Omega

This article, Omega, is property of Leengard Ustan.

Continued from Life's Alphas and Omegas

Almost all of The Heroes have been separated inside the Labyrinth of The Twelve. They've been confronted at almost every turn, and the final key for the mysterious device has all but fallen into the lap of The Vicious Dog of Disaster. Will The Twelve triumph in their goals? Or will good prevail in the end?

The Entrance - Stained with Blood

Sobek was kneeling on the ground, gasping for air and completely drenched in sweat. His right side stained brown with his own dried blood and his sword stained in the dried blood of Lion, the man laying unconscious across the field from him. Lion's breathing was shallow and Sobek assumed he was close to death, Lion was covered in as much blood as Sobek was.

"May...the...Guild...forgive me..." he said between rugged breaths, he didn't think Lion would survive long enough for medical help. Sobek managed to struggle to his feet and began stumbling towards the labyrinth's entrance.

"Where...are you...going...you damned...lizard?" Lion managed to demand. "I'm...still alive..."

"For now." Sobek replied. "With how...much blood we've...both lost..."

Sobek was beginning to be able to breath a little easier, but he was also really feeling the effects of the fight and blood loss.

"Just...kill me now." Lion said.

"No." Sobek replied.

"Damned lizard." Lion growled. Sobek stumbled out of his view and Lion allowed his eyes to close. Lion's mind was filled with images from his past. He remembered being a nameless child, chased out of his hometown after his parents died, and then being found by Cerberus. He remembered being given his beloved Lion's Claws, which were now nothing more than shattered metal, and Cerberus telling him to take revenge on those greedy bastards he ran him out of his home. He remembered the terrorfied screams, the flash of light on his Claws and the bright red as their life's blood flowed out of their gaping wounds. He remembered Cerberus taking him in after that and giving him his name. Lion recalled all the other lives he ended and how Cerberus kept bringing in more and more people to the group Cerberus was calling The Dodekathlon. Lion let out a long sigh.

"Guess this is the end..." he groaned. "For the Invincible Nemean Lion."

The First Room - A Poisoned Desert Oasis

Sobek, while leaning heavily on the walls, managed to work his way to the first room. He stopped short of entering though, as he saw a purple haze that hung just inside the entrance. He could hear explosions and saw the haze grow a little thicker.

"Steam Explosions?" he asked, though it was more to help him confirm who's fighting in the room. "That means...it's either Ra or Set."

"Is that all the infamous Hydra can do?" a voice came, taunting the opponent.

"It's Set." Sobek sighed.

"Why won't you just die?" Hydra's voice replied. "There's no way my poison isn't affecting you!"

"Poison won't do a thing if it can't reach it's target." Set replied, the sound of wind picked up followed by the sound of water splashing against the walls, then what sounded like the wall melting. "Sandstorm!"

Again the sound of the wind picked up to a howling and grating as Set caused the sand he'd built up to blast into Hydra along with a lot of hot air.

"Sand Twister!" Set shouted, this was follwed by the sound of Hydra screaming and the haze to be sucked into the massive vortex of burning sand and drying air. Sobek looked into the room, being able to see all the way into it now that the haze was gone. Inside he saw Set, breathing heavily and completely drenched in sweat, and most likely water as well, and across the room he saw Hydra laying unconscious in the sand, half burried.

"That was fun." Set smirked, then he saw Sobek standing at the entrance. "Hiya there, Croc. Took ya long enough to join the party."

"Is she still alive?" Sobek asked, referring to Hydra.

"Yeah, she's fine, unconscious, but fine." Set replied. "Shall we go find the others?"

"Yes," Sobek agreed, he managed to hobble over to Set who helped his guild mate walk.

"We're leaving her there, then?" Set asked, Sobek just nodded as he leaned on Set and they worked their way deeper into the labyrinth after their comrades.

The Halls - Words of Mass Destruction

Sobek and Set, after several minutes, found the hall littered with words, chunks of words and a massive hole in the wall.

"Thoth's been fighting here." Set said, Sobek nodded in agreement. They looked through the hole in the wall and saw two figures in the room. One was Thoth, and the other was Hind, both of them were on their feet and neither of them were moving.

"What's going on in there?" Sobek asked. Thoth looked over to them and waved, he looked completely exhausted.

"Hey, I had to make sure that my Runes would keep her still." Thoth replied. Upon closer inspection Set and Sobek could see the walls caused by Thoth's Rune Magic, and they could see that the Runes read: 'Speed Magic cannot be used inside the perimeter, rule breakers will be frozen in place.'

"You really have no idea how hard it was for me to set that up." Thoth chuckled as he limped over to the hole in the wall.

"How long will that last?" Sobek asked.

"Until I come back and end it." Thoth replied. "We can't have her attacking us later."

"Good idea." Sobek said. Thoth climbed through the hole, groaning in pain as he did so. Most of Thoth's face and head was coated a crusty brown layer of dried blood, his left arm was clearly broken in several places and he was favoring his right leg.

"She really did a number on you, didn't she?" Set asked, Thoth nodded as he held his left arm closer to his body.

"I won't be writting any Runes for a while." Thoth smirked. "And I may have a bit of a concussion from that...what'd she call it...Golden Antler Strike."

"You're no better off than Sobek here." Set sighed. "He's all but bled out on us."

"Enough talk," Sobek said. "Let's go find the others."

"Aye, aye cap'n." Set said as he half carried, half dragged Sobek down the halls followed by Thoth, who'd more than likely be stuck with a permanent limp.

The Halls - Completely Destroyed

The going started to become difficult as Sobek, Set and Thoth came across destroyed walls. There was so much destruction they almost couldn't continue forward. Then they saw a glint of light off of a blade. When they got closer they saw that the glint was off of Neko Megami Tanken and Taiyō-shin no Tate.

"These are Bastet's blades, but..." Thoth said, picking up the sword and dagger, looking around the ruble and not finishing his sentence.

All around then were destroyed walls, assumedly due to Crash Magic, there were also deep gashes in some of the rocks and walls. Then they heard someone groaning, unsure as to who it was they stood ready to fight.

"T-Thoth? Sobek? Set?" a voice came from under some ruble near them. "Are you there?"

They quickly began shoving rocks out of the way until they uncovered Bastet. She looked worse for wear, her armor was broken, her clothes were ripped all over and she was covered from head-to-toe in cuts and bruises.

"Hey guys." she said, wincing as she struggled to her feet with help from Set. Thoth handed her her weapons and she stuck them in what was left of their scabbards.

"What happened to you?" Sobek asked.

"I fought Boar." Bastet replied.

"Without your sword or dagger?" Thoth asked. Bastet shook her head.

"I lost those about half-way through the fight." she said, she held up her hands and her nails were broken off at several different lengths. "Then I had to use my Claw Magic."

"Where's Boar?" Set asked. Bastet pointed behind them, the other three turned and saw the man in question. He was missing both his arms and was nailed to the remains of a wall with his own swords. Three deep cuts went across his torso, another deep gash in the wall where his right arm was and across his right thigh and a fifth gash was in the wall where his left arm was.

"He finally fell unconsious from blood loss." Bastet said. "I don't know if he's still alive now or not."

Thoth limped over and checked for a pulse. He shook his head sadly, informing the others that Boar was no longer alive.

"Did the other's continue on without you?" Sobek asked. Bastet nodded and they all began moving on again.

The Heart of the Labyrinth

A huge blast of magical energy shook the walls of the entire labyrinth and destroyed everything around the epicenter within five meters. In the middle of the massive explosion stood what could only be described as a Demon from Hell. Tamashi Kui had released the first of his Seals, however he did not realize that one of the attacks he took had damaged the Seal. The First Seal had been corrupted and what stood in the middle of the room was not was Tamashi normally became. Instead it was a monster, with massive horns, hairy bestial legs, huge leathery bat-wings, piercing red eyes, the right arm was a mass of snakes and sharp vicious teeth lined the mouth.

"What the hell are you?" Diomedes demanded, his horses having disappeared and fear evident in his voice. The creature simply roared in response and then in a flash was upon Diomedes, holding him by his throat with the massive, clawed, three-fingered left arm. Augeas, who still remained hidden, used his Earth-Make to try and capture the creature, but with a few flaps of the wings and the creature easily flew out of reach and easily evaded the attacks.

"Earth-Make: Canon!" Augeas' voice rang through the room. Multiple canons appeared on the remaining walls and from the floor, all aimed at the creature. They all fired simultaniously, but the creature dodged or destroyed all the canonballs. It flew as high as it could within the labyrinth, then with all of it's might, threw Diomedes at the ground with such force that he made a crator upon contact.

The creature roared again, this time launching a beam-like attack at Diomedes which cut through all the defenses that Augeas tried to put in the way. When the smoke settled, there was no sign of Diomedes, only the blackened earth. Then the beast began to rampage, looking for the other man who had been attacking it. Pulverising walls and crushing the ground beneath it, firing off more beam-like attacks and slicing up everything in its path.

"Earth-Make: Rising Dragon!" Augeas shouted, causing dozens of serpentine dragons to erupt from the ground, all after the beast. Several of them were destroyed, but the ones that weren't managed to bite the monster and restrain it. The monster struggled, breaking several more before it grew weary from it's rampage and was securely held. Augeas then came out of his hiding place, walking up to the demon he had captured.

"I was right," Augeas said with a sigh. "You are too dangerous to be allowed to do as you please. Even those fools on the Magic Council should've realized this and had you hunted down and killed."

The creature just growled at him, still struggled vainly at the earthen dragons.

"Seems you've become a mindless creature that only knows how to kill and destroy." Augeas said, performing Earth-Make: Spear and placing the tip against the monster's chest above the heart. "Too bad, under different circumstances you may've been useful to Cerberus."

"Fi...nal..." The monster growled. "De...scent!"

Magic began to swirl around the beast, knocking away Augeas' Spear, and formed into a solid black orb. It then burst into flames and Tamashi emerged from the fire in the form of Final Descent, Ruler of Hell - Third Seal.

"Impossible." Augeas gasped, backing away from the true form of the Demon he thought he had beaten.

"The Final Seal has been released." Tamashi said. "What you had been fighting was a corrupted release. I am now back in full control of my body."

"That was just a failed spell?" Augeas demanded more than asked. Tamashi nodded.

"Yes, and now I will finish this fight." He said, magical energy quickly forming at the red jewel on his forehead, ready to fire another beam-like attack. "Goodbye, Augeas of The Dodekathlon."

Ruins of the Labyrinth and Four Omegas

With the death of Augeas the entire Labyrinth completely collapsed, sunlight flooded into the area obliterating the shadows that had been created by the walls. Sobek, Set, Thoth and Bastet covered their eyes and they looked around seeing the remains of the town that The Dodekathlon had settled in. Not far from them they saw the unconsious figure of Tamashi laying on the ground surrounded by massive burns. Before they could go over to help him, they heard the sound of a body being thrown through a building.

"Caley!" Thane shouted. "Earth Elemental!"

A massive lizard-like creature appeared, but shortly after it appeared a black cloud surrounded it and the lizard creature litterally fell apart as if sliced by millions of knives.

"Don't waste your magic!" Ra said. "His Iron Feather Magic will slice through just about everything!"

Thoth and Sobek went to help Tamashi and Bastet and Set went to help Ra, Thane and Caley.

Bastet and Set saw Caley had managed to climb back to the hole in the building that had been made with her body and she was holding a Silver Key.

"The contract will have to wait." Caley said, then held the key out. "Open Gate of the Dragon! Draco!"

There was a flash of light and a girl in green, dragon-themed armor appeared on the ground below the hole Caley was standing in.

"So someone has finally decided to summon me." Draco said, looking for the person holding her key.

"Please, Draco, can the contract wait for now?" Caley said, pointing towards Stymphalos. Draco saw the purple haired mage and nodded as she drew her sword.

"Need some help, Stymphalos?" a voice asked. Everyone turned to see who had asked the question and saw three mages standing in the road leading to the square.

"That'd be nice, Hippolyta." Stymphalos asked. "More have shown up than I originally planned on."

"Like I was giving you a choice." Hippolyta said. "Bull, Geryon get to work."

"Yes ma'am." the two man said. Geryon activated his Titan magic, growing to the size of a five story building, Bull took a few steps forward but didn't go further than that. Geryon raised both arms over his head and brought them down, intending to smash everyone on the ground. A flash of green and Draco was infront of Geryon's face.

"Wha?" Geryon began in shock, then screamed out in pain when Draco slashed him across his face. She then kicked off, from the side of his face, and shot down towards Stymphalos. Geryon was knocked off balance from the force of Draco kicking off of his face.

"Draconid Strike!" She said, her katana pointed at Stymphalos.

"Iron Feather Cloud." Stymphalos said, surrounding himself with his Iron Feathers. Draco flew into the swirling cloud of feathers and disappeared into the circle. The sound of swords clashing followed and the cloud disapated revealing Stymphalos barely blocking the vicious attacks from the Stellar Spirit.

"Eye of the Sun God!" Ra shouted, fire began to form a circle around Geryon, Bull and Hippolyta. When the circle was completed a massive pillar of fire erupted, engulfing the three dark mages. Then flames then abruptly extinguished and the dark mages were unharmed.

"The Amazoness: Blowgunner." Hippolyta said, her outfit changing and she was holding a blowgun. She lifted the weapon to her lips and fired a dart at Ra. He was hit in the arm and when he pulled the dart out he saw a skull and crossbone mark and knew it was poisoned.

"Crap..." Ra said as he began to feel the effects of the poison. He went numb and collapsed.

"Ra!" Bastet shouted, running over to him. At the same time Draco had disarmed Stymphalos and had cut him down, then turned her attention the Hippolyta.

"Piercing Light: Eltanin!" Draco shouted, charging towards the Requip mage.

"The Amazoness: Swordswoman!" Hippolyta quickly changed outfits and was now weilding a sword. She blocked Draco's attack and was parrying every strike Draco threw at her.

"Light Elemental! Dark Elemental!" Thane said, summoning the two valkyrie-like spirits. The two card spirits began attacking Geryon with Light Magic and Darkness Magic. Set also began attacking Geryon with his Sand Magic.

"Irritating insects." Geryon said as he swatted at the two card spirits and Set.

"Bull! Quite standing there and fight!" Hippolyta demanded. Without saying a word Bull held his arms out and was surrounded by a magical aura, he then charged forward and easily knocked Draco aside and continued forward to attack Bastet and Ra.

"Open Gate of the Other Hero! Hercules!" Caley shouted, summoning Hercules infront of the charging man. Hercules grabbed the horns of Bull's armor, sliding backwards as Bull's Juggernaut Magic allowed him to keep moving forwards. Hercules then twisted the horns and flipped Bull over and slammed him into the ground. Hercules then went to smash Bull with his Léschi̱. Bull intercepted the attack with his fist, destroying the Stellar Spirit's weapon. Bull then got back to his feet and began fighting with Hercules.

"We barely survived fighting them one-on-one..." Bastet said. "How are we going to deal with four of them at once? We hardly have any magic left."

"We'll win, because if we don't there's no telling how much damage they'll do to the world." Sobek groaned as he and Thoth carried Tamashi over to Bastet and Ra.

The Device Revealed

Cerberus glanced over his shoulder at the sound of someone approaching him. The last thing he needed was to waste his time on another pointless battle, after all four of his subordinates were dead and three were incapacitated. He knew that Augeas was one of the casualties, since the labyrinth had fallen apart and that would make it easier for those interferring to get to him.

"Ah, Hesperides, good to see you here." he said, she nodded and remained silent. "Guard the entrance to this building."

Again Hesperides nodded and watched as Cerberus dragged an unconsious Serket by her hair into the building. She then turned her attention to the sound of fighting, seeing Geryon looming over the buildings, and waited to see if her companions would succeed in killing the intruders or if she would have to.

Cerberus was heading for the basement of the building, still draggin the unconsious Healing Mage behind him. She groaned in pain, most likely due to being dragged by her hair and down stairs, and Cerberus stopped for a moment to make sure she remained unconsious.

"Can't have you waking up just yet, Scorpion." Cerberus smirked and continued down to the basement. After a few minutes he reached the bottom of the stairs and was standing in front of a heavy, metal door. He placed his hand against its cold, unforgiving surface and pushed the door open. It swung open easily for him and he entered the room, again dragging Serket behind him. Inside the room were five massive Lacrima. Four of them glowed four different colors, each indicating the magic fused into them. One glowed yellow, indicating Earth Magic, one glowed red, for Fire Magic, the third was blue, Water Magic and the last one was green and filled with Air Magic. The Lacrima in the middle was dark and waiting. Cerberus lifted Serket up, her feet leaving the floor, and began slapping her face to make her wake up.

"Wakey, wakey." he said in mock kindness. "Time to face your end."

Serket's eyes fluttered open and see saw the Lacrima around her and turned, as best she could, to face Cerberus.

"Your plan is to use a Magical Convergent Cannon - Jupiter?" she spat at him. To her surprise, and horror, Cerberus just laughed at her.

"No, no, no you stupid little girl." Cerberus sneered. "The Magical Convergent Cannon was a miss use of the true purpose of that Lacrima set up. These Lacrima are to power The Omega Device."

"The what?" Serket asked.

"I suppose you wouldn't know of it." Cerberus sighed. "But you will recognize the name of the man who is credited to have created this."

"Who?" Serket demanded, though she feared she already knew the answer.

"The Dark Lord Zeref." Cerberus replied, then threw Serket towards the central Lacrima.

"And what am I needed for?" she asked.

"You are to be used to power The Device." Cerberus answered, approaching Serket.

"How?"

"You will be infused with the central Lacrima." Cerberus said. "And your life shall be consumed by The Omega Device."

"Like I'd let you do that." Serket challenged.

"You don't have the choice." Cerberus said, in a flash he was upon Serket. Before she could react, Cerberus had her by her throat and had her feet off the ground. "Good bye, and good riddance Purple Scorpion of the House of Life."

Serket felt herself being swallowed by the Lacrima and screamed in pain as her entire being was absorbed. The last thing she saw, before being lost in the vortex of magic, was the other four Lacrima come to life and begin firing magic into the central Lacrima.

Fight with the Four Continues

The sound of The Omega Device activating was lost in the sound of the chaos of the battle field. Hippolyta was fighting Bastet and Draco, Bull was fighting Hercules, Stymphalos was laying on the ground bleeding out from Draco's Draconid Strike and Geryon was fighting Set and Thane.

Geryon, still towering far above everyone else, was having trouble with Set and Thane. Set, using his Wind Magic, was easily dodging Geryon's attacks and firing counter attacks from every angle and Thane, with his Card Magic, had summoned all of his Elementals and all of them were attack Geryon.

"Hold still!" Geryon roared in aggravation as he vainly tried to swat away Set and the Elementals from Thane's cards. Geryon then turned his attention to Thane, deciding it'd be easier to kill the Card Mage than the spirits from his cards.

"Rising Currents!" Set shouted, blasting Thane with air throwing him out of Geryon's reach.

Hippolyta, despite fighting two-on-one, was easily holding off both Bastet and Draco. Hippolyta deflected, parried and countered every sword stroke that Bastet and Draco launched at her.

"You little girls are years too early to defeat me!" Hippolyta laughed as she once again blocked Bastet and Draco's attacks contemptuously.

"I am the Celestial Spirit Draco, the Dragon." Draco replied.

"The Dragon?" Hippolyta repeated. "You're far too weak to be a dragon!"

Bull had destroyed Hercules' Dóry, his spear, and had already destroyed Léschi̱, the club. Hercules was now fighting Bull weilding Aspída and Spathí, the shield and sword. Aspída was full of dents from Bull's fists and his Juggernaut and not a sign of damage was on the golden armor that Bull wore.

"You're a strong fighter." Hercules said. "Truely worthy to call yourself The Cretan Bull, I don't remember it being nearly this tough."

"Thanks for the complement, Celestial Spirit." Bull replied, the armor once again draining more of his magic to repair itself. "But I need to end this fight quickly."

Sobek, Thoth, Ra and Tamashi were off on the sidelines. Sobek was still trying to recover from his fight with Lion, Thoth had a broken arm and leg and couldn't properly use his magic, Ra was unconsious from the poisoned dart that Hippolyta had hit him with earlier and Tamashi was unconsious, completely out of magic.

"It's killing me that we can't help them." Sobek groaned, then felt woozy from his blood loss.

"I know," Thoth sighed. "But we'd cause more harm if we tried to help them in our current condition."

"Celestial Dragon's Roar!" Draco inhaled and then roared. The attack looked like Draco was literally breathing the night sky. Hippolyta was taken by surprise and failed to react in time to dodge the attack. When the attack ended, Hippolyta fell unconsious. Bastet then wasted no time moving on to help Set and Thane fight Geryon.

"Draco! Help Hercules!" Caley shouted. Draco nodded and immediately went to the aid of her fellow Stellar Spriit.

"Hippolyta's been defeated too?" Geryon asked, shocked that two of his comrades had been defeated by the same Celestial Spirit.

"And you're the next one to fall!" Set said, taunting the massive Titan user. Geryon turned to swat the Sand and Wind Mage, missing for the millionth time. The Giant then screamed in pain as Bastet plunged her sword into the back of his leg. Set then hit Geryon in the back of the head with Desert Sands and Desert Winds. Geryon then fell forward onto the ground with a huge crash.

"Focus on Bull! Now!" Bastet called. But before they could change focus, Geryon stood back up and something was strange. From the waist down he looked normal, but at the waist there suddenly sprouted a second torso, complete with two arms and a head.

"What the hell is he?" Set asked.

"I am Geryon! My Chimera Magic allows me to absorb and control people." Geryon shouted, then the other head began speeking. "My twin brother is now my weapon!"

He then picked up four pipes, broken away from some of the homes around them.

"He's disgusting..." Bastet said in shock. Geryon then shot forward at them, swinging the pipes like swords. Bastet managed to parry the first two, then Geryon swung around with the next two pipes.

"Rising Currents!" Set said, knocking Geryon back causing the pipes to barely miss Bastet. Thane's Elementals then went to attack the Chimera Mage. Geryon easily destroyed the Earth Elemental and smashed the Fire Elemental, then using the pipes like short lances, impaled the Dark Elemental and Light Elemental.

"Encroaching Vines! Iron Blade, Binding Snake!" Thane shouted, throwing the two cards at Geryon. The first card landed under Geryon and hundreds of vines launched out of the card and began wrapping around him. The second card released a snake with sharp blades sticking out of its back. The snake began wrapping around Geryon, the blades digging into him and biting deep into his arm to secure itself. Geryon began struggling against the vines and the snake. Bastet wasted no time charging in to finish off the dark mage, her sword diving through both torsos. The snake released and the vines receeded and Bastet removed her sword, Geryon's lifeless body then fell to the ground.

"Now-" Bastet started. The sentence remained unfinished as Draco and Hercules were thrown into her, Set and Thane. Draco and Hercules then disappeared, returning to the Celestial Spirit World. Bull's shadow then fell over Bastet, Set and Thane.

"Time to end this." he said.

The Unstoppable Bull and the Surprise Guests

Bull stood over Bastet, Set and Thane. The three mages on the ground were running low on magic. Sobek, Thoth and Ra were in no condition to even move and Caley didn't have any spirits strong enough to beat Bull.

"You were worthy opponents," Bull said. "Between the nine of you, you've killed five of my comrades and incapacitated four others. But Master Cerberus' plan will succeed and the world shall burn."

"Fire Phoenix's Scream!" Fire quickly consumed Bull. Bull quickly dispelled the attack and everyone looked to where the attack come from.

"Wrath?" Sobek groaned.

"You five certainly have caused a lot of damage." a deep voice sighed.

"Master?" Thoth gasped, turning to see the source of the deep voice.

"And five people have died?" Geb continued. "You know our guild's goal is to preserve life, not end it."

"Yes, Master." Sobek replied sadly.

"Where's Serket?" Wrath blurted out, then quickly tried to recover. "N-not that I care that much."

"She is with Master Cerberus," Bull replied, gesturing vaguely towards the building Cerberus was in. "Powering The Omega Device."

"Cerberus?" Geb repeated, his voice oozing with hate.

"Not that it matters telling you now." Bull said. "You won't get past me."

Wrath charged forward and Bull was about to backhand the Phoenix Slayer aside.

"Smashing Pillar." Geb said, the ground firing a pillar into Bull's chest, knocking the armored man backwards. Wrath all but flew past Bull, fire beginning to lick at the young man. "Go! The Omega Device must not complete its activation!"

"Yes Master!" Wrath shouted over his shoulder. Bull got back on his feet and began to head after Wrath.

"Dome of the Damned." Geb said, the earth quickly rising up and enclosing Bull in a dome. After a few seconds, Bull broke out of the dome.

"Seems I'll have to leave the fire mage to Hesperides." Bull sighed as he turned to face Geb. "And I'll need to focus on you Earth God."

Bull charged forward, the golden aura of his Juggernaut surrounding him.

"Tsuchi no Hebi." Geb said, hundreds of snakes rose from the ground and attempted to stop Bull. Most of them were destroyed by Bull's magic, however he fell forward as some of the snakes wrapped around his legs, more snakes then began pinning Bull down. "Your Juggernaut only works if you move. Once you're immoble, you're no threat."

"Don't underestimate your opponent." Bull growled, his magical energy began skyrocketing and destroyed the snakes. Bull got back on his feet, glaring at Geb. Geb, instead of casting another spell, drew his sword and stood ready. Again Bull charged forward and Geb advanced to meet his opponent. Bull threw a punch and Geb swung his blade as they passed each other. They both stood there for a moment, Geb's sword then shattered and Bull fell forward unconsious a second later.

"I'll need a new sword." Geb sighed, looking at the handle of his sword.

"Master! Behind you!" Set warned. Geb turned around in time to see a Golden Bull lunge at him. Geb dodged it and saw that the man called Bull still lay unconsious in the dirt. What was attacking him now was the man's armor.

"Living Armor." Geb said, a little shocked. "I didn't think that magic still existed. All the armors were supposedly destroyed."

The Golden Bull snorted, pawed at the ground and charged again.

"Soul Swallowing Void!" Geb said, causing a massive and deep hole to open in the ground. The Bull easily lept over the void and continued charging. "Smashing Pillar!"

Again a pillar shot from the ground, catching the armor under the chin and caused it to flip over and backwards, into the Sould Swallowing Void. The armor could be heard in the hole, thrashing and roaring as it continued falling into the darkness. Geb turned to face the mages who had run off on this venture.

"None of you had the guild's permission to do this!" Geb roared at them, making Caley and Thane flinch and feel guilty even though they weren't part of the guild. Despite being unconsious Ra flinched and Tamashi seemed to cower a little as well. "You've killed five people and some of you are almost dead as well!"

They began apologizing and asking for forgiveness. Geb sighed again and looked towards the building Wrath had run towards.

"Bastet, Set go and help Wrath." Bastet and Set immediately got up and went to help the Fire Phoenix Slayer. "With Hesperides and Cerberus still up and kicking, he'll need all the help he can get."

Geb then turned to face Caley and Thane.

"Who're you two?" he asked, having seemed to just notice them for the first time.

"I-I'm Caley a-and this is m-my brother Th-Thane." Caley stammered out of nerves.

"A Stellar Spirit Mage and a Card Mage." Sobek said, having struggled to his feet again. "They've been helping us since we ran into them just before arriving here. They had planned to face The Dodekathlong by themselves."

"That's not true!" Caley said and then pointed at the unconsious man wearing black. "We had Tamashi with us!"

"We're not sure what his magic is." Sobek said. "But he took out two of The Dodekathlon by himself."

Geb nodded to himself as Caley and Sobek spoke.

"Regardless, come with us." Geb interupted. "Like I said, Wrath will need all the help he can get."

The Bird and the Snake

Wrath was about to charge into the building when someone stepped into the doorway. He stopped, unsure of the threat this figure posed.

"Who are you?" Wrath demanded.

"I am Hesperides." the figure said, barely loud enough to be heard.

"Whatever! Let me by!" Wrath shouted.

"Summon: Ladon." Hesperides said. A magic circle appeared on the ground between her and Wrath and the air was filled with the sound of hundreds of hissing snakes. Chills ran down Wrath's spine as a red-eyed snake woman rose out of the circle, she had snakes for hair, her arms were snakes and from the waist down she had a snake body. Even the creature's magical aura looked like snakes.

"What the hell is that?" Wrath asked, drawing his Phoenix Feather Sword.

"This is Ladon, my summon." Hesperides replied quietly. "She is a snake monster. Her poison is almost on par with Hydra's."

"Dangerous..." Wrath groaned, holding his sword infront of him. Hesperides waved her arm and the snake monster shot forward with all the speed of a snake's strike. Wrath quickly jumped up and out of Ladon's reach. "Really dangerous."

Ladon held her snake arms out and they opened their mouths. Inside the mouths Wrath could see two more snakes where tongues would normally be.

"This thing is creepy..." Wrath said, wary of what might happen next. The snake mouths then launched high powered streams of what Wrath could only assume to be poison. "Fire Phoenix's Scream!"

The twin poison blasts collided with the fire and evaporated almost instantly, causing a steam explosion. The blast knocked Wrath back a few feet as he landed on the ground. Ladon and Hesperides appeared unaffected by the attacks.

"Fire Phoenix's Burning Darts!" Wrath shouted, creating the fiery feathers and threw them at the snake woman. Ladon easily dodged the feather darts, the attack exploading on the ground, and charged towards Wrath again. "Fire Phoenix's Heat Slash!"

Wrath swung his arm, each swing sending waves of flame at the rapidly advancing snake. Wrath felt himself begining to panic, he wasn't sure if it was because he was fighting a snake or if it was fear for his life. He clenched his teeth, white knuckled his sword and prepared to attack Ladon.

Ladon shot upwards a few feet from Wrath, out of reach of his blade, and was high in the air above him. Hundreds of snakes hiss in warning as they were about to attack. Wrath swung his Phoenix Feath Sword up to try and intercept Ladon. He felt resistance against his sword and then felt intense pain right above his left collar bone and knew he had been bitten. There was a dull thud behind Wrath, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Ladon writhing and blood splattering as it contorted in agony.

"Unlike Hydra's poison, which works quickly and painfully." Wrath heard Hesperides said. "Ladon's poison works slowly and fair more painfully, or at least that's what the victims say."

"You don't seem concerned about your beast." Wrath said, groaning a bit from the pain in his shoulder. Hesperides didn't respond to Wrath, he raised an eyebrow in confusion, then a shadow fell over him. He turned and saw Ladon looming over him as if nothing had happened to it. "That's not fair..."

Ladon went to strike again, Wrath closed his eyes prepared for the pain. Then he heard Ladon scream. Wrath opened one eye and saw a blade sticking out of Ladon's chest. He recognized the blade as Bastet's Taiyō-shin no Tate.

"Go!" Bastet yelled, as she and Set ran up. "We're right behind you!"

Wrath nodded and turned back to face Hesperides. She stood there for a bit, then quietly stepped aside.

"Go on," she said. "I won't stop you, you'll die soon enough. Either from Ladon's poison or by being ripped apart by Cerberus."

Wrath stood there for a second, not sure if he could trust the woman, then he ran past here and quickly headed down the stairs.

The Guardian of Life vs The Guardian of Death

Wrath charged down the stairs, not knowing what was ahead of him, he could hear what sounded like a massive machine starting up. The metallic grinding of gears and the sound of an engine revving.

"That must be the sound of that...Omega Device-thing that Master was talking about." Wrath said, stopping in front of a large door. There was no handle on the door and he had no idea as to how to open the door. "Do I just force it open?"

He placed a hand on the door, magic ready to blast the door open, and was shocked when it swung open easily. Inside he could see five massive Lacrima, four glowing different colors and firing their magic into a larger, central Lacrima. Inside the central Lacrima he could see what looked like the silhouette of a person, and after a few seconds he recognized the silhouette.

"Serket!" Wrath shouted as he ran into the room. Before he reached the Lacrima he felt a presence behind him, but before he could react there was an impact against the side of his head. Wrath crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the room, groaning he looked back to where he had been standing and saw who he could only assume was Cerberus.

"Even Hesperides failed to keep out you irritating pests?" Cerberus growled, then he looked closer at Wrath and saw the blood flowing from a couple of puncture wounds in Wrath's shoulder. "Ah, Ladon bit you, so she let you through figuring you'd be dead either way."

"She had bigger fish to fry." Wrath spat. "Any second now the best of the best of House of Life will come charging into this room and stop you!"

"Ah, yes, House of Life." Cerberus said, a contemptuous sneer on his face. "The same guild who's aces and its Master stood no chance against me?"

"You're the man who killed Master's wife?" Wrath asked, shocked at the news he just got.

"Took some doing," Cerberus said, walking over to the Lacrima infused with Wind Magic and patting it lightly. "But her magic did come in handy. And that foolish Scorpion is now the key to The Omega Device. Her magic, body and soul shall be completely consumed while The Device burns the world to the ground."

"You bastard!" Wrath screamed, his magic flaring up as he got back on his feet. "Fire Phoenix's Flaming Fists!"

Wrath charged Cerberus with his fists on fire, prepared to beat the other man to the ground. Wrath threw his first punch and was shocked to see it easily blocked. The Fire Phoenix Slayer continued throwing more and more punches, all of them easily blocked or dodged, Wrath even began using Fire Phoenix's Shredding Talons.

"Ah, you're Wrath Fireheart. The famous Burning Phoenix." Cerberus smirked, still easily blocking all of Wrath's attacks. Then he knocked Wrath across the room again. "I thought you'd be taller."

Wrath wiped the blood from his mouth and got back on his feet. He could feel Ladon's poison working.

'This is bad...' Wrath thought. 'I can't keep fighting like this...not with the poison.'

"Which would you prefer?" Cerberus asked.

"What?" Wrath asked.

"Would you prefer to wait for Ladon's poison to kill you?" Cerberus replied. "Or would you rather be torn limb-from-limb by my claws?"

"I'd rather beat you into charcoal!" Wrath answered, launching Fire Phoenix's Scream. Cerberus dodged the attack and Wrath saw it absorbed by the Lacrima that was glowing red. The Lacrima then became even brighter and fired even more magic into the central Lacrima. The sound of someone screaming split the air.

"Serket!" Wrath said, again heading for the central Lacrima. Cerberus once again intercepted Wrath and smacked him across the room. Then the entire room felt like it was rising up into the air. "Wh-what's happening?"

"The Omega Device has finally finished activating." Cerberus said as he began laughing histerically. "There's no stopping it now! The world shall be razed and chaos shall insue!"

"Not if I can help it!" Wrath shouted as he went to attack again. Cerberus easily kicked Wrath aside.

"You're already too late Phoenix Slayer!" Cerberus laughed. "Let's see if you'll live up to your name and raise from the ashes of this destroyed world!"

The Omega Device Fully Awakened

Hesperides fell, defeated by Bastet and Set, but there was no time for the House of Life mages to celebrate. Geb, Sobek, Thoth, Thane and Caley caught up to them, carrying Ra and Tamashi.

"How are they?" Bastet asked, though she was far more concerned about Ra.

"Tamashi's just out of magical power," Sobek replied. "And Ra appears to be recovering from the poison."

Then the sound of a massive machine starting up drowned out all other sounds. Everyone turned to face the building and were all knocked back when the building exploaded.

"What's going on?" Caley asked, panicked and afraid from the sudden explosion.

"The Omega Device has finished activating." Geb replied. Towering high over everyone, even higher than Geryon when he used his Titan magic, was a massive red machine. The Device had a demonic look to it, having two large horns, massive blades on the forearms, clawed fingers and a demonic tail. Sickly black smoke was belched from smokestakes above the shoulders. "We must stop it from getting any further than this town!"

"Yes! Master!" The House of Life mages all said at once and began launching what attacks they could.

"Slashing Sunlight!" Bastet fired off ten beams of concentrated sunlight from her claws. The beams hit the torso of The Device and ripped it open, broken wires could be seen sparking and flailing.

"Sandstorm!" Set's attack followed, filling the opening of The Device with sand. The sound of gears grinding and struggling against the sand followed.

"Bone Crushing Tail!" Sobek launched the water spell, causing smoke to begin billowing from the hole. Electricity began firing from the hole along with the smoke, the water causing the wires to begin electrocuting the rest of The Device.

"Short Circuit!" Thoth said, sending the word towards the hole, hoping to completely shut down the machine. The Device began convulsion, more smoke and electricity began emerging from the hole, and then The Omega Device ceased moving. The House of Life mages began cheering, but stopped with they saw The Device begin repairing itself.

"It must be using Serket's Healing Magic to repair itself..." Geb said. "We'll have to get inside and shut it down from there."

"Right! Let's go!" Sobek said, Set immediately shot up into the air with his Wind Magic. Thane summoned his Light Elemental and Dark Elemental and had them carry him and Caley up. Geb grabbed Sobek and Thoth and lept up after Set.

"Ugh...my head..." Ra groaned as he woke up. Tamashi also woke up, but remained silent.

"Ra! You're awake!" Bastet said as she hugged him.

"Yes, I'm awake." Ra said. "What's going on?"

"The Omega Device has completely activated." Tamashi said as he rose to his feet.

"That's bad..." Ra said.

"It is. We need to get inside that thing and destroy it. Wrath's already inside." Bastet said.

"Wrath's here?" Ra asked.

"Master's here too." Bastet said. Ra's eyes went wide at the mention of Geb. "Don't worry about Master, right now we need to get in that thing and destroy it."

"Right." Ra said as he struggled to his feet with Bastet's help. "Take me to our Phoenix, he'll need a boost."

Bastet, Ra and Tamashi began heading up The Device to help with destroying it from the inside out.

The Earth God vs Hell's Guard Dog

Wrath was thrown to the floor again, but this time it was because room began shaking like the earth was shaking. Cerberus' face darkened for a second, then he sighed in agitation.

"They seem to think they can stop The Device on their own." Cerberus muttered.

"They will stop this thing." Wrath replied, as the shaking stopped and he got back on his feet. "House of Life will protect the lives of all the citizens you're threatening."

"Yes," Cerberus sighed. "That man was always going on about how precious life is."

"What are you talking about?" Wrath asked.

"The Founder, and First Master of House of Life." a voice said. Cerberus and Wrath both turned to see Geb standing in the door way.

"He knew the First?" Wrath asked.

"Knew him, learned from him," Cerberus sighed, then an evil smile split his features. "And killed him."

"You killed the First?" Wrath was shocked by the information.

"And now you're...what, the Third Master?" Cerberus said, turning to face Geb. "How is the guild fairing? Though I suppose I already know. I beat you, former ace and killed your wife, another former ace, not to mention your two new aces as well. Plus I've been knocking your dear Phoenix around as well."

"And I'll defeat you today, you'll be turned over to the Magic Council, and you will answer for every last one of your crimes." Geb said.

"Defeat me? You don't even have your sword, there's no earth here for you to use your magic which leaves all the advantage with me." Cerberus laughed.

"We'll see." Geb replied, getting into a fighting stance. Cerberus sneered again before charging at Geb. They began exhanging blows, each getting hit as much as they blocked. Wrath was shocked at the fighting skills he was seeing, and realized that Cerberus had just been toying with him. Then he remembered Serket and went to pull her out of the central Lacrima. He was about to try to reach into the Lacrima when once again The Omega Device began convulsing and threw Wrath across the room.

"Still trying to destroy The Device?" Cerberus laughed, having thrown Geb across the room. "They'll never stop the destruction of the world! The Omega Device cannot be stopped."

Geb wiped at the blood that was running freely from his nose and winced realizing that it was broken. Cerberus had a gash in his forehead that was bleeding heavily, but he didn't seem to notice or mind. Numerous bruises were already forming on both men and Geb was breathing a little heavier than normal.

"You're getting too old for this." Cerberus mocked. "You should've just curled up and died in some corner when I killed Nut."

Geb's magical energy flared up and Wrath shivvered in fear at the Killing Intent that Geb was giving off. Geb stood back up and before Cerberus could react, Geb had him by his throat. Cerberus just smiled as Geb's grip tightened.

"What about the value of life?" Cerberus managed to asked, though he said it more to mess with Geb's head than to save his own life. Geb's grip lossened, which only earned him a kick in the solarplex from Cerberus. Geb fell back, dropping Cerberus who wasted no time following up his attack with a heavy hit to the head.

"What did I tell you, old man?" Cerberus mocked, Geb was barely concious from Cerberus' last attack and was having trouble breathing. "Now I'll kill you and you can join your wife. First Stage: Monster Soul: Partial Full Body Take Over."

How to Fight a Monster's Soul

Wrath couldn't believe what he was seeing, Cerberus had gone from a white haired man with red and yellow eyes to a clawed beast with pointed ears, long blue hair, a powerful looking tail and had what looked like white armor plating. Cerberus grinned, revealing the razor sharp teeth of a predatory animal that was used to ripping flesh from bone.

"I'll send you to Hell and tell Nut and The First I say hello." Cerberus said, raising his arm up ready to ram it through Geb's torso.

"Sun-Disk!" a flat, white hot disk came flying into the room and intercepted Cerberus' attack, burning his hand as he drove it into the fire.

Cerberus whipped around and saw Ra, with another Sun-Disk ready, being supported by Bastet. Wrath was almost overjoyed to see them, until he saw that they too were running low on magic and both looked like they were about to drop from exhaustion.

"More whelps trying to interfere?" Cerberus growled. "Fine, I'll kill you two first."

Cerberus shot forward, Ra threw his Sun-Disk, Cerberus dodged the attack then drove both hands, up to his wrists, into Ra and Bastet's chests.

"What a waste of time." Cerberus sighed, pulling his hands out of them. He was then more than a little shocked to see them both smiling.

"Thanks for the meal." he heard Wrath say behind him. "I promise to make this quick and get you two to some medics."

Cerberus turned around and saw Wrath finishing off the Fire Magic attack he had recieved. However, Cerberus just smirked.

"You think a little food will save you now?"

Instead of answering verbally, Wrath shot forward and punched Cerberus square in the face. Wrath was about to follow up his attack when Cerberus, flipping from the punch, kicked him in the chin. Wrath, once again, was sent across the room.

"Don't get cocky boy." Cerberus snarled. "You're still no match for me."

"Maybe not yet." Wrath groaned, pulling himself to his feet again. "But Ra did remind me of something."

Wrath then began trying to eat the Lacrima that was filled with Fire Magic. Cerberus was shocked for a moment, but then quickly recovered and went to stop the Fire Phoenix Slayer.

"Fire Phoenix's Fiery Wings!" Wrath said, wrapping himself in the two massive wings of flame that sprouted from his back. Cerberus stopped short, his uninjured hand inches from the fire.

"Fine, I'll just do it this way then." Cerberus growled. He lept back, then ten beams of blue magical energy erupted from each of his fingers and formed themselves into ten massive blades. "Slashing Beast!"

The ten blue blades came flying towards Wrath and he was frozen with fear, the sheer power of the attack scaring him. Then all of a sudden, Geb intercepted the attack. His magical energy acting as a buffer to help block the blades.

"Listen Wrath!" Geb ordered. "No matter what happens to me, you must stop Cerberus and save Serket! By any means necesarry! Understand?"

"Yes...Master..." Wrath replied, afraid that this would be the last time he would speak to Geb.

"Good." Geb replied, his magic running out and what remained of the ten blades cutting deep into his body. Wrath swallowed what was left of the Lacrima's Fire Magic that wasn't his and turning to face Cerberus. Feather like markings had appeared on Wrath's face, his fingers and toes looked like they had talons and the Fiery Wings looked more permanent.

"So you've entered Phoenix Force, have you?" Cerberus said, then an ugly smile broke across his face. "This should be fun."

"Fun? You're going to die in the flames of the Phoenix, and they won't bring you back." Wrath said, his voice sounding almost as if he were in a trance.

"Not before I personally bring you with me to the Gates of Hell!" Cerberus replied as he prepared Slashing Beast again.

Flames of Rebirth and Claws of Death

"True Fire Phoenix's Scream!" Wrath yelled, rather than a stream of fire like what normally happens, the attack was launched more like a canon and was far more powerful, faster and larger than any attack Wrath had ever launched before.

"Slashing Beast!" Cerberus once again sent ten blue blades of magical energy flying towards his target. The attacks collided and the blades bit deep into the Fire Phoenix's attack, but were ultimately consumed by the flames. When Wrath's attack hit the wall on the other side of the room he didn't see Cerberus anywhere, but he lept to the left, being driven by his hightened Instincts and narrowly avoided experiencing the attack that Ra and Bastet took.

"Nice dodge," Cerberus said. "It'd be a real let down if you had died so easily."

"How can you treat lives like mere playthings?" Wrath demanded, Cerberus' attitude towards life was really starting to get to him.

"'Mere playthings'? Life is nothing more than a game!" Cerberus replied. "There are winners and losers! When you die you lose and there's no reset button! The only way to win is to make someone else lose other wise the game's not worth playing!"

"You're despicable." Wrath spat. "Vermillion Feathers: Dance of the Fire Phoenix!"

Flames encased Wrath as he charged Cerberus, who was still going on about how life was a game. Wrath was punching, kicking, headbutting and everything else he could think of to attack the other man. Finally, Wrath charged magic into his right arm and delivered a powerful uppercut to Cerberus. The Take Over mage was sent flipping across the room, but this time he failed to kick Wrath, and crashed through the wall. He got back up and climbed through the hole before it repaired itself and he looked as if he hadn't just been beaten half-to-death.

"You clever boy," Cerberus chuckled. "You got me monologing."

"How can you still be alright?" Wrath asked, completely shocked that the other man still looked fine.

"You think those attacks will harm me?" Cerberus answered with his own question. "Did you not hear the part where this is the First Stage and a Partial Full Body Take Over?"

Wrath felt a sense of dread threatening to completely take over his concious mind and transform into debilitating fear as Cerberus mocked him and his strongest attacks.

"You afraid Phoenix Slayer?" Cerberus asked with an evil grin on his face again. "Allow me to show you my true power. Though I suppose you might just die of fright before I actually do anything. Second Stage: Monster Soul: Full Body Take Over!"

Cerberus became a massive dog with two snakes for tails, wings, and two large horns on his head. There was so much magical energy being exerted by him that The Omega Device couldn't keep up with the repairs. Wrath could feel his magical energy being drawn into the mouths of the hissing snakes that were Cerberus' tail. Though there was only the one dog head, the sound of three dogs growling filled Wrath's mind and fear almost completely consumed him.

"So brat, do you still think you can defeat me?" Cerberus' voice was barely anything more than barks and growls, but the words flooded into Wrath's mind.

"I-I w-will de-defeat y-you Cerberus!" Wrath stammered back, grabbing his Phoenix Feather Sword and once again white knuckling it. "You will answer for your crimes!"

Cerberus visably grinned and his fur all stood on end in excitement.

"Vermillion Feathers: Scorching Phoenix Strike!" Wrath began pouring his magic into his sword and a massive fiery blade began to form.

"Roaring Beast." Cerberus said, opening his mouth and building incredible amounts of magical energy there.

Omega

Once again two powerful spells collided. A massive beam of pure magical energy, capable of disintegrating bodies and eradicating anything in its path, and an equally large fiery sword that explodes on impact. Wrath's attack exploaded after cutting half-way through Cerberus' beam and knocked both mages backwards.

Wrath was coughing up smoke and blood as he struggled to his feet for the hundredth time that day. His eyes burning from the smoke debris that filled them and tried to gaze through the cloud of destruction to see Cerberus. After a few seconds of silence, other than the sound of The Device repairing itself, Wrath decided to rush over to the central Lacrima. He stood before it for a moment before reaching out to touch it. At first it was hard, feeling like the crystalized magic it was, then his arms began to slide into it as if the Lacrima were a thick liquid. Wrath clenched his teeth as pain shot into his hands and through the rest of his body as the magic tried to tear him apart. His arms were quickly swallowed up to his shoulders, then he forced his head through. Wrath was determined to find Serket and get her out of the Lacrima before she was completely consumed. Then, in the swirling vortex of magic, he felt something familiar, he closed his hand around it and realized that he had just grabbed an arm. He heart swelled with joy and fear, he was positive that he had found Serket, but he didn't know if she was still alive.

Wrath began to pull. The Lacrima and The Omega Device reluctant to surrender the source of power, but slowly, then more and more quickly, Wrath managed to pull Serket out. The Lacrima released Serket so suddenly that Wrath fell backwards with her landing ontop of him. Wrath quickly got to his feet, he hoped for the last time until he went to sleep, and held Serket in his arms. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, though they were glazed over as if she were sleeping.

"W-Wrath?" she managed to ask before passing out again.

He couldn't help the giant grin that broke across his face when she said his name, but it faded quickly as he remembered Geb, Ra and Bastet also needed help. However, before he took another step, the entirety of The Omega Device began convulsing again. Explosions could be heard all over as repairs quit being made. Wrath realized that The Device was going to crash and be destroyed and them along with it if he didn't get them all out of it.

Wrath rushed over to Ra and Bastet, saw that their bleeding had stopped at some poing and managed to drag them over to Geb and Serket. He was begining to feel tired as the toll of the fight began to wear on him. Wrath then found some wires and used them to tie the others together, though he decided to carry Serket.

"I hope this works..." Wrath muttered as he used the wings that Phoenix Force had granted him and flew through the wall and out of The Omega Device as it fell forward. He saw in the distance several figures and recognized them as the rest of his guild members that had come on this venture, plus the three others who had tagged along. He figured what they saw was a set of fiery wings bursting from the back of a demon and smiled to himself, thinking how cool he must look right now.

Unfortunately he didn't get to celebrate long. The air was split by the sound of a large angry beast roaring and when he looked down he saw Cerberus, still in his Second Stage Take Over, come bursting out of another hole and coming right at him.

"Crap...This has got to end!" Wrath groaned as he dove towards the ground to drop off his passengers. He quickly passed them off, mostly by throwing them at the others, then shot back into the air to intercept Cerberus. "Fire Phoenix's Lost Art, Sacred Feather: Fire Spirit True Phoenix Rush!"

"Striking Tails!" Cerberus roared, the two snakes shooting forward towards the now completely engulfed in white hot flames, that took the form of a phoenix, mage that was flying towards him. His attack failed, however, as the snakes both burst into flames as soon as they got close to Wrath. Wrath then crashed into Cerberus and knocked the large demon dog away. Cerberus stabalized his flight, but cringed at the horrible third degree burns he recieved from contact with Wrath. "Damn him...Roaring Beast!"

Again the beam was launched at Wrath, but this time he took it head on knowing his flames would protect him.

'I've got to finish this in three minutes or I'm dead...' Wrath thought as he flew right at Cerberus again, going through the other mage's attack. Again Wrath collided with Cerberus, and again gave Cerberus horrible third degree burns, but Cerberus just would quit. He launched attack after attack at Wrath, and before Wrath knew it he three minutes were almost up. He only had ten more seconds...8...7...6...

"Roaring Beast!" Cerberus fired the beam again. 5 seconds left and no time to dodge. 3...2...1. The attack hit Wrath right as his time ran out and he fell from the sky. Everything went black and he couldn't feel much of anything, he just waited to feel his impact with the earth. But it never came, he opened his eyes and all he saw was red and he had no control over his movements. He saw Cerberus coming closer at an incredible speed, but Wrath was unaware as to who was attacking who. Then Cerberus was hit, then again and again and again. Wrath had no idea what was going on, he just knew his body was moving on its own, and he then became aware of a sound. It sounded primoral, like a screaming beast and a screeching bird combined. Then it dawned on him that the sound was coming from him. The realization shocked him and he blacked out again.

When Wrath finally came to again, he sat up in a panic and looked around wildly. Then he realized that he had been laying on the ground and not far from him was a body and it was burning.

"You win kid." Cerberus said, his voice thick with pain and slurred as he neared death. "I've lost, congradulations."

"Wh-what happened?" Wrath asked. Cerberus smirked and chuckled a bit.

"You're Phoenix Slayer magic saved your life." he replied. "Brought you back to life, seems that your game does come with a reset button. Lucky you..."

The sound of Cerberus' terminal breath made Wrath shudder at what he had done. He sat there and watched as Cerberus' body was quickly consumed by the flames and he became ashes. Wrath got to his feet again, then quickly realized that that was a bad idea as he fell back to the ground.

"Wrath!" he turned and saw his guild mates running up to him, and leading them was Serket. He felt warmth spread through him as he waved to them. He was shocked as Serket wrapped her arms around him, giving him the first hug she had ever given anyone, as far as he knew.

"Don't get the wrong idea." she whispered. "I'm just thanking you for saving my life."

Serket then got back on her feet as the others caught up.

"So...it's over? We won?" Caley asked. Thane nodded.

"The Dodekathlon has been defeated, The Omega Device has been destroyed and the Magic Council has sent the Rune Knights to come and collect The Dodekathlon members who're still alive." Thoth said. "House of Life has saved the citizens of Berg once again."

"But at what cost?" Geb sighed. "We failed to protect the town they destroyed when they got here."

"We didn't know about that until it was too late!" Bastet said.

"Six people died by our hands." Geb continued. "Mages of the House of Life, who're trained to protect lives."

"They refused to stop fighting until they were dead." Sobek replied sadly, placing his hand over his wound from his fight with Lion.

"And countless more would've died if we didn't stop them." Ra added. Geb didn't say anything, just shook his head. Wrath then noticed that everyone looked worse for wear. Geb had ten deep cuts in his torso, Serket looked pale and near death same with Ra, Bastet looked beaten within an inch of her life, Thoth had more broken bones than he could count and Sobek looked like he was about to drop from blood loss. The siblings looked beaten and worn out and the mysterious man called Tamashi Kui looked troubled, as if he had a monster he was having trouble controlling.

"Why don't we all go home and rest?" Wrath suggested. Everyone agreed and headed back to the Guild Building.

Special Chapter: Epilogue

It had been three months since House of Life clashed with The Dodekathlon. The three who had joined them had moved on with their travels.

"We're searching for a place...where we can live our lives in peaceful days. No wars, and no stealing; a place that isn't run by fear; a place where people can live, and actually trust other human beings." Thane had said to Geb, after they were offered membership into the guild and before he and his sister left towards Fiore. "Sadly, this does not appear to be the place for now."

The man called Tamashi Kui had left quietly, no one sure when or where he had gone, and no one seemed too concered about him either. The only thing anyone remembered was something about his 'Master' and 'deliver the letter'.

"There's more to that man than he allowed us to see." Sobek had said to Wraith, who had asked about the man. "It may be for the best that he's disappeared."

The S-Class mages were all still recovering from the long and hard battles fought with the most dangerous Dark Guild Wraith had ever seen. Thoth had a permanent limp and would every now and then loose track of his thoughts. Ra and Bastet seemed to be an official couple, or so the guild rumor said. Sobek and Geb were both still feeling weak from their wounds, but both refused to admit it and both of them had new swords forged for them by the local Blacksmith, a former guild member who created incredible magical weapons. Set was the only one, other than the resident Phoenix Slayer, who seemed completely fine after the ordeal, bragging even that he defeated Hydra without ever getting close enough for her poison to work.

However, Wraith was far more concerned about Serket, she was still feeling weak and drained from The Omega Device and she did what she could to keep distant from the rest of the guild. Though Wraith felt he was closer to reaching his personal goal that involved Serket. She seemed more willing to let him spend time around her, she continued saying that it was only because he saved her life and not to get the wrong idea, but Wraith was sure that 'the wrong idea' was what was happening.

"Life is precious because it ends." Geb said to Wraith shortly after they returned home. "Enjoy it while you have it and share yours with those around you and your life shall grow ever richer."

Cast and Notes

Protagonists:

The Siblings: Caley Dullahan & Thane Dullahan

The Shadow: Tamashi Kui

House of Life: Sobek, Thoth, Set, Ra, Bastet, Serket, Geb & Wrath Fireheart

Antagonists:

The Dodekathlon: Lion, Hydra, Hind, Boar, Augeas, Diomedes, Stymphalos, Cerberus Hippolyta, Hesperides, Bull & Geryon

Notes & Trivia

Omega = 24th & final Greek letter; usually associated with the end

The Dodekathlon = the name of the group and its members all reference Hercules' Twelve Labors

House of Life = almost all names are the same as Egyptian gods and goddesses

Dullahan = the Irish equivalent of the Grim Reaper