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War The Dark Mage Johnathon Rousseau stood, the Shadowmissile in front of him, speeding toward Vincent Zeng. All around them stood the black-robed Dark Mages and the gray-robed Necromancers. Dark Knights wearing armor plates of black steel looked on, as did the Death Knights clad in bone armor. Against the nighttime backdrop of Kiera, the dark outfits of the Shadow clan seemed to give off a shady dark aura. The Shadowmissile, a sharp-tipped projectile formed from Rousseau's dark magic, shot at Vince. Suddenly, magma oozed forth from Vince's skin, covering his entire body. It then solidified to become the Inferno armor he had worn earlier. His skin now black hide, Vince had become the Dark Fiend of the Inferno once more. Vince quickly held up his arms, forming a flame barrier. The Shadowmissile slammed into it, but did not pierce it, then dissipated. Before Vince could react, Rousseau moved again. Vine-like projections of shadow energy shot from the ground and wrapped around Vince. As the Shadowsnare kept Vince from moving, Rousseau compressed a mass of shadow energy into a ball and threw it at him. In response, Vince quickly blasted forth an expanding shockwave of flame. This flame burned away the Shadowsnare, allowing Vince roll out of the way of the Shadowbomb, which exploded with a shadowy flame. Rolling to his feet, Vince threw two fireballs at Rousseau. However, Rousseau simply smiled and formed a thin sheet of energy in his hands. This Shadowreflector not only blocked Vince's attack, but even sent the two meteoric fireballs flying right back at him. Evasively, Vince leapt to the side. One fireball annihilated a car parked nearby while the other knocked down a large building. Pushing his advantage, Rousseau followed up with the ink-like Shadowblot. The dark slime of the spell hit its target and began to expand to cover Vince's body. In moments, Vince was encased in a solid chunk of shadow magic. Rousseau then fired a Shadowcutter, a dark energy blade, at the Shadowblot that held Vince. Just before impact, Vince burst from the Shadowblot, narrowly escaping the slicing darkness. As Vince ran up to attack, Rousseau sent forth a Shadowleech, a small coil of dark energy, which landed on Vince, knocking him to the floor. It was almost as if Vince could feel the Shadowleech draining the fire energies from within his body. The energy Vince that lost, Rousseau received and converted into darkness. The flames in Rousseau's hands grew dark and twisted. Vince desperately reached for the Shadowleech--it was attached to his abdomen--but he could barely move. Vince tried to form a fireball in his hands, but with the Shadowleech sucking away at him, it proved to be a difficult task. Finally, he managed to throw a small fireball. He missed the Shadowleech itself, but the force of the explosion on his body knocked the leech off, and Vince felt his energy returning. At that moment, Rousseau released the Shadowflare upon Vince. Despite this spell's fiery appearance, the shadow element still caused Vince quite a lot of pain. Quickly, he raised his arms to block with a flame shield. "You're doing quite well," Rousseau said. "I guess I'll have to stop using beginner spells and start using some intermediate spells." Vince ignored the taunt and instead charged at the Dark Mage. Without warning, two black beasts emerged from the ground, apparently summoned by Rousseau. These beasts resembled gorillas, except bigger, more muscular, and covered with black, hairy hide. Their eyes glowed a sinister red, and their black fangs and claws looked sharp enough to tear through flesh as easily as a fish swims through water. Before Vince could react, one of the Shadows intercepted him and knocked him down. However, he quickly jumped back up to counter-attack with flaming fists. With a few punches, Vince was able to push the Shadows back a few feet, but they were stiff and hard-skinned creatures. Despite the punches, they didn't seem to flinch, grimace, or show any signs of pain. Quickly, Vince dashed down the street, and the Shadows ran after him. Vince found and uprooted a street sign, which read "Speed Limit 45 MPH", and charged back toward the Shadows, holding out the sign like a spear and setting it on fire. The burning signpost punctured through the face of one of the Shadows. Vince then followed up with a fireball, obliterating the Shadow's head. Decapitated, the Shadow fell. Suddenly, the headless Shadow's body melted into dark energy. The surviving Shadow absorbed this energy and grew three times its size. Seeing this, Vince fled, and the hulking Shadow followed after him, its feet thundering with each step. Hovering, Rousseau followed them, his hands up like a puppeteer's. Vince threw several fireballs at the giant Shadow, but they didn't even leave a mark. Finally, when Vince had about a 200-foot lead in front of the Shadow, he noticed a large station wagon parked by the road. Getting an idea, Vince bashed the door open, made a few wire connections beneath the dashboard, and sped down the road toward the Shadow. The car burst into flames, and, moments later, Vince dove out as the burning station wagon smashed into the Shadow's leg. The resulting explosion scattered shadow energy and obliterated the Shadow's leg. As it fell over, it lashed out at Vince with its arms and remaining leg. Then, Vince threw several fireballs at the base of a nearby building. This building fell onto the Shadow, burying it in concrete dust and debris. Next, Vince torched the debris with a flamethrower inferno, burning away everything, leaving nothing left but dust and soot. "You're certainly a skilled one," Rousseau commented. "I see how you were able to best Stoneson in battle, but you won't beat me." With that, Rousseau held his right hand into the air to form from the shadow a long, thin object in his hand. The dark energy solidified into a Shadowsaber, with which Rousseau promptly used to attack. Thus, the two of them, Rousseau and Vince, exchanged blows, and yet, neither could get in a hit. Whenever Rousseau swung his Shadowsaber, Vince simply blocked it with his gauntlets. Whenever Vince punched with flaming fists, Rousseau would simply hover around him, thus dodging the attack. Finally, Vince slipped up and Rousseau landed a slice on Vince's chest. The might of the swing knocked Vince to the floor, but the Inferno armor protected him, taking only a scratch. As Rousseau plunged downward, aiming at Vince's face for the kill, Vince punched upward, toward the Shadowsaber. This swift, upward thrust shattered the Shadowsaber, but Rousseau simply absorbed the free energy. Trying to press his advantage, Vince sprung up in a fiery attack, but Rousseau hovered back in a swift retreat. Vince then dashed over to Rousseau's new position for a quick assault. At that moment, however, Rousseau cast a spell. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but then, the ground opened up at the place onto where Vince was about to run. The Inferno Fiend barely stopped in time, his feet sitting right on the edge of the hole. As the circular hole, with its bottomless, pitch-black void, expanded further, Vince quickly hopped back. As he landed, another Shadowhole suddenly opened beneath his feet. With amazing reflexes, he managed to jump from it just on time. Landing on the floor again, Vince bounced back into the air, moments before yet a third Shadowhole opened where he had been. Vince looked to Rousseau and saw him smile. Suddenly, moments before Vince hit the ground again, a Shadowhole opened at the point where Vince was about to land. In desperate response, Vince fired a powerful jet-flame in one direction to give him a momentum boost, launching him from his current trajectory and forcing him to safety to the side of the new Shadowhole. With haste, Rousseau gathered the darkness into a small orb and shot it forward as a large, coherent beam of dark energy. Vince quickly re-oriented himself and fired responding blaze. The flames and the Shadowblast collided head-on between them, producing brilliant explosion of red and black. As the shockwave echoed across the city, Vince and Rousseau put up their respective shields to protect themselves. All around them, the aftershocks of the explosion threw up dust and debris. "In terms of pure battle skill, I think we're evenly matched," Rousseau said with confidence in his voice. "Are you sure you want to continue?" Vince responded by charging forward with a warcry and fists of flame. Rousseau quickly produced a Shadowsaber and awaited Vince's arrive. Suddenly, a Dark Mage, standing off to the side, interrupted, called out, "Lord Rousseau! There's trouble." Hearing this, Rousseau quickly hovered up high into the air, up above Vince's reach. Vince, too late to stop his own attack, completely missed, and he whirled--a flaming mass--into the wall of a nearby building, smashing through it. "Lord Rousseau," the Dark Mage said, pointing to the sky. "A Griffin." Vince looked to the night sky and saw a silver aircraft, floating high above. "The Ragnarok MMH hovercraft carrier," Rousseau said to himself, concern in his voice. Then, he yelled, "Everyone, brace yourselves!" To Vince, he said, "We'll continue our fight later, but for now, we must deal with those." "Incoming Phoenix plasmas!" a Necromancer shouted. The Griffin had launched a salvo of small rockets, which came flying down toward the city. There were hundreds, thousands of them, so many of them that they seemed to blot out the sky. All around him, the Shadow followers began casting shadow-based shield spells to protect themselves. Vince followed suit and put up his own barrier, one of flame. The rockets struck down. Within seconds, the entire city was blanketed with explosions, debris, and dust. Some struck buildings, knocking them down. Other struck the streets, tearing them up. Vince noticed that some unfortunate followers of the Shadow did not survive. The Phoenix plasma rockets had occasionally pierced shields, catching the mage or knight within its fiery explosions. Shortly after the barrage of missiles, Vince noticed that the Griffin had begun launching something else. Boxes of metal dropped down to the city. Upon landing, each box unfolded into an 8-foot humanoid robot carrying a 3-foot cannon on its right forearm. "It's a raid!" a knight called out from somewhere. "They've sent in the Trooper Bots! Attack!" All around, the surviving Shadow servants dropped their shields and attacked. Dark Mages were casting various Shadowspells, shooting various projectiles at the mechanical army. Rousseau himself produced 12 Shadowmissiles with one casting and sent them flying, a rain of Shadowmissiles piercing the metal armor of the Trooper Bots. Dark Knights wielded their Dark Swords, trying to hack apart these metallic soldiers while at the same time avoiding the Trooper Bots' cannon fire. Some Necromancers and Death Knights began reanimating their dead comrades, transforming their bodies into the resilient undead that Vince had fought before. Here and there, Shadows were being summoned. It was pure mayhem. Energy was flying around in all directions. Warriors from both sides were getting torn up. Trooper Bots were dismantled as Shadow servants were slain. Stray shots hit buildings, damaging them, even destroying them completely. Finally, a cavalry of Dark Knights and Death Knights on horseback showed up. "Charge!" one knight cried as the horsemen charged in, their swords and lances ready for the clash with the Trooper Bots. Vince quietly decided to take this opportunity to escape from Rousseau. However, as he ran to a nearby alley, a Trooper Bot cut him off. Before Vince could react, the Bot fired a blast from its plasma cannon, knocking Vince back into the street, back into the middle of the melee. In a short time, Vince was surrounded by Trooper Bots, all of them with plasma cannons pointed at him. As they started firing, Vince rushed toward a Trooper Bot and, with mighty swings of his flaming fists, broke through the blockade. The Dark Fiend of the Inferno continued running until he had reached the alley. There, he quickly looked back, and saw more Bots firing at him. Thus, Vince ran and kept running through alleys and streets until he was far from the war between the Alliatus Ragnaroks and the Shadow clan, led by Rousseau. Now, after all of this running, Vince found himself in the outskirts of town. There were few large buildings around, mostly deserted streets and small shanties. He began walking down a road, as if he were walking toward some pre-determined destination, but Vince completely unaware of such a location. "So this is what the world's come to," Vince thought. "Utter mayhem, and Alliatus and the Shadow fight." As he walked, the Inferno armor liquefied and drained off his body, and Vince returned to his human state. Eventually, Vince found himself in a park. The trees were a lively green, a contrast to the deathly black and gray he had just left. He decided to walk down the park trail, hoping that transcendent nature would take his mind off the recent conflict. Then, he saw it, Robert's green car. It had been parked between a bush and a tree so that anyone who wasn't looking for it would not have noticed it. Vince dashed over to the car and tugged on the handle, but the doors were locked. He peered inside and saw Robert, Alice, and Stephanie sleeping peacefully inside. Seeing this, Vince smiled and traveled over to a nearby bench. It wasn't too cold. He could probably get some sleep. Something was amiss. Vince could feel it in his blood. He opened his eyes and saw that the sun had not risen yet, but he could see a faint glow just above the horizon, a prelude to Helios' arrival. Vince got up and walked over to the car. Stephanie was gone. "Don't panic, Vince," he said to himself. "Steph's probably just gone for a walk. If I wander around the park a bit, I'm sure I'll find her." Vince took a deep breath and began walking down the park trail. A few minutes later, a hundred feet of flora later, Vince found Stephanie sitting near a flowerbed, facing away. With a smile, Vince quietly walked up to her and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Good morning, Steph!" he said with quiet enthusiasm. Stephanie turned around and stood up, surprised to see Vince. "Vince!" Steph cried out in joy, hugging him. "You're okay! How did you survive? I was so worried about you! I heard some sounds in the city. Are you all right?" "Don't worry about me," Vince said with a chuckle. He then held Steph in his embrace, held her for a long time. After a few moments, Vince spoke up. "What are you doing up so early in the morning?" he asked, releasing her. "I couldn't sleep anymore," Steph replied. "Too worried about Tina." "Don't worry, Steph," Vince reassured her. "We'll find Tina. I swear my life on it." When Stephanie didn't seem to be much reassured by Vince's comment, he continued, "Steph, I've developed a kind of intuition, ever since I left Trioustan. It's like I can sense people." Stephanie's eyes lit up. "Really?" she asked. "Yeah," Vince replied. "I don't really understand it, but it's led me where I've needed to go." "Can you use it to find Tina?" Steph asked. "Yeah, I'll give it a shot," Vince answered. He then sat on the floor, cross-legged, and closed his eyes, as if he were meditating. He pictured Tina in his mind, trying to remember every detail, the way she moved, the way she spoke, even the way she always called Stephanie "Sister". Yet, even after several minutes, after bringing up as many memories of her as he could, the strange intuition of his still didn't give any hint as to where he could find Tina. Giving up, Vince opened his eyes and stood up. He looked at Stephanie, who had a hopeful smile on her face, and felt sick to have to break the bad news to her. "Nope," Vince said. "Nothing." Stephanie's hopeful expression turned into gloom. "Sorry, Steph, but like I said, I still don't understand it yet. Maybe I'll find her later." "Vince, there's something else," Steph said with even more depression. "Money. We only have so much of it, and now we're running low. Even if we buy nothing but food, we'll still go hungry in less than a week." "Don't worry, Steph," Vince said. "We'll find a way. We'll find a way, but look! The sunrise!" Vince and Steph turned to the watch the sun rising through the trees, above the mountains to their east. Watching the glowing skies, Vince put his arm around Stephanie. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Vince commented. "It always is," Stephanie replied, smiling. "Even if I've seen it a hundred times." Suddenly, a strong gust of wind knocked them down. Vince quickly hopped back to his feet and ran over to help Stephanie. As he did, he looked to the sky and saw a creature flying high above him. It resembled a Dark Fiend with its black hide and humanoid figure, but its long purple hair was neatly combed instead of the usual tangled mess. Unlike a Dark Fiend, it also wore a purple gown and had black bird-like wings on its back. Stephanie looked up at it and gasped, "A Shadow Angel!" "But why would it attack us?" Vince asked, confused. "I'll give you a hint, Vince," the Shadow Angel said. "I am the Dark Fiend of the Sky." "That voice," Vince said. Then, he recognized it. "Lydia!" With a sudden flow of magma, Vince became the Dark Fiend of the Inferno. He looked up at Lydia, then jumped up to attack her. All the while, he yelled out, "Lydia!" with all the hatred in his heart. |