"R.D., one of the things I've learned through my travels is that when you really fuck up and you really regret it, you start looking at things in a different way, and you're that much better off."

Matt glanced back at the fire, found himself lost in the flames. "...I think it's a neccessary experience, considering the circumstances."

"Point is, it's over now," Hugo said. "You learned your lesson, nobody died. We'll get over it."

Helena had fallen silent. Her mind wandered back to Persior, that cursed land, and the girl R.D. described. Who was she, and how could she influence R.D. like this?

Edited by The Helldragon on August 31, 2007 at 21:08:17.

R.D. remained silent for many long moments, then sighed. "You're probably right," he said, looking down at his injured arms. "I'll have to be careful from now on, though. I have way too much power for me to handle now that I've unlocked two more Ciphers. If I'm not careful I could kill myself."

Carefully, the amnesiac teen laid himself down on the ground. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Tomorrow," he said, still keeping his eyes closed, "I want to go back to where it happened. I just... need to see it before we go to the Gateway."

"All right." Matt didn't think that would bode well, but R.D. was a boringly unemotional kind of lad at times, it might not affect him that much. Still, he needed to see it to understand the stakes. "All right, kids, get some sleep. I'm on first watch."

R.D. nodded and breathed deep, letting his exhaustion take over, and quickly fell asleep.

Night passed quickly for them, as R.D. slept soundlessly for once, untouched by the strange dreams of forgotten memories that usually accompanied his rest.

Hours later, R.D. found himself looking about near the middle of the crater. Many of his bandages had been removed, and his clothing had been repaired through the Omega Core, but his eye and part of his head were still covered, and his right arm was still in a sling. His uncovered eye slowly scanned over the shifting dirt of the scorched crater. Shrapnel was everywhere, whether from discarded armor or from metallic stone that had been buried underneath the old walls of the now-destroyed canyon.

"I did this," he mumbled, and the wind bit into him, causing him to shiver. His eye squinted, and the small gale made his eye water.

He wandered around slightly, looking at pieces of shrapnel sticking out of the blackened dirt. Overhead, the clouds rumbled, as if still upset over his actions the day prior. In the distance, he could see as lightning struck. He continued his observations in silence, wandering more. Eventually, something caught his eye, and he strode over to it.

He carefully lowered himself down to the ground and picked up a shard of metal. It shone silvery-blue in the cold light, streaked with gold. It was a piece of the Dragon King Armor, part of the shoulder cannon that had been destroyed by Terranox's copy of the Emerald splash. Turning the shard over, he found a piece of the original emerald that had destroyed the cannon in the first place.

The amnesiac teen stood up, a bit too shakily for his tastes, but put it out of his mind. He held the shard up to the light, and let its polished surface gleam. Here's to hoping that this will never happen again, he thought with a grim finality. He opened his satchel and put the armor shard away in it, closing it up before turning around and walking back to the car.

===In Japan===

Alasea shivered from the cold when Awai exhaled over her, and she flinched when she felt the being launched out of her. Her skin crawled from the removal, but quickly warmed up when the Megami Tsurugi shone slightly in its sheathe. She looked over her shoulder at the newcomer, staring at him curiously.

"He's... not part of Xastra, is he?" she asked quietly.

===In Quebec===

There was a deafening crash as the gigantic Khaglessi slammed into the large dome. Despite the strength of the unholy stone, many of the spikes blunted upon impact with the colossal black frame of the demon, and the scythe-bladed claws and talons sank into the stone. Re-Tuul shrieked in anger, and minor cracks extended out from where his claws had penetrated.

The five ebon eyes of the Khaglessi zeroed in on the dome and he grinned insanely. The Yomi-Chi started creeping up around the demon's arms and legs, morphing and bending to accomodate its shape, making new armor with it that blended with his skin to make something entirely new. He was increasing his overall power through the evil element, while weakening the structural integrity of the dome itself. A win-win situation for him, even if Carnax was no longer underneath the dome.

Matt always hated the really awkward moments where nobody talked to each other. This was one of those moments-as he leaned against the Firebird, arms folded, staring out in some direction ahead of him, no one would dare utter a word. How could you break this kind of silence? Matt wished he knew, it was irritating at times.

He couldn't blame them, really. Helena and Hugo were travelling with young men who wielded vast, destructive powers, powers even they couldn't sometimes handle. You had to be a little crazy for this train, that's for sure...

Matt decided to speak up first when R.D. was close enough. "We good?"

R.D. stopped when he was close enough to talk, and looked back over his shoulder. "Yeah, I think so," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "I guess... I was taking it for granted."

"Don't." Matt unfolded his arms, walked over to the driver's side. "It happens."

Man, he was great in a crisis, huh? He always sucked at these kind of things...

R.D. merely nodded and entered the passenger seat, cradling his arm slightly. His body had improved rather quickly since he woke up last night, and he was tempted to get rid of the remaining bandages. However, for now, he kept them on, and merely looked outside as they drove off.

"So, any clue where it's at now?" he asked, referring to the Gateway.

"It's north," Matt replied. "As north as you can get without crossing the ocean."

"...you think it's the last one?" Helena asked.

"Maybe." He glanced back at her. "We'll have to find out."

R.D. frowned, and continued looking out the window. "So it'll be a while before we get there, huh?" he muttered, not at all liking the fact that they were still so far from the Gateway.

Kalmar saw the two massive attacks collide, wondering if Blazen would be able to hold out long enough to defeat the evil beast.

The Demon Hunter quickly summoned his greatsword, shooting toward the Devil Guardian's neck's underside at incredible speeds. He charged massive amounts of energy into the weapon, holding it out to his left side with both hands on it's hilt.

Hopefully while the damned beast is distracted, I can get a good hit in.

As he neared the gem, Kalmar would slash at it, using his incredible speed and the energy imbued blade to powerfully strike the gem.

The Devil Guardian screamed as the weapon began its cut, and the explosion of power released by its beam war cancelled out both attacks. More burns were created by the dying embers of Blazen's shot, but the ground underneath the God of Fire shattered and exploded beneath them. The greatsword cleaved into the jewel, grinding away at it... only to become stuck halfway through.

The Devil Guardian bellowed, and the jewel began to flicker and then blaze. Lightning flashed around it, and the crystal growing from the collarbone of the massive creature erupted with a wave of unholy power.

Kalmar yelled as the massive wave of power swept over him, leaving him burned and bleeding. After the attack was over, he let go of his greatsword and fell, landing roughly on the ground near the Devil Guardian.

He rose, using every ounce of strength he had to get out of the way of the creature. The Demon Hunter weakly flew to a nearby stone, nearly collapsing as he landed on it.

It seems like the jewel was no weakpoint.

A reddish-black fire covered him as he drew on his contained demonic powers, his wounds once again slowly closing themselves, though his garments were a mess of burns, cuts, and blood stains.

Meta looked upon the great Beast, not fearful in the slightest, though a feeling of disturbance rumbled through her being for a bit. "Who else should I be?" She answered the Beast's question with a somewhat rhetorical one of her own. "But yes, I am Meta, Hydro." She continued speaking after an awkward moment of silence. "Do you know why I am here?"

Re-Tuul sneered as it hopped up into the air and landed atop the Yomi-Chi dome Carnax had created, creating more specialized armor on his legs as he absorbed the evil element. The demon was perched atop the dome much like a vulture, and as the demon spread its arms out, the forked and barbed tail lashed the ground. Re-Tuul's wings spread out wide, and the massive demon began drawing in the power of his master.

The sky was suddenly aflame, and lightning blasted downwards to the cold, snowy land. It struck Re-Tuul's right arm and danced along the length of it, reaching his hand, and he clenched. Something began to take form, something long and massive. Soon, a crimson-colored lance took form, the lower two-thirds of it being a long, pointed haft, while the upper third of it split out and spiraled in a double helix three times before shooting out into two long, cruel blades. Thunder crashed and a massive bolt of lightning struck down between the two gigantic monsters, and the transformed Khaglessi screeched a deafening challenge to the Seventh Beast as the Shadowbringer gleamed in his scythe-bladed hand.

===In Japan===

Alasea stared at the child curiously, then slowly walked over to Awai and the boy. She kneeled down in front of the boy--Mercy, Awai had called him?--and gave him a friendly smile, extending a hand out to him. "Hi," she said quietly. "I'm Alasea."

Matt rubbed his chin, allowing himself a smirk. "Well...I could always use Radical Good Speed..."

"No," Hugo snapped immediately. "Fuck. No. You're not usin' that crap."

"Come onnnnnnnn-!" Matt false-whined. "It won't be THAT bad."

"Let's just drive, okay?" Hugo said.

R.D. merely shook his head at their antics, smiling slightly. He'd hate to imagine what being thrown around in Radical Good Speed would do to his injured body.

A week had passed before Matt realized something was amiss.

The feeling had hit him as they were driving through the downtown section of a small, abandoned city. He hit the brakes, and the car lurched as it stopped.

"What the hell was that for?" Hugo snapped.

"...I made a mistake," Matt said. He glanced at the rest of the party. "The next Gateway is near here. Close."

When Matt had hit the brakes, R.D. had been asleep at the time. His body lurched forward, and his head slammed against the dashboard and as pain burst across his forehead, he let loose a string of obscenities that would rival even Hugo's foul mouth. As he rubbed his head, a look of annoyance crossed his face and his eyes flashed yellow for a brief second.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, taking control of his emotions. If there was going to be a fight, he was anxious. He had yet to test out his Cipher powers, and his body had only now fully recovered.

Blazen panted as the two powers finally ended, hardly having any energy for himself. He glared up at the guardian but before he could do much more, the ground under him collapsed. He yelped and fell down the ridge and landed on another cliff. He grunted as he slowly brought himself to his hands and knees, wincing slightly as he got up. He couldn't believe he lost that power struggle. Well maybe he didn't truly lose, but he felt as if he did, and lost humiliatingly.

Blazen then pulled himself to a standing position, coughing. He panted still, unable to catch enough air quickly enough to satisfy the flames within his body that were quickly dying from the lack of oxygen. He then fell back a bit leaning against the mountain side, panting still. Blazen attempted to make a flame in his palm, in case the beast attempted at his life. Blazen was only able to produce a baseball sized white fireball, hardly of any use against the gigantic beast, but it was better than nothing. Still, Blazen continued to pant, eying the beast that towered above him.

The five eyes of Re-Tuul's black face narrowed, and blazed with an unholy red light. The red Shadowbringer spear spun rapidly in the air as the giant Khaglessi twirled it in his hand and slammed it, blades down, into the dome and the ground. Red light flared into the other point of the weapon, shining rapidly, and Khaglessi's draconic wings grew taut, spreading outwards into the air. Orange lines began to creep through them, making the ocular designs once more. The fires of Hell spread outward from the blades that were impaled into the ground, and at three points, the firl burst and swirled, forming pillars of magma that streaked for the skies. The middle pillar turned blood red and crimson, the one on the left warped into a cold, freezing blue, and the one on the right blazed into a molten gold color.

Three figures formed in the magma, taking unique shapes. From the red pillar, a tailed, mostly humanoid creature formed, with a massive, hulking frame and blackish-gray spikes jutting from its back and down its sides. Horns curled around from its head as red hide formed. The fire burst, and the form of Diablo, Lord of Terror, appeared in the air, arms crossed and gold eyes staring out.

From the blue pillar, the creature that emerged was skeletal, the ruined upper half of a corpse, only much bigger. Two extra spines jutted out from the middle, and flesh was bound between them and the lengthy, skeletal arms. The head was a humanoid skull with two massive, three foot horns extending upwards, and ethereal, hellish mist filled with agonized souls drifted down from his body. The flames swirled away into nothing, revealing the body of Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, arms spread and power flowing through him.

From the gold pillar, the beast within had dead gray flesh, and stood on four pointed, barbed legs. Rotted robes with black fur covered the upper body, crowned with a gruesome, humanoid head with a multitude of sharp tentacles extending backwards. Horns jutted from the shoulders of gnarled arms, and the back contained dozens of long spikes that ripped through the cloak. The flames burned away into nothing, and the form of Baal, Lord of Destruction, stood in the air, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he stared at their foes.

The claws of Re-Tuul shoved the Shadowbringer downwards, dislodging it, and the awful squeal that rent the air would pierce through the minds of the new enemies, tormenting even the strongest of their minds with its ferocity. And a strange, awful noise sprang up into all of their minds, feral and full of rage as the five eyes locked onto Carnax:

MINE.

===In Japan===

Alasea's smile widened, and she nodded to the boy. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said kindly, before she detected a strange blending of lifeforces in the air. Her eyes went wide and she carefully stood up as she recognized two of those lifeforces: two monsters her friend Matt had vanquished in battle, one in a dock somewhere, the other on Persior. Her wide eyes searched out to Awai, and and she asked, "Do you feel it? They're back. Someone's summoned them back."

===In Germany===

The Devil Guardian roared out in fury, eyes glowing with unholy power. Its claws slammed into the ruined dirt, and the tendrils on its back glowed black. They immediately lanced upwards and changed direction, stabbing downwards into the ground at Blazen and Kalmar.

"I shall, big one," Meta replied, "for my determination is greater than yours." Her eyes narrowed slightly and a grin of apparant amusement of what was yet to come appeared on her face. This will be easier than the last one.

Kalmar quickly moved out of the way, blasting into the sky moments before being skewered by the Devil Guardian's dark tendrils.

He quickly changed direction, heading straight for the beast's head.

I'm sick of this shit. He chuckled darkly as a grim plan came to mind. He quickly summoned his demonic scythe, charging it with as much energy as he could muster.

Let's see if you can find me now.. As the Demon Hunter neared the beast, he threw the charged scythe directly at the beast's nearest eye, then quickly changed his flight path. He angled downward, his right fist bursting into flames as he activated the Devilhand again.

He roared as he chambered his arm back, quickly thrusting it forward in an attempt to crush the Devil Guardian's windpipe, or at least distract it until Blazen could attack it.

---- Inside the Quebec research compound ----

The small group of ten scrambled into the compound, not wanting any part of the battle outside. The ground rumbled from the historical brawl happening within a few miles of the men.

"Alright, move." A tall man proceeded forward, quickly followed by the nine behind him. They were all dressed in snow fatigues, assorted weaponry was scattered throughout the group.

Their weapons were held straight forward, steady and always scanning for enemies. Three laser sights moved silently along the corridor, the men ignoring the gore that surrounded them.

LCPL. Jones led his small attachment of Marines through the dimly lit corridor, his assault rifle one of the three that had it's laser sight on. On his left flank was PFC. Smith, holding another assault rifle, laser sight focused forward. On LCPL. Jones' right flank was PFC. Newman, holding the last of the trio of assault rifles. Behind Newman was PFC. Potter, equipped with a combat shotgun. Behind PFC. Smith was PFC. Baker, holding an sub-machine gun. Behind PFC. Baker was PFC. Carlos, holding two 9mm pistols like a wannabe cowboy, a grenade launcher hanging from his back. Behind PFC. Potter was PFC. Augustine, holding a 9mm pistol with a sniper rifle slung across his back. The rear guard also held an assault rifle, PFC. Roberts slowly walked backwards as his weapon patrolled their backs.

As they approached the first corner, LCPL. Jones heard voices, and the faint sound of footsteps. He held his fist up and the Marines all took a knee, weapons trained at the corner as though expecting an ambush. Jones edged his way to the corner, looking into the dark hallway across from him. He spotted what looked to be human just turning the corner from sight into a dark hallway. Looking the other way he barely made out the shapes of three men moving cautiously down the other hallway.

"Smith, Potter, Carlos." LCPL. Jones said quietly, but with an air of expected command.

"Yes, Sir." They replied in coincidental unison.

"You follow me this way," he pointed to the hallway across from him.

"Newman, Baker, Augustine, Roberts."

"Yes, Sir." They replied, though in less unison than the others.

"Follow those men down this hallway," moving his head to gesture down the straight hallway, "See what their up to. I hope their friendly."

"Aye Aye, Sir." The four Marines quickly filed into the hallway, two on each side as they followed the three ahead of them.

"Okay, move." LCPL. Jones got up from his kneeling position and began moving down the hallway, waiting for the three other men to follow before securing the corner and continuing on.

"Contact!" Yelled Timmons as he fired his assault rifle down a corridor that the group turned to. There at the end was a large demon who remained ducked as it roared and rushed the three soldiers. Timmons was able to keep steady and controlled three round bursts as his twin continually gave quick shots with his 9mm. Hudson however was unable to stop pulling the trigger as he fired in full auto, hitting the walls more than the demon. The demon reached the end of the hall, its horns and claws scrapping the corridors. The three soldiers back peddled and shot franticly at the large demon, who roared a second time before attempted to gut Timmons as he reloaded his pistol. He dropped the magazine and was forced to pull out his sniper rifle.

"Bring him to his knees!" Timmons called to his comrades who then focused on the knees of the beast. The demon bellowed in pain and quickly fell from lack of support. Timmons took quick aim in his scope and fired, shooting the demon between the eyes. It roared no more and fell with a thud. Timmons came to one of the claws and kicked it aside, retrieving his pistol magazine, witch he quickly loaded and cocked the barrel.

Meanwhile Patterson's group had no contact, but were able to hear the gunfire of their second group. Patterson continued forward, his gun eye level. Ross then came up next to him, he kept his weapon eye level as well but his eyes turned to Patterson.

"Sir...do you think Hudson can take this? Maybe we should have hidden him, you know how he scares easily, sir." Ross expressed his worries for his fellow soldier. Patterson shook his head.

"He'll be fine, ju-" Then in a flash all three soldiers spun around, taking a knee and aiming at the group behind them. The team had barely heard then approaching and because of their training, any noise was treated as a possible hostile. It was to their relief to see humans, but this could still go either way.

"State your names, over there, this is an order of Lieutenant. Patterson!" Patterson ordered, if they were friendly, then the names would be given promptly, if not Patterson would consider them hostile.

....In the Mountains of Germany....

Blazen had gained some more oxygen and was able to produce a more powerful flame. Blazen then was able to spare some heat to his feet. He panted slightly still, keeping the oxygen flowing through him. Blazen then was able to float up slowly then dart away as the tendrils came at him. Blazen threw his fireball at one, setting on fire. He panted still, using a bit of heat to make it spread.

Blazen then looked up to the guardian and shot to one of its forelegs. He would need to bring this beast down a bit to fight it more fairly. Blazen then came to the back elbow of the foreleg, or knee. He produced a large flame and threw it into the inside of the joint. Hopefully this would make it have a nice amount of pain and help weaken the beast further and have it lose some of the seemingly endless power it had.

The gigantic Devil Guardian roared angrily as the scythe swept in, carefully moving its head before its eye was damaged. The serrated blade of the weapon cutting deeply into the flesh underneath the eye as it swept past.

The pained, furious roar it released was deafening. Its forearm swept up into the air, and streaked downwards at Kalmar as he shot in to attack its throat. The flames Blazen shot scorched the side of its arm due to its movement, as well as burning its neck slightly.

---- Quebec Research Compound ----

LCPL. Jones, along with PFC. Smith, Potter and Carlos rushed forward, hearing the gunshots and the deep demonic roar ahead.

They reached the other group just as the beast fell, but the Marines would take no chances. The four men quickly took a knee, training their weapons on the fallen beast and the three men.

"Identify yourselves. Names and ranks. Or else, God help you."

Newman, Baker, Augustine and Roberts also quickly took a knee as the group they were shadowing turned. Upon hearing LT. Patterson's command, they quickly responded.

"PFC. Newman, along with PFC. Baker, PFC. Roberts, and PFC. Augustine, under the command of LCPL. Jones, Sir."

PFC. Newman was in command of the four PFC's, so he responded to LT. Patterson's question. "Under orders from LCPL. Jones we followed you to determine your allegiance."

---- German Mountains ----

Kalmar cursed under his breath as his scythe swept past the Devil Guardian's head, but let loose a string of curses when the gigantic front claw of the beast came to block his attack.

He changed tactics quickly, using the charged energy from the Devilhand to fire a powerful corrupted energy beam past the creature's claw and into it's neck.

Afterwards, he would dodge the claw and summon his demonic scythe again, charging it with energy as he flew up and turned around, preparing for another attack.

Edited by Fallen on September 2, 2007 at 13:50:07.

The Devil Guardian's head swerved out of the way, causing the beam to shoot off into the air as its claw slammed into the destroyed ground. Its eyes glowed, and as Kalmar began his vertical flight, the many spikes on the beast's shoulder shone fiercely, and dark beams lanced out from each tip at the Demon Hunter.