After the Struggle

[doom pheonix]

"oh well, i'll keep looking then." Alan takes a minute to think. although he would rather go with his gut, his job was on the line. "So if I understand correctly, destroying the sword will make sogen go back to normal, right?"

[rowan_thewolfgod]

With Reciou:

 

He turned and looked as Reciou fell over, breaking the bowl of water and spilling it everywhere. He got on one knee and grabbed her hand, helping her sit up. "Are you okay?" he asked her. After she sat up, he leaned back, seeing that she was completely soaked. "We should probably get you some dry clothes huh?" he said to her. Before she could respond, however, he felt an immense amount of pain in his head, and fell onto the ground with his head in his hands. He shouted painfully, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes tightly. His body began shaking, and he eventually fell over on his side in a fetal position.

[Element Guardian]

"That I do not know. For one thing, the sword belongs to Dex himself. Yet, it still has evil in it. So, really, I do not know.", responded Gearfried.

[dark_magician_girl]

*She looked up seeming surprised by his kind gesture of helping her up. She nodded slightly to him as he inquired about her well being before starting to nod to him again in agreement about her clothes. As the alleged Dex collapsed to the ground in pain, she knelt beside him to try and help. She didnt know what to do for him at first, but she thought of something soon after and decided to give it a try. She placed her hands on his head gently as he laid on the ground in pain. After a few seconds, she closed her eyes and concentrated hard before a small white light emitted from her hands. She moved to sit on her knees before concentrating back on helping him recover from what ailed him.* "I hope this works...." She thought to herself silently. *Her then concentrating even harder on helping the alleged Dex. She seemed almost as if in a trance as the white light grew three times the size it was a few moments ago. She could feel herself wearing down from the amount of energy she had used up in the last several hours.*

[rowan_thewolfgod]

With Reciou:

 

His body began to relax as she concentrated her energy into him. He slowly opened his eyes, and looked up at Reciou. He could tell that she was beginning to weaken, so he struggled to sit up and grabbed her hands. "Don't....do that...." he said, still in pain somewhat. As he pulled her hands away, the spell instantly stopped, not having contact with him anymore. He sat up weakly, then looked at Reciou, and was awed by what he saw. He never noticed before, but he saw Reciou's aura, which was a faded reddish color. He could tell she was weak just from looking at her aura. "Are you alright?" he asked faintly. He held her up as they knelt there, placing his hands on her shoulders. He smiled down at her, silently reassuring her that she no longer needed to provide aid to him.

 

At the Shrine:

 

The shrine, which stood at least a hundred feet tall, overshadowed Sario and the others as they sat along the ground. Perched on top of the shrine, a bluish demon with a large red cape looked down at them. His stern face, filled with ill will towards these warriors, smirked as dark energy began to swirl around him. He placed both hands on the very top of the shrine, and filled it with pure darkness. The shrine began to shake, its four arms starting to creak loudly. "NOW, POWERS OF DARKNESS BRING LIFE TO THIS TEMPLE..." he said, "...This shall be my golem, my avatar, and with it I shall exterminate all who oppose me..." From inside the shrine, Gearfried and Alan could hear the giant statue releasing itself from its hold on the shrine. The colossal creature of golden steel looked down at the heroes, as Belphegor commanded his new creation. "ARMAMENT OF THE LETHAL LORDS....ANNIHILATE THEM!!!"

[Careless Whisper]

Sario was knocked hard across his scalp. He had almost dodged a huge rock-like sword that went straight for him. He was toppled off of his dragon and fell painfully onto the ground. He quickly recovered his strength and jumped back onto his dragon, which changed to the form of a Hellborn Dragon. The outworldly huge dragon flung itself high into the air so quickly that the shockwave from leaving the ground shook the entire shrine. Sario, however, was prepared for an encounter like this. His newly formed senses that were given to him by the dark essense inside of him were truer than his old senses.

Ino and Sario rose until they could circle the giant's head. Sario's eyes quickly turned from yellow, to blue. And his right hand began to glow with a very vibrant, blueish aura.

-"I haven't tested this ability yet, now is a good time..." Sario said as he raised his glowing arm and pointed it at the giant's head. A large meteor then materialized and shot from his hand as he called out "FAIRY METEOR CRUSH!!!". The giant meteor hit the giant's head directly, but only caused the giant to stumble alittle and recover very quickly.

-"Alright, try this one..." And Sario jumped off his dragon, who was still circling the giant's head. While in mid-air, Sario pointed his glowing hand towards the ground. He called out "Ookazi!!!" and a large fire ball erupted from his hand and exploded a huge crator as he landed inside of the newly formed hole.

As he landed, he planted his glowing hand against the ground, used his other hand to reach for his knife, and then made a small cut in his right arm. His right arm started to glow very brightly, he then thrusted his glowing hand to point at the giant's under-belly. He shouted from the top of his lungs, "LIGHTNING VORTEX!!!!!" and a huge beam of eletricity violently shot out from his palm, hitting the giant square in the stomach, and making a very large crator in the giant. Armamant was toppled backwards and fell onto his back. Ino, feeling triumphant, glided down to Sario, who was on his knees, weak and exhausted. Ino changed forms into his Dark Element Dragon form and helped Sario stand up....

 

OOC: The attached file is Hellborn Dragon. This scene is to show how powerful Sario is.

[dark_magician_girl]

*She startled from her trance as he interrupted her spell. Her face began to flush red against her now pale skin once she realized he had been holding her hands for the last few moments. She turned her face away from him and looked down at the ground silently to hide her blushing till it went away. After a few moments, she peered up from the corner of her eyes shortly and noticed that he had been staring at her in an odd way for a little while now. She jumped lightly as he spoke to her before she looked up at him slowly. Her face was beginning to redden again as she silently looked up at him. As he smiled down at her, she could feel that her face was getting more and more warm and she knew that she was blushing. She pulled her way out of his grip weakly before hiding her face in her arms shyly. A few seconds later, she quickly took to her feet and began to run weakly, only making it about six or seven steps before collapsing to the ground from exhaustion.*

[Element Guardian]

The shrine was crumbling down. "What the...", said Gearfried. And the wall came tumbling down. The only thing remaining from the ruble was the Statue. Sario did his best to attack the statue.

 

"It's not enough. He needs help to bring that thing down.", said AdeUracil.

 

"Right. This is how we help. Raaawwwr!!!", said CytoGuanine. Sharp claws ready for action. "Cyto Claw!" The attack hit one of the statue's legs. Yet still, the statue did not go done. "Dang, why did this thing had to be made out of gold!"

 

"Because, it's worth the challenge. Ura Magic!" AdeUracil's fist's glowed & she unleashed the power within the fists to the Statue. Direct Hit to the Statue's face but not good enough.

[rowan_thewolfgod]

With Reciou:

 

He quickly ran over to her as she collapsed on the ground. He knelt down to help her up, and he could tell from her aura that she was incredibly weak. "Well, if that fruit did wonders for me..." he thought to himself aloud as he walked over to the bowl of fruit. He grabbed the bowl and brought over to Reciou, easily breaking it apart with his hands. He then flipped Reciou onto her back, holding her head up with his arm, and started placing bits of fruit into her mouth, helping her chew at the same time. "I hope this works..." he said quietly to himself. He then began thinking, Wait, what's going on? Why was she helping me so much? Doesn't she know who I am? He sighed, not really sure what to do for now, except wait patiently for Reciou to awaken again.

 

At the Shrine:

 

The Armament growled evilly as the heroes made their futile attempts to bring it down. Belphegor still stood on top, looking down at the warriors. "Weak minded fools....They have no chance..." The golem raised one of its swords high and swung directly at AdeUracil. From a distance, near the edge of town, Litmus could see the carnage that ensued. He was joined shortly by another warrior, whose skin was tinted a dull black color. "Ah, so you are alive? Why not give your old friends a nice test run of your new abilities, Grepher?" Grepher nodded as he drew his sword and slowly made his way to the shrine. "Yes......Master....."

[Careless Whisper]

Sario looked up as he regained his strength after nearly depleting it with his Lightning Vortez. The statue still stood tall, but the crator he had made with his last attack was still there. This gave Sario an idea.

-"Ino, fly me high above that thing, I need a clear shot at the top of it's head." He ordered, and as Ino rose up to as high as her wings could get her, Sario leaned off the top of her head, and he said loud and clear "Alright, once this is perfect, now, get clear, I'm gonna try this again, except from a different angle." And Sario jumped high off of his dragon, in one swift second, he made another cut in his right arm, except this time alittle deeper. His hand charged with energy until it was nothing but blinding flashes of light. He called out "LIGHTNING VORTEX!!!!!" and the same electrical blast bursted out of his hand, the force of the eruption was so powerful that it flung Sario even higher into the air. The blast hit the scalp of the giant's head and the entire thing came crashing down.

 

Sario was now falling towards the ground, weak with exhaustion, he couldn't tell if his attack worked or just made a little prick, he fainted from the exhaustion....And Ino was unconsious aswell. The blast's forcefull shockwave shook her too and sent her plummeting into the ground.

[Element Guardian]

"Ura Magic." She teleported before the attack made contact. "Whew, that was close. CytoGuanine, let's double team this thing.", said AdeUracil.

 

"Right, Cyto Claw!", shouted CytoGuanine. The attack made contact behind the knee of the Statue. It made the leg bend.

 

"Ura Magic." She teleported in front of the Statue. "URA MAGIC!" Again she unleashed a magical blast right on the face of the statue. This made the statue fall. "Bullseye & the mighty have fallen." She saw Sario & Ino fall into the ground after they made there attempt to take down the Statue themselves. She ran towards them to help them. "Sario, are you two okay? You took a beating there."

[Careless Whisper]

Sario woke up with his back in insane amount of pain. He looked to see where he was lying. He had fallen on top of the statue's inert form. His dragon was in the form on a decoy dragon, who nipped at his collar.

Ino, realising he was awake, changed forms into a Dark Element Dragon and lifted him up onto her back. His back, however, was in an extreme amount of pain from the fall.

-"Don't talk, You need to rest, you jut fell 150 ft. Your lucky to still be alive." His dragon reassured him as he was about to say something. She walked him over to Gearfried and the others and he quickly fainted again.

[doom pheonix]

"Alright, i've called in some help and they should be here any minute now, huh?" Alan, who had just finished contacting support on this matter, just returned to find the whole shrine in ruble, and a headless statue on the ground. "alright, what did i miss now? on second thought don't tell me." he looked over at sario "woah. that looks pretty bad. need any help?"

[Careless Whisper]

Ino, in her Dark Element Dragon form, laid Sario on his back on the ground, he lay there unconsious. She put the carrier mount back onto her back (with the help of Alan and Gearfried). She then lifted Sario into the mount. She lowered down to offer the others a ride.

-"This place is not safe for anyone anymore. I am going to take Sario to see his homeland, I suggest you come aboard too." Ino spoke, very clearly so that everyone could hear her. She did not speak telepathicly this time...

[doom pheonix]

"sorry i think i'll stay here. there's still more i need to know. but here," alan slipped a small hourglass shaped device into the mounts side pocket. "tell sario when he wakes up to turn the hourglass upside down if he ever needs help. also be on the lookout for a blond haired swordsman that bares this symbol," he showed his pendant with an hourglass shape on it, "he may have some info on what's going on around here. may time be with you and with us all."

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in the mountians- "well, it seems thier finally heading of. i think it's almost time to make my presance known. they've all made it this far," the brown robed man looked down from the mountian at sario. "but i wonder just how far can they go." the man turned away and faded into the darkness of the mountian.

[Careless Whisper]

Ino nodded, and she lifeted off the ground with tremendous speed. Sario lay unconsious in the basket, and Leon sat inside of it aswell, along with AdeUracil. She flew to the south fast at first, but slowed down to conserve energy.

[Element Guardian]

The statue was once again standing after that combo attack. "Oh no! It still won't go down.", said AdeUracil.

 

Gearfried turned around to look at the Statue standing up. "You guys go on ahead, I'll take care of this Statue. Just remeber what your mission is; that is all I ask from the both of you.", said Gearfried.

 

"Yes, sir.", said CytoGuanine.

 

"Good, now go." So, the group left with Sario & Ino. "Alright tough guy, it's just you and me. RELEASE RESTRAINT!" His armor was off. "You ready Alan?"

[Careless Whisper]

Sario's eye-lids twitched and then opened, his first sight was of the clouds zooming by. His back was still in pain, and his right arm bled freely. He tried to stand up, using his left arm as support.

-"Ino, what happened?" He asked, putting his left hand to his head as it throbbed painfully.

-"We are heading for Artarius, and I'm not sure about Armament. You really did a number on yourself using the lightning vortex." Ino answered.

-"I don't even know where that came from. I just reacted without thinking."

-"That's because you were trained not to hesitate when provoked by an enemy. I must say, your reaction time has increased alot."

-"Apparently not enough." He looked up and saw AdeUracil and CytoGuanine looking at him, and Leon sleeping. "Oh, hello." he greeted politely. He held his right arm, he was not able to patch up the cuts. He ran out of medical supplies and his arm was bleeding freely, he had cut too deep with the second time.

[dark_magician_girl]

*She choked down the pieces of fruit slowly, her not seeming to be getting any better. For a while, she laid in his arms motionless and breathing slightly. After 30 minutes or so, her breathing began to regulate and the color had come back to her skin. She squirmed a little in her sleep, and seemed to be having a discomforting dream. She woke up a few moments later and looked up at the alleged Dex silently from his arms. She seemed and felt more lively and energetic than before. After a few moments of silence went by she smiled up at him silently.* "Dex..." She spoke to him lightly. *Her face began to flush red and she sat up hurriedly to hide her face from him. She hoped he hadnt noticed the bright red color that her cheeks were as she buried her face in her arms.* "She thought to herself feeling assured, "He's got to be Dex..." *As she felt the warm somewhat tingly feeling slowly dissipate from her cheeks, she peered over at him from just above her arms silently. She could tell her blushy cheeks were fading back into their natural color somewhat peach color. She didnt know what to do, she wanted to run away but then she would feel bad for leaving him here all alone.*

[rowan_thewolfgod]

With Reciou:

He was relieved when Reciou came to, he looked down at her comfortingly, allowing her to regain her strength on her own. That is, until, she called him Dex. His eyes opened wide, and he let go of her, letting her sit on the ground. He backed away from her slowly, then looked at his hands in shocking disgust. "W-what did you call me??" he asked, somewhat panicked. He began shaking, his mind now racing from realizing what exactly was going on since the beginning. She thinks I'm Dex!? How is that possible!? he thought silently to himself. He could feel his body getting hot, as if his blood was on fire. He looked at her, his eyes changing from a dark brown to crimson red. He then started feeling faint, and his vision began to blur as he dropped onto his knees and collapsed on the soft earth.

 

Back to (poor neglected) Axel:

Still in the tent where his staff and other items were being held, Axel paced around and pondered what his next move should be. "Hm...I should probably leave this village as quickly as possible. I've definitely over-stayed my welcome." he said to himself aloud. "But I have to get to that other tent and retrieve my armor first. Then I might as well thank the village elder before I set off." Using a loose cloth, he gathered his items and tied the bundle to his staff. He then stepped outside of the tent, and was stopped instantly in his tracks by the villagers. He could tell from the looks on their faces that they weren't very pleased with him. Just what I need...An entire village of pissed off Amazons... he thought to himself. The elder had stepped forward in front of the angry villagers, and scowled at Axel. He sighed, and awaited his fate.

 

At Sogen:

The golden titan relentlessly fought against the newly powered up Gearfried. Belphegor watched from a half-broken down building, waiting for the right moment to strike. He watched Gearfried like a hawk, not taking his eyes off of him for even a moment. "I'll have to get him when that one-winged freak isn't looking..." he said to himself. He was planning to do to Gearfried exactly what he did to Axel before, and he planned on taking him down with one strike. Lest did they all know, a new warrior entered the fray, his dark red eyes glowing ominously over his gray skin. He drew his violet blade and started running towards Alan, who had his back turned towards him, and swung violently as he neared him.

[dark_magician_girl]

*She turned to smile over at him but as she did, she saw him backing away. Before she could answer, she noticed that he had began shaking and stood up to walk over and help him. She took a step towards him before he looked up at her. As soon as she saw his eyes change color she kept her distance, her not knowing what he would do next. Once he had collapsed, she rushed over to him and struggled to turn him on his back. Once she had gotten him flipped him over, she pulled his upper body into her lap so that she could see if he was hurt. Her legs began to feel numb somewhat because she was sitting on her knees and the extra weight from the alleged Dex's body just made it worse. She tried to wake him by gently nudging him, her hoping that he'd come to soon. She hoped he wasnt gonna get as bad as earlier and began to use her magic again to help him, her placing her hands lightly on his head.*

[rowan_thewolfgod]

With Reciou:

His face winced as she used her energy to try to revive him again. His breathing eventually slowed down and returned to normal, and he opened his eyes slowly, looking up at Reciou with his naturally brown eyes. After he fully came to, he realized just what exactly he was laying on, and his eyes shot open instantly. He bolted off of the ground, his face blushing lightly. "H-hey, quit that!" he said to her. He could feel a drop of blood drip from his nose, and he covered it quickly with his hand before looking at Reciou again. As he stood looking at her, he could hear a faint voice in the back of his mind. Don't you see the opportunity? it said, mockingly. This is the perfect time to take advantage of her! If she thinks you're Dex, she'll help you with almost anything...Perhaps even die for you! The voice faded back into his mind, and he returned his attention to Reciou. He gulped and said to her, "Y'know, this grave's started to make me jumpy...Maybe we should get outta here...And we still need to find you some dry clothes!"

[Careless Whisper]

Sario looked up at the sky and watched as it changed from blue to a blood-red. He looked confused...why is the sky changing color like that. he asked to himself.

-"Ino, wher are we..." He asked aloud to his dragon, also noticing them dropping altitude.

-"We're very close to where Artarius is, don't worry, we'll touch down where we usually do." His dragon answered. "Don't worry, there's always a blood-red sky at Artarius. It's how the Shakari know if their close to home or not."

-"Hmmmm, sounds good."

 

A minute later Ino had landed infront of a very dark lake. Sario jumped off of her, followed by AdeUracil and CytoGuanine. He peered out into the blackened lake.

-"Where is Artarius, I only see a lake?"

-"Step off the cliff, don't worry it's safe." And she demonstrated. To everyone's amazement, her tail dissappeared as she passed over the edge of the cliff. Sario reached his hand out. It dissappeared from his sight but he could now feel a cold breeze rushing over his hand, even though he couldn't see his hand. He stepped foward and his vision blurred tremendously then came back to him as he phased through the invsable barrier.

A city gate, made of stone and covered with white veins, filled his vision once it cleared. He looked up in amazement at the gate as the followers came through behind him too. He walked forward and touched the gate. It was cold, but then became warm as it slowly opened up on it's own. His sight then filled with a garden. Though the garden was not as he expected a garden to look. It was covered with blood stains and dead flowers. His amazement from the gate turned to dread and sorrow as he looked at the horrid sight.

[cardmaker]

Xain looked at the statue from a distance.

 

Don't you think you should help your friends?

 

"I was about to."

 

What do you mean? They were fighting for at least an hour now, and you've been playing with your sword over here!

 

"Whatever."

 

Xain's blade started to glow, and soon after Xain's whole body was on fire. He charged at the statue, burning the field behind him. He slashed at the statue's leg, knocking it over. Xain turned back to normal and the statue got up quickly. He slashed at it again and again, but the statue slashed him away with one of its huge swords.

 

You need my help, don't you?

 

"What? How can you help? Your a fragment of my schizophrenic mind."

 

Just watch and don't get in my way. HINOTAMA!

 

Burning rocks fell out of the sky and struck the statue. It was unaffected by them.

 

That didn't work? Here, use this. I'll stay back and regain my energy. Don't let your friends finish it off. That's my job.

 

He smiled and dropped a mask.

Xain put it on his face and felt a strange force. He felt stronger.

 

"This..power....it feels good...hehe....."

 

He smiled. The power rushed through his body, but he felt the life being sucked out.

[Element Guardian]

AdeUracil saw Sario's injuries. Wow, let me have a look at those injuries. Don't worry, besides that I'm an excellent Spellcaster, I'm too am a healer.", said AdeUracil.

 

The group landed on the lake. "Wow, so this is it. Artarius. It's a lake. Can we go home now?", whined CytoGuanine.

 

AdeUracil saw Ino's tail disappearing. "It's not just a lake, it's an entrance to a city." Everyone entered through the portal.