Seth Hydra
How We Roll Winner Nov14
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Part 1:Elements Deceived: The Message Characters: Seth(ss2195, ie ME!!) Madara Uchiha(Muchiha) Popinloopy(Popinloopy) Wyrm(Flashbang) Hikari Yume(tommy2468) Dark Wizard Adrian(Darksaber22) Seth stood calmly, in the face of danger. All but a bush stood between him and imminent death. He had been sent to inspect a newly discovered Truphma camp. In recent days, more and more of such Truphma strongholds had been seen Lore wide, and their activity had increased to a peak, after a year in silence. Ever since their defeat almost a year back, the Truphma threat had seemingly subsided save a few camps appearing in remote corners of the planet. As Seth shook his head, to better cover himself from an incoming battalion of converted creatures, he began recollecting the events that occurred a week or so back. Each of the Paxia’s elemental leaders had received a mysterious letter from Xov, the leader of the Truphma. Each letter, explained Xov’s inexplicable desire to rid Lore of the Paxian Clans. The Paxian clans, once proud symbols of elemental unity now stood a sorry shadow of their once glorious past. Embroiled in inner turmoil and instability, they had become the target of many attacks and wars, most notably by the Numbered beasts. However, those being the new targets of the Truphma’s conquest could only spell more sorrow for the leaders of Paxia. That chain of events ended in a rare request from Igneox and other leaders of Paxia to set on a reconnaissance mission to find out the Truphma’s plans, as well as to take necessary action, in case of impending war. So far, Seth hadn’t noted anything worthwhile. The only thing he realised was the concentration of soldiers. Their numbers had grown exponentially even after many of their portals being destroyed. He realised that they were getting ready for a war, but against who? They wouldn’t dare take on any of the kingdoms or even Battleon head on, unless they had a death wish. Seth realised, that Xov meant everything her letter professed. She was going to lead a full scale assault against the Paxian. “Well, finally” He smirked to himself. He, along with a number of people knew that Paxia had an expiration date. Their futile efforts could only prolong it, but never fully nullify it. The Paxian had this situation coming many years before this. Ever since the events of The’Galin return to Lore. Paxia had never recovered from the seeds of Discord that had been sown by the agents of the network. But this wasn’t really his decision to make, who gets to survive and who doesn’t. This always was, and has been the trait that separated him from others, guardians and villains alike. He heeded on the advice given to him by Nemesis, before his death. How the alignment of a hero had changed because of a clouded sense of judgement. He suppressed his thoughts and continued, looking forth the camp. He then noticed a small contingent of Truphma soldiers escorting a general to a tent. He smiled “Bingo time for some real action” He said to himself. He sneaked around the perimeter of the camp, towards the Generals tent. A shadow jumped around at the edge of the camp, it wasn’t Truphma, rather one of his reconnaissance team members. The shadow materialised with a wisps of black smoke. A red aura gleamed around him. Uchiha Madara. His, red tinted Armor of Awe, gave a sense of power and foreboding. In his hand, he clinched a magnificent rapier, the Maurinelle's Melody. He stood, hunched beside Seth, and spoke in a deep voice. “Anything out of the ordinary?” Seth replied” No, nothing besides the fact, that their numbers have increased and they’re preparing for an assault. “ Madara spoke” Judging by their numbers, I’m assuming a large scale assault. The same, I witnessed at my reconnaissance point.” Seth asked” How did it go? Anything usefull?” Madara Smirked” Well, let’s just say, I’ve got a reinforcement of new recruits to my undead. One exhume was all it took.” They both sat examining their view; the Truphma Generals meeting had just begun. And with it, a whole lot of chatter. The bushes behind Seth and Madara ruffled, prompting both of them to grab their weapons. From behind the bushes, Wyrm the knight stood. His golden blade of awe drawn, ready for battle. Upon seeing a familiar, they withdrew their weapons. Wyrm spoke: “Hey, watch it!” Seth spoke “Sorry mate! We thought well, you were one of them”. Madara said” So Wyrm, what’s the situation? “ Wyrm spoke in a lost voice “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. War is imminent!” He continued “Judging by their rate of preparations, I’d say we will be fighting a full scale war, within the next week”. “How did it go at your encampment?” Startled, the three of them looked around to see a shadow with gleaming brown eyes. “You lot seem startled!” He spoke. “Umm....Darksaber?” Wyrm asked. “Obviously” the figure spoke. “So, how’d it go, Darksaber?” Seth asked. Darksaber spoke “Well, nothing besides what you all have discovered”. Seth shook his head “Well, I guess it’s on to plan B now.” Madara gleamed “Now, when the fun begins”. Popinloopy jumped out of a nearby tree. “Sup tootes!” He said “Hey, Madara, I just saw Eschaton nearby, he’s following me! “ Madara, in a wild bout of enthusiasm said “Where’s that Paladin? Where is He? I need to tease!” The rest of the group burst out in wild fits of laughter, with Popinloopy joining in. Madara surveyed the trees. “Hey, Eschaton’s not there! You! “He glared at Popinloopy. “I will unleash my undead legions upon...” Before he could complete that, an arrow went whizzing by. They turned around to see that their bouts of laughter had seemed to alert the whole encampment. Darksaber summoned his Lumpy Skull club, and said: “Well, this was meant to be plan B!” Wyrm summoned his blade of awe. The Golden blade sparkled with stark brilliance. He spoke: “True, but we were supposed to have a jump on them” Madara spoke “Very well, let’s at least show them, a small portion of what they will face in a week’s time”. Seth nodded “Alright, I’m itching for a killing! Time to practice for next week”. Before either side could make a move, a strange light appeared between the two sides. The light intensified and then subsided. Standing before them was a wizard. He turned back and smiled “I got this”. Hikari stood strong, facing the Truphma, his lumenomancer robes swaying in the wind. He began focussing his energy and his palms began glowing with concentrations of light energy. He announced “Pray to ye Gods Truphma, for you are about to face the true wrath of ...” Walking forth towards his adversaries, he tripped over a stray branch and let loose his light energy sending it away from his intended target and destroying a large portion of the Truphma’s encampment. A wild blazing fire broke out of the ruins of the camp, pan caking the remaining Truphma between eminent demise. However, the fire threatened by extending towards a forest. Seth realised that whatever they had to do, they had very little time. He spoke “Alright, you guys ready?” Madara gleamed “With pleasure”. Upon which he summoned an Undead archer from the ground and brandished his Rapier. Wyrm stepped forward clutching his blade, and Popinloopy followed suit, summoning a blade that appeared to be fashioned completely out of bone. “Time to taste my newest toy!” He said. Madara asked “Isn’t that the Geist blade?” Popinloopy beamed “Yep!” “Well, I’ll join you guys this time” Darksaber added. Saying this he summoned his Sila Staff, upon which he was surrounded by claws from his sides, which seemed to flicker between yellow and black. Hikari seemed to have recovered from his tumble “Wow, the Power rangers are posing “He said in a tone of humoured sarcasm. Popinloopy chirped “C’mon join us! For we have pictures of Dragons!” Hikari floated in by their side, again focussing Light energy into his palms. Darksaber spoke out “Well, let’s make this more interesting. Try taking out as many as you can, with only one hit”. “Alright” Madara mused, casting a mighty Tornado towards the Truphma, who could only run around in a desperate attempt to escape, but all in vain as the Vortex decimated a portion of the Truphma forces. Darksaber jumped off and commanded the claws surrounding to strike the Truphma and Hikari joined him, sending a massive pulse of light towards the Truphma. Their combined attacks spelt further misery for the Truphma. A few Truphma recovered tried to counter attack, but were halted on their tracks by Popinloopy and Wyrm, who continued their assault until only a few remained. Seth let out a rant, “Hey! Leave some for me, for Lorithia’s sake” “Oh sorry ‘bout that, go on... A few are left out for you” The gang sang out in unison. The few remaining Truphma let out a yelp, “Hey, you do realise that we’re here too” However, a more serious issue came forward; the Blazing wild fire that had erupted due to Hikari’s blast seemed to have grown exponentially. Seth concentrated on his body, preparing for the Transformation. Almost immediately, his hands turned into regal wings, whereas his legs morphed into talons, and a new pair of wings emerged on either side of his body. He had just morphed into the Lord of the Skies. As the remaining Truphma gazed with awe at Seth, Madara remarked “Show off! “ and the rest of them nodded in agreement. Seth, seemingly offended told them telepathically “I’m not a showoff, I just like transforming into this thing, really nice feeling you know”. Facing the fire and the Truphma, he let loose two massive cyclones towards them. The Vortex’s collided with the fire, extinguishing it and sending the Truphma blasting off. One hefty Truphma general however, remained. He was clearly weakened because of the onslaught. Wyrm walked up to him and said “Go, tell your Xov what you saw today.” “Tell, him that whatever happens in the next few days...It’s all on him. Maybe your Truphma army may attack, and maybe we’re too late to save Paxia. But tell him, that If can’t protect it, She can be damn right sure We’ll avenge it!.” As the general scurried off, Seth remarked “Exactly how many times have you seen the Revengers?” Hikari chuckled “Yeah, Antoine Estark much? Laughing and chuckling, and in a joyous mood, they began their journey to Paxia. A calm breeze passed them, as they walked their way. Only one thing bothered Seth’s mind. Why couldn’t they have shawarmas! Elements Deceived: Inglorious Bastions Characters: Xage, Seth(ss2195) Hict (Hict98) Moe(moe) Lord Taelord(Heroes of the scape) Storm Silverwing(battlemaster25) The cold air whistled a shriek, and rubbed past Xage’s face, revitalising him and filling with a cold sense of power as he flew across from the Aerodu airship towards his rendezvous point at the Igneus Volcano with his brother, Seth. Still a young squire in Battleon’s defence forces, Xage had become quite a skilled user of Magic, as well a fine manipulator of beasts. His training in the art of Necromancy had been halted since the puncturing of the energy lines a few months, however that event had given him a whole new perspective about one’s power. Something, which even the mightiest of wizards and warriors failed to realise, that power doesn’t last forever. The news about the evident invasion of the Paxia by Truphma forces had spread like a wildfire, causing widespread panic amongst the clan leaders as well as the clan inhabitants. This had prompted widespread guerrilla attacks on Truphma strongholds by Guardians and adventurers lore wide. This wave of excitement of the impending war had a mesmerising effect on Xage, leading him to ask for a rare request to his brother Seth for a chance to partake on a guerrilla mission himself. His sole purpose of meeting Xage, was to know the information of his new teammates and this intended mission point. As he neared the volcano, he could make out the outline of a solitary figure, standing at the edge of the volcano. Xage landed at the edge of the volcano’s mouth, disturbing the wind around him. “Bro!” Xage exclaimed, chirping with excitement. “I just heard about Xov’s declaration. Seems a bit farfetched don’t you think so? I mean, you don’t think they can destroy an entire continent. Seth disagreed “I don’t think so Bro. Judging by her attitude and my past experiences with her, I assume she wouldn’t throw such a gamble, unless she was capable of pulling it off. We shouldn’t really underestimate them, granted they probably won’t destroy the whole Island, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be able to cause a great deal of damage”. “Xage, now regarding your mission” Seth spoke in a more serious voice. “You have temporarily been assigned to Guerrilla team no.7. Your teammates for this operation will be Hict, and Moe. Those two are the only ones that have recruited so far to that team, but you can expect more when you reach the rendezvous point at Battleon. Xage spoke out “Wait, are you talking about Hict the Immortal and Moe the Swords master? Aren’t I a bit of a novice to be paired up with them?” Seth slightly amused “Yes you are correct, but technically both of them are master swordsman.” “You were filled in with them, because you’re the only one who has volunteered.” He continued “Now, I suggest you hurry of to Battleon ASAP, considering you might be the only one left before the assault on the camp south west of Battleon.” Their conversation continued on for a while, until Xage bid him adieu and flew off towards Battleon. On his way, he watched as small corps being gathered to prepare for the defence of Paxia. As he entered Battleon’s skies, he could sense a tense atmosphere. Large groups of people had gathered at the front porch of the guardian tower, where Sir Nimrod stood addressing. He landed in the town square, just a few paces off Yulgar’s inn. As he began his walk, something bumped into him from behind. With a loud bang, Seth fell to the ground followed by another clunk of metallic sound beside him. “Oi” Xage yelled, turning around to see the culprit but instead found Moe. “Sorry, man.... didn’t see ya” Moe said sheepishly. Moe recovered first, and helped Xage up to his feet. Following the commotion, Hict emerged from the shadows, with a wry smile on his face. “Perfect timing Xage! We’ve been contemplating your arrival, as you can see the others have arrived as well!” Xage, confused said “Wait, I thought the team was only you, Moe and me!” Hict spoke “True, but we’ve been advised that there’d be safety in numbers. Since many three-member squads have suffered at the hands of the Truphma. Most of the successful missions involved teams with more members”. Moe chipped in”yeah, plus we got a few more volunteers” he motioned towards a couple of figures standing in the shadows of Yulgar’s inn”. “I’m Taelord, Lord Taelord” a figure walked in with an elegant stride. His wings overlapping his armor, giving the appearance of a cloak. “And I’m Storm Silverwing, a pleasure to meet you” A lithe figure approached in a red body length cloak, with feathers strewn all over the back, a symbol of his allegiance to Aerodu. Xage recognised him of course; he was a fellow Aerodu clan member. He replied in his most courteous voice “The pleasure’s all mine Lord Taelord and Storm”. “Now that the pleasantries are over, let’s get back on business” Hict interrupted. “Our focus of attack is a Truphma camp a few leagues south west of Battleon. Our plan will be simple, Quick, fast, efficient and deadly”. Moe added “Our primary weapon here is stealth. The camp is extremely remote, and in an extremely hostile conditions”. “Despite this we have the element of surprise, let’s make it count” Moe concluded. “I have one question” Storm interrupted. “This base of theirs is probably their strongest, on this side of the continent. Even with stealth, there’s only so many we can take out before they take charge against us”. Hict asked” So what do you suppose we should do?” Xage squeaked, noticeably intimidated by his current company “We could take out their core reactor” All eyes turned upon him, further creating a doubt in Xage. However this broke when Taelord spoke “That’s a good idea! We know each of the main Truphma camps have a massive energy source, their Core reactors. Unstabilizing it will blow everything within a mile, taking out the Truphma’s portal as well”. Hict spoke “That’d work. All we need is a distraction to keep the Truphma occupied, till someone messes up the reactor”. Silverwing intervened “But the blast will be strong enough to vaporise us as well. We won’t be able to escape it in time!” There was a hush of silence as the team members toiled their minds for an answer. Xage finally broke the silence “I might be able to stop a part of the blast, rather my Golem”. Saying that, he summoned a Marble Azamay golem, and attached to its centre a strange looking rune stone. The golem’s eyes began glowing with a greenish glow and it projected out a force-field. Hict chuckled “A Chi shield is it? Well it just might do the trick”. Moe interrupted “Even the golem will be able to absorb only a particular amount of the blast, it won’t be able to stop the whole thing”. Taelord nodded in agreement “Aye, we need something better”. Hict tensed, and then said “Well, for the time being we’ll stick to our original plan. We can accommodate and adapt according to the situation. Let’s go, time is of the essence”. Saying that, Hict motioned to Silverwing, who at once whipped up a fierce tailwind around the group. Xage smiled. He knew that skill, only very experienced members of the Aerodu clan could whip up tailwinds to provide flight to others. Xage focused his magic, and at once began levitating. Lord Taelord unfurled his wings, and with one giant flap, flew high into the sky. Once all of them were airborne, they made their way towards the Southwest to one of the largest Truphma encampments. After what seemed like half an hour, they arrived a few leagues off the encampment. Xage collapsed to his knees. Clearly he was worn down by the amount of mana he had spent over his journey from Paxia. Storm also fell back into the sand. Sensing their weakness, Moe handed mana potions to both of the Aerodu clan members. Lord Taelord spoke “Ok, catch a breath you two, can’t have a squad that’s completely depleted”. Xage looked around at the desert expanse. The Sun had begun its descent into the night. Moe motioned “Ok people, we don’t have much time. We have to finish this mission before sunset, else it might turn into a slaughter”. Xage asked “So, what’s the plan?” Sneak attack or blow up the reactor?” There was a period of silence, since no one knew which way to proceed. Storm’s words broke the silence “I think our best bet is to destroy the reactor. Clearly me and Xage don’t have the energy to participate in a full scale assault”. Taelord spoke “True, It might be our best chance at this. But how will we escape the blast radius?” Xage spoke “Well, since we won’t be participating in the fighting to much, me and Storm can conserve our energy, long enough to create a strong vortex to take us out”. Moe summoned a sword, the blade that began crackling with Energy. “I guess it’s settled then, it’s a plan”. Both Hict and Taelord nodded in agreement. “Let’s split up gang, Moe, Taelord with me! Xage and Storm as soon as you destroy the controls, it wil give us about 1 minute to get out of the blast radius. So as soon as your mission is completed, start charging up your vortexes”. “Right” Storm replied. “Best of luck holding them off” Xage screamed, as they ran off towards the Inside of the camp. Taelord smirked “Time to make these wretched life forms wish they’d never crossed swords with us”. Saying this, he brandished a blue rapier, the Witch waster. “Time to leave them wasted” he declared. Moe asked “Umm... Taelord, sorry Lord Taelord... Don’t you think that came out a bit wrong?” Taelord grimaced “Sorry got a bit carried away!” Hict smiled, and summoned a blue blade in his hand. The blade caused the air around it swirl, and the swirling began gaining momentum. “Well, let’s get them the fight of their lives” he smiled. With a swift motion of his blade arm, he sent a shockwave towards the encampment with his sword, which sliced the walls of the camp, and caused a massive commotion among the shaken Truphma hordes. The three of them charged into the Truphma, with a war cry. Moe was the first to make contact. He feinted a stab causing the Truphma to jump backwards and then slammed the flat part of his blade sending the Truphma flying, knocking out roughly five or six more with it. Hict strode into the battle, hacking and slashing away Truphma with nothing more than swift and fluidic motions of his wrist. Lord Taelord flew into the encampment and sent a barrage of razor sharp feathers into the incoming forces, keeping their numbers in check. Taelord thought to himself “We can keep this onslaught for only so long. Soon our energy too will be expended. Those two really need to act quickly”. He tensed, as he sent another shockwave barrage at the Truphma. Meanwhile, far away from the commotion Xage and Storm crept stealthily towards the reactor room. Storm had caused the air around them to cloak them, leaving them invisible. The only thing they had to be careful about was avoiding contact with the incoming Truphma forces. They walked as closely to the walls as possible. Soon, they could see the room; the only hiccup being the guards standing with spears. Xage whispered “What do we do now?” Storm answered “Wait till the coast is clear! There’s no point rushing into this. We’ve only got one shot, can’t miss the chance to blow up this place cause opportunities like this come once in a life time!” Xage, puzzled “Did, you just sing a part of Lose You..” Storm cut him off “Shh..... Look, someone’s coming!” A dozen or so heavily armed Truphma soldiers began marching through. Storm thought to himself “This can’t be good. We’re running out of time!”. Meanwhile, at the frontline the offensive trinity of Swordsmen had hardly seemed to break a drop of sweat. Moe exclaimed “I think I’m enjoying this”. Hict smiled “Yeah, I haven’t had this much fun since...Frostval!” Taelord slashed past a Truphma “What’s taking them so long?” Moe slashed his way through column of foot soldiers “Well, it can’t be easy sneaking in can it?” Hict plunged his blade into the ground, sending shockwaves towards the incoming Truphma, knocking them off”. “Give them some time you two. One wrong move on their part, and we’re all going down!” Moe spoke, as he dodged an incoming barrage of Arrows “Yeah, let’s keep the fighting focussed towards us”. With that, he leapt into the air and slashed a Truphma behemoth into two halves. He gasped “Anyone still keeping count? “ Taelord smiled as he used his wings as a shield to block the incoming arrows “Mine’s 33”. Moe slightly confused asked “How come? I’m still at 25!” Hict let out a small laugh “Well, both of you seriously need to up your game, I’m at 53!” I front of the room, Storm stood calm. He had just stabbed the Guards with the feathers of his robes. He asked “C’mon Xage, let’s go! “ Xage hurried into the room, only to be cornered by a dozen or so Truphma. They spoke almost in unison “Intruder alert! Exterminate! Exterminate!” Xage summoned his staff, and focussed his energy. Soon, six vortexes of air appeared around him, and with a motion of his wrist, they slammed into the Truphma workers. The few that remained charged towards him. SWOOSH! Razor sharp feathers flew past Xage and struck the Truphma, instantly killing them. Before Xage could say anything, Storm strolled past him “Don’t mention it”. “Now, how exactly are we supposed to do this?” Storm thought out loud. Xage said “It’s Simple”. He brought forward his arm, and soon a red glow began emitting from it. Almost instantaneously, the reactor was surrounded by flames, and the machines around seemed to have combusted. Storm turned to Xage, his expression glum “You have got to be kidding me! That’s it? No complex buttons, no failsafe passwords, nothing?” Xage reiterated innocently “Well, that’s how they do it in movies right?” Storm thought for a moment “Yeah, I guess”. And both of them dashed towards the rest of the gang. Each hoping they could make it in time before the impending explosion. But before they were half way through, they heard a loud explosion. The reactor had overloaded, causing the room to be engulfed in crimson flames. Soon, the whole encampment would catch fire, before being incinerated by the explosion. Moe, Hict and Taelord stopped in their tracks, along with all the Truphma they were fighting. “Oh, no... Not now, not so fast!” Hict thought to himself. Before either side could move, strange green vortexes of air knocked away the remaining Truphma, and behind them they could see Xage and Storm running towards them. “The reactor’s unstabilizing at a faster rate than we’d calculated. We need to get out of here now!” Storm bellowed. “Xage, c’mon!” He motioned towards Xage, who quickly began muttering incantations beneath his breath. Storm began concentrating his energy, causing the air around them to swirl and making them all rise. A green vortex began covering them as they all began levitating. And soon, the group were on their way out of the camp. However, a massive shockwave shook them, as the Reactor exploded, and soon a colossal fireball began engulfing everything as it expanded at a staggering pace. Moe yelped “I don’t think we’re gonna make it!” Taelord spoke grimly “It’s been a real honour serving our land beside you all!” Xage faked a smile “Well, they say the last ride is the greatest ride!” Soon, the fire ball was almost upon them. Hict spoke coldly “Don’t worry! I got this. “ Storm asked “What’d you mean?” Hict replied coldly “You’ll see!! “ He summoned his wind blade again, and flew out of the vortex. He lifted his sword, which began glistening with a greenish grey glow. And then in one swift motion, he sent a shockwave towards the vortex, accelerating them well beyond the fireballs speed. They began moving at such a breakneck speed, that in a moment Hict was all but a tiny figure against an expanse of crimson. A moment later, that tiny figure was engulfed in a sea of red. The shockwave subsided just as they neared Battleon. Xage and Storm completely drained of their energy collapsed, removing the vortex and levitation and sending them all into free fall. Moe caught hold of Xage, and Taelord caught Storm, and they both jumped in midair, landing just a few paces of Yulgar’s. “Medics! We need Medics” Taelord screamed out. Soon, they were surrounded by a sea of Guardians, who immediately began tending to Xage and Storm. A blue streak appeared across the horizon, and soon a blue horse was visible, along with a rider. Soon, the horse Svadlifari appeared and its rider jumped off. He removed his helmet, to reveal his face. Seth spoke in light tone “So I guess that’s mission accomplished! Well done, all of you! “ Moe said grimly “Yeah, but we have one casualty! Hict didn’t make it”. Seth narrowed his eyebrows “Hict, didn’t make it? Sure mate, whatever floats your boat!” “Care to join me for a drink?” He motioned to them. Moe and Taelord helped up Xage and Storm, and they followed Seth into Yulgar’s. A booming, yet familiar voice greeted them in, but it wasn’t Yulgar or Hans. Rather besides Seth stood a living, breathing Hict. “SHANNARO!!!” Moe exclaimed with delight, dropping Xage in the process. “But..How?” Lord Taelord couldn’t believe his eyes. “We saw...in that...fireball”. Seth laughed, almost hysterically, and was joined by Hict who almost fell over laughing. Seth calmed down, and spoke “You do realise that Hict is IMMORTAL right? That’s why the name Hict the Immortal!” Hict exclaimed “Yeah, don’t you know? True gamers never die, they just respawn!” With that, Seth and Hict once again burst into hysterical laughter. Soon, they all had a booth to themselves, where Seth and Yulgar, sat intently, listening to the blow by blow details of the mission by Moe and Xage. One battle had been one, but thousands more remained. But a small time with friends wouldn’t hurt.As a wise man surrounded by flesh eating, dull rotting humanoids once said “Enjoy the little things! Part 3:Elements Deceived : Enter the A-team Characters: All of the above! The Destruction of the Sub-Battleon station of the Truphma had created a small Dent in their plans of an assault, a small dent but a dent nonetheless. However, this didn’t seem to sit well with Xov, who now had taken a personal hand in the protection of their camps. “This is unacceptable! Such a shame, that over a hundred of our kind lost their lives because of a team of human filth”. “How many of these wretches attacked our encampment?” She asked. “Umm... five sir...ma’am” A Truphma soldier kneeling before her stammered. “Unacceptable!” She bellowed. Suddenly from a nearby door a large general entered, panting. He was covered in blood and filth, his white uniform giving off a grey shade. “Lady Xov... the Camp... attacked... Warning...” And he collapsed. “Who is this?” Xov screamed. “What happened to him”. “He is general Galbatorix. We lost transmission from his encampment a few days back” A Truphma spoke. “We believe, his camp was also attacked, and he may be the only survivor”. He continued. “That’s It!!” Xov screamed, her voice reverberating across the room. “Now, its our move “she snarled. Meanwhile, in a shady room in Battleon’s inn, “Alright, Adrian what’d you see?” Seth asked. “Xov’s becoming more careful. Those attacks on two of her strongholds have made her more cautious. She’s personally sent her handpicked body guards to guard her main encampment” Adrian said. “This just went from bad to worse!” Moe exclaimed. “Taking out one of their biggest encampments to toil the war was bad, but extra protection? On top of over a thousand Truphma” Madara sighed. Hict smirked “Well, well... I love a good challenge. This just become more interesting!”. “This is outright outrageous!” Xage squeaked. Hikari stood silent, and then he muttered “So, what’s the plan big guy?” Seth’s eyes began glowing with a reddish glow, and ten sheets of paper flew up, and one by one were given to those present in the room. Taelord smiled “This is good”. Storm studied the paper, and then nodded. Wyrm grunted “Will work!” Popinloopy smiled “I’m gonna enjoy this”. Moe exclaimed “This is outrageous! Its madness! It’s perfect! “ “It gets better” Seth gleamed, and he put a lollipop in his mouth. Part 4: Elements Deceived: Planning makes Perfect! Characters: All of the above! Introducing Abaraa,Master of death(Abaraa) It was the dawn of a new day, and the beginning of the Truphma’s downfall. We’ll at least one of their main encampments. Just a couple of days back, Seth had created a plan. A plan so ingenious, so deadly, so eerily outrageous...It was almost perfect. Perfect enough to get them killed that is! And today was day of that plan’s execution. One more member had joined their A-team, Abaraa or more common from his alias “the master of Death”. The whole squad stood around a circular table, completely geared for battle. Seth, the orchestrator of the plan spoke “Alright men, this is the final de-briefing before we begin this mission”. “In front of you, there are forms which require your signatures. In event of your untimely demise, your relatives, next of kin or your unfortunate ghosts cannot sue organisations such as the guardians, the Paxians Inc, or me”. Hict looked around in front of him, then behind, then again in front of him. Puzzled, he said “How come there isn’t one for me?” Seth said “You don’t need one. You’re immortal”. Lord Taelord coughed “Aren’t we all immortal in a way. I mean, the Reaper just sends us back anyway!” Seth grinned “This is just in case he doesn’t”. Moe asked “Ok, we all know what we’re supposed to do, but what’s the whole plan?” Seth grinned “Glad you asked”. He motioned to Madara “If you would?” Madara clapped his hands, extinguishing all candle flames, except for the ones from the main fireplace. Madara then concentrated, and his eyes began glowing with a reddish light. His eyes then projected a holographic layout. Hikari, seemingly more interested spoke “What’s that?” Storm gasped “Is that...? But how...?” Wyrm spoke “That’s a Truphma camp isn’t it?” Adrian beamed “Not just any camp. They’re stronghold in the midlands” Abaraa, the latest member asked “But how did you guys manage to do it? This is accurate down to the last detail!” Madara exclaimed “Well, we have Adrian to thanks for that. His shadow morph powers are amazing assets when it comes to espionage”. Adrian blushed “Oh, stop it you“. “Alright, enough with the brony talk. What’s this about?” Popinloopy grunted. “What’s wrong Popinloopy? Taelord asked. “Oh, don’t worry; he just lost a competition, trying locking n popping!” Moe grinned. “Alright, back on topic please! I can’t keep this holograph on forever!” Madara shot out. “Why is he acting like a moderator?” Xage asked. Wyrm whispered “It’s because he didn’t get to joke around Eschaton. Now listen”. “Continuing” Seth spoke, “There are currently twelve members in this Alpha team. Our plan is to split up into three independent A-teams, where each team will work to accomplish a certain agenda, Offense, Stealth and Diversion”. “Wait, since we’re the A-team, splitting up makes us the B-teams right?” Hict joked. “Yeah, else us guys as a whole should be the AAA –team!” Popinloopy pointed out. “You know we aren’t a battery right!” Taelord stated. “As I was saying, members will be divided into three groups, based on their individual strengths” Seth continued. “First up, the offense team will include Hict, Madara, Moe and Me”. “Second, the stealth team will include Lord Taelord, Adrian. Storm and Xage”. “Finally, the distraction team will be Wyrm, Hikari, Popinloopy and Abaraa”. “Now please arrange yourselves into your respective teams” he ended. But the groups were busier discussing amongst themselves. “I’m Hannibal Smith” “No, I am, you’re totally Murdoch!” “Hell no, you’re totally Face!” Madara stopped his holograph. Both he and Seth stood silent, gazing as their team immersed in deep, totally unrelated discussion. Madara grimaced “Now I know how forum moderators feel”. “I know right!” Seth responded. Storm, the only one besides Seth and Madara uninvolved in the rants bellowed “Enough!” “This is serious people!” He continued. Madara began focusing again, but was stopped by Hikari “Chill, I got this!” Saying that, he placed a small cube with a projector on it. In an instant, the projection of the Camp layout appeared once again. Madara confused, asked “Where’d you get that?” Hikari smiled “Got it from Tep, who got it from Kamui”. “Alright Madara, if you’d care to explain the layout” Seth requested. “Right” Madara spoke, cleared his throat and continued “First up, the overview”. “It’s a square shaped camp with fifteen foot walls covering it. However, Adrian’s scouting insists that the Western wall is slightly thinner than the rest, and the eastern wall is thicker. Clearly, they’re not really got at architecture” Popinloopy chirped “I think that’s a bit obvious”. “Continuing, there is a circular wall surrounding the wall surrounding the walls, providing further protection to the encampment. However, the wall is still thinner towards the west is thinner.” “This may be because, the entrance to the camp is located towards the east. Now, their core reactor, the largest on Lore is located at the dead centre of the camp” Madara ended. “Right, that’s me now” Taelord continued. “There are four guard towers located at the edges of the camp, which have approximately fifty guards more or less stationed at all times”. “Now, there are eight major power lines that go out from the main reactor. Four of them go to the guard towers; two go to the portals, one to the quarters and one to the main command centre”. “Ok” Hikari asked, “So we’re supposed to attack the electricity lines?” “Correct” Seth nodded in confirmation, “But not entirely”. “You see, these power lines branch into sub lines that power the other buildings in the camp. If you cut off the power to the towers, the communication complex, the ammunition and the Generals quarters will experience a complete blackout” Seth continued. “So in order for the plan to work, we need to sever off the power to the towers and the main command centre.” “But what about the portals? What about their power?” Moe asked. Storm, who was silently listening until this point of time, spoke “Once we cut off communication and control the reactor, the portals won’t be a problem”. “So, once we do that, then what?” Hikari asked. “Well, then we attach C4 explosives, and get out” Adrian spoke. “That came out like a psychotic kid you know!” Abaraa smiled. “My teacher gave me a C4 grade; I gave her house a C4 bomb!” “Just to be sure, shouldn’t we just place a few people to guard the portals” “That’s where we’ll come in” Hict spoke. “While the distraction team, well distracts and the stealth team cuts off the power and gets to the reactor, we will guard the portals and stop any incoming threats and hostilities that are headed towards the main reactor”. Popinloopy asked “True, but there will be incoming forces from all four directions. That means, each of you will have to hold off a point”. Moe smiled “Leave that to us, we’ll handle it!” “So” Taelord spoke “We will attack the entrance, creating a diversion” Popinloopy grinned “Yep, they all die in this version!” Abaraa spoke “Yup, you’re totally Murdoch!” Hict continued “We, the offense team will take out the guard towers, dividing their forces long enough to give the Stealth team to take over the Reactor”. “But, before that” Storm added “me and Taelord have to take out the power lines from the sky” Taelord nodded “Yes, we’ll first create a diversion, taking out the power lines with our feathers” Hikari snorted. Popinloopy asked “Waddup?” Hikari spoke with a wide grin “No, was just thinking about birdbrains...” Taelord looked offended “Hey! I think of myself as the Elemental hero avian!” Hikari exploded “You’re still half birdbrain!” Storm rebuked “That’s enough Hikari, get serious!” Hikari apologised, still laughing however. “Then we, the offense team will take out the western towers, and take on the Quarters” Moe added. “At which point, we the invisibles sneak in take over the reactor and cut off the power” Xage continued. “Actually” Madara intervened. “Only two of you will set up the C4. Xage you’re gonna have to set up barriers towards the south along with Adrian”. Wyrm pointed out “I thought the offense team is gonna handle the defence of the reactor” Madara said “True, but just in case considering the main command centre as well as the generals quarters are south of the Reactor”. Abaraa then asked “Wait, how many Generals actually are we talking about?” Adrian replied “Four that I’ve seen. Originally, it was run by a vicious Truphma general named Bayyne”. “However since our attacks, security has been tightened and three more were sent by Xov for better supervision”. “Who are they?” Hict asked. “General Galbothoricks, the general we let go, then general Waydurr and general Morhisson”. Adrian concluded. “Why do they sound like I’ve heard those names before?” Hikari questioned. “They’re Truphma mate! Don’t expect any innovative names... They’ve just modified names of other villains, Vader, Bane, Galbatorix and well Morrison” Abaraa smirked. “Alright...That’s enough talk. I’ve factored in enough contingencies in case something doesn’t go according to plan” Seth spoke. “Everybody, stick to the plan!” Madara pointed out. “We’ve spent a long time on this one, Seth and me”. “Hey! I’m the one who did all the brainstorming” Seth fumed. “All you did was chat up my cousin sister! “. Madara blushed. “Wait how much time did you actually spend on this?” Wyrm asked. “I am offended, how dare you question my integr...” Seth argued. “Just tell us!” Hikari demanded. “An hour.... forty minutes if you take away the time I had snacks!”. “We’re risking our lives for a plan you made in forty minutes?” Popinloopy exclaimed. “Hey give him a minute, he’s good! Give him ten minutes, he’s great.... Give him forty five minutes, he’s unbeatable!” Hict defended. Taelord replied “I think you’ve got the time line mixed up”. “It’s supposed to be good minute, great hour, unbeatable six months” Taelord said. “Hey, that’s supposed to be my line!” Seth exclaimed. “You’re Face remember, Hict?” Seth concluded. “Wow, you realise you just called him two names in one sentence!” Adrian sorted. “Yeah, that’s pitiful, Seth!” Madara laughed. “It’s PITY-FOOL Madara, say it nicely! Pity-FOOL!” Popinloopy explained. “Right people, get it on track” Storm interrupted. “We’re gonna meet up at Paxia in three hours time. Apparently, Paxius wants to give us something which he thinks is gonna be helpful! Abaraa included. “Wow, Paxius helping us personally? That’s gonna be different ‘innit!” Xage joked. “Yeah, I wonder if it’s a C-130 fighter plane with a tank, which we’re gonna fly!” Abaraa snorted. “Really? How clichéd do you think the writer is? Hict asked. “Based on our dialogues so far, I’d say very” Storm joked. After a loud bout of applause and laughter, the team made their way out of Xage’s dingy Forest mansion. Their goal clear, all that stood between them and victory were weird, dull creatures without the slightest bit of brain. YOLOSWAG anyone? Part 5: Elements Deceived: Power of Four? Characters in this chapter: Dark Wizard Adrian(Darksaber22) “Everything seems to be going according to plan” A tall, stubbly creature spoke. He resembled a wise sage, yet he looked tainted. He was bald, and had a potbelly and a really scraggly grey beard. He would have passed off as a human any day, but the feature that gave it away were his eyes. They were triangular in shape, and were pupil less. They resembled the eyes of a Truphma. “Those foolish heroes believed everything we told them” He continued. “Excellent” Xov purred, clearly pleased. “So, they’ve taken in our scout without a moment of hesitation is it?” “Bayy” a gargantuan emerged from the shadows. “Bayyne!” He bellowed, pounding his chest. The creature wore a breathing apparatus, which covered a majority of his face. He was heavily built, with rippling, bulging muscles. He wore combat boots, and a Truphma coat whose sleeves had been torn off, and a pair of cargo trousers. His eyes, were vacant and pupil less, like other Truphma and he wore a garland of leaves around his neck, and had a single long leaf on his forehead. After a bout of heavy breathing, a muffled but powerful voice filled the room “We may have given the exact schematics of this encampment, but in return we will be able to sweep away all the members of this so called A-team”. Soon the person came out in the light. He resembled a Cyborg, with a kabuto helmet, and a respirator. His movement was strained, however he was heavily armed. “Are you sure lady Xov that you don’t wish to see their downfall? He continued. Soon, another being hovered into the room. It was a creature that didn’t resemble anything found on lore. It had the head of a cobra, and it wore an army cap. It’s body was covered by a circular armor, and the only other visible body part was its slithering tail, at the bottom of its circular hovercraft. Its hovercraft was painted with war medals and stars. On its sides were two colossal double barrelled machine guns. It spoke “Yessss lady Xovv! Allow usss to ssserve you the pleasssure of crussshing down their lassst resssissstance!” It finished. Xov spoke “I wish I could, Vayyder and Morhisson. But I must tend to the other camps as well....” The wild wrestler general pounded his chest and roared. Xov, displeased screamed “Bayyne, control yourself. Save the pounding for later”. The creature named Bayyne nodded, and said “Bay!” in agreement. Finally, she turned to the sage like Truphma “I hope Galbathoricks, you don’t disappoint me again!” Saying that, she proceeded outside the room. All eyes turned towards the Fat Truphma general. He stood lost in thought, his eyes however gleamed with a menacing prowl. He said to himself “Oh, I promise lady Xov, I promise”. He then bought out a remote and clicked a combination of buttons. Soon the walls of the room parted, to reveal a prison. Electricity seemed to surge through its jagged bars, and inside it stood a lone prisoner. The main scout of the A-team, their best espionage agent, Adrian stood, his eyes sparkling with fury. The cyborg general turned towards Adrian “It’s amazing isn’t it? What a few anti magic and anti shadow runes coupled with an electrical prison can accomplish....” “Capture the great ssshadow morpher” Morhisson hissed. Galbothoricks nodded in agreement, and set out a glee “Indeed, everything is going according to plan!” Part 6: Elements Deceived: The Fatal Flaw Characters: Dark wizard Adrian(Darksaber22) Popinloopy(Popinloopy) Madara Uchiha(Muchiha) Moe(moe) Xage, Seth(ss2195) Hict (Hict98) Moe(moe) Lord Taelord(Heroes of the scape) Wyrm(Flashbang) Moe stood calmly in front of the Truphma gate, clenching his Midnight Dragon blade, as a hundred or so Truphma stood on the wall. The Truphma had set him firmly in their sight, their crossbows and guns aimed at him. He stood tall, with a calm poker face masking his true feeling. He thought to himself “Why me?” But he knew why, he himself had volunteered. His voice echoed inside his head “I can handle it guys, this is gonna be a piece of cake!” Now he knew how wrong he’d been. A stubbly figure appeared, from the description by Adrian he recognised him as General Galbothoricks. The general turned to him and spoke, “Hello adventurer, or should I say Moe!” Moe was surprised “Wait, how did he know my name” He thought to himself. But then, he remembered Paxus’s words “There is someone in your team who’s shady, someone who isn’t what they seem”. Moe erased his thoughts, and announced “I’m Moe, master swordsmen and I’m here to ruin you!” “Muahahahahhaha!” Galbathoricks laughed. “You really think you can take out a whole cantonment of elite Truphma soldiers and me aswell?” He bellowed. “Just Who the hell do you think I am?” Moe smirked. “This” he pointed to his blade “Is a blade that can pierce the heavens, what chance do two badly engineered walls have?” A figure jumped off in front of him, in a sparkling white armor. “I believe it was the drill that will pierce the heavens” the man spoke. He removed his helmet to reveal his face, and it was Hict. “Get your references straight” Moe smirked, everything seemed going according to plan. He and Hict together were one formidable team, strong and yet diverse enough to surprise their enemies. Hict looked at Moe, and then asked “What are you waiting for? Well, suit up!” Moe said “Yeah, sorry forgot!” He then clenched his fists and muttered “Turtle sage mode!” And with a whirl of smoke, stood a tiny blue moglin, on top of a giant turtle. On its shell was a giant cannon. The little blue moglin held a grey shield, the Chieftains ironthorn and the midnight dragon blade. “Ready” the blue creature muffled. However, the General had his own plans. He thought to himself “I must finish off this threat before they have a chance to make a move. Even if we know their plan, we must avoid being complacent” “Archers, at the ready” he motioned towards the Truphma, who aimed their weaponry. “Fire” he screamed. Following his words, a sea of arrows made their way towards the two. However before the arrows could reach them, half a dozen vortexes of swirling wind collided with the arrows, knocking them off and striking the Truphma soldiers who stood at the camp walls. Galbathoricks was stunned. “This wasn’t supposed to be part of their plan” he thought to himself. The vortexes subsided to show Xage floating in midair, wind swirling around him. “That’s are cue” Moe exploded. He motioned to his mount and the cannon on the giant tortoise’s shell took aim, and let loose a massive volley of water. The force of impact knocked down half the wall, exposing the inner fortified wall. “Now, my turn” Hict declared, as he once again put on his helmet and summoned a gigantic lance. “If I’m gonna drill to the heavens, no matter what’s in my way, I won’t stop! Once I‘ve drilled through, it means I’ve won! Just who the hell do you think I am?” He screamed as he rushed forward, with his lance spinning like a drill. The collision of his lance sent a massive shockwave, which left nothing but rubble in place of the two walls. Galbothoricks, who was once again on the ground stood stunned.”But how” he thought to himself. This wasn’t part of their plan, the wind mage wasn’t supposed to be here, he was supposed to be sneaking into their reactor, unless.. Xage sent a barrage of powerful flames at the General, which he dodged, and he tried unsheathing his sword, but it was knocked off right of his hands by a barrage of feather. Lord Taelord swooped up and knocked him out. A few Truphma tried to counter strike, but were stopped in their tracks by Wyrm and Popinloopy. Wyrm struck down a Truphma, and then slashed his way through another one. Popinloopy struck down a column of soldiers with an Awe blast from his staff. However, a few soldiers managed to get a jump on them and pinned down Popinloopy, and cornered Wyrm. “Time to meet your doom!” A Truphma soldier hissed, as he tried plunging a spear into Wyrm’s chest, but was instead impaled by a flaming blade held by Xage .The surrounding soldiers looked stunned and hesitated; this gave Popinloopy and Wyrm enough time to fight back and they struck down the remaining Truphma regiment. The General Galbathoricks looked stunned; his entire plan was falling apart right in front of his eyes. He looked around to see lifeless bodies of Truphma soldiers, and he saw the living ones being torn apart by half a dozen of the army he’d seemingly outsmarted. An influx of Truphma soldiers stormed through the breached walls. Taelord thought to himself “There must be two to three hundred of these things standing at the wall” “How long are we supposed to hold these things off?” “Lord Taelord” Xage asked. “You’re in charge, what’s the plan?” “Taelord, hurry” Popinloopy yelled “Those things are swarming!” Taelord spoke “Alright men, we’ve got to hold this flank for some more time”. “Hict and Moe, take the offensive lead. Xage and Wyrm, turn anything that gets past those two into dust, and Popinloopy and me, we’re gonna keep their numbers in check with long range and aerial assaults” The group nodded, each of them began summoning their battle necessities. A swirling vortex of wind surrounded Hict, and in his hand, stood a gleaming blue coloured blade which was surrounded by pulsating winds. Moe summoned a magnificent blue blade with three Ice blue orbs. His body became tensed as a blue aura began surrounding him. Moments later, his features began morphing, and his size began growing exponentially. We the aura vanished, there stood a massive fifty or so foot blue dragon. His teammates stood in awe. He was one of the few yet who had been granted the power to transform into the Frost Wyrm Tera Suul. He began speaking to them telepathically, and he said “Impressed? OmG, I’m a dragon, holy hell I’m a dragon!” The Truphma stood in their tracks, none of them dared move a muscle. Even Galbathoricks looked stunned. “Is this even possible, can those Humans now gain the power of the Great dragons themselves?” He thought to himself. This was the second such transformation he had seen, the first being accomplished by Moe’s team mate, the Kakashi look-alike, who had transformed into the great bird, the Lord of the Skies. H e wondered how many of the others had this gift. However, he saw that the others to began their battle preparations. Wyrm stood ready in his Knight armor, and held aloft his gleaming Light oriented Blade of Awe. Xage surrounded himself in a steam punk’ed monstrosity, the Tinkerer, and summoned an ice blue mallet, the arcane war hammer. Popinloopy smirked “Hey Moe. You’re not the only one who can transform you know!” With that he summoned his Airenal’s Lance. Galbathoricks gasped, his fears had materialised. His forces were gonna face two gigantic legendary beasts in a battle. While lost in thought, Galbathoricks turned around to see the Lord of the Skies bird perched next to the Frost Wyrm. Lord Taelord smiled, “Well now, none of us have to do anything, except those two”. He thought to himself. “Ok, rest of you who aren’t something that look like bit- beasts, have a seat”. “No point breaking a sweat now!” He motioned to Hict, Wyrm, Xage . “Xage if you will” he motioned to Xage. Xage nodded, and muttered an incantation causing four sandy chairs to appear. Wyrm exclaimed “Great, anyone got moglinberry juice?” Hict said” Nah, Mountain dew?” Taelord exclaimed “Great, C’mon time for relaxation”. Wyrm motioned To Popinloopy and Moe, “C’mon do your thing”. Xage spoke “To bad this is supposed to be PG-13, else I had a few chocolate Cubans!” “Yeah man” Wyrm nodded in agreement. Taelord thought to himself, about the first meeting that he, Madara, Seth and Adrian had conducted. He thought to himself, “Who the hell did they think we were? IMF in mission not possible: ghouls rule..?” He thought about how the meeting begun in a black and white flashback. Seth spoke “Adrian, I have a mission for you. I need you to get captured by the Truphma, snooping around”. Adrian looked shocked. Taelord had gasped “You know, they might kill him right?” Madara spoke “I don’t think so, something me and Seth profiled about our Truphma friends is that they have a lot of Hubris. They’re too proud for their own good”. Seth continued “They’re the kind that will want to try to outsmart us, if they can” “Here” he handed a black, pocket sized box to Adrian. “It’s a Teleporter, I snuck it in from Kamui’s lab, the last time I was there”. It isn’t affected by any sort of EMF or Magic, so it won’t fail of you need it”. Madara said “Now, if I had to guess, once they captured you, they will probably question you and you need to tell them what we’re up to”. Seth continued “Now, if I’ve analysed them good enough, they will try to infiltrate our operation, by probably disguising one of their agents and giving us an extremely detailed schematics of their encampment, more than Adrian, or any of us could possibly accomplish.” “The infiltrator Adrian will probably be extremely nosy and a bit over the top to try to meld in and get hold of our attack simulation” He continued. Madara pointed out “Now, here is where it’s gonna get tricky. We have to make sure, none of our teammates get suspicious about the Infiltrator periodic disappearances”. Lord Taelord spoke “I think, I’ll take care of that”. Madara nodded, then continued “Now, we’re gonna set a date of our attack, which will be the day we actually do it”. Seth said “Now, I’ve given notes to each one of you, about our battle plan, but there is also something else written on it!” Adrian smiled “Just agree about a fake plan on the pre mission meeting, and act along”. Madara sniggered “That’s gold, I mean really Gold!!” Taelord smiled ‘Nice, continue please!”. Seth said “Alright, the actual plan is this...” “We’re gonna be split into three teams, two Diversion teams and a stealth team.” “Taelord, you’re gonna lead of one of the stealth teams. You’re gonna take along Xage, Hict, Moe, Popinloopy, Wyrm along with you. You’re gonna have to make the attack tactics yourself, but I’m more than convinced that you can pull it off”. “Madara” he motioned, “You’re gonna lead the stealth team along with Storm and Hikari”. Adrian asked “Wait, what about the third team? What about you?” Seth smiled “Adrian’s gonna be in prison, so I’m and set off a distraction for Madara’s team to free him from the general’s command centre”. Madara slightly concerned “Will you be able to pull it off?” Seth nodded, “trust me, I can! Plus I need the practice, I need to outkill Hict in this War!” The cheesy comment set of bouts of laughter and jokes, until Adrian asked “Alright, that’s good enough for that. But what about Abaraa?” “Abaraa has a job of his own. Remember Paxus is gonna give us a gift?” Madara spoke. “Let’s just say he has a lot of digging to do!” Seth continued “After, you all free Adrian, get to the reactor which you will see is already cleared, courtesy of Abaraa and set up the remote explosives. Then use Adrians teleporter to get out. If it isn’t able to take all of you, then go out through the exit, where Taelord and his team have taken out”. “Then about you Seth? Adrian asked. Seth smiled “I’ve got to meet these so called Generals, try to get to know their plans. In case I need a little more help in persuasion, I’ll send out a scrambler beacon!” Madara smirked “Not bad Seth, no bad at all!” Adrian asked “So a plan within a plan is it?” Seth laughed “Hey, what can I do? My plans tend to have plans!” Taelord spoke “So technically we’re not just one step ahead of the enemy are we?” Madara smiled “Actually, two to three steps ahead”. Adrian exclaimed “We’re beating the enemy’s move before its even made, now that’s a plan” Seth muffled, clearly wanting to say something. “I’m gonna have to wait for a few more days aren’t I?” Everyone else nodded, while trying to suppress their laughter. “So much for that” He muttered. Lord Taelord left the flashback to focus on his current situation. Moe and Popinloopy had just combined their attacks, in a spectacular blizzard which had decimated the eastern portion of the camp completely, leaving all but one person, General Galbathoricks. Galbathoricks seemed to have used multiple Truphmas to shield himself from the combined blast. But now, strange tattoos seemed to have appeared on his body, glowing with an incandescent purple light. This seemed extremely out of the ordinary, since the Truphma didn’t use any form of magic or mysticism. The relaxing members of the team got back to their feet, realising the urgency of the moment. The general ripped off his shirt, to reveal several intersecting tattoos. In a swift motion, uncommon for a person of his age, he unsheathed his blade, a massive buster blade that emanated a foreboding aura and plunged it into the ground, sending a colossal shockwave towards the team. Xage jumped into the air, and Wyrm and Taelord followed suit. Hict however, used his blade to counter by sending an equally strong shockwave. The two shockwaves, each of opposite alignment met, creating a massive explosion. Taelord bellowed, “Alright team, battle stations!” With that, he sent a barrage of razor sharp feathers from his wings, and was aided by Xage, who intensified them by sending half a dozen vortexes at the general. Galbathoricks didn’t have enough time to dodge, since he wouldn’t be able to jump past the range of the assault. Instead he pounded the ground with an incantation, and protruding pillar of earth rose up, and shielded him. He then pulled out his sword and struck the stone wall, shattering it whole and sending razor sharp stone edges towards them. The stone shrapnel moved a blinding pace, and there was almost no time for them to dodge it. Xage, still in midair summoned a Azamay golem, which produced a force field and it absorbed the brunt of the edges meanwhile Taelord sent an aerial shockwave to through the stones off balance. Wyrm used his blade, and sent out an awe blast towards Galbathoricks who caught the beam in his hand, and instead deflected towards Moe and Popinloopy. While Moe and Popinloopy managed to dodge the beam due to their increased reflexes, however both of them were caught off guard. The sudden increase in Galbathoricks strength sent a shadow of doubt among the team regarding their control over the situation. Galbathoricks sneered “I haven’t been pushed into a corner in years. Hahahhahahahahaha!!!” “You know, I used to be a human once, a magical fighter. But the limitations of the human mentality, of their power, stalled me in my quest of perfection”. “So you became a Truphma?” Xage shot out. “Hardly, I just adopted their ways, learned to use their strengths. While I’m still not trusted by their kind, even lady Xov doesn’t trust me, due to the fact that they shun the use of magic .But the extent of my power me their begrudging respect, and I rose to the rank of their general”. Wyrm asked in a confused tune “Ok, sure but why exactly are you telling us this?” Hict nodded “Yeah, this isn’t Oprah you know!” “Ok, now I’m bored” Taelord spoke. Galbathoricks gleamed, “Now to show you the true extent of my power!” and a yellow aura began emanating around him, his muscles began expanding in size, and his hair stood up on end, and in a loud crash, sent a shockwave. The shockwave was so strong; it knocked of every one of their feet, and sent Xage and Taelord sprawling to the ground. Even Moe and Popinloopy, in their creature forms were knocked off balanced. While everyone recovered and got back on their feet, Galbathoricks had undergone another transformation. He now looked younger, more muscular and now had a wispy black dragon circling around him. On his shoulder was a black stone, which shimmered with dazzling intensity”. Xage conferred “That stone.... I can sense that it’s the source of his sudden increase in his power”. “Very good observation Xage” He motioned towards Xage, who immediately doubled back. “This” he pointed towards the black jewel “is a Weldunharri”. Wyrm asked “What’s that?” “Glad you asked” He smirked. “This is the kidney stone of a space dragon; the magical energy of a dragon passes through its kidney, in very rare cases if it has a kidney stone, that pure power gets stored into that stone” He finished. “Wait till Cyrus hears about this!” Hict shouted. “Oh, there’s nothing that blue shifter can do about it... He’s on vacation I’ve heard”. Xage shot out “Ok, he’ll definitely get back at you once he gets back”. Taelord spoke “I don’t think Cyrus will get a chance” “You” he motioned towards Galbathoricks “Won’t even see the light of tomorrow”. “That’s a really bold prediction, Lord Taelord” Galbathoricks sneered, “Might I ask, how exactly gonna pull it off?” “It’s easy, it’s your arrogance that’s gonna end your life” Taelord replied. “If only words could kill” Galbathoricks laughed. Madara’s words echoed in Taelord’s mind “Something me and Seth profiled about our Truphma friends is that they have a lot of Hubris. They’re too proud for their own good”. While all this time, they’d kept him busy with a pre-battle pep talk, Wyrm under his orders had sneaked up above Galbathoricks, with help from an invisibility spell by Xage. While so intoxicated by his surge of power, Galbathoricks hadn’t realised that one of the members of the team had gone missing. Moe and Popinloopy, who all this time were in their transformations, returned back to their regular armors. Galbathoricks sneered “Oh, giving up already? I promise you I’ll give you both a quick and painless death”. Xage mentioned “I don’t really think that’ll be necessary!” “Usually, people are advised to look down, I on the other hand, advise you to look up!” Xage concluded. A chill went down Galbathoricks spine, and then a deadly realisation crept up; one of the members of the A-team had vanished, the one named Wyrm. With a slow, terrified look, he shifted his gaze upward. But there wasn’t anything above him. Slowly, the fear crept away and a glee appeared on his face. But then suddenly he felt a sharp, deep pain across his back, as if someone had kicked him real hard. The force of the impact sent him flying forwards and as he turned around, he could see Wyrm suspended in midair; clearly he was the one who’d kicked him. As he rushed forward towards Xage, he began preparing for a counter attack. He could use momentum to take down Xage. He clenched his sword, and prepared to plunge it into Seth. However, Xage in the last minute moved aside and slammed his Arcane warhammer onto Galbathoricks‘s chest. With a few broken bones, Galbathoricks was once again in motion, this time facing a head on collision towards Lord Taelord. However, he felt a sudden, sharp pain as he saw lord Taelord fly through. He realised that Taelord had used his wings as a blade to slash through him. Now bleeding profusely, he was headed towards nothing; Galbathoricks tried stopping his current situation. He used his strength to lift his blade, in an effort to slow down but once again experienced a nerve tearing pain, as he saw Moe pass by next to him with his Midnight dragon blade. Finally Hict appeared in appeared in front of him, and used his sword to send a shockwave of razor sharp wind. Galbathoricks tried using his sword to block the pulse. However, the swirling winds around the pulse tore apart the blade. Galbathoricks knew this was the end. The pulse of wind that he was head bound towards was swirling with winds that could tear him apart in a moment. He braced for the impact, praying in his head for forgiveness. For all the people he’d slain, for the day he’d lost his humanity. And then it happened, one moment of intense pain, such that he had never experienced before. He felt as though a chainsaw was running through every inch of his body. And then the next moment, there was nothing. The group witnessed as the shockwave tore apart Galbathoricks. When the shockwave subsided, there was nothing left oh him. “Ok, how did you learn to do that?” Popinloopy asked Hict. “Bah... Long story!” Hict replied. “Right, this area is clear” Taelord spoke. “Ok guys, let’s secure this area. Xage and Popinloopy...” But then, a yellow beacon appeared across the sky. Taelord remembered about Seth’s call. But whom to send, he thought to himself. Moe and Hict were exceptionally tired and so was Wyrm. And they needed at least one spellcaster to backup. He looked at Xage. Xage, he sensed was almost at his full strength and hadn’t consumed much of his mana. Taelord realised, that he was the only viable option. “Xage” he spoke “Follow the beacon’s source, Seth’s in trouble... or at least needs assistance”. Xage nodded “Right” and flew off. Taelord let out a sigh of relief, this part of their plan had been completed. He said “I hope that the rest of them don’t have a horrible time”. Popinloopy nodded “Don’t worry, be patient... the rest of them wont mess up, well at least not that much! Part 7: Elements Deceived: The plan falls....into place! Deep within the earth in the midlands, a behemoth of a tank chugged along, drilling through the earth. Its only pilot was a young warrior, Abaraa. He was the newest recruit to the A-team, a self named alpha team, running independently of the Lorian defence forces. The sole reason of its inception was to counter the growing threat of the Truphma and their influence in Paxia. He had been assigned a solo mission in their final assault to the largest Truphma stronghold. He recounted the instance the sheet of paper under Seth’s command had flown into his hand. It read Abaraa, Your mission is a solo, and you can’t under any circumstances reveal your true mission to anybody. Your first checkpoint will be meeting Paxus, as he will be lending an advanced piece of weaponry he acquired from the Drakel who once invaded Paxia. The weapon is a massive Tank, yes I know very clichéd. However, it’s an underground vehicle with lots of drills, and a huge defence system. The objective of your mission is to use the tank and sneak beneath the Truphma lines and attack the centre point of the camp, i.e. the Core Reactor. You have to secure the reactor, before Madara and his stealth team can come and install the explosives. Kindly escort the guarding personnel out of the premises, and take care of any threat, notably any of the commanders present. P.S: Act like you agree about the plan we discuss on the eve of the assault The last line made him chuckle, as he continued driving the tank. He was now within a few leagues of his intended target, and he began preparing the offense system. He then recounted the conversation he had with Paxus, just a few hours back. “Paxus” He gasped, after he had ran all the way from the sure to the mountain. Paxus seemed content trying to balance his mass on his leg, as he flailed in attempt to maintain balance. “Ah, Abaraa at last, you have arrived” He exclaimed. “I’m really glad that you boys are doing so much for the sake of this island”. “Don’t mention it Paxus, we all have our allegiances to one of these clans. More than a favour it’s our duty”. “You boys sure do bring a tear in my eye. Oh well, the Tank is right there” He pointed. Abaraa gazed at the Tank. It was a purple coloured tank with a huge central red drill, and had four wings, whose ends were also fitted with drills, albeit smaller than the main central drill. As he walked closer, he was finally able to apprehend the true size of the beast. It stood at approximately twenty to thirty feet high, and the diameter of the main drill was almost the same as the overall height of the machine. As he walked behind, he was able to see two massive propellers for faster movement, on top of the usual mobility system. “How fast does this move” Abaraa inquired. Paxus replied “enough to get you to the core reactor within two hours of making land”. “Hmmm” Abaraa thought to himself “That’s fast, fast enough to get me in at least ten fifteen minutes after Moe starts the assault. “Thanks Paxus, but how am I supposed to work this thing, and how will I make it to the Midlands?” Paxus replied “Patience Abaraa, the tank has an auto pilot, so you don’t need to focus on the controls” “As the issue about starting it, it’s got a big red button” “Oh cool, but how am I supposed to take the tank there?” “Just about time” Paxus motioned towards the sky, as four creatures materialized in the sky. After a few moments, the creatures’ true form was visible. They were giant wind dragons, who landed around the tank. “They” Paxus said pointing towards the dragons “Have agreed to carry the tank as far as the shore”. The four dragons snorted, and then the one in front, the largest of the four, nodded. “Paxus” Abaraa fumbled “Do you really think that they will be able to carry the weight of the tank? “No offense you guys” He said to the pack of dragons. And then a deep voice appeared in his head, one of the dragons presumably their leader spoke telepathically “None taken human, I understand your scepticism; most humans are unaware of the abilities of us dragon folk”. “Believe me our limbs can juggle the tank, least of all carry it” He concluded. “That was a bit too much don’t you think” Abaraa spoke/ The dragons at the back appeared as they were trying to muffle a laugh. Their leader spoke “True human, but I had to make a point”. Abaraa got into the tank after taking his leave from Paxus, and the four dragons heaved the tank off the ground, and took off. Abaraa was surprised at their strength, that they could lift such a huge piece of metal and not break so much as a sweat, not to mention that they even juggled the tank around a few times. The journey, by his estimates took about half an hour, thanks to the dragons, who bid him adieu and flew off into the horizon. He then selected the coordinates of his destination, and the AI did the rest, as the tank began moving. He then returned to his current situation, he looked at the screen and saw that he’d reached his destination. He was at his target. He spoke “Activate primary drill cannon” With his command, an AI spoke “Affirmative” The central drill began spinning furiously, and then shot upwards, leaving a huge void at the ground top. Abaraa took his chance, and jumped upwards, already donning his Horo Show void vigilante armor and wielding a gigantic green talon, the serrated sacragon spur. His sudden appearance out of the ground had startled many of the Truphma guarding the place. Abaraa guessed that this was his chance, as the Truphma in the room were defenceless. He screamed “Chill out guys, it just me!” as a blast of freezing cold wind shot outwards from the mouth on his armor, and froze everything in the room, including the controls of the reactor. “Well, that was easy” Abaraa smirked. “Really, chill out? Ssseemsss a little clissshhhed don’t you ssink?” A slithering voice spoke. Abaraa turned around, to see what fit the description of general Morhisson, float into the light. “I expected more of you to attack this base, three if I’m not mistaken” It hissed. “Oh, they’re on the way” Abaraa spoke. “Now, if you can be kind enough to escort yourself out of this premise unless...” “Unlessss what?” Morhisson hissed. “Well I was supposed to first ask you to leave kindly first, now I can use force” Abaraa smirked. Abaraa focused on the on the mouth of his armor, and let loose another Cryo-chrono blast. The intensity of the blast destroyed the entire wall behind where general Morhisson stood. Abaraa smiled “This was easy” he thought to himself. He then began walking towards the tank, but a slithering sound stopped him in his tanks. He slashed his sword in the air, causing a shockwave that cleared off all the smoke. What he saw however, took him by surprise. Not only was Morhisson still standing, he didn’t have so much as a dent on his body. But now another adversary had joined him, a lean heavily armoured figure who resembled a cross between Darth Vader and Boba Fett. He limbered his way in from the hole in the wall, and Abaraa knew this was general Vayyder. After a bout of muffled breathing, he spoke “Your time is up”. Abaraa spoke “I doubt it, I really doubt it! In five, four... three... two... one...” And four figures jumped out from behind the two generals and stood beside Abaraa. “Now two against one isn’t fair is it?” Madara spoke. Morhisson hissed “But two againssst five isss?” Adrian spoke “Technically we’re a wolf pack, so yeah it’s fair”. “Whatever” Hikari sulked. “Let’s get this done with” “Morhisson is surrounded by an energy field, except behind him” Storm said. “Wait, when did you observe that?” Adrian asked. “When Abaraa sent the blast, Morhisson turned sideward and the blast was just diverted from the sides. It exposed an opening at the back. That point should be the focus of our attack” Storm explained. “Alright folks, suit up” Madara exploded. Abaraa, while already in his battle gear stood and watched others summon their equipment. Madara summoned his armor of awe, as well as his undead archer minion. Storm stood calm in his cloak, whereas Adrian morphed in a shadow and summoned his staff, causing him to be surrounded by vicious claws. Hikari summoned the garbs of a Cryomancer. A sudden calm surrounded the room, the dead silence before all hell broke loose. Vayyder took out a sword that was sheathed at his belt, and clicked a button on the hilt, causing the entirety of the blade to be surrounded by a red laser. “A light sword, how original” Hikari smirked. Just as the two sides were about to charge, a sudden explosion rocked the ground, and a yellow beacon shot up into the sky. A sudden fear crept up into Madara’s mind. “Seth’s in trouble” he thought to himself. He spoke “Guys that signal... Seth’s in trouble”. Storm smiled “Go, we’ll handle this!” “Are you sure” Madara asked. “Sure” Hikari smiled “I mean how tough can two tin cans be?” Madara nodded. His archer disappeared and he was instantaneously surrounded by black flames. He shot off upwards and flew towards the beacon coming from the Generals command centre. He thought to himself “Hope I make it in time!” Part 8: Elements Deceived: Three’s a crowd Characters: Madara Uchiha(Muchiha) Storm Silverwing(battlemaster25) Hikari Yume(tommy2468) Dark Wizard Adrian(Darksaber22) Seth Hydra(ss2195) While Lord Taelord and his team had kept the Truphma army busy with their assault, Madara’s stealth team whisked through to the command centre to free Adrian from his self-directed prison. Everything so far had gone according to plan, and their mission was being aided by Seth, who kept most of the fighting to himself, allowing them a clear pass to stroll through. While Seth, Madara, Hikari and Storm had started the mission together with Seth using his Decimator’s strength to take out both the Truphma’s defence walls out with one hit, yet their paths were separate. Storm had used his mastery over the winds to project an invisibility cloak around Madara, Hikari and himself whereas Seth went totally berserk in a bid to create a distraction. The occasional Truphma who managed to gain a jump on him were mysteriously struck down by razor sharp feather or shards of ice from a mysterious yet invisible source. They came to a crossroad when they reached the command centre. Storm removed his cloak, and spoke “So we’re here!” Hikari gleamed “Time for some real action!” “Can I start the assault? Can I Madara?” Madara smiled “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” “Oh nothing” Hikari said “This whole Truphma business has been dragging on for some time, and I want to get it over with! “ “Besides, you lot indulge in way too much pep talk!” He finished. “That’s the spirit Hikari!” Storm sang. “Alright guys remember the plan?” Seth asked. “Yeah, don’t worry” Madara spoke. “Get Adrian, and then set up the reactor!” He continued “And watch out for a beacon” Hikari intervened “That means you’re getting whupped!” “Not whupped Hikari!” Seth countered “Just that I require some assistance”. “Alright, you guys better hurry! You’ve got to help Abaraa take control of the reactor room too! Seth ended. “Good luck!” Storm spoke, and motioning to Hikari and Madara he said “C’mon lets go.” As the threesome made their way under the spell, they passed through hordes of agitated Truphma. Creeping their way inside, they saw Adrian standing in the centre of a giant electric cage, his every movement being monitored by a team of Truphma, However, they were different than the rest, considering they wore a black uniform, and had even harsher features more so than even regular Truphma. Storm spoke “Seems like these are higher ops, they’re gonna be a lot tougher than regular ones”. Madara nodded “Hikari, you sure you want to do this?” Hikari smirked “So what if they’ve got black uniforms? I’ve been waiting all day for this”. Hikari left the cloak and cast a spell, sending a barrage of ice shards towards the Truphma ops. The sudden assault left them defenceless, taking out a dozen or so with the assault. However, it alerted the remaining Truphma who charged at Hikari with spears that emitted a strange pulsating aura filled with lightning. Hikari dodged an impaling thrust from spear, and feigned a sideward motion as he used his staff as a leverage to twirl around as dole out a kick at the Truphma sending him flying. Madara and Storm saw this as an opening and launched their own assault, as Madara launched his shadow spell, which tore apart four of their adversaries. Storm projected himself skywards and took down two of the advancing Truphma, before a swirling mist surrounded him. When the mist cleared, he stood wielding a giant green axe, and his red cloak was replaced by a green knight’s armor, however instead of his face, floated a grisly skull emanating a dark aura. Madara smiled “And now you can pass as one of my undead “ Hikari gave a rare smile and said “Right, windy ghost rider or axe master do your thing! “ Storm nodded and pointed his axe towards the Truphma forces charging towards them, and a swirling tornado appeared at the end of Storm’s axe and stormed its way towards the remaining Truphma ops, the high velocity winds tearing apart the Truphma. When the spell subsided, the room was clear and all that stood between them and Adrian was an electric cage. But Adrian spoke “Guys, don’t come any closer”. Hikari asked “Why, what’s wrong?” Adrian spoke cautiously “There is a heat signature defence system near the cage, with its range around ten feet circling the cage”. “The Truphma’s heat signature is lower than any average being, so if the sensors detect anything higher or lower, it’s struck down with a barrage of rays, which almost instantly incinerate them”. Madara spoke “What if Hikari freezes them?” Adrian continued “No, the Truphma installed it just after I was voluntarily brought here”. “I’ve seen the testing they’ve done, its resistant to EMP, fire, ice.... everything that a regular person might use to tamper with them”. Storm, now reverted back to his red cloak asked “How many of them are there?” “Five, as far as I know” Adrian replied. “Wait, what if we try to shield against it?” Hikari asked. “That ray, it’s constituted of pure void energy. You can’t shield against it!” Adrian sighed. “Well then, we’ll just have to take them out” Storm spoke. “Where are they?” He asked. “I don’t know they were put up and have a shielding device that renders them invisible to the naked eye”. Adrian replied. “There’s no way to know for sure”. Storm spoke “Madara, open the door slightly.” Madara asked “Why?” “I have a plan!” Storm replied. Madara nodded, and motioned to the door which crept open, releasing a calm wind into the otherwise stuffy room. Storm grinned “Ok, Hikari I need you to summon the sharpest shards of ice you have, I’m gonna determine the location of the sensors, which I need you to impale. Hikari nodded, and summoned five razor sharp spear like shards with a wave of his palm. Storm began focussing, manipulating the air around him and sent a gust upwards, towards the dome of the building. The wind began swirling, and expanding into a vortex, and then the locations of the sensors were revealed to him, as they disturbed the flow of the wind. Storm pointed his hand towards one of the sensors, and Hikari sent a shard right at the pointed direction. A calm passed by and Hikari thought he’d missed, but then he heard a buzzing noise as the circuits in the sensor tripped, and it exploded. The smoke caused by explosion revealed the locations of the rest of the sensors and that gave them plenty of time to strike them down. Madara summoned his undead archer minion, who sent a barrage of arrows, taking out two of the sensors, whereas Storm used the razor sharp feathers from his robe to impale the other one. Hikari walked forward, but Madara screamed “Hikari, don’t! There’s still one sensor online” But it was too late as the sensor came to life and sent red concentrated beam towards Hikari. The beam was seconds away from him, when Hikari summoned an ice wall between him and the beam, in an effort to buy some time. The beam made contact with the wall and bounced off, reflected towards the top of the electric cage. The Void ray cleaved apart the top like it was paper, prompting Hikari to turn the shield around. The change in angle of contact caused the beam to move as well, completely disintegrating the top of the cage. Hikari smirked “What comes around goes around” and once again changed the angle of the shield, now turning the shield back to its original angle, and raising it upwards. The reflected ray struck the dome, and he began moving it towards its source. The reflected ray hit the sensor, and for a brief moment the reflected ray and the source ray collided. Both the beam cancelled each other out, and caused the last sensor to explode, sending a shockwave that nearly knocked everyone over. Adrian jumped out of the cage from the now non-existent top, and said “Good thinking Hikari!” Hikari gleamed “Yeah well, all in a day’s work!” Storm interrupted “The day’s not over, time to get to the reactor room. I’ve got this nudging feeling that Abaraa might be in trouble”. Adrian asked “Wait, hold on! Where’s the other me? I mean the Truphma in disguise?” Madara sneered “Oh, don’t worry about him. He’s now in Paxia, let’s just see he’s on a long, long vacation!” Adrian asked “How long?” Hikari smirked “Let’s just say, locked up in Nocturo castle’s dungeon long!” Storm once again cast the wind illusion and they began their way to the adjacent core reactor, just a few short steps away, where it now seemed to have developed a gigantic hole on its side, and where two of the Truphma generals, Vayyder and Morhisson stood, facing towards someone standing in the reactor. Meanwhile, Seth marched on leaving a trail of dead Truphma’s towards the General’s room. He was just behind the main command centre, when he heard a loud explosion coming from the reactor. “Abaraa must’ve got to work” he thought to himself. He took out his giant killer sword, and knocked open the steel wall that blocked the entrance to the General’s room. There, in total darkness stood the behemoth general, Bayyne. Seth reverted to his Supreme Overlords Dynasty, and summoned his Patriot katana and His Krenos Essence katana, wielding one katana in each hand. “First, I ask you nicely to surrender” Seth spoke “Bayy, Surrender? To you puny Humans? What have you been drinking?” Bayyne replied. “I was hoping you’d say that, because now I can use force!” Seth smirked Part 9: Elements Deceived: Fall of the Behemoth Part 1 Characters: Seth Hydra, Xage Hydra(ss2195) Madara Uchiha(Muchiha) Seth charged at Bayyne, who still stood at the centre of the dark, under lit room, but Bayyne stood still. He dug his katanas, and landed a kick with all the momentum he could muster. However, Bayyne didn’t seem to budge even an inch. He retreated backwards a few steps with a jump, but even that seen to provoke a reaction from Bane. Now that Seth was close to Bayyne, only could he realise the magnitude of Bayyne’s muscular frame. He stood at almost seven feet, his hands were colossal, each of his biceps thicker that Seth’s entire frame. Each of his fists as large as Seth’s head, prompting Seth to believe this adversary of his was by far the bulkiest he’d ever faced. Bayyne spoke “So, is that the best you can do? I’d expect more from the inheritor of the Hydra’s will”. “He’s done his homework” Seth thought to himself. With that his Katanas vanished and he summoned forth a tremendously large blade. “His size makes him extremely sluggish, and I can’t penetrate his body with just a regular Katana. If you can’t cut ‘em, bash ‘em” he thought to himself. He once again charged at Bayyne who still stood without any movement, still confident that nothing could even budge him. Seth swung his giant killer, and for a moment it seemed as though it had no affect whatsoever on Bayyne. However, the Giant killer began glowing with grey flames, and the added power because of the blades Trigger knocked Bayyne backwards and sent him crashing towards the wall. The force of his impact knocked the wall down on Bayyne and light coming in from the collapsed wall filled the room. The light rejuvenated every bit of Seth, and realising that he had broken Bayyne down; he once again summoned his katanas. Bayyne got up, removing the rubble of the collapsed wall from the wall. He pointed his hands up towards the roof, and bionic arms shot out towards him. Seth reacted quickly, and sent a fiery shockwave which cut through the arms, and caused an explosion. The flames from the now defunct arms fell to the ground and created a field of flames. Bayyne once again motioned, towards the roof, and spoke “Activate cage”. All at once, steel columns began covering the room, blocking out the light coming from the collapsed wall and covering the room in darkness and with a buzz, dim lights appeared at the corners of the room. Seth began waiting cautiously, he could see Bayyne’s faint outline and he rushed towards him, once again to take the advantage. He jumped and did an aerial somersault before slashing Bayyne’s back. The combination of fire and pulsating lightning caused Bayyne to scream in pain. “So his hearing senses are weak” Seth noted to himself. But just as he was about to back away, he felt as though something began gripping him, something like ropes. With a jerk, he was pulled in front of Bayyne. Seth saw that the ropes or rather vines were protruding out of Bayyne’s leaf garland. Bayyne spoke with an arrogant sneer “Enough play, now you die” saying that he clenched Seth in the palm of his hands, and squeezed. “AAARRRRGGH” Seth screamed as he felt his entire torso being crushed by the strength of Bayyne’s grip. As he felt his body starting to give in, he gave a final effort and concentrated his Mana. His eyes once again began glowing with a red tint, and he let out a whisper “Exhume”. A vortex of dark energy began surrounding Seth’s body and it expanded with a sudden rush, freeing Seth from Bayyne’s grip and knocking Bayyne backwards. Seth gasped, as he freed himself from Bayyne's guillotine grasp. The spell he had casted to free himself from Bayyne's grip was weak but effective, but the downside being that the whole room was now shrouded in darkness. Bayyne bellowed "Bayyne, you merely adopt the darkness" "I was born in it!" "Molded by it" He continued. From a distance, Seth spoke "Ok you fight like a pokemon, and but at times talk like you belong in a Batman movie..." "For Lorithia's sake make up your mind you split personalitied behemoth". With this, Bayyne felt a a swirling of wind, and then a gigantic flame appeared to be moving towards him. He realized this was Seth's ploy to take advantage of Bayyne's weak hearing and attack from a distance. He tried gripping the flaming shockwave, but the heat seared his hands, and the force sent him sprawling, until he reached the other wall of the room. The heat of the shockwave had dissipated the dark energy, and returned the room to a dimly lit state. Seth saw Bayyne standing up. He looked shaken, but stood tall and sturdy as ever. He removed his breathing mask, to reveal a series of gaps. "He spoke, I haven't used this technique in years, never have I been pushed to this limit. For that I applaud you, but for that you must also die!" Bayyne's body tattoos began glowing, and stitches began appearing throughout those tattoos. He then let out a loud moan, as his body began splitting. Seth switched into his Decimator once again, to defend what was next, drawing out his Gaia shield in place of his Krenos Essence katana. When the process was complete, three beings stood in Bayyne's place. Each almost identical, however less muscular and looked far more agile. "Great, just Great" Seth sighed, "First he's a Bayleaf, now he's a Sceptile. You really, really need to see a Psychologist you know". As Seth tried raising his shield, he felt a sudden sharp stinging sensation and then pain as he’d never been subjected to. He looked towards his arm to see the source of the pain, and he saw that his hand had been cleaved off completely from above the elbow, the cause being one of Bayyne’s clones who’d used one of the razor sharp leaves now present on his arm. In a split second, the other two clones were in the air, their blades aimed at Seth’s head, and the other clone locked Seth’s movements by clutching his body with vines. “I need help” he thought to himself, and once again concentrated his mana. With the blood loss, Seth was on the verge of fainting, but with his last bit of energy he sent out a final spell. The blades of the clones were almost going to make contact with Seth, who had now apparently fainted. However, there was sudden change in the air, and Seth’s body began glowing with a yellow aura, and in the split second that their blades made contact, they were knocked back completely by a yellow light that shot up, puncturing the steel cage into the sky. After a minute or so, when two of the clones got up to finish the job. However, when they searched for the third, they saw that the force of Seth’s last spell had knocked the clone towards broken remains of the bionic arm. His left arm and part of his leg were completely impaled by the sharp edges of the arm. One of the clones muttered “Don’t worry, once we take care of him, we’ll fix you up!” But before they could move any further, they were knocked back by a strange green vortex, and out of the hole in the roof, two beings appeared. “Seth” Xage screamed and flew towards his fallen brother. “He isn’t dead, he’s just fainted” Madara spoke. But Xage didn’t heed Madara’s words. His angers swelled up, and his entire body was surrounded by transparent flames, and then strange snake like apparitions began surrounding Xage. “Hmm....The Hydra seal is it? Madara smiled. “Well, then I can’t hold back either can I?” He continued. Saying that, he summoned his Armor of Awe in his right arm, he summoned a skull club pulsating with dark energy and a strange black flame appeared on his left. On either side, two of his undead minions appeared. The undead archer and a gigantic flaming skeleton, the Undead fire Giant. Finally Madara spoke “Now, it just became personal!” Part 10: Elements Deceived: Cyber fall and a new Ally Characters: Storm Silverwing(Battlemaster25) Hikari Yume(Tommy2468) Adrian(darksaber22) Abaraa(Abaraa) and introducing 0neo(Oneo) Martin(Hict) Sophia Heartnett(ss2195) Madara flew off towards the yellow beacon that had appeared in the sky, leaving Vayyder and Morhisson to face Abaraa, Hikari, Storm and Adrian in a battle to the death. While it was evident that either side was prepared, neither side wanted to start the assault. Storm whispered to rest of them, such that their adversaries couldn’t hear what he was saying “Alright, Abaraa and Adrian, you guys take on the Cyborg. Hikari and I will take care of the tin can!” But Abaraa intervened “Hold on, I think I need to do something with the Tank”. Hikari shot back “Another time Abaraa, right now we’re in the middle of a standoff”. “No, I really got to do this!” Abaraa replied, and ran back towards the tank. “Sssoo, ze Icsssee Warrior hasss retreated?” Morhisson hissed Vayyder let out a laugh, “Retreat now, this is your last chance!” But before Vayyder could utter another word, the drills of the tank began spinning furiously. The tank rose up, and then it transformed into a humanoid figure. The main drill shifted towards his right and attached itself to the right appendage and three of the drills attached itself towards the left appendage. The final cannon attached it on the centre of the torso region. Everyone gasped in awe, as the tank transformed into a mech exo-suit. The head part of the mech opened to reveal Abaraa. He spoke “Now, it’s your final chance to retreat”. Hikari smirked “Wow, now we fight two tin cans with another bigger tin-can”. Before either of them could react, Vayyder and Morhisson started of their assault. Vayyder set of an EMP charge towards Abaraa and Morhisson let loose his machine guns at the rest of the group. Hikari set of an ice barrier, which absorbed the barrage from Morhisson’s barrels whereas Abaraa jumped upwards and ran straight up towards Vayyder. His swirling drill collided with Vayyder’s light-blade, and the collision set Vayyder sprawling backwards, clearly his light-blade was no match for a drill almost ten times its size and was now a torn to shreds. Storm took advantage of Morhisson’s lack of concentration, and flew behind him. Hikari and Adrian understood, and began a false assault to create a diversion. Adrian sent out a pulse of dark energy, while Hikari supplemented it with shards of ice. Morhisson let out a maniacal laugh, and said “Really, you don’t seem to learn a lot from your mistakes”. Adrian smirked “Think again”. Storm who had been waiting for the right moment, sent out a barrage of feathers, aimed directly at the gap between his force field. Two of the feathers that struck, missed their mark by inches. Storm sighed, he thought to himself “We have to generate one more diversion, and I have to be more accurate”. But as he looked at Morhisson who had now turned around at Storm, Morhisson’s expression had changed; he now looked like he was pain. From a distance, Storm heard cries of celebration from Hikari and Adrian. With a loud moan, Morhisson collapsed. His shell rolled over, until it hit the nearby wall Vayyder, who was unconscious until then, stood up. Abaraa turned to him, and said “I really wanna try out something”. But Vayyder began to speak “Stop! Please don’t! I don’t even want to work with these guys”. Everyone exclaimed “Huh?” Vayyder reached out to his helmet, and began taking it off. Once he removed it, it was obvious that he wasn’t really a Truphma, rather a warrior who was dulled, albeit improperly. His face was almost visibly human; however the upper left part of his face was morphed. Vayyder pulled out a strange beacon like device from behind his neck, which appeared to have been crushed. Vayyder spoke “The Truphma couldn’t convert me, but they needed my knowledge of Lore so instead, they attached this inhibitor on me”. “With it, they were able to control my actions, by inhibiting my true feeling and instead making me act according to their needs”. “So Vayyder, what’s your real name?” Adrian asked. “It’s Luke, Luke Strife of Deren... Wow, it feels like eons since I last spoke my name!” Luke sighed. “That’s all the introduction I can give you now, but Morhisson is soon going to wake up” He continued. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that” Hikari smirked, pointing at Morhisson, who was now surrounded by a small pool of green liquid. “Storm’s feathers are sharp enough to cut through solid steel, I don’t see how a hollow aluminium cage would matter” He continued. “But why aluminium?” Abaraa asked. “Its lighter, so he can properly make use of his levitation” Luke added. “You have to get out, now!” He let out. “But why?” Storm asked. “Because.....” Meanwhile in Paxia, deep in the dungeons of the Nocturo castle, a figure sat on a chair in dimly lit conditions. He was a humanoid, yet his features were sharp and as inhuman as possible. His white suit smudged with patches of red and dirt. Three figures entered the room. “Thanks very much 0neo for letting us use your clans castle for interrogating our prisoner” One of them spoke. “Oh, It’s nothing Martin. After all, we need to learn as much of the Truphma and their plans if we are to defend our clans” 0neo spoke. One of the figures, steeped forward into the light, facing the Truphma. She was female, with pitch black shoulder length hair. He was garbed in a Pria knights armor, and had an Onyx Wartexx stowed upon her back. She was by every meaning of the word, attractive. She spoke “Has he spoken anything yet 0neo?” “No Ms. Heartnett, our best interrogators have tried to break him down, yet he doesn’t utter a word”. Sophia smiled “Oh please, call me Sophia. Now let’s see if he can do the same with me” and she put her right hand on his head. Upon contact, her hand as well as her pupils began glowing with a red glow. The Truphma prisoner began jerking from his seat, trying to break free of the spell. But in a moment, Sophia was taken aback. She had a look of horror on her face, as though she’d just realised something horrific. She turned to Martin and 0neo, and said “The A-team, their members, they’re in trouble! We have to go, now!” And she stormed off, out the dungeon with Martin and 0neo in pursuit, behind her. Part 11: Elements Deceived: Xov’s Assault Lord Taelord stood calmly; he had secured his check point with the help of his team and now waited for the rest of his teammates to arrive from their respective missions. He had arranged his forces well, to counter the occasional forces of Truphma that came to defend their stronghold. He had posted Popinloopy along with himself at the top of the wall, to take care of threats using spells and ranged artillery, as well as to keep a lookout. Moe, Wyrm and Hict guarded the battlefield, their prowess with blades and melee weaponry enough to single handedly take care of any Truphma that got past Popinloopy and Taelord’s assault. But the calmness of the situation was disturbed when the stealth team came running from a distance, accompanied by someone who by description resembled the General Vayyder. When they reached the wall, it was clear Vayyder was nothing but an improperly dulled Human. “Wow, who’s the Darth vader cosplayer?” Moe asked. “Guys, meet Luke, Luke Strife of Rennd” Storm, who had just flown over replied. “Right, so are we in the clear?” Hict asked “Because, I need to be someplace else”. “Well, there’s a situation” Adrian said sheepishly. “Why, what’s wrong? Where are Seth, Madara and Xage?” Wyrm asked. “We don’t know, but that’s not what we’re talking about” Abaraa replied. “Where’d you get the Mech?” Popinloopy asked. “Long story” Abaraa grinned “The deal is, Xov is sending a whole army of around a thousand or more Truphma to secure this camp. Her whole plan was to pancake us between two armies” “But, how do you know this” Taelord asked, quite stunned. “Luke or General Vayyder told us!” Hikari blurted. Everyone’s gaze shifted towards Luke, who seemed quite uncomfortable with the new attention. “It’s true!” He said “The original plan made by Galbathoricks didn’t include this contingency. But Xov being quite distrustful added this plan. Only I and Bayyne knew of this plan.” “What about Bayyne?” Taelord asked. “He’s been taken care of!” A voice spoke out from a distance. Everyone looked towards the source of the voice to see Seth strutting towards them, Madara’s body on his shoulder and Xage trying to keep pace. “What happened to Madara?” Popinloopy screamed. “Oh he went all Necromancer, then all Lich, now he’s all fainted!” Xage smiled. Luke looked stunned, “you defeated Bayyne?” He looked around at all of them and said “Who are you people”. Seth smiled “Long story... I promise I’ll tell you after some time” saying which, he placed Madara’s unconscious body on the ground. Before either of them could say anything, three wind dragons appeared in the horizon, and in a few instances, they landed in front of the group, Out of the dragons, three people unmounted, one of which a female, came running towards them. “Sophie, what are you doing here?” Seth spoke, clearly taken aback. “Xov, she’s sending an army to take out you guys. Her plan was to draw you out and then strike you all out at once” she continued, until she ran out of breath. “Yeah, I know” Seth smiled. Now everyone turned their attention to Seth. Hikari cried out “What the hell is wrong with you man?” “Umm, it’s no biggie!” Seth said, completely unperturbed. Wyrm, Hict and Moe, who were so far trying to revive Madara spoke in unison “He’s up!” Madara had sat up, now with Hict’s support he stood up. He looked weakened, but his aura of power still surrounded him. “Waddup guys” he said weakly. “Did you know about this?” Popinloopy asked. “About what?” he asked. “Xov’s main plan?” Storm bellowed. “Uh yeah, Seth read his mind using some trick”. Madara moaned. “Please bro, tell me you’ve got a plan!” Xage cried. “Yeah I have a plan, Attack! It’s just a thousand Truphma. Besides we’ve got help, and it should be arriving in some time!” “You’re saying a thousand Truphma as if it’s easy as a frogzard” Marvin intervened. “Yeah” 0neo said, “Are you really sure?” Madara, who now seemed to have recovered fully, spoke with a grin etched on his face “Their arrogance still surprises me; they think a thousand Truphma can take out what fifteen Paxians?” “So, I came here for nothing?” Sophia protested. “Yeah, pretty much” Xage sniggered. “Next time you wait Seth, honestly I don’t know what to do about you” She screamed. “You’re an independent woman! Learn to make up your independent mind!” Hikari grinned. “Nice” Madara smiled, fist bumping Hikari. Moe spoke “We’ll seeing as you’re already here, you could just...” “Don’t even say a word “Sophia shot out, fuming. Madara motioned to Martin and 0neo, who so far were spectating the conversation, each with an amused expression “I’m sorry you guys got dragged into this!” 0neo smiled “Oh, it’s ok! I needed an excuse to get out of the castle anyway!” Martin spoke “Yeah, and you’re friend” he motioned to Seth “did’nt really give us a choice!” “So, what’s the plan?” Taelord asked. Madara spoke out “Alright, until our backup arrives, our primary aim is to take them all out!” “Moe, Hict, Wyrm and Hikari you’re all gonna be on the frontline. Taelord and Storm, we need you guys as aerial support”. The group nodded. “Next, Popinloopy, , Adrian, Martin and I will back our frontline, whereas Xage and 0neo, Seth and Sophia you guys attack through the flanks”. “hey, why’d I get her?” Seth protested. “Because none of us should suffer in your place!” Madara grinned. “What about me?” Abaraa asked. “With that armor, you’re definitely the focal point of our attack!” Madara assured him. He turned to the rest of the group, addressing all of them at once “Alright people, battlestations!” Part 12: Elements Deceived: Fall of the behemoth part 2 Characters: Seth Hydra, Xage Hydra(ss2195) Madara Uchiha(muchiha) Madara and Xage stood back to back. The Bayyne clones were far too agile and fast for an individual person to keep track of, let alone take down. Xage, out of safety spoke to Madara telepathically “Mate, we need a plan of attack”. Madara replied “I know, but these things are moving too fast to comprehend their actions”. But another voice also poked in, “Don’t worry, there isn’t anything special about the way they’re running. They’re just looking for an opening to attack” Seth’s voice spoke. Madara looked at Seth to see his eyes opening feebly. Seth glanced at him, and then nodded. Seth’s incapitated arm began glowing with a blue glow, and so did Seth’s body. Then wispy blue tendrils shot out from Seth’s joint towards his arm, and with that the arm began moving towards the body. The Truphma that was impaled to the arm warned the others “Look at the wounded one, get him!” The distraction was what Madara and Xage needed. Xage and Madara both cast a slew of fireballs towards the distracted clones. The room was filled with a red glow, as the fireballs collided with their targets. When the fire subsided, the clones still stood, however, their leaf blades had been burnt off and were now defenceless. Sensing victory, Madara charged at the clones, and Xage followed suit. However, the clones sped off towards the impaled clone. After a moment of inaudible conversation, they once again melded into one being, and the massive bulk of Bayyne once again appeared. “Again” Xage screamed, and once again they both cast fireballs at Bayyne, who couldn’t evade them in time. The flames burnt a bright crimson, as they collided with Bayyne’s bulk. But as the magical blaze subsided, Bayyne still stood. The flames hadn’t had any effect on him. Bayyne let out a laugh “Is that all you can conjure?” Once again Seth’s voice echoed in their heads “Don’t listen to him. He knows you’ll be weakened after you run out of mana, at which point he can beat down both of you together”. “I think I’ve figured it out to an extent” Seth’s partial unconscious voice spoke. “His bulk switching abilities grant him different benefits. When he’s in his true form, he can only be damage by heavy weaponry, like my Giant slayer. My Katanas didn’t leave so much as a scratch. But one more benefit his Bulk grants him resistance to magic and spells”. “While in his split up forms, the speed and agility makes them impossible to hit, however their agility makes them incredibly weak to magic”. “Keep your head calm, and don’t do anything that’ll get you killed” Seth concluded. Madara and Xage nodded. “We have to change the way we’re planning on attacking this guy” Madara whispered. “I’ll take the lead” Xage whispered back “My seal is going to activate, and that’ll make my weapon attacks extremely potent, but when it recedes I’ll be defenceless. That’s when you have to lead the assault”. “Right” Madara nodded, for now “I’ll just create openings for you to attack”. The swirling aura around Xage intensified, culminating in a shockwave which he directed towards Bayyne. The ends of Xage’s hair stood up, and his muscular frame intensified. He nodded towards Madara, and charged at Bayyne. As he ran, his armor shifted into his Insightful Ultra Guardian and his might arcane flame stop mallet appeared in his hand. As he charged, Bayyne tried to counter with a punch, however due to his heightened senses, Xage dodged and struck Bayyne’s chest with all the force he could muster. The impact sent Bayyne flying, but Xage didn’t stop there. He used his wind magic to fly towards Bayyne’s trajectory and once again struck him. Madara contributed Xage’s assault, with his undead minions. His archers sent out barrages towards Bayyne, though it didn’t seem to affect him. Seth who witnessed Xage’s actions, thought back to the first time his father had told him about his inheritance. Lucian sat down next to a young teen, at the edge of the mansion garden. His appearance was that of a young bearded sage, with a long flowing silk robe and a sceptre rested on his hand “Seth what happened?” he asked. “Nothing dad, it’s just something weird happened to me today during my training” the young Seth whined. “What is it? Was you’re magic to powerful for the other kids to handle?” Lucian asked, a small smile etched on his face. “No, something else, I had a sudden rush of mana, and I accidently set the academy on fire” Xage sniffed. Upon hearing that, Lucian burst into laughter. Seth surprised to see his father laughing asked sheepishly, “Why what’s wrong?” Lucian laughter subsided, but a kind smile still remained “Nothing’s wrong, you’ve just had your first taste of the power of the Hydra’s seal”. Seth, confused asked “What’s the Hydra’s seal?” Lucian said “You remember the folklore about our ancestors don’t you?” Seth replied “You mean the tale about how our ancestors, the three brothers slew the alpha hydra, and hence our bloodline was imbued with certain powers and a strong magical force?” “Yes” Lucian smiled “You see every now and then, the magical force that flows in our veins culminates into a seal. When that occurs, our mana and our spell casting abilities grow exponentially, beyond that a regular sorcerer could ever achieve, matching that of archmagi if not exceeding”. “But the seal can only last for so long without proper training. Once it recedes, it leaves the user weak and almost completely devoid of mana for some time” Lucian stopped. “Well, guess that explains why I passed out!” Seth spoke, embarrassed. “Don’t worry son, you’re still young. It’s nothing to be ashamed about, you’ll master it someday don’t worry!” As he finished recounting the scene, Seth looked at Xage, and he swelled with joy. His brother had learnt to master the seal, but with the joy came a sudden realisation. Once the seal receded, Xage would be defenceless against Bayyne. He looked at Madara, who himself was involved in invoking his own power. “He’s gonna transcend to the other side” Seth thought to himself, “It’ll be foolish to warn him”. He looked at his own arm, the magical sutures were involved in their work, and he could no feel his hand, and he tried flexing his fingers. They worked perfectly, as good as new. Xage continued the assault, whacking down Bayyne with his war hammer, with every opening he got. However, he realised that his power was beginning to wane. He felt his limbs begin to slow, and his movements became strained. He used his final bit of strength and his last mana to power his attack, to once again send Bayyne sprawling towards the wall. He tried moving, but his limbs gave in. He collapsed on his legs, and a sudden feeling terror gripped Xage. He saw Bayyne rising up, and walking towards him. Bayyne spoke “Well well well, I see the famed seal has finally receded. It was foolish of you to even think about using it against me!” Bayyne flexed himself “You’re attacks, painful as they were, weren’t strong enough to do any real damage”. Xage tried his hardest to will his legs to move, but they wouldn’t budge. He watched in fear as Bayyne got closer, but he felt the last of his energy leave him, and then everything became black. Xage collapsed on his back, as Bayyne walked up to him. He stood at Xage’s body, trying to figure what to do next. Seth watched in horror as his brother collapsed, he hadn’t died, yet he was exhausted beyond measure. Bayyne reached out to hold Xage, when a hand composed of dark energy got hold of Xage and pulled him out in time. Seth turned to see the source, Madara whose transformation was now complete. Madara had crossed the threshold of life, and was now an undead necromancer or in other words a Lich. His skin was now pale, almost white and his eyes had a deep shade of crimson. His Armor of Awe was now a flowing robe of Prussian blue. He had a dark flaming aura surrounding him, with the clawed arms an extending from the sides. Bayyne looked at Madara, seemingly interested. “So, what are you now?” Bayyne smirked. Madara spoke, yet the voice that came out wasn’t his own. It was as though a hundred or so voices were now speaking in unison “YOU’RE DEATH” Madara’s voice spoke coldly. Madara was then surrounded by a further dark aura that materialised into a humanoid shape. First, the head materialised, a sadistic grin accompanied with a blank white eyes. A pulse of dark energy shot out from the eyes of the Aura creature, hitting Bayyne squarely on the chest. Bayyne still stood tall, unaffected by the pulse. But while Bayyne recovered, Madara sneaked in behind Bayyne and an aura sword materialised in his hand. He plunged the sword into Bayyne’s stomach, causing Bayyne to bellow out with pain. Bayyne tried breaking free, but the other hand gripped him and kept him from moving. The black flames behind Bayyne’s back parted, revealing Madara’s pale face. The hundred voices in Madara’s voice spoke “THAT WAS MY DIVERSION! NOW, YOU DIE IN THIS VERSION!”. With that, Madara opened his mouth, and a pink-lilac orb formed and began pulsing with energy. In a split second, it shot out into Bayyne’s chest. The blast sent Bayyne flying forward, but he halted. He looked at himself and a sadistic smirk appeared on his face. “You’re strategy seems to have a fla...” He stuttered, clutching his chest. Brilliant beams of light began shooting out of his body, and in a bellow of pain, Bayyne exploded. His remains scattered, across the room from the explosion. Madara then turned around, facing Seth. He glided over, a maniacal expression on his face. Seth looked at Madara approaching him, and a slight nagging feeling surfaced. Are liches in control of their actions? Madara levitated in front of Seth, and said “Boo!” causing Seth to jump back. “Hahaahahaa!! Madara burst into laughter, the flames and dark aura surrounding him receding, and his Armor of Awe resurfacing. “You should have seen the look on your face!” Madara burst out, his voice returning back. “Alright, Alright!” Seth said, getting up. His hand had how fully healed “I was...surprised.” But Madara collapsed, prompting Seth to grab him. “Are you okay?” Seth asked, visibly concerned. “No” Madara replied “Remind me never to go all Lich again. It’s annoying sharing your body with a hundred other souls. I mean one guy wouldn’t shut up about his cats!” “Sure” Seth grinned, as he helped Madara walk. But the moment was interrupted by a loud crash, and both Madara and Seth were sent crashing. Seth got up, to see Madara knocked out cold. Seth turned back to see Bayyne standing again, healed completely as if nothing had happened. Bayyne grinned “You lot aren’t the only ones with special abilities you know, as long as my brain remains intact, there is nothing in the universe that can kill me!” “And it looks like you’re the only one left. Once I’m done with you, I’ll deal with your friends. First your precious Paxia, then your whole world will burn against our might.” Seth smiled “If I fall, two more will fight in my place. Besides, you think the Truphma will take out Paxia, and then you’re wrongly mistaken”. “The blaze of my clan flows within me, Paxia may not be at the pinnacle it was once at, but we are still strong” “The will of fire has been passed to the next generation, as a member of the Igneus clan I’m not allowed to lose!” Seth declared. With that a blaze of intense flames surrounded Seth, and once again he was armoured with his Supreme Overlord’s dynasty. “This time when you fall, you won’t get up!” Seth screamed. He rushed at Bayyne, surrounded by an inferno of blue flames. As he ran, he willed the release of his seal, and the flames began swirling with the release of the Hydra’s seal The blue flames collided with the red energy of the seal, to meld into a white flame surrounding the whole of Seth’s body. “Time to Burn it down!” Seth screamed as he charged, the white flames intensifying with his war cry as a blade, the Giant Killer appeared in his hand. Bayyne in a bid to counter launched himself forward for his assault. Seeing Bayyne charging towards him, he slowed down heeding the advice he had once received from Blackhawke. “When a bigger enemy is charging towards you, learn to use his momentum against him. A slight decrease in your speed can change the course of the battle” Blackhawke’s words echoed. As Bayyne edged closer, Seth slowed down even further. Just a second before Bayyne would be in contact; Seth feinted and dodged sideways, leaving Bayyne defenceless. Seth swung his giant killer, which was surrounded with a combination of White and grey flames and hit Bayyne directly on his unprotected back. The result was horrific, as flaming blade seared his back, cutting through his suit. The force of the impact once again sent Bayyne sprawling, but Seth used his enhanced reflexes to appear in front of Bayyne’s trajectory. He withdrew his blade, and instead used the flames surrounding him to fashion a blade of pure white flames. With one swipe he cleaved Bayyne into half, from head to his stomach and the halves of his body landed behind, either side of Seth. Seth turned around to see the remains. They remained motionless, until seething green tendrils began moving from his body; clearly, Bayyne wasn’t dead. Seth said grimly “Not this time. This time you won’t have anything to regenerate from”. Saying that, he began focusing the flames surrounding him; the flames rose up, leaving Seth’s armor and forming a giant fireball which hovered above Seth’s raised palm. There was a pause as Seth stood, contemplating what to do next. Then with a sudden jerk of his palm, the fireball crashed upon Bayyne’s half dead remains. “I rise, you fall!” Seth smirked. “You are the most stereotypically clichéd person I know!” A voice boomed from behind Seth, a familiar voice. Seth turned around to see Xage sitting up. Seth ran up, withdrawing the seal to help Xage up. “So you beat him? And why didn’t you say something like Burn in Hell or sumthin?” Xage grumbled. Seth smiled “Because, that would be Nicholas cage level of cliché”. He placed his palm over Xage and muttered under his breath. A soft blue light appeared, over Xage’s body, healing his wounds and energy. “Where’s Madara” Xage asked. “Oh, he fainted after Bayyne’s shockwave” Seth replied. “I’ll carry him now, until he wakes up. You just focus on yourself”. “Wait how you healed me, you just activated the seal! You should be exhausted” Xage protested. “You’ve still got a lot to learn lil bro!” Seth said, walking towards Madara’s unconscious body. Seth lifter him up and hoisted him on his shoulder “Man, he’s packing in the pounds. C’mon let’s go! This isn’t over yet” Part 13: Elements Deceived: 15 times unlucky “I don’t think so” Hict stretched. “Think what?” Madara asked. “Well, you and Seth seem extremely exhausted, and storm has used up a lot of his strength to take out Morhisson” Hict argued. “I think I can agree with that point to an extent” Seth agreed. “What do you propose Hict?” “Well” Hict smiled “I was thinking...” A few minutes later, the Truphma army was now within a few leagues of the camp. They stopped short by a few distance, and a Truphma on a bland earth dragon mount. Seeing the incoming Truphma envoy, a few Truphma soldiers appeared atop the guard tower. A small contingent of Truphma soldiers appeared at the collapsed wall, and from behind him the general Vayyder stuttered in. He walked up to the envoy and spoke “Envoy.... what business... do you come here...for?” The envoy replied “This is the counter army here to defend you. Where are the intruders?” Vayyder spoke “Their threat has been... subdued. Ten of them are being guarded.... whereas five of them have been.... killed”. “Impressive” the envoy smiled. “What of the other Generals, where are they?” He concluded. “General’s Bayyne, Morhisson and Galbathoricks .... didn’t make it” Vayyder said, bowing his head. “One of the Prisoners has agreed to speak... in return for his ... freedom” Vayyder said. “Bring him forth, Vayyder. I wish to speak to this Human filth” The envoy sneered. Vayyder nodded, and motioned to the Truphma soldiers behind him. “This” Vayyder spoke “goes by the name Sophia” he said pointing towards a young female being brought forward. The envoy smiled “She’s a beautiful creature; I will take the personal pleasure of dulling her myself”. “No, you promised” Sophia cried. “Promises are for the weak, silly girl! This is war!” The envoy shot back. He turned to Vayyder “Where are the rest of the soldiers?” Vayyder spoke “They fought valiantly, but were killed by their forces. These are all that remain”. “All of you shall be rewarded” He motioned towards the Truphma soldiers. “All of your families shall be rewarded! All of your future generations will live in royalty!” The envoy declared. “Today..” but the envoy stuttered. He looked at his chest, to say a light blade protruding into him. He looked at Vayyder, who had pierced him. “Why” the envoy stammered. Vayyder withdraw his arm, and placed both his arms on his kabuto and yanked it out. The envoy gasped as he saw Vayyder’s dulling completely removed. He spoke “First, it’s Luke, Luke strife. Second, the Truphma soldiers would be rewarded, if they were alive!” All the Truphma soldiers around them flickered, and then disappeared. They were all illusions. Sophia, who all the while looked helpless, smiled. She rose up and walked up to him and raised her fist, which was pulsing with energy. The envoy begged “Please, please; Have mercy!” Sophia smiled “Sorry honey, but this is war”. Saying that, he placed her palm on the Envoy’s head, who at once began screaming with agony as the pulse of high voltage coursing through his body. Within a few seconds, the envoy collapsed. Luke looked at the Truphma army, who were taken aback with the sudden change of events. Luke closed his eyes, and concentrated. His body began glowing with a soft white glow, and when it cleared, he was garbed in the armor of a Pria knight with a sword of Rennd resting on his back, and a brown shield attached to his arm. Two great giant blue birds flew out from the camp, and on them were two mages. Seth and Popinloopy had transformed into the great giant birds, more commonly known by their aliases lord of the skies. On Seth, Hikari stood, whereas Storm flew with Popinloopy. Hikari spoke to Seth telepathically “How many do you see?” Seth’s voice replied “So, far I’ve counted around two thousand”. Hikari communicated with Storm and Popinloopy, who confirmed the estimate. With that, the four of them flew off once again into the camp Meanwhile, Madara who had kept up the illusions collapsed. He had already expended a lot of energy, in his fight against Bayyne, and the illusions had depleted his energy completely. Hict ran up to him, and checked his pulse. “Good, he’s alive” he thought to himself. “Xage” Hict called out, prompting him to come running. “Xage, you’re in no condition to battle and Madara’s just fainted” Hict said. “I want you to return back to Paxia, take him to the airship or to Paxus and have him and yourself treated” He concluded. “Are you sure, we need an all hands in the deck situation don’t we?” Xage protested. “No, we can handle it. Besides, you both are weak; leave right now” Hict reiterated. Xage nodded, and held Madara. Concentrating his eyes, a vortex surrounded them both and they whisked off. Meanwhile, the Truphma had formed an attack formation and marched towards the gate. 0Neo, Martin and Popinloopy had taken up their positions on top of the guard tower. Lord Taelord, Wyrm, Moe, Luke and Abaraa had taken up the frontline of the gate. Hikari and Storm would supplement 0Neo, Popinloopy and Martin’s spell barrage, albeit from a higher plane. Hict, Seth and Sophia would hold a direct assault on the Truphma in the centre. Just when Hict was about to move, a dark shadowy figure appeared beside him. “It’s done” Adrian spoke. “How come they’re still marching?” Hict asked. Adrian reverted back to his human form, “Wait for it....” The Truphma who were now within meters of the camp suddenly stopped. They soldiers in front couldn’t move any further. Adrian laughed, “I guess my shadow binding circle is operational” Seth walked up and stood next to Hict “Guess we’re ready!” Hict nodded “This is it”. Sophia grunted “Let’s get this over with!” with that she jumped up, and screamed “Attack!”
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