"You first!" Helena shouted. A burst of warmth fired across Matt's back - she was generating a high-power attack. Hugo's pickaxe rattled as it unloaded gunfire on Re-Tuul, while Soma declared "Gergoth!" and sliced a blue laser beam at the demon. Matt leapt up and rushed Re-Tuul personally, swinging blows left and right. Had to get him to drop the sword.

As the Gergoth laser lanced out at Re-Tuul, he banked at the last possible second, preventing his wing from being seared off instead of the mass of black feathers that were incinerated. He quickly began regenerating them as he continued his flight, darting around Hugo's shots and slapping one of them away with his blade.

The Khaglessi spotted Matt soar in to attack him, and he doubled his advanced to meet him halfway--flipping his blade over to its flat bludgeon end, he raised up his weapon and swung. Due to Matt's attacks, his swipe missed, but he didn't stop there. Quickly turning into the attacks, he struck again with a powerful side-swing aimed at Matt's chest.

Quick thinking helped Matt spring his energy blade up just in time to block the slash. "Back off!" He unloaded a hard kick into Re-Tuul's side.

The kick knocked Re-Tuul back, and he fought to right himself before his enemies could follow up. He straightened out, just in time to see a ray of green energy lance through the air only a food away from his eel-like face.

Twisting about, he saw R.D. rise up from where he had been launched off, now clad in the Dragon King Armor. His blaster sword, a Nova Reactor, and his four cannons had been created with it, and he was firing repeatedly at his nemesis. "I won't let you hurt my friends!" he snarled at the Khaglessi, lowering his blaster sword and causing his shoulder-mounted cannons to swing into place and charge.

Re-Tuul sneered and darted forward at him, ignoring his fight with Matt. As he swooped in, R.D. fired, and red beams of plasma sheathed in azure cut through the sky. Re-Tuul expertly ducked beneath the blast and closed the distance, barrel-rolling with his blade extended. In an instant, it sheared through the barrels of the two cannons, and they exploded violently, covering them both in smoke.

"Heh." Re-Tuul pulled back from the cloud, examining his handiwork. He froze, however, when one hand, followed by another, shot out of the smoke, grabbing ahold of his before he could move. R.D. pulled himself out, his eyes blazing gold behind the dark visor. He activated the Godhand in both hands, and began applying crushing force to Re-Tuul's claws.

"You're not getting away from me this time, freak!" he said with a snarl.

Re-Tuul merely laughed despite the pain erupting in his arms. "Oh come on!" he chuckled. "You never were able to save those you cared about!"

"Bastard!" R.D. screamed, incensed by Re-Tuul words as memory tried to slide across his consciousness. The right-mounted hip cannon swung up and locked into place, and energy lanced out of it, forming into a sword. With a twist of his waist, R.D. stabbed the hidden blade forward at Re-Tuul's gut.

Surprised, the demon lurched upwards, narrowly avoiding the thrust--not to me outdone, R.D. twisted himself about, trying to slice him in half, but to no avail--even with his arms pinned, Re-Tuul was far too maneuverable.

"A hidden blade!?" Re-Tuul sneered, sounding amused. "I've got one too!"

And a cutting beam of orange energy lanced out from his feet, and with a quick swipe, he sliced off the hip cannon and its energy blade with the right one. Without Lumiya to control its energy, it too quickly exploded, knocking R.D. back. Re-Tuul flapped his wings and propelled himself backwards, and it was only a quick noise on the wind that alerted him of Alasea closing in.

He twisted about and locked blades with the girl, causing their opposing powers to flare out of control between them. "R.D.!" Alasea shouted, quickly seeing him recover.

The blade of his blaster sword swung up into place, and R.D. charged forward. "Die, Re-Tuul!" he roared as he swung.

The blade smashed against one of the energy blades on Re-Tuul's feet.

"What!?" he and Alasea both exclaimed at the same time, seeing Re-Tuul effortlessly defend against a pincer strike.

"Heh. Meteor Fangs!"

Two of the weapons broke off from Re-Tuul's back and swooped around, charging energy into their barrels. They fired simultaneously, and both of them screamed as the explosion sent them hurtling through the air.

"Guess you two can die together!" the Khaglessi snarled, lifting his blade up high.

A flash of heat surged past Matt - Helena's massive fiery serpent rammed right into Re-Tuul, engulfing the demon in its fiery jaws. Matt shot a quick look at Helena. Her claws twitched to control the summon. And she looked PISSED.

The flame snake raged forward until it had smashed Re-Tuul into the wall, charring its surface as the demon's skin cracked and burned. After a moment, Re-Tuul began fighting back, pushing back from the wall while forming a barrier in front of him. Using the momentary reprieve, he flew out of the way of the flame snake as it overcame the barrier.

With a crash, he landed on the platform, grinning as bubbling pitch ran out from his torched body. He grinned in sadistic amusement before he lunged, his destroyed left hand merging with metallic particles to create a segmented drill.

Matt landed in the snow with a muffled whump as Soma cried out. "Harpies!" Above his shoulders, a trio of beautiful women with bare chests and feathery wings appeared. The monsters rushed Re-Tuul, their claws raking the air.

The claws tore into Re-Tuul's burnt flesh, staggering him with each scratch and causing black blood to fly thick through the air. One claw bit deep into the severely damaged right arm of the Khaglessi, and it went flying away as it was severed, taking the fractured blade with it.

Re-Tuul snarled at the pain, but the regeneration quickly began reversing the damage to his burns, and he jumped forward, slashing at Soma with the energy blades emanating from his feet.

Soma slashed back with Claimh Solais to counter Re-Tuul's sword feet. Soma knew how to wield that thing, but he couldn't clash with Re-Tuul forever. Fortunately, Hugo re-entered the fray by unloading his Force Option into Re-Tuul's face.

Re-Tuul found himself tumbling backwards, end over end off of the platform. Alasea and R.D. finally returned to it, having recovered from Re-Tuul's brutal counterattack, and readied their weapons to blast the demon out of the sky.

Quickly, the Khaglessi recovered and snapped up straight, wings flaring out--particles of black and white swirled down, repairing the rest of the damage that had been inflicted on him, and regenerating his severed arm. He grinned at them, and lines of energy raced across his outstretched wings, forming quadruple ocular designs.

R.D. recognized the attack--last time, powerful beams had shot from the wings to tear through just about everything they came across. "Scatter!" he shouted at the others. "Get off the platform!"

With an insane laugh, the demon fired, and instead of the thick, powerful beams, hundreds of energy bolts lanced through the air in a conical spray at the platform.

"SHIT!" Matt dived for the snow as Re-Tuul's attack minced the platform into rubble. Matt quickly pushed himself up to check on the others - thank God Helena and Soma had managed to dive before they were massacred. They had to stop this guy, now.

Matt threw himself up to his feet and spread his arms. "Who wants shish kabobs?!" he yelled, trying to draw Re-Tuul's attention towards him. The falling snow crystallized into floating globs of ice, which formed into needles poised to hammer Re-Tuul from all directions like a freezing iron maiden.

The demon really was maneuverable, R.D. noted as Re-Tuul banked and ducked and darted about, doing his best to avoid the icy spears as they shot in from random directions. His black-marked white body was quickly being shredded by the attacks that he wasn't able to dodge perfectly, and each movement was scattering droplets of blood through the air.

"This isn't working," Alasea said, panting from the exertion of their last dodge. "He's just gonna regenerate from that."

Sure enough, the attacks didn't seem to be slowing the demon down any, and some of the cuts were already gone as they had regenerated. "Is that all you've got!?" the demon suddenly sneered, holding an arm out.

"Matt, look out!" Ileyna screamed as a disk of energy formed. With a sweep of his hand, Re-Tuul flung the cutting disks at Matt in an attempt to dismember him.

Shit! The familiar disks swooped in and Matt found himself stampeding through the snow, rolling and leaping to avoid the blades. Even that wasn't enough - the edges of a few grazed him through his shoulder and thigh, forcing him to his knees.

"Dammit!" Matt spat, trying to ignore the blood sopping into his jacket as he stood back up. Alasea was right, poking this guy with weak attacks wouldn't slow him down at all. What they needed it something so vicious that he couldn't come back from it.

"Hey!" Helena snapped at Re-Tuul's back. "Get back over here!" Hefting a spear of flame, she threw it at the demon.

Re-Tuul lifted up and metallic particles swarmed in around his wrist, forming into panels that combined into a circular shield--his hand was torched as the spear struck it, but the flames burst and dissipated over the metal shield. "Guess losing a leg wasn't enough for you, girl," he sneered, turning his attention to Helena.

With a flap of his wings, Re-Tuul soared down to attack the weredragon, only to halt suddenly as a blue beam of light cut down from the night sky. More beams lanced down as Ileyna attacked, and Re-Tuul deftly avoided each beam. "Come on, come and get me!" the girl hollered down at the demon, trying to lure it away from Helena.

"You're all just so eager to die," the demon muttered.

"Hey, asshole!" someone shouted behind him, causing the demon to start. He whipped around, just in time to see R.D. slash at him, lopping his left arm and wing off. Without it to keep him aloft, Re-Tuul plummeted.

"Shoot him!" Hugo shouted. "Shoot him now!"

The bracer clacked around to the yellow gem and Matt unloaded a heavy burst of lightning. "Thunder Blast!"

"Gergoth!" Soma fired the familiar blue laser.

Soma's laser struck first, burning into Re-Tuul, and was soon followed by the lightning. Between the force of the two attacks, along with Re-Tuul's own falling momentum, the demon soon plummeted straight into the sea. Lightning burst out everywhere across the stormy waters in a brilliant display.

Farther back in the sea, the water surged up and exploded into a large geyser as Re-Tuul erupted from it. As he came around, his wings flared open, the ocular designs coming back. "That's it!" he snarled. "All of you die!"

Four orange beams of energy lanced through the air at them.

With a yell, Matt threw out his hands to throw up his energy shield. Soma leapt next to him and did the same - together, their shields bounced the orange beams away from the others.

"This guy's really starting to piss me off!" Matt yelled.

"Can't we stop his regeneration?" Soma said.

"Hell if I know!"

Alasea aimed her weapon at Re-Tuul, a brilliant white sphere charging at its tip. In a moment, the Aura Strafe sent a piercing beam of light through the air, narrowly slipping through Re-Tuul's attack and smashing into his chest. It cut into the demon, and he cut off his attack, turning his attention to her.

And then, moving faster than any of them had seen from him before, the demon crossed the distance to the tower, sweeping past the others and smashing into the Daughter of Dawn. Her scream was cut short as she slammed hard against the wall and rebounded off, and in an instant the demon was upon her.

She tried to get up when the demon slammed a foot down between her breasts, shoving her back down into the snow. "That's not nearly enough to stop me, girl," he sneered. He lifted his foot up and planted it again, this time against her throat. "You don't have even a tenth of the power you need to stop me."

Alasea clawed at his leg, making gagging noises as she tried to breathe. Re-Tuul just kept putting pressure on her throat, and she started to turn blue from the lack of oxygen. At this rate, she'd suffocate--if Re-Tuul didn't snap her neck first.

Suddenly, air entered her lungs and she started coughing, clutching at her throat--R.D. had entered a primal rage, and had smashed him off the girl. Helmet missing and armor fractured in numerous place, R.D. attacked with a wordless snarl and his eyes flashing gold. Re-Tuul was smashed back into the wall and soon found his eel-like face on fire as R.D.'s Shining Finger burned into existence. In moments, the flesh gave way and the demon's skull caved in causing blood and brains and bits of skull to explode in every which direction.

Re-Tuul's lifeless body slumped against the wall, his black blood running down the cold tower walls from where it had splattered as his skull was collapsed by the Shining Finger. But before long, his gift activated once more, returning his life to him--a claw flashed out, leaving bloody trails across R.D.'s face, and he staggered backwards, roaring in pain as he clutched at his face. Re-Tuul grinned underneath his ruined skull.

His tongue flicked out across his lips, cleaning the blood off of them as he grabbed R.D. by a plate of bent armor. "Nice try," he whispered, hauling R.D. up and flinging him away from him. Immediately, the demon's wounds began to regenerate.

Damn it! They were hammering this douchebag left and right and he STILL kept coming back! Only one idea came to Matt's mind. Hope it was good! "All right, that's it!" he snapped. "Everyone! On my mark-"

Matt's final battle cry was interrupted by a windy whistle from behind. He craned his neck, and had to turn it back around as a metal cross, spinning at high speeds and charged with holy power, smashed into Re-Tuul and exploding the wall with the impact.

Re-Tuul's regeneration was partially canceled out as the cross struck, leaving only part of his face restored. Snarling, the demon pulled himself out of the wall and flicked his wrist, causing the metallic particles to bind down into a single weapon; the traditional double-bladed greatsword he normally carried. He looked about, face snapping in quick, precise moments, as he searched for his new assailant.

Ileyna had spun about as she saw the charged cross go flying past her head and into Re-Tuul, and froze instantly at the person she saw. Slowly, she backed away, getting out of the man's path.

The cross arced back around, easily slicing through the brick, and landed cleanly in the newcomer's hand. He looked down on them from a snowy bank looming above their necks, sheltered by the sparse trees.

"Julius!" Soma said.



"Who is that?" Hugo shouted, pickaxe flickering being aimed at Re-Tuul and the newcomer.

Julius leapt down from the bank and ran past Soma without a word. Pulling a vial of water from his coat, he flung it at Re-Tuul. The vial burst against his hide and the water within erupted into blue flames as soon as it met the chill air.

Re-Tuul leaped away in an attempt to evade Julius' holy water, but the vampire hunter's aim was too good. He snarled in pain as the waters splashed all over him and ignited, searing at the bone-white skin covering his body.

"Graaaah!"

Wings suddenly expanded from Re-Tuul's back, and with a flap he was airborne, raising up his left hand. Energy gathered into it, forming one of his cutting disks, and he heaved it down at his assailant.

Julius bounded to the side, kicking up snow. With a single movement he pulled at the chain-linked whip hanging from his belt - as it unfurled he slung it around his head like a dervish, once, twice before lashing it across Re-Tuul's face.

The whip left bloody lashes in the side of Re-Tuul's face, criss-crossing over his red joker lips, but the demon kept moving, darting forward through the air at the vampire hunter and landing in a skid through the snow. It puffed up as Re-Tuul swung his weapon with both hands, sending its longer blade careening for Julius' chest.

"Re-Tuul'll tear him apart in the long run," R.D. growled, regrouping with Matt and Soma while he held one bloodstained gauntlet up to his face. "We've gotta help him."

Like the expert vampire hunter Matt expected him to be, Julius caught the blade with his whip and pulled, trying to yank it away. But he was right - Re-Tuul was literal murder for one guy to handle. "Shoot his back!" Matt commanded. "Helena, Hugo, lay some cover fire!"

"Got it!" the Mettaur shouted. The G-Stone aura burned bright as he used his Flame Option as a wide flamethrower. Helena rose her claws and summoned needles of fire to surround Re-Tuul, each one firing at the demon in turn.

Re-Tuul snarled as his greatsword was jerked almost out of his grasp--for a human, this man was incredibly strong. Soon, though, heat washed over his back before it began to burn in several places, and spared a glance backwards.

Seeing them working together was too much. He relinquished his greatsword to the vampire hunter, and mentally shattered it--as it broke down into component particles, he took to the air, unfurling his wings. His right hand exploded into a shredded, meaty mess before reforming around particles, forming his blade arm at his wrist, and the remainder of the particles formed into the Meteor Fangs.

The remote weapons opened up and unleashed their energy spikes before darting for his original prey, and then he darted forward, slashing at Julius with his blade arm--and his lips peeled back into an angry sneer as the weapon clashed against a shimmering sword held by Alasea.

"Out of the way, girl!" he bellowed while thrusting a foot out, kicking the girl out of the way. She let out a shriek as she was shoved back at Julius.

Julius threw back the whip to free a hand, and he caught Alasea in both arms. Soma bounded in before Matt could act, firing more Gergoth laser at the demon's face.

"Watch out!" Helena cried, scooping up Hugo. She leapt away from the platform into the snow, slinging bursts of fire at the Fangs.

Re-Tuul roared in pain as the laser burned into his face, causing him to stagger backwards under the assault and out of the laser's path. R.D. charged forward, summoning up a shield from his armor as the blade of his blaster sword slung into its melee position. The handle of the blaster slung back, causing the cannon to rotate on a swivel in its side--the blade swung up like a traditional broadsword, and crashed hard against Re-Tuul's own metal shield. Re-Tuul pulled his blade arm back, turning it back into a segmented drill before stabbing it forward, forcing R.D. to catch it on his own shield.

Though she was not using her powers, Ileyna slung a hand forward, aimed at the charging Meteor Fangs. Helena's fires seemed to wash off of the remote weapons, and Ileyna knew what she had to do to help.

"Mass Effect!" she cried.

The Stand appeared before her eyes, exercising its powers on the Fangs. Instantly they began to weaken, and suddenly Helena's flames melted right through them, causing them to explode. Three swerves out of the smoke, breaking formation and activating their cannons to pelt the others with beams.

"Soma!" Matt shouted, leaping in and drawing his energy blade. "Let's finish this up!"

Soma nodded, brandishing Claimh Solais. "Right!" Together they ran in and slashed at Re-Tuul's unprotected flanks.

"Barrier Option!" The mobile energy shield unfolded from Hugo's pickaxe to repel the beams. "Throw me up!" She did with a major heft, and as he was airborne, his gun rattled, trying to take out at least one of the Fangs.

As Re-Tuul and R.D. struggled against one another, R.D. mentally linked the Nova Reactor's energies to the blaster sword, and its blade began to shimmer brightly, becoming almost bright blue in its appearance. The light caused faint indentations on the blade to become more pronounced, revealing a single word in very stylized cursive--"Azurewrath."

The charged blade began to leave a deep gouge in Re-Tuul's shield, and the demon struggled to fight back--and then screamed as a pair of blades, both full of energy, ripped across his flank. He faltered, and R.D. struck, shoving forward with sword and shield. As the Khaglessi Patriarch staggered, R.D. spun about, locking the Azurewrath into its gun position--the blade left a bright trail of light as it whipped around, severing the demon's leg off at the thigh. His spin continued, and he lashed out with a foot, kicking the demon hard right in the scar he'd left him years ago.

Re-Tuul flew back hard into the wall and slumped, unbalanced by his missing leg.

"Do it, Soma!" R.D. bellowed. "Steal that bastard's soul!"

Re-Tuul's head jolted up in surprise at the words.