Zekaraya slammed hard into the stone ground as the sword in his left hand shattered like glass upon impact with the Emperor's keyblade, the swordsman just barely managing to roll away as the Keyblade slashed towards him. Though Zekarya was drenched in sweat, the turban on his head sagging from the sheer weight of the moisture and lungs puffing his chest with every struggled breath, his opponent barely seemed winded. Zekaraya rose to his feet once more, wiping the sweat from his forehead before lunging at the emperor one more time. He simply turned to his side, swinging the blade onto Zekaraya's back, knocking him to the ground once more, prompting an exasperated cry of pain as he made impact. Zekaraya angrily turned himself over, struggling to force himself back to his feet, with a furious cry directed at the Emperor, who stood before him in perfect form.

"How....How can you have this much power!" He screamed out in a blind fury, face a bright shade of cherry red from exhaustion and fury. The swordsman threw his remaining weapon onto the ground and fell to one knee, groaning in agony as he tried to force himself up. "I am an agent of God, I am the sword of the messiah!" he roared, finally managing to get back on his feet once more. "You...You're nothing but some earthly king, you aren't even just beneath me, you don't even deserve to look in my presence let alone spill my blood!"

Zekaraya charged at Emperor Michael once more, "I am the Lion of Judah!" he howled as he dived towards him, only for the Emperor to simply raise his keyblade.

"Thundaga!" spoke the Emperor, as a bolt of lightning arced out, striking Zekaraya point blank in the chest, dropping him to the ground to skid across the stone floor, landing at the Emperor's feet. Zekaraya uncurled his body, aching as he tried once more to rise to his feet.


While Zekaraya's lifeless body lay there at his feet, the swordsman kept his hands tucked under his body, waiting for the Emperor to slip up. When he finally saw it, Zekaraya forced himself onto his back, and raised his hands in front of him. 

"Blind!"

As the Emperor was struck by the spell, Zekaraya swung a kick at his knees, knocking him down as the Swordsman took off into the castle, swerving past anyone who may be in his path, before crashing through one of the castle's windows, tumbling out into the aftermath of the preceding battle. What caught his eye the most, however, was the airpad of Gummi Ships. Zekaraya charged towards the ships, immediately jumping into one, commanding the vehicle as it rose into the air and flew away from the ruined palace. 

Zekaraya cursed as he relaxed, eyes fixated on the wounds he had sustained from the fight with the Emperor. Never before had he faced an opponent who so much as offered him a challenge, let alone outright defeat him. He looked at the burns from the Thundaga attacks and clenched his teeth in anger. Where the Gummi ship was headed, he did not know, but he vowed that he would make use of whomever he found there, and become powerful enough to not only cut the keybladers down one by one but return to exact his revenge upon the Emperor who bested him.

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[b]Bethlehem, Green Sahara[/b]
[@Tenma Tendo]

The noise coming from Bethlehem was intense, as the streets flooded with people fleeing from the indiscriminate destruction of their homes, houses crumbled and burning, with people trying and failing to fend off attacks by the Heartless as they flooded into the city. But the Heartless were not the only threat to be found. As a small group of young men managed to slip away from the Heartless, they found themselves suddenly faced with a strange looking figure. The tall man with almost pitch black skin and long braided hair towered over them, his head covered by some kind of wide straw hat, his body wraped in an orange tunic, as he pulled out a shining long sword, with teeth like a saw, that he swung at the young men, taking each of them down one at a time before the others had time to react. The hatted man stepped out of the shadows into the stream of Heartless, the blood from the slain men still shimmering on the steel blade in the light of the fires. He smiled as he began walking down the road, simply cutting down anyone who was unfortunate enough to come in his path. He stopped at the sight of the fireballs, crashing into the city, burning away the Heartless that had accompanied him. He smiled at the sight, 

"Heh, maybe there will be some real fun here after all." 

The man continued on his path, seemingly unphased by the destruction but fixated on a single point, like a wolf stalking a deer. He gripped onto the sword in his hand as the began to descend upon a single building. It was no residential home, just a small dwelling set aside for travelers. As he approached, the man kicked in the door, to the horror of the two dwelling inside. The woman held tightly to the Child at her side, while the man in the room charged at the assailant. However, it was of little good, for the attacker simply grabbed the child's father by the throat, lifting him into the air before tossing him onto the ground outside of the inn, approaching the woman and her child with an almost gleeful abandon. 

"You can't possibly know why this smile is on my face, can you?" He said to the terrified woman, who closed her eyes in fear, only to have the smiling swordsman grab onto her face, forcing her eyes forward. 
"You wouldn't, hell you couldn't, know what it's like to be forced to be the Pharaoh's dog for 5 years of your life, but I got the chance to get out, to finally get my life back. And all I have to do," he spoke, "Is to take out the little baby you have there. So, if you feel like getting out of this with your life, miss, you'll do well to hand him over, or I can do you a favor and send you to next life with him." 

However, the man's speech was cut short when he felt a presence behind him. The demented smile came back to his face as he turned around, seeing Capella in the doorway.
 
He scoffed at the sight of her, "You certainly are no Hebrew, girl. What, you think you're going to be some kind of hero?" He was perplexed by the sight of the girl, there was an air of both power and reservation to her. 
"Are you from far or just stupid, girl. You're standing before Rago Yakubu, the Scourge of the Mediterranean! You think you can stop me. I'll have fun chopping you up before I take out these two." 
Rago began to approach Capella, Sword drawn and ready to attack.