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A Hero Tale {Complete}

The shards of energy struck Vale from behind, tearing small holes in his cloak and sinking into his pale flesh. But just as quickly as they struck him, the Ki sources disappeared, leaving shallow wounds with coagulated bloody scars that formed almost instantly,, sealing them. Vale lurched forwards from the force of the blast and followed through with his slash, glaring directly at Alvios, locking his eyes with the scion's with a vicious smile. His sword slid against Alvios' until he was within range to attack with his dagger again. He kept staring at Alvios directly, his beating white eyes flashing like strobe lights as he reached for his dagger in one fluid motion and aimed to penetrate Alvios' lower torso.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Vale scoffed at Alvios' comment and readied his defensive posture. He spun his body to the left, twirling past the initial javelin, and swinging his sword in a 360 degree arc, eventually aiming to strike Alvios as he charged forwards, extending the length of his blade to do just that as it cut through the air.

"So self important, They were right about you."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Vale's body slowed slightly as he reached the top of his arc. With Alvios out of reach, he was forced to dart directly downwards to avoid his next incoming slash, as if he has thorough control over his midair trajectory. The slash missed him, grazing the tip of his ponytail as he slammed against the ground, and flipped backwards. His black blade trembled in place for a moment, as if it were alive, but he grabbed the hilt before anything else happened, and morphed it back into its initial Katana-like form. The vampire looked at Alvios and snickered to himself.

"You analyze too much, unbecoming. I am not here for any intent or purpose. I've long since abandoned, thrown silly thoughts of self-importance or revenge to the curb, such silly things! Whether I die or not, I am nothing more than a desperate connoisseur of the finest caliber!" Vale place his small dagger back into his cloak and swapped the hand that held his black blade, so he wielded it most efficiently. "Yes, a taste is all I require for happiness. That's all I really wish to do anymore. Taste and move, taste and move, like a monotonous toy bird, taste and move, tip-tip-tipping my head for the better things in life." Vale readied his blade and waited for Alvios patiently.

"Taste and move..."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Vale's blade shrunk back down, to the point where its length from hilt to tip was only slightly taller then his body. Without delay, the vampire slammed the newly formed triangle into the ground, allowing Alvios' Ki blase to wreak havoc along the length of his weapon, protecting his thin frame behind it easily. As The Ki subsided, Vale let go of his weapon and dashed around it, pulling a small, intricate dagger from his cloak. "Peekaboo!" He shrieked, jumping towards Alvios. He was perfectly willing to take a single blow if it meant he could hit Alvios with his small, nonthreatening dagger, so he attempted just that. With his right arm, he waited for the right moment, and looked to slice at Alvios' body, with no particular preference on where his blade struck.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Vale's rapier extended itself almost immediately on contact with Alvios' blade, pushing his body several feet away from the incoming slash until the scion's guard broke. He pulled his hand back, letting the newly formed light blade bounce it Rapier downwards, diverting the thrust into the ground beneath Alvios. Vale smirked, and his sword erupted vertically with the ground, not upwards, but outwards. Yes, it grew to a thickness of a broadsword, large enough that it seemed almost like Vale was wielding a wall that lined up with the center of Alvios' body perfectly. He rose his hand, pulling the massive sword up in an attempt to split the man in half with his newly formed blade.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Vale stepped back, placing one hand behind his back neatly, and diverting Alvios' incoming thrust with the hilt of his sword, to that it missed him, grazing his stomach as it passed him by. He stepped back again, flicking his Katana unconventionally from left to right in order to deflect the followup, until he was addressed. The vampire flipped backwards, his sword shrinking down to the length of a dagger as if the steel was amorphous. Then, he bowed courteously, leaning forward with the back of his neck exposed and his ponytail flung forwards over his left shoulder. "Damien Valefor, rather, Vale will suffice, lest a wretched memory be carved into your tongue at the utterance of a father's scorn, accounted and newly acquired by his lordship, Yzeira Yezia of the Primeiran master race. I fancy such introductions so thoroughly, thought it nothing more than a trap, who would do something so underhanded and unforgivable, rats, little rats with no respect for etiquette, I reckon." Vale rose himself up, his smile still brightly shining past his wretched demeanour. He took a fencer's pose, and his dagger extended into the form of a rapier. "Would it please the audience if I'd a lick of your blood? There's a fragrant aroma, sifting past your bright exterior, a hint of bitter-sweet harshness like no other, it dances atop the bold facade so elegantly, oh, so it does, so it does after all! Do you? Do you feel it? It's there you know, begging to be sampled." Vale thrust forwards, tearing through the air so fiercely with his ebony rapier that it visibly tore forwards, rippling waves of force shooting behind him as he stepped into Alvios' zone like a deadly serpant.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 177 ~

_{Path Interrupted, For The Very Last Time.}

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Dacer free-fell towards Jeff, using his tail to rotating his body so that he was facing Jenso's saw head-on. Instead of trying to dispatch it normally though, he caught it, coating the palms of his paws in energy as the saw grated against them, unable to pierce his Ki. Dacer did the unthinkable right afterwards. His toothy grin widened, and with his tail flipping violently, his body spun, using the momentum of the saw along with his natural movement to re-direct it towards the oncoming clone, moments before the flash bomb exploded. After this, the composition of the Flame saw changed. Jenso no longer retained any control over it, and before it struck the ground, the attack curved around, and flew into the sky, disappearing without a trace.

The flash bomb blinded Dacer for only a moment. With his previous maneuver, he tossed himself away from both Jeff and Jenso, landing on his feet nearby. "Give me a break," He spat, raising his claws and brandishing them, "We'll see what you stand for after I slash you to ribbons."

---

Vale's smile went sour. He curled his lips into a displeased frown and lowered his blade as Atlas recoiled from his block. "Oh, that's fair! I don't suppose I'm all that newsworthy when you've such... Strapping specimens threatening the validity of your reality! Oh ho-hum, jest not in my wake lest you find yourself split like a dandelion beneath the force of a child's impudent disregard for natural forces. Has Jenso ever crushed a weed, I wonder? No, no I wouldn't think so. He doesn't seem the type, too weak in the head for such results, you would be dead if not that case, yes?" Vale mocked, glanced back at Ada. She puffed out her cheeks and looked up at the sky. Vale's gaze darted back towards Alvios, and in the blink of an eye, he was already upon him, bearing his blade down on the man with immeasurable force, separating himself from Ada entirely as he darted across the field.

---

Ada, relatively alone now, revelled in her army being torn to a fraction of its former might. But with so many of her beautiful creations now gone to the wind, her limits had been slackened. She smiled as oz directed some manner of attack from above. But instead of standing still, the woman's body braced itself, and a wave of sludge carried her out of the attack's radius. The form, her posture, the flexibility and balance of her movements was unexpected, but Ada was surfing along a rising and falling column of goop that carried her further away from her starting position, and away from most of the confrontations, by extension. She glared at the bouts that had developed across the battlefield and smiled.

"Finally a chance to flaunt my style?" She moaned to herself, hugging her body eagerly and straightening her posture atop her wave of purple sludge, "Marvellous!"

---

~ End Of Chapter 176 ~

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Dacer's body recoiled for a split second at Jeff's words. He sputtered for a moment, hissing through his teeth as he tried to contain a fit of laughter, but couldn't stop it from overflowing. His composure loosened and he began laughing out loud, swaying his body left and right until his lungs were finally empty.

"Oh man, that's rich- Come on, are you fucking five?" Dacer spat, directing his attention to Jeff with his brow tightened, "I"m not under anybody's control anymore. This is just how it has to be- Exactly how I planned it. Me and you idiots, head to head. But of course you would make it about yourself." Dacer clenched his fist, digging the tips of his claws into the base of his palm. "Save Dacer. Let's do it, yeah guys, that's a great fucking idea. Let's stand up against the godlike deities from beyond the fabric of space time. Reasoning with them? No, that's stupid." Dacer turned his head towards Jenso and grit his teeth. "You're such a selfish little cunt. You could have stopped all of this, all you had to do was sacrifice yourself. But no, nobody's even considered that maybe the omnipotent demi-god that controls the fucking fabric of reality might be an honest guy. Instead of begging, or trying to take every plausible fucking angle, let's just butt heads with him and his pack of freakishly powerful side-show acts!" Dacer's stance slowly tensed up again. "You're not as important as you think you are. None of you are. Neither am I- and neither was my stupid old man. I'm going to tear your stupid resolves apart and live the rest of my life tethered to these masked freaks. I'm going to live forever, and you're going to be erased." Dacer lowered his stance and bared his sharpened teeth.

"Just like every hopeless group that tried before you."

His body's silhouette flickered, and Dacer dashed towards Jeff, firing a series of electrical slashed with his claws that sparked erratically as they flew through the air. Before reaching Jeff though, his figure vanished, and Jenso's barrier of heated air began to bend from behind. Before he could even react, Jenso's back was torn open by 4 claw-marks, and the air behind him grew intensely cold. Afterwards, Dacer appeared above Jeff, aiming to land wherever the Sage attempted to move in order to dodge his attack from earlier. Unlike Zelriane, when Dacer's speed surpassed what the heroes could perceive, he didn't slow his body to attack with precision. His attacks were wild, impossible to read, and showed no signs of stopping.

"It's just like Zelriane Says," Dacer shouted, "Power is the only truth!"

---

Ada didn't move, keeping her full attention on the Army in front of her. Several clones began jumping towards Bruce, firing more of Ada's trademark goop towards him, this time, in a different fashion. Instead of using the projectiles normally. Any attacks sent towards Bruce began to burst before making contact into a hazy violet smokescreen that spread throughout the entire sky, aimed to surround and cut off all of Bruce's exits while even more clones moved in to attack him en-masse. The same technique found its way towards Alvios. Smoke spread out from the clones he dispatched, as if they were walking bombs filled to the brim with deadly powder. But what did that smoke do, exactly? Nobody would like to find out, likely. Ada grinned as Oz's titanic figure aimed another one of its attacks towards her. Her eyes rose and she bared her lovely canines.

"Darrrrrling~"

A clash of steel resounded across Ada's half of the battlefield. In the same moment, a wall of purple ooze stood in Oz's path, blocking him off for a split moment as the hammer from earlier, Atlas' weapon of destruction, was stopped by the tip of a single elongated black blade. More clones rushed Atlas, aiming to surround its legs, and eventually topple the giant. Ada hummed a content sound and gave her savoir a thumbs up. "How's the mask fit, V?"

A newcomer held his blade at odds with Atlas' hammer with a devilish smile shining through his newly equipped black mask. His eyes glinted a fearsome silver, and his hair flourished from the impact. Above all else, his cackle brought new atmosphere to the battlefield.

"Hugs the flesh dearly with no regrets or woes, Splendidly as if I'd been born anew to this world or any other, my demeanor perhaps less forced, rather free like the soul of my departed friend and father, that is to say..." Vale rose his head and glared at Oz head on as the wall that stopped him melted away, his eyes wide and smile even wider.

"I love it!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The cilia clones fell to pieces, reforming as they hit the ground, and jumping towards Alvios again. But with Jenso's flames burning brightly, their blades melted before striking the floating warrior. The clones relented, and headed for Jeff's tower as quickly as they could. But again, as they approached, they were mowed down by a series of attacks the came from the moving fortress. Rows and rows of clones were turned into sludge, but it took only seconds for them to reform, and continue their assault, heading towards the castle like invincible zombies. The Sera clones that attacked Jeff were pushed back slightly, but repaired the damage they received, and followed through once again, flying around Jeff and launching a repeated series of force blast at him, each with enough force to knock the sage unconscious.

Jenso's flame wall continued forwards, but moments after it crossed the gap, a row of Rajaka clones reeled their fists back, and punched. The force of their strikes pushed the wall to pieces with gigantic shock waves, allowing the clones to advance right back and hold of the approaching golems. Behind them, a gigantic mass of purple ooze rose up, past the Meta clones of Rajaka and Zelriane, which both fell to the ground in pieces after being struck by Bruce's attacks. As Bruce himself began falling however, a massive purple hand erupted from the titan that Ada began to rise from the ground, aiming to snatch him right out of the air. The titan began to develop its body as well, quickly turning into the demonic entity that Jenso had faced back at the mountainous chasm where Vale had confronted him.

Prisma.

The giant looked up, but turned to witness a brilliant flame approaching at outstanding speeds. It was Alvios, and he was directing himself to strike. The clone of Prisma began to glimmer, quickly directing its chest towards Alvios, and charging a round of Arcano Ultima to Meet Alvios head on before he could attack. But he was too slow. As Alvios crashed through his chest, the giant clone's attempt to catch Bruce was cut short, and the resulting explosion eradicated the beast, along with a massive portion of Ada's Army, and any Golems that Bruce had in the immediate vicinity. Dacer ran and jumped away from the resulting explosion, Past Alvios and over the Chasm, while Ada just stood there and brought a hand to her chin. She seemed puzzled. Were they responding to her psychic onslaughts? She couldn't hear them speaking, but Bruce's voice was pecking at her ears, despite it getting drowned out by the explosions on the battle field. Well, that, and the fact that she had little interest in what any of these brats had to say. Ada's army went sluggish for a moment, and she rose another bubble around herself as the explosive energy approached her. Were they so intent on wasting their stamina? She chuckled, looking down at the ground before her, specifically, at Jenso's 'sneak attack'. She twisted her ankle, and an overwhelming torrent of sludge began to tear through the ground, stopping the underground flame wave and consuming it whole.

As Alvios' attack subsided, Atlas' hammer bared down on her dome, smashing it into the ground. The hammer's focused strike left a series of cracks in her defence, but she was able to hold it together. As it faded away in a puff of smoke, Ada's army began to pick up steam once again, albeit with a slight delay. The Clones of Sera that attacked Jeff earlier had stopped long enough to be dealt with, and what remained of her army after... Wait a moment.

Ada, after making her way to safety once Atlas' attack recoiled, glanced across the crater created by Alvios. Nearly a third of her Ozmone creations were incinerated in his brilliant display, despite her efforts to shield a portion of them. it created a massive gap in her ranks, leaving the path to where she stood wide open. She cringed at the results, and noticed something running straight for her. Was that... The burly one?

Meanwhile, behind her, the efforts that Bruce had placed to send mud towards her was halted by Alvios' flaming attack. Chunks of hardened mud lay scattered as the creature attempted to clasp the tower. "Straight for the tower?" Ada sighed, "That's boring."

Every attempt- The hands that shot towards the giant structure, the maw of razor sharp teeth that aimed for its base, all of it was evaporated upon coming within 10 feet of the Tower's walls. The earth was blasted back by a distortion in space time, reddish waves of energy that rippled through the fabric of reality itself. It was defended by something sinister, or perhaps, it had no intent. Either way, the tower protected itself. Ada crossed her arms and shuddered as Oswald made his way for her directly. "They can't honestly think they're the first people to try something like this," she thought to herself, "Even if they are giving me a hard time." She sighed. "Perhaps... One more!" Ada waited patiently for Oz to get closer, glancing off to the side every few seconds, hoping that his timing would be just right. "I'm ready for you, Big boy."

All while this was happening, Dacer had already made his way past Jenso, standing between him and Jeff with his claws at the ready. It seemed He wasn't intent on defending Ada after all. What changed? It didn't matter. Not a shred of hesitation poisoned his movements. He spun around in midair, flipping elegantly and slashing at both Jenso and Jeff, unleashing claw-like slashes through the air, ice-elemental for Jenso, and Pure Ki for Jeff, before he landed on his feet again, and dashed towards Jeff.