"Come on, Helena!" Matt shouted, snapping the girl out of her sudden fear. "Get with the program on ABC!" His eyes glowed as he took off his glasses, firing two large golden beams at the flying monsters, along with his cry of "Taiyooooooooooh-!"

Matt was right, the dragon-child thought. She saw the charging demons, sudden anger rising within her, and she moved in front of Matt. There were more creatures to destroy this time, but they could do it! With Matt and R.D. and Hugo helping her, she couldn't lose!

Claws forced themselves from her fingers as she levelled her palms at the enemy forces, scales climbing up her arms as she gathered heat. "Inferno Vulcan!"

The heat beam sliced through the brutes. "There ya go!" Matt said, turning his burning baze on the charging crowd. "Let's take 'em out!"

The Phase Lance spun overhead rapidly before R.D. brought it down, cleaving a massive brute down the center. As the two halves fell, the amnesiac teen dropped to the ground and conjured a wall of flame in front of him. With a thrust of his hand, he fired the flaming wall forward into the mass, clearing out a small section that he dived into. Behind him, the monsters closed in, trapping him.

"Dammit," he muttered, looking around warily. A monster stepped forward, a large, winged freak wielding massive claws. The beast lunged forward, and the Phase Lance shredded through it. R.D. shot forward as more enemies attacked, tearing through them with great rapidity, the twin blades of his weapon moving like an azure blur.

Atop the canyon wall, Xazax and Terranox watched as the monsters swarmed all around the young heroes. "I'll admit, they've got skill," Terranox muttered, kneeling down to watch as R.D.'s blades carved a brutal path through the monsters. "Most kids would be ripped apart within seconds."

Xazax stayed silent as he watched, his black eyes monitoring Matt's progress as the gold beams tore apart a small flock of imps. After a moment, he issued a command. "Take care of the Dragon. I'll deal with the Core Host."

Terranox nodded, and with several blurring hops, made his way towards R.D.'s battlefield. Xazax hefted the warhammer onto his shoulder, watching Matt for the right moment to strike.

===At Japan===

Alasea smirked as the Kuro-Raikou was absorbed, and she clenched her gloved hands tightly. As Cora opened her mouth to speak, Alasea drew in on the Pillar's energy to take advantage of the distracted demoness, and with a movement faster than sound, reared her fist back and sent it hurtling at Cora's jaw.

Anubis stared down at the girly figure of Xastra with amusement and surprise. Older than me? I would quite doubt that. I pretty much was born quite near the time of birth of the Balances. But his surprise was not so much as in regards to the other being questioning the jackal god's age, but rather saying that he, or she, was older. The jackal god was quite surprised about this, as he had not yet come to become fully knowledgeable on Xastra's past, and thus had not yet come to know he was possessing the body of a young girl who, in a way, looked slightly familiar to him.

"Tearful reunions and joyous introductions aside," Meta said, "why have you left your castle, father? And where is ZetsumeiRyu, by the by?" She asked, as she was wondering where her brother might be at this moment, considering how he had been the one to visit her prior to this day, instead of their father.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!" As Matt shouted, power exploded around him in a great field of blue energy.

It stopped just as Matt reached foward and tapped a demon soldier on the chest. "Poke."

The poke hit like a high-speed punch thrown by a juggernaut-the monster flew back, knocking away enemies along his unexpected path of destruction. Now that a large gap had been cleared in the advancing troops, he could get in the middle of it all and go wild.

"Super Fist of Awesome: Frolicing Pokes of Death!"

Raising his arms girlishly, Matt skipped toward an enemy on the right, and poked him. "Poke!"

BOOM! Knocked the enemy into the canyon wall. He skipped to another demon. "Poke!"

SMASH! Another demon bit the dust. So it went, and in the midst of the incredible chaos the deadly pokes caused, Matt allowed himself a very feminine giggle.

R.D. speared a monster through the middle with the Phase Lance and lifted it up in the air. With a rough throw, he flung the corpse away from him, where he channeled flame energy through it, causing it to ignite in a powerful explosion that eliminated several more creatures. He breathed heavily behind the visor; his armor showed signs of wear after having taken many attacks from enemies. Despite that, he pressed forward. An enemy streaked by, and he cleaved it in half with his double-bladed sword before spinning it around behind him. Earth energy gathered in his hand, and he struck the ground violently with Earth Gaizer.

The shockwave released from the shattering ground forced the monsters back, leaving a large, empty but ruined circle around the armored teen. Behind him, R.D. heard a monster step down on one of the fragments, and he spun around to attack, only for a large claw to slam across his helmet and send him into the dirt. Terranox giggled as he sent his opponent down, but R.D. quickly righted himself, his arm cannon ready and blasting the demon with a wave of plasma fire. Terranox quickly dodged, barely avoiding the shot. As he righted himself, he was struck hard in the snout by R.D.'s Godhand attack, sending him into the crowd.

"I've had a lousy day!" the teen roared as he leapt into the air after the demon, striking down an imp with his sword in the process. "C'mere! I need something to take it out on!"

A grin split Xazax's face as he watched Matt lay waste to the monsters, but despite how many he killed, they just kept coming. This will be an enjoyable battle, he thought, running a finger down the haft of his giant hammer.

===At Japan===

Alasea had anticipated the counter and drew her sword, slashing in a tight circle at the same speeds to parry each blow, finishing with an upwards strike to knock away the airborne blow. In the same movement she leapt out of the circle, and increased her speed further with the Pillar. She shot forward, barely able to be seen, and struck rapidly, slicing at each demoness she saw. Her attack complete, she appeared on the other side of the grouping and turned, readying her blade.

I'm gonna have to end this battle quick, she thought, I hope what I'm planning will work.

In the midst of her fire, Helena's vision caught Terranox sailing into the horde-now was her chance! Matt and Hugo could take care of the minor enemies, but the two major demons, they would have to work together to defeat them. Mind racing with the thoughts of their dual powers overcoming the odds, her wings forced themselves outwards as she leapt into the air. In a wide arc she soared down at Terranox's form. Let's try this-!

In a style inspired by her denim-clad friend, she threw a vicious downward slash at Terranox.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hugo asked, running up to Matt. "No, wait, you know what? Forget it. I don't want to know."

Matt sighed, after blowing away one more monster. "Fine, I'll use a more manly Super Fist technique." He reached behind his back. "Super Fist of Awesome-"

Like some sort of cartoon, he somehow managed to produce rows of animated machine guns, rifles, and other weapons from thin air. "-Excessive Artillery!"

He pulled those triggers and began firing in an insane rage, empty shells dancing through the air as he turned hot justice on his mindless, nameless foes. DIE, in the name of JUSTICE!

Terranox leapt up, bucking his legs forward as R.D. came in, and caught the armored teen in the chest, sending him back. Sensing Helena come in, the demon swung around and slashed back, catching Helena's claw with his own. "So, the little girly wants to play?" he said derisively, keeping the dragon-child at bay using his own strength. He heard a sound, and threw the girl away from him as he spun around and deflected R.D.'s plasma burst, and charged back at the boy, claws at the ready.

Terranox's claw slashed out at R.D., who ducked under it and countered with a backhand to the demon's face. He followed up with two hooks, slamming him with his right fist, then the left, and finished up with a spinning backfist. With each strike blood flew from Terranox's mouth, and the demon snarled. R.D.'s fist came in again, only to be caught in the demon's claw. Not to be deterred, he swung with his other arm, but Terranox captured it by pinning it between his arm and side. R.D. found himself in trouble, forced back by the snarling demon, who headbutted him viciously in the head. R.D. was slammed back into the ground, and Terranox kicked the teen away from him and followed after.

Monsters were being torn left and right by Matt's guns, their dark blood soaking the ground, but they kept pressing forward in a desperate attempt to get to Matt. The brutes didn't care who got caught underneath, they barreled their way through. Some of them had strange platforms strapped to their back, and comically large-headed imps with small bodies teleported on top of the platforms. However, the spells they through from their mounts were anything but comical.

"Hm." Meta let out. She rather doubted her father's words, but then again, he would not have come otherwise, would he? She wondered what business her father could mean, but he surely would not speak a word of it to her if she would ask him.

"What matters are you referring, Xastra?" Anubis asked plain and straightforwardly. "If they would disturb the balance of the world and there will come many more deaths sometime soon, then I need to know of them, being the god of the dead."

Matt saw ths spells come toward him, but he already had the perfect defense. He raised his fist to the air, and it glowed. "Super Fist of Awesome!"

An old leather work boot materialized over the fist, and he pointed it at the brutes. "Boot Launcheeeeeeeeer!" The boot burst into action, propelled by a jet of fire-as it shot forth, a shield around it deflected the incoming spells toward the canyon. The boot hit the ground, triggering a massive explosion that sent brutes flying.

"Boom, headshot!" Matt laughed.

His head turned toward Helena, sailing through the air with a scream. Matt leapt up and seized the dragon-girl, flipping over in midair and coming to a square landing.

Helena opened her eyes and looked up at Matt, who held her in her arms. "...Matt."

"Hey." Gently, he set her down. "You okay?"

"...yeah." She glanced away. "I tried to hit one of the dog demons and it didn't work."

Matt flashed a thumbs up. "OH-KAY! I'll take care of it." With a curt salute, he flipped sideways, back toward the fight.

Terranox was closing in rapidly, a disturbing grin on his canine face. R.D. righted himself mid-flight and aimed his arm cannon at him, suddenly firing a thick, powerful energy wave at the beast, catching the demon in the chest and sending him hurtling into the crowds. The monsters closed in on the gap that was made and rushed forward. R.D. destroyed three of the monsters with quick, lethal strikes of the Godhand technique and took to the air. He was immediately attacked by dozens of winged monsters, and his Phase Lance flashed out rapidly in an attempt to strike down as many as possible.

As Matt landed on the cracked ground, there was a powerful shockwave behind him as Xazax landed with a mighty crash only a meter away. The demon grinned at Matt and brandished his warhammer. "Now, Willard, show me what you've got!" he shouted, readying the massive blunt weapon.

===In Japan===

Alasea smirked. "Now you know how I felt whenever you and your friends attacked us," she replied, readying the Megami Tsurugi again, spreading her legs apart evenly and holding the sword with the hilt up, its white blade crossing down diagonally. "Ready to give up?"

Matt slid a hand in his pocket, sizing up Xazax. "So what're you supposed to be, Thing One or Thing Two?"

Having slaughtered the flock of imps that attacked him, R.D. accelerated, and the demons below raised claws and opened mouths, firing beams of dark energy at him. The armored teen ducked and weaved through the air, avoiding a particularly dangerous volley, and spun around in a barrel roll to avoid another volley. As he exited out of it he was facing the monsters while upside down, thrusting out his right arm and activating his mounted cannons, firing the full salvo of weapons down into the horde and killing dozens.

Xazax only sneered for a response, having no interest in Matt's vague comments. They meant nothing to him; at this time only the battle mattered. The demon pushed off with a talon and shot forward at Matt. In barely a second, he had closed the distance, and swung violently with his weapon.

Edited by RisingDragon on August 11, 2007 at 20:34:38.

Helena glanced back toward Terranox, engaged with R.D. All right...she'd have to transform all the way to take care of him. The pain, still intense but controllable, surged through her with the mark of the beast-keeping focus, as always, steadied her.

"I think I'll bust out somethin' different to take care of you," Matt remarked calmly, as Xazax's warhammer bore down upon him. Behind the denim-clad, a thin figure emerged-a Stand, colored in various shades of green:



"Hierophant Green!" Matt pointed at Xazax, and the Stand gathered brilliant green energy. "Emerald Splash!"

Hierophant Green spread its arms, and rows of sharp emeralds fired at Xazax.

Terranox snarled as he shot up from the horde, spiraling through the air at R.D.. The teen threw himself out of the way, firing a Disruptor shot at the canine demon. The monster growled and deflected the shot, sending it back down into the horde of demons. The demon shot down at the descending teen, knocking him down the rest of the way by slamming him with his left arm while he right chambered back. Unbeknownst to the armored teen, particles of light and darkness were swirling down the length of the demon's forearm, gathering into his hand like rippling silver light.

R.D. struck the ground hard, but managed to stay upright. He immediately counted with a volley of energy blasts from his back-mounted shoulder cannons, but the monster deftly avoided the shot and landed. Terranox dashed forward and thrust his right hand out, firing the gathered energy--in the form of R.D.'s own Disruptor shot. R.D.'s eyes widened in shock. How the hell!? was his last thought before the combined dark and light energy slammed into him and sent him flying back.

Cursing, Xazax cancelled his attack and shot to the side, narrowly avoiding the emerald shards. The demon swung around at Matt, attacking from the side. He made a rough, slashing gesture with two fingers, and a line of solidified light appeared along the length. The line of light expanded forward, suddenly blasting out like a single large blade at the bespectacled teen.

Matt shot up, over the blade that slashed through the air he had occupied before. Slice him in half, will you? Not if he had anything awesome to say about it. As he flipped, Hierophant Green's arm unwound into a long coil which wrapped itself around Xazax's body. With a mighty pull, Matt launched himself back at the dog demon, leading the way with a fierce right hook straight out of a boxer's arsenal.

Hugo's back was to Helena. "Hurry up, we need some firepower!"

She squinted her eyes. "Nnngh! I can't-I can't rush it!"

"Well, sorry!" Shot after shot felled demons left and right. "But you may want to try, we're in trouble here!"

Her voice dropped a few octaves. "-I'm going after Terranox!"

"What?!" Hugo snapped. "You're gonna leave me to take care of these guys by myself?!"

"I'll cover you!" Stretching her wings, she glanced back toward the demons, craning her long neck. "You can take care of yourself, though, right?"

"...of course I can!"

R.D. swore and righted himself in midair, dropping to the ground and slicing a nearby demon that got too close. Monsters all around him screamed as they jumped at him, and R.D. hopped into the air and gathered lightning energy around him. With a wave of his hand, he fired a condensed ring of lightning around him, flash-frying the monsters as the ring expanded outwards. Suddenly Terranox was there, slamming him in his armored chin with an uppercut that sent him high into the air. A large flying demon tackled into him, driving him into the ground. R.D. grunted from the impact and deactivated the Phase Lance, slamming one end against the demon's skull before activating it again and skewering its skull. R.D. ripped the blade out of the demon's head and shot forward, his Phase Lance cutting a bloody path through the monsters, with Terranox in hot pursuit.

Xazax remained unusually silent as the Stand bound him with its arm, and as Matt's right hook came streaking at his head, his arm somehow slithered out of Hierophant Green's grip and caught the punch with ease. The demon had clenched all the muscles in his body the moment the Stand had captured him, causing them to bulge greatly as he let go of his warhammer. When he relaxed the muscles, he had plenty of room to escape and counter the attack. Xazax grinned up at Matt, gripping his fist tightly, and launched out of the Stand's grip dragging Matt up with him. With a gesture from his free hand, Xazax's weapon reappeared in his hand, and he swung the weapon down at Matt.

"What the hell?!" There wasn't enough time to react, only to make an attempt at defense. Xazax's warhammer crashed into Matt's arms, and he cried out in pain as he was knocked downwards.

Damn it! You fucker-!

Hierophant Green released its coils again, wrapping themselves around and around Xazax as well as they could. Hope they could hold long enough to land a blow-!

Shoving the air behind him, Matt flew back up at his opponent with a double-foot kick. "Suck on THIS!"

Helena tore along the ground until her wings smashed the air and sent her skyward. R.D. really was in trouble...at least she could distract Terranox! She dropped down on the dog demon, jaws wide as she drove her fangs toward the back of his neck.

Terranox was leaving a trail of dust as he chased R.D. through the horde, ignoring the halved corpses of his comrades as R.D. tore them apart while he skated on the air using his boot thrusters. His determination to get to the boy was great, but the demon was hardly stupid enough to ignore everything else. The armored canine demon looked upwards and back sharply when a dim shadow surrounded him, and he yelped as Helena's draconic form descended down, jaws at the ready.

There was a mighty crash, and it was apparent that the demon had not been killed by the attack--he had managed to draw up enough strength to hold the dragon's jaws apart to prevent his destruction. However, it was all he could do to prevent from being crushed, and was helpless when R.D., sensing the commotion, spun around and flew back at him, delivering a brutal, lightning-fast kick at the demon's chest. The blow knocked Terranox right out of Helena's jaws, his chest armor dented as he slammed into the ground and cut a jagged groove in the dirt.

R.D. landed near Helena, only to get attacked again by a flying demon. He barely had time to slash the first one apart when a second one swooped in and grabbed his arm, dragging him roughly into the air before the teen managed to dismember the beast, causing him to fall back down with the arm still gripping his own. He grunted as he fell. "Dammit, we have to take care of these flying assholes," he growled, looking up at the sky.

As Matt was sent hurtling down to the ground by Xazax's spiked warhammer, the blood-red demon thrust an arm into the air, and a vortex of darkness began to form above his outstretched fingers. Tendrils of unholy energy were sucked into the maelstrom, forming a shining sphere of sickly palor. It was then that Hierophant Green's elongated arms speared through the air to bind him again, this time leaving his raised arm free, while his left forearm jutted out between two of the folds of arms.

Xazax snarled as Matt came in, and with his free arm, he made a throwing gesture. The sphere above him shattered into two dozen large bolts of evil energy that spiraled in through the air at the flying teen. His attack complete, his trapped arm dropped the warhammer once more and reached, snagging the Stand's arms and yanking up roughly with all of his strength to drag the summoned entity up into the air--and to his waiting fist.

At the edge of the canyon, a young man in white and black was leaning against a rock, sitting on the ground with one leg hanging off the edge. In his arms was a guitar. He was strumming it lazily as he watched the battle unfold with his blood-red eyes, peering through the strands of his silver-gray hair. "Well," Michael said, another strum lost in the din of thousands of demonic screams, "This is an interesting group. Wonder why I haven't spotted them before. Not bad for fighting over a million monsters."

They rushed together, their swords clanging with an epic sound. There they stood for a long time, pushing against each other, trying to force them down. Suddenly, cracks appeared in the crystal blade.

"No... no. No no no no no no!" X shouted, his teeth clenched.

"I knew it. You really are, after all, just a kid with a sword. Even if that sword is really... well, the point is, game over!"

With a final show of effort, the man pushed again. The crystal blade shattered, leaving only about half-an-inch of the blade above the hilt. The remaining force behind the blade drove it into X's right shoulder.

The bright side, X thought, was that he was left-handed. This of course, was not really a bright side. Just a less hopeless ass-kick.

This had also taken place quite some time earlier. Hours, or perhaps days had passed since that blade broke minutes into the battle.

To summarize: X bolted. How he had managed to get away is a bit mysterious, but maybe the man just liked to play cat and mouse. In either case, X escaped a certain loss at that moment and ran.

He had the pleasure of sightseeing somewhat. The man had taken them somewhere around a dilapidated city. Towering buildings, half-rotted with only their frames and some walls remaining. A true ghost town with no inhabitants.

X knew why the Templar had chosen this location. It wasn't to limit the collateral damage though. It meant less witnesses. It's the little things after all.

In that time, X ran from cover to cover. From building to building. And the Templar chased him. That's about it though. The Templar was good at being a cat, but X was good at being a mouse. Not much is actually being missed here, the Templar was a total badass and X managed to escape every close call by the closest second.

Lucky bastard.

So, at the present moment, he found himself hiding behind a wall on the 11th story of a skyscraper. On the other side was the open city, and the Templar. He thought himself rather clever, in fact, until...

"X, I tire of these games. We will finish this in a few moments."

Dammit. X thought.

"But I can't let you die before I let you know a few things."

"And those would be?" X asked.

"Ah, there you are!"

...If I live through this, I'm going to fucking kill myself. X thought.

"How did you find me, Templar."

"Trace. Name's Trace."

"Words cannot express how little that means to me."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway I'm named Trace on account of what I do."

"Not very good at the freehand then, are you?"

"...Shut up. I traced you, dumbass. Through your AI systems."

"You...wait, what?" X was dumbfounded. So was his ass.

"Remnant was amazing up until the end, wasn't he? He planted a bug in your AI right before he terminated. I've been tracking you ever since."

X knew what he had to do... even if it was too late.

"Well, X. I'd say it's about time we finished this. Draw!"

X jumped out through the wall to meet his adversary head on. His systems were at 7% and falling. So he pumped it all into his buster and fired.

The blast tore through his enemy's armor, knocked him through a building. Trace lost a lot of blood and was dizzy and fading in and out of consciousness.

"This... i-isn't over... bastard." He fell down and disappeared, fuzzing in and out like static.

X smiled, and felt his way to the side of his helmet. "Good-bye, traitor." He said as he ripped the side of his helmet off.

Then everything was dark for a long time.

Nothing was beautiful and everything hurt.

Matt grit his teeth as Xazax pulled on Hierophant Green. Time to take this asshole down!

He held his arm up, and the shotgun, which he had thrown up earlier, fell back into his waiting hand. He tipped the barrel over his shoulder. "Let's go! Tie Wrap Snake!"

It happened very quickly-as Matt drove his feet against Xazax's fist, Hierophant Green released a sparkling green liquid into the twin barrels of Matt's shotgun. At the same time, it unwound its whole body into one coil and threw itself at Xazax, wrapping its entire length around the demon and constricting.

As Matt fell down to Earth, he pointed the shotgun at Xazax while still in close range. "Super Fist of Awesome-Emerald Shotgun SPLASH!"

A concentrated burst of emeralds shot at Xazax's restricted form as the energy bolts struck Matt, knocking him down even faster.

Helena growled, gathering heat to her jaws. She released a ball of fire at the flying demons, which expanded into a full-fledged fiery shockwave that would hit the demons in an area attack.

R.D.'s back-mounted cannons swung up and over, aimed over his shoulder. He began firing volley after volley into the air, shredding demons with each shot. A group of them concentrated themselves into one mass in an attempt to rush them, only for them to get incinerated by Helena's blast. A demon ran forward out of the fray at him, only for R.D.'s hip cannons to blow it apart. Leaping up into the air, R.D. targeted a vast section of the horde and fired another full salvo from his weapons, and explosions littered the field. Again he was attacked by flying demons, but his Lightblast shot managed to scatter them. He looked down at Helena briefly and shouted, "Take care of the ones up here! I'll need them out of the way if I'm gonna kill that one freak!"

Xazax snarled as he was bound up by the Stand, and Matt closed in. Despite being struck by his attack, the boy had frustratingly managed to fire his own attack. Xazax grit his teeth and concentrated, gathering dark power within him. His muscles bulked suddenly, forcing Hierophant Green to slacken. And once he did this, he roared, and unleashed a massive force of power in every direction to crush the attack and hopefully the Stand with it.

===At Japan==

Alasea lips parted and crouched, ready to spring. She whispered something, barely audible. "I am the bone of my sword." It wasn't directed towards Cora, but sounded like a chant to herself. And then, she sprang--when she shot forward, her body left a blur of spacial energy, making her move much faster than she appeared. The Megami Tsurugi cut upwards along a diagonal path at Cora's midsection, to slash through to the shoulder. As she struck, Alasea's left hand seemed to glitter, leaving a trail of light particles.

"Got it!" Helena took to the air and struck the nearest demon, tearing him asunder with a well-placed claw slash. Her heat beam swept past the demons surrounding her-those that weren't destroyed outright had their bodies and wings set on painful fire.

Though Hierophant Green was blown to pieces by the dark force, the emeralds charged on and smashed into Xazax, ripping wounds across his chest. Matt smashed into the ground, shoulder first-in pain, he managed to get back to his feet, as Hierophant Green returned to his side. All right, you douchebag...I'll show you not to fuck with me!

Dismissing the shotgun, Matt made a wide gesture, and Hierophant Green attacked again. "Emerald Splash!"

R.D. took off through the air, searching for Terranox. He didn't wait long, as the demon, hidden within a group of other demons, blasted him out of the sky with a Disruptor shot. He cried out in pain as he slammed into the dirt. A monster tried to rush him, but his Phase Lance swiftly beheaded it. He pushed himself off the ground as Terranox stomped into the clearing, readying his claws. "Got some skills, eh hotshot?" he taunted as R.D. readied his double-bladed weapon in one hand, his shield held out in front of him. "Let's see just how much skill you got."

As the two of them charged at each other to meet in furious combat, Xazax bellowed in pain as the emeralds lacerated his chest, one of them getting caught in the flesh. He demon fell down to Earth, where he landed on his feet, cratering the ground upon impact. He stepped forward, gripping his warhammer once more, watching as Hierophant Green attacked once more. As the emeralds flew in, Xazax grasped his weapon in both claws and swung it up overhead, and back down into the ground. A shockwave of power cut forward, sending up a wall of stone and dirt that deflected the emeralds with ease.

Grunting, Xazax held his warhammer over his shoulder and grabbed the emerald shard stuck in him, ripping it out from his chest and looking at it scornfully. He turned his gaze back to Matt and the Stand. "I see you're a practiced summoner," he said in an almost conversational tone, despite the war being fought.

"I'm a practiced badass," Matt replied, flicking the bottom of his nose with his thumb-he saw it somewhere, so he thought he'd try it now. "But thanks for the compliment." He made a small wave of his hand. "You know, if ya left now, then I wouldn't have to totally knock your ass out. Somethin' to consider."

"We'll see about that," Xazax returned, looking at the emerald shard in his hand. The demon's claw closed around the shard, and he felt it melt, becoming some sort of energy. It glowed and hummed, standing out against his red skin. The demon lifted his hand to head level, grinning at Matt. "While your Stand is powerful, your style is flawed. Let me show you what a real summon is like."

The energy was glowing brightly now, rays of green light emanating between the gaps of his fingers. Xazax suddenly turned and thrust his hand out, palm open, at the sky. There was a flash of light and a sound of thunder as the energy projectile rocketed into the clouds, leaving a trail of circular glyphs in the air in its wake. The projectile pierced them and spread them away in a ring. Flashes of lightning could be seen within the clouds, and soon, those bolts escaped the clouds, striking the ground with reckless abandon.

The clouds were swirling around each other violently, funneling down. They curved out and forward, and something could be seen forming within them. Lines of power were curling around into a massive shape nearly four times the size of Helena's dragon form. Muscle, sinew, and bone formed beneath the lines, covered quickly by flesh. Arms and legs formed, a large spiked tail jutting from its back and billowing, ridged wings extending from its side. As the face formed, the Devil Dragon unleashed a mighty, terrible cry, scattering the flying creatures away as it swooped in towards the canyon from the storming clouds.



R.D. grappled with Terranox, lifting the demon up and throwing him forward by his arm when the Devil Dragon curved in and blasted by, slamming him and dozens of other demons to the ground with the force of its flapping wings. The draconic abomination swept over the horde, landing violently in behind Xazax and roaring a furious challenge at Matt and Hierophant Green.

Edited by RisingDragon on August 16, 2007 at 21:03:00.

Matt's eyes narrowed. "...okay, now you're just fuckin' cheating."

"Holy SHIT!" Hugo shouted, almost losing his balance as the Devil Dragon landed with thunderous impact. What the hell was that thing?!

Helena hit the ground due to the force of the Devil Dragon's descent, and quickly scrambled back to her clawed feet. Her tawny eyes narrowed. This was a problem.

"Oh, you think you're so big with your excessive dragon, eh?" Matt snapped, pointing a bold finger at the nightmarish creature. "Well, you know what they say...the bigger they are..."

Hierophant Green spread its arms and legs wide, and this time, Emerald Splash shot from its chest at the Devil Dragon, with larger emeralds and a wider attack radius. "The more there is to suck on my can of whupass!"