Blazen bent over in pain slightly as the crafty girl gave him a nice hit to the gut. His grip was gone, allowing the girl to escape. However, Naze was hardly moved. Blazen straightened after the shock pasted. He stared at the girl, empty eyes that were as still as stone remained on her. They moved on after a moment to Kalmar. It seems...things weren't going as planned. Blazen ran a hand through his hair. Blazen looked back at them. He found no hope in getting one to kill him.

"Kalmar, I want you to remember my offer..." Blazen then began to turn around, planning to leave. Naze was planning another way to be released. So without much other word, he suddenly darted off. As long as that daughter was there, Naze's hope for freedom was slim to none. He would continue off, unsure what to do if they were to follow.

The strike glanced off of the Tenma-Aisu and R.D. cursed as the armor shredded the upper plating of Shell Bullet, sending chips flying everywhere, with only the fist intact. And then he was falling, plummeting towards the waters below.

This sucks, he thought, suddenly angry. No way was he letting that ice dragon get away with this one.

He righted himself easily with the thrusters on his back and boots, hovering over the water for a moment. He ripped the helmet off of his head and grinned up at Kujo. Time to step things up a notch.

The helmet suddenly disappeared as the matter converter consumed it, and R.D. stretched his right hand out and clenched. Lifting it up to eye level, he grabbed his upper arm with his left hand and unleashed Lumiya's power, causing his body to glow in a prismatic light.

"More power!"

A crude metallic mask appeared over the right side of his forehead and his cheek, made of orange metal.

"And more!"

Light spiralled into his back, creating a stylized dragon wing propeller, curving around and downwards.

"And more!"

Metal seemed to grow out of his arm, making his arm look larger, more menacing, the forearm covered in a massive gauntlet with a circular hand and clawed finger.

"Shine brighter!"

R.D. lifted Shell Bullet Burst into the air, glowing with power and undoubtedly attracting Kujo's attention with his new weapon. Light fled as he lifted the gauntlet up, opening up the energy accelerator in its fist. Gold energy was sucked into it in a torrential whirlpool, strengthening him as the propeller on his back began to spin, issuing out silver flame. The water split as he flew across it, zig-zagging across before shooting up into the air.

"Shell Bullet Burst!" he roared as he sent his fist flying at Kujo.

===In Germany===

"I'll get him back!" Kalmar shouted back at Ellie as he ran after Naze, pumping his legs as hard as he could. He had to get his friend back! He was his first since that whore of a wife cursed him like this. He wasn't going to lose him so soon!

Rage suddenly flowing through him, Kalmar was enveloped in a black aura of power, and he blasted across the ground, hot in Naze's trail.

Blazen then suddenly stopped when the trampling sounds of Kalmar was heard closing in. Blazen would then jump above Kalmar as he would pass under him. Blazen would then land both hands behind his back. Perhaps Kalmar would be blind enough in his rage to accidentally kill Blazen? Blazen tilted his head to the side a bit.

"So, have you come to save your friend? He is gone, Kalmar. There is only Naze now. He. Is. Dead." Blazen said darkly, trying to evoke Kalmar's rage further. He could almost feel the rage from Kalmar now, it being palpable in the very air they stood. It almost comforted Naze to know that darkness is what would power that rage, a darkness Naze could perhaps bend to his will.

((Sorry guys. It's been a while.))

X peered into the darkness and saw nothing. Footsteps suddenly echoed behind him.

"Xy-boy! Buddy! Look here, the old guy wanted to teach you a few things, but I kind felt like I had to pop in first for a second. We're old friends, ain't we? Light and dark. Two sides of the same coin, aren't I right?"

"Wh-who are you?" X shouted into the darkness.

"Like a knife in my heart there, old pal." The voice returned, "don't tell me you don't know your own shadow?"

----
"Well, normally we'd charge a hefty amount for it, but we'll infuse it into your shield free of charge, seeing as we owe X quite a bit. any friend of his, is a friend of ours after all." He told the man.

"I'll be the judge of that," Kalmar snarled, skidding to a halt while pivoting around. He dismissed his weaponry, instead clenching his fists, activating Devilhand around both. "Prepare yourself!" he roared, shooting forward. His first strike was a vicious uppercut aimed at Blazen's head, intended to send Naze upwards, and his following spin kick would strike him before he could fly very far, sending him back towards the Pillar of Dawn.

===In NationStates General===

The warrior nodded, looking at the shield thoughtfully for a moment. "Thank you," he said, grateful for the assistance. "What deeds has X done to earn the trust of so many?"

"Hmph." It seemed perhaps that Kalmar's warning was a bit of a bad card to play. As Blazen would then put both hands out, one atop the other to stop the uppercut in its tracks. Then there was the kick to deal with. Actually, it wasn't dealt with. Blazen used both hands to block the uppercut and saw the kick not. Thus he was easily kicked into the pillar. Inside Naze was already in pain, causing Blazen to groan from another exploding head ache.

Kujo's attack caused R.D. to overbalance, and Shell Bullet Burst was deflected. Painfully. He managed to retain the built in power, and even now, as his body forcibly rolled along Kujo's hide before pushing off and being past him, his right hand glowed with bright, golden power. He steadied himself, using the spinning propeller on his back to stay aloft as he glared at Kujo with angry eyes. He grit his teeth, and wondered why the Reaverbots weren't shooting at this particular ice dragon.

Yep. That's right--R.D. didn't realize that this beast was Sheena's second in command. Not that the knowledge would really matter to him at this point, as he aimed his hand at Kujo's backside. Rearing back with his right arm, he punched the air, sending out a barely-discernible wave of force at the ice dragon's backside, meaning to disorient the beast's flight and give him the opportunity to attack. He rose into the air as his force-wave streaked towards Kujo, and then R.D. dove downwards at where Kujo would be.

===In Germany===

Kalmar shot back into the clearing, just as Ellie expected. Naze struck pretty hard against the Pillar of Dawn, but such physical attacks would do nothing to the ancient structure. As Kalmar appeared, the Demon Hunter raised his arm up into the air. This time, it was time to try something that Blazen hadn't seen--and something no one would expect possible from a tainted being like him.

Kalmar flung his left hand down, aiming it at Naze, and chains of energy shot out from his hand--a pair of them, glowing a bright reddish-pink color, spanning out towards Naze and the Pillar of Dawn. Ellie raised an eyebrow. The energy that made the chains was pure, somehow. Did some semblance of purity remain in Kalmar, untarnished by the corruption that had been threatening to consume him? The two chains shot past either side of the Pillar of Dawn and wrapped around and around it, along with Naze, effectively pinning him to the device.

"Now!" Kalmar suddenly shouted at her, and she jumped. Sheepishly, she forgot she had her own role to play here. Quickly she began to ready the spell to stop Naze, and hoped that he didn't break free before he could.

Rocketing down on a gout of silver flame, R.D. roared a battlecry as he plummeted towards Kujo. The ice dragon was filling his vision, and he swung Shell Bullet Burst in an uppercut at Kujo's lower jaw, intending to smash it into his head.

"What the--!?" R.D. cried out as Kujo's jaws engulfed his arm, then bit down on him. He screamed, partly in pain and in anger, the teeth pushing down into the metal of Shell Bullet. His fingers were reflexively being forced open, and R.D. glared. "Alright, you're hungry!? Well, eat this!" he roared, channeling fire energy into a compact sphere in front of his right hand, blazing brightly inside of Kujo's mouth. R.D. forced the Dragon Blaze forward, to incinerate the beast from within as the fireball turned into a roaring dragon head and exploded.

Blazen grunted and struggled as the chains kept him down. Naze, for once in a very long time, grew nervous. He tied to the pillar of dawn, within Blazen's body. Had it been his own, this wouldn't be a problem. But no, he was restricted within the god's. Against the pillar, Naze could feel his power slowly being drained away, as if to be put to sleep. Drowzy was he now and Blazen could feel it as his struggles became less and less.

Crap, R.D. thought as his attack was frozen. The ice smashed into his head, and he cried out in pain as the attack split open his scalp. The momentum of the attack, combined with the tail wrapped around his body, swung R.D. down and behind the beast, narrowly escaping with his arm. Opening his eyes as the swing flung the blood out of his vision, he roared and swung down at Kujo's tell with Shell Bullet Burst, intending to smash the tail right off.

===Germany===

Ellie spun Rakukojin in a circle before stabbing its blade into the dirt, and knelt in front of it with her eyes closed and her hands laced together in prayer. The light of the Pillar of Dawn intensified as Ellie drew in its power to utilize the spell. As she did so, Kalmar grabbed his two chains with his other hand, holding on tight. He didn't want Naze to escape before it was all over.

Edited by RisingDragon on March 23, 2008 at 17:19:07.

"Oh, no you don't," R.D. said, his arms flashing out and taking hold of Kujo's jaws, keeping them open. "I'm done getting bitten." R.D. channeled earth energy, creating a boulder made of steel in Kujo's mouth to clamp down on. He released Kujo's mouth and snatched a Chaos Emerald out of the pocket dimension of his armor, and disappeared with the light of Chaos Control.

R.D. appeared down on the deck of the Riptide, and put the Chaos Emerald away. Snarling, R.D. stared up at Kujo, and dismissed Shell Bullet, using its material to recreate his helmet. Creating one of his arm cannons, R.D. fired a sphere of superheated flame at Sheena's second in command, hoping to catch his attention and make him come after him.

R.D. grit his teeth and caught himself from stumbling when the Riptide suddenly stopped, frozen in the water. He swung a hand back and used his strength to stop the Earthquake from moving too far when it rolled from the stop, then looked back up into the air. The pistons on his arm slammed down one after the other as he sent a flurry of fireballs at Kujo, hoping to distract him so the others could attack. After a moment, he swung his other arm forward and activated its arm cannon, and the amount of fireballs flying at Kujo doubled.

Blazen stared blankly at Kalmar as the chains tightened. Perhaps there may be hope, albiet small, within the demon slayer. Naze needed Blazen away from his pillar if he is to survive. So, in a lash ditch effort, he spoke once more.

"Kalmar. If you allow this daughter to continue, you shall lose perhaps your only chance to be free of that arm!" Naze called out, trying to save himself.

"What?" Kalmar said, startled. His grip on the chains slackened ever so slightly.

"Kalmar, don't listen to him!" Ellie shouted.

"You heard me! I can extract all of the darkness within your arm, and make it human once more. You shall be cursed by it no more! All you must do is let. Me. Go." Blazen said, getting calmer, yet firmer with each word.

"Bahamut saved us again after another wave of monsters attacked us, when Kalmar left. R.D. was unconscious, and we were all too weak to fight anymore. Bahamut took us on his back and flew us to safety," Alasea continued, remembering how the leviathan had rained fiery devastation on the shadow creatures once they were airborne, "And took us off to Asia. There was a portal there that we had to find. But before that, we... *sigh* got attacked again. There was just no end to it."

===Germany===

"And sell my soul to the devil in the process!?" Kalmar roared, surprising both Naze and Ellie. He yanked back the glowing chains, tightening them even more around Naze. Light was flaring around Ellie as she cast the spell. A shining beacon of light erupted from the tip of the Pillar of Dawn, piercing the heavens with its brightness. Spheres of light blazed into existence around Naze, circling him so rapidly they seemed like beams, from the trails of light they left behind. It was growing too bright to look at Naze directly.

Edited by RisingDragon on March 25, 2008 at 17:11:52.

Blazen closed his eyes, his headache exploding over and over again. The pain hurt him more than before and he was screaming as the lights swirled around him. He pushed and pushed on the chains, trying to be free and run from the pain, to never be around the light again. Of course, because of Kalmar's chains, this proved impossible. So remained Blazen, screaming in what seemed like an everlasting pain.