Light Vs. Darkness: The Hero's Return

Xero's eyes had narrowed at Gwen as she raised her cannon at her, "Then you have chosen your fate." With an explosion of darkness, Xero rushed out of the dark cloud in her Anti Form at Gwen; her claws swiping at the cannon to disarm her. Xero was tired. Tired of what was happening. She just wanted things to go back to the way they were before Lucifer became a Nobody. A time where she was actually happy. But now that can't happen. Not after she killed Gexln.


After Dane insulted his father and himself, Lexcifur let out an angry cry and swung at Dane again. This time the attack having a dark firaga infused with the blade. ​

 

Though Akira had asked the question to no one, she got an answer. Not sound was made. Yet, a voice rang out nonetheless. Inside her very mind, someone spoke to her. "Why, I'm right here. Akira, you are the second to find me, yet neither you nor the first have the means of my release." The voice was cool and charismatic. Should one let their guard down, it would be nearly hypnotic from the sound of it alone, and they may end up doing exactly as they were told regardless of what it was.

There, away from the light and noise of the outside battle, a man was chained to the wall. He was hidden in shadows, and his face could not be clearly seen. Some of the more obvious features could be made out, though. His hair was long and white, spiking in many directions. He wore a long jacket which covered nearly his entire body and hid anything beneath it. He was bound to the wall by numerous pitch black chains. Solidified darkness to seal him way, completed seven locks, ensuring that he was never released from this location.

Though she didn't know it, there was a parasite digging through her mind. It was collecting all her thoughts, memories, and emotions, and giving all the information straight back to the "Hero". He sensed her doubt as to which side to take. It was a simple solution. All he needed to do was convince her of his innocence, and the guilt of the goddess. "Though, unlike the other, you are a hero. Not a villain. I can see it in you. Can you not see that freeing me is the right choice? The goddess sits idle, letting the worlds go to the deaths. She cares only for the world she sits on and claims as her throne. Yet, this is not the whole truth of the matter. The Goddess seeks for all worlds save for Riel to wither and die. Then, there will be only her "paradise". A garden of ignorance, filled with those who worship her in the center of a graveyard of those neglected. She herself was the one who sealed me away. She knew i had the power to save them, and she could not let this happen. If you care to stop this injustice, then return to the fight. Deliver seven wielders of the keyblade to me, and i will right this wrong. You have my word." The words seeped into the deepest recesses of her mind. They carried with them a disease. It was a subtle power at work, so slight that there was nearly no chance she would notice that it was happening, but she was being indoctrinated. One could not help but feel as though this man's will was correct. It was not so difficult to fight off, especially given his sealed state, but why would one fight that which they do not know exists? It was highly inhibited from its full power. The chains were barring him on a metaphysical level. It could not take one's will, but it could steer it in the desired directions. A disease of the mind which, if combined with honeyed words and unwavering charisma, would turn one into a willing slave with them none the wiser. That was the power this man possessed.

As Caleb swung the keyblade down at Stratos, a figure rose from the boy's shadow, and parried the attack. "Caleb, do not let your hatred blind you! She has done more than you know! Tell me, do you truly believe that Dane was the only threat to the worlds that ever existed?! Have you ever heard of Xerxes Break? The Hands of Madness? Thanatos? The Bara clan? No. You haven't. They were all evil souls. Dangerous, psychotic people who threatened the balance of the worlds. Some of them were even more dangerous than Dane. Do you know why you have never heard of them? Because they died at my hands. Dane is not the only threat to ever arise. He's simply one that slipped the net. I forsook the name Satsujin long ago. Few know i exist. Fewer believe it. I am the will of the goddess. Her hand that extends where she cannot go. I am Ghost." The assassin said, revealing his identity as the now considered mythical figure who carried out the will of the goddess. Most considered him to be simply propaganda made to scare people into following the path of good. However, the legendary assassin stood here, along with all the other agents of the goddess.

"I am giving you a chance. See reason. I beg you. The goddess is not your enemy. She is not your enemy. You and her fight for the same cause, and you seek to turn on her because she isn't doing it well enough? If not being able to wipe out corruption entirely is a crime punishable by death, then you and I are both guilty as well. You should know better than anyone that you cannot save everyone. The only thing you can do is save as many as you can." Ghost raised Narukami and pointed it at Caleb. "You are blinded by your lust for revenge. Against Dane, against anything to do with Dane, even against those who weren't there to stop him! I know what one consumed by their desire for revenge looks like, because i once saw it in myself. Either show me you are the man you once were, or show me that you are beyond saving. Fallen into the depths of what you hoped to destroy, and be cut down like the rest of them."

Zavion looked at the fight going on. He'd only heard stories of Bahamut, the legendary dragon controlled by his mother. It was her greatest creation, and where Shinryu was derived from. If the rebellion was going to defeat this thing, it would take all of them. Lexcifur immediately ran to battle against Dane, While Freya seemed to be battling against some of the other members. He could only help one of them. The most obvious choice would be Freya, but the moment he looked at her, he saw something in her heart. It was pride. She knew she had the courage to stand on her own, and he had to trust her to do it. "Stay safe, Freya." Running over toward the other battle, Zavion conjured a massive hand of darkness which flung itself at Dane.


Rienzel didn't know any of these people, but he could assess the situation. They were blocking their path from finding the hero. He would fight against them to help save his daughter. There was one in particular who appeared to be causing problems. A girl with red hair, who was evidently the Goddess' own daughter, and a young black haired boy next to her. Both of them could be troublesome, but he had the means to stop them. Pulling a sword hilt from his belt, he charged forward, and slashed at the barrier. As he swung, magic ignited and formed the blade. The barrier was cut through instantly. Barriers ordinarily were formidable defensive measures, but against Rienzel, they were a death sentance. His blade became more powerful because there was a barrier there. Running in, he slashed at Freya's chest.

Bartholomew stared around the battlefield, searching for someone. A target was most easily frightened when they were alone, isolated from the others. Hearing explosions in the distance, he looked over to see the burly man facing down the dragon uplift a slab of earth to defend himself from a barrage of oncoming projectiles. Tracing their path to their origin, he found exactly what he was looking for. "Hello...I believe we've met before." The frightening man whispered to himself. He was nice and far away from any help. Just the way he liked his enemies. Summoning a large amount of dark energies, an enormous murder of transient crows lifted him from the ground. Spiraling towards Phantom, Bartholomew laughed. This was going to be an interesting fight, one way or another.


There he was, standing there waiting. He knew he'd come. They both knew that this confrontation was going to happen. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Rienzel just didn't seem to want to post." He sarcastically apologized. Although, nothing they said mattered now. Not really. They both knew what needed to happen. They stood opposite eachother, away from the others so they wouldn't be interrupted. Their actions seemed to be mirrored. This battle...It had been a long time coming, and each of the two combatants were prepared for it. A look of effort appeared on their faces. The forces of the universe and all in it were bending to their will. Physics were ceasing to be in the presence.

Completing their intended action, they both swiped their hand down in a dramatic fashion and stood with their legs slightly further apart, causing dust to fly off them from that slight bit of motion. Their hair just seemed to begin to defy all logic and reason in way indescribable by any language but their own (Which didn't even really consist of words). Their coats seemed normal until the bottom half. At that point, it just seemed to spike away from them as though there were wire in it, forcing it into a specific shape. However, there was nothing causing this spike in their coat, it simply existed. Each extended their hand toward the other, and a circular device on their wrist spat out a curved extension that ran the length of their forearm. Yes. They were settling things in the only way they knew how. It was time to duel.
​

"Duel!"​

"Duel!"​

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Beuce: 8000​

*5​

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​

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Lucien: 8000​

*5​

 

A slight glimmer appeared in the cave in front of Glen. The dark haired man known as R materialized in front of Glen. "You are correct. Your heart is no longer a hollow replacement to fill the void left in the wake of your destruction. You are your true self once again." It was then that Sapphire entered. "As a result of his demise, He has regained his original self. He is no longer Gexln, but Glen. He is a somebody." Through the Cross-Celestial link he shared with Sapphire, he could feel what she did. He knew the dire situation at the keyblade graveyard. "You must have faith that they can prevail." ​

 

​

Akira stopped short when she not only realize she was about to run straight into a dead end, but that a voice sounded in her head. Eyes widened, she pulled out her sword in one swift motion, getting into a wide fighting stance. She squinted into the shadows, forgoing the logical idea to just light her sword to see better. She had an inkling feeling she didn't want to see what was in the darkness. She could make out large, thick, black chains wrapping around some sort of figure with long white hair and wearing a coat of sorts, but that was all. She could almost feel something so odd radiating off of the figure in the shadows, but she couldn't put her mind to it.

As she stood there in the silence, waiting impatiently to see what would happen now, she felt her mind suddenly pull into an unseen force. She cried out as she fell to one knee, holding her head with a free hand while gripping her sword tightly with the other. "What-?" Her eyes were wide, bulging as the invisible force tried to tug at the memories, thoughts, and emotions she had long since locked away deep within herself, gradually giving her a dull headache. She then heard the voice echoing through her mind again and her nails dug in her skull. It felt like someone was putting immense pressure in her head, almost as if the gravity became denser in her own mind. She had no choice but to listen to the mysterious figure's words, hearing the same terms she thought were so childish since her ears had picked them up; goddess, destruction because of this goddess, pain, ignorance...

"ENOUGH!" Akira screamed. Her whole being was engulfed in bright orange flames and then the flames exploded outward around her as frustrations and fear were released. She took in a deep breath, forcing herself to stand on her feet. She had one eye shut and the other opened, then weakly held up her sword. She was starting to feel disoriented as if she was becoming ill for some reason, probably what was happening. "I don't know what you are... But you will not tell me what I must do or not do. I make that decision. No one else!"

Her body shimmered in orange flames as her hands began to shake. She then swung her sword behind her, and a fire wall of sorts came up behind her at the entrance of the cave, attempting to block others from blindly running in as she had just done. She had made a mistake, she could at least grasp that concept. She could try to help others not make the same poor choice. "Now then, tell me dark one, what makes you so qualified to be the "Hero"? Why is no one else qualified to kill this goddess if she sounds so ignorant, weak, and vulnerable?" She stumbled and then held her sword, pointing it towards the shadow figure against the wall, flames and all. "Surely one with so many flaws could be demolished by others."

In front of the firewall appeared a figure that looked similiar to Akira, but their whole appearance was made of orange and yellow flames. "Be warned!" the Akira look-alike called out. "Something is amiss the in the cave! Do not blindly run in. Something is happening to my mind... I cannot explain it. I do not like it." The clone then clutched its head and began to turn blue as if the flames were beginning to die. The fire wall that was once bright and hot was also diminishing and turning blue gradually. "Be... careful..." And with those two words, the fire wall and the clone had vanished completely into smoke, leaving the cave entrance wide open again.

 

• Zephyr
• Xross

• 
  
  
  ​
  Zephyr's attempt to stop Xander's attack hadn't gone as planned due to Caleb managing to catch his keyblade mid flight and use it to strike at Stratos. His first instinct was to attempt to recall his keyblade back to him before any damage could be done with it. While he didn't know whether or not his if his reaction would be fast enough to stop him, but fortunately a ninja had appeared out of nowhere and stopped him. That was a relief, now it wouldn't be due to his actions that someone else gets injured. If it was just himself that was getting hurt then he would be perfectly with any harm that would be done to him.
  
  Now that aside he had another matter to deal with. The man who he'd attempted to stop from attacking had now appeared in front of him and was trying to convince him otherwise. "Not happening. I don't go back on my decisions once I've made them, especially ones that decide the lives of others." Zephyr replied with an equally serious look on his face. His resolve was firm and he had full intentions on standing his ground against him should be be necessary, which it probably would be. "If she needs help so badly, why aren't you helping her then?" Zephyr did not know much about those two, but he did remember that they were together when they first arrived at Disney Castle and left for the safe world the first time they departed in search of the hero.
  
  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the wall of flames erupt at the mouth of the cave which was proceeded by a warning from a flame person that resembled Akira. The flame embodiment warned them that something was amiss in the cave with the hero before the flame turned blue and vanished. It was certainly ominous, but Zephyr wasn't 100% sure what to think about that. "And what do you call that? If you are right then why did something like that happen?"
• 
  
  
  ​
  Xross on the other hand was not even phased by Akira's warning. In fact all it served to do was proved more reason for him to venture into the cave and see this hero for himself. As entertaining all everything going on outside, the hero would prove to be more valuable to him. He'd taken a few steps towards the cave before doing one of the things he did best and opening portal that lead into the cave and walking through it.
  
  He had exited his portal inside the cave and continued to walk further into it. There wasn't much of not around him when it came down to it, just various rocks that had formed in the cave that he was walking further into. Eventually his pace started to slow down as he eventually spotted two figured in the distance. As he continued to proceed closer, he noted that one was Akira as well as that she was currently glowing with orange color flames.
  
  Her blade was pointed pointed towards the wall, which Xross's eye followed until he saw the chain bound figure against the wall. It was interesting that despite the flames Akira was producing that the figure she was pointing at was still shadowy with the exception of its hair and attire. "So this is the fabled hero, honestly not what I was expecting to see."

 

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Samsara had been in some kind of stupor. She watched events unfold, but had not chosen a place to go. So, she wandered aimlessly around, eventually finding a cave and watched Akira step into it. Raising an eyebrow, Samsara walked inside and followed Akira. The darkness in here was cold, but she was used to it by now. As they walked, she lit a fire in her hand and held it up to see where she was going. Towards the end of the cave, she felt a powerful dark presence in the cave. She sniffed and felt her nose assaulted by the pure darkness that came off of this person.

Samsara held her fire spell up to see the seven locks on the body of this chained person. In her hand, she felt her keyblade appear and looked down to see it reacting to the chains. "What in the world?" she said, feeling her throat clench and choke on the darkness in the air. Samsara dropped to her knees and gripped her neck, forcing herself to absorb the darkness to attempt to grow accustomed to it. Her right hand fell back to the ground and appeared to be covered in sticky darkness that formed into a claw. A grin appeared across her face after she realized how powerful she was feeling right now.

Looking up, Samsara felt like this was the Hero that they had been searching for. "The hero..." she said, standing up and then leaning back down to one knee. "I am here to free you." she said, the dark claw still handing to her side and her left hand crossing her chest.

 

​

After Stratos had made his decleration towards Caleb, a red haired man had appeared between Freya and himself, poised to kill them. Well, that was something that would be a bit difficult to deal with. Thankfully, Zephyr had come to his aid by trying to fling a keyblade at the red head, only for that to be intercepted by Caleb...who was now between him and Freya quite like Xander was. It was a good effort by Zephyr, at least, however, it was Zephyr's keyblade that was now being used to try and kill him, so Stratos had to quickly go and block, only for some ninja dude to literally come out of his shadow and block the attack for him. Now things were just a bit crowded here, and Stratos wasn't even really sure what he was supposed to be doing anymore.

Thankfully, the chaotic scene got less concentrated in chaos and more spread it out. Xander ended up leaving to fight Zephyr, the ninja who had appeared out of who knows where started fighting with Caleb, and Freya was...now fighting a new guy who could slash through barriers. Well, wasn't that a joy. With all of the people fighting now, the one with Freya seemed to be the least in her favor, and so that would be the one he'd help out with. Slapping his hand on Ghost's back, a wind barrier appeared around that guy as he said, "thanks for the help here." He then swiveled around and ran past those two, as he charged at Rienzel.

As he was rushing forward, he started spinning his keyblade around, creating a large torrent of wind around it as he flung the keyblade at the man. With the wind coated keyblade rushing at him, he then decided to follow this up by compressing a ball of wind in his hand and firing it straight at the ground of his opponent, to cause a large a burst of wind knock him off his feet.

 

Caleb shook his head as Ghost got a wind barrier from Stratos. This was going to be a tough fight. "Your words make sense, Satsujin. However, I don't think you know the full extent of what Dane can do. Just because you're correct, doesn't mean you're right. People die when they are killed, you and I know that better than anyone" Caleb said, becoming the least logical character in LVD2, which is impressive given that characters like Hunter, Beuce and Lucien exist.

"If you want to try to save the man I used to be, then you are too late. He died the moment Juliet did. I realized that I cannot save everyone. No matter how many I save, more will die. Trying to think anything different...is a mistake" Caleb stated, completing the reference.


Glen knew that look in Sapphire's eyes, he had seen it far too many times to not know; it was worry. Not for herself, but for others. And despite feeling that way, the most comforting thing her loving husband of 300 years had to say was "oh look he isn't a nobody now". Sapphire damnit R.

"Me and Xero had a disagreement, and it resulted in my death" the keyblade wielder said, tone completely serious. Man his marriaged seemed messed up, a simple divorce or him sleeping on the couch sounded a lot more preferable to the death penalty. But what did he know, he was the man in the relationship and that meant he was never right.

"I kind of just...woke up in the village, and I came here for help. The darkness is taking its hold still. It's dormant for now, but I can feel it climbing its way up, trying to take me as its host once more. Now, enough about me. What's worrying you, Sapphire?" Glen asked.


Dane laughed as Lexcifur lunged at him with the dark-firaga-empowered strikes. How many times had he seen Gexln use that same stabbing motion? Obviously the dark firaga was new, but the motion was the same. Easily sidestepping the attack, Dane held his scythe in front of him lazily. "As predictable as your dead father" he stated. However, he was surprised when a dark fist flew from Zavion straight at him.

Thinking quickly, the shadow reaper grabbed Lexcifur with his arm and turned him around so that the boy was in front of him, and directly in the path of the dark fist. There was a chance Lexcifur could get out, and if he did Dane had a plan, but this was the fun way to do things so it was also the first way he would do them.


While everyone was off fighting various people, Audrey had been left alone simply standing there with her mother's keyblade. Looking over at Alisia, she saw that her friend was fighting the giant dragon that had threatened them earlier. Caleb had specifically told her not to go near the dragon, and he had told her to get somewhere safe, but her father was busy and left him alone. Audrey was going to help.

Running over to Alisia, Audrey shouted "I will help you Alisia!" and lashed out at the dragon with her keyblade, striking its tail with the weapon.


Hunter was in the most intense battle of his life. This killer rabbit really knew how to fight, no wonder King Arthur had struggled so much. Unfortunately for the creature, a bigger problem than a rabid rabbit had arisen; Akira was attempting to keep people away from Xindai and derail the plot.

Things after Xindai had been released were planned, before that not so much. The entire RP the goal of Hunter was to get to this point, to release Xindai, kick his ass into next year, and then end the RP as the hero of legend, and now someone wanted to screw that over? Nuh uh, not on his watch.

With a flick of his wrist, Hunter accessed his inventory. He began flipping through the pages of dead bodies, various edible goods and the OOC pages of other RPs and then equipped his phone. He punched in a number quickly, and not even a minute later a white van pulled up next to Liam.

"Bunny, meet animal control" Hunter announced as two men came out of the van dressed in white suits, picked up Liam, put him in a cage and began to drive off. Hunter could have sworn he heard various screams from them as they realized his nature, and immediately Hunter realized his problem; he had tried to send a goddess-empowered shapeshifting wererabbit to a human animal control. Not the brightest idea. Rummaging around through his backpack, he quickly found what he was looking for. Holding the holy hand grenade of antioch above his head, he counted to three and then hurled it at the now escaped superrabbit. The grenade exploded on impact, sending little bits of goddess-bunny all over the place. It was beautiful.

With that being done, Hunter leaped up to the cave, Near Dane but just out of range. "Don't listen to her. For starters she is a ginger, and she is from the incredibles so she probably has super paranoia or somethin. Besides, are you really going to listen to a bunch of hot air?" Hunter cried, before picking up a random keyblade on the ground, running into the cave, and jamming it into one of the locks. In hindsight, he should have given a more compelling argument given that nobody really listened to him so chances were Akira's comments would be heard anyway. Ah well, at least only 5 locks remained.




​

 

• Lucien
• Phantom
• Dragon Slaying

• 
  
  
  Dueling. The only true way for people quite such as themselves to solve this problem. Without even having to ask or see what kind of cards he had, Lucien already knew the deck Beuce was using, just as he did his. However, there was something quite interesting about Lucien's hand, just as this was most likely the case with Beuce's as well...that being that the cards didn't actually really have any sort of definite form yet. They just sort of seemed to become whatever he wanted them to become as thought about it. Regardless, it was his turn first and so he had to go and start things off with a bang. Going to dramatically draw for a card, as his turn had started, the card wouldn't come out of the duel disk. It was at that point Lucien realized that he wasn't allowed to draw on the first turn because it was against the rules.
  
  Drawing the card from his deck, Lucien revealed it to Beuce as he said, "I activate the spell card, Dragon Shrine. Now you're probably wondering what this card does. Well there's a reason there's an entire wiki devoted to this shit." Actually throwing the card into the spell slot on the duel disk, Lucien used its effect, dumping Red Eyes Black Dragon into the grave, followed by The Black Stone of Legend. Setting in another spell card to be activated, he said, "next I activate Cards of the Red." Still not explaining it, he simply discarded a Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon and drew two new cards.
  
  Taking another card out from his hand, he played in the monster zone, "and now I summon, The Black Stone of Legend." With that, a gem with the colors of red and black had been summoned forth to the field. "Next I activate its effect, tributing it from the field to summon," the stone that seemed to burst into flame, as Lucien took the card from the field and placed it in his graveyard, replacing it with a new monster from his deck. "Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon." The flaming stone exploded to reveal a black dragon from it, taking flight onto the field. "I set one card face down and end my turn."
  
  
  Spoiler: Hand

  TWO CARDS BITCHES
  Spoiler: Field

  Monster Zone:
  -Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon
  
  Spell/Trap Zone:
  -One Set Card...oooooh spoopy mystery
  Spoiler: Graveyard

  -Dragon Shrine
  -The Black Stone of Legend
  -Red-Eyes Black Dragon
  -Cards of the Red
  -Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon
  -The Black Stone of Legend
• 
  
  
  Phantom had shot the bullets at the muscle guy and he seemed to just completely dodge out of the way. Well that could have gone better. However, Phantom had to act fast as the man had since responded by throwing some sort of rock spike or something at him, which Phantom had the ability to dodge pretty easily since there was still a fair bit of distance between the two. Swiftly evading to the side, it had seemed that the worst was still yet to come as a familiar face had started...flying towards him. In a swarm of crows. "Son of a Bitch."
  
  Noting that he'd definitely need both a bigger gun and perhaps a bigger boat to fend off these crows, he did the only real thing he could do at the moment which was classic third person shooter tactics. Imbuing his rifle with ice, he started strafing to the side and away from the crows, firing buckshot after buckshot of ice bullets at the crow storm. While it was probably not going to be enough to wipe them all out, the less crows the better.
  
• 
  
  The trio that had thus been fighting the dragon hadn't really been making much form of headway it bringing it down. This thing was definitely thick scaled, and they all collectively weren't exactly the greatest fighting force against this beast. Jackie had decided to running towards it again, still lit with the green aura of Fever Pitch, she was joined by Blanc who was running beside her. With just a quick glance to each other, they nodded as Jackie jumped into the air and Blanc assisted her ascent. Using a combination of his gravity magic and incredible strength, he used his palm to push the mid-air Jackie higher into the air and closer towards the dragon. Switching to a more brown aura, Jackie had shifted command styles and brought her sword with a heavy swing onto the torso of the dragon, cutting through the scaly dark body. While she was in the air, the dragon brought one of his claws to intercept the girl, only for that claw to be intercepted by the white haired gravity mage. Striking the creature with his arm, Blanc held his own for a bit in pushing the creature back, only to inevitably lose the power struggle and be pushed back down to the ground.
  
  While he had landed with a crash, Jackie managed to land on the ground as softly as one could, only to then immediately be hit with a tail sweep and sent and flying and bouncing across the ground, quite like a skipping stone. While the dragon had turned its body to do this, the young knight of light had flown at its back, charging her blade with light and stabbing it into its back. Bringing her sword up, Charlotte had slashed it upwards, dealing more damage as the blade left the creature, only for the dragon to turn a bit and move its wing to slap Charlotte out of the sky and onto the ground, quite like the other two who had just fought it.
  

 

Beuce watched as Lucien played his cards. It was as he suspected. He was using a Red-eyes deck. Of course. It was the perfect opposite to the deck he was using. Drawing a card, then looking over his hands, he willed what he needed for his opening move into existence. "Alright Mr."I can speak with all the colors of the wind", let's do this. I start my turn by activating One for One!" Thrusting the spell card into the slot in his duel disc, a larger version of it appeared on the field in front of him. "You read the wiki, i don't need to tell you what it does." Beuce said. Plucking a second card from his hand, he placed it in the graveyard slot. "Now, since The White Stone of Legend was sent to my graveyard, i can add a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck to my hand." AND SO HE DID.

"Now, for the second part of One for One. From my deck i special summon a level one monster of my choosing. And i choose Maiden with Eyes of Blue." As soon as he extracted the card from his deck and placed it onto his duel disc, a young maiden who, coincidentally enough, had blue eyes appeared on the field. Now, in most cases a young girl staring down an enormous dragon of darkness would be a little one sided, yeah? Well it still kind of was so he didn't attack. "I'll set one card face down and end my turn. Your move."

Spoiler: Hand

4 cards. yup,

Spoiler: Field

Monster Zone: Maiden with Eyes of Blue

Spell/Trap Zone: One card face down

Spoiler: Graveyard

One for One
The White Stone of Legend

Dane had evidently evaded Lexcifur's attack fairly easily, and managed to grab him. He was using his friend as a human shield. Lexcifur would be able to escape the hold, but not quick enough to avoid the fist. Quickly redirecting the fist downward, it slammed against the ground instead of it's intended target and hoisted Zavion high into the air. Dissipating the fist, he swung his foot in an upward arc, sending a crescent of solid darkness downward toward Dane's back. Lexcifur wouldn't just let Dane throw him around like a ragdoll to block all of the attacks. He'd either have to release his grip, or be hit by the attack. Perhaps both, even.


Rienzel was about to follow up with another attack on the girl, but the one fighting by her side came to intercept him. Stratos hurled a wind-empowered keyblade at him. Rienzel avoided it as best he could, but the wind properties that had been bestowed on it gave it a hero of the bow type ability, where it could change the trajectory of the throw mid-flight. The keyblade struck his left shoulder, knocking him back slightly. The attack wasn't ineffectual, but it had done less damage than one would expect from a near direct hit. Cutting through Freya's barrier had crafted a barrier of his own around his body. His sword was made to destroy magic, and re purpose it to his benefit. He looked at the second attack that was thrown toward him. A sphere of pure wind. This was a more manageable attack. While he was no better against magic enhanced projectiles than any other, Rienzel could scarcely be hurt by projectiles of raw magic, save for in great quantity where he couldn't deflect them fast enough. Passing the blade into his right hand, he slashed through the wind, disappointing it entirely. The residual magic from the orb was split into two. One half was used to help keep up his barrier, and the other sent a backlash of energy toward the original caster.


"So you refuse to see reason, broken by the despair of loss..." He said in a sorrowful tone. He readied Narukami into a proper stance. "So be it then. I have no choice but to stop you here and now. I cannot allow you to release the hero." He was a blur. He didn't need to travel through the shadows to be faster than most could handle. However, he knew Caleb well, and he was one of the few who could. His attacks were seamless. An upward slash of the downward slash of the blade to bring his opponent's guard high, followed by a lower sweep of the leg to attempt to remove balance. Finishing off by phasing into the shadows, moving behind his opponent, and attempting to sever their spine. This combination of attacks had been the death of Darius. The left hand of madness. He and his brother Dorian had kidnapped a local prostitute, when ghost arrived.


Batholomew's assault had been relatively successful. While he had taken out several of the crows with his ice bullets, the bulk of them had survived. Nearly crashing into him, Bartholomew drew out his sickle. If he'd learned anything from the last time he encountered this kid, it's that he wasn't the greatest in close quarters combat. Weird, considering he was trained by Ghost. In any case, he figured to use this to his advantage. Swinging the blade, Bartholomew aimed for the chest of his enemy.

It wasn't long before three others entered the house of the hero. One was a descendant of Ananta. A woman who had been a part of those who fought against him in the last great war. She had since turned to the ways of darkness, evidently willing to serve him without question. This was good. She attempted to absorb some of his darkness. So, why not give her what she wanted? He let a small portion of his darkness slip into her. It would be a drug unlike anything she had ever experienced. His was darkness like no other. The first which manifested in the realm of light. However, the second was one that he had not expected to see. It was an old ally. Someone from the original world, before the walls had divided. Xross. He seemed to now be a part of the group that was attempting to free him, though he hadn't know who he was previously. Also Hunter ran in and unlocked a lock. That was good. yup. Akira hadn't taken well to his mental assault. He hardly needed to convince the other two to help him, so he continued speaking to her. "Ahaa...You misunderstand. Even i do not possess the power to outright defeat her. There is no power in all creation that rivals what she holds. She cannot be defeated directly, by any means. However, that doesn't mean i cannot defeat her. I, and i alone, am capable of bringing about her defeat." Speaking mentally to the other two, he told them what needed to be done. "If i am to be released from my prison, it will take as many keyblades as sealed me. Bring them to me until the locks have all fallen loose, and i will be free." ​

 

​

Samsara looked up at the figure locked away and felt his darkness take root deep inside of her. Hunching over, she gripped her gut as she felt the darkness creep all through her body, filling in any crevices that light may have been hiding. While hunched over, Samsara's arm turned back to normal, and she soon found she felt a lot better than she had once been feeling. When she was able, she stood up and looked at the locks placed on the Hero.

Holding her keyblade forward, she released a lock and watched it disintegrate before it even touched the ground. Her head felt a pain as she heard a voice resonate. It spoke to her and told her to find others that have keys like hers. "But, who are they? I don't know any others that have keyblades..." she grumbled. "Besides, I'd rather stay here and protect you in this weakened state!"

 

So most managed to find their way to the hero it seemed. Crybex kept up the illusion now. Nothing was more important thatn discovering and releasing this hero. His intentions were t judge. The light needed to judge all. Crybex was to judge everyone, but most were guilty of darkness. This hero needed to be filled with pure light, though the feeling he received was just the opposite. He was getting excited.

He followed within the shadows, waiting. There was a seal, a powerful one at that. What to do about the little seal. It seemed far more complicated then just blasting it with the power he possessed. Magic was always annoying to say the least. Perhaps the others would do this work for him. Maybe they actually needed him. Regardless of the matter, he stood there, knowing full well that the person sealed away was awake and able to understand who was there, what was happening, and the intentions of all.

I'm going to kill you, hero. You can probably hear my thoughts. Know if you are judged wrong, I will not hold back. No darkness can save this world.

 

​

"YOU'RE ALL FOOLS!" Akira screamed at Hunter and the others that had swarmed into the cave. She then grunted and fell to one knee, still fighting off the strange power that was trying to overwhelm her mind and cloud her better judgement of things. She knew enough now which side she wanted to be on and what was going to happen if things continued the way they did. "This is worse," she spat out, her body shaking as she was fighting to stand up, "worse than this g-goddess of yours or whomever you claim as the tyrant and ruler of worlds! DO YOU WANT SOMEONE TO CONTROL YOU AND YOUR ACTIONS? LIKE A PUPPET TO A PUPPET MASTER?! THAT WILL BE GUARANTEED IF THIS THING IS RELEASED!"

But no matter how much she spoke, she knew that she would be ignored. Her words would fall on deaf ears. If they were working so hard to make things right, they were surely following the wrong path. Realizing how Hunter denied her mental state of being and released the hero without question was even more clear to her which group was the corrupted one, and she happened to fall right into their little frolic.

"Tch..." She stood back on her feet and drew her sword, lighting it with flames. It would be one against five or more, and she was sure that the "Hero" or monster in chains would give them the upper hand, making them seem like twenty or more against a puny ant. There was nothing she could do, not now. She wasn't the keyblade's chosen one after all. "Fine, release the monster. You will be sorry..." She then looked to the "hero" and turned with one motion with her fiery sword, sending a fire wall towards the beast bond in dark chains. "I have made my decision, and it is not with you," she said coldly. Then, she flashed stepped, disappearing from the sight of the group and appeared back at the tunnel of the cave that lead the hero. There, she ran as fast as she could, hoping the farther she got, the less effect the weird thing had in her brain.

 

Lucien knew just what kind of an opening move that Beuce was going to go with, as it was the only kind of opening one could use with the legendary and kind of underloved blue eyes deck. As he summoned up Waifu with Eyes of Blue, and placed a face down card, Lucien knew he'd have to do something about it this turn. There was most definitely a Blue Eyes in his opponent's hand, and there was a monster on the field. That all added up to mean that no matter what he did, Blue Eyes would definitely be coming out either this or next turn. "Alright then, douche bag with eyes of blue," he drew his card, creating this weird streak of blue light from the card as he did, saying,"let's see how well you can handle this burn."

Taking two cards out of his graveyard, he showed them to Beuce."By using The Black Stone of Legends graveyard effect, I'm putting Red-Eyes Black Dragon back in my hand, and placing Black Stone back in my deck." And so he did. Placing the card he just drew in the spell zone he said, "next, I activate Cards of the Red. Now, I know I just used this last turn, so you clearly know what it does, but let me explain it again just in case you missed it." While he took in a deep breath, as if to start monologuing, he casually said, "it's red-eyes trade in." Discarding Red-Eyes B. Dragon, Lucien drew two new cards in its place, and proceeded to the next phase of his master plan.

Swiping his hand to the side, he said,"now I activate my facedown. Return of Red-Eyes!" A giant hard light version of the card appeared in front of him which showed the trap card he was referring to."With it I call back that normal dragon I just discarded. Come back, Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" The hard light card erupted crimson flames from the picture as out from the flames came back the staple dragon of the deck. "Now, with two level seven monsters on my field, I use them as overlay materials." The two dragons turned into dark purple energy forms of themselves as they condensed themselves into orbs and flew into the sky. Invoking his summoning chant for this creature, Lucien recited, "dragon of deep crimson infernos and twin dragon of crimson flames, unite your flames and spark life in the furnace of hellfires." The two purple orbs flew into this weird spacial rift that opened up on the ground as Lucien yelled, "XYZ Summon! Arise, Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon!" From the rift, a stream of dark red and black fire spewed from the opening as a dragon that resembled a metallic version of the two dragons he had just overlayed rose from it with two golden spheres orbiting its body. The dragon had exhaust pipes on its joints, letting out a stream of flames as it let out a roar.

"Now it's time to activate its effect. By getting rid of one overlay unit I can summon one Red-Eyes normal monster from my graveyard, and so here comes out Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon." As he said this, one of the orbiting spheres was absorbed into the body of the dragon as it let loose another roar, unleashing a torrent of flames into the sky, which then coalesced together into the form of the aforementioned dragon."Now then, since I still haven't actually normal summoned this turn, I gemini summon this dragon I just brought back." With that, the dragon glowed golden for a brief second as it was summoned again. "Now then, let's get this show started."

Pointing to his XYZ monster he said, "Flare Metal attacks your Maiden." Now, while normally this would have been horribly one sided in his favor, the maiden had an effect that ended up having it switch from attack to defense mode, both negating the attack bringing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon onto the field. While Lucien didn't have anything direct stop this, he did anticipate it. Due to the effect of Flare Metal, Beuce ended up taking five hundred points of burn damage from activating her effect. Pointing to his Gemini monster he said,"next, Flare Dragon attacks your maiden again, with Inferno Flare Blast!" The dragon in question let out a large ball of dark red fire at the maiden, who had zero defense against this and was just obliterated from the scene. With that the battle phase had ended, and Lucien said,"now, because Flare Dragon attacked, you take twenty four hundred more points of burn damage." The dragon shot a blast of fire at the white haired fellow, hitting him with the effect damage. "Now then, I'll just set a card face down and end my turn with that."

Spoiler: Hand

Three Cards up in this beeatch.

Spoiler: Field

Monsters:
-Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon (Atk Mode) (1 OL: Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon)
-Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon (Atk Mode)

Spell/Trap Zone:
-Return of Red-Eyes
-Mystery Facedown

Spoiler: Graveyard

-Dragon Shrine
-Red-Eyes Black Dragon
-Cards of the Red
-Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon
-The Black Stone of Legend
-Cards of the Red

 

Xero had clearly missed as Gwen flipped out of the way. She then shot at Xero with her cannons and luckily she was quick enough to serpentine between the explosions to the ground. Once Gwen landed Xero took the chance to summon small knife like shards of darkness and launch them at Gwen.


Lexcifur suddenly found himself getting flung around as a meat shield. He tried getting lose but Dane had a good hold on him; suddenly he was flung around again and saw Zavion release a crescent of darkness towards him and Dane. Lexcifur's right eye began to glow and suddenly the Guardian rushed out of the gauntlet and absorbed the darkness by swallowing it whole. The Guardian then turned to Dane and attempted to swipe at him with a giant hand with claws.​

 

​

Glen stopped as he heard the mention of Xindai. He hadn't heard that name for a very long time, and he'd wished that he hadn't heard it again. The keyblade wielder was very tempted to go there and then to where they had sealed Xindai away all those years ago, but one simple thought stopped him; Xero didn't need him.

Xero was strong and a powerful fighter, but more than that...she had R's power. The ability she had used was one he'd seen R himself use multiple times, and the scent of darkness on her had him written all over it. R had once been a good friend of Glen's, but no matter how good of a friend he had been, he hadn't said a word to him about giving her that, he hadn't even asked. Neither of them had.

Walking over to Sapphire, he put a hand on her shoulder, and for a moment he half expected it to spontaneously explode from goddess power, but thankfully it did not. "Xero's there. Caleb, too. They'll stop Xindai, but even if they don't they will at least make sure that the rebellion doesn't free him. Everything will be fine Sapphire; we stopped him once, we can do it again if we have to" he said, attempting to reassure the goddess. The last thing he needed was an almighty being having a mental breakdown and destroying the world.


As Lexcifur summoned the guardian to completely nullify Zavion's attack, Dane smirked a little. What a good meatshield this boy was, he'd have to keep that in mind if he ever needed one again. However, the guardian then turned on him and swiped with claws. Quickly releasing the boy, Dane leaped back and parried the attack with the end of his scythe. The kid wasn't as bad as he thought, the shadow reaper realized. "Not too shabby, but if you want to stop the hero from being released you're going to have to do better than that" he stated.

With Zavion in the battle and Lexcifur also using the guardian now though, Dane realized quickly that the odds were against him. He had no doubt he could win that small engagement, but taking out the others would be troublesome in his state. Pushing the guardian's claws back, Dane then began feeling for the darkness within him. His body began emitting a small glow, and his eyes began glowing with a faint purple colour. "Look at you thinking you know anything about darkness. Let me show you how terrifying it can be" Dane stated with a slight chuckle. Spinning his scythe in a 360 degree motion, he sent a huge tornado towards Lexcifur. He began manipulating the dark energy within him, projecting it forward in physical form as he summoned two shadows of himself who dashed forward and struck with a single scythe strike each before vanishing completely into vapoury bursts.


Hunter gasped at what Akira had said. Puppets controlling people, mind control, knowing everything....it was like she was talking about all of them. They were all being controlled by the heinous crime group known only as The Roleplayers, most of them didn't know it. But this one, she at least sounded like she did, and sounding like you knew something was almost the same as actually knowing it. Wait, no it wasn't. Or maybe it was. His head hurt, a lot.

Racing after Akira, the man picked up pace as he sprinted as fast as his speed stat would allow. "SHREK NO YOU'RE GOING TO RUIN EVERYTHING STOP!" he shouted, still trying to catch up to the girl. He could have probably found some way to BS his way ahead of her, but it was more dramatic this way and was a classic movie scene, and so running it was.


Caleb was impressed with Ghost's speed. He had been quick when they had known each other many years ago, but he was even faster now, and his technique was almost completely flawless. Unfortunately for him, the three hundred years in the realm of darkness had been a constant battle for Caleb, and his own defensive techniques had improved out of sight, with his offence not too far behind. As Ghost delivered the upward slash, Caleb dropped the keyblade and immediately created a huge shield in front of him, as tall as his body and incredibly heavy and durable. The attack impacted the shield, with Caleb barely flinching at all as he felt the blow.

Immediately after, with his opponent's attacks flowing seamlessly, Ghost melted into the shadows itself. Caleb began wondering what he was doing, but with the shield being so large and powerful it would be futile to attack anywhere in front, and the sides could easily be protected just by moving the shield, which only left one option. Dropping the shield and letting it fall in front of him, Caleb whirled around and summoned a katana with which he blocked the third strike, only a hair's breadth from his face. If he had taken a millisecond longer, he would be dead. Thankfully, his reflexes were honed to an incredible state. "For every person I save, three more die because of people like Dane, and when I try to take him down" the guardian said before he ducked down and to the side of Satsujin, "you try to stop me" he continued, dashing back swiftly a metre away from his old friend. "If you won't get out of my way, Satsujin" he said, as he summoned six short swords and caused them to hover in the air nearby, "then this is the way it has to be!" the warrior shouted, flinging all six weapons at Ghost and then dashing forward with a straight thrust of the katana, aiming straight for the heart.

 

• Xross
• Bring it Xander, I ain't scared of you!

• 
  
  ​
  While Akira had yelled at the Hero, calling them all fools, before running out and Samara hunched over, Xross had just stood there. What the others around him were doing was of no concern to him, what he was more focused on at the moment was the odd sense of familiarity he was getting from the hero. There really shouldn't be anyone that seems familiar to him given how long Xross has been around, but there was no shaking the feeling. There would be no way of knowing why the hero seemed familiar to him until he was free, which he proceeded to explain.
  
  At first when the Hero had spoke directly into Xross's head, he thought that he was hearing voices. A sign that the one thread of sanity he had left was breaking. Though it wasn't long before he realized that that wasn't the case, this time anyway. It was odd hearing the voice directly into his head, but once the method of freeing him was revealed, Xross spoke. "Just how many locks are left to break then?" The one Hunter had ran in a broke made one, and the one Samsara had unlocked was two. Which made 2 out of an unknown total.
• 
  
  ​
  Zephyr wasn't surprised in the slightest when his words basically fell on deaf ears. At this point the only thing that would've surprised him would have been Xander actually listening to him. "Correction, I followed you guys to find the hero. The goddess and whatever you have against her are no concerns of mine." Xander then proceeded to mention Dane, another person he knew jackshit about. What he did know was that Xander and Caleb had it out for him. The reason behind their anger he could probably figure out if he stopped to think about it, but there wasn't time for that. "Blaming a goddess because you couldn't protect someone won't change a thing. If you really want to do something about it, do it yourself."
  
  The first move of their fight was made by Xander, who clearly wanted to make this a quick one. However, with a quick side step to the left as well as a simultaneous ducking of the blade aimed for his neck, Zephyr had managed to avoid the initial attack. So its going to be one of those fights. A battle were a single second could decide the victor. It would be the first time he's had one against a human before. Zephyr proceeded to arm himself with his weapons of choice. The red gauntlet that appeared over his right arm and his twin keyblades. He was going to need both of them for his fight. For his move, he wouldn't rush in, for that would be stupid. Instead he imbued the keyblade in his right hand with wind and fired off a shock wave towards Xander. If his attack was to be dodged like he was expected it be to, then his next attack would have already been sent at him. Doing the same thing that he did to his right keyblade, only with fire instead of wind, a flaming shock wave was sent at him as well.

 

​

Akira heard the voice of Hunter shouting after her and cringed. Fantastic, she had a follower. Shaking her head, she flashed stepped again, appearing at the opening of the cave. Her legs suddenly gave out from under her and she stumbled to the ground, yelling in surprise, barely catching herself with her hands. She winced when one hand collided with the hard rocky ground while the other slammed in the metal hilt of her beloved sword. She suddenly felt light headed as she knelt there, panting as she looked around through the curtain of wild red hair over her face. She could barely make out the images of several still engaged in combat, her vision making everything seem like a watery blur one moment and then clear the next.

"W-what's happening...?" she weakly mumbled. She whipped her head around behind her, and saw two cave entrances. No, this couldn't be happening. She needed to be cohieriant right now, she needed to get away!

Shakily, Akira rose to her feet, taking in deep breaths of air. She then forced her flash step to the right, but didn't make it very far. The instant she appeared again, the fire warrior suddenly fell to the ground, her sword spinning out of her grasp. She tried to pull herself up, only to have her arms wobble and she fell once more. The world was spinning as Akira could hear the battles over her labored breathing and beating heart. She fought to keep her eyes open as everything suddenly felt heavy to her. Was she so weak that she could not withstand the darkness she had felt while in the presence of the monster?

Akira eyes suddenly rolled to the back of her head and she went limp, her body succumbing to the strain she experienced just moments ago. It was strange, she no longer felt heavy but light as if she was falling...

Falling, falling... into darkness...