Stone Ocean

Confrontation
"Positions?" Everyone could hear Jason's voice coming out of the receivers Len had made for them. "Are you near the target?"

"Yes." The collective response. Wendy, Iris, Gaikou, Jason, and Alaskiel were all stationed at various points near the killer. Len had mapped out his current location and directed them towards it. The plan was quite simple. Ambush him and try to kill him as fast as possible.

"Yasaka, air surveillance." Jason called out to the Exceed stationed in the sky.

"There's no back-up or reinforcements stationed anywhere near the building." She called back. "And he's about to come out...it's clear, go!"

"Let me open!" Wendy insisted. Jason could see her perfectly from his position, and consented. As soon as Wendy saw the man step outside, she moved forward, drawing on her staff from behind her ear, expanding the staff and covering it in wind. She leapt, and then slammed it onto the ground, releasing a huge blast of shredding wind at the man's back.

"Did she do it?" Jason kept his eyes on the battle.

The killer was actually caught for a brief moment; "...Rarh...!" He clicked his tongue in exasperation; while it hurt, he could at least shrug it off. In a flash of azure, the killer dissapeared, riding the wind to basically bypass Wendy. "...You're in luck. It's not that I don't go after children...it's just that if I attack you, then I get the feeling that something very bad will happen..."

Gaikou gritted her teeth. "...He's mine." She was prepared to jump out and attack him, though Iris restrained her, not allowing Gaikou to ruin the whole plan.

Wendy followed after him, twirling her staff. "Sky Dragon's Iron Brand!!" She called, thrusting the staff forward and releasing a large blast of wind that tore at the ground at it spiraled invisibly towards the man.

The killer focused his eyesight- there was only a few meters between the two. Shooting forward like a bullet, he drew a knife from his coat; he slashed forward wildly, aiming to counter Sky Dragon's Iron Brand as he danced around Wendy's small figure, imbuing his knife with explosive energy to strike her with. Of course, it wasn't a version meant to harm; only to knock back- he didn't want to hurt her- otherwise there'd be hell to pay.

"Expand!" Wendy turned, as the staff expanded to that of a large tree trunk, and she swung it at the man, the speed of her turning and the expansion of the staff taking him by surprise as it collided and sent him flying into the cabin he'd come out of.

"Everyone, now." Jason ordered, commanding Alaskiel, Gaikou, and Iris to launch their attacks.

Gaikou drew her blade and rushed forward, slashing wildly at the man in front of her, "...I'll take you down for real this time, Geil!" her words were as sharp as the blade she held in her hands.

Geil smirked and remarked. "You've got a lotta guts- I'll give you that. So after I defeat you, I think I'll make you mine."

Gaikou screamed before increasing the force of her blows, managing to catch him with a spinning kick, knocking Geil away- though he caught himself and flung an explosive knife at Alaskiel.

The knife actually took Alaskiel by surprise. He just barely saw it and was only able to dodge slightly before it grazed him. That contact was all that was necessary to cause a massive explosion. When the cloud ceased, Alaskiel wasn't there.

"Tch..." Jason growled. Was Alaskiel dead? He'd worry about that in a minute. He had to focus on Wendy, who was moving straight forward towards Geil, sliding like a skater on wind currents. She inhaled deeply. "Sky Dragon's Roar!!" She released the spiraling, crushing cyclone towards Geil's stationary figure.

"Hah!" Geil quickly flipped over Wendy's blast; speeding around her to focus on Gaikou.

"...Damn bastard!" She screeched hoarsely; swinging her blade roughly at him; Geil decided 'screw it' and merely one-handedly deflected her blows before managing to grab her by the arm and twist it roughly; making her scream loudly. *Gacha kara kara*, the dislocated bones are forcibly moved, and pain flooded her body.

By the time she finally reacted to her pain and tried to withstand it, Gaikou's eyes were already filled with tears. The complaints of why she had to go through this, the fear of facing overwhelming and unstoppable violence, and the regret for not being able to resolve this situation: these negative feelings mixed together and weigh down Gaikou's mind from within.

Gaikou smirked, "Haha....fool. You see right now, you're about to die!" She said this while poking her tongue out, as if she was using all her energy to toy with her foe. Geil lifted his leg off Gaikou's shoulder. But his foot did not go back onto the ground- instead, it was aimed at Gaikou's head. Geil put all his strength into his foot that was hanging above her. The foot was as if it was about to crush an empty can.

"Memory Make: Limit Step." A large square of energy formed above Gaikou's head, forming a barrier that not only blocked against Geil's foot, but forced him to rebound into the sky. Alaskiel entered, bending down and offering his hand to Gaikou. "You ok? That was pretty sad."

Gaikou glanced away and muttered while accepting his hand, "I can take this bastard on by myself...!" She coughed up blood; she seemed annoyed, obviously. She had to admit it though...He really did help her. "...But thank you, Alaskiel."

Geil gritted his teeth. "Damn Memory Make bastard! Once again, that magic stands in my way!?" He was surprised by this turn of events; though it didn't seem to deter him much. "Sheer Heart Attack!" With that, Geil summoned autonomous bomb that looked like a tank-treaded ball with a fox-skull face, swinging it at the two in a rage.

"Len, scan it!" Jason hissed into the transciever, and a monitor formed over his eye. In under a minute, Len rapidly delivered an explanation to Jason, whose eye's narrowed. "I see....it's a heat seeking missile and...ah, that's it!" He drew his blade. He hated to blow his cover now, but Alaskiel and Gaikou wouldn't be able to stop that bomb without setting it off. Dashing forward, Jason appeared in front of them both.

"Alaskiel, get Gaikou back!" Jason ordered, and Alaskiel heeded, tugging the girl by the hand and getting a good distance away. Jason gripped Gehaburn. "Pluvia..." He swung his blade. "Laminis!" Jason released a variation of his signature spell, releasing a bladed sphere directly towards the center of the oncoming bomb. If Len was right....

KA-BLAM! Sebastian did something; that was hard to describe- it involved snapping his fingers in preparation for a later attack, but the moment that Jason's attack hit Sheer Heart Attack, it exploded. Sebastian didn't seem too taken aback by this; in fact, he grabbed a set of knives from his pocket and slung them at Jason; each of them were charged with explosive energy.

The knives were blown away with a fierce gust of wind, and Jason looked over to see Wendy with her hand outstretched.

"Thanks Wendy!" Jason called to her, before turning his attention to Geil. "Before we continue with this...I can't help but be curious. Why are you doing...anything of what you do?" He raised his blade, hoisting it on his shoulders. "Are they orders and you just happen to be the most loyal lapdog in existence? In which case, who are you working for? Or is this just some sick game you're getting a thrill out of." Gehaburn gleamed. "Depending on your answer, I may not carve you to pieces."

"You see, I always longed for a simple life—for it to be interrupted causes me to go a little…crazy. I can do many things; but of course, the victor in any competition gets showered with abnormal praise; so I made it a point to never rank better than 3rd in any competition so as not to stand out. I used to keep this streak of third places quite easily, winning 3rd place in primary school essay contests, the school track and field championship, the 200-meter hurdles, and high school music competitions, with my skills on the violin. It was when I was eighteen that I discovered an attraction, so I call it, to women's hands. So, I took my highschool sweetheart's hand. Then I took another. And another. And another. I couldn't stop…All I wanted was that simple life; who are you to prevent me from keeping it!?" Geil began to rant.

Gaikou spat, "You're a ton of bullshit, Geil! Your definition of "normal" is "live without anything obstructing you rituals". So, if I don't take you down like a dog…then the women you've killed will have no peace in death…!" She struggled to her feet, grasping her blade. "Let's end this, then…!" Rushing towards him, she…actually fell over. Her wounds were too bad…for now.

Jason began to glow. Glow black, actually. Oxymoronic as it would seem to glow with a complete lack of colour, it was happening. "I see." His eyes narrowed. "I know your type. A sociopath, a waste of oxygen that needs to be put down. Come at us now. With all your power. We will end you here and now."

Stone Ocean
Sebastian gritted his teeth. "...Incorrect! You will be the one to fall hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" His voice sounded hoarse as hell; throwing his arms up in the air, summoning an infinite amount of knives. These were all imbued with the explosive energy of Killer Queen; though in an instant, these knives transfigured into an infinite amount of actual swords. With a singular hand movement, Geil sent the swords flying at the group from every possible direction, providing an attack with no possible means of escape.

"Demon Form - Gehaburn, the Shadow Blade." Jason erupted in a mass of black energy that, instead of taking immediate form, shot out like tendrils at great speeds swatting as many swords as they could in various directions. Wendy helped as well, using her wind magic to oppose the swords with equal force, stopping them dead. When the swords were all gone, the energy took it's familiar tattered shape around Jason's body as his cold eyes kept their hold on Geil.

"Alaskiel."

"Hm?" Alaskiel cast him a glace. "Keep Gaikou safe, tend to her wounds, don't let her continue with this fight until you're sure she won't collapse!"

"Of course. Consider it done." Alaskiel nodded, picking Gaikou up like a bride and gaining some distance into the trees as Jason raised his energy blade. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to beat us." But then a thought flashed though Jason's head. Where was Iris?

Sebastian twitched for a moment. "...Damn it all!" Of course, the only solution he could see in his mind was that of summoning more knives; about fifty aimed at Jason's heart.

"...The heavens, the earth, and a million squirrels call to me!" Iris's loud voice resounded throughout the air as she leaped down from out of nowhere, her left tonfa aimed directly at the back of Geil's head. The dull impact shook Geil mightily, knocking him tumbling to the ground and cancelling his attack.

"Good girl, Iris." The energy around Jason's body began to surge violently, shooting into the air like black lances, or tendrils reaching into pure nothingness. Swinging his blade, he fired a blast of pure black energy at Geil's felled figure.

Geil was blown back by Jason's powerful attack; his lanky frame tumbled along the ground before he managed to catch himself. As he stood to his feet, it was noted that Geil had a psychotic glare about him. His words were as cold as a blade. "...Enough, you worthless pieces of trash. It's high time I finish this once and all." Pure magical energy surrounded his body; black- the colour of his soul. The area around them turned a mystical blue as the terrain formed into that of the sky- and the ground that they stood on became merely millions of slabs of stone. "This is the fruit of my power!" It was as if...he warped reality. "Stone Ocean!"

Jason looked around, wide-eyed. "What the...?" He looked at the moving slabs and the surrounding in general. It was as if they were high in the sky, supported by a floating, moving gaggle of rock slabs. Wendy was about to move, but Jason cautioned her. "Wait...." He looked at the rocks. "These rocks...they give me bad vibes..."

Sebastian smirked. "My ultimate spell....Stone Ocean." He desired to keep a tight lid on the mechanics and setting on Stone Ocean; but he really couldn't resist boasting about his most powerful asset- he certainly was confusing. "Fifty percent of those stones are actually charged with explosive energy! If you happen to land on one, then you'll face the wrath of my bombs!" He leaped into the air and landed next to Jason, smirking, "Meanwhile, I can attack with impunity!"

Jason swerved, kneeing him straight in the side and sending him a distance away, flying across the slab floor. "For such an interesting spell, you are a moronic mage." He shot the man a cold glare. "Attacking would have worked if you hadn't said a word when you got next to me." He looked down at the floor. "So...half these rocks are explosives...the other half aren't...chances are it won't be easy to deduce which is which, though everything has it's own little signal when it's different from everything else..." He groaned. The way this spell was made, Gaikou and Alaskiel couldn't get back up at them either. And if he unleashed his aura in it's entirety to destroy the slabs, they'd all be dead from the explosions. "...this is like a children's game."

Iris seemed worried for some reason: she was incredibly wary of the rule of "one small step and you're toast". She treaded carefully- though she was as nimble as ever. "...This spell is amazing; you've managed to induce terraforming and practically shift the tide of the battle over to your side...?"

Geil smirked. "Correct! In this game of shadows, there is no escape. Only despair!" He sounded so hammy right now; of course this was after he had properly caught himself, and spun around on one foot before grabbing a rock that was floating beside him. "...I am a man who enjoys the finer things in life. Such as little games like this! And you'll be my friends to have fun with this game!" Effortlessly, he lobbed the stone right at Jason's face- he was aware of its current properties, and aimed to knock him out of the game as soon as possible.

Jason's aura shot out, lighting quick, destroying the rock before it got near him, With a resounding BOOM! it exploded. Jason looked at him. "This mass of energy on my body isn't for show. I could destroy each and every slab right now and kill us all. However, I don't intend to die here, nor do I intend to let those precious to me be killed by you."

Wendy looked over at him. "What can we do? This spell is too difficult, we can't make any movements!"

"This spell is his final move..." Jason muttered. "It's quite possible to stop it, we have to kill him."

Iris steeled her resolve and continued to warily bounce around on the myriad of stones; she retained a certain paranoia which was wholly justified- once false move and ka-blam! "Master! It'd be wise to jump on every second stone- leaping on everything could prove fatal!"

Geil snarled viciously, "Shut up, you damn animal!" In an instant, he teleported towards Iris and managed to stick one of his knives through her left thigh- Iris let out a squeal of pain, though she refused to let this take her down so easily. With a WHOOSH!, she released a blast of ice from her hand- the oncoming attack caused Geil to instinctively jump back to evade it.

Jason decided his Iris may have something there, but he knew sticking a landing would be purely on luck. Iris was simply lucky at where she landed, and avoiding such landmine would be possible, but purely luck determined. He gritted his teeth and made a wide leap, landing and skidding on the nearest slab. However, it began to glow...

...BOOM! The slab exploded with fury. Lady Luck obviously wasn't in Jason's harem.

"Jason!!!" Wendy called out into the rubble and smoke.

Geil began to gloat. "Ahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! You lose, boy! Glory to the winners; despair to the losers!" Of course, he didn't notice Iris slowly making her way over to him, but still.

"Hayaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Iris let out a defening scream; before her tail shot forward similar to a rope, grabbing Geil's hand and pulling him closer. "Atatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatata! Hyakuretsu Ken!" In a flash of light, the squirrel demon unleashed a flurry of over one hundred punches which targetted Geil's pressure points; though upon first glance, it didn't seem to affect him at all.

"...Ahem. What was that, exactly? It was PATHETIC!" Geil cackled.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!!!" The sound came from overhead, and before he could really look up, Wendy had released a Sky Dragon's Roar, a powerful cyclonic blast of air from above his head. This feat was simple. Yasaka, who had been in the sky from earlier as a lookout, has scooped in to pick Wendy up and was navigating her around, airborne, allowing her to avoid the slabs.

Geil's eyes sharpened. "Damn little worm! I specifically spared you! If I kill you, then things would turn into a one-way road for me!" He gripped one of his knives, collected it with one of his explosive stones, and then lobbed them at Wendy.

Iris snarled, "Oh, no you don't!" With a *boom*, she kicked off, screaming "Shinpan no Sōsōsei!" Iris sweeped her leg forward, smacking him across the chin- then she twirled around, smashing him in the gut with her other leg- these quick blows in rapid succession actually knocked him flying a fair distance.

And as he was forced back, he was sent right into the smoke of the explosion Jason had been caught in. However, the smoke was fading and revealed Jason standing there, slightly bruised and something white and hard - like bone - falling from his face, but no one could get a clear picture of a what it was. Jason had reached out his hand, catching the man by the face. "It's time to plant a dumbass tree." It was very rare Jason used standard insults like these. Jason slammed him into one of the nearest stone slabs with great force, however, there was no explosion. He'd gotten lucky.

Geil screamed horribly as his body richochetted off a stone, flinging itself into the air; quickly he caught himself, standing to his own two feet with ease. In a flash of azure, Geil teleported next to Jason after quickly soaking up the damage his orange-haired nemesis had inflicted; instead of knives, this time, he drew and dual-wielded chainsaws which appeared as if they could slice through a human body effortlessly. With a sadistic grin, Geil swung his saws down towards Jason, hoping to cleave him in half as quickly as possible. "...I'll have multiple cretin trees in my backyard by the time I'm done with you...!" He honestly was losing it more than ever now.

Jason stanced himself, swinging his energy blade to meet the chainsaws. He actually extended the aura over his free arm to form an additional blade, which he used to parry the secondary blade, and the sparks flew. Even though the chances of landing on explosives were high, he forced Geil's blades away and skidded back, keeping low tot he ground. As he skidded to a stop, there was no explosion, which meant he'd gotten lucky. He swung his blade low to the slabs, releasing a blast of energy towards Geil's legs.

Geil performed a swift jump that enabled him to dodge Jason's blast- he quickly added another one-handed backflip into the mix which propelled him backwards, practically allowing him to gain some breathing room. "He's fast and stronger than me...Though he lacks in planning." Geil was so prepared it was insane. With a snap of his fingers, Geil summoned two copies of himself which flanked Jason's sides in an instant, attacking from the sky to attempt to slam down on him with their chainsaws. Meanwhile, the original continued to run away like the worm he was.

Jason's aura extended, stabbing them both before they could react, and he launched himself forward, jumping from slab to slab, skipping occasionally until he landed on one that lit up. "Dammit!" He raised his hand to his face as the slab exploded, covering him in heat, flames, and broken slab.

"Jason!!!" Wendy called again as Yasaka landed her near Iris. "Iris, what are we going to do?"

Geil smirked. "Getting a little slow there, boy." He was so full of himself it was disgusting.

Iris focused. "We need to combine our magic to defeat this guy once and for all!" She grabbed Wendy's hand and focused her magical energy. "Now, this will be called Fusion Magic- no, Unison Raid!"

"Unison Raid?" Wendy was confused. "B-but I don't know how..."

Iris smiled. "Wendy, focus your magical energy into the hand that's holding mine. Then imagine a spell that would be a combination of your Sky Dragon Slayer and my Ice-Make. But just before that, let me give you the run down. Unison Raid allows two Mages to unite similar Magical powers to attack with a stronger magical attack. I believe we can do this on the first try."

"My Sky Dragon's Roar." Wendy suggested. "It's versatile and can carry over anything really solid. With your Ice-Make, we can create something really strong! Like a blizzard of blades!!" She sounded excited, she wanted to help.

Iris grinned. "Alright then. Three..." her magical aura did flare up; as did Wendy's. "...Two..." their sights were set for Geil. "...One!" Iris grabbed Wendy's hand and made a motion forward, as she declared, "Ice Night of Purgatory: Hurricane Blades!!" In an instant, hundreds of millions of icy blades propelled by a hurricane shot forth, descending upon Geil with tremendous speed and force, decimating the ground below, drawing a beautiful geometric curtain of death. Of course, with the innumerable blasts being launched out of their hands, several missed their opponent, which quickly turned mid-flight, redirecting themselves at Geil. These blades eventually converged, causing an enormous explosion that obliterated a great deal of the surroundings.

Quickly, Stone Ocean dissipated as the surroundings returned to normal; Geil was face down on the ground, struggling to stand.

"...Son of a...!" Gaikou managed to grip her blade and staggered forward, determined to kill this demon.

Geil managed to weakly turn himself over, smirking at Gaikou who had her blade pointed straight at his face. "And so still you rise... like a punching bag in front of a boxer! You like being beaten... is that it?"

Gaikou calmly stated without a hint of malice "...No one ever said Gaikou Ryuusei was a nice girl. I beat the crap out of people more than I have to. Some are still in the hospital. There's plenty of teachers who got on my bad side and never came back to class. And hey, I make it a policy not to pay the check if I didn't like the meal. But even a girl like me can spot evil when she sees it! Evil means to use the weak for your own gain and then stomp on them when it's over! And that's what you've done! To all these women here! And with your magic, you get to hide from the victim... the law... the consequences! But NOT... while I'm here!"

As she raised her sword over her head, she decided; she WOULD kill him. Not out of revenge, but out of necessity. SCHWING! She brought her blade down with tremendous force, cleaving Sebastian Geil straight in half and bringing an end to the nightmare which had plagued this world.

The group was sitting down, watching Geil's body burn. Wendy and Iris were standing off at a distance, excited to see their magic was compatible. Alaskiel was trying to hit on them both. A bit of a ways away, Jason was looking at Gaikou was funnily. "So....how are you? You managed to get your revenge." He let out a dry chuckle. Those explosions kept stopping his progress.

Gaikou smirked. "...It's like I'm allowed to begin again; a fresh start. I'm finally free from the cycle of revenge." She was too happy to just be a normal person.

"That's good." Jason cricked his neck. "I can't help but be curious. You never told us the full story, and since you're now a Guild Member, I want to know...what happened, completely, your history with Sebastian Geil?"

Gaikou simply replied. "It's as I said, When I was young, I was the only survivor of Reimi Sugimoto's murder and the first witness to Sebastian Geil's murders. She sacraficed herself to save me. I swore to myself that I'd pay her back, no matter what."

Jason placed a hand on her head. "I'm glad you got what you wanted. As a guildmate now, don't hide anything from us, Gaikou. We exist for each other, everyone in Akatsuki. Even though you can take care of yourself, when it gets difficult, rely on me. I know what a tough past is like..." His eyes seemed to be years away.

Gaikou actually laughed for once. "...Well, what matters now is that we can move forward and keep looking up, distancing ourselves from our past with the help of our loved ones..."

"Of course...and while we're on that..." He had a deep set frown in his face. "I hope you can handle disappointment." He looked over at Alaskiel. "Alaskiel. Get over here." The man turned on his heel, and seemed to slide in their direction, grinning under his hat.

"You rang?"

"Explained to Gaikou. Now." The order was simple.

Alaskiel let out a sigh, and, without any noticeable movement, removed his magic, Memory Control, from Gaikou, restoring the true memories of her actual fiancé...and his end...to her mind. Looking at her, his grin never fading, he said "I lied."

Gaikou's eyes widened as she let out a blunt "What." her stoicness transfigured into rage as she let out a hoarse scream, slamming her fist into Alaskiel's gut. "You!" She hit him again. "Son!" She kicked him in the shins. "Of!" She spun around and elbowed him. "A!" With a final uppercut, she knocked Alaskiel flying. "BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!"

As Alaskiel flew into the air and landed on the ground, his only regret was that he wouldn't be having sex tonight.

Gaikou sighed and approached Jason again. "....Anyway, now that that's over. I'd like to thank you for all your help, LaHote..." she actually smiled; not a creepy smile, but a genuine smile that was like a sunflower. "....No, Jason."

"Now...let's go home..." Jason took her hand, and Iris and Wendy joined his side, Yasaka on the girl's shoulder.

"Well...that was an interesting battle." Mr. E, as always, had been watching from the shadows. Through a monitor, in fact, and, despite his concealment in the shadows, it was clear he was smiling. "This entire case is proof that they're beginning to move...if they've let even one of their number lose..."

END