Destructive Triad

Previous Chapter - Rising Freedom

Introduction
With the destruction of their collars due to the broken Red Lacrima, chaos ensued all over the coliseum, filled with multiple mages and guards, both dead and alive, all of them focusing on one of two things opposite to each other: containment and freedom. Unbeknownst to the guards, the group consisting of Hogotsu and Doris, were organizing the free mages, gaining more and more as they told all of them that the group had an escape plan for them, and all they needed was to continue stalling for time. Minutes passed as the two groups finally arrived towards the chaos, Theo and Dina along with Lucas and Elligr saw each other, waving before making their way towards the middle of the mad house riot, dodging magic attacks from both sides as they finally got together with Hogotsu and Doris.

"This was your plan?! How the hell are we all suppose to get out of here?! Half of the prisoners are just fighting them and the other half ditched us to find a way out of this joint!" Doris said as the group ducked from what appeared to be a Water Magic spell that showed to transform into a dragon as it exploded, causing a monsoon of rain to fall on them.

"Right now we don't have either the time or energy to complain about it, we stick with the plan, Elligr and I already found where a possible exit is for us, it's not too far down into the catacombs. Right now it's too dangerous to try and all go, especially since we still have some belongings! Here's what we're gonna do: we need to split up again, Doris, Hogotsu, Dina, and Elligr, the four of you take whoever will follow and head for the exit, me and Theo still need to get our gear-"

"Hold on! I'm not going anywhere, they have my staff, and I'm not leaving till I get it!" Dina yelled out with anger as Theo and Lucas groaned with irritation.

"Alright, fine. We don't have time to argue about this. Dina, you are with us. Everyone else, go and get everyone that will follow out of here." Theo said in a commanding voice. "Is that okay with everyone?"

"Yeah, I think we can all agree to that, Or-Theo." Hogotsu said, as he smiled at him. "I doubt that we will see each other after this, so it's been one fun ride." Hogotsu held out his hand in order to perform a handshake, which Theo gladly accepted.

"Yeah, it has. Oh, and thanks for giving me the instruction to preform that" Theo said as a smirk was now on his face, one that Hogotsu mirrored.

"If you come across Sarin, their are some people I know who would appreciate him getting a good ass kicking." Elligr added. "Just watch yourself. He's more dangerous than a cornered pack of wolfs, and twice as vicious."

"Thanks Elligr, and the rest of you guys too, if we ever meet in the future, let's celebrate our freedom with some food" Lucas said with a smile as the trio nodded before running towards one of the exits with many of the other prisoners going behind as the guards went chasing after them. The trio looked at each other before nodding as they quickly ran towards their destination: the weapons room.

Thanks to the distraction caused by the rioting, Sarin was able to clear out most of the storeroom the dark mages had been using to keep equipment taken off prisoners. All that remained was a small chest in the corner with a sac on top and a sword leaning in the corner. "Well, might a well get it all..." He muttered to himself.

He emerged from the storeroom a little later, hanging the sword and bag over his shoulder and carrying the chest by one of it's handles. Finding his whey clear, he set off for the final time, content with the massive stash of equipment he had already taken from the dark mages.

The sounds of rushing footsteps could be heard throughout the entire hallway as the mage showed to simply walk more in a normal fashion, not rushing to go anywhere as he then heard the sounds of panting as he turned around to see Lucas, Theo, and Dina all breathing heavily from the long sprint that they did. Both Theo and Lucas looked at what the man was holding, recognizing two of the objects that he was holding.

"Hey, those don't belong to you" Lucas said as his energy began to spike up, causing the area around him to start getting heavier.

Theo did the same as his brother as the area started to get heavier around him as well. "Hit him with everything we got!" Theo said.

"Hey, hey, hold on a minute." Sarin raised his metal arm to stop them, flipping the sword and bag off his shoulder. "You guys just want your shit back, right? Here..." Sarin dropped both objects on the floor and kicked them toward the others. "I got more than I expected running the place dry, so a few knickknacks ain't really worth a fight to me." He regriped the handle of the chest and looked back over his shoulder to the sound of an explosion. "So uh... Yeah. The way's pretty much open for you now, so have fun with whatever..."

"Do you honestly expect me to forget what you put everyone though?!" Lucas said grabbing his gauntlets and placing them on his arms, feeling whole, as his magic began to grew more and more stronger, "The only place you're going is to prison Sarin!" He said as his eyes started to glow.

"Yeah, I'm gonna beat your face in like a goddamn bongo!" Theo said as his face was red with rage at the face this man was trying to talk his way out and escape after forcing them to be in this situation.

Sarin exhaled sharply, apparently disappointed that they where still looking for a fight. "Come on guys, think this over. I ain't going to stand in your way, half the place is already in ruins, and you even got your gear back. Most people I know would call that a good days work and be done with it." Theo and Lucas hadn't moved, and Sarin's expression hardened again. "But here you stand, ready to risk life and limb in a fight against me, for... What? To settle some vendetta?"

"Something trivial like that isn't worth the headache, but you caused hundreds to suffer for something, then you just think it's okay to just run away?! Coward!" Lucas said as his energy levels began to climb more and more, making the walls beginning to creak from the weight of the pressure.

It seemed that they were also busy focused on their agreement, or as some might call it a testosterone-filled battle, they were ignoring the fact that Dina was now searching for her staff. "Damn it! Where is it at?!" She screamed out loud.

"Wha..Dina! Get out of there now!" Theo said in a slightly panicked voiced.

"So the VIP makes an appearance." Sarin quipped with a grin. "How about it princess? Feel like shedding some light on the situation for your friends here?" Dina didn't respond, but Sarin continued regardless. "What's the one most important thing in the world?"

Dina stopped when she heard him say those words, their entire conversation came back up as she realized that things had changed. She wasn't the same girl she was before, Dina was now someone who understood the meaning of trust and friendship, "What matter's most is someone who is your friend, allies you can depend on, and that is something you will never understand Sarin!" She said turning towards him, seeing Lucas running in an attempt to knock Sarin's block off.

"No you bleeding heart..." Sarin stopped himself, catching Lucas's fist in the palm of his metallic arm. Moving with the momentum, Sarin spun on his heel and tossed Lucas back at Theo. "Only thing that matters in this world is survival. That, and what it takes to achieve it." Sarin sighed as they glared at him, flexing the fingers of his metallic arm. "Take your friends for example. The white haired kid survived because he was strong enough. The fat-ass survived because he was lucky..." He off handedly glanced in Dina's direction. "The VIP survived because I bailed her out with the guards." He returned his gaze to the brothers. "Now fighting me... That ain't going to do wonders to your odds of survival. Just so you know."

Theo glared at Sarin with so much anger that if looks could kill, Sairn would have disintegrated in a matter of moments. "Well then. Let's see our chances of survival against you? How does that sound?" Theo said as he held his hands up, which caused his sword to travel into hands and took his battle stance.

Sarin sighed, flipping the chest he had been holding up onto one shoulder. He grin back at him however, Theo's face reflecting back at him in Sarin's shades. "Try your luck." A blade along Sarin's metal forearm shone orange, as well as the claws at his fingertips. "Let's see where it get's ya."

"That sounds good to me" Lucas said cracking his knuckles through his gauntlets, smiling before both he and Theo went towards Sarin, with Lucas moving first as jumped to the wall, using it as a jumping point as he attempted to do a rolling roundhouse kick right to his head.

Sarin ducked, allowing Lucas to simply pass over his head. "Come on, got to do better than that..."

Theo appeared behind Sarin in the form of a black blur and moved his sword in a horizontal swipe towards the neck of his opponent, with the clear intention of taking his head off.

Sarin spun again, catching Theo's blade with the back of the wrist with his metal arm. "Hmm..." He admired the sword for a moment, then grinned at Theo. "Better!" A quick kick to the stomach knocked Theo back, then a wave of Sarin's hand sent a barrage of wind blades after him. "Wind Make: Razor Storm!"

Lucas went towards the attack as he appears in front of the attack, smiling as his body started to glow as suddenly a wall of energy appeared, "Slamming Halo!" Lucas yelled as the storm heading towards Lucas was blocked by the wall, disbursing it without any trouble.

"Oh, teamwork..." Sarin quipped, dropping the chest he had been holding. "How quaint." A sudden gust of wind blew throughout the area, propelling Sarin up above the wall Lucas had created. Once over the top, Sarin slammed his hands together, building up a whirling ball of air between his palms. "Wind Make: Blade Surge!" He fired his spell like a cannonball down onto the brothers, cutting winds scraping down the insides of the wall.

Theo squatted, poking the ground with his glowing index finger. The ground shattered as a large slab of earth was rose up and position to block the deadly wind blades, doing it's job perfectly. Theo rushed from behind the makeshift wall, and swung his sword, as it was glowing a redish-black color. "Cerberus Hunter!" Three energy blades shoot out, one after the other in quick succession, heading towards Sarin.

"Ahh... Now we're talking!" Sarin grinned at the incoming attack, and his metallic arm lit up with magic. He caught Theo's spell with his claws, flying backwards through the air. Sparks rained in every direction, and Sarin looked over his shoulder to the wall quickly approaching. His slashed at it with his flesh arm, using his wind magic to blast a hole in the wall to soften the impact. Theo's spell dissipated as Sarin slid to a stop, finding himself standing in the arena. He grinned looked back at the hole he had flown through, brushing the dust off his jacket. "Wow..." He took a moment to look around. "How's that for irony?"

Both Lucas and Theo had jumped out much faster than expected as they smiled, looking over to Sarin as Lucas cracked his knuckles, "Looks like you decided to stick around, we wouldn't want this party to end so soon." He said to Sarin, then quickly rushing as he then stops a few feet from Sarin, charging Eternano quickly into his palm before slamming down, creating a powerful rock wave that was aimed right at him, hoping to get him.

A blue light erupted from the palm of Sarin's metal arm, countering the force of Lucas's attack and forcing them apart with the shock-wave. "Well, you guys seem pretty set on doing this..." Sarin retorted as he slid to a stop. "Guess that means I just got to kill ya."

Theo pointed his sword at him as though he was getting ready to challenging him. "Well, I would like to see if you would be able to actually pull that off. Now, let's go!" Theo shouted as he dashed forward, once again becoming a black blur. He positioned his sword to stab Sarin in the stomach.

Sarin snorted, unimpressed by the attack. He brushed the tip of the sword aside with his metal arm then closed his hand over the blade, stopping Theo cold. Before any action could be taken, he held his other arm up to Theo's chest and shouted. "Wind Make: Razor Storm!"

From the front of Theo appeared to show two Eternano arms that then merged together to form one large energy arm that took the bulk of the attack, but still managed to pass through as a weakened spell as it hit Theo, but not enough to seriously injure him. Lucas them made his way behind Sarin, "Don't forget, you're battling two guys, not one!" He said attempting to do a roundhouse kick towards Sarin's head while his other hands were full.

Droping to the ground, Sarin allowed Lucas to fly over his head and crash into Theo. The two brothers rolled along the ground as Sarin stood back up. "Yeah, two guys who don't know the first thing about fighting as a team." The blades on Sarin's metal began to glow, a blue light shining in his palm. "Two people or twenty people. Numbers don't mean jack if you don't know what your doing." He leveled his artificial arm at the brothers, firing an orb of magic from his palm.

Theo swept his sword foward, sending out another traid of reddish black energy slashes. The energy slashes collided with the the orb of magic that was flying their way and created a large shockwave as they cancelled each other out and picked up a lot of dust. "Shit, he is pretty good. Not only that but we are still at half power." Theo exclaimed.

"Yeah, you are." Sarin exclaimed flatly. "And yeah, I am." He slid his hands into his pockets with a long sigh, growing tired of what had become a battle of attrition. "So how long are you two going to keep pushing this? Because I'm getting board of just kickin' back everything you throw at me. So ether kick it up or leave me the hell alone."

"Oh, you're getting bored huh, well allow me to make things fun." Lucas said smiling as his body began to glow, channeling Eternano throughout his body as he began to condense it, producing what appeared to be a red-like secondary skin appeared as it continued to grow more and more, enveloping Lucas in a suit as it made him appear more muscular due to the tightness of the suit. "Alright, buckle up Sarin, this is gonna become interesting." Lucas said moving faster than he did before, leaving behind a gust of wind as he jumped to a wall, running alongside it before quickly jumping towards Sarin at near instant speeds, attempting to do a palm thrust right towards his back.

Sarin spun fast, catching Lucas's attack with the elbow of his metal arm. He slid back slightly, caught off guard by the increased power of his blow. He grinned however, finally showing a slight interest in the battle. "Alright, kicking it up it is!" He clapped his hands together, producing a tornado with his real arm and pushing it at Lucas. "Wind Make: Tempest Force!"

Theo dashed towards Lucas and pushed him out of the way, taking the full force of the spell, being shot back into a wall. He let out a groan, pushing rubble that was on him, and stood back up. He placed his hand over face and brought it down, summoning a white mask that had red lines running down the eyeholes. "Lets get serious, shall we?" Theo said, his voice now distorted. Theo dashed forward in a black blur and began to dance around Sarin, slashing and stabbing at him.

Sparks shot through the air with each clash between Sarin's artificial arm and Theo's sword, ringing out through the entire complex. Sarin brushed Theo's sword strike aside after a few moments of combat, slipping behind him and shooting up into the air before Theo could follow up. Wind began to flow into Sarin's hands while he hung high in the air above the others, laughing to himself while building up magic power. "Guess the pair of ya might be a good fight after all." His hands shot down at them, creating hundreds of tiny air blades to rain down on the entire arena. "Wind Make: Razor Storm!"

The smoke cleared as it showed that most of the arena was shredded, all except for a small patch of earth that was uprooted as it had been hit, but not completely destroyed as Lucas had went right in front of Theo, slamming down his fist as it had created an uprooted slab of the floor that blocked the spell just in the nick of time. "Theo, go in for the hit when I distract him." He said looking over to his brother, who nodded as he waited for the moment to strike. Focusing his new physiology into his arm, Lucas caused the slab of floor to his hand, beginning to swing it around and around, releasing it at high speeds towards Sarin.

Sarin appeared unimpressed, sliding sideways through the air and out of the path of the flying debris. "And your back to cheep tricks again." He called as the rock fell to the ground. "You saved this thing as a trump card and this is all you can do? I thought you where suppose to save the world or somethin'?"