A brisk wind swept across the land as the moon rose again as it had countless times before. Lights were on as they had also been before many times. Animals moved and bugs danced before Elise as she looked ahead from the patio. The moon glistened in the sky drifting across inch by inch. A slight smile rested upon her face.
Up she looked again, her smile becoming bigger as her eyes closed, a slight blush appearing as her thoughts drifted.
“Nope. It’s like I said the last time buddy. I’m not about to turn my back on people in need when evil scumbags like you are after them. I’m done being powerless, I’m done watching people be forced to submit themselves to a higher power that stands against them. And above all it pisses me off greatly seeing things like this. I’m stopping this here and now!”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89HLAk0BLc
447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysGAG9YNXs
Her head tilted down with a slight nod to herself, “Things are looking up, aren’t they? Heehee.”
“Now what has you so happy?” a soft, cold voice called out.
Her head perked up, head and torso slightly twisting round, “What the-?”
Before her stood something in the shadows, only white hair and red stars visible, then the gleam of dark icy blue eyes. Elise shot up quickly and flipped around in full at once, “You!”
Her right arm flew back and then flung forward, a bolt of white light flying.
CRASH
Cobblestone, brick, and other debris flew outward in a puff of smoke, Elise quickly flipping backwards off of the patio. She stood ready, a hand upon the hilt of her sheathed katana and the other raised defensively, yet ready to fly out again, “Tch- did I get him?”
“My you have such improper manners, though I suppose that- like many things, will never change,” came the reply.
Visible through the smoke was Shadow, standing with the air circulating around him as he gazed upon Elise now atop the upper balcony.
“I know you- you’re that one guy, Shadow!”
“So it would seem my reputation precedes me. Excellent.”
“You’re the one fixing The Hive’s gears, the one kicking them into action, the one that messed up Clan Vulfax and so many others.”
“I’m impressed that I’ve been evaluated to such an extent already. This pleases me greatly, yet also reveals that some info about me has been leaked. Troubling. That will be dealt with in due time though. For now I’m here to tend to you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Azala seems to be deeply concerned with your progress. I can understand his fear. The Bell lineage often produces very strong and powerful individuals, from what I have experienced first hand. I need to sever a certain end before it comes to that.”
Elise’s raised an eyebrow, looking to Shadow, “You think I’m- nuh uh, no way.”
“You decline yet until recent you’ve known nothing about your history. Why do you think you picked up on Energy Control so quickly, particularly Light Energy of all things? Because you’re smart? Well that might be part of it but the simple explanation is that it is probably of your blood.”
“No, that isn’t true. If Holly were my mother then there’s no way she would have left me with Vulfax, no way in Hell!”
“Unless she truly did intend to use you as a spy. Then again, Azala can not sense such things. I personally can not completely tell if you are of Bell lineage, I can not tell if you are a Sillithian, a Drachen, I can’t even tell if you are just a simple human. It makes no difference to me, my orders are to kill the supposed child of Bell. Orders are orders and you have to die.”
At once multiple figures flipped through the air around Elise and slammed down, snarling with fangs showing as they quickly rushed towards her, “Vampires?”
Quickly her katana flew out of its sheath and into hand, swinging through the air slamming against three daggers. Her feet skipped, leaping back and with a flip tossed herself from the ground using her right hand. She landed on both, holding the katana with both hands now slowly stepping back looking at no more than eight Vampires, then up to Shadow who now had his arms crossed.
A smirk crossed him, a figure rising up behind Elise. Her eyes grew big, a sharp pain felt in her neck. Shadow nodded, “Game over- over?”
One of the Vampires had clamped its fangs into Elise’s neck though upon doing so immediately burst into flames. The individual shoved Elise away and began to scream, blood on the fangs with fire coming out of the throat. She stumbled forward and looked back, shock overtaking her, “What in the world?”
“Ayieeyaaa-” the Vampire screamed out as it fell apart, burnt to nothing but ash. At once Shadow’s arms moved to his sides, eyes narrowing with focus on Elise only and no longer the other Vampires.
Elise turned around, viewing the other Vampires. At once her fist flung out, a bolt of Light Energy flying out at them. One quickly was struck and screamed out, fire spreading over him for a short spell. Feet shuffled, all of them immediately tearing off away from Elise.
“My my, that says quite a bit now.”
“What does?”
“Well then, perhaps I shouldn’t take you for a lack of threat.”
She looked to him, rage flooding her face as her feet parted, ready to move.
“Elise!” came a shout.
Shadow glanced to his right as Elise looked to her left, both viewing the approach of Zero and Alto. Both skidded to a halt in front of her, both standing ready facing Shadow.
“Alto, Zero, what are you two doing here? Where are Ryuu and Holly?”
“They went out to investigate something half an hour ago and should be back shortly,” Alto replied.
“Couldn’t help but notice your predicament so we came to help,” Zero commented looking forward.
“Well well, unexpected though a adding a little extra trash to a fire doesn’t do much to stop it now does it?”
Two figures shot down at Elise’s group, all heads shifting only to be met with quick jabs. Zero flew forward skidding across the ground, flying back again once Elise slammed into him. Alto flipped to the right and swung out with a single wolf arm, missing as the two assailants flipped away.
Elise shot up quickly and launched herself, right fist flying out ahead of her unloading a shot of Light Energy straight at the two. A third came down right atop the attack and slammed it into the ground, a fourth launching right in front of Elise delivering a solid knee to her gut. Saliva flew from her mouth as she let out a choked cry, stumbling back to be met by a fist to her face.
“Nice shot Scourge. And thanks for the save with that energy blast Winston.”
“Don’t mention it Adam, so long as you and Jazz are fine.”
Elise looked up coughing again as Alto skidded back, looking as Zero helped Elise up. Before them now stood four individuals, all very ragged looking. One individual by name of Adam stood with arms crossed and a smirk, the wind blowing through his short black hair only a couple inches in length. On the scrawny side though tall, he looked ready to blow over despite having packed a huge punch. His brown eyes reflected almost like fire.
Beside him stood a woman with long flowing black hair and brown eyes, petite yet muscular. The one who had slugged Elise resembled a buffer yet shorter version of Adam, scruffier as well. All three wore torn shirts with jackets, along with boots and jeans. The fourth individual who had slammed into Elise’s attack rose up.
He grinned looking at Zero, then with a glance to Elise let his teeth show gritted together. Alto shot forward immediately, howling out as fur began to spread across his body. The one who struck Elise’s attack, Winston, looked to Alto who came close. All at once Alto flew off at Jazz and Adam, slamming into both of them who then wrapped their arms around his body as the fur fell. Elise watched in shock as Winston lowered a leg she never saw fly, “Alto!”
“Me thinks you two should worry about yourselves,” Scourge chuckled stepping forward.
Behind them Shadow jumped up and dropped down, landing beyond the patio with his cloak flapping in the wind. Slowly he approached from behind them as Scourge moved to them from in front. Zero glanced back and then ahead, then to Elise, “Elise, watch those four. I’m going to take out Mister Gloomy so we can focus on the guys ahead of us.”
“What are you going to do?” she muttered back.
“You’ll see,” Zero chuckled turning around to face the approaching Shadow as Elise stepped ahead a few paces for Scourge.
Shadow stopped in place, grinning. At once Zero clapped his hands together, parting them with his left hand forming a fist while the right palm in turn rested atop.
“Hmm? Hand Seals? Wait, is this-”
At once Zero’s hands clasped together as he looked straight at Shadow who now stood somewhat defensively, “Taste the power of Dragon Art Atomic Migraine, bah!”
Flames exploded straight out of Zero’s mouth with sparks flying off in all directions, sparks shooting into the ground creating holes several times the size in diameter. The cloud of flames move forward at a rate faster than any man could run. Closing a gap of twenty meters in only three seconds with sparks flying everywhere, the color turning bright with white visible inside the cloud, it struck the ground. Shadow took a step back, engulfed immediately in the flame cloud. All at once the flames bolted up into the sky as Zero ceased producing them, the cloud swelling as it propelled up.
Zero smirked as he stepped back, the sight of the flames causing Scourge to cease his approach. All looked on in shock, even Elise. Zero nodded, “Dragon Art is something dominate within the Royal Bloodline of the Mephisto. We produce a flame with our energy and add a touch of Cursed Magic to it. This is not like a normal fire which simply kills the body’s cells and leaves burns. With that addition the flame in turn spikes the speed of the electrons of atoms and completely disassembles the victim on the molecular level. In a way it’s like an exploding laser. Atomic Migraine is actually one of my more powerful forms of Dragon Art as well.”
Zero nodded, looking as the flames danced and ripped into the ground as they continued to rocket upwards like an erupting volcano, “No one who gets hit by that is going to survive no matter what they hide behind. Shadow was dead the minute I engulfed him inside that cloud.”
Zero turned around, slamming his right fist into his left palm as he looked to Scourge and the rest, “Alright now, which of you would like to visit Hell next?”
“How about you?” a voice responded from behind.
Zero’s eyes pulsed wide, his head lurching round as Elise simply gulped, stepping back quickly with her mouth hanging, “No that can’t be!” Zero spat.
The flames split in half down the middle at once, revealing Shadow with glittering dust swirling around him. Shadow stepped forward with that whilst the dust vanished, the flames closing up behind, “Not a bad attempt kid, truly. I can tell you practiced that one quite a bit. So was that it, your strongest attempt? Gotta say, didn’t really work did it?”
Shadow stopped as the flames behind him died completely, “Truth be told if that were used on anyone but me, it might’ve actually done some damage. Well, maybe not just me, I can think of only six other who perhaps could have dealt with that.”
“If that’s how it is then I have no other option,” he muttered.
Zero at once gritted his teeth, eyes flashing orange. His arms flew out, a bright orange glow quickly engulfing him. Elise turned round, her back now to Scourge, “Elise you need to get back now. Truth be told, what I’m about to do next I can’t even really control!”
“Y-yeah,” she replied with a turn to the right, running immediately.
Dust began to flow away from Zero as did small rocks, wind pressure flying away from him at once. The glow sparked out, becoming far thicker engulfing the majority of his body as it rose quickly into the air.
“Grr, Shadow! I dare you to stay right where you are! If you’re really that confident then this shouldn’t be a problem, eh?” Zero barked out as blood began to flow from his right nostril and right ear, even a small dribble from the right eye.
Shadow narrowed his eyes at once, stopping in place, “Oh? Is that so? How curious, I’m game. Flip that coin and show me what you’re made of boy,” he then said with a smirk while folding both arms.
At once Zero flexed his fingers, twin spheres of orange energy appearing hovering in front of his palms. His glow subtly began to fade, much of it drifting into the spheres which began to swell. As they swelled they also began to contract, electricity flying out as sparks. The ground around began to crumble, cracks spreading and the grass itself turning brown and dying.
Rock hovered up with dust as Zero began to grunt in obvious pain, yelling out once though as he did a spew of blood flew from his mouth. Eyes fierce he looked to Shadow before him who now began to walk forward step by step, “Bring it child, show me what you’ve got.”
“Zero don’t do it!” came the shout of Ryuu.
All heads turned except for Zero’s, all viewing a quickly approaching Holly, Dewy, Ryuu, and many others.
“Too late master, this man is evil and will lead to the downfall of many, he dies now- hyahh!”
With a mighty grunt his arms whirled forward slowly as if wading through ultra-dense water, the twin spheres flying forward. They spun in circles around one another, the distance between them quickly shrinking until they touched. Upon contact they then exploded forward as a mighty beam of orange light like a wave. Shadow’s head turned back as this occurred, his eyes widening, “Wait, the feel of this power it’s-”
The speed immediately tripled as fear flashed upon Shadow’s face, the wave of energy slamming clean into him. Quickly it roared and tore through the ground as it plunged forward, slamming through shrubs and then through the patio. It plunged clean through the mansion and out the front, slamming into trees where it then blew. The flash was visible immediately, a bright white and yellow with an orange tint to it. A cloud of dust flew up immediately in the shape of a mushroom cloud, shingles sent flying from the mansion off into the backyard where everyone stood.
Zero dropped to his knees and then to his hands, his arms being what held him up at this point, his body retching as another spew of blood flew. Zero at once vomited a mix of stomach contents and more blood, collapsing to the right as the blast’s influence reached illuminating the area white and the sky black. Flickers of the flash were seen until it faded.
Scourge stepped several paces back with eyes shaking, as did Jazz and Adam. Elise looked on with eyes seemingly sparkling while Ryuu and Holly looked with shock. Winston alone was the only one to stand appearing unphased.
“Th-that’s the power of energy?” Elise murmured to herself stepping back once more.
Ryuu’s head lowered, “Dammit Zero, you know what your power does to you. It’s powerful yes but completely unstable, a power that takes a toll on your own body. Idiot.”
“Whoever that was must have been a major threat Ryuu if he resorted to such an attack,” Holly quickly replied.
“Still, it is not something to be trifled with and he just went there. Wait, is, that’s just, what? No-”
“What is it?”
Elise breathed out at once, her body shaking as her jaw hung. Standing in the smoke was a humanoid figure with arms folded in front of their face. Zero coughed looking ahead with his right eye closed, breathing heavily. With the blow of the wind the dust and smoke quickly drifted away revealing Shadow standing as if he were never touched, the same sparkles as before drifting around him.
“That’s not possible,” Ryuu murmured.
“Heh, ha ha ha,” Shadow laughed, slowly lowering his arms with eyes glowing slightly red. Once more the sparkles faded and drifted into the wind, “Have to say I wasn’t expecting Chaos Energy out of a kid like you.”
“He knows about Zero’s power? But how?” Ryuu growled.
Shadow’s arms lowered to his sides letting his face now be visible with not more than a bit of dirt on it, “I haven’t come up against that power since I fought Skyheart. Really it is an impressive power. Nearly ten times as destructive as the blast of a keg of powder. Fearsome indeed; though I see the tole is as great on you as it was him, heh.”
Shadow stepped forward again as the wind settled, behind him a hole visible straight through the mansion and off into the forest out front. Holly observed him as he moved, her face puzzled as she observed. Shadow glanced off viewing her for a short bit, then ahead, “I would love to test out whatever power you people have as a whole yet but I am out of time.”
Elise turned around quickly hearing a yell, “Alto!”
Alto was gone, as were Adam and Jazz. Winston and Scourge bolted into the forest at speeds above thirty kilometers per hour, “No Alto! Bring him back!”
“We’ll meet again,” Shadow replied, his hands clapping together at once.
Upon doing so he shattered, dust flying away as sparkling shards of glass fell where he stood. Holly and Ryuu took off quickly towards Elise as Dewy and the rest went off towards the forest.
“Alto!” Elise shouted out, stepping forward though only for a moment, dropping to the ground quickly as her own breath left her.
“Damn, Zero’s attack must have struck her body by accident. Get her to the medical room, immediately!” Ryuu shouted as two men approached.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQ6dKVxEDG
