48 The True Enemy

Some time prior, within the skyworld Templar living chambers, Kloud was laying in his bed. Beside him was Ayame, having grown severely worried over him, as his fever had not improved. It was clear that his bandages had been changed since he acquired his injuries, but with seemingly no visible improvement. Kloud had grown very pale, still sweating greatly from his ill health. Something was different about Ayame however, with the couple weeks that had gone by her figure had slightly changed. The clear deduction was that she was with child, perhaps in her second trimester. Elliot wasn't far from them, standing just outside the partially open bedroom door. Footsteps began to click from down the halls, causing his ears to quirk up as he caught notice.

His teeth flared, as he growled to the approaching figure in the darkness. "Grrrr...."

"Shhh... Do not be alarmed." The female voice softly spoke.

The sound of her voice seemed to ease him, but his expression seemed uneasy. "Who's there?" He asked, taking a moment to sniff in her scent. It felt familiar and yet so foreign.

The figure of a woman drew closer, but as she began to emerge out of the shadows it was clear she was not what he expected. Retina, the horned oculus fiend that Koron had resurrected stood there, looking to the canine. He was frozen staring to this demonic looking woman, but something about her made him recall his last encounter fighting against the Angel of Death. The whaling screams of his dying master echoed through his mind, it felt traumatic reliving those memories that he literally started trembling. Her face shape, her voice, her height, all the way down to the way she looked at him and her scent. He knew her.

It was as if he'd seen a ghost. "Astrid?..." He nervously inquired, nearly falling over as he bumped into the wall.

"Elliot, I know this form... is jarring. You have to understand, I didn't choose this." Retina replied, trying to calm Elliot down.

Urgent footsteps hurried over to the ajar door, opening it to stare out. Ayame had grown startled, seeing this fiend here and recognizing her as a deceased friend they lost. "It... It can't be?... B-but how!?" She gasped, covering her mouth."I-Is that really you?... Why.... Why do you look like that!?"

The extra eyes on Retina's body closed, only leaving open her original set she had in her previous life. "Ayame. It's good to see you and Elliot have been well... I unfortunately have business to attend to."

"Astrid. Just tell me... what happened to you?" Ayame pleaded to her friend.

With a sigh, Retina begrudgingly turned her attention to Ayame. "I died, and for some time I didn't know who I was or what I was doing. The Queen of Fiends... She brought me back as... this... monstrosity. It's as the old tales of old, the Amygdala heir to the throne has the power to bring back life into those who perish. She makes them into fiends, like what you see before you."

"History all makes sense then... but... Why have you returned? Surely the others will not be pleased seeing you in this state?" Ayame held her hands to her heart.

"I risked returning, so that I may inform the Grand Master of the storm that's brewing under ground. it's imperative I deliver the news I bare to him, so that we may strike it down before it has the chance to rise." Retina explained.

The scene transitioned like a photograph burning up, into the view of Aoba and his army making their way in Nye and Koron's direction. Retina and Horrifica was among his Templar Knights, including Dimitri, Gaigas, Lyra, Manik, Phish, Flint, Skyletra, Trigger, Merric and another Templar knight leading the lesser order from upon the back of an armored stallion. A few of his men appeared absent, such as Ayame and Kloud along with Elliot.

Koron's eyes took notice of Retina however. "That traitor!!" She snapped, angrily. "How dare she betray me!! I ought to snuff the life back out of her!"

"You're panicking, just relax, and we can figure this all out." Nye looked seriously to Koron.

"How are you so calm about this?! I should be the one whose level headed!" Koron spat out, with an annoyed hand gesture, before pointing furiously to the Templar army in the distance. "I am afraid of no Templar!"

"Koron, just take a breath." Nye placed a hand to her sister's shoulder.

"..." Koron does so, reluctantly. She seemed to calm down a bit, but her eyes remained on Nye.

Nye retracted her hand, shifting her gaze to the nearing forces charging inbound. "We need to think strategically if we're going to survive this. Panicking isn't going to help fend off an army that clearly out numbers us."

Koron crossed her arms, looking over her shoulder to the threat approaching. "Tsk. There are waves of foes incoming. Holding our ground isn't going to work in this open terrain." Her eyes turned to the others on the ground "All forces, at arms! Divide and conquer!" She commanded.

Monsters began to surface from the cracks in the ground, leaving the deeproads that were devastated near Wynorex. Even the Manticore that fought against Jackyn was amongst these lesser-fiends. The skeleton and undead soldiers prepared their weapons, and some upon undead horses, while the Gashadokuro began to pull itself out of the ground with great force. The ground began to rumble again, but the rest of Koron's forces prepared to following the charging undead and monsters. Kobra, Nobou, Titania, Tyr, and Vex as well as the others still alive under Koron proceeded into combat. Raz however held back, fleeing for shelter with the Ghestro baby she held in her arms.

Nye didn't seem to keen on the idea, watching Koron's warriors charging into battle, but something else caught her eye in the right hand corner. She noticed Heath and his forces along with some felines that must have been part of Minerva's hidden village. Among them was Rocky, Max and even Sally along with Ronan leading the felines, followed by Seiko and her sister Morrigan. Eclipse must have gotten through to them, but would this be enough to combat the Templar massive army? Nye was unsure, her gaze shifting from the enemies to her friends.

"We're not alone, but we need to proceed with caution. The Templar are known to engage in groups and will attempt to outflank us, so stick together as much as you can." Nye spoke up with encouragement, hoping to raise their spirits. For a moment her eyes met Jackyn's which made her smile to see him alright. "It's time we regain our freedoms!"

The opposing sides continued their battle charge, as the foot soldiers of the Templar met the undead army in the middle of the battlefield. Hacking and slashing of swords to shields and Axes whirled around. Blood was already being spilled onto this battle front as these forces collided here, but the ballista wasn't far behind the foot soldiers. It was being prepped to fire, as more of each army clashed in the field. Arrows came blazing by, lit by fire to blow up large clusters of the zombies. It had became utter chaos as flames coated the grassy landscape around them, taking more down with it that didn't even meet in the crossfire.

Koron flew in, slashing passed Pegasus riders and lower ranked airborne templar in pursuit of Retina. The fiend turned to Koron, as she launched fire arrows to the Queen of Fiends. They struck Koron's bastard blade, as she held it like a shield in front of her face. Retina flew closer, distancing herself from the other Templar get a better sight set on Koron, preparing her cross-bow. Then she fired upon the other woman, and as the arrows came flying they were cut in half this time.

"I made you! How dare you betray ME!" Koron snapped, letting the shards of arrows fly from her blade to the ground below.

"Betray you? I never wanted to be part of your business to begin with! I was involuntarily brought back to life, and you forced me to become something of which I despise! Do not assume I owe you a thing, this wasn't my choice!" Retina retorted, flying around to fire more rounds of blazing arrows at Koron.

Koron however, continued to slice them apart and she dove closer. "You'd be nothing without my gift to you!"

"I rather be dead and with my beloved, than fight for someone like you! There's a thing called loyalty, and mine resides with the Grand Master. I did what was right, and now you and all your people will suffer for your crimes!" Retina snapped back.

"Poor little thing. You know nothing." Koron appeared behind Retina, whispering coldly into her ear, getting Retina to strike at her with the physical cross-bow as she drew close.

Retina dropped her cross-bow, gripping forcefully to Koron's long hair. "No, YOU know nothing! I just want to see the beautiful face of Margo again, to hear her laugh and to kiss her lips! Can't you see JUST HOW MUCH I'M SUFFERING BY JUST BEING ALIVE!!?? I'M SUPPOSED TO BE GONE!! I WANT TO DIE!! IT HURTS ME SO MUCH, I DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT THIS STUPID WAR! JUST END THIS! KILL ME!!!" Retina literally started to lose it, having a complete meltdown and she kept her grip tightly strung along Koron's tri-colored locks.

Koron not only looked enraged by this betrayal, but the shock of hearing this lowered her guard. Did this woman truly feel this way? Did she want to die so badly that she refused to continue this bout? Something about that hit her, knowing that same feeling is what usually consumes an Amygdala that has lost their mate. It might have even resonated with her.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? DO IT!!" Retina cried out, provoking Koron. Instead of arguing back, she gave her what she wanted. Koron took her sword, impaling Retina with it, letting the fiend gasp as she fell after her cross-bow. Blood trailed up into the air as her body began to disintegrate. "....." She had nothing more to say as she smiled, before hitting the ground amongst the hoard.

Wings of blood flew through the crowd from the ground, as Titania road her equine into the air to Koron's aid to protect her against an incoming javelin. She knocked it back, getting her lover's attention. "Titania?" Koron gasped.

"Are you alright, Koron?" She asked softly.

"I am, now that you're here." Koron smiled, readying herself to team up along side Titania.

One of the Templar knights on mounted horseback, was riding through the sea of undead, hacking and slashing of their heads and limbs as he made his way in direction of the living portion of Koron's forces. Many of the other templar soldiers upon horseback followed his lead, with lances and cross-bows.

"Hoi, Siegfried! Save some for the rest of us!" Phish rushed in behind him, as she slashed back swarms of the walking corpses.

"I do believe there's plenty undead to go around, miss Phish." The knight known as Siegfried remarked in a witty manner, as he impaled one of the zombies.

"Pfft, not when you're trying to look good for Dimitri, there ain't." She gave him lazy eyes, as she pulled her claws out of a downed undead's skull.

"Touche. Best fight strong then!" Siegfried chuckled, passing her by to strike back more of the skeletons replacing the decimated bodies of the undead.

"Outta the way!' Flint shouted, seeming in a more foul mood than he was usually in. He wasn't too far behind them, pummeling through the corpse knights with great force of his massive axe without any hesitation, it was like he was pent up with rage. He passed up both Phish and Siegfried, clearing through waves of foes.

Heath and Rocky came flying through the air with their weapons ready, while their other allies were rushing in by foot; fending off more of the hordes of Templar to meet some of the air units in battle, leaving the felines on the ground to assist Koron's Naga ally, Kobra, being knocked back by a jousting cavalier. They stepped in as Max and Sally broke through the wall of Templar, knocking through them with their heavy weapons.

Titania leapt into action with her blood magic arms, clasping to her swords as she spun through, dissecting clusters of Templar airborne soldiers like a majestic ballerina spider, slaughtering her prey. Quickly being caught my her equine mount that had remained close by to her and Koron.

Tyr had mounted upon Asmodeus, riding the beast into the horde. The giant paws of the daemoniorum crushed his foes beneath each step, as Tyr combated with hypnotic powers to sway his opponents with his charm and soul sight. Close by was Nobou, charging for Manik with his tri-swords in attack formation. The two clashed on the battlefield with their blades sparking up from immediate connection.

"Can't say I'm surprised a freak like you joined sides with these abominations." Manik scoffed, hurling his tail at the smaller Terra.

Nobou swayed his body, deflecting the blow with a smooth strike of his blade. Within an instant the other Terra's tail had been severed off. "You only say that because you don't have anyone you actually care about!" Nobou retorted, as he shifted to strike Manik backwards fiercely.

Nye's allies also had joined the battle, facing off against grounded soldiers and knights. Leaving Miles with Minerva, Ashewyn took to the air, proceeding for the cluster of soldiers in the sky. He flew over Zyron and Solitaire clashing with more of the foot soldiers. He was met in the sky by the black dragon, thrusting him back into the ground with the great force of his tail. "RAAWWWWWR!!!" Gaigas let out a battle cry as he wretched out his green colored flames on the downed Ashewyn.

Ashewyn quickly formed his dragon armor, managing to protect himself from the extremely hot flames that the black dragon spat out. As the flames cleared, Ashewyn had already prepared his sword, and charged back into the air at Gaigas, hacking and slashing at the Terra.

"You're the bastard that hurt Eclipse and the other girls, aren't you!?" Ashewyn snapped, angrily continuing his slashing at the black dragon.

"I've hurt A LOT of people, punk! Who cares if I burned the hell out of some dumb elven bitch!? WHY DOES THAT EVEN MATTER TO A SHIT LIKE YOU!? The CUNT DESERVED IT, SHE WAS ASKING FOR IT, JUST LIKE THAT SKANK I FUCKED!" Gaigas growled, clasping to the sword that came for him.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Ashewyn snapped, trying to force his blade closer. "You low life, waste of flesh! WHAT KIND OF PERSON DOES THAT!?...." Ashewyn was trying to calm his anger. "No. You know what. In this moment. I am your KARMA! You're just a sick, disgusting bastard who needs to suffer ENDLESS AMOUNTS OF PAIN!" Ashewyn shouted, breaking free his sword to thrust it Gaigas' way.

Gaigas reacted swiftly, slashing his claws at Ashewyn. In the process, the red haired Amygdala received a massive scratch to his face. He was bleeding vigorously from how deep the fresh scar that had been been placed on his cheek.

"Urgh...." Ashewyn groaned, holding his face, as he shoved himself away to fly to a safer distance.

"YOU TALK TOO MUCH!! RAAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!" Gaigas roared, as he came rushing through the air in a wild rampage.

Gaigas soared at Ashewyn, forcing him to fight back, but miscalculated last second. He ended up striking at the stone portion of Gaigas' shoulder, which caused the tip of the sword to snap off on contact. Gaigas continued to react hostilely, slashing his claws in an X-motion to tear up fragments of the metal shielding Ashewyn's chest. He was growing even more ferocious, knocking the Amygdala back again with his tail, before letting loose more fire. Ashewyn quickly used his wings to shield back the charring flames, with his back striking into the soil of the ground. However, due to his choice of maneuver, his wings were severely burned and damaged.

Foot soldiers and undead continued to perish around them. Forcing himself to get up, Ashewyn gripped to his damaged sword to swing it again at Gaigas. The two of them resumed their battle on foot immediately as Ashewyn came into range while swinging at full force. Ashewyn was clearly struggling to take down this savage beast of a man, slashing at him with his partially broken blade. The edge of it connected with Gaigas again, only have it shatter on contact with the scales of this man's body. Ashewyn wasn't stunned, his face full of shock and uncertainty.

The Terra grinned, rushing at him once again with great force, as Ashewyn came into his range, Gaigas could see that look of shock intensify. Then something got in Gaigas' way, something dark and distorted, like a mirror that sucked him in and spat him out at a distance from where he was originally. Rising to his feet, he whipped around to locate his target, only to find that a dark vortex was behind him. The perplexing portal vanished, revealing where Ashewyn was, only to see one in front of the Amygdala fading away simultaneously.

Boots hit the ground, as a familiar purple haired fiend dropped into view from the void that blocked Gaigas' original attack path to Ashewyn. His cold black and red eyes loomed over to Ashewyn harshly.

"Vex?! What are you doing!?" Ashewyn gasped in astonishment.

"Yeah, I know we hate each other's guts since our last meeting. Just shut up and move!" Vex grunted in annoyance as phased to swap places with Ashewyn to further obstruct the path of the raging dragon that had came flying their way.

Vex formed his gun, pointing it at Gaigas, but before he could fire there was an abrupt impact. Gaigas gripped tightly to Vex's wrist to the point cuts were forming from the shifting of his claws, twisting the gun away from him violently.

"ARGH!!" The fiend groaned loudly in pain as he felt his wrist beginning to crunch and then... SNAP!

The bone of his arm was beginning to become exposed is it was breaking open. Despite the agonizing pain, Vex opened smaller vortex around his breaking arm's hand. Another formed below Gaigas, with the gun shakily staggering to aim up at him.

He struggled to squeeze the trigger, allowing it to fire at the dragon. It bursted through the soft bits of his armor as he shifted his weight away from Vex to hurl him around, and into Ashewyn. This motion however, Vex's arm was torn clean off before being tossed aside from the roaring Terra.

"RAAAWWWW!!!" Gaigas bellowed, proudly.

The battle cry was heard across the plains of war, as the sky suddenly started to shake as that ground had. Rain began to trickle from the sky and than it came, that proverbial storm. It came with the force of a raging typhoon. The early summer sky above the war-zone crackled with lightning that struck the ground far too close to be a coincidence. The wind, once gentle and calm, whipped the dust around them in a fierce gale. It caused conflict for the fighters upon the ground and in the sky, but the war continued to wage on with more death and bloodshed to be had.

Nye was flying through the gusting winds of rainfall, in the direction Koron took off in. Her path however was quickly obstructed as Skyletra flew into view with her tome in hand. "Well, if it isn't the pitiful Amygdala once again. Don't think I've forgotten about you, or what happened back in Skyworld." She sneered to Nye, as her magic electricity began to circle from her hands.

Nye seemed unnerved, shifting to form her Wraith-edge. "..." Skyletra brought so many ill memories to mind, while staring at her there in the raging sky. Fear seemed to consume her, but she had to face it and stand up for herself here and now. "You're just like the man you follow." Nye finally spoke up, her eyes peering from behind her bangs that blew in the wind.

"Don't speak of the Grand Master in such a manner, you worthless slime!" Skyletra shouted, diving at Nye midair to cast chain lightning her way. "Your actions brought this upon you!"

Nye urgently spun out of the line of attack, letting her wings carry her higher into the sky. She prepared her blade for combat, charging in at Skyletra with a slash of her blade that was dodged, to roll from another incantation of storm magic. She countered with her chain, thrusting it to the Rhyme with her wraith aura coursing through it wildly. It ensnared her, but moments after Nye felt like she was able to defeat her, Skyletra broke the hold.

"Now die!!" Skyletra was growing uncontrollable with her intense amount of magic, as she blasted it out at Nye with a powerful force. It came raining down upon Nye with a flurry of stormy wind and lightning.

Nye shakily managed to avoid the attack, as the spells clipped her wing causing her to struggle to stay airborne. Below their ongoing struggle, Jackyn was on the ground slashing through Templar as he was trying to keep up with Nye. He reached a clearing and was preparing to cast a wave of blood magic up there to get Skyletra away from Nye.

As he channeled his magic, he was suddenly flung back into a tree, as Flint emerged from the swarms of Templar and undead. "I found you, you son of a bitch!!" Flint howled angrily, his blood was practically boiling from his rage.

Jackyn pushed himself away from the tree trunk, drawing to his knives. "You really wanna do this?" He scoffed, narrowing his eyes into a sharp glare.

Flint pulled to his axe, rushing at Jackyn to disarm the raven haired man. "My best pal's dead because of you, creep!!" Flint snapped, lunging the axe at Jackyn who steadily got back.

The thought of Kloud dying in bed crossed Flint's mind, with Ayame crying, but it only made him even more angry. "You've killed countless innocents, and hurt so many more! You deserve to face JUDGEMENT!!" Flint roared, knocking Jackyn off his feet before coming down on him with the force of his axe.

Jackyn rolled out of the way, just barely avoiding that massive blow that pierced the ground hard. Flint was infuriated, tearing this axe from the ground to whirl around to rush again at Jackyn. However, galloping hooves came charging their way, passing behind Flint as a jagged blade dug into his back. In slow motion, blood flew into the air as the skeletal horse continued it's path from behind Flint, with it's rider's blade being pulled up into the air. Jackyn's eyes then noticed the rider, seeing the fiendish face of his best friend swooping in to rescue his ass. He smirked, preparing his blades as Shane leapt off his mount to do the same, letting the skeletal unicorn charge off into a dark void.

"Dog troubles?" Shane teased.

"A bit." Jackyn chuckled, softly.

"Feels just like old times, don't it?" Shane remarked.

"Really does, but..." Jackyn replied, but his concern was still with Nye in the sky against the Templar Skyletra.

"I got you're back." Shane stated, noticing the conflict above them. "We'll get her out of that mess." He said noticing Flint getting back to his feet.

The new fallen Templar began to raise up as well, following Shane's hand that he began to lift into the air. He shifted up like puppets, hanging on invisible strings. Flint's back was bleeding, but the wolf had a lot of determination to go on, as he charged through the rising corpse marionettes, at Shane and Jackyn.

Red wings flew passed them, proceeding over to in the direction of Ashewyn, whose brother and him were facing off against Gaigas. The two were fighting back and forth with what skills they had at their disposal, but this Terra just wasn't going down. He didn't even flinch in pain or anything, but his rage kept coming. Vex shifted to his vortex magic, and channeled his energy.

A bright purple sphere was pulled into the sky, and directed into the Gaigas' face. It struck, doing only minor damage as it exploded. Reeling back, the dragon rose up again, letting out a bellowing roar that echoed across the battlefield. The cry escalated, making everyone around them collapse to their knees, covering their ears in pain. Their ears were ringing, causing confusion, due to how intense Gaigas' voice became. Ashewyn had gotten to his feet first, lunging at Gaigas again.

"Take this!" Ashewyn shouted, as a fire spell was declared, causing temporary blindness as smoke formed upon impact.

It didn't seem to phase Gaigas however, and the dragon charged, his eyes locked onto the red haired Amygdala. The remainder of his dragon armor didn't seem to be holding up too well from the ongoing struggle. It suddenly shattered, as Ashewyn was knocked off his feet, skidding along the gravel of the soil, only to wince to see Vex being hoisted into the air by his throat. Gaigas was gripping to it tightly, causing the fiend to squirm around. Without hesitation, Gaigas dug his claws up into Vex's abdomen, tearing out his insides and tossing them to the side as his grip tightened around his neck.

"ARRRR!!!!!!"" Vex was starting to scream in agony, feeling his body being torn apart.

"LET GO OF HIM!!" Ashewyn screamed, charging into action. He plunged his broken sword through Gaigas' bicep, forcing the dragon man to drop Vex and stumble back to grip angrily to the blade lodged in his arm. Vex laid there in the dirt, looking weakly to Ashewyn as he got to his brother's side. "Vex. Talk to me." Ashewyn spoke anxiously.

"... Urgh...." Vex groaned, his eyes heavy as he could barely look to Ashewyn. With the existing rain around them, it was hard to tell if there was any visions of rain. Ashewyn stared in concern as dust particles began to trail off from his brother, taking flesh fragments and blood along with it into the air around them. "Ashe..." Vex spoke, hoarsely. "I'm.... sorry about everything... I never wanted to be pitted against you.... You're my brother....Even if not by blood... Don't die here... alright?..." His voice trailed off, as his body continued to evaporate as his consciousness vanished.

"....." Ashewyn was shaking, staring in horror at Vex's fading body in a panic. That was another sibling he lost, but his eyes eventually noticed the gun that vex used laying beside his soon to be absent body. His hand shakily reached for it.

"RAAAW!!" He heard suddenly roar, as his eyes darted to see Gaigas rushing his way, with the sword still stuck inside his arm. A red feather suddenly fell from the air above him, as Ember flew lower and passed in the direction of Miles. However, as Gaigas was coming into rage lightning struck down on him, causing him to fall to his knees with another roar, but this time of pain. "RaaaaaaWWWWWW!!" Gaigas screamed out.

A sword suddenly thrusted into the ground in front of Ashewyn as a thud followed, hitting the ground behind him. He spun around anxiously, with the gun clasped in his palm. Electricity was circling around as the figure seemed to stumble from the impact. Two waveblades suddenly formed in their hands from the electrical powers circling around, but as it cleared Ashewyn could make out the figure. Standing in the midst of it was Eclipse, which caused Ashewyn to immediately lower the gun, as he was surprised to see her.

She looked to him with relief, as she hurried to Ashewyn's side. She seemed like during the time they were all in the underground she had enough time to recover from her injuries more. "What are you doing here?" Ashewyn gawked in surprise.

"I couldn't just leave you out here to fight alone. Shane showed up to leave a girl at Knothole and I insisted on joining the battle." She quickly went to hug him, while still holding the blades she summoned. "I would have came sooner, but I had to go retrieve the Legendary weapons of Lightning from Aoba's secret vault.

"Whoa, slow down." Ashewyn gripped to her shoulders, to pull her to a distance so he could look at her face. "Legendary weapon? Vault? You shouldn't even be here."

"I wasn't going to let you die out here." She said sternly. "Aoba has been having his Templar soldiers gather ancient weapons for the last few years, that have been long since forgotten. At the moment he only has two, one of which are these." Eclipse explained, showing him the waveblades of lightning. "The other is Excalibur, and he has it in his possession currently, but now's not the time for explanations." She urged him to turn around as she noticed Gaigas getting to his feet. "Take the sword, Ashe." She insisted.

Ashewyn was unarmed at this point, but proceeded to pull the sword from the ground with his free hand, keeping the gun in the other. "Just stay close to me, alright? If you're fighting, I'm going to make sure you don't die out here. Understand?" Ashewyn stated.

"Gaigas is incredibly dangerous, so I will do the same for you." Eclipse accepted, preparing the blades as they sparked with electricity.

"So insistent." Ashewyn sighed, his eyes locking onto Gaigas as the dragon came flying their way with another roar.

"THAT ELVEN CUNT WON'T BE ABLE TO PROTECT YOU FOR LONG!!!!! RAAAAWW!!!" Gaigas roared, coming in swinging.

They split up, diving in opposite directions to dodge the strike. Sitting up, they noticed him circling back around. Ashewyn quickly deflected the next strike with the sword, shoving Gaigas backwards, and he came in with a slash of the blade and gun in hand. A few swipes and shots came at Gaigas but it didn't seem to be doing any damage. Eclipse jumped in to back Ashewyn up, striking with the blades rapidly, to shatter through the Terra's protective armor. Electricity sparked from them, sparking up Gaigas when was stunned with a paralyzing shock. Ashewyn took opportunity to parry, as he held the sword in both hands to puncture into Gaigas' abdomen, forcing the sword up through his torso to exit through his mouth.

Gaigas was stunned, as blood began to flood from both the entrance and exit wounds of the sword that was penetrating his body. His frame was quivering as he gagged, before the sword was quickly pulled out to release the building pressure of blood to fly out upon release. Gaigas fell to his hands and knees, coughing up more blood as he struggled to breath through wheezing pain. He collapsed to his side, fighting to stay alive. Eclipse stepped over him, to slam down both of the waveblades into his back, letting loose more lightning to finish him off. Placing a foot to the Terra's back, she pried the blades out, looking over to Ashewyn as she used her shoulder to clean a few droplets of blood from her cheek.

There was a sudden thump that drew their attention, as Tyr upon his beast, Asmodeus, began storming through the swarms of Templars nearby, along with the Manticore lending support with other lesser-fiends. The rain was starting to clear up as the soldiers fought off the Manticore, putting it down quickly. Phish sped through the swarms, with her eyes set on the gigantic beast, focusing heavily on Tyr as well. She had Dimitri in mind as she carried a determined gaze, before lunging onto the leg of the daemoniorum to scale up it's body. She dug her long claws into it's furry hide, but Tyr caught notice of her. He shifted his position to standing, her sharp cat-like nails came slashing his way, but he caught her paws in his claws as the two tried to force each other back roughly. Swiftly, Phish leapt upwards, ramming her pawed feet forcefully into Tyr's chest as she slashed him repetitively, before he swung her around to throw her away from him. She quickly did a few flips in the air to land on the far end of Asmodeus' back, before lunging at Tyr aggressively.

She knocked him off his feet, plunging her claws in as she took him with her off the beast. The two tumbled from Asmodesus' back, and crashed to the ground in a scuffle, but Phish got her paws around his neck, gripping tightly to him. Tyr wasn't gonna have it though, he sunk his fangs into her arm, but she wouldn't budge. This crazed feline took the pain without much effort, to his surprise. He was struggling to even listen to her soul's inner desires at this point.

His normally flawless hearing was being obstructed, as his ears were starting to pop from the pressure. "Tyr!!" He faintly heard through his muffled ear-canal, letting his eyes shift to see Nobou trying to reach him from his fight with Manik. Blood was escaping punctures sections of Tyr's neck as Phish gripped tighter.

The next moment, the pressure was gone and he found himself coughing , and gasping for air. As his claw reached for his throat, he glanced upward to see Phish's bottom half hanging out from Asmodeus' jaw. However, before she could be devoured, a radiant light struck down from the heavens, slicing Asmodeus' head clean off.

"Asmo...de..us..." Tyr watched in horror, as his great beast fell from the mighty blow, which also released Phish from her certain doom.

She fell to the ground, shaking off the slime from inside the deceased monster's mouth, as she landed on her feet. Her ears fixed back as she leered to Tyr, but quickly shifted seeing boots land not far from as white angelic feathers floated down beside them. Dimitri had arrived, looking down sharply to Tyr.

"You wretched thing. You're lucky I have yet to slay you for allowing that disgusting mutt of yours to touch Phish in such a manner!" He scoffed, as his scar wrinkled up with agitation.

"Dimitri." Phish looked to him with adoring eyes; he did care about her!

"This may be a battlefield, but there's no escaping the punishment waiting for you, fiend!" Dimitri sneered to Tyr.

The fiend was clenching his claws angrily, as flames of spirit-fire began to appear, floating around him. "You're going to wish you hadn't done that." Tyr stated, coldly, letting his fierce eyes stare up to the Rhyme with intensity.

There was a glimpse from their position, somewhat in the distance of Jackyn and Shane engaging Flint in combat. Trigger was somewhere between the two conflicts in the sea of death and war, but was desperately making her way through it with sword and gun in hand. Her focus was Flint who was now forced onto the defensive from the battling duo. She could see his anger, and knew well enough he was right in feeling that way. She however felt partially guilty, but was determined to get to his side and aid him. However, her path was quickly cut off as the mask concealed fiend, Enoch, got in her way with his spiked bow-staff in tow.

"Enoch!?" She shrieked, in astonishment as she quickly took notice of his strange pigmented flesh and webbed fingers. She couldn't make out too much from behind his mask, but she knew exactly who he was. "Y-You're supposed to be-"

"Dead?" His voice rhetorically asked from behind the ever smiling mask upon his face.

"That Amygdala brought you back, just like she did with Astrid, didn't she?" Trigger grew tense, unsure if he was friend or foe at this point, but still shakily held her gun up in his direction.

"You want to see, don't you?" Enoch chuckled, reaching his hand to lift up his mask and unravel the bandage wrapped around his mouth to expose his extreme transition. His eyes held duel irises, and his mouth was fanged with massive scarring of skin around his jaw that led down his neck to his shoulder. Even his true face had that perpetual smile that his mask carried.

Trigger dropped her gun to cover her mouth with her hands. She had the look of immense shock and fear flowing through her body. With that he concealed his face once again behind that mask, and pulled to his bow-staff. Enoch rushed at her, as she hesitantly countered with her sword, almost begrudgingly. Her hands were visibly trembling, making her clasp on the sword rather weak. Airborne fiends went flying into battle against the aerial opponents, as they came out from the cracks in the ground, making Trigger stumble and fall to the ground as her sword went flying away from her, and the bladed end of Enoch's staff held inched away from her face. Flint seemed to realize Trigger was in danger, but he was in the middle of fighting Jackyn and Shane, as well as the marionettes that Shane controlled.

Above them, somewhere in the windy clouds was Skyletra and Nye facing off against one another. Nye was weaved from incoming spells, nearly being grazed with electrical energy as it rushed passed her like missiles. Nye took her sword with both hands, as another electrical wave came blasting her way. She gripped tightly, before swinging the blade at the blast, knocking it back into Skyletra. With a sharp scream, the Rhyme lost her control of flight, tumbling back before she caught herself midair. Nye flew after her, unleashing her whaling aura, blasting Skyletra with it rapidly, as it cut up the Templar's garbs.

Skyletra formed a magic shield, barracking back rest of the aura's incoming strikes. As it cleared, she caught the air with her angelic wings, and with a whoosh, she was flying back into the sky as she formed a sword of thunder. Swooping down at Nye, she swung her thunder sword at the Amygdala. Nye quickly deflected it with her wraith edge, with sparks flying to either side of them with rage. Skyletra pulled back, before striking down hard with the thunder sword, only to have it collide with Nye's. The two blades shoved against one another, and the sparks were flying even more rapidly. Skyletra kicked Nye back, before she spun back into the air.

Nye cast out another aura based strike, but it was quickly struck back with a side sweep of Skyletra's thunder sword."You'll have to try harder than that if you want to beat me!" She scoffed, diving mid air at Nye in a spiraling motion.

Skyletra was spinning in flight as she dove at Nye, with her magical power circling around her, like trails of lightning, before the two clashed in midair once again.

"Sooner or later I'll kill you, just like I wanted to when we were children!" Skyletra exclaimed, growing manic in tone; not even remotely caring that many others were dying below her in combat with the undead.

She slammed Nye backwards, whaling at her rapidly with incoming electrical spells followed by a strong gust of wing that knocked Nye back hard. Nye's wraith-edge was taking a heavy beating, and some of the elemental blasts ricocheted from the blade, cutting passed her shoulders and cheeks. Her clothes were being torn up from the impacts of spells that hit, and her face getting a few cuts as well. Nye was struggling, but she continued to persist, deflecting the last incantation, before pumping her wings to rush Skyletra's way. With her sword in tow, she prepared to strike as she watched the mage casting yet another electrical based spell.

The lightning blasted passed Nye, but in the same instance, her sword came at Skyletra, piercing through the Rhyme's chest as Nye was hit back by the lightning. Both fell backwards, as they lost flight. Skyletra's consciousness was fading, as she warily stared to the sword stuck through her, seeing if fade into nothing as the color red flew from her into the air. Her eyes stayed open, as her soul left her body, which continued to drop to the earth below. Nye on the other hand had fainted in the impact, her body cut up by the storm of lightning she just endured, but was tumbling out of the sky to the ground like a falling star.

On the ground, Jackyn broke passed Flint, leaving Shane to deal with the hellbent Lupis on his trail. He was running as fast as he could through the flood of bodies, and hoards of Templar and undead soldiers. He even leapt onto the back of a larger lesser-fiend to get more distance and he tried to keep up with Nye falling out of the sky.

"Nye!!" His voice shouted, as he urgently tried to make it in time.