[IC] Kingdom Hearts: The Keyblade War.

[Double]

Cyrus had only one response to the elf's words. He sighed a sigh of disappointment. He'd now seen what he fought the elf to see, and so now the only thing left to do was to end this farce. A back step was all that was necessary to avoid the Gravity-based strike. The elf went on to cast a Faith spell, not at Cyrus, but the area surrounding Cyrus. It was not meant as an attack, but instead to blind Cyrus with bright light. In all honesty, it was a clever maneuver that likely won him previous battles in the past. But, like the Stop spell maneuver, it just wouldn't cut it against the Reaper.

Golden Keyblade in hand, Cyrus held it out at his side into the light. Just like before, the blade absorbed the energy of the spell, and as a result the normally blinding light began to dim, almost immediately making it useless for the purpose it was used in this battle. Now Cyrus could see perfectly well, but he didn't stop there. Through his scythe-like Keyblade, Cyrus whispered a new spell to be cast, "Protect." this based Cyrus in a greenish magical light that would absorb the brunt the next several blows Arthal might attempt to inflict. Finally, the gold-colored Keyblade began to glow bright with the energy it absorbed, the Faith spell giving it a considerable amount of power thanks to being such a high-level magic spell. At about the same time Arthal's attacks came, Cyrus spun himself around with the glowing Keyblade held out. It was time this elf learn exactly who it was he was fighting against, "Runic Slash..." was all Cyrus uttered, and even that was in a quieted tone. The energy built up in the keyblade seemed to explode outward around Cyrus in a circular shape. Normally the attack sent the energy in a concentrated direction, but Cyrus unleashed it in a circular motion so that, no matter what direction Arthal came from, he would run right into the energy of the Runic Slash. Whether it halted his attacks didn't matter, the goal was not to stop the attack, but to simply slow it, enough so that Cyrus could safely move far away from the reach of the elf's blades.

"No, elf, I do not believe you to be a Master." he finally said, dispelling his blades so that the fighting would end, "You boast and gloat, laughing at your opponent, offering no respect and yet demand to be respected in return." he said, his words sharp and tone blunt, "I wanted to know your strength, to see for myself the kind of person you are. But how can I even do that, when you will not even fight with your own power? I will grant you that I, too, wielded another's power. And for that reason, I am no Master. Your cause is genuine, and to that end I will pledge my blade to it's success, in time I may even call you friend. But I will not call you Master."

[Flood]

Azazel raised his eyebrow at the impressive might show. But that's all it was. A light show meant to distract. This was to be a battle of strength, not magic. In other happenings, who was this new stranger? He looked quite unhinged. When he fell over like a puppet with no strings, Azazel summoned his Keyblade. Something was very wrong here. He got back up and Azazel frowned.

"Excuse me good sir, who are you? Also why are you glowing green? That is not normal in people of this world." He tensed slightly in preparation for his own battle.

[Apollosarcher]

The change tones as he saw the blast coming, he was encircling himself with only one course of action he broke his Master's Enlightenment and slammed the blades together taking to the sky he soared up as quickly as he could outrunning the blast before slowly coming down. Redemption dissipated from his hand threw off his cloak cracking his neck he held Knight Seeker carefully with one hand. "No spells, no magic, blades only." He ordered, a proper duel fought in the style of the first wielders.

Redemption was gone only the Keyblade tied to his heart remained, the elf. "If we fought with me using me full potential you would lose." He said in very rough and dry voice. Arthal was in truth of two minds since the death of his master, the calmer more fun side that he had been up until Thon's death and the more serene and emotionless side. Cyrus could feel he that this new power could equal and even surpass him should it choose to fight him. This was the strength of a Master yet he could also sense that in truth this was not Arthal's heart.

[Rex]

Azazel raised his eyebrow at the impressive might show. But that's all it was. A light show meant to distract. This was to be a battle of strength, not magic. In other happenings, who was this new stranger? He looked quite unhinged. When he fell over like a puppet with no strings, Azazel summoned his Keyblade. Something was very wrong here. He got back up and Azazel frowned.

"Excuse me good sir, who are you? Also why are you glowing green? That is not normal in people of this world." He tensed slightly in preparation for his own battle.

@floodtalon

Seth turned his attention from the two battling to Azazel. His Chester cat grin seemed to fade as he spoke, “My dear Alice, why have you changed?” Seth’s head cocked to the side ad his grin returned to his face.

“Why do you scream as I cut off your face?” he spoke again as he started to slowly stumble towards Azazel. He swayed back and forth as he continued, “All I wanted was to chop you up in to stew, is that so wrong to do?” Seth stopped and raised his Keyblade up and pointed it at Azazel.

Seth suddenly lunged at Azazel and spun his body around; using the force to swung his Keyblade at Azazel. All the while his grin continued to grow. His sickly green aura around him was now starting to grow darker. All the while there was still a sliver of silver aura near his right hand trying to keep the sickly aura from consuming his while body.

[Flood]

@Rex

"Well that's just disturbing." Azazel blasted backwards with some Aero magic to avoid the psycho's attack and he pointed his Keyblade at him. "Blizzara!" Ice formed at the end of his Keyblade and began rapid firing at Seth and moving away from the other battle.

"So, have you been a psychopath long or no? Sorry if I'm being awkward, I'm a little new to witty banter in battle." Azazel moved into a defensive position and prepared another Blizzara spell.

[Rex]

@Rex

"Well that's just disturbing." Azazel blasted backwards with some Aero magic to avoid the psycho's attack and he pointed his Keyblade at him. "Blizzara!" Ice formed at the end of his Keyblade and began rapid firing at Seth and moving away from the other battle.

"So, have you been a psychopath long or no? Sorry if I'm being awkward, I'm a little new to witty banter in battle." Azazel moved into a defensive position and prepared another Blizzara spell.

@floodtalon

Just like his attack before against the Heartless, when Seth missed he flopped and rolled on the ground before he quickly got back p and jumped back from the Blizzard. He did his best to dodge the attack but some of the ice shards hit his body causing him to fall backwards onto his back. He lay on the ground for a few seconds before he started to get back up.

“Please Alice, just hear me out, all I was to do is make you into a stew. Why do you contend with my wonderful wish?” Seth said. Inside Seth’s mind, his still sane mind was trying to battle back the insanity. But it was still struggling to keep the madness from fully taking over. No matter what, I need to end this; I have to stop the madness. I just hope I can get the Keyblade away from my hands before it fully takes over.

Seth’s grin suddenly changed into a snarl as he pointed his Keyblade into the air and yelled, “Then I’ll just have to burn your flesh from your bones! Now fire!” he pointed his Keyblade at Azazel before he shot three fire balls at him. Please miss, please miss!

[Akayaofthemoon]

Bellasiel watched carefully as the two in front of her fought and held back her instincts to go defend or stop them from fighting all together. This fight needed to happen, maybe not for Arthal but for the other man, this was a judgement of how Arthal was as a person. She had always had to watch others when she was a priestess and she learned more in seeing how others acted or moved than actually speaking with them sometimes. It was still nerve racking, both obviously skilled though she knew that Arthal wasn't taking this fight all too seriously or at least wasn't using his full fighting abilities. She would have watched it all to the end had it not been for an aura that all but grated against her senses, causing her to turn her attention to the newcomer. The man that had been next to her spoke up before she could even try to advise them not too since there was something very very off about the person before them.

The sickness of the aura just got darker as the person spoke, as if the man next to her was just egging it on or causing more trouble by replying. The darkening however made her notice one important thing. The aura was faint, it felt different in a way and it was almost not noticeable to the eye and had she not been an elf who was sensitive to aura's other than just her own, than she may never had noticed it. The right hand was for sure a different kind of the same aura and maybe that point was weak or meant something. She had been so lost in thought, that she barely noticed that a spell had been fired at the strange man but it didn't seem to have much effect even with the spell landing a few hits. It was quick as a flash that a Fire spell was shot in return in which she actually pushed the man next to her out of the way and jumping back herself, not wanting anyone to be hit.

She twisted on her feet as she landed, jetting forward fast, hoping to catch the person by surprise as thrusted her Keyblade up under the other Keyblade of their attacker before jerking her hand to the side. The crescent part of her blade locking with the large spikes on the strangers. Not wasting another moment, she sharply yanked her Keyblade and hoped that she had surprised the strange aura man enough that he wouldn't be prepare to have to tighten his grip to keep his Keyblade in his hands. If the man didn't have his Keyblade than at least that would be a bonus till they figured out what was wrong or tried to fix it. That was her hope anyway by don't as she had but then again it could quickly back fire on her. She just didn't want anyone hurt and was willing to take the risk.

[Flood]

Azazel rolled put of the way of the fireballs in the nick of time as they exploded where he and Bellasiel had stood. He looked over to her and made a note to thank her after the battle. "I prefer my flesh uncharred, thank you very much!" Azazel moved towards Seth and began circling him and Bellasiel from a few yards away. You would notice that Azazel was actually using Wind Magic to float a few inches off of the ground, increasing his speed.

He twirled his Keyblade a few times and prepared a Magnet Spell to keep the assailant in place. "Magnera!" Azazel pointed his Keyblade in the direction of Seth and watched as a small vortex of magnetic force formed above Seth and Bellasiel. It would not suck her in as Azazel's only target was Seth. "Hold still so we can knock you out and figure out what the hell is wrong with you!"

[Rex]

With the combination of Bellasiel yanking at the Keyblade and the magnate spell in place. Seth’s Keyblade was severed from his grip. It sided across the ground before it disappeared in a white light. The sickly greenish black aura started to dim and changed back into a sliver aura before the silver aura started to waver and disappear as well. Seth started to stagger and sway before his body gave out and he fell to the ground.

Seth lay on the ground for a few seconds before he gasped for air like he was being held under water and finally broke the surface. He slowly sat up and placed his hand over his head as a pounding headache started. His body felt weak but he knew it would only last for a few moments. The last time he let the madness take over, he was unsure how he was able to bring himself back, but as he looked up at the two around him. he sighed and thanked them, “Thanks for that.”

[Daichinaara]

Twilight town was a peaceful suburbia where mundane people often did mundane things. Everyone played their part into seeing some form of greater purpose that in the end didn't really amount to anything. These people would live their lives dreaming to become something unattainable and then die full of regrets. The thought of this made Daichi sick. Ever since his father's legacy was eroded, Daichi struggled to understand who he was and where he fit in. He was always the spoilt prince with a circle of subjects waiting on him hand and foot. Then one day all of that was taken away from him. The only thing that he had left was his best friend and partner Zero.

After the events transpired the two boys wandered Agrabah wondering what to do with themselves and living off the remains of the empire. When money became scarce they took up odd jobs to keep the lights on. They wandered between worlds looking for any form of work that paid well. Fortunately, the services of two young men proficient in combat were in high demand with the constant outbreak of heartless everywhere. Fast-forward to today and our heroes are stood in front of a medium sized push cart. The bright sign on the front depicted a picture of a blue popsicle with two sticks protruding from the bottom and beads of condensation forming on the side.

"SEA SALT ICE CREAM SOLD HERE"

Daichi smirked. "Here's another one...."
He walked over to the cart and rested his foot on the edge in a position that looked like he was going to step up. The cart rocked off kilter for a moment and with a forceful push the cart fell on its side. The ice cream spilled out of the guts of the cart as the owner scurried away in terror.As the owner looked ahead of him Daichi appear in a flash.

"If you ever come back....that cart will be you!" his voice was quiet and yet had an authoritative tone.

[Xan the G]

As the owner stepped back from Daichi's sudden and somewhat vague threat, Zero used his void powers awarded to him by his keyblade to teleport in behind him. The cart owner back up, bumping Zero's chest and dropping to the floor with a flinch. Zero stared monotonously at the cart owner, while he lifted up his left, keyblade-wielding armed so the tip of his blade pointed right and the scattered ice and cold deserts. He let off a small burst of wind, courtesy of his aero ability, smearing the treats and frozen water across the street. Zero said not a word. As per usual he was more than happy to let Daichi be the mouthpiece. While Daichi continued to unnerve and scare the cart owner, Zero looked up, noticing a commotion in the form of elements, arcane and destruction in the central location of the town.

"...Oi," called Zero stoically, nodding towards the scene once his call garnered Daichi's attention. "The call. They must have grouped already." surmised Zero, regarding the request for 'like-minded keyblade warriors' sent out by an anonymous character. "What's the play?" asked Zero seemingly ignoring the cart owner they were currently shaking down in favour of issues arising in the city centre.

[Daichinaara]

"...Oi,"
"The call. They must have grouped already."
"What's the play?"

Daichi's intense stare softened as he looked past the vendor and at Zero. "Come on bro can't you seem I'm in the middle of something? He's not gonna shit himself if we're having casual conversations!!" The vendor saw the opportunity to flee and took it, scurrying off once again in terror. Daichi sighed loudly. The aim of the hit was to scare each SEA SALT ICE CREAM vendor enough so they would discontinue business.

His attention turned to the warriors fighting. The sight of the man standing sideways on the building bewildered Daichi. He scratched his head in confusion looking over to Zero.

"What do you suppose all the commotion is about?" He started walking towards it expecting Zero to follow.

[Xan the G]

"The Keyblade warrior call. The one talking about ending the war. This is where the invite said they'd meet." Zero narrowed his eyes at the flashes of war peering over the skyline of the renaissance-styled city. "...Talks must have broken down." he surmised at the array. "We beat it out of that dark guild of keyblade users when we got the assignment to monitor what they were planning. This was the meeting they were hoping to detonate the Ether-Bomb at." explained Zero. It wasn't the first time that Daichi's aloof, irreverent nature called upon Zero to recant or narrate events of Daichi's own life back to him, but as always, he explained it without hint of grievance or tiredness.

"Sheer coincidence it might be, we're here now, if it interests you." added Zero, now choosing to sheath his keyblade.

[Double]

The elven master still sounded conceited, even after he finally decided to take things more seriously. Was it really so hard to admit or believe that someone stronger than oneself could be out there? Even Cyrus, for all his skill and experience from the war, knew well and good that he was far from the strongest in the universe. But such an argument was not worth making, especially when his goal was never to defeat the elf in the first place, only to see what kind of person he was. If the elf truly didn't understand that, or simply didn't wish to, then it was no concern of Cyrus.

Now that he was seeing some of the other wielders up close, he began to realize that his original assessment was not entirely accurate. Apart from the elven man there was also an elven woman, and she could very well have been as old and learned as her male counterpart. Also, he realized that there were no actual children among this group, some of them appearing only a handful of years younger than Cyrus himself. Even still, he didn't recognize a single one of them from the war, so his assessment that they were likely all rookies was still very likely true.

Cyrus might have given a reply to the elven man, but found himself interrupted by the brief scuffle between three of the others present. Well, it began as two, but the elven woman had stepped in and that seemed to be enough to settle things for now. But something else caught Cyrus's eye, a civilian fleeing from something. It could have simply been Heartless, but on the off-chance of something more dangerous lurking nearby, Cyrus took it upon himself to investigate the direction the fleeing vendor had come from. It didn't take long to spot the problem. Keyblade Wielders, but not the usual helpful sort. From their tone, to even the way they stood and moved, their disposition was perfectly clear. Mercenaries, Cyrus had put up with his share of their kind through out the war. Not all Keyblade Wielders desired the power of the X-Blade, some just used the war to put munny in their pocket. These sorts of Keyblade Wielders were scum as far as Cyrus was concerned, for what kind of self-respecting Wielder of the Key would sell his strength to the highest bidder? To them Cyrus had only one thing to say.

"Holding those blades gives you no right to terrorize the innocent." he told them, plain and blunt as usual, "If you crave battle so badly then go find some Heartless and fight to your heart's content, at least then you would be doing something useful."

[Flood]

Azazel shrugged and made his Keyblade disappear. "Yeah, just stop talking about making me into a stew. No more trying to kill me either. That's not cool. Abide by those two rules and we're fine." He looked towards Cyrus and chuckled. How idiotic, he's completely forgotten about his opponent and focused on two new people who have nothing to do with him. Even he was still wary about the man he disarmed, ready to stop him in his tracks with a Gravity Spell at any moment.

"Why bother them? They're not hurting you after all." Azazel walked over to Cyrus and smiled. "While I agree that the Keyblade is meant for a higher purpose, doesn't it make you better than those who don't use it for said purpose? So how about we just leave them alone and get to this meeting huh?" He looked at Zero and Daichi and waved with a smile. "Have fun with your campaign of destruction against ice cream!" They were acting pretty dumb though. What was the point of destroying ice cream stands?

[Daichinaara]

"Holding those blades gives you no right to terrorize the innocent." he told them, plain and blunt as usual, "If you crave battle so badly then go find some Heartless and fight to your heart's content, at least then you would be doing something useful."

Amused by his words Daichi chuckled silently under his breath. He turned to Zero once again.
"Hey Zero lets go rendezvous with those keyblade wielders over there. This Mary-sue act might be contagious."
He sauntered past the unfamiliar adversary without as much as a glance in his direction. When he was about 10 paces past he stopped and turned. The tension in the surrounding area thickened. Daichi's once calm demeanor turned hostile.

"My time and energy aren't free. I get paid to do what I do. If you want to fight me, ante up and we'll talk business. Otherwise, you're better off listening to your pal over there."

He continued walking towards the others.
"Zero hurry up!"

[Xan the G]

Zero followed Daichi's command, though he initially stood still as Daichi postured against the high-strung old man trying to preach to them about how to live. Zero stooped down, recovering something from a pouch in his utility vest. He recovered two more items. They were cartons of ice cream, three separate flavours, but all from the same brand. He placed them with spoons on top of the overturned cart. They did this at every cart they had ransacked. They were working for the other ice cream brand through hostile marketing. The trouble they caused the Sea-salt vendors draw attention and commotion amongst the panic. Not only would it deterred common vendors from stocking the sea-salt brand, but the free samples of the new brand would eventually be picked up by potential customers.

"Since we're done, I'll go hand in the job and get our munny. You don't need me to listen." corrected Zero. "Whatever you decide is fine." he added, before walking behind Daich by a few paces. He was also walking towards Cyrus, but directly towards the old man. While only a couple of paces away from bumping into him, Zero was enveloped in a deep purple aura that hummed in a low, buzzing tone. His body turned translucent, transparent, then disappeared from in front of Cyrus, teleporting away in what could only be described as a wormhole.

[Double]

Cyrus's response was a simple one, "If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead already." he specifically used the word kill, not fight, because unless it was a specific occasion, he always and forever would fight to kill. He was the Reaper after all, and that name didn't come about for no good reason. He'd earned it from others through his own actions during the war.

"If you're looking for more munny here, I doubt you'll find it. We're here to put a stop to a War, and most of them don't look like they have much. Plus the man organizing everything is quite... enthusiastic about his beliefs. Somehow I doubt he has any use for a couple of sell-swords whose loyalty can easily be bought by a more generous offer." That was all he was going to say to these two. After that he simply returned to the spot he'd come from among the group, ignoring whatever reply they might give him. Because unless they were foolish enough to pick a fight with him, then they probably weren't worth it.

"Apologies," he said to the everyone else, "I thought the man was running away from something serious. But it was just thugs, nothing more."

[Arty Fox]

Mac and Cheese

If Mac had a face, he’d probably be frowning. But of course he didn’t have one so it was up to Cheese to frown with enough puzzlement for the both of them. She succeeded.

“See Mac.” The odd blade disappeared from Cheeses grip. “I told you to be careful and not wonder off, you could’ve gotten hurt.”

“I can take care of myself.” Mac snapped bitterly.

Looking at him Cheese was taken slightly aback by this. The first words he had said to her since they had fled, and that was it? Honestly she felt quite hurt, and a little bit angry too.

“Well, yeah I know but.” She fumbled angrily for a second trying to figure out what to say. “I mean, c’mon Mac. These things aren’t the usual Friday night Lads we’re dealing with these things….Mac!?”

Cheese repeated his name again as he brushed past her and continued to ignore her.

“Oh alright fine then, ignore me.” Cheese muttered bitterly, following a little further behind. “let’s just go gallivanting off after these dangerous people or whatever. Humans, Honestly. Tell you off for not following their rules and then go and break them themselves.”

“Could I ask you something?” Mac tapped the woman's shoulder, who he found to be rather pretty, who had saved him earlier. “what’s going on?”

[Rex]

“Yeah, sorry about that. When the madness takes over I can’t control what it says or does. I’m thinking this Keyblade might be a double edged sword. One the one hand it grants me power to protect others, but then it releases the madness and those people I want to protect are now in danger,” Seth explained as he got to his feet. He cracked a few joints in his neck to release the tension in his muscles before he added, “By the way, Names Seth Rush.” As he extended his hand to both Azazel and Bellasiel.

Seth noticed the commotion with the other people around and was about to intervene, but decided against it after male elf and another man gave a speech about how Keyblades should be used. He turned to Azazel and Bellasiel and asked, “Are you all warriors of light? I’ve been trying to find the Warriors of light for a while now and can’t seem to find anyone. I was supposed to meet up with them so we had a chance against the darkness, but I kind got lost in how beautiful this ton is. And the fact they make great lattes.”