ToTT: Chapter 12

Chapter 12
July 19th X792

Midnight Reckoning. A guild with an untouchable kill count. In one year along, just four of their members accounted for over 5000 murders, which they claim to be "acts of rightful vengeance". Their master is known as Ikarus. They all wield incredibly dangerous Last Resorts; classed as forbidden spells due to their destructive power. Ikaris, however, is the exception. She is from, and she wields a legendary blade that has been transfused with numerous amounts of Lacrima containing Death Magic.

The battle.

Sif and Ikarus were keeping up with each other, metal clangs ringing out rapidly, katana vs rapier.

Brianna was using both her sword and her free hand to combat the teenager, Maximus Yukimura.

Alex was clashing with Michelle Himura, who seemed to be using virtually identical Magic to his own!

Brooke, Violet and Akabane had all been trapped and immobilised in wires that almost had a mind of their own, their caster being Yukio Nakahara.

Eugene and Marco Takahashi were locked together in a shoving match with their swords; their blades pressed together for the moment, as Marco glared down at the shorter Swordsman.

Josh had attempted to stop the blonde from reaching his father, Hayden, who was currently incapacitated, only to be stopped himself by a change of gravity around him, with the clear source being Yamada Takahashi.

Rapidfire gunshots echoed across the land as Ezra and Marina Kurosawa, the one who murdered Dean shortly before, engaged in an aerial gun duel; however, Ezra seemed to be on the defensive. Blood was dribbling from his left wrist, and he was using his right hand to apply pressure to stop it. It also seemed that Marina had an identical pair of jet-boots to Ezra's, flying around after him, constantly firing her guns, which seemed to be a pair of Sub-Machine Guns.

Artemis Morioka, the blonde woman from before, was standing over Hayden, and reached down to grab him by the neck, a shadow over her eyes, a dark smile on her face.

Eugene looked back up at his opponent without showing any sort of fear or trouble. In fact, he was finding this easy. "Halt." He said activating his magic. This caused Marco's sword to become stuck to Eugene's light blue one with no hopes of getting it off. Eugene's sword in turn was stuck to his hand. "Freeze." The light blue sword lit up and then started to freeze up Marco's sword traveling down towards his hands. If Marco didn't let go of his sword, he'd be frozen in no time.

Back where Hayden and Artemis was, a spark of fire interrupted Artemis from grabbing Hayden. Kai stood in the way in place of Josh. He also made a small fireball explode in front of Yamada's face to make him falter a bit.

With Brooke, Violet and Akabane, who were still tied in wires, the youngest had a plan. She summoned plants from the ground that spit acid on the wires, setting them free. She then fired cactus needles at machine gun speed at the caster of those wires.

The Wire Mage manipulated his wires to function like whips, blocking each cactus needle with a flurry of whiplashes from them.

Marco, meanwhile, glared at Eugene, only for his expression to turn into a smirk. Incredible heat was generated from his body, to melt the ice that had been casted upon his sword, and was even starting to scald Eugene's hands. Promptly afterwards, the sword literally began to grow to gargantuan proportions, but even Marco looked surprised by it. He stumbled back holding the enlarged weapon, only for it to shrink back down.

"Don't let that stupid Dragon Slayer destroy your weapon, Marco, or else.", Michelle snapped at Marco, while grappling with Alex. "It's the only one you'll get, and if you let it get destroyed, Leona will destroy you.", she continued, before throwing Alex down roughly to the floor and straddling his stomach. A long object slid out of her sleeves, which she gripped between her fingers. She looked down at Alex, who happened to be blushing, but at the same time glaring. It was obvious why he was blushing; a pretty girl was literally straddling him. Michelle smirked almost viciously.

She leant down so her face was inches from the boy's. "It's been a while since I've met a boy as cute as you.", she said with a sultry tone of voice, as her long, silky cherry blossom hair cascaded down the sides of her face, and brushed past Alex's.

"Get the hell off of me, you wh--Agh!", he yelped in pain as Michelle jabbed the needle in her hand into his neck. Alex felt himself unable to move, or even use Magic.

"Let's not use such bad words...especially near children.", she said as she glanced towards the youngers; Josh, Violet, and Kai. "Speaking of things too inappropriate for children...", she whispered as her face lowered towards his, "How about you and I..sneak off somewhere nice...quiet...and dark when this wears off from your body, hm?", she said with a mischievous giggle.

"Like I'd even think about going anywhere--Mmmf?!", he started to shout before being interrupted by a pair of gentle, rosy lips being planted on his own. Michelle's! Brianna spotted this, and she looked like someone had just punched her in the gut, while at the same time having also insulted her. Alex attempted to struggle, but he gave into the kiss...but not because of the inability to escape. Michelle had placed him in a trance with some sort of Magic!

Meanwhile, Ezra had managed to trick Marina, and found cover so he could heal his wrist where the woman had shot him multiple times. After, Ezra Requipped an advanced type of sniper rifle into his grasp. He turned and rested on his knees, with his chest against the rock he used for cover. He rested the sniper on its legs, as he put his eye near the scope. He slowly panned the area until he found the girl soaring around in the sky, looking for him, obviously with an itchy trigger finger. "I just met them and I'm fed up with them.", he thought to himself. He closed one eye as he charged his Magic Power into his rifle. "Stinger Shot!", Ezra casted. Marina heard the voice, but when the pinpointed, it was too late. She was hit by the attack, and was engulfed in a small explosion.

Marina yelled as she was surrounded by the explosion, and when it ended, she coughed as she fanned away smoke. She looked in the same direction, but Ezra was gone! She looked startled, and began to panic, looking all around her. She suddenly got a chill, and shrieked as she whirled round to see an ominous-looking figure silhouetted by the setting sun even though it was mere feet from her.

The figure, Ezra, raised a single .44 Magnum pistol so that its barrel was aimed at her. "Spark Shot.", he said abruptly, as Marina was hit by an electrical bullet that stunned and paralysed her, causing her to start falling from the sky. Her gun remained with her due to its strap. Ezra watched her fall for a few seconds, before throwing a card down at Marina with decent speed. When it hit her, the girl was absorbed into the card. This was Ezra's Card Dimension spell. Ezra used his Requip to send the card containing Marina away.

Back on the ground, Sif and Ikarus were continuing their bout. The two were equalling swing for swing, evenly pushing each other back every now and then. Suddenly, a black mist swarmed Ikarus' blade, looking almost like a thin flame. Sif looked surprised, but immediately retaliated. Electricity surrounded her rapier, and she hold it vertically in front of her.

"Come.", Ikarus said. Short and sweet. She burst forward into a sprint.

"Gladly.", Sif responded with as she did the same. "Thundering Blade!", she casted. The katana with a mist of death. The rapier with the might of the storm. The two weapons clashed in the middle with a large explosion.

"Your sword is still stuck by the way." Eugene said rather nonchalantly as the melting of the ice did nothing to unstick their swords. With a small smile Eugene made both of his swords and Marco's disappear through the use of his portal box. Making his opponent's weapon disappear as well was only possible because they were stuck together being thought of as one object with his swords. Immediately afterward, he let loose a loud clap that wreaked havoc in Marco's mind as he fell over. This gave Eugene the chance to draw his third sword and render him unfit for further combat with a hit to the neck that blocked off his oxygen intake temporarily which would soon knock him out. "I'll return your sword after the battle is over maybe?" He said to Marco as he fell unconscious. It doesn't seem as if they have too much ill intent... Something's going on. Eugene thought to himself before heading over to Brianna.

"Brianna, I think I've figured out your origins. I have this one technique to teach you." Eugene said with a small smile as he grabbed onto her hand. "I do recall you pestering me to teach it so might as well make it now. You want to get that girl off of Alex right? Don't worry, it won't be able to be copied either due to it's nature. Repeat after me."

"I am Steel. Steel knows no fear. Steel knows no doubt. When faced with my enemy, I hesitate not. I am a weapon to destroy these. Steel Blood Transformation!" As Brianna repeated these words both she and Eugene began to glow with a red aura and pretty soon both of their eyes and hair also turned red with red X markings appearing on their faces. "This will give us a boost up in terms of physical ability and mental calculation speed. Let's go!" He then charged towards Artemis who despite appearance was having trouble with Kai while he left Brianna to do as she wished.

Artemis managed to get past Kai's fire soon enough, and knocked him dozens of metres away with a simple slap. When she heard something coming at her, she whirled round to meet gazes with Eugene, smirking.

Meanwhile, Brianna was sprinting at Michelle. The teenage half-Wolf tackled the girl off of the entranced Alex, following up with a swing of her sword. Even with her abilities being enhanced, her sword swing was still blocked by Michelle; her needle had grew taller than her, and had been used to parry the sword! The force of the impact generated small shockwaves in multiple directions. The two were going at it like a cat and dog, Brianna was pissed. And it was obvious to Michelle, why she was. "What's wrong? Is that young man your boyfriend, or are you just too scared to say anything to him?", she said with a blatant mocking vocal tone.

Sif and Ikarus were all over the place, however Ikarus eventually knocked Sif onto her back on the ground, and swung her sword down towards the Unchained Soul member, but it was caught by Sif using her rapier to block. Ikarus, however, had incredible strength, and the edge of her death-blade was slowly getting closer to Sif's face. "A simple knick would be all that is needed to take your life-force away.", Ikarus spoke, with no emotion in her face. Sif let out strained grunts as she attempted to fight back, pushing harder; stopping the sword getting closer for now.

Shuriken came out of nowhere towards Artemis and that was just what Eugene needed to disappear from view and then all of a sudden, a gas surrounded her, making her feel tired as she almost fell down on one knee before getting hit in the back by something which caused her to get nausea akin to an extreme case of seasickness. "You people said that you were assassins that don't play by the rules right? Well, it just so happens that I'm an assassin as well and I don't play by the rules either." Eugene said in a rather cold tone before knocking her out. ''From what I remember about these guys from the guild's archives, it's hard to imagine them doing this. Which worries me. That's why I have to make sure not to use lethal force.'' "Kai, get Wolf some healing potions." He said to the boy as he returned, throwing him some glass vials which contained some drinks that would help a person regain their strength quickly although it tasted terrible.

Eugene then went to help Sif as she seemed to be in more danger. He fired some arrows at Ikarus to detract her attention away from Sif. At the same time he called out to Brianna. "Brianna, keep your cool! Remember what I taught you. Keep your head cool but your heart on fire." He then continued to get Ikarus's attention.

Even though she had apparently been knocked out, Artemis quickly rose to her feet again, and cackled. "You really think this will do shit to me?", Artemis said, as her body began to shimmer. "You tried to poison someone like me...", she said as she began to giggle, "How stupid are you?!", she continued, as her ears became pointed, and wings grew out of her back. Two long, thick scaly tails appeared from the base of her spine. Horns grew from her head. And then in a flash of purple light, her entire form had changed. "Satan Soul...Beelzebub!!", she said with a demonic filter-like effect in her voice. She turned towards Kai and the unconscious Hayden. Pointing a finger, she fired a thin beam at the distracted child. The thin beam pierced straight through his little chest and out the back. He dropped backwards, as he struggled to hang in there.

The potions were unable to be applied to Hayden. But that wasn't her priority; Artemis stepped over Hayden, towering over Kai in her Satan Soul mode. She aimed her palm, which was glimmering with purple energy, ready to fire pointblank. Eugene noticed this, but by the time he would have done anything, the attack would have fired and Kai would be dead...except, something happened that not even he had accounted for.

Out of the blue, Hayden rose up faster than the blink of an eye, grabbed Artemis by her twin tails, and launched her across the battlefield, sending her bouncing like a pebble along a pond. Hayden seemed almost wrathful towards the woman, as he had almost immediately morphed into his Wolf form after throwing Artemis.

"Ah, seems I was too slow. But none-the-less, welcome back to the world...big brother.", she said with a dark smirk, only to be met with a snarl from Hayden's wolf form.

"Huh, Hayden also had more siblings huh?" Kai said as he got back up seemingly fine. "As Eugene said, always consider the probability of being attacked so I used magic to let it go through me. I had magic set up for the next hit too..." While he was glad that Hayden saved him, he was annoyed of being taken out of the limelight.

"That would explain why they smelled similar." Eugene commented, not showing much surprise, not that he could afford to as he had to focus on multiple things at once. "Maybe I should have calibrated that to be a higher level since she was a werewolf. Ah well, it was enough to buy enough time for Wolf to come back. He's got this. Kai, get out of there and help Josh."

"Yes sir!" The boy replied back as he moved from his current location.

"Wolf, the potions are still there if you need them. They taste terrible though." Eugene said with a small grin.

Hayden just barked at Eugene, a passive-aggressive notion. As if he were both thanking him, and telling him to piss off all at once. Hayden turned back, and barked viciously at Artemis a few times.

"Well, if you're gonna do that, I may as well oblige and make it even more fun!", she said, with a tone of voice that was almost genuine giddyness. Artemis shifted out of her Satan Soul form. Promptly, the woman shifted into her own Werewolf form, and growled at her older brother. Artemis has fur with a golden colour, with fur so soft it almost looked like an untarnished grassland and field of wheat. Although, she has a little bit slimmer than Hayden, and she was at least a foot-and-a-third shorter in height, and a foot shorter in length too.

Hayden roared loud enough that it echoed across the entire battlefield, with Artemis letting loose a similar one. The two sounds collided and merged, before fading. The two giant Wolves stared at each other in silence. Hayden pushed his ears back, and charged with lightning speed, reaching his sister in less than two seconds. She met him with a tackle, and the two mighty beasts rolled across the ground. Howls, growls, snarls, barks and bites were thrown all around. Claws were dragged down sides, teeth sank into legs. Blood was splattered all over the place, but because of their nature, they were healing almost instantly.

Elsewhere, Brianna was still duelling with Michelle. They were both fighting well, until a mishap...Brianna tripped, and Michelle slammed the side of her spear into the girl's chest to knock her over. The lapse in concentration caused her ability to fade. Brianna attempted to stand...but before she knew it...a spear was embedded in her chest, and straight out her back. Brianna whimpered softly. Michelle threw the young Sword Mage overhead, so that she landed near Eugene and the rest of the group. Josh saw his sister, and cried out her name in anguish. "BRIANNA!", his shrill, teenage boy voice echoed. It caught Hayden's attention.

The huge silver wolf stopped fighting, and looked in Josh and Brianna's direction. He was enraged by what he saw, and his eyes turned from gold to red. But he was tackled to the ground by his sister, and received a hefty bite to his neck, being dragged around, before he broke free.

Eugene moved quickly to his student who had landed near him and began to apply medicine to her. Due to Brianna being in her current mode, she was healing faster than a normal person would. Along with her Werewolf healing abilities, this was enhanced even further. "Rest for a bit, you should be back in fighting condition in a few minutes. I'll take on that girl..." He then moved quickly towards Michelle, having summoned out his swords again. At the same time he kept an eye on Alex who was still on the ground.

Michelle turned and looked at Eugene charging at her, and smiled. "Finally, a real challenge.", she said as she positioned herself, ready to clash with the Dragon Slayer.

"Keromizu, blast him away." Kai exclaimed as he summoned one of his mechanical creatures. The large being then let loose a Hydro Pump at Yamada to try and get his attention away from his friend which he thought of as a brother.

Yamada was knocked back by the blast of water, causing the gravity alteration to loosen enough for Josh to be freed from it, but it was still there, just weak. He got up, scowling at the pair of children. He raised his hands, creating a mist of darkness around them. Charging a vortex of Darkness between his hands, he aimed it towards the two boys. "Evil Explosion!", he casted, as a humongous beam of dark energy was fired at them, causing a massive explosion upon impact. Darkness Magic.

Close by, Violet blasted at her wire using foe with acid blasts. His wires wouldn't really be able to do much against that.

"Kofuna Shizen Ryu: Cyclone!" Brooke shouted to blast waves of air pressure to cut down the wires.

Yukio leaped out of the way of the attacks before he was injured, digging his feet into the ground to slow him down on his landing. "Fire-Make: Firefly Swarm!", Yukio casted as he placed his hands together, and generated a large number of flaming projectiles towards the sisters.

Sif, after being freed from Ikarus' death-pin, distanced herself by a few dozen metres. "I've had enough of you and that stupid, cheaty weapon!", Sif yelled at Ikarus. "I don't have the time, either so, guess it's the right moment for this.", she continued, as her sword began to gleam with a minty green aura, and streamers of energy were emitting from it. "It's a technique that only true swordfighters can use...", she said as she held her rapier in front of her, horizontally. Sif closed her eyes.

Ikarus began to sprint towards the woman, the mist around her katana thicker than ever. "I could say the same thing about this move!", she called out during her run.

Both Sif and her rapier began to shine with a golden light. Ikarus was getting closer and closer each second.

"Ankhseram Raze!", Ikarus said as the black mist solidified into a shadowy matter. She leaped into the air, ready to bring it across Sif to kill her in one blow. But she was too late.

Sif opened her eyes, which had changed to a pink shade. Pulses of aura emitted from her, catching the attention of many, even her brother, who remained in the sky. "Hidden Blade: Thousand-Carved Retribution!!", Sif called out, generating a colossal shockwave that was the size of a city block. It engulfed Ikarus directly and sent her flying into a cliff, which was also quickly annihilated by the attack.

When it ended, Ikarus was riddled with dozens of slices all over her body. Not fatally, however.

Ezra observed his younger sister using one of her best techniques, and smiled to himself. He then turned and looked at Leona's castle. He, and only he, noticed her looking through an opening, and she noticed him. The dark-natured woman smirked, and walked off down one of the many hallways. Ezra gritted his teeth for a moment, and looked down at Kai and Josh dealing with Yamada. He looked at Kai's summoned ally. "One summon deserves another.", he muttered aa he Requipped at least 30 cards into the palm of his hand. "Josh, Kai!", Ezra called down to the two, as he threw numerous cards down around them. All of them shimmered, and morphed into a multi-coloured pack of Deinonychus. "They'll help you.", he said, as he looked over to Hayden and Artemis continuing their brawl, knowing the former will be fine. "Sif, Eugene. I trust you two to handle the rest of what happens here.", he said as he generated a small wave of Healing Magic energies, just to act as supplementaries for the smaller wounds they, the group, had received, before he himself took off through the air towards the castle, the fire from his boots growing to push him faster.

"From the look in his eyes, it looks like he's found our main enemy." Eugene said as he had a clone take away Ikarus's sword and put it in a portal box for safekeeping. He had been doing the same with all of the defeated one's weapons to make sure they wouldn't be able to do much if they got back up. The real Eugene was still in close combat with Michelle. "Sif, if you're done over there, help the others!"

Violet summoned a large plant to block the fire attack, one of the few that was fireproof. All of a sudden several chains wrapped around Yukio's legs and were beginning to go around the rest of his body. "We appear to fight in a similar manner. And that pisses me off." Akabane said in a cold tone, having appeared nearby him somehow without Yukio noticing.

Yukio strained against the chains, but he was eventually engulfed by them, and fell backwards to the ground, struggling like a dolphin in a fishing net. "It's not over yet...not by a long shot!", he screamed out. He gripped onto chains in each hand. And suddenly, tendrils of the same metal they were made out of emerged from the chains, intending to snare all three children around him. "They call me the Maker Master, y'know?! I could make an entire city if I put effort into it!", he said as he continued struggling.

Meanwhile, Michelle and Eugene were trading blow for blow. Her lance was clashing with his two swords many times over. When their weapons locked together in the middle, she lurched forward, to swing her knee upwards into the man's groinal area.

"My my, you aimed for that spot." Eugene said with a small smile as the knee impacted. "While I do feel some pain, it'll be worse for you. I play dirty as well." Michelle would find that Eugene had armor protecting his groin and it had small spikes on it. "They're laced with some stuff including a powerful laxative and a hallucinogen. Have fun with that." He said as he backed away slowly.

Michelle didn't even seem fazed, instead she was actually laughing, taking a few steps back. "You really think I haven't faced Wizards who use plants and alchemic materials and all that crap before?!", she said. She was suddenly a living mass of pure fire. The heat was incredible, comparable to even Natsu Dragneel's of Fairy Tail. "Wanna know what they call me?", she said with an echoed voice, caused by her Flame Body. "Mother Nature~.", she said with a perky chime in her voice. When she returned to her regular form, she sighed happily. "Wanna know what they'll call you?", she said eerily as she gripped her lance firmly. "The Dead Dragon Boy.", she continued, as she drive her lance into the ground, generating waves of lightning from it, which was also tearing up the ground wildly as it travelled towards Eugene.

Before she noticed, Eugene had vanished once more, most probably while she was too focused blasting out lightning, only to reappear beside and behind her. "Halt." Eugene said, his magic causing Michelle's clothes to become unmoving and her feet were stuck to the ground. "Dead Dragon Boy huh? I'd rather stick to my other nicknames like Ninja or Ghost." He said with a smile before hitting her in the side of the head, a good place to hit to knock a person out.

Instead of hitting her, his hand went straight through her; it seems her Flame Body is somewhat of a passive thing, similar to Juvia Lockser's Water Body. Michelle fully turned into fire again, and disappeared. She reappeared near by with her lance, and an outfit identical to the one Eugene had turned solid. She laughed cockily, similar to Marina's ojou-sama laugh. "You really thought that would work? I figured out your Magical abilities the second you came at me.", she said with a childish grin. There was a cross-like affliction upon her left eye. She reached up her sleeve, and when she removed her hand, she was holding multiple marble-sized objects between her fingers. "What's it like being in a guild filled with women like that girl that beat Ikarus?", she said, almost genuinely. She threw the marbles and they exploded around Eugene, each one generating an insane burst of sound that even made Michelle flinch, closing an eye. "It must be an EARFUL!", she said, as she exploited the Dragon Slayer's highly-enhanced senses.

"Thanks for that Eriko." Eugene said as he walked forward without batting an eye or feeling any effects. "Luckily for me, I got someone on my side who has sound magic. All she had to do was use an antiphase for the noise of this and there we go, it's cancelled for me." He said with a smile. Even Michelle had to stop in her tracks for a bit, giving him just enough time to walk right up to her. "Sorry about this but I'll be taking a page from your book." He said as he had his hand positioned next to her ear. "Now Eriko!" He exclaimed before snapping his fingers, the sound being greatly enhanced by Sound Magic.

However, a split second before the Sound Magic technique was put to use, Michelle disappeared! Although, instead of ambushing, she reappeared at a different spot, at least fifty feet away. But what she just wasn't her Flame Body technique again...it was vastly more dangerous. Michelle was smirking. Shortly after, before Eugene even had the chance to turn around, something powerful hit him from behind, sending him flying forward a few metres, but Michelle didn't even move.

Back with Josh, Kai, and the summons Ezra loaned to them to fight Yamada, things were a lot more different. One-sidedly different. Only two of the seven summons remained, and Josh and Kai were both beaten, bruised and slightly bloodied. Yamada barely had a scratch on him...although he was a little wet from that Hydro Pump earlier. One of the two remaining summons leaped at Yamada, but he simply punched straight through it, showing immense levels of strength, dispersing the creature into dust particles. The remaining one generated a wave of wind from its jaw, causing Yamada to slide back a few feet. He sighed, and flexed his wrist. The flow of gravity around Josh, Kai and the last of the summons was completely changed; they had begun floating up into the air.

"So then, you're just getting started ain'tcha ya?" Eugene said from a different location then where he was launched. It appeared he had used a clone, wanting to see the attack himself. "I give up on trying to figure that out for now. I'll ask then, why are you fighting for Leona? From what I recall from my research, you guys fight for rightful vengeance. Did we perchance do anything to incur your wrath?" He was rather curious about this. Maybe I should get ready that other thing...

"Sif, go help Kai and Josh for now. It looks like they need help right now." He said to Sif, to which she responded with an affirmative action as she ran over.

Sif seized the opportunity for surprise, and flew quickly into the air. While Yamada was busy beating on the kids and the now-destroyed summon, Sif dropped down from above, dragging the blade of her rapier down Yamada's back, causing the man to yell in pain. After landing, Sif swung round to kick the bottom of her foot into Yamada, sending him flying forward; cancelling his Magic, with Josh and Kai dropping to the ground, both of them exhausted from both extertion and injury. "You both hang back now, okay?", she said comfortingly as she walked past, towards a now-pissed looking Yamada. "It's not nice picking on little kids like that.", she said, as she held her rapier in front of her.

"Shut up, bitch.", he said as energy built up around his hands. After a moment of silence, they leapt forward and clashed; Sif's rapier scraping against the aura around Yamada's hands. Sif kicked him into the air, flying after him to deliver another blow, only to be countered. It seemed that Yamada was able to fly as well. He delivered a swift punch, to send her through the air. When she was distanced, he raised his hands, creating a vortex of darkness. "Black Burst!", he casted, as he fired a large orb of concentrated Darkness energy.

Sif moved above it, but it exploded directly beneath her, sending her hurdling towards the clouds. She caught herself, momentarily stunned from the force and suddenness of the explosion. Yamada was flying up at her, with Darkness Magic energy around his hands. Sif sent her rapier away, and engulfed her own hands with light from her Heavenly Body Magic. The two were clashing at high speeds, while flying all over the show in the sky. Shockwaves of both light and darkness were being emitted from each colliding blow. The two were just streaks of black and white as they flew around in their fight. Hooks, uppercuts, hammer-punches, kicks, knees. All of them were thrown around in their aerial battle. They seemed to be evenly matched for now. That is, until Yamada managed to generate a burst of Gravitational force to send Sif into the clouds above, as the sun was almost gone beneath the horizon.

When Sif emerged from the cloudbanks, she saw that Yamada was already preparing a spell, one visibly much, much larger than the others. So Sif decided to retaliate with equal grasp of the opportunity at hand. Sif stretched out her arms, generating power. The two generating their intense Magic Power caught the attention of a lot of people on the ground, including even Eugene, Michelle, Hayden and Artemis, despite them being in the midst of their own battles, which seemed to have been paused for now. Hayden instantly recognised Sif's intentions, and barked in alarm towards his allies, meanwhile Michelle recognised those of Yamada.

"Everyone, get your butts outta there, now!", she said, as she too quickly started to relocate away from Sif and Yamada's duel.

Everyone on both sides did the same.

"Perish in the realm of eternal darkness! Infinite Oblivion!!", he yelled as he generated a titanic ray of Darkness towards Sif.

Sif's arms were in an odd position. The air around the entire battlefield was beginning to build in force, almost like gales. The darkening clouds above her formed a vortex, spiral-like formation. Sif pointed one arm down, and the other one upwards. "Taste the power of the heavens themselves...!", she said as a red orb of energy appeared in the center of the vortex, and grew massive. "True Heavenly Body Magic! SEMA!!", she quickly casted, as a massive glowing meteor was dropped from the sky towards the incoming attack.

When the two attacks collided, an explosion of gargantuan proportions was caused, sending everyone flying off their feet, even though they had already distanced themselves. An expansion of energy engulfed both of the Wizards in the sky. When it faded, they both plummeted to the earth below, neither of them moving.

Luckily, Eugene managed to catch Sif in time before she hit the ground but she was still unconscious. He then turned towards his daughters who were running up to him. "Take care of your mother okay?" He said to them as he handed Sif to Brooke. "Also, take care of the boys." He then turned to Akabane. "Akabane, you finished on your end?"

"Enemy defeated." Akabane said in a stiff voice as he had rendered Yukio unfit for further combat as well as unconscious. He had also grabbed Alex away.

"Okay then, I got Miss Himura here." Eugene said as he faced his opponent once again. "Now then, I'll ask again, why are you working for Leona here?" He asked as he drew his swords.

"That's none of your business, you grumpy mug.", she said as she spun her lance, and stuck its bladed tip into the ground. Michelle was notably looking past Eugene, towards the kids. "They're cute...it'd be a shame if they were to be cooked by a familiar blaze, wouldn't it...?", Michelle said rather eerily. Suddenly, the kids could be heard screaming, and an explosion rang out.

Eugene looked behind him, to see something just twisted. Alexander was attacking the group, even the unconscious ones! He was repeatedly throwing balls of fire at them, scorching many of them each time.

"You can either go and stop that feisty little Devil Slayer from roasting your kids like a barbeque...or~ you can try and stop me~!", she said as she walked towards the castle, almost like a ghost. "I'm sure Leona has already made that handsome redhead into a kebab already.", she said with a laugh. However, she did not take her eyes off of Eugene.

"I'm not exactly worried." Eugene said calmly. "Akabane is there." Just as he said this, chains of ice had been blocking off the fire balls from hitting its caster's companions.

"I wasn't expecting having to fight you in a situation like this." Akabane said as he confronted Alex. He had his tonfas at the ready and his eyes were focused. The pressure he was giving off from his magic power was overwhelming. "Bring it on my friend, my rival. I will knock some sense back into that head of yours."

"And so you have it." Eugene said to Michelle. "We can continue our battle now." He wasn't going to let her escape as he blocked off her way of retreat.

"You sure about that?", Michelle said as she peers over her shoulder.

Alex was holding three golden items in his hand. When he swung his hand sideways, the items shimmered, and orbs of light appeared in front of him. The three lights turned into three of the Zodiac Celestial Spirits! Aquarius, Scorpio, and Libra were all now standing on the battlefield.

The pinkette had a twisted smile as she looked back at Eugene. "And I have a little toy of my own~", she said cheerfully as she pulled a single purple key out of her sleeve. "I summon thee, Planetary Spirit of War! Come to my aid! Mars!", she casted, as another figure appeared from a shine of light, between Michelle and Eugene. "You still wanna fight me, or do you think that Akabane kid can handle all of them on his own?", she giggled.

However, there was something that Eugene could notice. Alex was shuddering, looking as if he were in pain, as his summoned Spirits looked at him with concern. The boy muttered something through gritted teeth that was inaudible to Eugene, but was apparently shocking; everyone, both the Spirits and Alex's friends, had baffled expressions upon their face.

"So this is Mars, Sol told me about you." Eugene said rather nonchalantly while also revealing he knew another of the Planetary Spirits. He then turned to the Celestial Spirits. "Aquarius, Scorpio, Libra, long time no see!" During his time as a Fairy Tail mage, he had become acquainted with the three spirits especially the former two as they belonged to his former guildmate Lucy. As their memories would be of the present time, not the future it was reasonable they were confused as to their current situation being summoned by somebody who was not their master.

"Hey, Eugene, explain what's going on." Scorpio asked Eugene who was the only familiar face to him and Aquarius. "And why were we summoned by someone other than Lucy. Is she dead?"

"What about Yukino?" Libra asked out of concern. While Sif, Hayden and Ezra were familiar faces to her, Sif was out of view, Hayden was indistinguishable as a wolf and Ezra was gone so Eugene again was the only familiar face.

"Don't worry, they're both fine and alive." Eugene said, reassuring them. "To put it shortly the kid that summoned you is from the future and he's the owner of your keys then so he can also summon you." He explained to them.

"Not that I want to be summoned by that girl, I'd rather not be used by somebody who I don't have a contract with presently, even if it is in the future." Aquarius said with a tch.

"Well then, since you've been summoned already, mind giving me a hand here?" Eugene said pointing towards Mars. "I'm gonna need some help here."

"Meh, what the heck?" Scorpio said in response. "We are!" He said before blasting powerful sand attacks at Eugene's opponent's. The two other spirits also helped with their own powers.

"...me" Eugene could hear him say.

"KILL ME ALREADY!!" it was a violent shout let loose from the bottom of Alex's soul. He was currently looking at Brianna. Although he still had the cold look on his face from being controlled, tears were spilling out of his eyes.

"Grit your teeth..." Alex could hear Akabane's voice before suddenly getting hit with a powerful blow to the jaw by tonfas and was sent flying into a boulder, leaving an imprint. "Remember when we were kids? We read about ritual suicide back then where one criminal would be executed by his best friend as a type of mercy. Even we were only joking around, we promised to be each other's killer if that ever became the case. So now, if I can't bring you back to your senses completely, I'll do my duty as a friend and be your executioner." His magic power rose dramatically, rivaling Alex's. Akabane then smiled a little. "You know, we never really found out which was stronger, the power of a demon, or the power of a god."

Michelle managed to counter Aquarius and Scorpio's attacks, however Libra's Gravity-based Magic got a hold of her, and launched her into the ground, earning a grunt from the young woman.

"You dare...?!", Michelle snarled. "Mars, kill them all! Bring me their heads!!", she shrieked, as her Planetary Spirit lunged towards the trio of Zodiacs. The tall, well-built man glided across the ground, his sword to the ready.

When Aquarius flung a wave of water from her jug, it turned into a large, channelled ray of pressurised murder. However, it wasn't Mars that was hit by the attack, it was Scorpio!

Aquarius looked baffled by what just happened, only to receive a hefty gash right down her arm, as Mars had taken the place of Scorpio. He used Territory Magic. He leaped at Libra immediately after, although she narrowly avoided being struck. Mars was promptly engulfed in a sandstorm launched by Scorpio.

Meanwhile, Michelle got to her feet, and looked absolutely infuriated, lifting her lance.

Alex pulled himself out of the rock, and glared at Akabane, with his eyes having been dulled by the trance effect. His hands became enveloped in flame, but another voice screamed out from nearby.

"YOU WANT SOMEONE TO KILL YOU?! I'LL HAPPILY OBLIDGE!!", Michelle shrieked in rage, as she launched her lance from where she stood, and before anyone could even do anything, the weapon had impaled Alex through the middle of his torso to the rock behind him!!

Alex whimpered hoarsely, and he grasped the lance, stunned by it all. He attempted to speak, but only coughed a bit of blood. However, the trance effect had disappeared from his eyes.

"Alex!" Akabane exclaimed as he ran to his friend. He set Healing Magic into a Replicard Gauntlet and used it as he got the lance out, ensuring he wouldn't lose too much blood upon doing so. He then forced Alex to drink the healing potion. It didn't seem he was any good either for further combat though.

"Akabane, get Alex out of here." Eugene said, not taking his eyes off his opponent. "Ren, I guess we'll have to bring out level 2." As he said this, he deactivated his Steel Blood Transformation mode to conserve energy.

"Gotcha, commencing activating sequence." Ren replied with excitement in his voice. It was then Eugene's combat suit began to glow and change in design and form. When the light cleared up, it was plain to see that his battle suit got an upgrade. It wasn't just appearances that changed, Michelle could feel something else was different, something that she should be cautious about.

"Let's do this then." Eugene said as he put away his light blue sword and exchanged it for another weapon. This one didn't even look like it had a blade. "Bring it on."

"Gladly.", Michelle said, with a mix of both excitement and sophistication in her voice. Stretching her hand out, her lance flew through the air and returned to her grasp. Spinning her lance in front of her, a continuous, forceful wave of gale-like air was thrown towards Eugene. Air or Wind Magic, seemingly.

A Magic Circle appeared in front of Eugene, taking on and absorbing the wind/air magic spell. Seems like that function is working perfectly Eugene thought to himself as Michelle was just wasting magic energy.

"Hmph.", Michelle said as she ceased with her Wind attack. "I'll admit, that's kinda cool.", she said as she firmly gripped her lance. "So it can absorb Magic, and I'm assuming that it has a decent durability level...which in turn, would make all of my attacks moot.", Michelle concluded. "Guess it's time for that thing...", she said as she drove her lance into the ground. Twisting it like a key, a huge Magic Circle appeared across the entire battlefield. The ground began to rumble, as the center fell in on itself, and a pedestal of sorts began to rise out. Michelle giggled, as she took a few steps back, and broke into a sprint forwards. Using her Magic, she launched herself high above Eugene, aiming to land at the pedestal.

What's she planning? Eugene thought to himself as he kept at the ready. There were too many uncertainties about this girl. In his mind, he was making preparations for another thing.

She struck her lance into a red orb on the pedestal. The structure itself opened up; revealing a humanoid figure that looked almost like an android of some sort. The four pillars began to glow, and they each were generating some sort of energy into the humanoid creature. A few moments later, the thing came to life with a mechanical drone-like noise. Michelle pointed at the armoured Eugene. "There, Byakuren. He is your target. Tear him LIMB FROM LIMB!!", she spoke before her voice turned into an angry shriek at the end.

However, before Byakuren could move, an explosion rattled the land. And suddenly part of the wall of the huge castle behind everyone caved in. Ezra flew out, holding Leona by the throat. He was gritting his teeth, blood was dripping. Something wasn't right...it wasn't until anyone actually focused on Ezra, that they could see Leona's fingernails had extended into claws and impaled him through the arm multiple times.

Leona roared, and released a burst of fire out of her mouth that engulfed Ezra and forced him to let go of her. He flew back through the air, disorientated. When the smoke disappeared, Ezra's face was now charred on one side. Before he could act, he was already being struck again by Leona's extended claws, this time diagnolly down his torso. He yelled in pain. Something else was off. He wasn't healing! He raised his hands, and a solid pillar of earth burst up from beneath Leona, to knock her skywards.

While in the sky, Leona grew a huge pair of red, bat-like wings. She pointed her hand down towards the group instead of Ezra. An incredible amount of energy was swelling around her, to the extent that it created gale-force winds around the entire area. She fired a humongous ray of maroon energies of some kind.

Boom, impact. But it wasn't the group that was hit... Ezra had flew in front of him, and used his Reflector Magic to attempt to redirect the blast, but the best he could do was redirect it solely upon his person. It was clear that he was being disentagrated.

By now, the most of the group had awoken, and was watching the event in awe, including Sif. Hayden, back in his normal yet bloodied form, stood over a defeated, equally bloodied Artemis, watching the event too.

"Eugene. Sif.", Ezra said with a loud echo. "I am hereby asking you to watch over everyone in my absence, do you hear me..?!", he yelled afterwards, as he was still slowly turning to nothing. The ground had begun to crack, with chunks slowly rising into the air, an effect from the two extreme sources of power doing battle.

"Gotcha." Eugene said in response. "Akabane, Alex, get over to where Sif and the others are. I still got a few pains to deal with here." He said as he pointed at his opponents. Even with the help of the celestial spirits, this would be tough. The two teenage boys nodded and left their location. "You're Byakuren huh? Let's see what you've got. Miss Himura there is also welcome to come at me."

A bright light was emitting from Ezra as both Sif and Hayden watched in utter disbelief, from their respective locations. Ezra roared, as a green mist began emitting from him. Said mist blanketed the entire area, and rapidly healed every single person, even the downed Serpents and Midnighters, however Michelle, weirdly enough, was strangely knocked out on the spot. Only Byakuren was left for Eugene to deal with.

Eventually, Ezra disappeared in a burst of light particles, as Sif and Hayden both had expressions of horror. The swordwoman began to weep quietly, putting a hand over her mouth. Hayden, meanwhile, had a slightly similar reaction, he was punching the ground in order to stop his own tears, Ezra was his best friend after all.

"Byakuren, my mechanical little pet.", Leona said, with a feminine, sultry tone of voice. "Finish up with the boy for me.", she continued, as an ominous mist appeared around Leona's hands. The grass around the group suddenly, seemingly, came to life and encased them all, leaving the Serpents and Midnighters untouched. The trapped Wizards were all struggling, but they felt themselves get weaker and weaker after they noticed the grass turn into unnatural organic matter of some sort. They were all dragged into the ground as if it were quicksand. Eugene tried to run over and interfere, but he was only knocked aside by Byakuren.

Leona giggled to herself. "This is too easy, at this rate the world will be on its knees before me, begging hopelessly for mercy!", she said almost excitedly as her giggle shifted into an incredibly arrogant laugh. Afterwards, she flew inside her castle via the main doors, leaving Byakuren to handle Eugene.

Byakuren crossed its bladed appendages, and leaped for Eugene, carrying out a maneuver in which she struck him with both arms in an X-like pattern.

He saw how Byakuren was going to move and to trick the being, he jumped back and moved as if he did get hit. In the moment the attack was finished her body would be open and with him in his current position, her guard would be down slightly. He used magic as a mini propulsion and he slashed at his foe. He also made a large spike come from ground as a surprise attack.

In a display of intense reflex, Byakuren managed to block the slash, although the spike caught her off guard, launching her a few metres. After landing, she turned herself back to Eugene. Pointing one of her sword-arms, it began to glow with a light purple aura.

She pumped that aim forward, firing an energy-made beam shaped like an arrow of some sort with deadly accuracy; it was aimed at the center of Eugene's chest.

The system in Eugene's helmet had managed to analyze the composition of the beam, it being a mixture of both magic energy and normal energy. He summoned the barrier to absorb the magic portion and then he used something else to deal with the other part. "Panzer!" He exclaimed as he activated Fortification Magic. "Halt!" This spell kept him on the ground. As planned, the magic circle worked like a strainer, getting rid of the magic part and letting only the energy part through. Due to his enhanced suit, it took the hit rather well, taking little damage. He then released the magic on his feet so he could move and he practically disappeared. This time, it wasn't because of a misdirection trick, it was because of his speed due to the suit enhancements. With his swords he kept slashing, disappearing and reappearing all over Byakuren. ''Faster, even faster!" His movements became a blur, offensive power being boosted by magic.

At first, Byakuren was ambushed by the speed of the attacks, stumbling around. However, her purple visor lit up like an LED light, and she soon enough started to keep up with the hits being dealt out by the enhanced Eugene. She even eventually outmatched him, clotheslining him after a few calculations of his striking patterns in his enhanced state. The two leaped, clashing in the middle with quite a shockwave.

Elsewhere, in the castle. Sif, Brianna, Brooke, Josh, Violet, Kai. All of them were chained to the wall with Magic-Negation Cuffs. Hayden, Akabane, and an unconscious Alex were all being dangled over a huge pit in the floor.

"Please, don't hurt them!", Sif called out, pleading to the black-hearted monster of a woman, Leona. She was sat on a large throne made entirely of what seemed to be humans and creatures of all sorts turned to statues. Her elbow was on the side, with the top of her hand supporting her chin. Her dark red lips were curved into a wicked smile.

"Oh...it won't be I that hurts them. My pets down below are a different story.", she said, snapping her fingers. The tendrils holding the three Slayers dropped them inside the pit into the mysterious darkness below, and the pit promptly sealed.

"No!", Sif yelled, displaying a hint of anger, before breaking down, whimpering as tears gently trickled down her face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Brooke yelled afterwards. Leona chuckled.

"Slayer Magics would contaminate what I have planned. It is the sole reason I allowed my little Machias pet to solely combat the little Dragon Slayer.", she said as she stood from her throne. She walked slowly down the stone stairs, her heels echoing eerily, her long black dress trailing gently behind her. "I require the full quantities of blood from many pure Mages, as well as their Magic Power.", she said as she reached the bottom of the steps. "I would have taken the endless amount from within the red-haired man...but he is not pure.", Leona continued, with a venomous vocal tone.

"Not pure? But..he wasn't a Slayer Wizard...", Sif said weakly.

Leona looked directly at her, somewhat surprised. "You haven't realised? Oh! This is fantastic!", Leona exclaimed loudly as she laughed in boundless amusement. "That man...your brother. He has something incredibly dark and vile within him...it makes him impossible to be a candidate for sacrifice.", she concluded with.

"Dark and vile...what? Ezra has the purest soul I've ever seen!", Sif retaliated with as Leona continued laughing on Sif's cluelessness of Ezra's nature.

"Soul...how it is such a wonderously appropriate word!", she went on.

Darn, she's reading my attack patterns. Eugene thought in annoyance as they clashed. How about this then? He then shifted attack patterns, one resembling a certain pink haired Dragon Slayer from his former guild, Before Byakuren could get used to it again, he changed attack patterns once more, and again and again he went, changing his attack patterns in ways that resembled his guildmates, both former and current. At random times, he let loose an ice attack or a medium range dragon slayer attack.

In the pit, Akabane had to carry Alex as he was unconcious and fight off whatever monsters were surrounding them. "Darn, they just keep coming!"

Hayden, who was also down there with Alex and Akabane, was using his speed to overwhelm vast numbers of the apparently endless beasts. But it was so dark, one could barely see ten feet ahead. Hayden released whip-like waves of black light that knocked many monsters flying away, but he was tackled by another from behind, sending him flying forward. He growled as he stood up, and his golden eyes slowly turned red.

Soon enough, Alex eventually woke up and stumbled out of Akabane's grasp. "What the hell is going on? Why is it so dark?", he said, before flinching from a moment-long feeling of sharp pain, clutching where Michelle's lance impaled him not long ago.

"To explain, there are monsters surrounding us after that woman dropped us in a pit." Akabane explained as he continued to fight them off. "From what I can hear, it seems Slayers are unclean apparently."

Back with Eugene and Byakuren, it seemed Eugene's attack pattern changing was doing its job. It made it much more difficult for the mechanical being to keep up with his attacks. There was something about it though that reminded him of his past self. "You know, you're reminding me a lot of how I was in the past. I was practically a killing machine back then. But then, I got friends. I actually pity you somewhat, having been the same." He said this with a somewhat sad expression on his face.

Byakuren said nothing, she leaped into the air above Eugene, and began to plummit towards him; twirling her body so that she became like a living drill. "Your blood will become the very wine my Master drinks.", Byakuren said soullessly.

“I’d rather not become somebody’s drink.” Eugene said in response as he used a blizzard attack blowing on Byakuren in the opposite direction of her spinning, slowing her down greatly if not stopping her. This gave him the chance to unleash a type of powder on the mechanical being. “Yeesh, no emotions of your own huh?” He commented as there’s been no change in her demeanor.

"Environmental adjustment complete.", she said mechanically. "Counter-measures initiating.", she continued, as she aimed her sword-arms out. The blades came apart, opening like a flower to reveal a glowing opening, from which a large amount of boiling-hot wind was generated, to both blow away the powder, and also cancel out the blizzard. Afterwards, she propelled herself backwards. Her sword-arms began to glow once again, but this time when they opened, numerous wire-like tendrils slithered out. Her shoulders suddenly became more smooth and pressed againsther, her double-pointed headpiece merged into a singular, streamline one. "Speed Mode Activated.", the being said. In less than a split second, Byakuren had gotten within half a foot of Eugene before he could even react; grappling his arms with the tendrils. More tendrils emerged, and grappled around his knees and thighs for better hold. Each tendril grew small, claw-like hooks that embedded themselves into Eugene's armoured suit.

Byakuren seemed to easily bypass Eugene's suit's defences, as she was already assimilating the armour itself. "Assimilation process has beg--", she began to say but halted, emitting a serious of error-like noises. She suddenly reeled off of Eugene, with the Dragon Slayer also feeling extreme pain. Byakuren, for some reason, fell onto her back.

“Gosh, that hurt…” Eugene said with an expression of annoyance. “It was almost as painful as that time I got put through that being stabbed hundreds of times illusion.” He really was in pain but one wouldn’t really be able to tell from how he reacted which looked to be mere irritation. A long time ago, he had learned to just overcome the pain and act as normal, especially if there’s an enemy to fight. He then glanced down at Byakuren. “Um, was that intentional?” He said with a slight teasing tone as he could guess full well from the error noises that it wasn’t intentional at all. “You all right then?” While he still had suspicions, he still kept his habit of showing concern for both friend and foe.

Byakuren began to glow...her form was changing, the end result of which left Eugene bewildered...

The shriek of a familiar voice echoed through the castle and even outside, letting Eugene hear it too. Sif!

Where Leona had chained her to the wall, the heartless woman was striking the Sabertooth Mage repeatedly with elongated claws, leaving long, thin slices across various parts of her body that were bleeding small trickles.

Sif was panting in pure exhaustion as she attempted to bare the pain. Her future-daughters were looking on in shock, with Brooke writhing in her cuffs attempting to get free.

"Stop, you monster!!", she screamed as she continued struggling in her cuffs to no avail. Leona's only reaction was an arrogant laugh of pure amusement.

"What the heck? She now looks like Yuna..." He said to himself before accessing his own mind which was his own way of talking to his other personalities. Yuna, what do you think? He didn't get an answer. He even tried switching to her. It didn't work. What the heck? His thoughts about it were interrupted by Sif's screams of pain. "I'll get back to you." he said to Byakuren before rushing over to save Sif. He was rather mad at Leona and with help from the combat suit, he had reached them in a matter of seconds, stopping the attack. Even though he had a mask on, it was clear that he was mad. He was using his sword to absorb Leona's magic energy, even if it wouldn't do much. With another hand, he swung his sword to accurately cut the chains binding Sif.

The second Eugene's equipment absorbed even a fraction of Leona's power, it momentarily spazzed out. Meanwhile, the chains remained undamaged by the swing of Eugene's other sword.

Leona cackled. She proceeded to release a blast of strange matter at Eugene...and it definitely wasn't a type of Magic.

Down below, Hayden was getting frustrated. Unleashing his Spirit Bluster, he wiped out half a wave of the attacking monsters. But both he and his younger fellow Slayers were starting to run low on Magic Power reserves, especially the younger two due to their smaller levels of power.

The ground suddenly collapsed beneath the three, causing them to slide down towards what seemed to be the centre of a second pit. The three were surrounded now. All of them beaten and worn down. Alex and Akabane were just about out of power, and the amount Hayden has left isn't as much as he'd like. But then, a voice sounded in his head, but he couldn't make out whose it was. "Hayden...", the voice whispered. Then there were multiple voices. Hayden startled as he realised who they belong to...

Above ground, a motionless, face-down Byakuren eventually rebooted, and sat herself up. It was pouring down with heavy rain, and the sun had set, bringing nightfall. The Machias stood up, and happened to look in a puddle at herself. But there was a problem. She looked human! To be more exact, she had became a physical manifestation of Eugene Woodland's alternate personality, Yuna! She stared at her reflection in awe, only to be interrupted by a small tremble in the ground. Thick, blackened arms were ripping out, and pulling. Out of the holes came a countless amount of new, bulkier soldiers marching in all directions from the castle, ignoring Byakuren, who looked shocked as she realised what her Master was doing.

Meanwhile, in the castle, Leona was laughing with dark-natured glee. "March, my soldiers! March onwards across Alakitasia! Fiore! THE WORLD~!", she yelled powerfully. "My endless soldiers will never stop, for they have no souls to limit themselves with!", she said as she laughed.

Some of the soldiers stopped at the defeated Serpents and Midnighters. They raised their weapons, prepared to execute the failures. Except...an explosion knocked a few dozen of them back! Up on the hills, stood a group of at least thirty people, definitely more than that, one of whom had gleaming white eyes...

Leona's attention had been caught by the explosion, but she didn't give it a second thought.

"Oh? This should get interesting..." Eugene said to himself in a low volume. "You guys seems well don't you?" He said to the incoming group. "It's been a while." He also noticed that Byakuren had woken up but felt that it wasn't exactly time to go over there.

The new arrivals outside were having a standoff with the soldiers. One group across one side, a second across another, and a third and final group on the other.

Eugene, despite his armaments, had been restrained by multiple Magic-Negating Chains, and pinned to a pillar. She was glaring at the Dragon Slayer.

Sif was looking increasingly weak by the minute, due to the amount of blood she was loosing from all the slashes.

Down in the pit, the voices in Hayden's head seemed to be talking to him. "Hayden...", they repeated multiple times. Hayden's vision went dark... "Come on, big brother! Stand up!", said the voice of two young children simultaneously.

Hayden was on his knees, clutching at the ground. "Get your ass up or I'll kick it to the heavens!", said Artemis' voice, seemingly.

He struggled to stand. "You really think you're worthy of Alpha with a display like this?", said an arrogant male voice.

Hayden pulled himself up, but one knee was still against the ground.

"Rise...my dear boy.", said a mature, womanly voice. "Rise and show them the true strength a Werewolf holds!", she said, upbeat.

"Mom..", Hayden said croakily, as he continued pulling himself up.

"Hayden.", another, stern voice said. It was Ezra's. "Sabertooth may have changed after Jiemma left...but our power has most certainly not. Get up, show them why they shouldn't mess with a tiger family.", he said with an encouraging, yet strong tone.

Hayden managed to get himself standing upright, when suddenly the ground began to glow all throughout the pit. A veil of light engulfed Hayden and the downed Devil and God Slayers. Within moments, the two teenagers were getting to their feet. There was such an intense level of power coming from the three that even the people above ground felt it, slightly.

The three were all giving off auras of their respective elements. Hayden chuckled smugly as he bared his sharp teeth. The upper area of his face was obscured by shadows, and his eyes were fully white. "LET'S KICK SOME FUCKIN' ASS, BOYS!" Hayden screamed as he let out a howl. "Eclipse Spirit's Bluster!!!", he yelled as a massive ray of pitch black light with rings of pure light around it emitted from his mouth.

"Scorching Gale Devil's Rage!!", Alex yelled as he casted, releasing a humongous plume of wind-enhanced maroon flames.

"Frozen Steel God's Bellow!!", Akabane casted alongside the other two, releasing a wave of black ice laced with shreds of iron and steel.

The three breath attacks, with the added amount of extreme power from the mysterious benefactor, wiped out almost all visible monsters. "Time to get out of this damn place!", Hayden growled as he charged forward, with Alex and Akabane in tow. "Spirit Slayer's Secret Art!", he yelled as he seemed to be morphing into his Werewolf form. "Black Mane Poltergheist!", he casted as his entire, now Wolf-bodied form was engulfed in pitch black light, taking into the air. He crashed into the corner area of the pit, effortlessly smashing through it, and beginning to quickly make a tunnel to the outside. Alex and Akabane were flying after him, thanks to Alex's usage of another Magic. Telekinesis.

Hayden burst out of the ground, wiping out many soldiers, and Alex and Akabane appeared immediately after. The three of them skidded along the ground as they dug their feet in.

"Now!", a male voice called, as a woman raised her hand. The man, and a second man, were warped to someplace else for now. Afterwards, two of the groups charged down their respective hills towards the dark soldiers, with warcrys a-plenty.

This new noise had now caught Leona's attention, and she approached a balcony. What she saw infuriated her, to the extent she crushed the stone handrail barehanded. She turned back to her captives, her claws grown. She walked towards Eugene, only to be hit by a beam of white light that sent her skidding back, bashing into a wall. After the dust cleared, Leona looked for the source, only to be trapped in a chain-made cage. Two figures ran out of the shadows of the room.

It was Sting, Sabertooth's Master, and Ryuunosuke, Unchained Soul's Master!

Leona sighed, and looked at the cage, and began to laugh.