Alphard’s initial charge was met with a whirling backhanded blow that knocked her to her knees. The crimson straight thrust that followed would have inflicted a bleed effect, effectively making a drawn-out fight impossible. Instead, Jason managed to interpose himself between the blow and its intended target, just barely managing to deflect his attacker’s blade with the head of <Defiler>. Alphard planted her shield in Jason’s back and launched him skyward in an oft-used pincer attack. Usually, the monster would track Jason’s movement, as he was the last one to have inspired any aggro. It was then that Alphard would charge up and release a powerful Sword Art to either kill or severely maim her opponent. This would then draw aggro to her, at which point Jason would descend from the sky like an avenging angel and finish the fight with <Gravity Smash>.

It went significantly differently this time.

As usual, Jason rocketed up and Alphard immediately began <Reave Slash>. Her blade glowed a startling pink and she settled into a low crouch. A savage grin split her face as she prepared to punish the bastard that had dared use her beloved’s body. The grin vanished immediately. Jason wasn’t receiving the aggro! Kenshin had ignored the airborne fighter and sunk his katana deep into Alphard’s thigh, pinning her to the ground. He then jumped back and sent a flurry of stunning picks flying into her chest. Once she was well and thoroughly stunned, the katana left her leg and she was blasted backwards by a brutal hilt smash. The whole ordeal lasted perhaps five seconds. Jason reached the apex of leap and began to fall back down… to the charged and waiting <Ikifune> of Kenshin’s Dark Reflection.

[i]It was all over. Kenshin’s blood-hued blade neatly split Jason’s body in twain at the waist, dropping his health instantly into the red and then obliterating it entirely. The bisected corpse shattered into thousands of shining crystals and disappeared. Alphard recovered and charged mindlessly at Kenshin, roaring her despair and hate all the while. Kenshin ducked the first wild slash and spun into Alphard’s guard. The tip of the desiccated katana drove up under her helmet’s lip and through her lower jaw, destroying her brain and shattering her body. Kenshin then moved in and flanked the other group, methodically slaying them one-by-one. Nero’s prone form disintegrated under the first slash. Kenshin took the full brunt of Kimi’s first flurry of stabs and then cleanly beheaded her. Suto rushed in to avenge his fallen comrades but swiftly lost both arms to methodical cleaves. Unarmed, he was easy prey. Kazaro would have proven difficult, as he also wielded a katana, but he was outnumbered and swiftly fell as well. Their work done, the two corpses glided over to their sarcophagi and lay down to wait for their next victims.[/i]

This all flashed through Alphard’s mind as she prepared for the end. Just then, the other half of the party defeated Yari. As she dissolved into shimmering powder for the second time in this terrible madman’s game, Kenshin’s doppelganger twitched, as though caught in a spasm. <Ikifune> slashed wide, missing Jason entirely. A primal roar preceded Jason’s attack and he drove Kenshin to the ground under his flurry of heavy blows. Alphard was there in an instant, hooking her scythe into her opponent’s midsection and brutally gutting him. She spun with the momentum of her strike and sunk into a crouch, simultaneously slashing out and catching Kenshin in the legs with a backhanded blow of her pale blue glowing shield. At the same time, Jason wound up like a major league batter and hammered his maul into the back of Kenshin’s head. The simultaneous blows spun him in a complete end-O and killed him. 

The glittering dust left over swirled in a hypnotic pattern and slowly dissipated. It was only then that Alphard let the surge of sorrow overtake her rage. She fell into Jason and quietly sobbed for a good while, letting him just hold her and whisper comforting words. When she was finally composed, she turned to the entire party, swiped the last of her tears away with the back of her hand, and spoke loudly and clearly, “Are you guys ready to go kill the sonofabitch that runs this Tower and get out of here? ‘Cause I sure am!”