R.D. leaped backwards, then to the side, into one of the small buildings. As the shadow grid passed by, R.D. stepped out and stabbed his Phase Blade into the ground. He charged up and sent another orb of plasma energy for Lee, and the second plasma burst, trailed by the spinning red fireballs, at the tanfas that Cora had flung at Alasea.

The second blast knocked the two blades out of the air, and Alasea countered by flinging one of her own blades at Cora, rushing forward after the throw to close in on the demon.

The hammer slammed into the mirror, and Matt couldn't place any control on the results. As the mirror broke into shards, the beam reflected on every shard multiple times, firing wild, thin shadow lasers in all insane directions.

"Damn it!" Matt shouted, falling backwards.

"Damn it!" Hugo also said as he saw the grave error.

Hsien-Ko acted quickly, moving in front of Hugo and pulling out a large, black gong from nowhere. Any laser that struck it was instantly rebounded elsewhere.

R.D. quickly flung another blast to meet the reversed shot. The two met in midair, causing a colossal explosion that sent shrapnel of rock everywhere. The fragments soon were caught in the crossfire of the shadow beams caused by Matt's mirror shards. Readying himself once more, R.D. charged forward at Lee.

Alasea dashed to the side and caught her second shortsword out of the air, and then caught one of the extended blades by crossing the swords to the side, letting the blade impact in the middle. Quickly, the teen girl forced the blade into the stone floor, jumped on top of it, and actually ran up the flat of the blade, screaming as she readied to attack the fire demon.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 8, 2006 at 19:41:46.

Matt recovered quickly, and glared at Lee. "All right..."

Something inside his backpack glowed.

"It's time to end this!" Matt crouched low, reared his right arm back. "Golem Arm!"

R.D. saw Matt ready his Golem Arm attack at Lee's front, and decided to make it two sided by attacking his back. He crouched down and used the First Cipher energy to charge his blade, and shot forward, blade held out first. The Phase Blade seemed to transform into a lightning bolt as R.D. cried, "Buraitotsu!"

Matt was about to launch the Golem Arm when it burst from his pack, a long stream of light that arced once in the air and sailed toward Lee. As it did so, it swelled into powerful shape, until when the light faded, it became very clear that a vicious, green-scaled dragon was flying at Lee, its fangs snarling.

"What the hell?!" Matt shouted.

(OOC: Ceiling? I didn't know outdoor temple cities had ceilings... lawl)

R.D. swore and rolled forward, clearing the strike-point of the creature's warhammer. He spun around and leapt on top of the hammer head, reversing the grip on his weapon and stabbing it downward at the monster's head.

Alasea had already seen what Cora planned to do, and made a mighty leap off of the extended tanfa blade. She soared over Cora and flipped around in midair, slashing downwards with both blades as she dropped behind the demon.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 9, 2006 at 0:10:41.

(OOC: There's a temple... Lee just won't let us near it yet...)

Alasea was sent flying back at Cora's punch. She cried out as she struck the wall, and her weapons skittered away from her. She quickly recovered and stood up, and glared hatefully at Cora. "Hardly," she replied as she took her weapons back, "Is that all you've got, skank?"

R.D. was thrown off of the hammer as Lee escaped Matt's attack, thudding hard on the ground next to Matt. He quickly got up and looked over to his companion. "What the hell was that you just did?" he asked.

Matt grabbed Lee's horns as the demon attacked. "I didn't do that!"

Matt quickly pushed Lee away and swung with his Golem Arm at that crazy bastard's face. Meanwhile, the dragon turned about mid-flight and lashed out at Lee with gleaming fangs, intending to bite down on the shadow creature and then strike with its claws.

Edited by The Helldragon on October 9, 2006 at 3:00:37.

OOC: ...dude, I needed that dragon for plot. I'm gonna have to call an edit on that one.

(OOC: 2 responses, my friend: 1. R.D. and Matt would not know such, as they are too busy trying to kill him. 2. Oh heck yes she did!)

R.D. snarled as he launched his own attack at Lee's new form. He readied his blade once more and leapt with an uppercut slash, shouting "Denjin!". His blade was charged with lightning energy, bolts of it striking the ground from his blade as his sword came up to meet with Lee's body.

Alasea smirked as the enraged demon shot down at her. Ignoring the heat from the intense heat of the fires, she spun around with her blades, catching all of the pillars with them. A small whirlwind formed from it and expanded, blowing the fires away from her. Still spinning, she lowered the blades and swung out with her foot. Her kick went streaking for the demon's face as she closed in.

OOC: Edited. Now the post is more fun! XD Yeah, it's kinda my fault on the dragon thing, I guess.

Matt went in for a powered gut punch on Lee courtesy of his Golem Arm, and his eyes quickly looked about. Hope that dragon didn't die or nothing...

Matt saw Lee coming, and crouched low, gathering energy in his metallic hand. "Come on, bitch!"

Then he saw the dragon erupt into the air behind Lee, its wings spanning majestic lengths. Its toothy jaws glowed with unknown energy.

It seemed to speak to him somehow, and with a smirk he knew what to do. His fist clenched, and with a burst of the rockets behind him, he launched at Lee. "Golem Arm!"

R.D. twisted himself out of the way of Lee's form and landed on the ground. His mind still concentrating on the Denjin attack, and he stabbed his still-electrified blade into the ground and twisted it. The energy that had been trapped in Lee surged, reacting dangerously with Lee's own form, attempting to revert the shadow being into a corporeal form and paralyze him in mid-flight.

Alasea stifled a groan as Cora gripped her foot painfully. Her blades flashed and a small whirlwind shield wrapped around her body and scouring away the flames. She twisted her body around, moving her chest out of the way of the punch and sending her other leg straight to the side of the fire demon's head.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 9, 2006 at 0:21:18.

Again those fool Beasts try to interfere, Re-Tuul thought as he watched the battle unfold beneath him. With something between amusement and annoyance, he watched as the black-clad girl battled the fire demon Cora, someone he had seen before long ago, and as the Rising Dragon and Matthew Willard battled one of Donovan's generals, the shadow beast Lee.

They think they rule this world now. Fools, the Khaglessi continued to muse, My master should have destroyed the lot of you centuries ago.

He was concerned about the fight between Alasea and Cora. Confident, this girl is, but she's only inching closer to her own death, he thought, Luckily for you I've seen what happened before when someone close to him died. There is no need for a repeat... yet. With a thought, the Khaglessi disappeared in a flash of orange light.

===With Alasea and Cora===

Alasea screamed as she was flung towards the fire. But suddenly, she stopped moving as something circled around her... a black and white arm. Terrified, she looked up at the eyeless face of Re-Tuul. The demon, however, was not looking down at her, but at the stunned face of Cora.

"Foolish girl," he whispered harshly to Cora, "You have no business with my quarry. Leave if you don't wish to die."

===With Matt, R.D., and Lee===

His blade still electrified and planted in the ground, R.D. concentrated harder and stabbed his blade deeper into the ground. Lightning danced across the ground, and tendrils leapt up from the ground and dove into Matt's body, somehow leaving him unharmed. The bolts surged and pulled back, ripping out the shadow energy of Lee from Matt's body.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 9, 2006 at 0:52:49.

"HA!" Matt shouted as he slammed his charged fist through Lee. "Counter Disruption!"

The energy that was interacting with Lee's current form via Matt's Golem Arm changed into a different energy signature, one complete opposite and destructive to Lee's current energy form, intending to jar him back into solidity.

Matt just grinned. "Bang."

That was when the dragon attacked from behind, firing a beam of destructive energy from its jaws at Lee's back. In front of the shadow creature, in a big gesture, Matt drew his fists to his sides and charged.

Time for the big finish.

"MEGATON..."

R.D. sidestepped the energy beam and began focusing his own abilities into his sword. Lightning energy crackled around the blade as it glowed bright gold. He lowered the tip of the blade down to the ground and zeroed in on Lee's position.

Re-Tuul and Alasea disappeared in a flash of orange light. Alasea reappeared safely on the ground, and Re-Tuul appeared right in front of Cora, his greatsword in hand. His left claw shot out and grabbed Cora by the neck, squeezing it enough to cause pain but not enough to kill.

"I never threaten, Cora," he snarled quietly, his gray tongue flicking out and striking the demon in the face, "I only promise. You think you fools control everything. You don't. Now leave before I rip you apart."

Matt carried the last syllable of "MEGATON..." for a while, blue energy rapidly flowing to his fists as he continued the command. Meanwhile, the dragon continued to fire, trying to break through the force field.

Taking a break from the fighting, Hugo glanced toward the battle between Matt, R.D., and Lee. "Hsien-Ko."

The Chinese jiganshi's metal claws retracted to her sleeves, having just slain another monster. "Yes?"

"We're gonna have to get out of the way...Matt's about to fire his trademark."

R.D. hesitated as Lee threw up his barrier, wondering if his attack could pierce it. He decided to channel more power into the blade to strengthen the attack as the dragon tried to break through the shield with its breath weapon.

Re-Tuul looked down at his shattered hand and smiled. Instantly the hand reformed, and with a flap of his own wings, he launched himself up after Cora. "Did you ever wonder why my brothers and I disappeared, Cora?" he asked, readying his greatsword for combat.