“Listen well citizens of this city,” bellowed the white haired angel. “I have returned from the grave, and as the angel Gabriel has foretold, I, Airaxen have come back to unite all of you!” He finished, a thunderous cheering following his very brief speech.

“If you wonder why you should follow me, you may do so, I will not force my will upon all of you. I only come with a message from God, to unite all of you under his will!” Again another roar of praise rang out.

“I do not wish to speak for much longer, you’ve heard what I wished to say. Think upon it, I will return soon with another message!” And with that he left in the blink of an eye, the inhabitants of Lutenia giving him a hero’s farewell.

After leaving the visibility of Lutenia’s peoples he stopped leaving and then looked around to make sure he truly was alone in the clouds.

“Well, Gabriel. Are you happy now? I’ve delivered that message of yours,” Dimitri suddenly growled, unable to keep his composure together in a face of calm and warmth to say his little speech. From out of nowhere the other angel appeared from behind Dimitri and chuckled quietly.

“Good, good!” He cheered. Dimitri scoffed and folded his arms together.

“Now tell me again, why am I trying to rally masses of ignorant humans together?” Dimitri inquired, disgusted at what he was brought down to.

“These humans have become too corrupt. For the last decade we in Heaven have witnessed nothing but these humans destroying each other, even after being spared from a rule by a madman. Now there is nothing but death and disease, humans in pain and suffering by the actions of those with more power. So I came here in their darkest hour to unify them, by using you as a figurehead. And of course to accomplish such unity cooperation alone won’t be enough, so the remainder of the angels in Heaven have raised arms against the minions of Satan in Hell. And by doing this there will be no more temptation or sins for them to commit, there is no way they can perform bad against their fellowman then,” Gabriel explained longwindedly, even boring Dimitri with it.

“And why don’t I just go about my own plans instead?” Dimitri grumbled, expression bored. “I came back to get revenge on Airaxen, and now I’m your puppet?! I don’t care if I could rule over this world anymore!” Dimitri shouted back, only provoking a thin smile from Gabriel.

“With the Gates of Hell destroyed only Satan can travel from the Earth and to Hell. But any other spirit, like you would be trapped on the Earth and slowly have their life energy diffuse until they were really nothing more then a mindless zombie. If that’s what you want then I have no right to stand in your way…” Gabriel threatened, raising his right hand slowly. Dimitri flinched, the thought of becoming a idiotic grunt was more of a disgrace then serving under an angel was. He shook his head and spat to the side.

“Fine. I can get my revenge on Airaxen anyway, I’ll just bear with you for now.” Gabriel smiled warmly at Dimitri for his cooperation, the smile however was a bit too warm for Dimitri to trust the man that bore it.

* * *

“Even after 10 years Dimitri still loves to hear himself talk,” Sonaris mused from atop of his shop’s roof. It was the next day since Seraph and his entire Fenris incident and the four original members of the little crew were at a standstill. To pursue after Seraph would prove to be ineffective, since after he acquired all of the power of Fenris it made him nearly indestructible. To fight with Gabriel and his new minion Dimitri would also be ineffective. Dimitri possessed Airaxen’s original body with all of its abilities that didn’t need the crystals to activate, not to mention Gabriel’s power seemed to be great even if they only saw him strike with one attack. So now they could only sit back and watch as they planned some sort of course of action.

Sonaris paused to think for a moment. Yasosume and Ethernial had disappeared back into the large green airship they both arrived in, the fox girl saying she needed to finish something. Tikai on the other hand had ejected Sonaris from the shop and decided to finish with any and all of the work that day, saying she needed to catch up on work. And now Sonaris was left with really nothing to do, or if anything else the inability to do anything more.

::Stuck to sitting back and watching the events unfold. Not sure which one we should help, or maybe it would be better not to join either of the two in this case. Then there’s the monsters spawning themselves and the E.L.I.T.E organization which is still going strong,:: Sonaris thought upon tiredly, he didn’t have the energy to do this anymore. Sonaris left the roof of the shop and headed back inside. He cautiously entered the main floor, the sound of metal striking metal entering his ears.

Tikai was underneath a medium sized aircraft, probably reattaching a part judging by the sounds being emitted. She stopped her work at the sound of Sonaris’s footsteps and looked out from under the craft, glanced at Sonaris and then went back to work.

“How you doing today?” Sonaris asked tentatively, Tikai paused for a moment, then went back to working on repairs.

“Not that well I imagine,” Sonaris continued walking over to where he seen the blond emerge from for that brief moment. He stood there watching the floor, wondering if a head of blond hair would pop out from it.

“If you’re wondering,” Tikai suddenly began monotonously. “I’m not depressed to the point of being angry or the verge of tears,” she mumbled back quietly. Sonaris raised an eyebrow at the statement and sat down on the cement floor.

“Then what’s on your mind after that incident last night?” Sonaris inquired, again Tikai paused in her work. She emerged from under the aircraft and looked straight up at Sonaris’s face, her expression stoic and blank like Airaxen’s was when he was still…Himself. Sonaris frowned back at her, not one to enjoy seeing his companions in dismay.

“Then what kind of mood are you in?” Sonaris asked, now Tikai pulling herself out from under the automation completely and then looked at him.

“I’m confused,” Tikai responded simply, Sonaris nodding his head in return. “I mean, why? Why does he hate the past so much? I…Don’t understand his logic at all!” Tikai cried out in frustration. Sonaris paused in thought and then put a hand on her head.

“Do you remember when I was still fighting against you?” Sonaris brought up, getting a nod from the girl.

“Well obviously things have changed, I have changed. The same applies to Seraph. The past is something everyone needs to learn from and then you move on. To live in the past makes it impossible to move to the future. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Sonaris looked at Tikai sympathetically, he couldn’t help himself after thinking of her situation.

“But why throw it all away? He even remembers some of the past! And Seraph seems to be more against us then anything else! I want to trust him, but I don’t know anymore…” Tikai sighed and looked up at Sonaris then at the ground.

“Figure it out, I can’t give you any advice since I’m not the one who’s enduring all of this. I only recommend you decide soon, Seraph will probably reappear soon,” Sonaris cautioned and then retracted his hand. “Now then, since you seem to have things covered I’m going to go and visit Maria. God knows how stressed she is after dealing with rooms full of idiots for 10 hours.”

* * *

“If it hurts when you do that, then don’t do that!” Maria growled back at a man who was complaining about a pain in his hand. The overworked nurse quickly left the man to go get a splint or something.

“Excuse me, but I seem to have a problem with my head today,” A man piped up from behind her.

“Well go sit down and wait you’re turn, you’re not-” Maria stopped when she turned around to face the man, sure enough it was the renowned mechanic and her ‘boyfriend’; Sonaris.

“What are you doing here?” Maria inquired, Sonaris taking some of the things she was carrying.

“Since Tikai seems to have the shop in good working order and I have some extra time, I decided to visit you,” he explained, cracking a thin smile.

“That’s nice of you. We really don’t get as much time as we used too these days,” Maria pointed out as she began to make her way back to her patient. Sonaris nodded in return. He glanced at the rooms as they past by, taking note of the genuinely sick.

“Even thou I only tell you guys about the idiots I have to deal with, I have to treat more sick people then idiots,” Maria explained solemnly. “You know that E.L.I.T.E has been causing trouble and chaos ever since they first appeared. With all of the damage their members have been causing it’s forced so many people out of their homes and with nowhere else to go, they come here,” Maria continued, Sonaris nodding again.

“And those occasional monsters forming out of nowhere is just adding to the destruction that E.L.I.T.E is causing, not to mention with the damage Seraph himself can cause,” Sonaris shook his head. “Now I understand,” he muttered, stopping in his tracks. Maria looked at him curiously for a moment, he turned his head to look at her and let out a quiet ‘hm’.

“Dimitri and Gabriel can rally up the masses with such ease because of all these such things happening. In times like these, where many are left with nothing and living with fear, offering them some sort of hope, even if it were false hope, it is enough to gather the weakened will of the masses,” Sonaris mused, admiring the simple brilliance in the plan. Maria lowered her head for a moment then kept on walking, Sonaris following quickly.

“So what do you think about Airaxen? Or well I guess Seraph as he calls himself now,” Maria inquired, changing the subject. Sonaris shrugged and handed the supplies back to Maria and watched as she attended to the man she previously scolded.

“Like all of us, Seraph is human, at least in the metaphorical sense,” Sonaris suddenly began, Maria glancing at him before going back to treating her patient, who was now looking at Sonaris bizarrely. “Like all of us, Seraph is lost and doing all he knows in whatever way that contradicts his past because he doesn‘t know what else he can do. But maybe I look too much into things?” Sonaris stopped with his discussion and decided to help Maria out in her work, the two talking about other things from then on.

* * *

“Seraph…”

“Satan…Why are you in my dreamscape?” Seraph acquired of the sophistically dressed angel. Satan approached Seraph in the abstract world that was his dreamscape, its design similar to that of his mindscape with the world cut in two. Instead of drifting along in a mass of clouds and rocks a massive labyrinth surrounded him, scaling in all directions and in all dimensions it seemed.

“I’m here because you don’t seem to realize what you’ve done,” Satan explained calmly. Seraph shrugged and looked away.

“Why does it matter? With the power of Fenris I can rid you of your problem with Heaven,” Seraph argued back. Satan shook his head and looked away.

“Besides, you’re the Angel of Death, why do you care about the well being about the Earth?” Seraph inquired, Satan looking up at the demon and walking up to him, staring him down with his icy eyes.

“Do not dare think I have no compassion in my soul. I rule over Hell because there must be a balance to the universe, there must be a place for the damned to reside and to repent. Heaven is ruled by corrupted, power drunken Angels, who believe they are the embodiment of what is right, and if they are right then all else is wrong. If you’ve ever wondered what Hell was here for it is so that we can provide free will for the world!” Satan paused and looked at Seraph who returned the look with a confused stare. “Heaven provides the sense of what is right and what must be done and followed in life. But it is Hell that provides temptation to do what one knows is wrong, for the sake of the common good, or for one’s pleasure. Without one or the other there would be anarchy or total loss of all freedom,” Satan chuckled and moved away from Seraph putting his two arms out to the side. “The Heavens believe that the humans are too corrupt and must be under their total control. To do this, there must be no more temptation left in the world, so to destroy Hell it is. I wish to stop them not only for self preservation, but because I know that these humans, these mortals have the ability to save themselves, if only they would be let to their own devices they can see the error and grow and evolve with time! And with all that said, it brings me back to my point,” The seraphic angel lowered his arms and looked at the seraphic demon. “By summoning and infusing the energies of Fenris into you, you know run the risk of unleashing the Ragnarok, and ending this world. If that were to happen, then why? Why do you exist in this world if you were only to destroy it after spending two past lives saving it?” Satan paused and looked at Seraph who couldn’t look at him.

“…I’m not strong enough without this power,” Seraph replied plainly. Satan chuckled once more.

“Perhaps Destiny still plays its hand in your life, Sera-No, Airaxen. If I did not think you were suitable for saving my realm I would not have searched you out. Whether or not Destiny is trying to guide you again, what’s done is done. My demons can fend off those angels for long enough, your attacks on their puppeteer, Gabriel is causing them to weaken. If Gabriel were to be defeated all of the angels would lose their strength since they pool it into Gabriel’s being and he redistributes it back to the other angels. For now my instincts say that you can be trusted, and Destiny will play its part once again. Do not falter and do not give in. I expect very much for the prize you get,” Satan looked at Seraph and chuckled again.

“Unlike my previous venture, I’ll leave you to your own devices. Get rid of that treacherous Dimitri once and for all, and stop Gabriel before his plans are realized,” The angel instructed, Seraph nodding slowly. With that Satan left his dreamscape, leaving him alone in his dreamscape to enjoy the rest of his time sleeping.

A few hours later Seraph awoke from his less then restful slumber, recalling on the conversation he had with the Angel of Death when he visited his dreamscape. He looked down at his new body, large, hulking and terrifying in everyway. Towering over any normal person, his limbs the size of entire people, not to mention the bone tail that stuck out of his rear. His head now resembled that of an insects’ with two massive pincer like formations at the front of the face and jaws right behind them. Gone was his peaceful appearance and in its place was one formed from all of the anger and hatred that Fenris was created of, anger and hatred from all of the humans he was trying to protect.

::Destiny? Hm, not important. I’ve rested and meditated long enough, the power of Fenris is mine. So it’s time I finish my duty,:: Seraph got up slowly, the trees being shoved out of the way with ease.

::Time to visit the city again…::

* * *

For the last few days straight Lutenia had been experiencing occurrences for the last week that rivaled those of the days when Airaxen was first around. But now, the lumbering and terrifying demon Seraph had returned, and like most hostile things to Lutenia, was destroying a pricey portion of the city. People running away screaming, skyscrapers being toppled over with ease. Seraph didn’t care for mindless destruction, he was destroying only to attract the attention of one body snatching angel; Dimitri. Seraph glanced around with his singular eye, there was no sign of him yet, so he would have to just go and level more of the city to attract his attention.

* * *

“Is that the last of the patients?” Maria asked hurriedly of Sonaris.

“Yes, all of them have been evacuated underground. It’s a good thing too, Seraph might be heading to this area of the city soon…” Sonaris murmured.

“Why? Why is he doing this?! Why is he just reinforcing all of their support in that fake angel and his messenger?” Maria shouted angrily, Sonaris shrugging in response.

“Because he doesn’t know what else to do. Now then, head to the shelter. I’m going to see what I can do about the situation,” Sonaris left before Maria could say anything, not like it would’ve affected his decision regardless.

* * *

“Damnit! Seraph is already back?! I’m almost done with the repairs on the Mikuri Shimoir, but I need more time!” Yasosume yelled desperately, Ethernial panicking himself.

“ACK! Don’t rush like that, you’ll blow the arm off again!” Ethernial shouted quickly, getting a whack from Yasosume’s tail.

“It only happened 5 times, today! Besides we need to get this thing working to fight Seraph or Dimitri, or both for that matter.”

“There’s no time, besides you’ve been looking for the parts to repair this thing for a decade! And now that you actually have them it’s nearly impossible to retrofit your broken down mecha to use this stuff,” Ethernial protested.

“But without this thing I’m…Weak,” Yasosume muttered, ears pressing down on her head.

“That’s right, your old armor was destroyed by that chimera we had to run into a few months ago…” Ethernial recalled. He sighed quietly and shrugged, unable to think of something insightful to say like Sonaris could. “I want to say something that’ll instantly provoke some sort of greater thought but that’s Sonaris’s department, so…Just trust me you don’t need that clunky automation. Now come on lets head out,” He got up quickly and dragged a reluctant Yasosume along with him.

* * *

Tikai closed down Sonaris’s shop as quickly as she could. A bit hesitant to leave knowing she would have to face Seraph again. It wasn’t for reasons like being unable to fight back, it was because he had knowledge of how she really thought when she wasn’t behind a mask of indifference, and that was what made her hesitant to face the demon.

::I have to deal with it, I’m a mess as it is, need too pull myself together and do what I need to…:: Tikai hugged herself for a moment, lost in thought then remembered what she had to do and before leaving ran and took the Marimatsu sword from her room, regardless of its history the weapon had incredible strength.

::Just another day that’ll be a bad memory soon.::

* * *

Seraph’s anger began to bubble up inside him, as stress relieving as it was to destroy city property he was wasting energy to create a scene large enough for Dimitri to investigate into, but he did attract the attention of the local heroes.

Around the demon Sonaris, Ethernial, Yasosume and Tikai gathered on all sides effectively surrounding him.

“I don’t want to waste time with you!” Seraph roared with so much raw anger it caused all of his opposition to assume fighting positions.

“Yeah I know, you want to fight with Dimitri and all that, but you’re messing up my city so we’re going to waste your time!” Yasosume retorted, arming her rifle.

“Then I’ll make this brief,” Seraph did a wide sweep of the area with his long tail, knocking away the group of four. He then leapt into the air and regrouped so as to place all of them in front of him to prevent any sort of sneak attacks. Before he gave anyone the chance to attack he put his two hands out and they both launched forward like rockets still attached to Seraph however by the sets of massive chains that connected the limbs to the demon.

Sonaris was the first to his feet and he quickly drew his swords and slashed one at each massive claw with nothing but sheer determination to stop the attack, and to Seraph’s shock he accomplished the feat, knocking the two claws to the side. Seraph wasn’t out of tricks yet and simply turned to his side and whipped both claws with the movement, wrapping the right chain around Sonaris, his left arm recalling itself back to Seraph’s left side. Sonaris struggled against the massive chains around him but he didn’t have to worry for Yasosume came to his aid and began a flaming assault on the chain. Seraph withdrew his arm quickly and let it whip around again, striking Yasosume and throwing Sonaris off balance.

During the chaos Tikai and Ethernial came at Seraph from his back. Ethernial delivered a swift punch packed with the extra force of a Psychic Blast attack behind it, enough power to knock the great demon off balance. Tikai came in and swung the Marimatsu in an uppercut that struck him across the chest, a deep gash forming in his armor. Seraph threw his arms out furiously and sent his other two attackers hurtling away with great force. Seraph’s mouth opened up with his gapping mouth and released a wave if red energy, what seemed to be hundreds of distorted faces made up the wave, the attack itself released a bone chilling ghostly scream. Seraph’s attack struck all four of the fighters and knocked them all back, burning all of them with his breath.

Seraph took a step forward and threw an arm into the ground where it drilled in and vanished, the chain however told the telltale sign that the limb was traveling right through the earth. Ethernial lifted off the ground and waited for Seraph’s claw to reemerge from the ground and strike. In the meantime Sonaris and Tikai rushed at the demon who used his other arm as a whip and lashed out at the two, but they were able to evade the massive limb. Sonaris’s swords glowed white and he threw his hands together to convert the masses of energy into a large red sword hilt and a white beam saber shot out of the hilt to act as his new weapon. Tikai charged forward with him, holding the sword with both hands the weapon placed at her side. The wings on her back suddenly let out a blast of blue energy, the blond blasting straight at Seraph and now raising her sword up to strike. But Seraph still had his ace in the hole, literally. His other claw fired out of the ground in front of Tikai at high speed, and combined with the speed she was moving at the attack was unavoidable, the demon’s massive claws slicing right into her body with ease. Sonaris instantly stopped his charge, swords returning to normal, shocked that one of them was struck with such an underhanded attack. Ethernial, outraged by the event unleashed a multitude of green orbs, each one shattering apart and raining down countless smaller beams where Seraph stood, blasting him apart, or so he wanted to. Seraph emerged from the dust cloud unmarked and amongst the chaos he had struck Sonaris as well and now he lay on the ground nearby unconscious. This left only two people that were still standing, Ethernial and Yasosume.

The vixen had taken to the back row so to speak and had taken to charging her laser rifle up to full power. Now that her weapon finally reached its maximum charge she had the lumbering demon in her crosshairs, and even she was angered with the demon’s actions. Ethernial had him preoccupied by knocking him back with numerous Psychic Blasts, but they proved to do nothing but stall him. Yasosume waited for another Psychic Blast to strike him and then wait for him to be stunned for a brief moment and then fired a gigantic blast of red volatile energy that nailed him right in the side of his head, exploding violently. Ethernial landed on the ground next to Yasosume, both of them wondering if this time Seraph had fallen, but it was impossible to tell with him hidden in a cloud of smoke and dust. But as they suspected that was just a dream as two massive claws shot out and them, barely missing by inches. Seraph emerged from the smoke, a crack running along the left side of his head, even thou his face didn’t show it, he looked very angry.

Suddenly a beam of white light struck the ground between the two and caused the battle to cease. The three remaining combatants looked at the direction of the interference and there lightly touching down on the ground was Airaxen, or to those that knew his true name, Dimitri.

“You foul demon, look at all of the terror you have caused these people!” He barked angrily. “All of you escape now, I can handle this sinner!” Dimitri cried out heroically, surprisingly a dull roar of cheering masses arose from around them. Yasosume and Ethernial exchanged highly skeptical glances, especially now that Dimitri began to grin at them sinisterly. Despite who they knew they were talking with, they took his offer anyway, quickly gathering their fallen allies and departed. Seraph took a few steps towards Dimitri, growling lowly now he was about to end it all.

“To be honest, Seraph, I don’t give a damn about any of these humans. But for the chance of sending you right back to oblivion!” Dimitri whispered lowly, his sneer growing more sinister. Seraph scoffed and slammed his foot into the ground. Dimitri struck first, forming his wrist weapon on his right arm and his long silver arm blade with it. The blade split apart and out from between the two blades a crackle of orange energy formed and out from the weapon a blast of energy shot at the great demon, who slashed the attack apart.

“Don’t mock me, I know you’re stronger then this,” Seraph hissed, launching a claw at Dimitri. He responded with launching the arm blade mounted on his arm, the blade packing enough power to deflect the massive claw. Dimitri’s blade like Seraph’s was attached by a chain, this one attached by a green chain of energy. Dimitri flung his arm up to make the blade move upwards and point down, right at Seraph when he fired another blast that struck the mark this time striking him in the chest and knocking him back. Dimitri retracted his weapon back into place, sneering at Seraph.

“Don’t mock me with your idiocy,” Dimitri laughed, Seraph growling back in return. Seraph held his hand open and released what appeared to be souls from his hand, all red and with faces on the end, firing out at Dimitri. They chased after him as he took to the air to avoid them but they couldn’t keep up, smashing into the roof of a building behind him and blasting it apart in black flames. Dimitri dematerialized his wrist blade and then formed a duel set of blasters on both arms, the one on the right was the Alpha Blaster, a large rapid fire energy weapon, and the Epsilon Cannon on the left, a powerful plasma discharging weapon. He grinned, with his new body he gained countless new abilities that used to belong to the original owner.

“Gaia’s Rage!” Dimitri shouted, various other armaments forming on his body. The red mechanical piece that was on top of the black angel wings had detached and placed itself on his shoulders where two beam cannons formed over them. On his legs a set of two massive boxes of rockets appeared. All of the weapons let out a single click and Dimitri flapped his wings to get above of Seraph, taking advantage of the demon’s cumbersome build and then unleashing an awe-inspiring display of fire power of black beams and rockets blasting down on Seraph. He knew it would be a futile effort to escape the attack and stood his ground, throwing his tail up into the air where all of the bones shot up at Dimitri as a counter attack. However Dimitri’s attack was more powerful by far and blasted the tail apart in midair, as well as its owner, smashing apart some places of his armor and damaging the chains on his arms. The angel landed back on the ground, all of his weapons leaving him and wings returning to normal. Seraph was still standing but heavily damaged now. Seraph turned to look at Dimitri who motioned for the demon to come at him, which he did. Dimitri also charged at him, but Seraph suddenly stopped, lifted his arms up and from the mass of black gears two giant silver blades shot out from the sides, each one about 4 meters long. Dimitri suddenly stopped himself with his giant wings, but it was too late and he was much to close to the demon. The two blades slashed inward with massive force and slashing at Dimitri from both sides. He threw his arms up, actually halting the two blades with the smaller silver blades on either gauntlet. From the gears a loud grinding noise of mechanical parts could be heard, they were at a standoff. Seraph knew he could take control of the battle and quickly raised his claws up and shot then at Dimitri’s head from either side, in the same pincer fashion as with the blades. Dimitri tried to escape but it was impossible to do so with the two blades trying to slice him in half already and the massive claws aiming for his head. Soon the inevitable happened, and Seraph slashed Dimitri in the head twice as well as shattering his gauntlets with the two blades. The demon then swatted him away with one of his claws, sending him hurtling back with great ease. Dimitri tossed and tumbled along the ground, his damage was heavy but it was mostly his pride that was hurt by the attack. He got back up, gauntlets shattered, and numerous large gashes across his face.

The metal blades dispersed from Seraph’s midsection, the demon then showed off a new ability by growing two giant pairs of skeletal wings with nothing but the bone on them. The wings themselves could block out the sun in the sky if they were filled between the bones, but that little problem would be solved soon enough. Between all of the spaces in his wings faces appeared. Ghostly and ghastly faces of the deceased formed, hundreds of them forming in his wings giving them a crimson red appearance. Once his wings had completely formed he gave them a flap and took to the air. Seraph looked down at Dimitri who stood there and watched carefully.

“Nightmare!” Seraph bellowed, from both wings the faces began to launch themselves out as red bursts of energy that rained down on Dimitri, each one with enough power to shake the city. Each and everyone of the hundreds of souls smashing head on into the false angel. When the madness stopped Seraph dropped back down to the ground, his wings leaving him. When all the smoke had cleared and dust settled Seraph could see the extent of the damage his attack had caused. The ground where Dimitri once stood was nothing more then a hole in the ground, not even a crater simply a hole. Above it however Dimitri was still standing, or at least floating and to Seraph’s horror he had learned that he had defended himself from the attack with his massive wings, but they were now nearly destroyed spilling out black feathers onto the ground. What was left of his once magnificent wings furled up on his back, Dimitri glaring at the demon now, a strange and menacing glint in his eye.

“Nightmare?! No, that wasn’t a nightmare, this is a nightmare!” Dimitri shouted, almost manically and like a crazed person. He put his right arm out where it began to gather white and black particles of energy. Seraph took a step back unsure of what he was going to do, but then a memory struck him with the force and intensity of a train; he was channeling power for the most devastating move the world has ever seen in the last 10 years, Destiny’s End. Seraph didn’t have the speed to escape with his encumbering build. Dimitri grinned madly, he was going to get his revenge there and then. Dimitri lunged forward, right hand glowing brightly.

“DESTINY’S END,” Dimitri screamed, clenching his right hand into a fist and then smashing it into Seraph’s chest, the second contact was made a massive wave of energy shot forth out of the fist and engulfed the demon.

The attack didn’t last very long, but its devastation was evident, everything behind the blast had virtually been incinerated, the city of Lutenia would have a very hard time repairing all of the damages that were caused from that battle. Seraph himself still stood, but the damage was terminal. All of his armor was crumbling and cracking. First it was his legs that collapsed sending him to the ground in pieces. His massive claws broke down, the chains that connected his limbs all shattered into large metal chunks. The head that was already damaged finally succumbed to the damage and broke down into golden plates, the chest plate soon followed until there was nothing left except the giant ball of chains where they all saw Seraph become encased in. Dimitri’s grin only widened and with a swift punch he destroyed the chains, sending them spraying into the air. Now it was only Seraph himself, no longer his massive demonic form, but the original form he had with his blue clothing, blue hair, violet eyes and numerous wings, only now he still possessed the long chain around his neck. Seraph was down on his knees, drained of all his energy. Dimitri grabbed the loose chain around Seraph’s neck and pulled on it, dragging him up painfully.

“Well now I understand what you did…” Dimitri chuckled. “When you merged with Fenris to prevent all of that hatred it was comprised of to control you, you instead channeled the actual energy it was made out of to enhance your abilities so you could control the hatred and anger and form it into a shell, an exoskeleton which you controlled in that little ball. However…” Dimitri pulled on the chain again, Seraph choking on it. “Because you fused with Fenris in the first place now it’s you who will determine the beginning of the era of Ragnarok. If anyone were to destroy this chain then it would set the Ragnarok into motion,” Dimitri sneered. Seraph gripped the chain around his neck and tried to take it off but he couldn’t. Some unknown force kept it in place squarely on his neck. Dimitri watched and laughed, laughed like a madman. Seraph then began to pull on the chain as hard as he could until Dimitri gave him another pull.

“No, no you fool. If you want to wipe out all of the humans then continue pulling on that chain until it splits!” Dimitri laughed evilly and whipped Seraph around with the chain, treating him like a rag doll.

* * *

“It looks like the fighting stopped…” Yasosume pointed out from the roof of the shop. Ethernial who had his head stuck out a window nodded in agreement.

“Thing is, do we want either of them to win…?” Ethernial murmured. He turned away from the window and looked at his two comrades that took the only hits from Seraph before Dimitri arrived. Sonaris only having a mild head injury while Tikai was more unfortunate and was ran through with about two or three of Seraph’s claws. Yasosume entered the room a few minutes later, the look on her face told Ethernial he wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

“Yaso…Why do you look all serious…?” Ethernial inquired tentatively. Yasosume grinned at the red head and grabbed him by the arm.

“And when did you start calling me Yaso?” She sneered, Ethernial unable to come up with a response off the top of his head.

“Oh why does it matter what I call you? Where are dragging me too? We have to take care of our friends!” Ethernial protested, trying to maintain his balance while being taken down the stairs.

“We’re going to go find out who won that battle.”

* * *

Yasosume and Ethernial peeked out from whatever piles of rubble littered the area, despite what they thought would happen, being Dimitri appearing from out of nowhere behind them he didn’t. He was preoccupied.

Seraph was back in his original form, now with a chain around his neck, the same one that he had after summoning Fenris. He was on the ground, battered and bleeding from various injuries. Dimitri grabbed the end of the chain and threw him straight into a pile of rubble, all he could do was let out a pained grunt. Dimitri then slowly began to walk over to repeat the process.

The two nodded at each other, a simple plan was all they had in mind, it was so simple how could it fail?

Yasosume leapt out of her hiding spot and launched a fireball at Dimitri, who was hit with it in the back of his head, lighting some of his hair on fire. Dimitri spun around angrily, patting out the flames and shooting a death glare at Yasosume who was sticking her tongue out at him.

“Did I make the big baby sad? Oh I’m so sorry, would you like your bottle?” She taunted and laughed loudly at Dimitri, making his blood boil and flares of energy ripping through the ground.

“I gave you a chance to live another day, but now I’ll have to hurt you greatly,” Dimitri growled through gritted teeth.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is it that time of the month again, Dimitri?” She continued pressing her luck with him, and angering him further with the remark.

“That’s it, you die now,” Dimitri growled, Yasosume ignoring him completely and continued throwing lewd gestures and insults at him. He responded by forming his wrist blade, split the silver weapon and let loose all the power he had left in a single blast of energy, a stupid move aggravated by the fox girl’s taunts, just what she hoped for. Ethernial came out of hiding and jumped in front of the attack, throwing both arms out.

“Perfect Mirror Wall!” Instead of the usual clear wall that formed, this one was a massive reflective surface. Dimitri’s blast struck it and instead cracked the glass and then each piece of the glass shifted to cast the reflection of Dimitri in it. A split second later each shard fired a duplicate blast of energy that struck the large panel, not to mention flying much faster then the original attack. Dimitri was caught off guard, he knew about Ethernial’s abilities, but he didn’t suspect he was able to enhance them. The counterattack blasted the already weakened Dimitri back with incredible force and sent him hurtling into a building that was at least 100 meters away, hopefully knocking him out.

Ethernial fell down onto his hands and knees, sweat lacing his forehead.

“Wow, that was pretty damn good, Ethernial,” Yasosume complimented, helping Ethernial back to his feet.

“I was working on that technique for awhile now. I just turn my Mirror Wall ability into an amplifier and then launch the attack back. It looks like it worked pretty well considering that was the first time I got a real test run,” Ethernial laughed weakly, having trouble standing up properly.

“Are you ok?” Yasosume asked, Ethernial just nodding his head.

“Yeah I’ll be fine. We found out who won, and since Dimitri won’t be down forever we better leave!” Ethernial suggested, but Yasosume didn’t let him leave.

“Not yet, we’re taking Seraph with us,” She declared, moving towards where he lay.

“But why?” Ethernial asked back, not entirely confident of the idea.

“His brilliant plan failed and he’s at the mercy of Dimitri. I bet he’s desperate for help, and technically so are we,” She explained quietly, Ethernial sensing something she didn’t want to say out loud drifting in the back of her mind. He nodded feverishly.

“I hope he appreciates this when he fully regains consciousness…” Ethernial muttered, his right hand glowing purple, Seraph’s body glowing as well and lifting up off the ground.

“Ok, now we have to move it before Mr. Sunshine gets back up,” Yasosume hurried, Ethernial nodding and lifting off the ground with the other two in tow, both of them unaware that he was straining to keep from passing out.

* * *

“Ok, moved everyone into the extra rooms on the ship, and yes I didn’t just toss the blond onto the floor like you asked me too master,” Yasosume said while rolling her eyes. Ethernial laughed weakly, doing his best to cover up his weariness.

“That’s good, I was able to take all of the weapons from the shop and they’re on the ship, Maria will also be here in a few minutes,” Ethernial replied.

“If we’re lucky we’ll get everyone here before Dimitri finds us, and then hide out under the lake to avoid him until we get some sort of grand master plan going here,” Yasosume suggested, Ethernial laughing quietly.

“And when did you get so smart?” Ethernial teased.

“Well you see-HEY!” Yasosume shouted angrily and smacked him in the back of the head for it, Ethernial didn’t let out a cry of protest this time and instead fell to the ground.

“Oh crap! I didn’t mean to hit you that hard! Are you ok?!” Yasosume quickly helped him into a chair, apologizing profusely. Ethernial chuckled and looked at the girl and smiled widely.

“Ah don’t worry! I guess I pushed myself a bit too far with my Perfect Mirror Wall technique,” he reassured, but Yasosume was hesitant to believe it.

“Don’t worry, I think we should check up on everyone. I’ll talk to Tikai and Sonaris, you can talk to Seraph. I don’t care if he was Airaxen before, the guy gives me the creeps…” Ethernial explained feverishly. Yasosume paused to think for a moment then agreed and left to do as he suggested.

“Sonaris, you should be getting some rest after you got knocked out!” Ethernial directed, the black haired man shrugging it off.

“I was only hit in the head, just gave me a severe headache. I’m fine,” Sonaris responded, rubbing his head.

“And how’s Tikai?” Ethernial inquired tentatively. Sonaris looked over at the blond, who as Yasosume said, was put onto another bed. She was still unconscious or perhaps just resting now. The armor was still intact except for 2 large slits that cut right through it and out the other end.

“It looks bad, but it’s not really as bad as you think. Airaxen had worse injuries before, lost limbs, lower body being mangled and god knows what else. The…Technique I used can’t match up against his structure after he was resurrected that time in the past, but it’ll be better then whatever Dimitri did to make us,” Sonaris explained getting a confused look from Ethernial.

“Oh sure, those damn young kids get all the good stuff,” Ethernial mocked, taking a seat in yet another nearby chair.

“So I assume you’ve taken all of us to Yasosume’s ship?” Sonaris asked, Ethernial nodded in reply.

“I figured that Dimitri might be smart enough to find us if we stayed in your shop, so we’re going to take the ship to the bottom of the lake. Well after we get Maria here as well, we don’t need anyone out there that knows us well, they could be exploited for that,” Ethernial said, all of the planning earned him a thin smile from Sonaris. “Don’t say it! I know! You didn’t think we could’ve made such an elaborate plan,” he added before Sonaris had the chance to do it himself.

“What happened to Seraph? And why is Dimitri after us now?” Sonaris asked instead.

“Well, short story is Dimitri came into the battle and then we left. And then I think Seraph got beaten up horribly. Then Yasosume dragged me out to see who won, and it was Dimitri, then we beat him up briefly and we left with Seraph in tow. I think he’s somewhere else on the ship,” Ethernial began to trail off slightly. Afterwards there was an awkward silence, both of them were at a loss of words.

“Ethernial, for the sake of my sanity. Tell me you have some fine red wine kicking around this ship, I need a drink…” Sonaris muttered wearily. “I swear I’m going to become an alcoholic at this rate.”

* * *

Seraph was awake, feeling moderately better but for the most part drained and with a bruised ego. He turned off the lights to the room, with his headache he didn’t really want to stare at any bright lights, that and it seemed fitting for his demeanor. Seraph gripped the chain around his neck and shook his head.

“Damnit…” He muttered under his breath. “I can’t believe I could fail even after getting the power of Fenris! I…I’m so weak…” Seraph chuckled darkly and hung his head in the dark.

The door to his room then opened up in the doorway was the unmistaken silhouette of Yasosume, the fox ears and tail were obviously a dead give away. Seraph glanced over at her but only to make sure she didn’t turn on the lights, which she fortunately didn’t. Yasosume looked around briefly, making out all of the furniture and the bed that Seraph was sitting on and the bed across from it. She closed the door then took a seat on the spare bed across from the demon and stared at him, neither of them not saying a word.

“Why are you here?” Seraph finally asked.

“You should be grateful that I talked Ethernial into taking you back with us! With all of the crap you’ve been putting us through you might’ve just been left out there at Dimitri’s mercy. Show some gratitude you ungrateful little kid!” Yasosume snapped back annoyed, Seraph not arguing this time.

“Why did you?” He asked again.

“Well because of you we’re short a few members for awhile, so we need some help. And you’re not in the position to be arguing, you could just be dead right about now,” she answered, not as annoyed this time. Seraph stayed perfectly still staring at his feet in the dark.

“Don’t worry. You might’ve acted like a total dumbass, not to mention a jerk, and an idiot, and a-”

“Continue,” Seraph suddenly spoke, Yasosume laughing nervously having gotten off track.

“Uh, right. My point is, you have no other choice now, you’re either going to have us helping you and doing things our way, or we leave you with Dimitri. Either way we’ll have one less thing to deal with,” Yasosume nearly growled, a chuckle coming from Seraph.

“You said it yourself, I have no other choice. I failed to even come close to destroying that angel problem. So now I’m at your mercy. I will cooperate with your demands,” Seraph submitted, he was truly at the end of his chain so to speak. Yasosume watched Seraph carefully, he was taking the situation very badly. Her ears lowered slightly, despite all of the things Seraph had done she knew that he didn’t know another way to get to where he needed to be in life. Well of course she could relate, it was how she lived her own life until a few years ago. Yasosume reached out and put a hand on Seraph’s face getting his attention. He looked up at her through the dark sullenly, unable to look down with her hand keeping him in place.

“I’m going to sound so stupid while saying all this, but you need to hear some of this crap,” Yasosume chuckled weakly. Seraph pushed her hand away and looked off to the side.

“Please, I don’t want to hear it,” Seraph mumbled weakly.

“Too bad. I know you’re not the same albino from a decade ago, but you’re still just like him. Seraph, or Airaxen whatever the hell you want to be called, you can’t run away from your past forever. If you try it’s going to catch up with you and then beat you senseless until you remember that,” Yasosume informed, Seraph raising an eyebrow.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Like hell I know, Ethernial told me that awhile ago! But it still sounds like something you might’ve said to me when you were still…An albino,” she trailed off slightly.

“If memory serves, you also had an interest in me, didn’t you?” Seraph mentioned while shooting a quick glance at the fox girl. She looked away, her face as red as the fur on her tails.

“Yeah, I did. But the guy I had a thing for isn’t here is he? I do see someone that’s really like him, but not the same,” Yasosume replied.

“But that contradicts what you just told me, how does that work then?” Seraph murmured.

“What I told you is you shouldn’t be running from your past. I’m not running from anything. I moved on with all that time traveling around. Well whatever, you know what I mean!” She retorted quickly.

“Not really, but I’ll think about it anyway…Thank you,” Seraph muttered.

“Yeah you better be demon boy.”

* * *

“Sonaris, don’t you think all of this drinking is unhealthy for you?” Ethernial asked tentatively, Sonaris laughing in return. They were both seated on a overly cushy sofa, on a coffee table in front of them was a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

“You call drinking 3 bottles of watered down wine in the course of a week excessive when you hang around with that girl?” Sonaris shot back, Ethernial paused to think but he was at a loss.

“She’s not that bad,” Ethernial finally said, glancing at the ground feverishly and picking up his glass. Sonaris looked at his companion and then put his wine glass on the table.

“How long have you had this crush for her?” Sonaris asked out of the blue, Ethernial gagging on his drink.

“What are you-…Was I that obvious?” Ethernial submitted, Sonaris was too smart to lie too.

“In a word, yes,” Sonaris replied with a large grin, it was hard for him to hide his satisfaction when he could get someone to tell him something interesting, perhaps he was a bit sadistic?

“Not going to let me off unless I tell you, eh?” Ethernial asked weakly, Sonaris nodding his head. “Since when have you gotten so nosy?” He added on dismally.

“When I know it’s the cause of anguish for my friends,” Sonaris answered, taking a sip of his wine.

“Yeah well, it’s not too big of a deal. I just have some…Blind ambition I guess you could call it,” Ethernial said quietly, downing the rest of his glass and putting it back on the table.

“Well, start talking, we’re burning daylight,” Sonaris urged on, Ethernial sighing quietly.

“Alright, alright. You probably want the entire story, don’t you?” Ethernial asked, Sonaris nodding his head. “Well…I guess…I don’t want to say I have resent or sound bitter to Airaxen…But in retrospect I guess he’s part of my problems. I mean like, well the reason I was in that capsule in Dimitri’s old lab for an entire millennium is because he blew up the lab. Then again guess it might’ve been better then getting brainwashed like the rest of you-no offense. As you could guess being stuck in that capsule for so long really makes a guy…Lonely. When I got free from it all I saw Airaxen and despite all that fighting and such, he had things I wanted, someone to call his own. So I kinda found myself wanting what he had. Last time it was him being able to live a life, now it was because he had all of the company he wanted,” Ethernial paused, looking at this feet, he had never thought of having to tell anyone about this. But it did feel good to do so.

“Hiding behind a mask all of these years, my friend?” Sonaris spoke, breaking the moment of silence.

“Yeah, you could say that. Well…After awhile just said if I couldn’t really be happy with my life, I might as well just help others out, let them be happy for me,” Ethernial continued, Sonaris looked over at the redhead, he had no idea of what really went on in his head, until now.

“That’s why you would give out so much advice to Airaxen, isn’t it?” A nod came from Ethernial to confirm the guess. “How ironic, helping out the person that as you put it, seems to be your better. It’s…Sad.” Ethernial laughed quietly, looking at Sonaris for a bit then back at the ground.

“I don’t know, I guess my first attraction to Yasosume was because I thought I had a chance cause she was…I guess to put it bluntly, damaged goods. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought that would give me the advantage. When Airaxen died after all that that same sinister idea lurked back into my mind, try and get her on the rebound. It’s why I really wanted to go on that trip, my ideas of being a good friend were knocked to a second priority instead. But then, those first days we embarked, I watched her…And I knew from the way she was moping around that she still cared for Airaxen more then anyone else, and I had no chance to compete with that,” Ethernial paused again, looking at Sonaris for his reaction. His face was solemn, the closest he’d ever get to looking genuinely sympathetic. Ethernial then decided to keep going.

“So again, I’d just try and make her life happier if I couldn’t do that for mine. And for a lot of those 10 years, they were…Painful. After 9 long years of trying to make her happy, and me deluding myself to think she might one day care about me I just gave up. No more, didn’t want the physical pain, and the mental pain was starting to get to me,” Ethernial sighed and looked up at the ceiling instead.

“So what made you change your mind?” Sonaris inquired, having a guess at the answer.

“Her friend-my friend, Chaos, he died. It was some infection he got from an injury years ago that just got so severe he could only prolong things. The day I wanted to leave I thought I’d go say good bye to him since he was the only person that I had around for company. But instead he told me about his condition…He finally said to me that he could die knowing that the only person he cared about was in safe hands, my hands. He died later that day…And when I found Yasosume she looked sad, and this time my mind wasn’t clouded with thoughts of deception I got a good look at her. Behind all of the anger, all of the spite and violent behavior, I saw that she was human. She was like me I guess, hiding behind a mask because without it we don’t have much else…It’s for that reason I feel the way I do…” Ethernial stopped again, thinking over what he said then continued. “I decided I would stay, because of what I promised Chaos, and because I knew she really did appreciate me being around deep down, at least I told myself that. After that ordeal she warmed up to me, and all those old dreams of ‘getting the girl’ came flooding back. The difference was I gotten used to it all-”

“Used to what?” Sonaris suddenly interrupted.

“Used to not getting what I wanted in life. I wanted to live a life for those wasted thousand years. I wanted to find someone to call my own. I wanted Yasosume to love me one day. But those were things that I knew wouldn’t happen., that was a fact of life. After awhile I stopped minding, she was happy, and even though the feeling wasn’t mutual I was alright with it like that, I had someone I cared about and I would do what I could to see their smile. I guess after Airaxen reincarnated into Seraph, I saw Yasosume look at him those few times, and well…I guess it just brought back some bad memories of what I couldn’t compete against. Well hey, even if I get left behind in the dust again I made a promise, and if I can’t even keep my word then I ain’t worth her time,” Ethernial laughed emptily. After he finished speaking there was nothing but silence, perfect silence.

“…Will you ever tell her?” Sonaris finally asked.

“…No. She doesn’t need this kind of stress! Sides, like I said it’s just blind ambition,” Ethernial answered. Sonaris sighed and then stood up, putting a hand on Ethernial’s shoulder.

“You’re a good person,” was all Sonaris uttered before leaving the room. He exited the room and then glanced around at both of the ends of the darkened hallway. What he found to his right was one very prominently mentioned fox girl leaning up against the wall, legs crossed, arms folded, head tilted upwards where her hair could cover most of her face, but not a slight shine in the corners of her eyes from the little light that entered the hallway. Sonaris stood there for a moment and then left the other way.

* * *

An hour later Ethernial had finished the rest of the bottle of wine, not to mention whatever else was left on the ship. He didn’t let most see him drink, especially when he was lost in thought, it made him drink more then Yasosume did on some of her worst days.

“Damn, all that and I’m still perfectly fine,” Ethernial grumbled, as well as making a personal note not to use curses in the future. After telling Sonaris everything of his life, it gave him plenty of time to evaluate himself. Once again making a personal note not to be so obvious in what was on his mind in the future.

“I might as well go sleep for awhile,” he murmured to himself, knowing secretly it was in his sleep he could live out any of his dreams no matter what they were. Ethernial got off the couch and headed out of the room slowly, he lost a considerable amount of that charisma he had throughout the day. However when he turned off the light and took his first step into the hallway an arm grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him in before he could figure out what exactly was happening. When he did however, he found himself being in the arms of the person he wanted the attention of the most, except he didn’t want it like this.

“Sorry,” Yasosume croaked out, having trouble keeping her composure, or what was left of it.

“I didn’t want you to hear any of that…” Ethernial mumbled.

“Why not?! You’re killing yourself like this!” She cried out, Ethernial sighed quietly and pushed himself free of her grip.

“Because it wasn’t too important,” Ethernial replied flatly, Yasosume looking at the ground, she didn’t have the right to look at him after all she heard.

“And besides. If I told you then I knew it would’ve messed up how you thought of me like it is right now. And even if things did kinda suck they were better then this happening…” Ethernial muttered. “Besides, I don’t have a chance with you anyway,” Ethernial laughed, leaning against the wall across from her. That last comment silenced the girl, Ethernial slowly starting to regret saying it.

“Ethernial…” Yasosume murmured, Ethernial also was slowly coming to realize he was probably going to feel worse in just a bit.

“Yes…?” He asked back hesitantly.

“You’re a psychic. You can go and look through my head if you want, right?” Yasosume inquired, Ethernial nodding.

“Yes I can. I just don’t unless the person lets me. Why do you-”

“Go into my head,” Yasosume suddenly ordered. Ethernial raising an eyebrow.

“Why?” Ethernial asked back, there was no reason for him to do so, it just seemed pointless.

“Because I know that you won’t listen to anything I say. If you saw it through my eyes…Then you’ll trust me. So do it!” Yasosume shouted desperately, Ethernial agreeing quickly. He raised his right hand up as it began to a dark purple glow. Ethernial put it over Yasosume’s forehead, his eyes glazing over as he entered someone else’s mindscape.

Ethernial had been to Yasosume’s mindscape a few times. He stood in a familiar green peaceful meadow, the outer edges however were covered in massive flames that should’ve set the meadow on fire. This time in the center of the field was Yasosume, as a child however. She sat on the ground in a red dress, directly in front of a television, watching it tentatively. Ethernial raised an eyebrow and walked up behind her. The child Yasosume didn’t move from her spot, or give a glance at him. Ethernial kneeled down and took a look at what she was watching, and to his surprise it was a memory from about 2 years ago, when all of them went to a bar to just goof off. It was obviously from Yasosume’s point of view, since she couldn’t be seen in the picture, and because of the little bits of red hair at the corners that only could belong to her. Chaos was still alive at that time, and he was sitting a few seats down the bar. She was currently looking down the bar slightly, but mostly at him, who was sitting in the chair next to her and chugging a mug of beer.

Ethernial watched carefully as the screen shifted away from himself and Chaos’s conversation. Now he was watching Yasosume’s reflection in her glass, and she looked less then happy. Ethernial didn’t realize the effect of his simple chat with Chaos, at least, not until then.

Ethernial was surprised to suddenly hear such a thought from Yasosume, he then started to feel stupider. Regardless he kept on watching.

The screen suddenly conked out, turning into nothing but static with that shrill buzzing noise that was associated with it. But it wouldn’t take long for another memory to start playing itself. This one was more recent, it was from the funeral for their friend, Chaos. They both had decided it would be best for him to be buried out at sea, always traveling throughout the world and never staying still for too long, it suited him. With the deed done with they were both back in the ship, slowly flying it away.

The screen was focused on Ethernial, who was piloting the ship currently. Yasosume stood behind him, watching carefully.

Again the screen skipped into static, Ethernial left speechless.

::Did I hear that right?:: Was all that ran through his mind, but he didn’t get much time to expand on those thoughts since the screen flickered and one more memory started being shown. This one was much more recent, it was the day when he was attacked by that monster and poisoned.

Yasosume was running at high speed through the city, slung over her shoulder was himself, in a daze from the venom. She soon reached the hospital and kicked the doors down angrily.

* * *

Ethernial was left speechless. Not only did he learn how close he came to dying, he just heard the most heartfelt testament that would ever leave Yasosume’s mouth. The television screen turned into a haze of grey static then blacked out completely. Finally the little girl that was Yasosume’s mental projection turned around to look at Ethernial. He took a step back out of instinct when she did, her face looked as if it were just like glass, cracks running along it with a large portion over the right eye missing, under what appeared to be decayed skin surrounded a reddened eye.

“Are you going to leave like everyone else…?” She asked quietly, Ethernial shaking his head furiously.

“No! No! Never! I won’t leave you, I promise!” Ethernial replied quickly. The world around him suddenly began to swirl around madly, he knew what it meant, he wasn’t welcome anymore.

Ethernial left Yasosume’s mindscape quickly, not sure if he had done something wrong or not. He looked at her, she was leaning against the wall with her arms folded and looking at the ground.

“I don’t want to hear it, Ethernial,” she muttered quickly. “Just…Don’t ruin this,” Yasosume said, throwing her arms around Ethernial, who laughed weakly.

“We’re both two messed up kids, we’ll make an interesting pair, don’t you think?” Ethernial chuckled.

“…Yeah.”

* * *

“You had better not have done unlawful things to me when you were repairing me, Sonaris!” Tikai half growled, half laughed. Sonaris rolled his eyes undignified at the accusation.

“Come now! I’m already with someone! Besides, as I said a few days ago, why would anyone want to even consider such a thought?” Sonaris retorted, Tikai resisting the urge to smack him with a wrench, which she didn’t have anymore.

“Because you repaired me, I’ll let it go. But if you keep pushing your luck like this I’ll have to take a dull spoon and hack something important off,” Tikai threatened, Sonaris instantly backing away from her, a nervous smile plastered on his face.

“My, you’re hasty,” Sonaris replied feverishly. Tikai’s armor finally dematerialized and in its place just her normal working uniform was left.

“So what happened during all of my time being knocked out?” Tikai inquired.

“Too much. But the long and short of it is we’re going to go under the lake in less then half an hour when Maria is going to join us. Reason is because Yasosume and Ethernial ended up on Dimitri’s bad half. Oh yes, Seraph was rescued from Dimitri and is also on the ship…If you want I can make sure he avoids this room,” Sonaris offered.

“Yeah…I’d prefer if you could do that for me. I think it’d be a bit awkward to talk with him after he nearly broke me in two,” Tikai recalled, rubbing her midsection gingerly.

“Alright, want me to get you something to eat? I think there might be some actual food somewhere here!” Sonaris pointed out. Tikai smiled and nodded.

“Thanks, I’d like something to eat.”

“You had better be grateful then! I feel like I’ve become everyone’s maid or something today…”

* * *

“That didn’t work as well as we originally planned…”

“It makes me wonder what we can do now.”

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll just worry about it later.”

“I already know what it means. She’s saying I need to accept my past and all of that idiocy.”

“Oh shut up.”

“I know…I know, don’t even remind me…”

Seraph reopened his violet eyes to the dark room and glanced around. He found his way through the room with minimal difficulty and into the hallways of the ship, which were also dark and devoid of light. Considering the smartest thing to do, he decided to find his way out of the ship and go outside, it would be good to avoid the people he attacked earlier on in the day.

About 20 minutes later Seraph learned he seriously underestimated the size of the ship and was just grateful to see the outside world again when he finally did find his way out. The sun had nearly completed sank into the horizon.

He noticed that he was still in Lutenia, behind the shop that he was kept in and standing on the large green ship that he never actually noticed before. He noticed someone was emerging from the shop, slender figured female brunette. Seraph raised an eyebrow, he had never seen her before but she seemed to have a faint imprint of a memory in his mind. She walked over to the entrance to the ship carrying a small bag of miscellaneous items, then paused looking up at Seraph who returned the stare. She wasn’t angry with him as he originally thought, she looked more disappointed if anything else. Seraph looked away, to be the cause of anger was one thing, to be the cause of shame was another. There was nothing said, she simply continued walking right past him.

Seraph suddenly looked up, a faint sound entering his ears, the sound of machinery. He looked back at the female, composure recollected and face stoic.

“Tell the others to stay, I will take care of this,” Seraph murmured lowly, she looked at him strangely but nodded her head and went into the ship to deliver the message.

::Well, I suppose I’ll start here…:: Seraph determined, his lance forming in his right hand.

Slithering through the city’s buildings was a silver serpent mecha, Seraph recognized it to be a creation of that organization, E.L.I.T.E.

The snake mecha wasn’t too massive, slightly shorter then a generic E.L.I.T.E mecha when it stood up, making it about 10 feet tall. The mecha however was at least another 10 feet with the addition of its metal tail. The snake mecha was mostly flat with wide plates of metal making up each section. Seraph eyed each section carefully, they looked to plain and simple to be harmless. The head of the snake mecha was very simple, in design, basically a triangle with green slit eyes. Attached to the underside of the snake mecha’s head was a strange sight however, by means of numerous black wires a man was connected to the mecha. The man had on a large white lab coat and a set of black dress pants and formal shirt, a very strange and clean appearance considering who he was working for. On his head was a strange black helmet that was mostly there for decoration without any real purpose. Seraph took careful note of the mass of wires from the back of his head and the ones coming out of his spinal cord and connecting to the mecha.

“Seraph, was it?” The man asked, his voice loud and boastful.

“And who is inquiring?” Seraph demanded, lance raised up and at the ready.

“I’m part of the science division of E.L.I.T.E, you can know me as Egeus,” he introduced himself with a slight bow as he hung there in the air with the snake mecha glaring at Seraph.

“You will not get past me,” Seraph stated with a growl. Egeus laughed arrogantly, pointing a finger at Seraph immediately after he finished.

“E.L.I.T.E’s top priority is now to capture you, dead or alive!” He shouted, smirking at the demon. Seraph grunted and spun his lance around to have its hook blade facing up towards the sky.

“Dar-” Seraph suddenly stopped before he could issue his attack command, a thought had just occurred to him.

::If I use that attack I’ll probably destroy the surroundings, like that ship where they’re all residing…Alright, I don’t need to use that to beat this mercenary,:: Seraph determined, lowering his lance and charging forward at Egeus instead. Egeus put his arms out, his palms glowing dark purple like that of Ethernial’s hands when he would use an ability. The metal snake mecha suddenly liquefied into silver metal, only the head left which was still floating over Egeus. The entire snake mecha suddenly broke apart into two large puddles of liquid metal. All that was left was the snake head that stayed over the scientist, all the while it seemed to grin.

Seraph, in his haste didn’t pay attention to the development and lunged forward at Egeus with a deadly slash of his lance. But the attack never connected, one of the puddles of metal had reformed itself into a massive wall and took the hit instead of Egeus. The second pool of metal reformed itself into a strange cylindrical cannon that pointed straight at the demon. Seraph unfurled his wings and shot back with a flap from them to get out of the sights of the cannon before it fired. The wall of metal turned back into liquid and then into a set of chains that grabbed Seraph by the arms and legs. Before he could break free the cannon fired its cache of what appeared to be metal spikes. Seraph struggled against his bonds fiercely until he was able to break his right arm free and defend himself from the spikes with his lance. It didn’t take very much effort to stop the attacks, for some reason the cannon’s aim was slightly off, despite Seraph being held in place. After a few more shots there wasn’t enough left of the cannon to even maintain its shape, so it collapsed into a puddle again. Seraph ripped his other arm free from the weak metal chains and did the same with his legs, he wasn’t too worried against this foe.

“You are a fool,” Egeus spoke, a grin spreading across his face. Seraph raised an eyebrow, then noticed something move on the ground. All around him the deflected spikes had turned into liquid and surrounded him while his guard was lowered. Seraph tried to escape but all of the small pools of metal shot out and grabbed onto his torso, about 5 of them in total. The remaining liquid metal shot forth and reinforced the bindings to prevent him from thinking of escape. Seraph’s lance was also taken from him and thrown to the ground where it vanished into dark violet flames.

“I was ordered to bring you alive if at all possible. But if that just becomes inconvenient for me, I’m sure my superiors can be reasoned with…” Egeus threatened, grinning deviously as a thin sets of spikes became to fire out of the bases of all his bindings, slowly working their way towards Seraph’s body. Seraph considered trying to break free but he knew he couldn’t escape without ending up impaled by dozens of spikes. He would just have to surrender and wait for the time to play his cards.

* * *

“Are you serious?!” Sonaris shouted, Maria shaking her head and then gave him a shrug in return.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger! He just said to tell all of you to stay here and he could take care of things.,” Maria replied in her defense.

“I’ll go out there,” Tikai suddenly interrupted, having reemerged from her room and so happening to have walked by to hear the news. “And only I will go out there. If Dimitri is still out there and he finds us all together then we’re screwed. If one of us goes then the worst is he just takes us out.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sonaris questioned, Tikai shrugging in return.

“Probably not, but I have a vendetta with Seraph. Besides, I’m getting tired of having everything beating me up,” Tikai grumbled. Sonaris sighed dismally and shook his head.

“Alright, get out there and fight the good fight. We’ll be underwater after you leave so contact me somehow,” Sonaris dismissed, Tikai racing off to grab some last minute equipment for the venture. Maria raised an eyebrow and looked at Sonaris funny.

“Why didn’t you stop her?” She asked. Sonaris glanced at her sideways then laughed quietly.

“Would it have worked?”

* * *

Tikai emerged from the ship as fast as she could, back in blue armor with the Marimatsu sword in her left hand and the silver crystal diamond affixed to her right gauntlet. However she had found out she was too late, Seraph was bond by strange silver metal chains. Tikai then spotted the scientist that seemed to be controlling the metal that kept the demon in place. She stood from afar, got down onto one knee and stuck her sword into the ground beside her before forming the massive beam cannon she used on occasion. Tikai aimed it carefully at the man’s head and began to charge up an attack, hopefully before he would notice her position.

However Egeus knew she was there, the snake head spotted her long ago and notified him. Egeus didn’t react immediately, but planning a little sneak attack in return. Unknown to her a small puddle of metal had broke off from the bonds holding Seraph and very quickly made its way around her.

Tikai’s cannon finally finished gathering energy and was ready to fire. But right as she pulled the trigger Egeus launched his attack. As the weapon releasing its charge the pool of metal had gotten into position and launched itself out as a metal spike that lodged itself in the side of the weapon, shorting it out at the last second. Tikai’s eyes widened as she watched her weapon overload and blast itself apart right in front of her.

Egeus sneered as a thunderous explosion took place where the girl was. He looked back at Seraph who appeared to have passed out from his restraints cutting off his circulation, not like it really matter. Egeus swiftly walked over to where the explosion took place, getting a good look at Tikai which made his grin grow in size.

“It must be my lucky day! I’ve caught the demon and have one of our secondary targets subdued!” Egeus sneered and lifted her off the ground and threw her over his shoulder, snapping his fingers and the metal around Seraph shaping itself to have legs to follow him with. When Egeus wasn’t looking however, Seraph reopened his eyes and let out a quiet chuckle.

* * *

Tikai opened her eyes sometime later and found she was tied up to a wall by her wrists, with ankle braces on both legs as well. She found herself in a darkened room, its lights were flickering or just burnt out, how cliché. To fit with the old lab appearance there was a few operation tables set up, most of them were empty of anything, but the traces of strange residues on their tops were the telltale sign that whatever they were used for, it was messy. Tikai struggled against her restraints but to no avail, she was tied and was probably going to stay like that. Obviously her sword wasn’t with her anymore, but on the desk probably for use by the wrong hands, but the crystal was still affixed into her right gauntlet, having passed on as a simple decoration.

She looked around some more, now remembering she got into the entire mess while trying to aid Seraph. The demon was easy to see, he was residing on one of the operation tables, and was also tied down like herself. His eyes were closed as well, probably knocked out by whoever had brought them there, or maybe he was…

Tikai cleared her head of the thought before it finished herself, it would be nothing more then paranoia to think that Seraph had been killed. She redoubled her efforts to try and break free, but again found she had no leeway in her bonds. Finally she heard some footsteps coming towards her, time to get a good look at her abductor. In came the helmeted scientist, all of the wires coming out of his body still connected to the snake mecha’s silver head, that was now affixed to his back like a backpack.

“Hmph. You and that demon are very lucky! I would’ve dissected both of you by now had it not been for the commanders stopping me…” he grumbled.

“Who are you?” Tikai demanded, the man sneering in return.

“Egeus, new head of the science department of E.L.I.T.E. I was sent to get Seraph so we could examine his biological makeup to…Learn from it. You on the other hand, could be my new cleaning lady,” Egeus sneered yet again, Tikai grunting her disgust.

“However…Because of the switch in our primary objectives…You and your allies are now regarded as useless. So I think maybe I will get my dissection after all…” Egeus laughed quietly and painfully slowly made his way towards her. He raised his left arm up, a pool of silver metal coming from his back and turning itself into a long silver blade. Tikai backed up against the wall, trying to get some distance from the razor sharp diamond blade.

“Alright, Egeus,” A cold yet familiar voice interrupted. “You didn’t prove to be useful in learning more of your organization, and now you’re going to get fired,” Seraph had gotten back up onto his feet, and was just playing ‘possum’. Egeus spun around taking a step back from the demon, stunned at the sudden turn of events.

“How did you get free?!” Egeus shouted angrily.

“You thought I was unconscious, and left me alone for long enough for me to start working my restraints,” Seraph explained, rubbing his wrists.

“But you had no way of-”

“If you can tolerate pain, then it’s not hard to snap solid steel restraints,” Seraph laughed quietly. The demon then clapped his hands together, twisted them around each other then grabbed the opposite gauntlet from each hand. The gauntlets then glowed black and came off his arms, Seraph grabbing each gauntlet in his hands where they turned themselves into black masses of energy.

Egeus looked around the cramped lab quickly, he didn’t have the rest of his mecha to supply him with materials to use any of his attacks leaving him very vulnerable. The energy in Seraph’s hand had turned itself into two handguns, old style six-shooters but with a rectangular barrel instead of a round one giving it a more modern appearance at the same time, but regardless they were still six-shooter handguns. Each were pitch-black with the bullet holding portion of each glowing a deep red or a soft yellow glow depending on which gun it was, the left or the right.

::Since when did I have this kind of power…?:: Seraph asked mentally, befuddled by the development.

“You mean we always had this kind of power?!”

“And you never told me why?!”

Seraph growled mentally then put his focus back on track, mainly to blow the head off of Egeus’ shoulders. He raised the gun in his right hand up and shot a single bullet that shattered the chains around Tikai’s arms, the second gun pointing straight at Egeus’ head.

“You shouldn’t have come after me! Because of you getting captured I couldn’t get taken to their headquarters and stopped it from the inside out!” Seraph growled, Tikai looking away, she suddenly felt incredibly…Stupid.

“I’m sorry…” Tikai muttered. Seraph looking at her from the corner of his eye and then moving the second gun away from the blond and onto Egeus as well. Egeus backed away nervously, sweat coming off his forehead.

“Come now…If you just wanted to go to the E.L.I.T.E headquarters then maybe we can work something out, like civilized gentlemen…” Egeus expressed nervously, however he was just putting on a front. Unknown to either of them about half of the snake mecha head on his back had broken off and oozed down the back of his leg, so they wouldn’t be seen and were slowly moving around through the shadows of the lab. Seraph narrowed his eyes and pulled back on the safety mechanisms of both guns. Before Seraph could pull the trigger Tikai let out an audible gasp, Seraph looking over to find that there was a thin set of silver metal pincers around her neck, ready to decapitate her at a snap of Egeus’ fingers.

“Now lets not lose our head over this. Just put the gun down, Seraph and you’ll go quietly to see our leader. Then we’re all happy, hmm?” Egeus sneered, Seraph growling lowly, shooting a death glare at Tikai. Seraph returned his stare back to Egeus and then lowered his arms slowly. Egeus grinned and walked towards the demon, a hand out to take the guns from him.

Tikai watched both of them carefully and saw the brief opening that she was hoping for. Tikai raised her right gauntlet up slightly, just enough to point her wrist at Egeus. The crystal diamond glowed red for a second and from her fingers a jet of flames shot out from them and lit Egeus on fire before he had a chance to react. Having lost his concentration the mass of silver metal that threatened Tikai’s life returned to being nothing more then a harmless pool on the ground.

Egeus frantically began to try and put the fires out, running about like a madman to find something to dose the flames. Seraph raised his handguns back up, pointed one at Egeus and shot him in the leg, the scientist crumbling to the ground. He then pointed the other gun at Tikai, and after a few moments of thought, down at the bindings on her legs and blasted each of them apart.

“That’s it! I don’t care what the officials said! I’ll kill you both here and now!” Egeus roared, using the pool of metal he tried to kill Tikai with to act as a brace and temporarily repair his leg so he could stand back up.

Seraph had moved in front of Tikai with one arm out to the side and his other arm pointing a gun at Egeus as he got ready to attack. However he suddenly got distracted and looked up at the ceiling, then moved back a bit out of what seemed to be anticipation.

“What is it…?” Tikai asked tentatively, afraid to anger Seraph even more.

“You probably can’t see it, but it looks like Egeus used to experiment with live human subjects here,” Seraph explained, glancing at the ceiling, to look at the swirling mass of blue spirits. “And it looks like they’ve reached the breaking point, ready to manifest themselves. How perfect,” Seraph mocked. Egeus looked perplexed by what the demon said and looked around franticly for the spirits he had mentioned.

“No, no! That’s not possible!” Egeus shouted, loosing his calm composure in an instant.

Seraph watched as the spirits gathered themselves into a mass and then slowly began to form a body. It was human in shape, but it was far from being a complete human being, in a way it reminded Seraph of the body that he created when Dimitri controlled his body, incomplete and hideous. It appeared to be female, Seraph just guessed from the long dark green hair that gave it a feminine appearance, he couldn’t see its face since its hair cast shadows that covered its face, only a strange glint could be seen coming from one of its eyes. Its skin was dark purple it seemed, with some strange what seemed to be vents in its body. As it drew breath its left arm would expand, when Seraph looked closer at the arm he noticed it was longer then the other and had what seemed to be a dragon’s head as a hand, its eyes glowing yellow. On its left shoulder was also a damaged dragon wing to go along with its arm, it was fully unfurled, and was probably keeping it balanced from the way the arm appeared to weigh down the monster.

Unfortunately for Seraph and Tikai the monster had formed facing the two of them. As it stood there staring at the two Egeus thought he had lucked out and began to make his escape.

Seraph pointed both of his guns at it and waited to see who would make the first move. However the monster suddenly turned away from him and looked at Egeus before letting out a scream that made Egeus’ blood run cold.

“Hm, looks like it only has a grudge against Egeus, good for us,” Seraph murmured, putting both of his guns on the opposite wrist where they returned to being his silver gauntlets. “Let Egeus deal with his sins, time for us to leave,” Seraph stated, himself and Tikai quickly evacuating the area, Egeus starting to find himself muttering prayers to a god he never believed in.

* * *

Some time later Seraph and Tikai had relocated themselves in Lutenia and were slowly making their way to the lake. Seraph walked along in silence, wings furled up and trailing behind him slightly, Tikai carrying the Marimatsu sword on her shoulder and also in silence, and it was getting unbearable.

“Seraph…” Tikai finally spoke, the demon stopping in his tracks and looking over at the blonde lazily.

“Hmm?” Was all the demon replied with

“Are you…Are you mad because I tried to help?” She inquired, Seraph turning around fully to look at her.

“I’m not angry, but I’m less then pleased as well. You’re getting in my way too much, I don’t want you in my way anymore! So stop trying to perceive me as a dead man and let the past die! I told you I’m not Airaxen, I never will be and I don’t care about you, or your stupid feelings one damn bit!” Seraph uttered coldly, his words cutting her like sword blades. Tikai simply looked away from Seraph and muttered an apology and left quickly, the demon watching her figure vanish into the night leaving. Seraph stood there for a long time just staring in the direction she left in, not doing anything.

“Why…Do I always do this? I…Don’t…Know why, I’m sorry…” he whispered to himself.

* * *

Egeus had been able to weaken the monster considerably but he was also running dangerously low on reserves. Currently the monster had suffered being impaled by a set of mercury metal spikes he had formed out of the metal he could find lying around. The monster got back to its feet and approached Egeus slowly, lacking the ability to move quicker then that. However just when he had run out of options someone had came in and struck the monster across the face causing it to crumple onto the ground against the back wall.

Egeus looked to see who it was, and to his relief it was two of the commanders from E.L.I.T.E, Madam DeMonte and Sirius Orbit. The in command of E.L.I.T.E, Sirius was still wearing his usual black uniform of perfect black, black hair that was as straight and tidy as his uniform was. However it was his first time ever seeing the third in command, Madam DeMonte in person. She had dark brunette hair that was tied up in a pun with a few strands of it in the front. She wore a pair of thin oval glasses, behind them were dark blue eyes that were solemn in appearance. She wore a similar uniform to Sirius, all the commanders did, a black skirt and then a pair of black leather boots to go with them.

To Egeus’ surprise it was Madam DeMonte that had taken care of the monster, but she had no weapons with her, not even her traditional mecha backing her up, regardless she was able to stop the monster. Sirius walked over to Egeus and looked down at him. Egeus reached up towards the commander, rasping out for his help, however Sirius let out a ‘hmph’ and kicked him away.

“Egeus, you failed to keep Seraph restrained. E.L.I.T.E needs to study his genetic makeup to be able to learn what he really is so we can reproduce the results. And he slipped away from you,” Sirius uttered lowly. Egeus looked onwards fearfully at Sirius who only let out a growl like a dog. “E.L.I.T.E doesn’t take kindly to failures, and I take to them less kindly…” Sirius grabbed Egeus by the collar of his lab coat and threw him across the room with ease.

“With your science and technology you created a psychic amplification device that could increase the mental abilities of any human. However to make it work you had to connect your spinal cord to it, which paralyzed your body. In fact, your psychic amplification device not only is needed for you to fight, but for you to move,” Sirius laughed darkly and walked over, reaching behind Egeus and grabbing the snake head mecha on his back that was really his amplification device. Egeus tried to resist, firing spikes at Sirius’s hands to stop him from damaging the device, the spikes easily piercing him but did nothing to him, just releasing a few sparks from the injury.

“Wha-what are you?!” Egeus shouted, Sirius narrowing his eyes and ripping the device off of the wires that connected it to Egeus, and forever paralyzing him.

“Come on, Sirius. Let this monster take care of him, we have to take care of other things,” Madam DeMonte declared, Sirius nodding in return. As they left Egeus had no other choice but to watch the world around him, unable to move or speak he was forced to watching the monster limb towards him and end his life.

* * *

::Damnit! Where could she have gone so fast?!:: Seraph growled mentally, frustrated at the situation, more frustrated with his own stupidity.

::Why do I always let my fears tell me what to say…? I have to stop being so childish and act like a man!:: Seraph thought to himself with a scowl on his face.

::I can already tell my night is going to get worse…:: Seraph looked around at where he was, just some random corner in the city, nothing special.

“I had better just focus on finding Tikai first…” Seraph growled and continued walking along the streets.

Then from out of nowhere a rain of thin gold beams came crashing down from the night sky in front of Seraph, distracting him from his thoughts of finding the girl. Seraph looked up to see who it was that wanted to pick a fight with him again. Hanging up in the air was the fake angel Dimitri, his body mostly repaired since their last encounter.

“What do you want now?!” Seraph demanded, less then happy to see him more then once in his lifetime.

“Simply to wipe your existence off this and every other plane of existence!” Dimitri shouted back angrily, putting his left hand on the Alpha Blaster that encased the right.

“All this because I ruined your plans of becoming a god?” Seraph questioned, Dimitri just growling like a mad dog in return.

“If you didn’t interfere with my plans I would be forever immortalized as a god! There would be no more predetermined fate for everything in existence, and I would be the one that would decide their fate, with fair and just reasoning!” Dimitri retorted, Seraph shaking his head and laughed in return.

“Those words don’t suit you! Only those that obeyed your every beck and call would have such fortunate treatment, and the masses would be forced to face a fate worse then anything these current times could’ve dealt them! It is only in your mind does fate seem predetermined, we make our own destinies. Even if I don’t remember my past very well I won’t let that control my destiny, I’ll make one myself. So lets just stop with mindless chatter and see if I’ve c