, we should probably leave the world as fast as possible. If she could just portal in here, then she could probably appear out of nowhere at any time during our trip here. Blanc." Really, she was more so eager to distance herself away from that woman as much as possible, as there was no telling what would happen Lexcifur if he saw her again.
  

 

Xero began to pace. She was almost beginning to panic. Suddenly she perked up as she thought about something. Since R was the one to get rid of Ansem (and most of his darkness), maybe he could tell her how she could help Lexcifur. She then quickly turned around and opened a corridor and stepped through.
Soon enough she was in the cave where Ghost had lead her into before. She looked into the heart of the world in hopes that R would appear.
"R...?" Xero quietly called into the swirling light. She didn't know if Sapphire could only somehow make him appear on not. But she was desperate.
"R, I need your help... I-It's important." Xero's arms crossed across her chest as if to hug herself, "I think... I think Ansem's darkness was still within me... and... Lexcifur's been exposed to it."

Lexcifur looked to the corridor as Blanc opened it. He slowly walked through it, looking back to make sure Freya followed. He sighed as he winded back to Disney Castle. He really disliked this world...​

 

​

Her face expressionless, Samsara watched Audrey try and run to Alisia. She managed to grab her and beg her not to kill Juliet. It was far too late for that, Audrey's mother was dead. "Good riddance." Samsara mumbled, having an extreme dislike for mothers at the moment. Stepping forward, she noticed Bartholomew. Turning towards him, Samsara tapped his shoulder. "Don't stop me, no matter what happens next." she asked him. "I don't need to be babied or told no. I'm not going to be forced to do nothing or anything by anyone." she said, frowning at him. Turning towards Dane and Alisia, Samsara watched him beat the girl. Looking down, she grinned at Alisia's pain. She deserved it, after all, seeing as she thinks she can escape and all. Samsara didn't even wince when she saw the way Dane kicked her. The grin on her face remained all throughout this punishment. Samsara was glad that she was getting what she deserved. However, she didn't exactly agree to the doom spell on Audrey. She was about to speak about it before she noticed that it was gone.

Shaking her head, she stood closer to Dane and looked at his face. "I went to my homeworld you know. I...I had a small breakdown, I couldn't kill her. Not yet, anyway. I mean, finding out your world is still there after being lead to believe it was gone..." she started, a tear rolled down her face. Samsara quickly wiped it away and snapped. "It pisses me off to no end! I don't care what happens to that world, it's all dead to me anyway." she said, shaking her head. Looking back at Dane, she realized something. "I wanna say sorry for grabbing at you earlier. I got angry over something small, so...sorry. And thanks for the compliment." she said, nodding at him.

Looking back down to Alisia, she saw how the girl wobbled and cried, dirt and tears obviously causing pain to her face. Samsara almost knelt down to try and heal her, but she looked up to see Lucien had grabbed Juliet's keyblade and was making his way over to Dane. Standing back up, Samsara moved to stand between Dane and Lucien, summoning her keyblade in a puff of dark smoke, and holding her keyblade in front of her defensively. She didn't care if he wanted to fight Dane, Samsara knew that a keyblade would be bad news to a guy of darkness like Dane. This also was her first time summoning her keyblade since she got the new keychain. "Bartholomew, don't stop me, I'm protecting my teacher." Samsara said, glaring at Lucien. "You've always pissed me off, so don't even think for a moment I'm going to go easy on you."

 

As they all walked through the portal and got back to the castle, Jackie noted that they were the first group to get back...again. Man, all of the worlds she went to went by really fast. She took this to mean that she was some sort of super awesome explorer that could deduce if their objective was there or not, far fast than any of the other groups could. Granted, last time she was the second group to arrive back...which meant she was only getting better at this adventure thing. As she entered the castle library, she looked around and saw Freya sort of just...being awkward and walking away but not at the same time. "Yo Frey gal, the hell you doing?" She was genuinely curious as to why she was being so weird, when Blanc had tapped her shoulder. "What?" She looked at the man, who seemed to raise an eyebrow at her with a quizzical expression on his face. "Come on Blanc, what is it?"

He sighed and simply said the single word, "Goddess."

"Goddess?" Jackie put her hand to her chin and started thinking more on it. Tapping her foot as she dived further and further into her mind, she finally came across her answer. Her face lighting up she looked back to Freya and said, "RIGHT! Child of the goddess, that thing, man. Totally forgot about it." Blanc simply sighed and let her go on with her train of thought. Jackie walked over to Freya being eye level with her, and put her hand on her shoulder. "Look, I have no idea why you actually decided to join us on a quest to stop your mother. But, like I said earlier when were confronted with that woman. Doesn't matter who we were before we got here, we're party members now and, more importantly, friends now. And that's all that matters, soooo," she lifted her hand off of Freya's shoulder, pretended to zip her lips and then pretended to flick an imaginary key away and said, "your secret's safe with me."

 

​

As the group was teleported by a white haired man with a cool looking arm or gauntlet. as well as a brown haired kid He didn't look at it long enough to get a clear confirmation as to what it was for he instead picked up all of the cards that he had out during the semi finals and placed them back into his pocket. Next he got up and turned his attention towards the duo that had appeared before them. Zephyr looked to the white haired man (Apparently going by Nero) and as he looked over everyone he noticed that for some reason it looked like he completely ignored that he was there. Weird, but that was only person. It wasn't like the brown haired guy was going to do the same thing right? Exactly that was what had happened. Nero's companion had pretty much given him the same look, though the difference was that he also looked as if he was trying to figure something out.

Hearing the man mention Kel was a surprise seeing as how Kel's been dead for quite some time. "Well grandson, but yeah I'm related to Kel." He started, before grabbing part of the blond half of his hair. "Well this part of my hair is dyed, the back is it's natural color." Now why'd he decide to dye half his hair a different color oppose to just dying the whole thing wasn't something that Zephyr could give a legit answer to, unless 'cause he felt like doing it that way' counts as a legit answer. It was a that moment that he realized something about the two in front of them, mentioning Kel had helped in the realization. Since just about everything that Kel had done (SOS and the short time in LvD) had been chronicled and put into a book and Zephyr had indeed read that book along with any other hero related book that he could find back him. He placed his hand to his chin as he put together the pieces. Let's see, judging by his appearance, he must e Stratos which means that the white haired guy is Ne- er Beuce. The later was kinda easier to figure out based off of hair alone.

Upon feeling a gust blow past him, Zephyr exited his thoughts and saw that Stratos had attacks Rinox with various gusts of wind. Gust that would hit him if he didn't get out of their way. Before they could make contact with him, he rolled out of the way of the attack. When he got up, he noticed that barrier of wind surrounding Stratos. Well that might make this fight a bit more challenging, however this was also a chance to fight fire with fire, thought it would be more like wind with wind in this instance. The bi colored haired teen held out his right arm and focused his magic into it. He felt the magic within him surge within him until a gauntlet took form around him right forearm. Next he held up his right forearm and held it up as he called out "Come Green Gale!" The dim gem in the center soon lit with a light green color which was followed by another, but smaller, surge of wind appearing. This was focus at the palm of Zephyr's right hand until it made a visible blade of wind spinning in his hand. The wind covered gauntlet was arch back before being moved in a swift horizontal swipe. This cause the circular blade of wind to be sent spinning towards Stratos.

 

The Great Forest, his home. A place of peace and harmony, a place of delicate balance where life competed in a perfect equilibrium. There was a certain balance to nature, and a certain beauty within that seeing how the scales between the balance of life were tipped. Even the smallest change, was noticeable, if you knew the signs. Perhaps more of a certain plant was alive than normal, or perhaps there were less scratch marks on the trees. That was how you could see by just subtle signs that there was an upset in that balance that something, somehow, had tipped those scales that kept the forest alive in its endless cycle of life and death. It wasn't only that of course. There was far, far more you could tell. Sherridan had lived in this forest for many years, ever since he had discovered his love for the forest and finally moved away from his homeland. He had learned how to read the forest and the things within it. And something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong indeed.

Animals were the best sign. The sound of squawking birds and their alarm, which was inevitably heard by a deer which fled and told its other friends over and over again until the news spread around of what was amiss. It was this that made him so effective in this place. This free network of living things that over time he had come to understand. They knew him now, he had lived among them for long enough. Sherridan was a familiar figure in his cloak with all his traps set up. He too was part of that special equilibrium. Nature adapted and thus he became one with the land. He saw birds fly often and sat atop the trees listening to their song. He saw deer prancing and chased after them not only for food, but the kindred spirit of the run. Of course the best were the Wolves. To run alongside the pack, to hear their howls and add his own calls in chorus with them as they stalked their prey. He put aside the bow when he was with them and took up his daggers. It was far more sporting that way and as he came to learn about them, he knew they accepted him. Sometimes they would trade gifts, him giving meat in return for some meat back or if they could find it, some strange man made object. Sometimes he found bits of his camp that had gone missing earlier in the day unfortunately, but at least he got them back eventually.

As he thought of these things, high up in his tree amidst the branches he heard it. The familiar alarmed squawks. His ears pricked up and he climbed to the very top to try and get a view of where they were. Sherridan chose high trees for that reason and his head poked through the leaves. looking in every direction. He spotted the location quickly. Pigeons were very loud and not terribly fast so he was able to pinpoint where they had come from. Memorising the direction, he climbed down, dropping from branch to branch and shimmying down the trunk of the tree to the forest floor, at which point he started to run. He raced through the forest throwing up piles of fallen leaves and leaping deftly over roots and fallen trees, dense bushes and little dens. He wondered what it could possibly be. There was a chance that it was just that one of them had been attacked, but it didn't seem like it. It didn't sound like the other alarm cries they had for their own being attacked. He hurried on regardless. Then the shouting came into earshot.

"People?" He asked himself. That added a whole new level of danger to this. He took out one of his Null Zones and activated it, projecting its field of anti magic around him. His Light shot wouldn't work here, but with a bit of luck he wouldn't need it. He prepared a Containment Trap then, in order to hold whoever it was in position while he decided what to do. Finally, he unslung his bow and held it ready. He started to be able to make out figures in the trees. His eyes opened wide at the sight. Two people were fighting. A man and a woman... The man beat her driving his hand through her chest? Magic! There were others there too. He could see another man trying to intimidate a younger girl. This will go on no longer. Sherridan drew in range of the events, seeing one man standing up to the murderer. He threw the Containment Trap, it activating perfectly trapping Dane but leaving Lucien out. As he threw he nocked and arrow and pointed an arrow at the now trapped Dane. It occurred to him at this moment that his Null Zone may work against him. Against this man who used magic like that for evil.. Light may have been useful. Even still... This would have to do for now.
"This ends here! Everyone stand down, Ranger's orders!" Sherridan ordered. He motioned for Dane to put his weapon down. "You, back away from that girl. Everyone stay back from him in the trap. He's already killed one of you, he'll likely try and kill more." He stared Dane in the eye with a look of contempt. He didn't know why this had happened, but he would find out in due course and when he could, he'd kill this son of a ***** he had trapped.


​

 

It seemed like things were going to just repeat themselves with this group of people. No matter how many times they stabbed him down, Crybex would just get back up after healin- and then a solar eclipse happened. Not by a moon though, by an ugly giant phoenix that could probably just engulf them all in a single bite, cause a gust with a single flap of its wings, create more world devastation then Crybex himself could in a matter of seconds. Normally this would be awesome, but right now he had a bunch of rugrats trying to defeat a seeker of light. Well, he could wish his healing factor to be gone. But, the battle was still not over. He had light on his side, always.

Well now attacks were coming at him. He had been blessed with divine protection. Although the attacks were strong, he was still able to withstand some of the attacks. He had to actually fight back this time. His keyblade vanished without a trace. He had to summon his light blades in order to defend and cut away the attacks coming at him. Right now, he needed a counter measure to escape them. If only he had magic that could, oh that's right! If he couldn't get them to stop attacking him with his words, he would use physical matters.

"Magnaza!" He called out, releasing one of his most powerful magnet spells. The spell worked to hold them still against the earth for some time. He wasn't going to kill them. He could if he really wanted to, but right now, their life was more important. He would simply stay away at a far enough distance. He was considering killing the beast that blocked the sun, but it was cost too much energy to destroy such a beast. The others weren't worthy to face his ultimate fury. Crybex left them, staying within the world, but nowhere near the group. He would keep his senses locked on them. Meanwhile, he would go and kill some more dwellers of darkness. [DOUBLEPOST=1426388722][/DOUBLEPOST]Eigo sat there, rethinking his strategy to deal with the traitors of the goddess. He had to ask himself questions that were hard to understand. Why was he fighting for the goddess? Why were they against her? Who was this hero exactly that everyone was so desperate in saving? He continued to ponder these things, judging right from wrong, light from dark. His father was a man that struggled with darkness while his grandfather was a man who sought the light with a body made of steel. He was a great man of legend of wished only to protect the light. His grandmother was another case of raw power and promise. It was only a shame that she vanished without a trace.

It was then he realized he had been sitting in the same spot for a few hours, thinking about things maybe a little too much. He was shook out of the situation by the goddess herself. She had a task for him it seemed. He went to find her once more and question her on his task. "You highness, how may I serve thee. I apologize for my silence earlier. I was lost in thought."

 

A faint glimmer appeared in front of the girl. The enormous red core hovering above the floor hummed quietly. The world's heart was reacting to her. Eventually, in the glimmer, the man she knew as R manifested. "You say Ansem's darkness was still within you? Hm... The seeker of darkness himself is no longer a threat. I have sealed him deep within my own heart. He cannot escape save for overtaking me, which i will not allow to happen. If you think his darkness still remains within you, then i suppose it's possible that the sheer length of time you served as his host altered the very shape of your heart. Or perhaps you were similar to him from the beginning. It would explain why he found you such a suitable host...Nevertheless, we need to find a solution."

"It's a simple one really."Another voice said. It was smooth and cool. The source of it was a blonde man sitting in a very Archer like manner on a pile of rocks. "You extracted the darkness from her, so why not do the same for him?"

R turned to face the man, his expression unflinching, although not as emotionless as it had been in past days. "I. What do you mean? You know I'm incapable of leaving this chamber."

"-and bringing him here would risk him taking our void, which would require an intervention from Sapphire to stop, likely resulting in his death and acquiring Gexln's wrath, so that's out of the question." I said, continuing on R's sentence. "Let me be more specific. It's not so much you performing the extraction, as it is her. You give her the power to do it."

"Are you suggesting...?" R questioned. The blonde persona of his nodded in response. "Xero. How far are you willing to go to free Lexcifur of this?" He asked, although he already knew the answer. "There is a way i can lend you my power, but it will be difficult. We must forge a connection between us. The same kind i have with Sapphire. Our hearts will be joined, and our power will be given to one another. This is known as planet****ery a Cross Celestial Link. Similar to a D-link, but on a much deeper level. Sapphire cannot leave the boundaries of Riel, lest the strain from the link kill her under the strain, combined with that of holding Kingdom Hearts' power. Yet you, who have no secondary burden, would be able to traverse mostly wherever you please. You may be prone to headaches, and pain which will grow more severe the further from me you get. We already have a D-link forged, so, you need simply call upon that, and look deeper into your heart to find the line that connects us. When that occurs, you will tap into the Cross Celestion Link, or CC-link. My consciousness will extend to your body, and vice versa. We will both be living as both of us simultaneously. In short...Using this would not be so dissimilar to become a host, much like you were with Ansem. Knowing this, will you still forge this connection between us?" ​

 

As R manifested in front of her Xero listened to what he had to say. Then another man named I chimed in with a suggestion, "Xero. How far are you willing to go to free Lexcifur of this?" Xero looked at R for a moment before replying, "As far as I need to go... Lexcifur shouldn't be exposed to His darkness. It's... Maddening..." R had then proceeded to explain his plan of a deeper connection with their D-Link. She didn't know there was anything else like a D-Link until she had heard of the CC-Link.

"In short...Using this would not be so dissimilar to become a host, much like you were with Ansem. Knowing this, will you still forge this connection between us?" Xero looked at the ground for a moment. She admitted to not liking the idea of being a host for mostly PTSD reasons; but R was someone to be trusted unlike Ansem. She looked back up to him and nodded.

"Yes."​

 

He watched Xero nod, agreeing to forge this link. So, he would have a connection forged with Xero then. A bond between their hearts. To be honest, he never expected this to happen. Then again, so many things had happened no one could have foreseen. This was simply another added onto it. "Alright. When you're ready, turn to face me. Not the projection, my true self." He said, alluding to the heart of the world Xero stood on. His heart. "Face me, and open yourself. I will do the rest." He said, putting his hand on her shoulder and fading away, back into his heart.

"Of course, the stipulation on this who arrangement is that you make an attempt to refrain from swearing at us in a drunken rage. I must say i was quite offended, myself." I said, feigning offense. With a chuckle, he too disappeared into their heart. Xero was now alone in the cave, save for the glowing red core which was their heart. Soon, it would be part of her.

Xero turned to face the Riel, as she was told, staring at the massive thing before her. It's a heart. Pervert. It began to hum. Something stirred deep inside Xero. She was reacting to him. A similar reaction stirred within the heart of Riel, reacting to the girl it was about to join with. A beam of light fired from the sphere into Xero's chest, The light faded from the core, leaving it dark as the light traveled into Xero's body. Then, the light burst back from her chest and into the core, restoring the light to it yet taking Xero's heart with it. Over and over it passed between them, in and out of Xero's body and into the heart of the world. The transition began to speed up, faster and faster, until finally it was forged into a constant beam, joining the two. Thinning, the beam dulled down, yet still tethered the two. They were both fully conscious now, and the beam dimmed into nothingness. At least, it couldn't be seen. Their hearts were now essentially one in the same, linked by an invisible tie.

One again, the figure of R appeared to her. "It is done. The link between us is forged."


As the phoneix showed up to block out the sun, the man whom they had set out to defeat fled the scene. "It would appear a creation of the goddess has shown itself. It may have helped us, but it seems it is meant to double as a warning to cease our search. I'd advise against giving chase to Crybex at the moment." Ghost said, looking up at the massive bird.

"He's right. If he's even still on this world, he's nowhere near us. Chasing after him would just eat up time with no results." Zavion had scanned the area thoroughly with his clairvoyance. It was no illusion. Crybex was outright gone. Zavion too looked up at the phoenix. His mother had a strange imagination. First a flying, laser shooting sting ray, and now a phoenix big enough to cause a solar eclipse. Well, he could see where Freya got her imagination from.


Wow, Stratos was pissed. He didn't know who that guy was, but he seemed to know Stratos. "You got him, Stratos. Leave the others to me." Beuce looked onward at the three who began to charge at him. Taking a stance with his keyblade on his shoulder and flames coating his arm as he gripped it into a claw, Beuce looked like a total badass in this completely meaningless stance. But he looked like a badas, and that was what counted. First thing that happened, Ohm ran up and performed a horizontal sweep. Beuce reacted quickly and guarded against the blade, pushing pushing back against him and breaking their connection. Next Hunter just ran up and tried to fucking instant kill him! What did he think this was, the DnD session? You can't just wear bosses as armor and tear people in half with your dick! Well, Beuce could still do that second one, it just wasn't detachable.

Point being, the chainsaw tactic didn't work, so he ran up and tried to punch him. Leaning to the side, the punch brushed past Beuce's face. Reaching his arm up, he wrapped it around Hunter's elbow, locking both Hunter's arm and his own in place. Hunter was strong, so he could probably break out without too much difficulty, but Beuce held on long enough to thrust is forehead into Hunter's bashing him in the face. All the while he was being shot at by Gwen, but who cared about Gwen? She was no threat. She was sitting there restoring her mana for no reason.


Bartholomew looked at Samsara as she returned. She leaped to Dane's defense, attempting to intervene in the fight against Lucien. The man had asked him to stop her. He had no real allegiance to anyone. He'd come here for one thing. Samsara. She interested him. How deep in her fear could he drag her? She walked over toward the battle, but he placed his hand on her shoulder. "No, Samsara. I don't think you are going to help him. One way or the other, one of them will be made to fear, but that's none of your concern." The man pulled her shoulder, turning her toward him. Looking into his eyes was like looking into the mouth of hell itself. So much agony and terror it could drive one mad. If Samsara went completely insane under his gaze, she wouldn't be the first, and likely not the last. In her vision, as though she had blinked and the scene was different, the forest around her was gone. Replaced by a maze. An endless maze of mirrors. In each of the reflections, Bartholomew stood behind her, speaking from every direction at once. "You've got yourself to worry about, after all." ​

 

As the attacks landed, an enormous shadow began filling up the area, before eventually plunging it into complete darkness. Caleb wasn't panicked by the sudden darkness; why would he be after spending 300 years battling in an area filled with it? However, he was aware of the sudden danger they were in. Crybex may have used light, so the darkness surely weakened him, but he was still a dangerous opponent nonetheless. As he was preparing to summon a light and strike back, a decision that could be dangerous, the shadow vanished, and with it so had Crybex apparently.

As Zavion and Ghost spoke, he looked up at the sky to see a giant phoenix flying straight towards them. "You know, I'm not sure what I'd prefer out of a man lasering the crap out of everything or a bird that's big enough to swallow the entire world whole" Caleb stated, making a joke which was unusual for him. He released the magic that allowed his blades to remain out, and instead pointed upwards, as though the people there had no idea what he was talking about. "Any ideas on how to deal with that?" he asked.


As Beuce skillfully avoided the attack by using the ingenious idea of leaning slightly to the left, Hunter's pervert senses began tingling. Beuce locked Hunter's elbow into position, and while Hunter could have broken that lock using his strength, he was distracted by something terrible. Gwen had changed attire to something less revealing. Not only did that mean that there was less to look at, but her defence stat had just began falling rapidly, making her an easier kill. "The hell Ginger? You're just askin' to be-" he started, only to be rudely interrupted by Beuce headbutting him in the face.

Dazed for just a moment, things were very quiet in Hunter's mind, little mirror-like stars floating around his head simply reflecting his appearance at him. Quickly, he shook them off, and turned and glared at Beuce. "I'm gonna break your neck for that, you little ****" Hunter growled. Using his strength, he pulled free of the lock he was in and then stepped over to Gwen. "You're about to hear me say somethin' you won't ever hear again. You're right, Ginger. Your weapons are actually somewhat useful, now gimme one of them" he stated before reaching into Gwen's inventory and pulling out one of the poison tipped arrows. Turning around, he ran at Beuce and feinted a punch to the right of him, before simply thrusting forward with the arrow, attempting to stab Beuce with the arrowhead coated with poison in the heart.


Audrey had stopped her tears, but she was still sniffling a little bit. She had seen Alisia beaten up horribly, thrown around and treated worse than Audrey had ever seen someone be treated, and she had wanted to help her. She'd wanted to lash out, to attack Dane to get him to stop, but she had also been too afraid. Afraid that he'd hurt her, kill her, if she tried to stop him. So she'd sat there, simply too scared to act. Shortly after, Lucien had taken her mother's keyblade and challenged Dane, with Samsara stepping in to defend Dane. Why was she defending him?

Immediately after that, Dane had become trapped and a newcomer had told him to stop. Audrey had seen what Dane had done to her mother, she didn't doubt for a second he could get out. If he got out then Lucien, Samsara, Dane and the ranger would fight, and then the new guy and Lucien would die, she was convinced. She didn't want that, she needed someone to keep her safe now. Crawling over to Alisia, she grabbed her hand and held it. "I'm sorry for not helping you...I'm sorry that I didn't do anything to stop it and I'm sorry I stopped you from escaping. Please forgive me Alisia. It wasn't you that killed my mom, it was Dane. I'm sorry that I said everything, please don't hate me" Audrey said, tears forming once more as her voice took on a whiney tone. She sat there for a moment, waiting for a reaction from Alisia, before standing up.

The little girl walked out and stood in between everyone fighting. It was a dangerous position, and she knew that, but she had to do something. "Please stop fighting! Please, there's been enough.." Audrey Senka said, her voice very quiet and sorrowful as she spoke. She was mainly looking at the ranger as she spoke, eyes begging him not to attack.


When Dane had been challenged by Lucien, he had to refrain from laughing. After seeing what had just happened to the last person that attacked him, he was being attacked again? He almost wanted to take him up on his offer, almost wanted to attack and kill him there and then. However, if he did that, that would be one less person searching for the hero. He loved killing, but too much of it would slow down the search and reduce the chances of actually finding the hero. If that happened, he'd never find his biggest challenge. He was about to reject the offer and explain his reasoning, but then Samsara had stood in his place. Who did she think she was? Did she think that he needed protecting? It pissed Dane off a little bit, but at least it solved the problem at hand; there was no way she'd be able to kill Lucien if she couldn't even defeat Alisia.

Yet another person had attacked Dane. He'd apparently put some trap around him. A snarl escaped Dane's lips as he realised he heard the man threatening him. "Rangers..." he said quietly. He'd never met one personally, but he had heard all about them. They were said to be annoying little shits thats only purpose to life was annoying the crap out of you and killing you when you let your guard down. Well, so far this one was living up to it. Dane could've created a dark corridor and escaped, but after hearing Audrey's words it seemed he may not have to. Turning around slowly, he looked at the ranger to see an arrow pointed straight at him. "Well, hello to you too mister pain in the ass. Are you here to kill me too? You'll have to wait in line, but I have to warn you; it's a pretty lengthy one" he said with a small snicker. ​

 

Xero put her hand to her chest after the link was complete. It was certainly a strange sensation that she felt as the energy flowed through her. She had then suddenly become very woozy and stumbled over to catch her balance on a wall. After standing there for a good minute or two, Xero looked at the apparition of R, "I want to test it... I want to see if I'll be able to handle it."

Seeing as how she was after the forging of the link, she was a bit worried. What if this new power tore her apart from the inside out? What if it fractured her heart? Questions began to circle in her head and she began to feel a bit nervous. ​

Lexcifur turned his head to look at Freya as she spoke, "If they do find out somehow, they won't get anywhere past me." His eyes glared toward Jackie and Blanc as a warning saying that they'd better keep their promise about keeping mouths shut. He then looked back to Freya, "I don't know what to do about my mother now... Your mom apparently knew where we were this whole time by spying on us." His words came out in an almost angry way.​

 

• Stratos
• Lucien
• Charlotte

• 
  Stratos saw that his attack had virtually no effect on anyone, and Rinox himself just sort of ducked and swerved his body in any which way in order to prevent himself from being hit. While Stratos was about to go and charge at him, when suddenly Kel's descendant had decided to charge at Stratos as well. Looking at the gauntlet that was spawned onto his arm, Stratos watched carefully for what the attack might be, when he saw a blade of wind appear in the covered arm. Stratos wasn't really sure if this guy was serious in using wind against him, as wind was practically Stratos's domain. He did a quick backstep as the boy stabbed forward with the wind blade and created a separate current in front of him. The current spun in the opposite direction that Zephyr's blade spun in, causing the two to effectively cancel out into a light breeze as the two collided. Stratos then looked to the side to see Beuce effectively 1v3ing right now, and was probably in some sort of need of help. Spinning his keyblade and coating it in wind, he tossed over to the mob that was attacking Beuce in an effort to help him out. The keyblade would essentially keep flying around and dive bomb at people, much like a legendary bird that worked alongside a leader of the huns 300 years ago.
  
  Stratos then turned his attention to Zephyr and started to run at the boy. He was standing in between him and Rinox, and would most likely make the fight already harder between the two if they were to collide. When he had charged within striking distance of the boy and looked primed to strike, he completely stopped short and leaped into the air, using a combination of both high jump and his wind magic to completely vault over Zephyr. However, once he had jumped clear over him, a large burst of wind fired Stratos back and downward toward Zephyr, and Stratos struck at the boy without facing him with a wind covered elbow aimed at his face.
  
• 
  As Lucien was ready to take on Dane, his readiness was slightly detracted from when Samsara had jumped in the way to confront him. Was she serious? It wasn't so much that he was surprised that she would think she could take him, as Lucien had made more of an impression of a librarian rather than a fighter. What surprised him was that she was defending Dane. The guy who had she known for like, what, an hour? Had done nothing but been an ******* to her? Showcased how little care he had for others? Honestly, her undying and unyielding loyalty to this man was a tad baffling to Lucien, but maybe she had just been always been a bit nutty. As she stated that she hated him, Lucien simply feigned offense as he said, "your words wound me so." Honestly, other than the part of her being a tad crazy, Lucien didn't really hate Samsara. And he really had no motivation to fight her, but seeing as she barred his path to Dane, Lucien would ultimately just toss her aside like a ragdoll before getting to the real fight.
  
  Then something else came. A ranger. Not just any ranger. Sherridan, of all people. Lucien was somewhat baffled by his appearance, and figured he had gone down with the rest of Punchwood, but here he was. CCing both Dane and the mood. Then Audrey walked in to basically call of the fight and all the tension in the air had basically been lifted. Sighing, he muttered, "for ****'s sake, can I just have one thing go my way here." As he shook his head in disappointment, and saw Bartholomew take action, which would ultimately lead to some sort of increased drama going on here but, Lucien did kind of ask for it, and he didn't specify a when so it was slightly his fault. Probably about 20%. Let's be real the fucker was going to do it anyway.
  
  Sighing, he looked at Audrey, walked over to her and said, "alright kiddo. The moods practically shot anyway, so, as much as I'd like to kick his ass in, I won't...right now...unless he attacks me in which case my hands are kind of tied." He then flipped the keyblade over and was now holding it by the blade, with the hilt facing Audrey. "Here you go kiddo, since the job I basically wanted to use it for is over right now it's all yours to keep. I can't think of anyone better to inherent this weapon other than, well, the wielder's daughter. Probably wouldn't recognize me as its master ever anyway, so no point in me holding on to it." He then pointed at the trapped Dane and said, "I'd also recommend staying as far away from him as possible for the rest of our journey, and I'd offer the same advice to you too Alisia, provided your bold and not stockholm syndromed enough to do so."
  
  He then turned his attention back to Dane and said, "now, as for you. While it is entirely too evident that our not so fated battle is not happening now, I can't exactly let you go off scott free. I mean let's be real, you are a proven psychopath who has no qualms with killing someone in your party or enslaving and beating another one. At all. Also you seem to have something out for her family in general," he pointed to Audrey, "however, we'll put to this side for now and I'll figure out what to do with you later because last time we were hunting for the hero the goddess sent something to stop us, and seeing as we've been meandering around for so long it's only a matter of time before she sends something els-" he was interrupted by a large griffon carrying two people on its back appearing out of portal in the sky, poised to take them on. "Called it."
  
• 
  As Charlotte struck at the man once more, they were soon interrupted by a rather large bird flying into view and blotting out the sun. When it had made its appearance, the man had disappeared and all they were left with to deal with was the bird now. If there were any doubt about it at all, both Ghost and Zavion had essentially both come to the conclusion that this was indeed sent by the goddess. The only problem now was how to deal with it. Which was not a problem in the slightest. As Xander had already taken to drawing the large bird's attention away from them, Charlotte had kept wings spread as she flew galantly into the sky, chasing after the bird. Approaching from behind it, she charged her blade with energy as particles of different colors formed together into a sphere like object. She then pulled her blade out of the sphere, causing the attack Prism Rain to trigger and fire off a slew of rainbow light bullets at the giant phoenix.