Doubt in the Dark

This article, Doubt in the Dark, is property of Firegod00.

"Do not worry. I won't take your life, but this is where your resistance comes to an end!" This article Doubt in the Dark, is the sole property of Mangetsu and as such, no user may edit this article without explicit permission from the aforementioned creator. If you wish to use this article in any way, please Speak and I'll respond

Doubt in the Dark

A Troubled Heart

In the midst of waiting for their father to come home from his contracted participation in this looming war, the girls did not want to be idle. With Maria believing that it was best for them to make the most of their time and begin to learn something that Yui promised to teach them awhile back. Approaching the mature girl, she was excited to have students of her own and prefaced if only briefly that this was a dangerous magic and that they should take it slowly as to avoid injuring themselves unnecessarily. With Victoria making rounds around the mansion to oversee security -of which the barriers and automatons didn't cover-, Christina monitored the girls' progress in the Nest, making sure to be ready in case there was healing needed. 

For the most part, they got a grasp of how to generate their Ethernano in a way that could duplicate the effects of Burst, spikes of pain included. The way Yui explained how Burst Magic became less taxing and strenuous, beyond training an absurd degree physically, was that you'd 'wear the burden' so that your body wouldn't rip itself apart on the inside as easily. She only knew Noriko was capable of achieving this state of Burst, but she never has seen it and she had been seen plenty strong without taking it too far. 

After the first day, they worked on honing their respective use of Burst on themselves. Maria seemed to be the most adept at achieving balance but at the sake of not creating a strong enough aura to be considered a true "Burst Mantle". Maria Streak on the other hand was having trouble exuding the aura, but made up for it by a natural toughness thanks to Athlete Magic and began to think of fusing the two if only in short bursts to help fight off her own inability to create a strong aura. Yui herself tried to really push Morgan in embracing her Darkness Slayer Magic with Burst, figuring that it was a key point in how the first time she didn't harm herself significantly was because of it; the originator element was going to be the thing that could take her magic to heights even Yui couldn't achieve. 

On the third day, Yui was happy enough with the results that they could begin sparring. The trick was to keep concentrating on their style of Burst while ensuring they could hit and dodge their opponents. Yui herself worked with Maria Streak, feeling that she was the closest to mastering her own unique spin on it and thought to give her a challenge to show where she's lacking. Meanwhile, she thought the sisters would work better together, and only kept an occasional eye on them while keeping pace with Streak. 

"Come on, Morgan!" Maria cried out, dancing around a dark-infused punch and a talon-embroiled claw that was lightly coated in crimson while she embraced a sparkly, pretty form that she used to adeptly avoid Morgan's current impure state. "I know you're faster than this! Put some oomph into it! I know you can do it!" 

From the moment Victor left, Morgan had become extremely restless, not wanting to dwell on the fact that her father was actually imagining taking the fight to Jadow if given the chance. Even Promethus wasn't enough to defeat that monster, what chance did a normal human, even one so powerful, have against such a thing? If all the Slayers of the modern era were brought together, it still would no be enough. Fighting Jadow wasn't just a battle, it was survival. Those foolish enough to try were slain or spared at the whim of a god, one who tortured and destroyed lives just for amusement.  She had warned them all over and over that Jadow was and is the embodiment of cruelty, and they still dared to declare their intentions, to overthrow the Dark Dragon King and rid the world of his evil forever. Such boldness infuriated her. And now that people she cherished were in the line of fire, it worried her. Deep down, she was terrified that her father, her hero, would not return safely or even at all.

When Yui agreed to teach them how to use Burst Magic, she jumped at the chance.  She already had a basic understanding of the nature of the magic, having been shrouded in it once before. But to understand the theory of it wasn't the same as actually mastering it, making it her own. It took until the second day of training before she could even generate the first flickers of an aura. The pain was nothing to her once she learned to expect it. Her tolerance for physical agony made it simple to drown out the sensation that came with the first few times she tried to clad herself in the crimson glow that was her Burst Magic.

Yui's advice to somehow combine her darkness into the empowering aura dwelled in the back of her mind as something to experiment with later, once she mastered the basics and could mix her fighting style with the surging might. But not yet, not while her basic version was still far from complete, only existing as a flicker of blood-red hue. 

The third day, however, proved not to be physically taxing but one that wore on her mentally and emotionally, a side-effect of being told to spar with her sister. With every moment, memories of what she had done welled up within her mind, memories of how she willingly, without hesitation, tried to kill Maria. She dreaded a repeat of that day and that fear stunted her abilities. Se restrained herself while attacking, not allowing herself to go all-out. It was so unlike her that she expected it when it was pointed out to her by her sibling. 

"I won't. Not against you." she replied as she dodged a sparkling kick from her sparring partner. "I don't want to hurt you." her words carried the fear and sadness that lingered in her as the recollection of her own feral bloodlust became stronger and stronger. She backed off from her sister and held up a hand to signal that she needed a break, dispersing her Burst aura as she did so. She needed time to supress her memories from her brief time as Jadow's heiress, the Princess of Dark Dragons.  Stopping with a skidding halt, Maria huffed, letting her Burst Aura disperse and her eyes form a furrowed scowl, "Do I look like you're going to hurt me? I may not be a Slayer, but I'm not a pushover either."

"Plus, it's not like she's in Rage-Murder-Mode right now!" 

"STREAK!" Yui shrieked, landing a hammerfist on the goggle-girl's head, making her flop to the ground with a bounce before she snap kicked her jaw and sent her bouncing across the training room created by the Nest. "If you have time to snark, then work on your awareness! If you didn't have your Aura on, I'd have killed you with that kick!" 

"...yes, sorry," Streak replied with a weary tone, dizzily getting up as she wiped the spit and blood from her mouth, trying to not rub her head from the earlier hit. 

Sighing, Maria looked to the two before looking back at Morgan with a more solemn expression, "Morgan, I get it. I know this is hard for you to do, but Yui has a reason for us working together. We have higher compatibility as a pair than separate. I'm trying not to let what happened get to me; but if you're not making the effort, I don't know why I'm trying so hard." Morgan watched as her sister came to a rather abrupt stop, not even blinking despite the closeness of what could have been a dangerous attack. She knew almost without thinking where she would stop. The two could read each other's every move, each little twitch meant something and after months of training and fighting together they could predict what the other would do as if they were both an extension of the other. There was no risk at all to herself.

The other Maria's words stung, Being reminded of her terrible sin by another hurt in a way she couldn't accurately describe. The young slayer lowered her head and turned away, not seeing Yui's attack on Streak, instead facing her sibling. She listened as Maria told her not only what she already knew, that they were the perfect pair, but also what she needed to hear; what good was it that one trained their hardest while the other slacked, even for a good reason? But that wasn't enough for Morgan.

"How...how can you understand how hard this is? You...you don't have even the slightest clue!" she yelled, her self-loathing turning to anger. "You honestly have no idea what it's like being me! I would have killed you if you hadn't teleported at the last second. And it wasn't Jadow's fault. All he did was give me that power...what I did with it was all me. Now do you get it? I WANTED to hurt you. My Dragon Force...turned my rage into a single thought...kill anyone, everyone who got in my way." she said, tears raining down her face. "I never...never want to be like that again."

She turned away and walked over to the furthest wall from the action and sat down. Her heart ached and her mind was lost in a sea of unforgiving memories, things she wished could be undone, erased from the flow of time. But that was the cruelty of the past, it was unchanging, uncaring to the wishes of the mightiest of kings, what chance did the prayers of a broken child have by comparison?

"Morgan-!" Maria began to call out until her sibling sat as far away as she could from her. Her outstretched hand clenched with futility before it fell to her side, her mouth slowly closing as her eyes softened at her direction. Closing them, she tried to empathize with her sister, going as far as to forgive her; but she wanted to become stronger with her. How can she measure up if this is the reaction to training together is going to be had?

"Hey, Alexander," She heard Yui call after her, earning a inclining look from her. Streak was already in a bruised pile of heaving breaths and Yui barely looked scuff. Walking slowly over to her, she raised a hand to stop her from speaking just as she approached her. "I know this might have happened. Give her some space and try again when she's in a better mood."

"But, what if she loses all of her confidence? What if I have to get stronger without her?"

"Telling the truth here, the only one who needs to improve is you. Morgan can easily catch up with the right incentive and she's got the basics. If she takes my advice, she should be solid," Looking over Maria's shoulder, she squinted at the girl who was huddled by herself. Turning back to smile reassuringly at the older sister with a smirk. "She'll get out of it. After all, if she could get unshackled from that depressing room of hers to talk to you, I'm sure she'll work past whatever's holding her back. Now, train with me; Streak's out and you're still up!" 

"A-Alright!" She declared, igniting her Burst Aura and reining it into the gentle sparks that balanced power and durability. As they began to exchange blows, Maria's mind drifted to her sibling, wondering what kind of nightmare was it for her to be aware of her own darkest desires to eviscerate her own sister? That darkness may not be something she can relate, but she'd find some means of supporting her, even if she didn't like it.  Morgan wanted to just break down and cry. Her heart hurt, she felt sick. Even after gaining the forgiveness she believed was to be denied her, she still couldn't get over the harsh truth; something was very, very wrong with her. Some sick part of her wanted to kill one of the most precious people in her life. It was true that sometimes Maria's insistance that Slayers were cool irked her, but she never wanted to harm her sister over their disagreements, so why then did her mind even imagine such a situation? 

She remained huddled against the wall for a few minutes, watching Maria intently. She could almost predict how her sister would deal with whatever Yui threw at her. But every second she followed their spar, it hurt her. Jealousy welled up inside her, only to be crushed by the overwhelming guilt and disgust aimed at herself. After just a couple minutes of watching, she got up and walked out of the room, unable to cope with the thoughts dancing in her head, memories of times both good and bad.

"Even when I try to protect her...I'm just hurting her." she said to the dead air around her. "It's just my fate...I don't deserve to be happy after all...It's not fair! I've already suffered enough. What more do I have to lose?!" she demanded of whatever god dared to listen to her venting. She already had a low opinion of the divine, but she wanted an answer, for someone to tell her why she was born to only be a punching bag for destiny. She broke into tears when nothing replied to her, leaving her to wonder what she did so wrong that even the smallest shred of joy was beyond her grasp.

A flash of scarlet light followed a thunderclap of warped space and burning air. Unfurling a pair of wings with black feathers akin to an angel's, a gleaming pair of ruby eyes stared in dilation and a pale as chalk skin complementing snow-white hair that whipped around in a silver arc of motion. With a spiked halo of onyx licking with orange embers, the armored bodied woman leaped outward in a strange mixture of livid and joy; tackling Morgan to the ground while peppering her face and neck with kisses.

Then follows up with a pair of slaps to her cheeks.

"H-How could you f-forget me, you beautiful dumbass?!" Cassandra cried out, her eyes a mix of frustration and joy that sparkled with moisture in her sockets. "You summoned me, and then you just left me! You know I can't just go back home after I'm summoned right?! Do you know how long I looked for you?! I was lost without you, my dark flower!" 

Morgan first heard thunder and saw crimson before she felt her solitude being intruded upon and before she could even fathom who or what snuck on her, she was knocked to the ground as the figure repeatedly kissed her. The kissing was honestly a surprise at first, followed by the rough sting of being slapped, forcing the girl to flinch instictively. Once she realized who pinned her down, she blinked in surprise. With all of the commotion since the Black Vox mission, she totally forgot to unsummon the goddess and it only now dawned on her, having the proof in front of her face. I can't even do this right...i'm an idiot. She lamented the fact that even Cassandra was a victim of her own foolishness.

"I...I'm sorry I forgot to send you back. I honestly thought you'd find a way home or be okay without me saying something. But since you're here...do you mind just staying a bit more?" the young Slayer asked in a small voice, looking up at her summon with tears still streaming down her own face. She knew it was selfish of her to request Cassandra to stay longer after over a week already stuck in the material plane, but she believed that given how the angel treated her, maybe she'd at least get a brief respite from her loneliness. Cassandra felt her heart warm and her expression soften. Truly, this wild flower was in turmoil to shed such tears and talk in such a quiet voice. Wiping away her own face, she eased Morgan up and around to lay her head on her lap; ensuring she didn't feel the armored curiass but the softness of her thighs. Brushing her bangs and down her scalp, the goddess relaxed her aura and let her body emit a soft warmth akin to the feeling one would have to sitting at a fireplace. 

"What troubles you, my sweet Morgan?" She asked, caressing her face gently while looking down with a sincerely loving look in her eyes. "Speak and I shall listen. I shall advise and comfort you to the best of my ability. It may not be in the preview of a being such as myself, but I care for your wellbeing enough to make an exception. So please, do not hold back for my sake. Let me being an avenue of which you can vent your emotions and secrets. I shan't tell a soul what you want or cherish unless you enable me." Morgan was surprised when Cass moved her and laid her head on her lap, a position she found rather comfortable to lay in, coupled with the warm aura. She was about to ask why she was given such treatment before the goddess asked her what was bothering her so much. Being given the freedom to lay her every trouble bare was something the young Slayer rarely ever indulged in, electing to bottle everything inside. The less she told, the less she could hurt people. But for now, she knew what she needed, help. She couldn't win against her own fear and madness alone, she was sure of that.

"It's just...I'm so tired of hurting people who get close to me. I don't even need to touch them and I can feel their hearts breaking, because i'm not good enough. I'm so tired of it...Don't I deserve to be happy? After all I've lost? All that was taken from me?" she asked the same questions to her spiritual companion that had already been struggling through her mind ever since the attack on the council. She was hoping for comfort more than answers at that moment, but she trusted Cassandra to give her at least something, anything that would make her feel better. "But I don't want to be happy if everyone i care about suffers for me.."

Cassandra heard out the young woman of her deepest worries and aches within her heart. She basked in the conflict like a reptile to heat, reveling its presence and urging this child to be soothed by her mere presence. She wasn't a being of pure compassion so this was beyond her expectancy as a goddess of war. However, when it came to those she cared for, she had a particular inkling to see this one be happy so she conjured a means within her head exactly what to say to this impressionable girl. 

She knew that she could simply tell her not to worry and that these pains will eventually go away. It was the simplest but it was also a complete lie. There was no determining factor that assured her that something as easy as ignoring the problem could make the pain and sadness go away. That's not how emotions worked, especially for humans. She had to consider what she wanted as well as what she didn't want.

Caressing her cheeks, she rubbed a finger playfully over Morgan's lips, finally answering the Slayer's questions, "I think, Morgan, based on what I know of you that you shouldn't reject these feelings of sadness and anguish. They are as much a part of you as the joy and safety you felt when you were taken from the pit of despair. For how can you feel happiness when you know no hatred or lonliness? You must taste and bathe in negativity daily to appreciate the things you adore all the more fervently.

"As for how you hurt people, do not fret for things past. Just look to improving yourself in the future. If all you can do is look to the past, how can you see hope what's ahead? You are a bird, caging itself with shackles of your mind to think that the sins of the past are preventing you from being free, freer than any other person in this world. Find happiness however you can, whenever you can," She finished, her wings folding around in a protective wreathe that blotted out the light save for the gentle embers coming from her halo, her eyes and a subtle glow from her pale skin. Cupping her face, she smiled as her face neared hers, resting her forehead against the other as her breath caressed her lips and drank in her scent. "Do you want to share some happiness with me?"

As if to entice the innocent girl, she brushed her lips against Morgan's, the moist membrane tickling the Slayer's before a firm embrace was made between each other. An electric shockwave was exchanged between herself and exchanged to her romantic partner, eliciting a breathy sigh from her nostrils. Releasing the tentative kiss with a moist pop, she looked deeply into Morgan's deep blue eyes as her pale forehead maintained contact with the other's, as if awaiting a reaction and permission to go further.  The momentary silence between them crushed Morgan more than she cared to admit. Even if it was only a brief second, the empty air hurt. And when the silence was broken, her attention never wavered from Cassandra. The divine figure's words echoed in her head. Every time she said or did something that affected those she cared about in a negative way, she always let it torture her, preventing her from being happy, a feeling she only could comprehend in such a way because she alone tasted the very depths of misery and cruelty. 

When Cassandra's wings folded around them, cutting out all the light except for the goddess's halo, all Morgan could do was look into the woman's eyes, the way they shined in the flickering light from above and gazed into her own with such compassion and understanding. Being so close, she could almost feel her comrade's heartbeat. She could smell the endless battlefields of history, an iron-tinged scent, but it was mixed with something sweet, like honey. In that intimate space, their foreheads touching, it was almost a welcoming thing, like she belonged right there at that moment. She was, after all, a bloodstained specter in her own right, and so her anxiousness at being so close to another in such context melted away. It was calming.

Morgan opened her mouth to tell Cass that she wanted to share even the smallest scrap of joy with her, but before she could even articulate the first sounds, their lips met. Feelings welled up inside the girl from their briefest of kisses, some that she never felt before, at least not with such overwhelming intensity. Unsure of how to properly express how she felt, she smiled softly and embraced Cassandra. "Don't ever leave me...I don't care if I have to send you back sometimes, but don't leave me." Her words were childish, but heartfelt. Unable to voice the true depths of her emotions, she hoped even her simple words could convey enough. 

Cassandra desperately wanted to keep up appearances as the cool and collected mature person of this blossoming relationship of theirs. However, the pure innocence of a heartfelt plea made her let out a squeak as her mind was squealing with painful delight at how precious she was. Smiling broadly, she tickled the Slayer's nose with hers as she nuzzled close to her as she whispered with bated breath, "Of course, my sweet girl. All you had to do was ask, and I shall carry it out; for my heart belongs to you and you alone till the end of your days."

To punctuate it, she reclaimed the Slayer's mouth with her own as she dived her tongue in her orifice with rapturous ecstasy. The moans of pleasure and decadence would be concealed by the curtain of feathers that hid the pair, still just nary outside of the Nest's observation doorway. If it wasn't for the fact Cassandra had potent Omniscience, they could easily be spotted regardless if it bothered her or not. 

Tis unfortunate that an outside presence enters the envelope of peace and joy they had; one with the intention of reaping vengeance for the failure sowed upon them nearly half a year ago. 

The Power of Bitter Feelings

"Aw man! How huge is that place?!" A voice rang out from the bottom of the valley. Many would know this voice as being one of the perpertrators involved with Fiume di Gigglio's ransacking and murdering that occurred almost half a year ago. This particular fellow being Donovan Treuce, member of the previously disbanded gang, the Black Brier Gang. As he looked up from his jacket and slacked yellow-black apparel, gun slung over one shoulder and an iron bludgeon in the other hand, he was flanked on either side by familiar faces. 

"Well duh, the guy's the richest man on this side of the continent," Rowlie snorted, rolling her eyes as she kept her hands on her hips. Now sporting leather armor over her usual sleeveless apparel, she eyed the valley and the paved road that led up in a spiral around the mountain to the castle built into and beside a mountain. A particularly large cannon seemed to be mounted from the top of a ovular shaped cropping at the top of the enormous structure, one that looked like it was recently used in the past few hours. "Also, I'm glad he's not home, cause being hit by that gun would not be pretty."

"As if you needed a gun to know that-OW!" 

"Shut it, asswipe!" 

"I'm just sayin, maybe you should see an image consultan-OW! BITCH! CUNT!" 

"Be quiet you two," Ketchum intoned, the red-haired Shadow Mage threatened as he massaged the bridge of his nose out of annoyance. "You have no idea how long it took me to reunite with your dumb asses, I rather not wish to strike it on my own again."

"Well said, Ketchum," Elaine complimented with a sigh, turning to look over her shoulder at the looming figure of Swartz; whose eyes remained fix on the giant gun. "Honey, do not attack the giant magic cannon."

"BUT I LOVE CANNONS!" He bellowed out, leaning down with wiggling hands to emphasize his words. "AND I WANNA PUNCH ITS LOAD BACK INTO ITS FACE!"

"Innuendos aside, that's pure insanity," She replied, patting on the face with a more empathetic expression. "But that's okay, my sugar bear. We can find another cannon back at the war. How does that sound?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, my sweet bloody angel, you know exactly what to say to change my mind!~" He squealed as he cupped his hands next to his face as he wiggled in a swooning motion, much to the chagrin of all present. 

"Thankfully, our friend Abyss helped bypass the barrier keeping us from entering," Ketchum noted, looking up towards the base of the castle. With a gesture, he let loose his shadow to expand in a black circle beneath everyone's feet, allowing them to sink into the ebony portal and reappear moments later before the large castle's initial entry. Dispelling it, the murderous assassin grinned with anticipation. "Vic's going to regret taking his Guild with him into the war. This will be child's play, in more ways than one, getting our revenge here."

A rapid bombardment suddenly was unleashed in their vicinity, forcing them to evade and raise defenses. Ketchum's shadows lance out and deflected magic-powered slugs while Elaine constructed waves of projected rubies to completely nullify the projectiles. Swartz simply stood still as his body repelled the strokes while Donovan slowed them down to the point they fell to the earth, with Rowlie being the only one who ducked. 

Mina Saark, on the other hand, looked around Swartz's body to see a girl standing perpindicularly to the face of the castle with a pair of enormous chain-guns with bestial-tooth paint enamored on their frames. Spitting out a cigarette, Victoria let loose a bellow below as she resumed aiming at the party, "No guests allowed, dickheads! Why don't you scram before I eviscerate you!" 

"Can guns eviscerate?" Rowlie asked Donovan who simply shrugged. 

"We're not turning around, little spirit," Elaine replied with a rueful smile, hands in the pockets of her renewed crimson cloak as her hat flourished around her head. "Why don't you go get the others? You're out of your league if you think you can take us all on."

"TRY ME!" Victoria cried out, jumping in a throttling blitz from the wall of the castle to their midst. Swinging her guns around, she fired them wildly, forcing them to avoid the point blank riddling they'd be given. Donovan smashed one of the guns in a flurry of Accelerator motion, forcing her to backpedal and Requip a semi-automatic firearm, firing off more salvos to their midst. Just as Ketchum tripped her up, she'd feel a telekinetic grappel that'd yank her up into the air and land on an upraised fist from Swartz, belly first. Hacking out blood with wide eyes, she was unfortunate enough to experience the charging berserker's ramming into the front immaculate doors with her body hammered in between. 

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT'S SWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARTZ!" He howled aloud, his voice echoing thunderously in the enormous halls as Victoria went sprawling into the front of the carpeted staircase that'd lead up to the many floors and the spiraling staircase that went stories up to the floor Nest was housed at. Even as she keeled over, Swartz couldn't help but look in awe of the whole of the interior; even the immaculate palaces the sorcerers of MIDI had didn't have this level of class. 

"Whelp, no one's come running. You think everyone's here like they said?" Donovan speculated as he looked left and right.

"Obviously they're at the top floor," Rowlie surmised, up to the tippy top of the place. "Damn, that's high."

"That's no big deal. I can just warp us up past the flights we'd have to walk," Ketchum remarked with a dismissive wave of his hand. 

"I feel them at the top for sure, but there's...something else up there," Mina affirmed, looking a bit nervous at this familiar celestial presence she felt. "It...it can't be her..."

"Who?" Elaine inquired. 

"Well, I'mma jump up."

"Wait-wha-?"

Before anyone could stop him, Swartz bent his legs and leapt up, leaving most flying back from the force that shattered the marble flooring. Like a streaking Skyhawk, he cracked and warped the frames of the balconies of each floor, straight up until his head smashed into the ceiling of the castle staircase. With a muffled sound of inaudible dialogue, he wrenched his head free and forward flipped onto the balcony facing the baffled Cassandra and her treasured beloved. Crouched down, he spread a lecherous grin of toothy white pearls as his red eyes gleamed behind his angular shades, his hair brimming as his aura let loose a wave of intimidating pressure like a hot wind; not too disimilar to the aura Prometheus released when feeling serious. 

"Oh please, don't let me spoil your fun," He remarked with a cackle. "I'll wait till you're done!~"

Morgan was so confused, torn between her desires and her own lack of understanding towards romance. If what she was experiencing was normal, then she didn't mind at all. The angel's lipstick left smeared lip-marks on her face, over and over and over again, the color bleeding onto her own lips as they kissed once, twice and again. Eventually, the pair had to break apart to catch their breath.

Left panting, the young slayer felt a group of evil entities approaching, most of them familiar enough to her after their repeated meetings; the Black Brier gang had found them, but it was already too late to even alert Cass or the group inside the NEST, Swartz was already coming, breaking in mere moments after Moran realized he was the one virtually flying up towards them. The buffoon actually got stuck into the ceiling, earning a stiffed laugh from the surprised girl.

She scrambled to her feet and got ready to fight, even despite the insane aura he put off. I can do this...I have to do this! she told herself. There were too many people in the NEST that wouldn't be able to even try to come close to Swartz's own level, she was the only one with the reserves to even try and hold him off, let alone push him back. It was a feat only Victor normally could manage, and she was almost certain she could with her own enormous level of power, far more refined than it had been the first time the two met.

"Get out. I'm not in the mood for you and your idiots today." she said, scowling, part of her almost daring the man to give her what she wanted; an excuse to vent every last frustration she had. She was pretty sure he'd do it even if she didn't provoke him, but she also wanted to give him a chance to back off, pack up and get out of her sight. An aura of her own formed, one blacker than an empty midnight sky, skull-like shapes etched in violet danced across the surface. "Or do you really want to test my patience for your idiocy right now?" The Goddess of War was incensed. 

Here she finally had the captured girl's heart right where she wanted, and then a bunch of assholes crash their secluded party illicitly staged just beyond the Nest barrier doors. She was withholding all of her rage to simply annihilate this buffoon for so daringly intrude on their affair; that is until she felt Morgan's riled up emotions take a different turn than usual. It had a foul odor, like burning chemicals mixed with ozone and left a coldness that countered the wave of heat that Swartz's energized wave of Ethernano created. At the moment, she was taking precedent when both times she had encountered her she was either reserved or too timid to really take charge. 

So, for the moment, she settled on simply glaring her orange-red eyes like hot coals at the beast of a man, remaining silent as those beyond the doors heard a commotion and began to scurry to the exit. However, something happened that none of the girls expected; something that Victor used this place in times of emergency. Locks whirred, the barrier reinforced and tightened in place, keeping Streak, Maria and Yui along with Christina within it. 

"HEY! What's going on?!" Streak cried out, banging her fists against the safe-like door. "Let us out!" 

"NEST Authorization Code Required To Lift Emergency Barrier Procedures. Please Use Password To Verify."

"Stupid door! Let us out!" Maria cried out with a swift kick to the door; only causing her to hold her foot and yelp at its hardness. 

"That Password Isn't Recognized. Please Contact Victor Hannibal Alexander Before Attempting Again."

"Dammit! It seems your dad had planned on using the Nest as a Safe Room in case of emergencies," Yui postulated, cupping her chin and looking to Christina. The Virago Spirit shrugged, not looking any way informed on the matter. Sighing, she rubbed her temples as she walked away. "Well, no point in trying to contact Vic when he's in the middle of a war zone. Back to training!" 

"W-Wait, you want us to train while bad guys are in MY HOUSE?!" Maria screamed, making Streak lurch back with hands over her ears. "How can you think of stuff like that when Morgan is out there?!" 

"Knowing your sister, she'll make do with what she's got," She said nonchalantly, stretching her legs back and forth, taking a moment to look over her shoulder at Maria cynically. "You should have a bit faith in your sis. Plus, Victoria is out there, so I'm sure they'll find a way to outlast them."

"You don't understand," She bitterly replied, biting her lower lip as her fists balled up at her sides and her eyes hardened. "M-Morgan is vulnerable on the inside. Ever since we made up, she's been scared to even bring out a portion of her power in just a sparring match. How is she going to handle whatever's out there?!" 

"Well, she did survive on her own before she met us," Streak pointed out, putting her arms behind her neck and goose-stepped over to Yui, stretching her upper body back and forth in kind. "I think she has a means of hiding if things get too bad. Besides, training under stress can be an inspiration, you know?"

"Ugh, you two muscle heads are impossible!" Maria cried out, stomping over and began barrier-punching and kicking the solid surface, crying out as loud as she could for her sister to hear. "MORGAN! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, DON'T FIGHT THEM! RUN! HIDE! WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT FIGHT! MORGAN!"

As the silence permeated with the bubbling of Morgan's ghastly aura and the howling wind of Swartz's energy, the two's stand-off was broken as a shadow opened up behind them and let loose a hail of Accelerator shots at their backs. Like streaks of lightning infused metal, they bounced and ricocheted around the hallway as Cass manipulated her wings around like whirling shields, deflecting the surprise attack with ease thanks to her Ominiscence. Turning to look at the shadow, she stretched a hand out and yanked those within like an invisible hand up, smashing Ketchum and Donovan up into the ceiling next to the barrier. 

"You think a surprise attack from behind could elude my Battle Precognition? You underestimate me, little mages," Cassandra rebuked, her back turned on Morgan as she saw the portal widened and let loose a mirror-shaped form towards her. Thrusting her finger at it, the magical construct shattered, and from it hundreds of blades sought purchase at her to which she deflected at an inhuman speed; allowing Rowlie to slip through a shard by her foot and trip her at her feet. 

"Don't underestimate the Black Brier-!" She began to say, her swords brandished in a flare of singing metal before her body was struck by a wing and smashed her to splinter the immaculate marble walled surface. Sliding down with a grimace, she barely had time to deflect a number of feathers that shot out of the wing, flying around and attacking her like semi-sentient hornets. 

All in that span, Swartz leaped forward in a blur that defied his stature. With his enormous bulk directly over Morgan's, he unleashed a flurry of punches, each one coated in his Pyro Magic, explosively blasting with every pressurized release of his Aura. Even without his Giant Magic's titan-sized fists that vary in size and mass, his strength was enough that the floor would crack and the walls would shudder with the ceiling, threatening the reinforced corridor of which they fought just by exchanging blows; regardless if they damaged her, it was the exertion itself that made it clear he had no idea how to regulate the amount of power he put into his attacks. 

Morgan was singularly focused on Swartz, even after she sensed the others appear behind her. She knew they were no match for Cassandra, not without Faer along to cause havoc. When her opponent moved, she was impressed to see he was at least faster than he appeared to be. However, that didn't mean she had any reason to fear his movement, he was still moving at but a snail's pace to her eyes. With every swing he made towards her, she simply jumped, flipped or otherwise stepped out of his path. She wasn't even using a considerable fraction of her full speed and it was clear that in mobility, she was endlessly outclassing him.

The shaking of the hallway however, proved to be a bit annoying. Every vibration had to be taken into consideration just to keep her footing, but it was clear to her that he was just as vulnerable. All that she needed was an opening. She imagined him as nothing but a bear, not an entirely inaccurate comparison in the slightest, she'd put him down just like she would such an animal. The only difference was the hallway was too confined for her to really outspeed her enemy, to force that opening. To further complicate matters, Swartz' attacks were too furious for her to get inside his reach enough.

Creating the Darkness Dragon's Scales on her chest, she lunged in anyway, planning to take a hit in order to provide just a momentary chance. She was not prepared for the raw power behind the punch that she took, the immense force was enough to shatter the scales and send her skidding back, but she reacted and once more sped into melee range, slipping inside Swartz' guard, too close for him to just punch her away again. "Darkness Dragon's Crushing Maw!" she intoned, thrusing both her hands into the man's chest, the dark energy resembling a monstrous jaw.

Swartz was surprised. While he hadn't fought the daughter of Victor personally, he had heard about how his former colleague -Faer Pleigh- had a complete breakdown thanks to her mere presence in Feur. Her movements were similar to how the older wizard would avoid his attacks, blending with the shadows and streaking across space in motions akin to a wraith. However, where the man had fortitude to protect himself from a volley of attacks, he clearly could tell she was being effected, even on a small scale, by his flurry of explosive-fiery punches. 

Darting forth, she managed to land her first blow, crashing both palms into his abdomen with enough force to kick back his coat and send a rippling gust of air pressure behind him to the other side of the spiral staircase behind him. With the splinters of the balcony still in midspray, the man rocked on his heels, his face contorting a smidge as saliva spat out of his mouth; bile that was lit aflame and that'd land on Morgan's scalp. 

Wrapping his arms around her head, shoulders and upper middle, Swartz slammed his right knee -swelling up to enormous degrees to smash her whole front flank- and unleashed a volatile blast of Pyro. As flames trailed with the steam and smoke off her, Swartz enlarged his head to the point of absurdity and headbutted back through head, unleashing another explosive blast of a fiery spell into the floor; through the floor and ontop of the next floor with a thunderous crash of smoke and splinters. 

"You know something, little girl?" Swartz began to say, looking down through the smoldering hole as the hallway filled with vaporous gas, with Cassandra giving a dangerous glare at him that he chose to ignore. "You may be wicked fast, but you lack the elegance, poise and straight up power your papa has. Lemme show you," He taunts, twisting around and enlarging his arm to titanic size and thrusting it through the hole, the knuckles as large as she was, embroiled with flames of Pyro as it raced to crash into her and send her through more floors of infrastructure of the castle. "WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" 

Morgan felt like she just threw a normal punch at a brick wall. From her perspective, Swartz barely moved an inch and then she felt his scalding spittle land on her head and start to burn. But that was the least of her worries as his knee, expanded to incredible size, dwarfing her as it smashed into her entire body and ignighted with flame, followed swiftly with a forceful, and had she not been in peril she would have thought it comedic, headbutt that sent her through the floor to the level below. Letting out a groan of pain, she looked up from where she landed, just in time to see yet another attack follow through. This time, she had enough room to dodge the flaming fist as it crashed through countless more floors of the place she called home.

The floor she was on began to collapse from the catastrophic damage inflicted and the smell of smoke pervaded her senses. She knew that something had caught fire down below, but she had to react to the fact that with the fracturing and breaking, she'd soon have to drop down or somehow get back up, being vulnerable due to her terrible position so far away. Taking the stairs back up wouldn't work, it'd be too obvious. That's when she realized all she needed to do to teach Swartz a lesson.

She gave NEST two requests, the first to create a set of wings and the second was two give her the sword it made for her once before, a sword so perfectly balanced in her hand, it seemed impossible to imagine. Within seconds, her demands were authorized and she took to the air, her raven-like wings beating as she soared up to her enemy. Hovering above the hole in the floor, she glared at him and leveled her sword in his direction. Black energy swirled around the blade, jagged and razor-sharp magic power, but all of it was merely the distraction. Without a word she flew around Swartz, hacking and slashing at him, keeping just enough distance that she only nicked him over and over, a thousand tiny cuts. That's when she put the next step of her plan into action, activating the Darkness Dragons Thrashing Tail, wrapping her spectral limb around the man's leg and tugging, forcing him to stumble and that was all she needed to captialize on, a momentary opening. "Darkness Dragon's Wingbeat!" she called out, manifesting her most powerful ability, the massive draconic wing-shaped blade of pure darkness that she swung at Swartz with just a wave of her arm, engulfing the hall in blackness. Swartz found himself missing the follow-up thrust towards the floor-bound Slayer. Feeling the floor he stood upon shudder along with several stories below do the same, he realized he may have compromised some of the infrastructure of the castle with that particular attack. Just as he conjured if he should just bring this down to the lobby, he was met with surprise as she soared up into his vicinity, making his eyes dilate behind his shades and his expression contort into flabbergast. 

Then, he felt a nick in his shoulder's flesh, followed by his waist, left pectora, abdomen and neck as she swarmed around him with impressive speed aided by her newfound aerial mobility. His eyes darted to and fro, homing in on her wraith-outline. Just as she would clash the next few times, he wrapped a dense coat of his own Ethernano around his middle finger and deflected her sword with just enough pressure to parry it each and every time. Grinning, he pulled back to let loose a blazing infernal stroke at her-

-just as she lassoed his leg and made him trip. 

"OH FUCK!" He swore aloud, middle digit swinging wildly, narrowly missing Morgan and arcing up in a destructive blaze that cut a meter width of all forms of structure before blasting out of the castle into the sky with a howling blur of white light. As he was falling, he felt the heat sapped and his perception darkened to only witness the outline of a black phantasmal limb imitating a dragon's skeletal arm webbed with a razor edged wing. With the faux appendage swung, a ghastly shriek filled the whole hallway, taking off the surface of the roofing, walls and flooring.

Cassandra had to dispel the blackness with a swing of her hand, her opponents run ragged and bleeding from dealing with her. She smiled almost too widely, eyes sparkling as she tasted the emotional torrent of spiraling despair and anger filling her poes. Closing her eyes, she wiped away a single tear before Donovan tried to land a kick to her face; which she repaid by grabbing his heel and throwing him back at the NEST safe door with a loud crack. 

Amidst atomizing material that left almost no room for footing save for the staircase's top to Morgan's back, Swartz was heard crashing through floor after floor of his own making's weakness. A resounding crash was heard and the air became still for the smallest of moments. Then, the whole of the castle shook and vibrated like thunder; with a titan sized arm thrusting through the ground to bodily wall her up into the ceiling of the staircase. 

A distant voice howled with maddening glee, "THAT'S IT! This is what I'm TALKING about! Give me what your daddy couldn't," Wrapping his enormous bulk of a palm around her, he'd yank her down with his diminishing limb to his person, steam rolling off his body with only the slightest singe of damage done to his muscular bulk. Pulling back a fist, wrapped in a crackling light of embers and fire, he'd shout with a dangerous promise. "BEFORE I SEND HIM TO THE NEXT LIFE WITH YOU!" 

A brutal punch was aimed squarely at her reined-in person, pointing her to the ground level of the castle, letting loose another fraction of his power to make sure this attack stuck. His excitement elevated, his body honed and the smallest of injuries was giving him a rising high. He didn't care if this killed her or not, he just wanted to see how far Victor Alexander's child could really push him! Morgan would have taken a bit of pride in her triumph but she knew better. She saw what Swartz could be, what he could do. It took Victor's best effort wasn't enough alone, her own attack should have done nothing more than lightly wound the man. The gap between her and the man she called Father was just too wide for there to be any other logical outcome of her attack. She did, however, enjoy knowing that she was holding her own regardless. 

But that feeling didn't last long as a giant hand that crashed into her and sent her into the ceiling behind her with a sickening crunch. Strugling to break free, she felt the enormous fingers wrap around her, crumpling her constructed wings like tissue paper. Fake bones snapped like twigs under the force as the construct magic binding them was overcome and the wings vanished as she was dragged down to the floors below. The oncoming punch that was aimed right for her forced her to flinch as she expected a deadly impact.

However that deadly impact she feared never came. The next moment she was aware of, she was standing a few feet away from Swartz, a thick black smoke rolling off her body. At the instant she expected injury, something in her had changed, something older than the kingdoms, countries, older than history itself. Without even being aware of it, she converted her entire being to smoke and willed herself to move to safety and reforming. What...was that? she thought, unsure of how she escaped what should have been an agonizing, crushing fate.

However, she didn't want to think on it too long, turning her attention to Swartz, enraged. "You made the same mistake Faer did...you threatened the people who mean everything to me..." she growled. "I can't forgive you!" She sharply inhaled a mass of shadows from around them, devouring the precious energy they provided. "Darkness Dragon's Roar!" she cried out, firing a pitch-black wave of magic towards Swartz, consuming all the light with it's ebony glow.

Swartz was left baffled. 

He had her! He knew he fuckin' had her in his grip! She had no place to turn, no way to dodge and no way to brace for the oncoming attack. Instead of the punch making contact, it blasted through a sulfurous gas of black powder turned smoke, swirling away and ebbing up into the ceiling. Her magical presence had scattered, as if she forcibly fissured before his magic could touch her; or rather, swam around it like a living shadow. His eyes widened comically behind his shades, watching the fireball faced shockwave smashed the opposing end of the hall and into the wall of the spiral staircase, shuddering the floor he tentatively stood on. 

"W-WHERE DID SHE-?!" He thought heatedly, twisting around, his coat whipping around with his upper body twisting over his still-planted feet. By the time he fathomed her presence, her voice slapped over his skin and the warmth vanished from the air and light was sucked into the void of the girl's swollen maw. Looking at it, he raised his arms up in an attempted to stop it like he did before, but got completely overwhelmed. 

Howling loudly with the shriek of her magic, the blastwave of magic struck him with bludgeoning force as its elemental nature of negative aspects of the void didn't do enough to the surface of his densely woven pack of Ethernano per milimeter of skin. Floor and wall after ceiling after floor and wall he smashed through each reinforced piece of infrastructure like shattering through magically enchanted dense metal. The breath was taken right out of him as he finally struck the front face of the spiral staircase, sending debris and an imploding spiral of blackness that buried him deep underground; leaving him to recoil in dizziness and pain. 

"Owwwwwwwwwwwww..." He bemoaned as he struggled to regain his bearings. 

Elaine Lyte had saw her beloved blast through a moment before she erected a Ruby barrier. It cracked the surface of her gem-constructed shield, but it held past it. Dispersing it into dust, she'd look down below warily, having never expected him to suffer a blow as challenging as this. Looking up, she'd smirk, pulling at the lip of her Ruby constructed hat, flanked by Mina as she saw the trail of darkness ebbing from the holes left from the trail in the wings of castle. 

"Come down, little one," She beckoned, aiming to give Swartz a chance to recover by challenging the dangerous Slayer. Given from her previous engagement, she was easily manipulated through negative emotions and fighting psychologically was one of her specialities. Releasing an imposing Aura, it was complemented by the brilliant sparkling light of crystals that mingled within her Ethernano that bubbled out and spread around with a thick current of Mist following to create a blanket of cursed vapor. "Unless you want me to go after your adorable sister and your friends upstairs, I suggest you take this invitation." Morgan watched with grim satisfaction as her rage-filled breath of darkness engulfed Swartz and sent him crashing into the smoke-filled lower floors. He brought it upon himself; after all, she gave him an out before the batte even began. He dared to keep fighting even when she begged him to leave her and Cass be. There was, however, the sheer thrill she always got from fighting, and that joy was tempered by the never-ending fury that drove her. It never ended, the bloodlust and love of combat drove her and now she was getting into it and her desire for more battle took hold.

When she heard Elaine's challenge and the threat that came with it, she knew that there was no way she couldn't respond to the provocations, never once even thinking it was a trap; the lives of the people she cared most for were put in danger and that alone made her act without once thinking of her own safety. barreled down to the first floor through the gaping hole that had been left behind, her violet and ebony aura flaring to life around her anew.

She looked around the fog, memories of the last confrontation with Elaine coming back to her. Ignore it...whatever I hear, see...it's not there, it's not real. she told herself as she recalled the terror the last battle forced her to endure, She readied her sword and glared through the magical mist. "You wanted me down here, and here I am." she declared, her voiced laced with the absolute fury that was consuming her more and more. She allowed no one to so much as threaten her sister or her friends and would exact her vengence all the same.

She tried to peer through the thickening fog, finding her vison blocked just like before, making it hard to tell where her enemies were, although she saw formless shadows moving through the fog in the distance she had no means of knowing if they were really there or if she was being toyed with again.

"Elaine. She's seen your Mist Magic before. Don't use it recklessly-"

"I know, Mina," She replied through their mental link, her footsteps echoing eerily all around the Slayer, no doubt messing with her enhanced sense of dragonic hearing. Smiling ruefully, this child was now alone from her sister, the troublesome Barrier Mage with a penchant with Teleportation Magic. Now, the shoe was in the other boot; she had a capable ally and Morgan, albeit stronger than before, is more brash than ever. "But I have the perfect plan to utilize against her." 

A full minute passed as the silent mist swirled around, thickening and creating a nearly impenetrable field of vapor that moved around with the guidance of its creator. The sound of footsteps, whispers and mutters filled her ears. She knew Morgan would be on edge, more than likely reacting initially to the first thing that was revealed to her, regardless if she could figure it out. 

Thus, she used something that would substitute for something else. 

An eruption of light followed up with a pair of silhouettes, out came an emerging the pair of faces. Elaine had a pair of ruby-colored blades in either hand, swinging over and around in skillful arcs to cut the girl while her ability to discern the environment was muddled. Spewing Mist from her mouth into Morgan's face; revealing the threatening mirror image of Morgan herself, crisscrossing the weapons that'd look like her own iconic blade from the start of her journey, clothed in the skin-revealing bra and short-shorts with the star-encrusted trenchcoat. 

"What do you think you're doing here, huh?!" The voice cried out, twisting around to produce a magically reinforced knee up to her face, bludgeoning towards the mouth and chin. Spinning around with a flurry of sword swings, heeled lashes struck out and reproduced a Mist-influenced shadow that was hiding the Ruby Magic that intended to lacerate her behind the illusion that was cast. "We both know that you're not cut out for this! You may be alone, but you've always been weak on your own! Why not stay near her, by your sister? I think she's far more equipped to handle herself; if she wasn't so afraid of us!"  The fog itself was ominous enough, thick enough to obscure even her sight, but the muttering and sounds of footfalls kept the Slayer on edge. Nothing distinct, not that she could pick up on, but it left her wary and in her half-blind state such fear was only compounded until she was half-ready to just start attacking the myriad of shadows behind the veil of mist. There was a brilliant burst of light that obscured her vision briefly, allowing Elaine to get the jump on her. Although her reflexes were able to get her to move to avoid being sliced to ribbons, her training gi was torn by the twin blades, thin trails of blood oozed from the shallow cuts. 

Morgan coughed as more of the cursed mist was forced into her airways and she heard another voice call out to her, one she recognized instantly as her own, and true to her assumption, there she stood. A different her at any rate, but it was still her from months ago. More pain erupted as her face was bashed with a knee, telling her that what she thought was a mere illusory duplicate was more, so much more real.

Blood trickled down her lip where it was split, but right then, she didn't care, she just countered herself, sword-swing for sword-swing, kick for kick and shadow for shadow. Something felt off about the other Morgan's magic, it didn't feel quite right, not like darkness at all. There was something else behind the spells that she couldn't place, like a weight that no darkness spell should carry within itself.

"You...you're not me! I'm not weak!" Morgan yelled at the double, terrified that maybe the her that stood there knew more than she herself was willing to admit. "She's afraid of me...because I made a mistake, and if you really were me...you'd know that!" she cried, lunging at her doppelganger, hacking and slashing with her new sword in a mad frenzy, wanting to erase whatever it was that used the solid illusion to taunt her.

"Oh, we both know better that it wasn't a mistake," Elaine jeered out, using the faux appearance of Morgan's previous self to further confuse her while deftly avoiding the maddening flurry of blows. Her speed was hampered by the thick fog that only she could navigate, and her experience kept her from being floored by what she saw was linear paths of assault. Twirling around in an acrobatic dance while avoiding most and occasionally parrying a few other strokes. In a surprising move of aerial supremacy, she leaped in a backward flip while keeping eye contact on Morgan, speaking in her movement. "We wanted to do it. Admit it; we crave her blood even when it sickens you. The hypocricy is strong in you, and that's why it makes you weak!"

Kicking off an instantaneous burst of 'Shadow' as a disc platform, she spun in a forward razor angle to cut over and across her shoulder down her back. Landing, she'd spiral around her blade in a vortex of 'Darkness' as the Ruby Magic intensified in a razor-fueled wind of projected Ethernano .Blasting away any counterattack, it'd also produce a wave of vapor of her Mist Magic as it'd strike her with cutting, bludgeoning force along the visible blanket of optic obscuring fog. 

"Long as you continue to hesitate, more and more people will fear you or despise you. This can't continue forever," She chided, turning about and walking forward, her trench coat fluttering behind her while the edge of her sword grinded in a display of orange sparks as she approached her quarry. From the blue embers of the doppelganger's eyes, the silhouette that roiled with the shadowy fog and her aura resembling hers in an uncanny manner, it looked like a true representation of the Slayer's inner self come out to fight her. "Might as well submit if you're too weak to commit one way or the other!"  The duplicate's taunting only served to further antagonize Morgan, driving her deeper into a rage. It was a lie, it had to be a lie. She never wanted to hurt Maria, it was the furthest thing from her mind. But yet, her shadow declared it to be true, that there was a part of her that wanted nothing more than to spread the same ruin and misery that she knew so well. She lunged again at the fog-crafted mirror image of herself only for her to flip out of the way.

The next thing morgan knew was a sharp pain in her back as she was cut. Letting out a hiss of pain, she tried to turn around to counterattack only to be sliced apart and blasted away by an attack that left her no avenue of escape or retaliation. A loud bang echoed through the room as she smashed into the wall, cracking the structure, her sword flying from her grasp. Black mist rolled off the various cuts that adorned her body, each one sealing and the pain vanishing just as fast. Wh...what's happening to me? she asked herself, realizing something was very off. While she had always been capable of high-speed healing, this was on a whole different level, almost instant. 

She glared at the other her and stood up. "I'm not...I'm not weak! And I'll never submit! Even if I'm hated...I'm used to it. You should know that...everyone used to call us the devil's daughter...a freak who's only worth was to be a sacrifice to their god in the hopes he'd spare them. But there's one thing that won't change, I'll defend my family, even if I have to throw everything away!" she declared, finding a level of resolve to stand against the accusations. No longer did her eyes reflect the doubts

In the blink of an eye, she crossed the distance between them and tackling the other her to the ground. Not wanting to give up the momentary positional advantage, she relentlessly punched the fog-borne illusory version of herself.

Elaine had gotten the appropriate rise out of the Slayer. Through her tactical advantage of skill, experience and her own slew of spells she can overwhelm even a force of nature such as Morgan Deschain. Using her cunning analysis of this girl from what she had researched and the previous encounter her gang had with her, she surmised in most respects in complete accuracy. The only mistake she made was that she was going to give up-

-a mistake she paid by having her whole body lurch back with a sudden tackle. While her magic wasn't so easily disrupted through blunt trauma, the Slayer's sliding tackle knocked the wind out of her. In her haste, she flew up a skin-tight fabric of rubies across her face like scales -outwardly maintaining the illusion that it was Darkness' Slayer Magic at work- repelling the initial punches with strain. As her back ground into the tiled ground, the knuckles rapidly increased in number, flaring out with ebbing fumes of black and began smashing apart her precisely woven shell, causing her to spew out blood and her eyes widen at being overwhelmed by this child while she was on the ground. 

Then, a familiar buzz overtook her frame. The punches unleashed by the blindly swinging girl began bouncing off an invisible wall of magic, the result of Psychic Magic at play. Remotely hidden by her Mist Magic, Mina finally stepped in, allowing Elaine to regain her wits and acted in this window of surprise her enemy would possess.

"You aren't weak?" She inquired, the faux-duplicate of Morgan spread a bloody grin of chilling degree as she covered her face in 'black scales'. "Allow me to enlighten you."

Saying this, she quickly grabbed her wrists and yanked her down while she rose her head up to smash her forheead with her Ruby Magic covered face, aiming to concuss her if not split her forehead open. Twisting the girl's hands in and around at uncomfortable directions, she'd launch a Ruby-laced knee up into her solar plexus, using the momentum of her hit to swing her up and around to slam her back onto the ground. Twisting her body up and around onto her feet, she'd jump up and land a scissor kick using the heel of her left heeled boot and the shin of her right leg. In midair, she'd twist around around and throttle her across the mist covered space towards a support pillar hard enough to crack its marble face. 

"Darkness Dragon's Fang!" She'd howl out in Morgan's voice, creating 'black claws' of scales using her Ruby Magic and surge forward with adept control over her energy to appear like a wraith before the girl's eyes. Aiming to make contact in a machine-gun salvo of lacerating, bludgeoning strokes, a slasher grin spread across the doppelganger's face as she aimed to shred past Morgan's defenses and bloody her against the pillar while it groaned and shuddered in the strain of her vicious, relentless assault. 

Morgan kept striking the faux version of herself with every ounce of her strength, only for the other her to suddenly become shrouded in a barrier that repelled her punches. Recoiling for just a moment as the barrier sent shockwaves up her arm, she soon paid for that split-second opening. Crying out as their heads smashed together, her forehead split and blood trickled down her face, obscuring her sight as it spilled into her eyes. Between having her arms pulled into a painful position and the force of the knee that sent her sprawling, she could swear she felt her left arm break in multiple places. Without being given a chance to so much as get away, she was knocked into a pillar by another kick so hard that she could vaguely tell she was indented to the surface just as the other her seemed to warp in front of her again. “Please...stop…” she muttered weakly before a relentless assault was unleashed upon her by the twisted reflection of herself.

Every blow tore at her and battered her body, each sharp impact bringing her awareness back to the battle. She couldn’t even escape into the blissful emptiness that called to her, that welcoming nothing where pain and misery didn’t exist anymore. Her very being was broken, physically and mentally. She was screaming now, blood racing from every injury and pooling below her.

She’s right...I’m so weak...I thought I could survive...I thought I could be happy…

Memories of her family flooded her mind, the people who’s very existences made her life have meaning; from the lessons with Victor to the playful sparring with Maria to every little way Roland gave her a bit of hope. It was all there, clear as day, a reason to keep fighting.

What am I saying...I’ve done so much...I’ve been happy...I can’t let...let anyone take that from me. No matter what...

I. Won’t. Die.

Ego In The Dark

She grabbed her sinister replica’s wrist with her good hand, stopping the onslaught. “Enough.” she growled out, tossing Elaine aside as if she were nothing but a pebble. With the way cleared, she pried herself from the pillar, glaring at the facsimile of herself and for the first time seeing what she should have noticed before, what she would have noticed if not for the terror that had surged through her. Reading the other her’s heart, she saw that it wasn’t even her in the first place but Elaine disguised.

More black smoke shrouded her body as the various wounds began to heal at a lightning pace, the only evidence they were there at all being bloodstains and torn clothing. But while her recovery was impressive, it was far from the only change to her. From the way she spoke to the way she stood, she seemed more calm, more composed. Every flicker of doubt was wiped away. In place of her previously broken state of being, she radiated an eerie, surreal sense of calm.

With her sixth sense, she tracked down Mina and in the span of only a fraction of a second appeared next to the psychic mage. Without giving the girl a second to react, the blood-soaked wraith that was Morgan jumped and used Darkness Dragon’s Thrashing Leg to empower a devastating kick aimed at her chest. Elaine's eyes widened to a palpable degree when she felt her wrist suddenly gripped by a strength she didn't expect. The girl had been pinned, eviscerated and bludgeoned in place, there shouldn't have been a place for her to escape or get help. The summoned Demi-Goddess was being kept busy at the top floor and she was far more capable of handling a rookie, Slayer or not; so why was she stopped?

Then she was thrown with a strength that belied the girl's small stature. Her wrist up to her shoulder was nearly wrend out of place, bones creaked and tendons nearly torn had it not been for Ruby Magic covering her arm. Shattered gems clattered to the ground when she barely halted herself from smashing into the opposing wall lined up with the front entrance of the estate; her Mist Magic dispersed just enough from the propelling motion that she could clearly see Morgan's countenance and the nature of her magic had altered dramatically. 

Her wounds knitted together by layers of potent metaphysical shadows, borne through the darkness that was now thrumming from her very body from every outline and feature she possessed. The blue eyes didn't shine bright, but instead a deep cobalt, almost eclipsed by the bleak appearance she was now siphoned from this new form of strength. Based on the caged expression, she could tell instantly from a chill up her spine that her mirage no longer had an effect on her mind. 

Something that she wasn't able to enunciate out loud, but even slower in her mind as she seemed to evaporate in a puff of darkness. 

"Mina, she can see through my Mag-!" 

A loud POW! echoed the first floor upwards, making Elaine turn her head in a whipping motion of her hair as she witnessed the Psychic Magician being thrashed by an arc of black light. Having only the barest of points of reacting to the hostile intent and the warning signs laid out before her, Mina had put all of her psionic force of her magic into covering the spot she knew that was about to be struck; with even those precautions, her frail body bowed in motion as the sound barrier broke and her eyes whitened with spittle shooting out from her mouth along with debris as she slammed spreadeagled with a dismal CRACK! at the opposing wall past furnishings of various kinds. 

"Shit...Shit...Shit!" Elaine swore aloud, taking a hesitant step back as her body shuddered at this new change in both demeanor and atmosphere was emitted by the girl. "She really is a monster! H-How can I...stop her?!"  Morgan watched as Mina was sent sailing backward, crashing into the far wall. She almost expected the girl to get back up again, although after a hit like that she doubted even the psycher would be able to stand up for a while. “That’s two,” she muttered, turning her attention back to Elaine. With a slow, measured stride she started to close the distance between the two, a sinister grin on her face.

Her busted forearm throbbed, sending fresh waves of pain through her. Shaking her head, she steeled her resolve. “I’ll put an end to this...and then I can rest. Just a bit more…” she told herself, clutching the wounded limb, feeling the fractured bone shift as her newfound abilities started to knit the tissues. Regardless, her focus never left Elaine. “I’m a monster? No...I told you all to leave me alone...You just didn’t listen.” she told the woman calmly, reminding her that what was happening was merely the product of their own foolishness.

She closed the gap between them with a blur-inducing burst of speed and lifted Elaine with her good hand once again. “You attacked my home. Your friends attacked someone close to me and while I’m sure she can take care of them, I’m not the type to let things go...didn’t Faer tell you that?” As she spoke, the look in her eyes changed, even her tone. There was something more willing, not just fighting in self-defense but fighting to hurt the people who wronged her, her voice turning a bit darker with malice. With a single movement, she smashed Elaine back into the ground, pinning her. With her broken arm healed, for the most part, she punched the intruder with everything she could muster.

Elaine let out a strangled gasp as she was lifted up by the collar. The girl was smaller than her, less than half her height and yet she was overpowered in every way. Her legs kicked out and her hands tried to pry apart the blackened hand that held her aloft. Gurgling out between hacking sounds, she'd feel herself moving in a revolving motion that thrashed her into the ground with a rattling, seismic impact. She felt as much as she heard cracks as her head and upper body impacted first with the floor, causing her to hack out blood and her eyes took upon a more dazed expression. 

With fear emoting in her eyes, she was unable to conjure a properly layeed defense by her magic. All she could do was let out a hoarse cry out, "S-Swartz...h-help...m-me...!"

It was in the instant Morgan's fist was thrown that a shuddering quake was felt within the first floor of the castle. A sensation of a roaring typhoon emerged with a flow of molten flames shooting out from different partitions of the ground floor, shooting up explosive borne flame that shot out and began to catch everything within its melting heat. During this freak phenomena, an enormous fist surged out of the ground, managing to make its middle knuckle strike the Slayer from her right flank as the floor was obliterated; aiming to send her careening across the castle's ground to the garden-enamored veranda. 

Left amidst the unforgiving heat, Swartz emerged in his usual size as his large Surtr arm transformed back into its usual size as he cradled Elaine's petrified form in his opposing arm. 

"Elaine," He spoke in a rare quiet voice, his face no longer expressing glee as it was earlier, and his shades were forgone to reveal his blood-red eyes that passively glowed like embers of the flames that now covered the first floor of the estate's immediate rooms and staircase. "You get Mina and heal up. I'm taking things over; sorry I didn't want to spoil your fun earlier, but I now realize she's above that kind of play. It's time I take responsibility."

"Swartz," She quietly spoke, still coughing for air as he set her back down onto her feet. Without another word spoken, his big silhouette evaporated in a blur of momentum, carrying the tongues of fire off the surface like a large gale had swept through. Amidst the smoke and steam, Elaine could only marvel at his impervious form and the power he radiated. A glimmer entered her eyes and a smile rare onto her own face graced it, before she turned to help aid her fallen comrade. "Show her no quarter, my big dumb and beautiful Swartz."

Emerging at the opposing crash site, Swartz let loose his fountain of power, though this time showed a bit more of a menace that had a refined point to his presence. Like a beast that was done playing with its food, it was now poised to show its fangs; reflected off a raised hand that cracked its knuckles with individual effort and Swartz's smile bared with a few bulging veins showcasing his anger. 

"Sorry I left you alone so long, Slayer," Swartz intoned with a level growl that echoed the veranda of the immense Alexander Estate, eyes glowing a pupiless red and his teeth spewing steam between the cracks while a passive flow of white light cascaded off his coat covered shoulders. "It's time we continued our battle, don't you agree?!"

Morgan took a bit of sadistic joy in hearing Elaine’s pitiful pleas for Swartz to come and save her. How many times had the woman heard similar pleas, cries for mercy? And now, she was the one made to beg. But that elation soon ended once she realized not only did Swartz manage to endure her onslaught but he once again stood. Before she could counter or dodge his attack, his fist smashed into her side and sent her flying.

Landing with a sick thud, the young slayer’s mind was lost in a haze of sheer agony, proof that she was alive. That is what pain was to her, not an impulse to escape but one that reminded her that she was still there. Her vision swam and blood  leaked from her mouth, and yet she was able to stand again, realizing she was standing in a small crater after being knocked around again. A figure walked closer, garbed in absolute darkness, the only features that could be made out were carmine-red eyes, two pools of blood in a sea of ebony. Her field of vision darkened around the walking shadow, the vibrant colors of the world turning grey and dull.

“You’re really pathetic. Aren’t you going to murder them? Those intruders are making a mockery of our home. And you’re letting them!” the figure cried out in Morgan’s own voice but also with the voices of the darkness itself echoing its words. It inched forwards, reaching out for her with a scale-covered, clawed hand, more dragon than human. “And so, you should just let me take over...I’ll ensure they ALL die. Just like we wanted on that day. Every last one!” Rows of pointed fangs appeared as the figure flashed a sinister smile.

“I won’t die...I won’t let them do this…” Morgan answered the figure. “But I won’t let you. I won’t become you!” she cried out, realizing what stood in front of her was her draconic self, trying to dominate their soul and body once again to end every life. Weakly she tried to fight off the apparition but her strength was failing. In the face of her other side, the true evil she repressed, she was powerless.

“Give in to me and I’ll make this world pay!”

Another voice, just like their own, interrupted as another figure appeared and the first vanished, seemingly repelled by the presence of the new entity, wrapped in a crimson and gold cloak. “That’s enough out of her.” she said, holding the real Morgan gently. “Sleep, princess of the night, your fight is over now.”

Morgan could not fathom what the clothed version of herself represented if anything at all. But for some reason, she felt her will faltering and something else take control; not the vile and sinister aspects of herself but something else. 

A wave of darkness, pure and unrestrained, formed twin enormous wings that surrounded Morgan’s body and winds swirled in eddies around her with incredible force, even enough that Swartz would be unable to approach her for the time being. When the shell of darkness gave way like a hatching egg, a girl still stood there, looking like Morgan but her hair was tied in a single ponytail and her training gi replaced with a crimson and gold robe tied shut with a white sash, her eyes a deep-sea blue, bordering on black with the only the slightest hue to them. To the outside, she was still herself but within, she had been reborn.

“Get out of my face!” she yelled, disappearing in a flash and appearing a few behind Swartz in the blink of an eye, the Darkness Dragon’s Talons around her hand dripping blood; in the span of that moment she not only ran past her enemy but landed a slash on his chest.

“Don’t think you’re facing the same girl as before. She’s too innocent for this…” Swartz suddenly beheld a dramatic transformation. Blackness swirled within the environment like water caught in a whirlpool, dominating the veranda and blotting out the Sunlight. Contorting towards a kneeling frame, it'd form what looked like a shell of pure onyx, radiating an intense Ethernano that cracked the regal flooring that hadn't been maimed yet. It tingled across Swartz's skin, and the angered madman looked on with awe with red eyes, the shell cracking within his eyes and shattering into dissipating pieces. 

Revealing a gold-black cloaked girl whose hair was fastened into a ponytail, eyes a deep cobalt instead of a sky blue. The air around her was intense, even more than the girl when she was attacking him. The moment those eyes looked his way, he felt a wave of chilling pressure roll over him-

-giving way to a spike of pain as his broad chest received a handful of lacerations across his chest. 

His eyes blinked, and he heard her speak behind him. He had barely conceived that streak of midnight, not even like the wraith she was before but a pure force of darkness. Placing a hand on his chest, soaking his hand in his own blood, his countenance turned from serious into apparent glee. His Aura engulfed around him in an explosive geyser of white light, a crimson gleam shined over a shoulder as he looked over at her while still facing forward. 

"Good for you," He growled out, twisting around in a blinding streak of light and movement, swinging his left arm that instantaneously swelled in size and mass, engulfed in Pyro Magic to explosively strike with the mass of his giant-transformed appendage. "NOW YOU CAN DIE WITHOUT INNOCENCE!"

When Swartz lashed out at her, the ghostly-pale girl read his every move as if he were in slow-motion, knowing where his attack would go before even he did, allowing her to evade with a properly timed roll backward before standing back up, just outside of his range. Running a hand through her hair casually, she grinned at the pyro mage, giving him a playful smile.

“You really have no idea who we are, do you?” she inquired of him, fully aware of the unlikelihood that he was properly informed of her nature. Then again had he been told, she doubted that they would even be in this battle “Let me enlighten you on how a true Slayer fights.” The moment she spoke, she was gone again, appearing above him, only the barest streak of black to denote her movement. Thrusting her leg down, she landed a disorienting blow on her enemy, using the momentum from her own action to give herself the velocity to get behind him.

Taking advantage of her new position, she decided to aim for a fatal blow right away, not giving Swartz the chance to empower himself as he did against Victor. “Dragon Slayer Secret Art:Izanami’s Curse!” she cried out, thrusting the lance of darkness forward as it extended towards Swartz’ heart like a homing missile, fueled by her killing intentions and a brutal mercy that could only be granted by an instant death.

Swartz's instincts were kicked into overdrive the moment his psyche had aligned itself into this bizarrely cognizantly aware state of being. Elaine, however you may judge her, was the only light in the berserker's manic filled life of grief, torture and pain that he's been subjected to. When he heard her strangled cry, his brain had silenced the myriad of voices his confused consciousness normally darts around like a pong ball across a field. Due to necessity, his power was as hard to control as his mind was stable; but when the latter had found a proper anchor, so to was his strength properly utilized. 

Red eyes dilated as he saw her move backwards, as if casually avoiding his mass-change and the flames that ebbed with his arm, completely avoiding the curling fire that scorched the air and struck the castle face with a loud sparking bang. Even as the heat rose up in a wave of rippling steam, the giant warrior of explosive fire properly gauged this girl's spike in power. This wasn't a Dragon Force or an arbitrary power-up; this was something not so different than what he was experiencing now. 

A complete change in psyche and will. 

Leaping over his head, he found that he could follow her trail a bit easier, seeing a proper outline and flight path that her afterimage imprinted in his mind. A disorienting drop kick forced him to lurch forward and bend his knees, the floor of the veranda's infrastructure snapped and fissured around him with dust clouds kicking up with a buffet of air pressure. Feeling the weight of her body leave him, he knew that from the coldness and sapping light that she was gathering for a follow-up attack.

"She's going for an instant kill," He predicted, his mind reeling with information that his instincts gave him through impulse receptors. Twisting around, he knew that he couldn't counter that speed directly; but she can't pull away while attacking. Seeing Morgan hurl what looked like a black lance, he seemingly stood in place to take the hit directly...

...while pointing a single cocked finger at her exposed space of flesh where the robes weren't covering. 

"Pyro Magic, Surtr's Arrow," He intoned gutturally, firing a small but powerful bolt of molten light straight at her while sidestepping during his feeling of the cold spike of blackness pierce his flesh.

Penetrating his skin, he twisted around and internalized the flow of damage, letting loose an output of power, becoming an enormous silhouette bathed in a column of white light that shot into the sky; spraying cyllinders of electrical snapping and crackling bolts of Ethernano all across the mountainous vista. As if through sheer might and strength of will, the bloodied hole that was made in his skin congealed together and the muscles flexed inward, shrinking the lance right before it escaped out his back, piercing his rippling high-collared trench coat and let it released its dormant energy peter off into the horizon where a damning blast of Slayer magic rend the land in a devastating boom of blackening energy. 

Steel cords of muscle tensed around his rippling form, the blood flow seeming to stop even with a hole straight through the center of his chest, narrowly missing his organs and spine during its magic ripping through his body. Rasping vapor left his mouth, his shrunken red eyes returned to normalcy as veins nearly popped across his broad brow and a vulpine smile stretched mockingly at her; more-so, the jewel fixated at the center of his forehead thrummed with an ominous presence, glowing eerily bright in comparison to small instances she had seen him in action before this moment. 

"I gotta admit, little Slayer, we're a lot more alike than you think," He jeered out with a raucous laugh, his body still taking a passive luminous glow of alabaster hue around his flapping coat and rippling daggers of silvery-grey over his crown. Raising a fingerless glove, he crinkled the leather material as he clenched it tightly near his still grinning visage. "If you hadn't hurt my woman, I might have actually taken you under my wing, help you get those voices of yours under control and properly managed. Hell, you might've made a good addition to my gang, if not for Myst's directive to hurt Vic in the best way she knows how."

An ominous pulsing wave shocked the veranda, kicking up tile and soil with the wind as Swartz's body seemed to double in size, increasing his already enormous stature to being fourteen feet in height along with base attributes such as his muscle build and the clothes on his person increasing in mass in accordance. In addition, his skin became a molten burgundy, adding Surtr's Body to add to his already healthy endurance and create explosive fire magic to his attacks. 

"GO AHEAD, MORGAN!" Swartz bellowed, his voice producing a seismic crack that would strike her like a hurricane's gale along with its unforgiving squallor. Amidst his shrieking shout he launched forward in a searing blur, burning the ground into ash and bubbling broth of melting sediment and bleeding fire in the earth. Launching a machine gun salvo of explosive punches that carried the wind with it and scorched all oxygen around him, creating a torrent of magical energy that continued to bludgeon and explode with the impossibly swift strikes he threw to bear upon the smaller target with his overall bulkier and burning being possessed. "SHOW ME YOUR MADNESS HAS THE STRENGTH TO STOP ME FROM DESTROYING EVERYTHING YOUR DADDY HAS HERE!" 

Morgan scowled when she saw Swartz take the hit head-on; he knew he would survive and she knew it too. The split-second she saw the black lance impale the man, she felt his counter-attack, a flaming round that pierced through her body. Eyes widened in shock, she staggered backward, clutching the burning wound through her chest. Gritting her teeth, she stood and watched as her enemy grew ever stronger from her attack, just like she expected. He was a true force of nature compared to her. In raw strength, there was no contest but what she had to level the playing field was skill.

“We’re nothing alike, you monster. You hurt others for your own gain...I hurt others to ensure we survive.” she retorted to his musings on their similarities and taking her and teaching her how to control her divided natures. There was no denying the daughter of the dark had done evil but could she be called evil when all she did was live on in the face of impossible odds? If to live was a sin, she would gladly drown in the inky abyss.

She covered her face when Swartz roared at her and when he charged to her, she met his fists with her own and when he struck faster than even she could, hands made of shadow matter, connected to her own body like extra limbs, clashed with his and repelled his every move. She had taken weeks to develop the idea to a functioning level and this would be the first test. Her only regret not showing it to Victor before was his influence would undoubtedly refined it to a more perfect level. Neither warrior gave an inch and their clashing fists created shock waves that shook the floor they stood upon, fragmented tiles were kicked around akin to leaves in a storm; her bones shook with the forces made by their attacks with every impact and yet Morgan continued to counter. All that mattered was that she had the brute’s undivided attention. And all he had to do was make one mistake, give her just one window to take advantage of and it would be over.

As they dueled and the tiles below danced in the windstorm, shadows began to peel away from Morgan's body, revealing a different form taking her place. Instead of merely just herself with new attire, the girl looked markedly different; In place of her signature blue ribbons was a single large, red hair bow tying her hair back as it cascaded down to her waist. Her gi faded away to show off a black mini-dress with a white and red jacket over top, a large red jewel binding the jacket. In place of her pants and shoes were knee-high boots with a band around her right thigh. All of this without once giving her opponent any ground as they fought.

"I was wondering if I could finally get her to quiet down enough to take this form. Sorry about that. The other me is kind of stubborn. She really didn't like giving up control. Anyway, I hope you don't mind picking up the pace." the newly-transformed girl said to Swartz, smiling a genuinely happy smile, not even a trace of sadism behind her words. It appeared that she was enjoying the idea of having someone push her limits. However, before he could reply to her, the veranda shattered and the duo tumbled down the mountain. In a panic, she called on the overwhelming shadows she commanded to form new wings for her to use as she chased her only earnest challenge down, wondering how he would fare or even if he had flight of his own.

"Come on, don't give up that easily! We just got to start!" she chided, treating this as if it were a game to her.

Swartz was ecstatic. 

He had no idea just what level this girl was capable of reaching or if it had a ceiling. It didn't matter to an anomaly like himself. With his fists trading blows with hers, the foundation beneath their feet shook and quaked, the force that could have struck the mountain-ingrained castle was distributed around their immediate vicinity. Harder and faster, they increased the pace of their attacks, displaced in the air and ground for what didn't strike their knuckles or exposed flesh. 

While Morgan shown a happy smile, Swartz's manic grin returned to the fore and his red eyes narrowed to dots. His Aura spiked dramatically with this exchange of mutual enjoyment made through battle. It didn't bother what curse or slant she threw his way; all that mattered was the moments shared in this dangerous intimacy they shared. As warriors, as combatants and as savages, they will fight till they were both dead or one was victorious over the other. 

Once the veranda was smashed into pieces, he felt himself fall, laughing all the while as Morgan discharged wings from her back to compensate. Without skipping a beat, Pyro ignited behind his shoulders and feet, propelling him straight into the winged fallen angel; aiming to body slam her straight into the mountain with a horrendous crack. Reaching out with a follow-up hand, he'd wrend towards her feet, dragging her down the side of the large tower of sediment and stone, cackling aloud in his bellowing tone; making a bright halo of momentum from his blazing white aura and the orange tint of his propulsion of Pyro Magic. 

"YOU'RE RIGHT, MORGAN!" He boomed out, raising his other fist, and slamming it into the mountain face, reducing a football field scale of the natural monument to splintering fragments in a expulsion of sheer kinetic contact; all aimed at her whole body from the head down to her thighs. "IT'S JUST BEGUN! LET'S KEEP IT UP, HAHA!" 

Looking down at Swartz, the girl felt no fear, no hate, nothing but the joy of the fight. How long had it been since she could say she wasn’t fighting out of some need? The need to protect, the need to survive. This time, it was the sheer thrill. “That’s it! Come up here so I can send you back down!” she crowed, even as the man flew right for her. She admired his tenacity, even in the face of overwhelming power. She didn’t have the time to react before he slammed into and she was drug partway down the mountain face. Rocks scratched and tore at her skin and clothes, little streams of blood dripping down. The follow-up punch left her stunned momentarily but she quickly regained her senses, even as she realized once again she avoided the bulk of the damage by turning into shadow-like smoke.

At point-blank range, she knew her chances were slim and so she opted to make the space she desperately needed. Dredging up the vestiges of her magic power, she unleashed a massive Darkness Dragon’s Roar, consuming Swartz but more importantly forcing him back and keeping him busy, if just for the moment. Wrenching herself free from the mountain behind her, she looked to where her opponent ended up. There’s only one way I can close the gap between us...I have to risk it… she thought bitterly, regretting that she had run out of options.

A scarlet aura flickered to life around her body, wisps of shadowy black mingled in. She successfully activated the first stage of Burst Magic in a combat situation but it wasn’t enough for her to bridge the difference in strength that Swartz represented. More….! I have to push it further than ever….! She told herself, forcing her body to rapidly escalate the amount of power she radiated even as her stores of magic seemed to empty out, her aura surging but also becoming more and more ebony-hued, the scarlet being consumed like the dying embers of daylight as night bore down. Soon enough, her energy was impossible to see through, obscuring her body and instead of expanding, it seemed to shrink, collapsing into the singularity that was her body. Even if it destroys me...I’ll drag him down with me.

As if the power was responding to her will, the aura seemed to crystallize, becoming a part of Morgan’s body. Her wings had been disintegrated by the process, yet she remained floating where she was. From top to bottom, she was covered in the pitch-black exoskeleton that shimmered like an onyx, her features barely distinguishable except for the shape of her hair. Despite the near-solid nature of the shell, it also appeared to be nothing but an empty void made physical in real space, a three-dimensional shadow. She opened her eyes, which appeared as two azure-hued circles on the face of the carapace, shining with an intense light. Before Swartz could even have a second to react, claw-tipped tendrils of shadow emerged from her body and whipped towards him at breakneck speed, aiming to bind him and stop his attacks. The abyssal wave of blackness was released as the grip over the Slayer was when his fist struck the girl after grinding her across the mountain face. Becoming an amorphous body of smoke and shadow, she'd charge up the well of power within her, sounding off with a chilling whine that was almost too high of pitch to be heard. Then, instantly, the silhouette discharged roughly around where the head presided straight at the upward inclining tower of muscle that was Swartz. 

"RRRRRRRRRRRRGH!" Swartz snarled, his body bludgeoned against the wave of darkness, its chilling contents attempting to burn away his flesh beyond the mantle of Ethernano. Every cell, every excess hair, every fiber of his body packed with a radical amount of energy pulsed in rebellion, casting a blinding aura amidst the tidal force crashing upon him. Then, the igneous skin encroached past the lightless void, carving fissures throughout the wall of shadows and burned it away with the hallowed ball of sheer energy pulsing off of him. 

"HAAAAAAAAAAH!" With a bellowing shout, Swartz thunderclapped with both palms forward, splitting the spell apart and smashing the mountain with a quaking impact. Looking around his vicinity, he saw that he was sent several kilometers by that one breath spell, and the surrounding environment looked untouched until he was descending to the ground. His sheer heat his body let off was setting it ablaze, the earth becoming rended asunder and animals fleeing in haste at the danger he posed. 

Seeing her distant speck engulfed in a scarlet light that quickly became dyed in black, Swartz could tell that she was multiplying her strength. Grinning, before he'd even be a fifty meter level above the ground, he rapidaly expanded his body in a pyre of flames and light. His silverish hair became a pitch black, flowing backwards in a sweeping wave, and his red eyes glowed with an intense burning orange-golden light. His feet smashed through tree-tops, the ground erupting into cracks of steam and smoke while blasting the environment with an immense castle-scope of his crimson-outlined aura that set things ablaze, sent trees flying backwards and vaporizing everything within a quarter mile distance. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He bellowed out with laughter, his voice now a booming octave, no doubt a reminder of the time Morgan saw him both in the Black Vox jailbreak and the town he fought Victor at. "THIS IS FUN, MORGAN! YOU JUST KEEP GETTING STRONGER, JUST LIKE ME! GIVE ME IT ALL! GIVE ME EVERY LAST OUNCE OF YOUR BLOOD TO BEAT ME!" 

Upon his words being voiced, he'd succinctly saw stretches of onyx arc from the point he knew his enemy was presiding at and reached him within a breath's release. Splitting outward they multiplied and grappled around his arms as he swung out to disperse them, piercing the outer burning shell of his flesh and holding him in place. In seconds from the fingers up to his shoulders, he was completely wrapped up within these binding shadows. 

"YOU THINK," Swartz snarled, pulling his arms back in attempt to rip her towards him and tear off the shadowy binds that continuously burned in proximity of being pierced into his molten skin. "THIS CAN HOLD ME DOWN, MORGAN?!"

The effigy of shadow that was Morgan barely paid heed to the raving mountain of a man in front of her, the azure-hued points of light that served as her eyes only blankly, unblinkingly, staring at him as her shadowy-black clawed arms tore into him remotely, each one burned and quickly replaced by another which continued to attack, only to be like the rest, burned to ashes in an instant. Her body, a shell of darkness, could generate a near-endless stream of such appendages.

She still offered no expression that could be seen through her ebony facade, even as she was reeled in by the monstrously huge man. The specks that served as her eyes glowed brighter briefly, as if she were emoting the surprise that most would be expected given the situation. But she quickly adjusted to the added, unwelcome momentum and used it to her advantage. “NEST, give me another sword.” she said in a low voice, the ring on her finger briefly glowing brightly under the carapace of ebony-black as another weapon appeared in her hands. She was relying entirely on the super-computer to handle her weapon-related needs while she focused entirely on turning this situation into something more favorable.

The shadows that comprised her body engulfed the sword, reinforcing it and magnifying it’s cutting powers even further. She wanted to end the fight while her body could hold the strain of the incredible multiplication she forced herself to endure. How much more she could take was not a question that she wanted to answer, even as she thrust the sword with all her strength, the tool nothing but a blur. As she made her move, the endless number of hands she made revealed their true intent beyond ensuring Swartz couldn’t move. With so many limbs, a simple tug sent her into a rapid spin like a drill, turning a direct thrust into a far more dangerous move while pulling her to the side to aim not straight on, but at an odd angle to give her attack less predictability. The arms snapped off of her as the torque overcame their connective force but it would be too late for her to stop or for Swartz to break free. While she was a mere speck compared to the giant, her momentum made her just as deadly. However, the motion wreaked havoc on her being, her body unable to acclimate to the g-forces she put herself under and she felt bones cracking under the momentary increased weight she experienced.

Swartz found his counter-strategy of yanking his enemy towards him had worked against his favor. She even adapted to it at an insane rate, as within seconds, she crafted a wide net of arms to combat the fact the dozens before were burning away upon mere contact. This time the tethers held relatively sound, forcing him to implement more strength than before to raise one arm to crush her in midair. 

Then she became a shadowy drill before his massive eyes, spearing through is angled bicep and triceps of his left arm, eviscerating tendons and muscle along with fracturing some bone in a single stroke. The hole was significant despite her apparent size, as she burrowed out the other side and rocketed a fair distance behind him. Looking to his giant arm he felt it drape to the side, limp and in pain, but pretty non-responsive. 

Grinning at this, he bellowed aloud enough to create a typhoon and his Magical Aura ignited the air enough to burn away his restraints. Twisting around, he aimed outraised fingers towards her and snapped them, creating a splitting fissure of Pyro Magic that cracked the heavens and detonated a long strength of forest with the firmament of the heavens above her. Repeating this gesture multiple times, he aimed to discharge ranged projections of magic, if only because he knew he couldn't land a meaningful hit in this state. 

Feeling her blade sink into and then tear through his arm, the blood hissing against her iron-hard armor as it was broken down by the dense, overwhelming darkness, the girl's eyes once more shone, this time in glee. She had proven that Swartz could be stopped and in time, she'd end him. Halting her spiral, she took a second to right herself. In doing so, Morgan realized she wasted precious time.

Before she could react to the explosion of fire he produced, she was sent reeling back, engulfed in an inferno. Speed in the air was not something she was blessed with and it showed. If not the flames directly, she was battered by the shockwaves and sent into the forest behind her, smashing through trees as if they didn't exist. Finally, her body crashed to the ground, leaving a not-insignificant gouge into the earth. Cracks began to form in her shell. She knew she was hitting her limit. Even her regeneration had slowed down rapidly. In her hands, the blackened sword felt heavy and her arms listless. "I have to end it....with the next move..." she told herself, weakened and weary. 

Kicking off the ground, Morgan slowly rose back into the air. She was used to fighting non-stop in back-to-back battles but in return for closing the gap between herself and her enemies today, she left herself running on empty, fueled by spite and hitting what seemed like an insurmountable wall. Behind that wall was the power she had a taste of once before but would never partake of again. Even if she didn't hate the part of her that it was, the power of a dragon, reaching through to it alone wasn't possible in her current state. Regardless, she knew Swartz needed to be stopped. Too many people were in danger for her to give up. Even if it cost her everything, she'd keep fighting until her body crumbled.

Growling, she flew at Swartz, a relentless wasp of shadow compared to the monstrously huge man. She kept to his left side, taking advantage of the weakness she created there, focusing on the gouge she left behind, aiming to aggravate the injury and cause more lasting damage. Her instincts went into overdrive, the lessons beaten into her skull telling her what to do, no longer tempered by the teachings Victor had tried to impress upon her. Mercy was all well and good when simply sparring or the battle was more controlled and monitored but a warzone was where she truly shined, and for good reason. As much as she rejected it, she was a dragon in all but form; she was what Jadow had made her be. Cruelty came naturally when she was in a fight. But even still, her intent wasn't just to be cruel; if she fell now, she wanted to ensure whoever fought Swartz next could exploit the injuries she left behind, avenging her in the process.

Maria...Father...Mother...Roland...I hope you all forgive me if I don't make it. she thought, breaking out of her flight and leveling off so she stood to face Swartz. sword still in hand. She didn't have much of a fighting style while airborne but would make do with what she could. Reshaping the sword's shroud of darkness to become far more jagged, she hurled it with what strength she still had, multiplied immensely by the Burst Magic, aiming the projectile right for the bleeding limb. The thrown weapon zipped through the air like a bullet thanks to her enhanced strength. Regardless of how Swartz dodged or blocked her attack, she'd be able to use her smaller size to snake her way around him and go for his neck. She only hoped her diversion would be enough.

Swartz found a deep satisfaction in seeing his rapid fire of explosions shattering the firmament of the heavens and cracking the earth found its target. He saw the black hornet of shadow go down with a resounding crash, that even his enlarged eyes could see. His slicked back black hair ebbed his Aura as he grinned, almost mockingly in how she took damage in exchange for his mutilated arm. 

But, she got up. It was astounding to be sure that a small body like that could take such a massive blast and remain standing. She really began to live up to her father's name; and the reputation of being a Dragon Slayer to boot. 

"THAT'S IT!" Swartz bellowed excitedly, clenching his right fist as his Aura rose up in a billowing blast, his voice shearing the air like thunder. "GET BACK UP! YOU HAVE THE NAME OF ALEXANDER, DON'T YOU?! SHOW ME YOU HAVE THE POWER TO BACK UP YOUR FATHER'S CLOUT, LITTLE SLAYER!" 

As she enacted in kind to his wishes, she aimed for the one spot of his body that was already injured. It was an obvious strategy, to destroy a large foundation by going for the weak spots already incurred. In some respects his more rational part of his mind was active enough to see the attack coming and go to counter it. Thus, instead of outright trying to catch a bladed weapon capable of piercing his flesh, he swung his arm in an arc, letting loose a wall of exploding flames to at least send it flying backwards. 

Then, he noticed her small nearly bullet proportioned body -from his eyes at least- surge up to his neck. Grinning, the molten rock skinned man giggled as he stared her down, his voice cracking the air as he laughed out loud, "THIS IS YOUR STRATEGY?! WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO, BURN YOURSELF IN HITTING ME IN THE NECK?! IN THE FACE?! YOUR SHADOWS CAN'T PENETRATE MY SKIN, SLAYER!"

Morgan grinned, Swartz had fallen right into her trap. For being so strong, the man wasn’t much of a thinker. Though he didn’t have to be when he could power through everything she threw at him without any lasting damage. But this, wasn’t an ordinary attempt to take out such a large behemoth of a man, one immune to conventional damage. So thin as to be unseen, a shadow-made wire tailed her thrown weapon, tying it to her hand. Even as it was deflected by the explosion, it didn’t matter. The trap was in motion.

Everything had banked on Swartz being afraid of her sword’s ability to carve his body and the fact that without it, she was unable to do much damage without harming herself in the process. And that misdirection was exactly where the plan hinged. Like a sucker, she lured the lumbering giant right into her clutches for a final effort, a last stand where everything was on the line.

And with a flick of her wrist, she reeled in her blade and aimed at Swartz neck. The streamlined darkness that surrounded the weapon to make it more durable began to falter and waver, flowing erratically as the young Slayer’s reserves faltered and her control over the darkness waned just quickly. Her armor-like carapace fractured and dissolved, turning into smoke as she re-routed her remaining energy into the sword to try and stabilize its form long enough to cleave through the lava-hot flesh without being destroyed in the process. Even still, she carried on. Letting out a wordless battle-cry, she struck like blackened lightning.

However she would not see her success or failure. Her body could take no more. Her eyes closed as she started to fall from the sky, unable to even stop herself from what would be a very painful impact. Pushed so far beyond her limits, Morgan couldn’t even keep herself functioning, her last thoughts still lingering on the people she fought to save, the family that meant the world to her.

Swartz was a man of no fear. Not many could comprehend this fact about his character. Some foresaw it as a weakness capable of being exploited. Others could see this is a shortsighted vice of his personality in which he acts more foolishly than most. But being without fear allowed one to act in a manner far quicker than those clouded by doubt and apprehension. 

This is proven as the moment Swartz foresaw the blade's black wave of power coiled by the assumed abandoned sword made him realize exactly what was necessary. Muscles coiled, magic hardening and his power distributed more densely around the point of imminent impact. Through the sheer speed and force, it wasn't enough to completely negate the inevitable injury.

But he did mitigate the damage. 

Low, the blood that spout out molten showers was nothing short of a superficial injury and a painful one at that. Even as he clenched his neck from the surprise whipping moiton, he'd turn to throw a fist at her falling frame, unable to notice her dwindling magic power in the seconds that past nor her fading consciousness. Fury at the prospect of being outwitted by a speck like her made him forget the rush of pleasure he was once bestowed with. 

Then, a distant halo of light emerged from his periphery. It was a power, different yet similar to the one he was intent on pummeling into the ground. His left eye barely could see what  was approaching before a flare of silver streaked by like a meteorite. Swooping down to catch Morgan's unconscious form, it took her away from the fist's titanic impact that reduced the desolated ground into a further deeper crater. 

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Swartz roared out with indignation, rearing back to face the distant aurora of peerless snow hue light. 

I Ride On Wings Of White Scales

"I thought I smelled something familiar," A calm voice echoed out of the raiment of light shimmering around his form. Draped in a deep blue cloak with the brand of the Punishment Corps on its back, traced by golden trim and its hood receded back, the hem fluttered with it from the hot wind circling around him. Laying Morgan gently on a circle of light that encased her in a shell of protection, Captain Sting Eucliffe. Smiling dangerously, he glared up at the castle sized nemesis as his White Drive circled around his body. "Hello, Swartz. It's been awhile since I last caught you. Are you prepared to be captured again?"

"I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT, JACKASS!" Swartz bellowed his thunder equivalent voice, beating the ground by the enormous decibels his throat could emit. Raising a fist back, he launched it straight at him and Morgan's vicinity. "GET LOST!" 

In a moment, Swartz felt the world shear across his perception. Light swirled around the smoke pilfered zone of his aura's molten effect, shifting from its normal colors into a rainbow vortex that swept in a greyscale zone around him. Contained within Sting's body as a shrieking shine of majestic quality flashed, making his eyes wince at the sight of its opacity. Before he could make out what happened, he felt his fist knocked off course by an unseen bludgeon and crash through miles of upheaved land. 

Then, he felt his chest become crushed by an enormous fissure of heat. The crust of his igneous shell his magic formed was eradicated in the vaporizing light, and his body reared back with limbs extended outward. Even his massive eyes bulged with pursed, pain-stricken lips of expressed agony. Transpiring all within under a second, his body was sent flying backwards over the decimated forestland of his own doing, plowing through with molten efficiency even as his magic casing was falling apart around the bloodied, searing mark lying over his chest.

A mark that swelled to encase his upper torso in a familiar and foreboding sigil of a White Dragon's talons. 

"You know that spell and what it can do once I place it on my target, Swartz," Sting's voice pierced the otherworldly silence, causing him to look past the distance. His aura had given him the impression he was staring at a massive phantom dragon of glittering pale scales with eyes of a haunting pair of jewels with teeth like buildings in mass and sharper than swords. All of it stemming from a blonde haired man, whose cloak swept upward in the roaring storm of his own power with white painted scales of glimmering luminosity as his eyes glared with a pupiless quiet rage. "Take your men and begone, less I invoke that crest's power on your whole body. Unless you want to return to prison of my own choosing, take this advice."

"TCH," He tsked his tongue, his body shrinking in mass and defusing his magma-like quality. With his coat fluttering around his muscular, injured frame, he pounced across the distance, landing straight in front of Swartz. The undaunted Slayer stared evenly with the much taller berserker, eyes thinning back as the man's hair went from stark raven black to a frayed spiky grey hue. Pulling out a pair of shades from his coat, Swartz grinned maddeningly as he sneered back in defiance at Sting. "You know I can burn your crest if I want to, right Captain? I'm only doing this because I've lost the sport in fighting someone who can't keep themselves at full power for more than several minutes. I've got more than enough in me to take even you on, Eucliffe, but I got my own to look after.

"So until she's fit to fight me again," The Black Briar leader jeered, jumping up like a cannon before propelling himself back to the Alexander Mansion's opening they had emerged from. "Don't let her die, Sting!!!"

Keeping an eye on his movements, Sting had all but given up on apprehending the madman. Once he picked up his impressions of moving with his shoulder hauled crew in an impossible feat of beyond human supremacy, he dispelled the shell over Morgan. Cradling her in his arms delicately, he stared at her somberly before he transformed into a ray of light and near teleported back into the Estate's main room, where lied her on what sofa was left undamaged. 

Sitting apart from her with hands folded across one another, he hunched over in anticipation of her awakening, while the security system of NEST began to slowly disengage above his head. 

The moment Morgan fell asleep, she found herself in a spiraling nightmare of hazy, vague images. Memories of her past as a powerless child, the whispers of doubt that permeated her psyche since those days echoing. “You’re not good enough!” Jadow’s voice boomed as his shadow circled her, scarlet eyes burning in the blackness. “If you think I’ll let those worms live when you give me such pathetic, paltry attempts at using your gifts, that I gave you, you’ll learn. Maybe I’ll start with that pathetic brother of yours.” he snarled, clearly displeased with her. Which time this was, it was hard for her to recall. She never really lived up to whatever was expected of her but she didn’t have to wait long for the memory to change from one hell to another.

This time, there was no memory to draw on. Only the manifestation of her fears. Screams rang out from all over as flames erupted around her. She recognized the miserable cries as her family, so far out of reach, let alone sight. She ran around looking but only their wails of anguish came to her. However, through the hazy smoke, a figure emerged, looking like Swartz at first and then shifted to Jadow. “I knew you were pathetic. But this…” the figure chuckled. “This makes me sick. All that power, all that boasting of how you’d show him how a Slayer really fights, how you’d protect your ‘family’.” he snarled. “You failed again Morgan. Because of your worthless promises, you cost them their lives.”

It felt like she was living in this hell for hours, if not days, reliving her traumas over and over again as her crushing doubt and regret fueled the fires of her nightmare. Jadow’s cruel words echoed again and again as he drew closer and closer. “How does it feel knowing how many bodies you’ve left in your wake? First, the entire village, now all of those people you claim to love.” he growled.

That was when she awoke, without even able to provide an answer, jolting upright as she felt her body cry out in utter misery. She had done more damage to herself than Swartz and Elaine combined. Every muscle was torn, every bone shattered, only mending because of her innate recovery abilities. Things shifted painfully under her skin, reknitting every broken part. In no time, she was healed up but the pain and exhaustion lingered like poison in her veins. They were things only a long, well-earned rest could fix up. Regardless, she had more important things to deal with.

Turning slowly, she saw Sting by her side. “W-what are you doing here?! Where’s Swartz?!” she yelled, looking around the room, standing up abruptly. She saw that she somehow made it home and it was her guess Sting had something to do with that, though neither of her questions were answered to any satisfactory level. The few interactions she had with the White Dragon Slayer were enough to make her wary. “What about my family?! Are they safe?!” she asked him, hoping he could give her some sort of answer. While she didn’t trust Sting all that much, she had no choice but to rely on him for information. Sting sighed, standing upright and walking over to her without speaking. Then, with a casual poke, he pushed her back down on the sofa, looking at her blankly with disapproval, "Don't move. You're lucky to be alive after the messy state you were in."

Turning around, he strode back to his seat, hunching over with hands on his knees as he stared impassively at her, "You just survived fighting Swartz, the Mad Giant of the Black Briar Gang. Not many your age, or size, could claim that with both accuracy or honesty. Furthermore, you did manage to be the only one of this mansion to be harmed; from what I've sensed, all of your friends or family are inside the safe-like enclosure at the top of the castle's tower. Apart from your familiar, I can't sense anybody else presiding here."

Morgan fell back when she was poked, her body just couldn't stay upright, she was far too weak at the moment to do much else. She never felt this busted up before and when she fell onto to the couch behind her, she let out a groan of pain. Upon being informed that everyone else was alright, she let out a sigh of relief. Their safety was the most important thing to her and if a mangled body was the price she had to pay, so be it.

"At least they're fine." she mumbled. "So what're you doing here? Did somebody call for help?" she then asked Sting. While the man's arrival was unexpected, the fact she was alive made her almost entirely sure he had something to do with it. After all, Swartz was nearly unharmed except for the gouge she put into his arm and unless her weakened strike took him down, she would be dead if not for the other Slayer's intervention on her behalf.

"I drove him off after I caught you. You were in mid-fall and unconscious by the time you were safe. So I gave Swartz an ultimatum; take his sorry self and his crew out or I'll make him regret it," He explained thusly, shrugging nonchalantly. "He didn't seem to be in the mood to fight me, as he was having more fun battling you. Your impromptu forfeit left a bad taste in his mouth, I think, so he'll more than likely try to get in another shot at you in the future.

"As for why I'm here," Sting sighed, leaning back into his seat while placing his hands on the arm-rests and crossing one leg over the other casually. "I've been waiting for you to contact me ever since we met. I've moved my routine patrols to be closer to this side of Fiore so it'd be easier to get in a transmission. Luckily for you, I got a broadcast from NEST and you were the closest signal I could lock on to. That's the bottom line, more or less."

Hearing that Swartz might come back for her made Morgan equally nervous and excited. She was terrified to be caught unaware a second time, knowing that if she lacked anything, she'd be dead outright. She was only saved by a bit of luck, really and hated it. But to fight someone so far above her again, she'd have to first shrink the gap in power and the only way to do that was to fight and train until whatever weakness she held was gone. But she had done far more than she ever dreamed of; she wouldn't let Swartz go again. If they clashed in the future, she'd make sure to take the victory.

"I didn't forfeit anything. I just couldn't keep myself going. I used up too much while fighting Elaine. By the time I fought Swartz one-on-one, I was pushing my limit as it was. But anyway, now that you're here, I guess we can have that talk you've waited for." she offered Sting with a small smile. Perhaps now she could get her own answers about the man, why he was so interested in her. Sting had presumed that was the reason Morgan was fighting Swartz. None of the Black Briar's top members were anything to sneeze at, especially the one named Elaine. She was reputed as one of the most infamous Mages in Ishgar, nearly uncatchable till the Phoenix Guild caught her and the gang she was now affiliated with into custody. Velvet Sorceress was her alias and was known to use very dangerous magic; to have her taken down before fighting Swartz was a feat within itself. 

But he didn't want to encourage reckless behavior; he knew who her father was and what he'd say if he heard his name echoed through her lips as an excuse. 

He was still relieved the girl dropped the subject. He himself got an understanding of what kind of presence she exuded; like a raging inferno, trapped within a tundra of ice. The contradictory sensations were more potent and less obscured, unlike before. He remembered that other one's aura as one of subdued, quiet and intricately laced with a subtle pride that came with his power's origins. 

"You...reminded me of someone I once knew," Sting explained, almost morosely as his eyes were half-lidded, heavy with the emotions be bottled up inside. Leaning his head forward from his upright posture, he stared at the floor as he explained. "I knew this man, Rogue, who was a Dragon Slayer like I was. He had the power of the Shadow Dragon, Skiadrum, and he was like a brother to me. I haven't seen him since...since a long time ago. I had hoped you were him, or that you were affiliated with him in some way, but," He looked up, sorrowfully locking his eyes with hers. "I can see there is no relation or connection to make, is there?"

Morgan could tell Sting was carrying a lot of weight with the loss of his friend. Not only from his words but she could feel the pain in his heart, like staring into a blinding light after leaving a dark room. "No...I'm not. I've never heard of him before." she answered him honestly.

She wanted to guess that perhaps this Skiadrum was related to Jadow in a sense. If both her and Rogue were alike somehow, perhaps that was why, but she held her peace. Even if they were, there was nothing that would change if she knew. Besides that, she didn't feel like accusing anyone of being related to the closest thing to a living blight. Cancer and a disaster, misery, and death. That was Jadow. And if Sting's words were true, there could be no way his friend was even connected to him.

But now she understood why Sting acted the way he did around her. She was a confusing entity to him, so much like his lost friend but so different. There was no way to reconcile it easy but to broach the topic obviously took some thought on his part, waiting for the chance to air his hope to her and now she had to crush his hopes. "I'm sorry I can't help you find him. But you don't need to give up. I thought I'd never see my brother again when he stayed behind to buy time for me but...he kept his promise to me. I'm sure Rogue's the same way, right?" she asked, trying to give him back what she took.

Sting grew quiet.

He knew that she was being a kind soul, lending some hope to him where he had none. But this was done out of ignorance to his rather complex origins. Not only by what he was in his previous life, but he is in the current moment. It was rather ironic that she herself had a more consistency in this present than he did. The crushing grip of reality was always around his neck, reminding him of his presence being an abomination to the natural order of things.

"That's...kind of you to say, Morgan," He intoned slowly, his face forcing a slight smile as his pained expression was conveyed in only so many words. "But Rogue is long outside of my reach. He has been for some time. You just...just confused me, that's all. I apologize for any distress I may have caused you-"

"Morrrrrrrrrrrgaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!~" 

A melodious bellow came from above, gliding down from the hole Swartz had made in the ceiling. Sting looked up in time to see a beautiful black winged girl with alabaster skin and white hair of shimmering luminosity. With a burning silver halo ornately hovering over her head of spiked shape, she weightlessly twirled around to glomp straight into the cushion proned Morgan. 

Except, Sting adjusted his foot to shove the sofa Morgan was reclining on enough for her to slam face first into the floor with a loud crack. Spasming in place, she wrenched a face imprinted piece of the flooring before spitting fire, dissolving it as she glared red glowing eyes at the Dragon Slayer; the latter of which looked nonplussed. 

"How DARE you keep me from embracing my TRUE love?!" She cried out, a glimmering flame glistened over her wings and made her peerless skin almost glow a dark, heavenly projection of majesty.

"Well aren't you a volatile Summon," He stated, rather than questioned. Crossing his arms over his chest, he reclined on his chair without batting an eye at the incensed Demi-Goddess. "Please get out. You've done your job and your summoner needs rest. The energy you're consuming by maintaining physical form here is wearing her thin."

"That is up to HER now isn't it?!" She turned on her heel to walk over to Morgan, kneeling beside her as her wings arched just above her head, cutting her vision off from the ceiling. Smiling ever-so cutely, she purred up to her with arms slithering up to wrap around her shoulders and cinch behind her neck, allowing her forehead to nudge hers -the halo angling up as if a hat was hitting her crown and now hovering above both their tilted tresses of black and white. Batting her eyes, she lulled out in a cross between a purr and a hum to the teenager. "Do you want me to leave now, Morgan? I'll understand if you do, given how rough you had it. But if you allow me to stay, I'll make all those aches and pains driffffffffft awaaaaaaaaaaay!~"

"Morgan," Sting inserted, much to Cassandra's visible dismay as she construed an expression of disgust as she sideglanced him from her lewdly hunched posture. "It'll be for your best interest to dispel her for now. There is no combat needed at the moment and she lusts for it. It is not healthy to have a battle summon lie idle with nothing to fight."

Morgan looked up to see Cass dropping down towards her, smiling at the goddess above, expecting to reunite with her and hopefully resume where they left off, alone and safe together, but with how she felt, she doubted she could maintain the connection much longer. Ever since the prison battle, she'd been paying the price without thinking much of it, but now she could feel what little she still had slipping now that she was nearly empty. Before they could embrace, however, she felt the couch sliding and the angelic figure zipping passed her, smashing into the floor suddenly. "Y-you alright Cass...?" she asked weakly before said goddess stood and got into an argument with Sting that she only half-paid attention to. Both made valid points from what she could hear but she knew how her summoned friend would act regardless.

When Cass walked over to her and held her, the young slayer reflexively jerked, even as she wrapped the divine being in a weak embrace of her own. "Owww...." she whined, jolts of pain surging through her. "Cass...I'm sorry but...I can't. I need to rest, okay? I promise to call for your once I feel better." Morgan told her, smiling softly at her. She hated having to say it but she wasn't able to keep her around. The energy she was spending per second just have this conversation was pushing it. Unwillingly, she dispelled the summon, releasing whatever kept the angel on the physical world. She just couldn't maintain the flow any longer.

Even though she knew it wouldn't last, she kept holding onto Cassandra, feeling at least a little calmer in the spirit's arms. She just hoped the woman understood this wasn't supposed to be a needlessly rushed separation but it was done to save her own life from being consumed in the process. "Just give me a little time to get back on my feet." she said. Had it not been for how weak she was, she wouldn't have minded keeping the contract active for as long as possible but for now, there was nothing more the girl could do. "Pffffffft, fiiiiiiiiiiiine," Cassandra exclaimed. She released her hold on Morgan as her body began to flake into crimson etched flames. Cupping her hands over Morgan's face, she rubbed her thumb's beneath her eyes before planting a kiss to her forehead. As her feathers drifted into dissipating smog, she turned with what remained of her form to glare daggers at Sting; flipping him off with both of her ring fingers. 

"Charming," Sting blankly retorted as the spirit faded away back to her own realm, leaving behind the Ethernano to return to Morgan's body. Standing upright, he trotted over to Morgan's person and scooped her up gently in a bridal posture under his arms. Smiling sadly at her, he began to walk back up the spiral staircase towards her room. "I'm going to have to report to your father what happened here; in addition to the Council. Attempted assassination of a valued contracted warrior's family is warranting of it. I hope you understand what that means, Morgan?" The younger Slayer watched sadly as her guardian angel faded, clutching at the air as Cass dissolved before her eyes. Even after being rejected again, the goddess still showed her affection, the kiss making Morgan smile even as the spirt turned from her to do something she couldn't see, though from Sting's reaction she assumed it was a rather crude thing. Once Cassandra was gone and what remained of her offered Ethernano returned to her, she felt remarkably better. 

She didn't expect Sting to carry her all of a sudden. Of all the things he could do for her in this situation, being carried was pretty low on the list of what she was prepared for. "I know Father won't be happy when he gets home," she said, wondering just how bad it'd be. Given the chaos Swartz and his gang brought to their doorstep, she didn't have high hopes in all honesty. "Though, I'd be more surprised if NEST didn't send him everything already." she added. She knew some of what the computer was programmed to do and considering she had relied on the system to fight even to the end, she would guess that Victor knew the moment her body gave out and her life was in danger, or even the moment she asked for weapons and wings.

"Not that I mind being carried right now, but you know I can walk, right? My legs aren't broken... well, not anymore," she said offhandedly.

"You need to recover properly," Sting berated her evenly, not raising his voice but not whispering either. He looked down at her as he continued to walk upwards, keeping her firm in his grasp. Smiling crookedly, he hinted his toothy fangs as he teased her. "You're not a Dragon enough to play of injury as if its an inconvenience. You need rest and recovery before hoping to be in any situation fit to fight monsters and demons. Understand?"

He came across the room where he smelled her trace odor from previous trips in and out. While the NEST safe wouldn't open itself until it was certain. Pushing the slightly off-hinged door aside, he'd tread gently over to her bed, laying her down and pulling the quilt over her body up to her neck. Stepping out of the room, he nodded to her with reassurance, "I'll let your sister in once I know it's safe. Apart from that, I'll keep an eye in case anybody has any funny ideas; sleep well."

Morgan hated it but she couldn't argue a single thing Sting told her. She could boast all she wanted about how fit she was to function however slightly, it didn't change the simple fact she was still unable to do anything more than stand and if she were lucky, take a few shambling steps forward. "Y-yeah, I get it," she said weakly. She hated being forced to rely on a near-total stranger for anything but in her current state, there was not a thing she could do about it. Without his help to her room, she'd be stranded on the couch still.

Once safely in bed, she shifted under the quilt to get comfortable, even as each motion sent waves of pain through her, she did little more than grimace as she felt each injury still trying to mend. "Just tell her not to be too rough when I wake up." she joked, knowing how her sister would react to the events and how Maria would worry about her until she woke again. "And...thanks for keeping watch." she then said as she closed her eyes. It wouldn't be long after Sting left her side that she drifted into a much-needed sleep, blissfully unaware of the world around her as she slumbered.