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Enemy of Light and Darkness "The Dark Fiend of Ice is dead," Thalloric Motarius said to Vincent Zeng. "Her lifeforce has been extinguished. You're next, Fire." Motarius lifted his sword, preparing to strike down upon the fallen Vince. "Motarius!" Mandragon shouted across the scene. "May I use the Magnet Tank to kill him instead?" Motarius sighed, then said, "All right. Go ahead." Before Vince could react, he was pulled toward the Magnet Tank. Sailing across the air, he barely saw the plasma blast speeding toward him. He twisted his body to avoid the shot, but he was too slow. The plasma scraped across his chest, tearing through his skin. However, that wasn't the only thing hit. Vince heard a glasslike shatter. He felt his neck and realized that his necklace was now attached to nothing. "The MagiMagnet," Vince thought. "Destroyed?" The Magnet Tank was approaching, or rather, Vince was approaching it. He was headed straight toward Tank's cannon. Quickly, Vince kicked off the gun, throwing himself flat on the floor as the plasma blast shot above him, missing completely. "You annoying worm!" Mandragon shouted over a loudspeaker. The Tank began to move forward, with Vincent right in its path. Vince used his hands to fire an inferno at the Tank. It was useless. The Tank wasn't even singed. "Don't bother," Mandragon said as he drove the Tank. "Fireproof, remember?" Vince rolled way from the Tank back onto his feet. The Tank was still trying to run Vince over. However, Vince simply jumped up. With a forward somersault, he landed in front of the glass bubble protecting Mandragon. With a great battlecry, Vince shoved his flaming right fist through the glass. A few Ragnaroks raised their guns. "No! Don't shoot, you fools! You might hit me!" Mandragon called out. Vince's right fist was now bleeding from the impact. Then, starting from the hole he already made, he began pulling off the glass dome piece by piece, as he would have peeled an eggshell. When the glass cockpit window was completely gone, Vince pulled Mandragon out by the collar. "You killed Chrissy, you bastard!" Vince said. "Now, I'm going to kill you." By the time Vince realized that Mandragon clutched something in his hand, it was too late. Mandragon stabbed it into Vince's abdomen. Vince felt a paralyzing shock. Only with great effort could Vince remove and crush the device. Mandragon had escaped. The Ragnaroks had commenced firing. Quickly, Vince jumped into the driver's seat of the Magnet Tank and ducked to avoid the bullets. Vince fired a few plasma blasts in various directions in attempts to clear away the soldiers. Peeking out, he pointed the tank towards Motarius and Mandragon and made a beeline for them. "Don't worry," Mandragon said when he saw Motarius ready his sword. "I can control the Magnet Tank by remote." Mandragon pressed a few buttons on a hand-held keypad, and the Magnet Tank stopped. Immediately, the Ragnarok soldiers charged. They began climbing up the Tank to reach Vince. Vince quickly let off a shockwave of flame to knock them away, but this only stopped them temporarily. However, Vince noticed that the control panel was now giving off sparks. He reasoned that he must have fried a circuit board somewhere. "This outer shell might be fireproof and invulnerable," Vince thought, "but I bet the inside is nice and soft." Then, Vince bashed a hole through the floor into the Tank's interior. As soon as he saw the wires and circuit boards, he bombarded them with fireballs. Vince quickly curled himself into a protective sphere of flame as the Magnet Tank exploded, sending flaming debris in every direction. The way clear, Vince ran toward the frozen Lake Rheas. Ragnaroks ran after him. Motarius began to move, but Mandragon stopped him. "Don't worry about it," Mandragon calmly said. "I still have Wyvern." The mechanical flying lizard rose from a pile of snow in which it had been hidden and began chasing after Vince. The Wyvern was faster than any of soldiers. It caught up with Vincent within seconds. Vince looked over his shoulder, saw the Wyvern, swore, and began to sprint. The Wyvern fired its machine-gun turrets. Although some bullets hit ice, Vince took several in his legs, causing him to fall. As the Wyvern approached, it fired a burst of plasma from its tail. Using all four limbs, Vince sprung up into the air as the plasma shattered the ice beneath him. The Wyvern sped under him, and Vince just barely avoided the razor sharp wings. Then, gravity pulling him down, Vince fell and splashed into the ice-cold waters of Lake Rheas. Despite the extreme cold, Vince swam with all his might, holding his breath, to escape. "Do we have anything to follow him with?" Motarius asked. "No," Mandragon replied. "We have no submarine vehicles, and I can't seem to be able to detect him on my Magic Radar anymore." "Damn it!" Motarius yelled as he stabbed the ice with his sword. Vince had escaped and there was no way for Ragnarok to follow. "Chrissy... I barely knew you, but now, I miss you more than anything..." *** It was a few hours before sunrise. Vince, cold, shivering, and still the Dark Fiend of Fire, had made his way back to the Shadow Lodging. He directed his eyes to the top of the flagpole and looked at the dark orb at the top. "The followers of Skias are my enemy," Vince thought. "I didn't want to deceive them, but I needed a place to stay. I'll be needing that Shadow Disruptor to hide from Ragnarok. The Shadow were such friendly people. If I take the Disruptor, it could mean the end of their stay here. Still, they are my enemy, and I will have no regrets." Vince began to climb up the flagpole. "An intruder! Someone powerful... I'll need my armor for this one..." *** Vincent jumped down from the flagpole with the dark orb in hand. "What are you doing with the Shadow Disruptor, Fire?" a voice asked. Vince turned to the front door of the Shadow Lodging. There stood a man covered in a grotesque, black armor. His helmet covered his entire face and had forward horns. Vince stopped, unclear as to what move he should make. Suddenly, the armored man gave a battlecry, holding his right arm up. Shards of bone materialized and flew into his hand. The bone pieces arranged themselves into a long shaft. Then, the gray bone became a black metal, forming a sword five feet long and half a foot wide. "A Death Knight?" Vince said to himself. The Death Knight gave a quick swing with his sword, a swing surprisingly fast considering the sword's apparent weight. Vince felt the dark orb knocked out of his hands and saw it bounce in the grassy lawn. He dove for the Shadow Disruptor, but the Knight stabbed his sword into the ground in front of it, blocking Vincent's path. As the Knight reached down to pick up the orb, Vince jumped back and set the grass on fire. In his surprise, the Knight gave a yelp and dropped the orb back into the fire. As the Death Knight ran off the burning grass, Vince ran to a safe distance on the street. "Why are you betraying us?" the Knight asked. "You're one of us." "I can't let you Shadows destroy the world," Vince said. "Destroy?" the Knight replied. "We don't mean to destroy it but save it. The Universe was born from Chaos, and the Universe wants to return to Chaos, because that is its natural state. You see, as time progresses, the Universe will gradually, naturally return to Chaos. It's a scientifically proven fact. Haven't you heard of entropy?" "I don't think that's what entropy means," Vince replied. "We followers of Skias want to help the Universe, to speed up the Universe's return to Chaos," the Knight said. "The Order gets in the way. It's Alliatus and its 'Order' that hurt the Universe, not our Chaos." Vince shouted back, "Just because the Universe is heading toward Chaos doesn't mean it wants Chaos. Chaos is like the Universe's death. It doesn't want to return to Chaos just as much as we don't want to die." "And what is so bad about death?" the Knight replied as he charged in to attack. Vince shot out an inferno to stop him. The flames engulfed the Death Knight, but they couldn't hurt him through his armor. The Knight's charge was slowed, but not stopped. Instead, the Knight slashed out and hit Vincent's torso, knocking him down. "It's no use, Fire," he said. "My armor is impenetrable. You will die, traitor!" The Knight swung his sword downward for a vertical attack. Quickly, Vince stepped back. Then, empowering his hands with flaming energy, Vince closed them onto the sword, one on each side, smashing it to pieces. The Knight simply hopped back and held the broken hilt in the air. Miraculously, all the broken pieces came flying back. The pieces fused with one another and the sword was whole again. "Oh, and my sword is unbreakable," the Death Knight taunted. The Knight then slashed out at Vince again and again. Vince dodged the attacks, but only by a hair's width. Finally, Vince slipped and was cut in the side. He fell over on his back. The Death Knight lunged downward at him. Reacting, Vince rolled to the right. The sword plunged deep into the concrete of the street. Vince quickly grabbed the sword and rolled back, using the momentum of the roll to kick the sword, breaking the handle off. When Vince rolled back onto his feet, he noticed that he still carried a piece of the sword in his hand. He felt it trying to pull away from him and back towards the Death Knight. Vince watched the sword repair itself and realized it was still missing a piece. "Give that piece back to me," the Death Knight said. Vince felt the twisted piece of metal pull harder. This time, Vince didn't resist. He ran with the piece in his hands, letting the piece pull him for greater speed. With his right hand holding onto the piece, Vincent charged. With his left hand, he brushed away the Knight's sword. The piece tried to change direction, but Vince pushed it along in a straight line, a line leading into the Death Knight's chestplate. The impact knocked the Death Knight backwards. The Knight then smacked Vincent's hand with his gauntlet, freeing the piece. After the sword was whole again, he slashed at Vince, cutting into his torso again, knocking him down. However, Vince's attack was not in vain. There was a crack in the Death Knight's armor. The Knight resumed his attack. Vince rolled backwards to get to his feet, then hopped backwards to avoid the slashes. Vince then fired flames over the street, throwing up clouds of dust and debris at the Knight, blinding him. Quickly, Vince ran down the street. Seeing a car, Vince ripped a door off and climbed in. "They always know how to do this in the movies," he said as fumbled with wires. Finally, the car started. Vince drove back to the Shadow Lodging for the Disruptor. However, the Death Knight stood in his path. Vince didn't care. He hit the Knight. Pushing the Knight along, Vince smashed him through a wooden fence and into a house. Quickly, Vince jumped out of the car as the damaged engine burst aflame. He grabbed for broken fencepost and thrust it broken end first into the Death Knight's cracked chestplate. Without warning, the Knight swung his sword and knocked the car away. The chestplate had crumbled off. Now, the only barrier between Vince's fist and the Knight's torso was a nylon shirt. Vince attacked, but the Knight countered with his sword. Vince quickly ducked under the sword and gave a mighty upward kick, which connected with the Knight's exposed chest. Grunting, the Knight staggered backwards. "Impenetrable, huh?" Vince taunted. Angrily, the Knight jumped to the second floor of the house and slashed his way through the wall. When Vince jumped up to chase after the Knight, he heard a scream. The Knight had stabbed a sleeping little girl. "What the hell are you doing?" Vince yelled. The Knight ignored him. Instead, he cut another wall down, and jumped through. Vince walked up the dead girl and knelt down to look at her. She looked about 7 years old--a tragically short life. Then, Vince heard two more screams. He stood up, startled. Vince jumped through the hole in the wall and found himself in a hallway. He saw the Death Knight, whose sword was now covered in blood. "What are you doing?" Vince yelled. "I killed them," the Knight said. "All three of them." "Is this part of your 'Chaos' thing, too?" Vince asked. "No," the Knight replied. "You see, necromancy--the art of reanimating the dead to do your bidding--requires dead bodies." Vince widened his eyes and opened his mouth in terror and disgust. The Death Knight chanted a spell. Three beams of this energy shot from his body and flew away. The Knight laughed, then jumped out the window. Behind Vince, the dead girl climbed through the wall. Her skin was pale and her movements were stiff, but she was moving. From another room, an undead man and an undead woman emerged. The undead girl was only three feet tall, but she was incredibly strong for her size. With one punch to Vince's leg, she knocked him down. Then, she began kicking him. The undead man came, lifted Vince up by the arm, and threw him through a wall onto a staircase, down which Vince rolled. The undead man then jumped down the staircase, trying to stomp on Vince. Before he could be crushed, Vince moved out of the way. He ran down a hall and found himself in the kitchen. He quickly grabbed the largest knife he could find. When the undead man arrived, Vince threw the knife, and it cut into the man's forehead. The undead man staggered back. Quickly, Vince grabbed another knife and slashed a diagonal line from the man's left shoulder to his right waist, cutting off his head and an arm. Then, Vince cut the man's thighs so his whole body would collapse. The undead woman then came around the corner. Vince threw the knife he held in his hand, which dug into the woman's breast. As the woman approached, Vince fired fireballs all around the room, knocking down walls. Then, the ceiling fell. The entire section of the house collapsed on the zombie woman as Vince dove into the backyard. Climbing to his feet, he set the debris on fire, hoping that it would incinerate the zombie. Vince saw an arm trying to reach through the debris, so he kicked it with a flaming kick, splattering blood. Now, Vince ran back into the backyard. Suddenly, the undead girl landed on his back, knocking him into the floor. As she pounded away at Vince's side, he heard a crunch in his ribs. Despite the pain, Vince rolled over and kicked the undead girl aside. Climbing to his feet, he ran back into the house. As the girl followed, Vince noticed a washing machine. He quickly popped it open, grabbed the girl, shoved her in, closed the lid, and turned the washing machine to full power. Then, standing back as the girl spun around, he gathered up a mass of fire in his hands. Then, he threw the giant fireball at the machine. The resulting explosion sent metal shards, water, blood, and gore flying all across the room. With the last zombie destroyed, Vince ran through the house, bashed down the front door, and ran to the Death Knight, who was standing waiting for him on the street. "You kill innocent people to strengthen your army?" Vince shouted angrily. "Sacrifices must be made for the good of the Universe," the Death Knight replied. "In fact, sacrifices are what keeps the Universe happy." Vince threw a combo of punches, only to have them all blocked. Then, Vince tripped the Knight with a sweep kick. As the Knight climbed to his feet, Vince kicked the exposed chest. Then, Vince somersaulted over the staggering Knight and landed on his back, clinging onto the horns of his helmet. The Knight spun his upper body around, trying to shake Vince off. However, Vince held on to the helmet. Suddenly, Vince kicked off the knight's backplate. With a mighty pull and a mightier yell, Vince tore off the helmet. The Death Knight's head was exposed, and Vincent now recognized him as one of the friendlier Shadows. This friendly recognition didn't stop Vince. With a vicious charge, Vince aimed a punch at the face. When the Knight blocked with his sword, Vince jumped and smashed the Knight's sternum with his knee. As the Knight grunted in pain, Vince pulled the sword from his hands, dashing behind him. When the Knight turned around to face him, Vince drove the sword into the Knight's face. The Knight didn't even scream. He merely fell over, his own oversized sword impaled through his head. Vince was panting with exhaustion. Then, he realized what he had done. He ran back to the flaming lawn in front of the Shadow Lodging, grabbed the Shadow Disruptor, and ran down the street. He wasn't running to escape the Shadows--they weren't chasing him. The only thing he ran from was himself. He had been overcome with the shock of the first kill, the shock that had become sheer terror. Vince was afraid of himself. |