The Masked Man was nothing if not committed. His initial attack failed, but unlike most grunts and peons he was well versed in turning a blunder into a blessing in disguise. The woman fought with an identical stance, so it should have been no surprise that even a counterattack could be turned on its head. And that was exactly what the man did when he
stepped forward and into the woman's thrust, effectively allowing her blade to stab him through the shoulder! The Masked Man acted fast, raising an empty hand that suddenly ignited a black fireball that he quickly hurled forward at point blank range. The size of the blast, comparable to the advance level Firaga spell, coupled with the close range meant that the blast was nigh impossible to avoid and both combatants were flung back away from each other.
The Masked Man stood to his feet, blood dripping from one shoulder while the other appeared to have been dislocated by his landing on the pavement. He had to have been in pain, but if he was he sure as hell didn't show it. His masked face remained cloaked in mystery, whatever expression was worn under it remaining unknown. The man reached a bloody hand over to his located shoulder and forced it back into place. The bones made a sickening pop as the joint was put back into place, but again the Masked Man showed no visible reaction or even fatigue from all of this. Was he even human? After he re-summoned his sword, Darkness itself seemed to wash over his body and empowering him even further. With no words still, he lunged to attack again with much greater strength and agility. But before his blade came too close to its mark, a silvery blade appeared to deflect the attack. Someone else had entered the fray.
"Sorry I'm late, Ashe." said Leon, who now stood at Ashe's side and pointed his Revolver Gunblade in the Masked Man's direction. He wore his usual attire, a white shirt underneath a black jacket and black jeans on his legs. He used a free hand to push some of his long brown hair out of his face, revealing the long scar that made it's way down his forehead and across the bridge of his nose, "Had some cleaning up to take care of. Second District is safe now, and the others should be taking care of Third District. That just leaves this guy." he knew Ashe could be somewhat prideful and not likely to be receptive to being helped, but it looked like the Masked Man was becoming too much for anyone to take on alone.
"How quaint, the gang's all here now, I presume?" asked Vexen, acknowledging the four opponents he now had to deal with instead of just two, "Good, saves me the trouble of hunting you vermin down. Now I can kill you all in one fell swoop!" unlike before, this wasn't just empty gloating. As he spoke, the Imperator began to levitate upward. Multiple copies of his shields began to appear around him, moving with a mind of their own to block and deflect incoming attacks, one of which was a oversized wrench thrown by the the boy. The tool's size and weight would have packed a fairly decent punch against a non-physical combatant like Vexen, but fortunately for the Imperator one of his many floating shields took the hit for him in his stead. The shield in question shattered into ice shards from the impact but at least there was no harm done to Vexen, at least not this time anyway.
Vexen's other shields began floating in rhythmic circles, as if preparing for something. In the meantime, one of the girls cast a spell of her on at Vexen, one that did minimal harm to him but the Imperator did feel other effects from the spells. Perhaps the girl was trying to weaken him? But soon enough he would prove the futility of the effort. Yuffie had been throwing smaller shurikens at Vexen in rapid succession, but his floating shields had been able to move quickly enough to deflect them harmlessly away. And by now, the rhythmic floating of the shields was beginning to pay off. They began acting as makeshift launchers that fired off sharp, jagged icicle projectiles all around the arena in Third District. Now everyone would have divide their attention between attacking Vexen and avoiding being skewered by ice projectiles. Fortunately, Aerith was able to protect people from most of the attacks by shielding her comrades with temporary magical barriers. But even those wouldn't last for too long before they were overpowered and broken through.
"Approach me at your own peril!" announced Vexen as he suddenly let himself drop back to the ground. He touched his gloved hands to the pavement and suddenly ice began covering it in a sizable area around the Imperator. As if an icy floor weren't enough, it also began to protrude with icy spikes that jutted outward at random intervals. Though the attack was fixed in one location, it would make getting close to Vexen dangerous, if not impossible.
"A professional will get the job done in the quickest and most efficient means possible. I have already calculated an efficient victory through these means, I see no reason to change them now." the Imperator's response was cold, blunt, and matter-of-factly. There was no arrogance or even malice in his voice, just cold calculation. Within the illusion, the grey creatures began intensifying their attacks on the mage, appearing swifter and in increasingly greater number as they were defeated. His opponent's fate was always sealed once they were caught in his trap, the Imperator knew this. None had ever managed to escape his illusions, and he had no intention of allowing that to start now.
"I'm not interested in your village. I was sent only to keep you and anyone else who resists contained until the surrender is finalized. That is all. You're leaders should be discussing their terms of surrender even as we speak. Fighting me is a useless gesture, so I say again: you may as well surrend- Ugh!" suddenly, the spell was broken. Mira would no longer find herself within the dark illusion, but instead back in the village as if she'd never left. She would soon spot the source of the Imperator's newfound surprise. Someone new had shown up and attacked him while he was commanding his illusions, breaking his focus and ending the spell he had on Mira.
"Gotcha!" exclaimed Mira's savior, a... teenage canine in a red hooded shirt who looked to only be equipped with a round shield as his weapon, "Now let's see just how tough you Imperators are." the dog boy said as he lunged forward, performing a leaping attack with his shield against the Imperator. The shield was only met with the boy's large tome, it acting as a makeshift shield to block the blow. The Imperator tried casting his illusion against this newcomer, but before he could something struck him in the back. It was some kind of blaster fire coming from a small vehicle in the distance. The vehicle was driven by another canine boy and had a third sitting on some kind of turret weapon that he fired off rapidly, howling in excitement in the meanwhile.
"Eat laseeeeeeer!" he shouted, howling an excited battlecry, "Aaaooooooooh! Take 'em down, Max! You got this, bro!"
"C'mon," the shield-wielding dog named Max said, now standing next to Mira, "let's take this guy down!"
Unfortunately, the beefy officer wouldn't live long enough to be of much help. Before the fight even started again, the Imperator struck like lightning. In the blink of an eye, the officer was practically sliced in two by the guy's scythe, "Death has found you." said the pink-haired Imperator to the dying officer before focusing his attention more on Yon-Ging. That provided Yon-Ging enough of an opportunity to hurl his sword at the Imperator, who instinctively swiped his scythe to deflect the blade. But even he wasn't fast enough to deflect three gunshots in rapid succession. The bullets, one of them anyway, struck his shoulder. The Imperator grunted a reaction and then leaped back a short distance... only to explode into a shower of cherry blossoms.
The pink petals blew in the wind, only to circle around Yon-Ging. There had to have been hundreds of them, if not over a thousand flying about in the air. Without much warning, they suddenly increased their velocity, the petals becoming like tiny blades in a windy storm of razor sharp pain. This must have been why the beefy officer from before appeared to have been so torn up. He must have also been hit by this cherry blossom storm. With the sheer number of petals, deflecting or avoiding them would only work for so long before the sheer number made that impossible. Fortunately for Yon-Ging, he wouldn't have to endure attack for very long. A woman with long dark hair came dashing into the fight, giving a strong leap and delivering a powerful kick to the now-revealed-to-be-invisible Imperator. This dispelled his cherry blossom, and thus Yon-Ging would be spared the fate of the previous officer, "Oh no you don't! Not again, Marluxia!" the woman exclaimed, apparently knowing the Imperator's name.
The Imperator seemed mildly amused, then made to swipe at the martial artist with his scythe. The weapon was stopped by a massive sword, its wielder standing between Marluxia and the woman, his spiky blonde hair would make him stand out in any crowd, "Sorry Imperator, it looks you've run out of luck. Tifa!" without any other communication needed, the woman named Tifa made another flying kick aimed right at Marluxia's back while he was too occupied with defecting a sweeping blow from the massive sword. Their combination attack finished, the pair positioned themselves near Yon-Ging, ready to help him fight.
"You okay?" asked Tifa, "We're from the Consular Ship. If you can still fight, Cloud and I would appreciate the help."
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