The Barren Wastes (Side Quest)

[Tanimeso]

A virtually endless sea of sand and rock. Deep with in this desert resides a artifact, one that is said to grant one ultimate power, wisdom, and above all immortality. Many have tried for this artifact, many have never returned, but for those that do, speak of a horrible demon. A demon that is so horrible, just looking upon it saps away all desire one may have to ever take the famous artifact for themselves.  

[DarkChephros]

A dark portal opened two inches above the sand and Chephros stepped through. Used to the oddities of the dark portals, his staff was down and into the ground to stabilize him before he'd even started falling due to the planet's natural gravity. He hit the ground a moment later and stood still. Reaching his heart out to the darkness like always, he called in whatever heartless he could in a very short timespan. Had he wanted to he could have focused and called in some Wyverns, but for now a collection of eight small shadows and two neo-shadows would serve his purpose. They drifted up from the ground and he sent them off to scout around the land. The neo-shadows had orders to hunt for any living beings nearby. Two of the shadows were to go around and search for anything interesting, four of them were assigned to hunt for Kazei's Glimmers, and the other two were just looking around, staying relatively near to Chephros.

Chephros would be standing there focusing on three things. One, altering his staff back to it's old form. Two, calling in a wyvern or two, one for the glimmers, another to find some form of life. Thirdly, his summons. If anything, the climate would be perfect for Ifrit, the beastial fire demon. A desert was as good as anything right?  

[Kazei Hitari]

A corridor of darkness opened before in the middle of the sand a couple of feet away from Chephros. From the dark portal, Kazei stepped through, scoping out the entire landscape around him. There wasn't munch to look at besides the endless sea of baked sand that cooked for centuries. The only thing that stuck out amongst this picture was a small variety of scouting Heartless consisting of neo-shadows, shadows, wyverns, and finally the young mage. Nothing in particular caught the his interest besides the simple fact of what he'd come here to do.

"So what brings you around these parts Chephros.... Looking for anything in particular....I could be mistaken, but no one told me of anyone being ordered to the Barren Wastes. Sage is in on a mission to Traverse Town and the Dark Sage is to see Vex in the Realm of Darkness. Sounds to me like others are being kept from other plans that are set in motion."

The boy said with said with sarcastic concern, followed by a raised brow and a small smile. The desert winds were now blowing harsher than ever, causing Kazei's spiked blue hair to whip around like swaying blades cutting through the wind. It was true. The Void was cult that was consisted of those who were chosen for their unique set of abilities from the ranks of the dark army. Those of lower ops were always competing with the higher authorities in attempts of claiming positions within the Void itself. Plots were always being made no matter what the costs to keep the Void intact and at power, even if it meant betrayal. Despite all of this, as long as his named wasn't mentioned, Kazei couldn't care any less if they picked each other off. This time however, a little birdie from within the Void chirped a little too loud and caught Kazei's attention.

 

[DarkChephros]

Chephros felt the disruption in elements nearby, and noted the weight towards darkness. A portal then, someone was coming. The things, while normally silent, left a nice magical trace in the air that one of power could detect. The stronger you were, the easier you felt it and the better you could determine specifics about it. For instance, Chephros knew that it was a heavy dark user coming through the portal, and someone of power. It was either a high ranked nobody, Void member, or walker of the Dark path. Either way it would be useful for him. Three wyverns rose from the ground as Chephros focused, and he smirked. They were coming more rapidly and more abundantly to him now. Did they recognize him for doing something? Or perhaps it was the surge of power he'd been given... He'd figure it out later.

The three wyverns left, taking to the skys and floating away. One to find any of Kazei's glimmers, one to find the Demon and his artifact, one to find something interesting, no matter what it was. Perhaps a book, perhaps an odd looking formation of sand, maybe even a small pool of water. Whatever was different from endless sand. With that done, Chephros focused fully on his staff. His summons would be later. The staff itself streaked in black colors. The teeth on the bottom jagged more, a few grew odd looking barbs that would rip flesh should they touch. The spear point grew two curving additions from the base. They hooked around like demon horns, almost touching the spike an inch from the end of the spear point. That wasn't foreseen, but the added weaponry would be nice. The color of the staff blackened and on top of the staff a pair of demon wings formed and a small sphere of black energy sat within them. The energy would give a nice blast to anyone it touched, hitting them with the pure power of darkness. Oh yeah, let the good times roll.

"I'm here because there were rumors around of something here. Apparently there's an artifact in this desert with a demon of some kind guarding it. The Dark Sage is having me look for things of importance, with very little clue as to where they might be or how to find them, so I'm just following what leads I got. Care to join me then?"  

[Kazei Hitari]

Although Kazei had his hood down with the cloak still shrouded around his body, the sun still heated the leather on the cloak he wore. Had it not been for the crimson headband he wore, his face would've been drenched in sweat. The leather was beginning to grow more stickier with each on coming moment as the sun beat down across it like a bad a** whipping from hell. Without hesitation, Kazei gripped the shoulder sleeve and tore the entire cloak away from his body and tossed it flapping into the baked desert floor.

"That damn thing was starting to annoy me for some time. Besides, clothing like that isn't fit for a true King. The King is back."

He said dusting his shoulders off and brushing his hair back slightly with his hand. It wasn't his style to go into a battle unfitted. His cloths were that of his old ways. Crimson fitted down to the the tee to match his crimson jeweled eyes.

"Artifacts, legendary books, demons, items, archives, eh....None of that really matters at this point my lost friend. I'm not worried about any of that, it just isn't my style. You see, something has suddenly occurred to me. I can't put my finger on it at the moment. Lets just say a little birdie landed on my shoulder and decided to sing me a song. The problem your mission here. I let you go through with its possible that I'll never find out what that little birdie was chirping about. I think I've given you enough information to you already Chephros. You felt this coming the minute I entered the dark dimensional rift. Besides, I don't think you have any intention of aborting this anyways."

"Blade of the nothingness, unseen by neither the heavens or the hells. Blade unknown to neither life or death. Forge your destiny into my hands. Formless!!"

Kazei said walking towards the boy while extending out his hand. There his eyes closed as he reached into the depths of Nothingness to grasp the power he lusted for the moment. Energies of neither light nor darkness that consisted of tiny mana bubbles gathered into his right extended palm. Suddenly with an eruption of Grey flames erupted from the boy's hand. As he yanked the handle forth, the flames exploded into a series of Grey sparks that spread out until finally the weapon was drawn out. As known, Formless was a Keyblade that had no true or in a theory no absolute form. A blade constantly built on and built by endless adaptations to each new experience. As we know the human body is made up three things. The heart, body, and soul. A being stripped of its heart becomes a nobody and thus a heartless is born or vise verse. However, what exactly happens to the soul. A strong willed soul that is able to walk amongst the living while maintaining is form without heartless or nobody. The power of darkness and nothingness used as two access energies at his disposal. Kazei was the one of if not the first being to achieve this state. Wielding both these forces together, he was a true master of the Twilight force. These energies around the blade constantly intertwining and causing small pockets of space to distort and bend outward now. Melding form from these same energies, five bubbles began forming around Kazei. Ever so bouncing and swinging around his body with playful motion as if maintaining minds of their own. The dark blue hair had taken a wild slight growth and was now spiked on end like violent blades that defied any motion from the blowing wind.

"Well now, what will it be Chephros. Will you abort the mission? Which I strongly doubt, or will you continue with the task your master set you on. As I said before, I don't like being left in complete darkness to these plans and there are things I must check. If you refuse, then I'm afraid that the thin line between ally and enemy will start to become blurry for me here."
 

[DarkChephros]

Oh gods, this wasn't working. Chephros sighed blatantly. No real point in keeping it internal right about now. Chephros figured it was Tereus who'd 'chirped' something toward Kazei. He'd have to think about removing that little bugger from existence later. Might prove useful. Probably wouldn't be too hard either. This whole thing was just...annoying really. He enjoyed fighting, he really did, but his enemies. Why? Well, simply because them he could kill and it wouldn't matter. He could go all into it and just destroy them with everything he had, his preferred style, and it wouldn't mean s**t to anyone in the Void IV. If he killed Kazei, one of the higher Void members, granted it would mean he'd go up in the group, he'd probably get some heavy retribution from at least one person in the upper group. Either Sage or the Dark Sage. Meh, if it happened though, he'd deal with it. He had tricks people didn't know about.

"Still though, if you're trying to be intimidating, it's not working." A continuation of the thoughts in his head, said out loud. It was half-heartedly a joke, but then a half-truth. Without knowing it, or perhaps he did, Kazei was almost attempting to be scary. A good tactic against people who didn't know your estimated strength. "I realize you're supposedly one of the best warriors out there, but then, realize, I'm one of the best mages out there. And I don't exactly suck with my staff either. Time we figure out which is better when the two variant forces meet eh?" While he was talking, he was also busy. Embracing the nature of darkness and the forces present within and around it, he felt a presence stir within his body, soul, and heart. The darkness flooded inside him, and when that was full, it started drifting out. A layer of Complete Dark would surround him, fogging the area in a black that absorbed all light. Not the black you see when you look up at the night sky, but the black of the abyss, forever and eternal. Kazei was twilight, a mix of the powers. Dawn was a watering down of each, but Kazei, no, he was a true mix of the powers. However, Chephros was a Darkened One, always and forever.

"Now then." He raised his staff and glanced at it. "My weapon doesn't have a name. It's not a separate attachment, something I just wield, it's pretty much a part of me. As you've probably seen, it reacts to me, it changes, bends it's shape to my aura and power. It reflects it, enhances it, strengthens it, and gives me added power. I'll bet your 'Formless' does the same for you. However, I'm sorry I can't say this will be a battle between weapons. Instead, it will be a battle between me, and you and your blade." He hoped Kazei would gathered the distinction, where one warrior found his weapon a part of him, and another used it like a mere tool. A taunt if anything, Chephros knew completely that Formless was as much a part of Kazei as his glimmers were. Still, as he spoke, he would be pulling out a second layer of Complete Dark so long as Kazei didn't do anything.

"Shall we begin?" As if to emphasize his point, his staff would spin in his hand quickly, sending the sphere and wing side down, and the spear and teeth side up. It was a blurred movement, fast, practiced, and accurate. He wasn't too terribly good with pure physical movements, but moving quickly, powerfully, and gracefully, he was very good at. Magic was defined in those aspects as well. His mana coursed through his hands into his staff, outlining the thing in glowing red. Should Kazei or his weapon touch the staff at all, a Firaga spell would greet them immediately and point blank.  

[Kazei Hitari]

It was true, there was no real point in keeping these secrets locked up with the rest of the jack skellingtons in the closet. It was no other than someone from the Void who could have informed Kazei on these new series of events. He cared not of what happened to them though. it was all about the King now, and only the King. Attempting to be intimidating? Far from it. It was Kazei's nature, every second and moment of it. If anything was seen as attempts in the opponent's eyes, they'd be in for a rude awakening once the real thing hit them slab dab in the face. Whatever the opponent was feeling by now was the real thing. He was one to puppeteer his entire personality to manipulate his enemies and allies to keep them at bay for his plans to fall in motion. However, this was aspect of his nature that was absolute. Their was no attempting, it was all him. The goal wasn't to intimidate, but to annihilate.

"Intimidating my friend, far from it. I haven't gotten started with you just yet. Intimidating is when your body is in need of sewing from your master once I'm done with you. I'd prefer you be intimidated after I'm done with you rather than before I'm done. Besides, true feelings manifest when people start to cling tightly to that very thin thread they call life at the last minute."

It was true what he said. He cared not for Chephros feelings at the moment. They were mere emotions. Mixed of feelings of the before of the before and nothing of the after. It was the after effects of the battle that mattered most. Once Kazei finished with his opponent, he wanted them to have a new feeling and idea of themselves and what lead them to that point. The hell he would send them to seemed like paradise after he was through with them. There was no holding back once the enemy showed his bad side.

"Enough with the talk, the talk is over. You talk to munch my dear friend. I care not what mage you are or about your origins for the matter. Without any demonstration of potential, you're just another mage to me."

He said, as Formless now shifted into Tsurugi Form The teeth of the keyblade sunk in as its with wickedly grew in length and width. The two devilish curves then jutted and curved out onto the black wraps that binded the handle. The entire Tsurugi itself was binded by white and crimson wraps, including the coal colored black tattered ones. Each one hanging and dwindling outwards .The air around the two became menacing as it was reflected in the picking up of the violent desert winds approaching. No doubt the way the sands picked up that a desert storm was approaching.

"Lets do this."

He said with Tsurugi at hand now dwarting towards Chephros without hesitation. A cloud of sand enveloped the area the minute his feet kicked up from the sandy floors. It was amazing how he moved with such a large weapon. He wasn't one to prolong the inevitable. His mana was now rushing through his body and his blood was now burning greater than any fire spell Chephros had planned for this battle. Suddenly their was a slight flicker of bodily movement closing in on Cheprhos's ranged, however it blinked over to the right side and outlined Kazei's form in a shadowy doppelganger manner. He did this frequently as he closed in on him. Constantly dashing to the side in random areas and leaving shadowy after images behind.  

[DarkChephros]

The shadowed fog around him thickened as he listened to Kazei. No, he didn't mean s**t in the words he said. He just wanted Kazei to keep talking. The longer he talked at a distance, the longer he gave Chephros to pull layers of the Complete Dark out of his body. He had a limitless amount with his Darkened self, and there were some fun things he could do with the outcome of the layers. It only took him a few seconds to pull out a layer, and by the time Kazei was finished altering his blade, the second layer was out. It would seem to pour from his mouth, nose, tear ducts, ears, and the folds of his clothes. When Kazei got to arguing Chephros' lie, a third layer was half out. It was great having such a huge advantage just being handed to him. What people tended to forget was that time was an important commodity. If you gave someone else the time to do as they wished, odd things could start to happen in your opponent's favor. When Kazei would say the time for talking was over, despite the fact that he in truth had talked more over the course of their little discussion, a figure would appear at Chephros' side. His triple layers of Complete Dark would form into another version of Chephros. It was exactly like him in appearance, and then held his experience with his weapon.

Except it was all black, like the Complete Dark, was utterly silent, and felt nothing at all. It had a combat mind of it's own. As it was just resting, it relied on mental commands from it's creator. Once in a fight though, it had all situational awareness that Chephros had, plus 'vision' as if it truly had eyes where they should be. Like people, it's vision could be stopped should it's eyes be hit. Then of course, there was it's spear. It matched Chephros', but the ball of energy was mainly just a ball of shadows. It's blade was real, and would hurt like any other, as well as it held the power of a keystaff, but other than that it was a very basic weapon. It was the fact that the Shadow Assassin was quick was the problem. It was as strong as Chephros, and as wise, but it was faster, and thus people underestimated it. Chephros stood there impassively, just waiting. Seemed like he was still watching for his heartless to return.

He would raise his left hand and charge mana into small spheres. They were gray normally, with white and black streaks swirling chaotically around inside. They were the size of plums, but held a good amount of power. With the mana of two Fire spells, he charged his Missile Storm. If Kazei had known what Chephros had prepared for this battle, and any other really, then perhaps the two could have just demonstrated their strongest ability on some random object and gone from there, but then, that would have taken the fun out of it, wouldn't it have? A smirk wound it's way onto Chephros' face. This was potentially the first true battle he'd had in a long time. He stood still, his spear parallel to the ground with the spear point facing Kazei, orbs appearing in his hand. The Shadow Assassin however, moved into a more battle ready stance. It crouched lower to the ground, it's body contorting. It's legs spread apart, it's left hand held to the ground. It's right arm was wrapped around the keystaff, holding it across it's back. It's hand faced the teeth and point, which were pointed outward to the right, while the wings were back to it's left. It looked like it was about to spring too.

The first actual attack would go to Kazei. The first move had been done by both at relatively the same time. Chephros would wait where he was for now. His staff was still glowing red, and his left hand held the power to blow a good area to complete bits. It was just about time to see who's power was greater, the mage who'd started a year ago, or Kazei, the 'great warrior' of the Void IV who'd been at it for some time.  

[Kazei Hitari]

The whole time Kazei knew what Chephros was up to. It was merely part of the plan to allow the opponent to feel superior. Allow him to be drowned in false triumph. From the beginning Chephros started manifesting these energies from his body, Kazei was already on to what he was doing. It was one of the oldest tricks in the book if Chephros thought he was actually getting somewhere with it. Ah well, it couldn't be helped. Chephros was still wet behind the ears in the arts of combat and arcane arts. It was only about a year ago when he received these powers from his master. He had many years over Chephros in the fires of war. They were the raised warriors of his homeworld of Arius. If this was one of the best tactics that Chephros had in mind, then he'd better consider going back to the old geezer for more knowledge. As he moved about, images of Kazei were now scattered around the baked grounds and blinking around continuously towards Chephros. Imprints within the sand were constantly being formed behind this boy as well. It could be in fact drawn from conclusion that Kazei had already moved in that area behind Chephros through the Shadow Blink due to these footprints behind him. This could be pointed out from the mere footprints that lied within the sand around, however you'd have to point it out on time before these prints were filled with falling sand around. About four images of Kazei were heading towards Chephros, but when they made it within melee range, they simply faded away as if passing through them. However, the real Kazei was standing behind Chephros just a couple of meters away. Within the time period Chephros was taking to create the shadow assassin, Kazei had already moved a distance behind the two. The shadow blink wasn't to underestimated at all.

Leveling the tip of the blade towards Chephros, black clouds of blackness were summoned and spurting outwards and around the blade. Each clog gathering in large puffs of blackness with lines of white light streaking through each of them. Each of these streaks representing small linear dimensions small enough to suck away at various energies and the auras given off by them. All of these puffs sticking together by faint poison to create miniature clouds that engulfed the blade. Any dark elemental particles that would be given off from Chephros or the darkness would now be sucked into the puffy voids of blackness. This was the Nightmare technique. Sucking in any shielding darkness within the air or around the opponent for the matter. From the dark portals onto the particles of darkness given off from the heartless Chephros had summoned to this desert plane. If Chephros's fog or his assassin had met with this blade, they'd be greeted by finding themselves rapidly stripped of the darkness that surrounded him in one blow.

Suddenly, his body vanished from sight and slightly to the left, followed by an arc slash that sent a great shroud of negative clouds towards Chephros and the Assassin. The Nightmare, constantly expanding as it fed on the dark energies that emanated out from the surrounding area of Chephros and the assassin. Each of these particles losing their structure and essence as they were lost through the veins of light. There the blanket of emptiness loomed over Chephros, awaiting to strip the darkness from him like a banana peeling. As the nightmare blanket headed towards Chephros, the Tsurugi was brought to Kazei's face. His forehead was leaning upon its edge as his eyes closed in reflection of his focus. Words of an ancient tongue was now streaming smoothly away from his lips while this happened. The sandy winds were now picking up once more causing the turbans to strike and whip away through the air like vipers through the wind from his blade. The battle was becoming more interesting with each moment. The two were now about to clash forces in fiery embers of comabat.  

[DarkChephros]

((My posts are about to get considerably shorter. When I fight, I ignore any and all things other than the fighting technics themselves., and considering everything else is making up over half ours posts right now...yeah.))

Chephros waited. Kazei's shadow blink was a movement through darkness, and such it reflected itself through the elements in the area like a dark portal did. Those attuned in their ways could literally feel the blink and where it was going. Chephros stood still, his shadow assassin right next to him, and just charged his Missile storm. Even as Kazei got close with his Nightmare and sword, he just stood there, waiting, almost relaxed as if nothing was happening at all. The assassin was still tensed and constantly shifted in position, moving to wherever Kazei was truly going with his Shadow blink. It had all the awareness of Chephros, including the distortions of elements, and then the reverse was true as well. The assassin itself was safe from the Nightmare, because it was no longer pure folds of darkness. It was alive in itself. The blackness was the formality of shadow, not darkness. The difference was miniscule, but enough to alter it's composition completely, and to the point where it wouldn't be harmed. Still, couldn't let Kazei know that, could he?

Chephros would wait, still facing the wrong direction to block anything. As the arc slash would come down, Chephros would tap his staff to the sand. Mana discharged and a wall of ice would appear instantly in front of the Nightmare slash. Sadly, because it wasn't darkness, the wall would block the Nightmare utterly, and before it'd moved even inches past the blade. His staff then drained the appropriate amount of mana from Chephros, and everything was reset. The staff still glowed red, the Shadow Assassin still crouched by his side waiting to strike, and a barrier of ice would now be in the middle of a desert.  

[Zihl]

Zarx's body was thrown like a mere rag doll from the hands of this evil child know as a dark portal. Zarx fell into a rolling position almost as if the sand of the desert floor caught him, like a child in a cradle. Zarx instantly felt the pain his desert was feeling upon contacting the small grains of sand upon his face, the desert floor, and the heavy air circulating within his lungs. Zarx nodded at Tereus as he did in the Mystic Heritage. The desert scorpion then released a great burst of speed as a cloud of dust erupted from the desert floor. Zarx wasn't running anymore his speed was so great, his movements so graceful, it was as if he was dancing his way across the endless desert in mere seconds as his posture flowed from dune to dune as if he were gliding on water. The sand was blowing profusely but it did not affect him one bit, he was used to harsh desert environment, besides he grew up in this desert since his childhood years. The man who glided with such ease across the desert came to a dead stop, as his movements stopped the aftershock blew a great sand dune down to almost nothing, as it revealed a secret grotto. This is the home of Kob. Zarx grabbed the scorpion armor and laced it along his figured, it replicated that of a scorpion, black metal in layers of plate armor along his shoulders, it was light and snug but gave him enough leisure to been stealthy and well guarded, the spines ran jagged down his spine all the way down to the tip of the stinger at the en of the tail which hung between the backside of his legs. The chest plate was light, but sturdy, at the abdomen it was loose as that of a scorpion, six different sheets of metal, hung in from of his stomach. and the plates stretched out towards his limbs with slight points at the knees and elbows, and lastly upon his footings and discretely over the back of his neck. Once it was equipped Zarx strapped his gunblades in after releasing 12 rounds of massive explosive shells as fast as he could. This destroyed his hidden grotto with a massive explosion and propelled the desert scorpion as immense speeds outward in to the desert sandstorm that was approaching Kazei and Chephros. Once in the air Zarx seemed to fly through the anger of the raging sandstorm winds as if here were a bird in the northern high winds. A ball of desert sand pummeled towards a large rick jutting out from the parch floor of the barren wastes, in an instant the mass of sand collided with the rick in a slight puff of sand. the and cleared and Zarx was crouching atop the rocky column he then took a stand with his arms folded as he scoped out the battle scene where the mage and warrior clashed with words as well as assaults.  

[Kazei Hitari]

As Kazei stood in the distance behind this boy, he focused his mana into the spell he was about to cast. The least of his worries were Chephro's ice barrier and assassin, he'd take care of those real soon. During this battle, Chephros had left out so many things. Kazei's shadow blink was one mistake made by miscalculating it. He observed the technique the wrong way believing that it was shadow elemental technique, however it was no more than pure high speed, and nothing more or less. Chephro's problem was that he analyzed the simplest things so hard that he'd perceived a more false complex idea from it. His shadow blink was more unique than Chephros thought. This technique did not utilize the power of darkness, but the images that were left behind resembled shadows. It would've been such an obvious thing had the boy actually took a second to think about. But then again, Chephros didn't have a second in the matter of this battle. Pierce through my opponent's defense and let the their insides illuminate with your burning light. These words bounced across Kazei's head, causing the entire outline of his arm to become outlined in a a burning light orange.

Suddenly a ring of arrows drenched in this same outlined color manifested and circled in a ring formation around his arm. Each of them consisting of pure light, however fueled by the raging hell flames.

"Illuminate their world!!"

At that command, the Flare arrows then began blasting forward from his palm in immense speed. Each of them losing their form as arrows and now resembling orange beams of light that smashed into the frozen wall that protected. There heat greatly smashing through the walls of ice and rapidly breaking through them. As each arrow was fired off from this ring, a newly one was manifested and sent beaming towards Chephro's destroyed ice barrier. If he didn't do anything now, he and his shadow assassin would be bathed in this blazing inferno. Enough of his barrier, if not all of it was melted away by these ten's of arrows illuminating their path into his destruction.

Now that the ice barrier had been destroyed, the negated Nightmare was also enclosing on Chephros and the Assassin. Its menacing empty nature now ready to stripped their darkness away from them. Yes, it was a true fact that this assassin's entire being would be eventually consumed by the twilight cloud because of its darkness essence. Shadow elemental or not, it was darkness. Shadow elemental and darkness were both the same in nature and essence magma elemental would be to the main attribute of Fire. Either Chephros couldn't accept his shadow assassin's fate that it was about to meet, or the obvious thing was that he didn't know the properties of it. Of course not most likely, his power was give to him by the old man and not rightfully his. The enormous cloud now folding in and outwards as it grew even more closer to them. Dark particles from the ground that were left over from creating the assassin were now shooting up into the air as the twilight cloud vacuumed the area of its darkness like jumbo vacuum cleaner. Kazei was enjoying every moment of this.

"Seems like you're having a little trouble keeping up boy. So far you've shown me everything that I've seen within the dark sage. You're nothing but a copy of another man's work."

Kazei said glancing at the boy through a deadly stare. His eyes were glowing a hot crimson so bright, that dark bangs of his hair were actually revealing its blue tent. Trails of crimson mana were now trailing from his eyes in streams of tailed away from his pupils.

"When I look at you, all that I see is an artificial mage created from the left over shell of a pitiful old man. Everything that you are is simply a tool that is handed down to you by the old man. Once that tool is broken, you'll be tossed aside in the rust bucket along with the others. Sitting there to waist and unnecessary to life."  

[DarkChephros]

Chephros sighed, people could be such fools. The flame arrows would smash through the barrier, sure, or at least, it would look like it. Shattering strikes broke the barrier, but the relatively small wall of ice didn't create a proportionate amount of ice spikes. No, mana fed into it created a 'wall' of something new. Something very sharp, and very dense. It wouldn't be shattered, as it wasn't cohesively held together. Instead, the arrows would have to smash into the spikes, which would now be moving forward as well. It'd be a contest of ice against fire, each to the extremes of their temperatures by the caster's power. The Nightmare wave however, would simply vanish. Chephros cast Shattering strikes himself, his staff cast his Catch and Release spell. It would net the wave and bring it to a very much alike plane. One of nothingness that would strip the wave down back to the core of the plane itself. The energy used to create that wave would be back in the net and set to explode back where the wave disappeared. It wouldn't be much energy anymore, most had been drained, but then if he'd been able to replicate the energy used to make something, he could've made it himself.

The mage's mana fed back into his staff to recharge it. He could feel the drain on his body, but his system had the nice way of recharging amazingly fast. Faster than anyone he'd ever met. During this time as well, Chephros would be pulling out another layer of the Dark from his body. As soon as it was out, it'd be gone. A number of black lines in varios arcs would appear around Kazei, trailing him wherever he went. Spacial distoritions used with shadows, and if Kazei didn't dodge each one, a phantom blade would cut him wherever the line fell. Regardless of belief, his shadows were something different from darkness. Whereas darkness was the absence of light, a Shadow was the darkness inherent when something Blocks the light, and thus a Void mixture. Not like the Twilight where it was a combination, but more of a lack of purity in both.

A wyvern would fly overhead. Chephros recieved a message from it as soon as it was in sight to either one of them, so whatever happened to the Wyvern itself didn't matter. The Shadow Assassin would seem to slip into the ground and disappear, walking amongst the shadows beneath the sand. It would reappear in Zarx's shaddow, spear end slashing for his his legs as it came up from the ground. From there, it would fight him as it'd been commanded.

Chephros at the same time would continue charging his Missile storm in his left hand. By now there were more than eighty of them, writhing about. There would be two sections, orbs floating above his hand, and then those floating beneath his hand. The ones above were the darkness, the ones below were the light. It didn't mean anything symbolic, it was just how he sorted them. They were apart so as not to explode should they touch. When one hundred of them formed, which would be within the next two seconds, he'd flick his wrist outward. All one hundred would circle around him. They'd mix about now, but none touching. Should anything get near, he could have them collide and explode, or perhaps just run into the person. Each one held half the power of a basic fire spell, the explosion as strong as a Blizzaga and Firaga both point blank, getting weaker the farther away you were. The explosion would reach 'bout four feet in any direction. After that, he'd wait. Whatever Kazei did or said was up to him.  

[Kazei Hitari]

Kazei only smiled as this went on, the outcome was inevitable, however it was Chephros's choice to prolong it. Each arrow was now smashing upon the tips of the spikes with relentless force. The impact of each one created outspread outbursts of flames that would finish off any left over touches of ice from the shield. The scorching desert temperatures was another thing that greatly influenced the power behind these attacks, thus causing them to melt through the tips of these ice spikes and to break through the ice barrier that shielded him completely. A contest between Fire and Ice?? A contest of which could exert more force?? Funny, the battle between those two elements was already been decided and won. Ice was obviously weak against these beams of fires, and so the boy's icy defenses were melted through just as if they were hot spears ripping through shields of butter. While the Nightmare was negated and focused on, by now since Chephros had ignored utilizing any movement while these flare arrows that beamed towards him. For that, they were now just about in point blank range of his body, leaving him with almost no time to dodge them.

As this happened, another burst of grey flames engulfed the Tsurugi blade which soon shifted and formed into the Sana Takana. The blade was munch more curve than any other broad sword and resembled a more widened version of a katana. It was nicely balanced between tsurugi state and katana. Its weight alone was perfect for a weapon of its size, giving him an edge with speed when swinging. Then again, Kazei's skill with large swords had became second hand to him after a while, thus making swords smaller than the tsurugi true diva's death with their mad speed.

"That'd a good puppy, lets get things started boy."

Kazei said just before these spacial distorted slashes formed towards him. Soon, the entire area was then left in a cloud of dust as a leftover result of the shadow blink. Utilizing his moves into pure footwork in the shadow blink, he was now dodging these these phantom blades in a series of maneuvered flips and pivoted turns from the sandy grounds onto darting into the air and finally diving downward once again towards the ground with his Takana pointed tip first while spinning rapidly like a top. As he dove downward, his body was vulnerable to the slashes since his movement now direct and straight. From his right shoulder onto the sides of his arms, cuts and gashes were made from these phantom blades, however they weren't fatal or deep enough to hinder the battle. All that was seen was Kazei's form colliding with the ground which sent out an explosion of clumps of sand into the air. Once sand that was sent upwards from the explosion was now raining back onto the desert floor, everything would soon be normal again. Nothing else could be heard, but the sounds of the more larger clumps of sand thudding across the ground. Once the cloud of dust would clear, Kazei's form would be missing entirely from the seen. The entire area where he once was once now back converted back into its normal desert sheet as the sands met back with the desert floor.  

[Tereus Hitoma]

As Tereus was shot out from the portal, he he landed with a thud while kneelig down. Nodding back to Zarx in response, they both traveled towards the outer rims of the location where Kazei and Chephros waged their battle. Tereus's plan was to go though Sairok to avoid the two of them feeling their presence through the portal, but Zarx jumped outwards through the warp of Sairok which forced him to follow behind. Not that it was a problem, due to the fact that this told Tereus that Zarx was about entering the hottest parts of the plan and skipping the warm ups. Finally landing on the rocky column, Tereus stood clasping his word as he watched the waging battle between Void members clash. Everything was perfect and set in place. These glimmers that Chephros searched for were now about to come into the hands of Tereus, not to mention the fragment weapon that Zarx would probably snatch as his own personal reward. Chephros had bitten more than he could chew from in this fight. This wasn't a minor battle that would allow him to finish up quickly so that he could get back to his mission. The time that it would take to defeat Kazei would give Tereus and Zarx and exponential amount of time to retrieve this glimmer and fragment. Chephros had failed his mission the minute fought with Kazei. Now he was about to return empty handed to his mother, the Dark Sage.

Just before he could relax, Tereus felt a familiar darkness from the battle squirming its way onto the rocky column where both he and Zarx awaited their chance. Suddenly, the shadow assassin that rested at Chephro's side was now at Zarx's feet with spear at hand. Before it's slash could actually go through, it would meet with Tereus's black sword in a loud CLANG.

"Well now you piece of s**t. Thought you were slick there, hmph. You see, I would rip your bones out place from your true self, but it seems like Kazei's already mopping the desert floors with you already."

Tereus said just before pushing the shadow assassin's blade away and now bringing his own blade behind his back into a set offense stance.