Once the pair had reached Jaakuna's room, Emiri placed her hands on her hips. Perhaps it was her smaller stature, but she didn't feel like she was as intimidating as she wanted to be. "Jaakuna, you're wrong. I do have to take care of myself." She stated, picking up where they had left off from the aircab. The conversation was long from over, no it was just starting. "You can't keep throwing yourself in danger every time you think I'm in trouble. I'm going to get hurt whether you want it to happen or not. You can't--" She stopped, remembering Lola, and she rubbed her arms in an attempt to comfort herself. "You're...You're not always there. Things are going to happen." Her voice got lower, but her temper was still there. After taking in a breath, she felt revved up again. "You haven't been completely honest, either, have you?"

---

Grant and Nadeline listened to Wesley intently. It was a rather curious thing, but it seemed the Espers were able to sense Zodiark. Nadeline felt slightly concerned that now Wesley was hearing noises. Still, it wasn't Zodiark, which was a good sign. "If we're finished, we should go now." Grant told the pair. While he was concerned with the state of things, he didn't know how Savayna's battle was going.

---

As Francis would compliment her, Shion turned to him. She only offered a shrug as a response. She didn't think it was a big deal, it was how she handled her life in general. "Sometimes all a person needs is a little guidance." She told him, shaking her head. "More often then not we find ourselves somewhat lost, somewhat strayed...and so I take it upon myself to properly guide young ones." She stepped forward, looking at him. "You should know that either Michel or Meli--most likely Meli--will kill that general. This is your last chance to back out, Wolf." She warned him once more. "If you walk away now, I will understand."

---

As Meli moved forward, she noticed Michel had caught up. Well, at the least he hadn't been in trouble, that was a relief. "Masking my aura would mean that I was trying to hide. Who said I was hiding?" Meli told him, quirking an eyebrow at him. "Either the Ice Bitch leads us to the girl of time or her corpse will draw their attention. Either way it's a win-win, right?" She informed him rather coldly. That bitch was going down, now that she had her boss' good grace, she would make sure she didn't fail.

As he listened to Emiri speak about how he was wrong and how she did have to take care of herself, he wanted to say something, but he would just let her finish. She would then state that he wouldn’t always be around and that things would happen that would put her in danger despite what Jaakuna wanted to. He knew that she was right, but damn it he didn’t have to like it. Maybe Jaakuna just liked the idea of being the guy that would always save her. “You’re right. I probably can’t protect you from everything, but I sure as hell will try.” Jaakuna said as he sat on the edge of his bed. As he just sat there, Emiri would bring up the subject of him not being totally honest with her. Yup, it was time. Jaakuna sighed and laid back on his bed. He just stayed in that position for a few minutes, still and mostly silent, with the occasional sigh every half of a minute. After the few minutes were up, he sat up and looked at Emiri. “It’s true, I haven’t been totally honest with you.” Jaakuna said, arms bent and placed on his legs and he leaned forward. “It’s about my nightmare I had back at Nabudis..” Jaakuna said.

“In my nightmare, it started just as my best dreams have always been. It was me getting the crown as Emperor and all of my friends and family, even my mother, were there for me. The Grand Magister was just about to place the crown upon my head and then I was teleported to the time where it was just moments before I killed the person I thought that was my father.” Jaakuna said, “As the moment played out, I knew something was off, so I looked over at my brother and his head was down and throat slit. The same was for my father. I then looked at my own self, first at my hands, and then down to my lap — both covered in crimson blood.” Even as he told Emiri, Jaakuna’s body was shaking. He tightened his fists to get his composure back. “I then got out of the chair I was sitting in, turned around, and saw everyone dead — my mother, Wesley, Nadeline, Grant, Savayna — everyone with their throats slit and in my hand was a dagger dripping with blood. And that’s when you came in the door as if nothing had happened. I asked you if you could heal them and you did, but--” Jaakuna paused. He didn’t want to say it, but he continued regardless of how he felt at the moment. “Due to the extensive amount of healing you had to do, you were lost to me, and you faded away, no doubt you got lost in time.” Jaakuna said as tears started to form in his eyes, but he wiped them away.

“When you were gone, I screamed, I cried, and just did some more over and over again. Though, that’s when everyone would start to trap me in a corner, all saying it was my fault that you were gone. I rejected their claims, but the guilt of being the reason that you were gone became too much, it was so much so that a certain someone called out to me as he did before. This very person claimed that he could take away the pain and all I had to do was accept him as my god. I refused of course, but after he pointed out some grim facts, I gave in.” Jaakuna said laughing at how pitiful he was. “It wasn’t long until this certain someone took control of my body once more and took away my pain and guilt. I felt no more and I was finally free.” Jaakuna said looking at Emiri. “I don’t remember much about what happened, but I do remember screams from everyone, so I have no doubt that he killed them.” Jaakuna said as he recalled everything. “The last thing I remember about it all was Lola-as-you came into the prison I was in and freed me. She was able to free the darkness that had consumed me. “ JAakuna said. “Once I got out, it was now at the point of two copies of you, you remember right?” Jaakuna asked her, but he continued even further. “When I was trying to figure out who the real one was, he came to me again and said he could help me. All I had to do was allow a small portion of his powers to be transported from him to inside of me. He said it wouldn’t be like the last time and it would just be an extra source of power, so I gave in once more and that’s how I was able to figure out who Lola was and who the real you was.” Jaakuna said.

When he finished, Jaakuna looked at Emiri. “The person who took over my body in the nightmare and who I allowed his powers to enter my body was Zodiark.” Jaakuna was looking away at this point.

---

When Shion would state that the young ones just needed guidance, Francis nodded in agreement. She did seem quite proud in the fact that she could lead the young ones on a path to which that they could follow to their death, not like Francis wished his son to die, but he chose a dangerous life, so he must be willing to pay the price of it. That was when Shion would inform Francis that Savayna was most likely going to die either by his son’s hands or Meli’s, to which she would warn the Golden Wolf yet again about joining her. Francis laughed and smiled. He then took his two hands and patted Shion on her very smooth shoulders. “I told you back at the restaurant, I am joining you no matter what.” He said smiling at Shion. “If you need anymore proof, then let this be it.” He said then tugging her to him, which would cause her to stagger to him. Francis would catch her in an embrace-like action, and kissed her soft, succulent lips.

---

When Grant asked if they were done, Wesley nodded and he placed The Sword of Order on his left waist and he would follow Grant and Nadeline as they all rushed out of the Armory and eventually out of the Building itself to go help Savayna. When they reached the streets, they headed back to the direction of The High Life, which was only about ten miles out from their location, to which they would hitch an Aircab to.

As the Aircab would take to the air and head back to The High Life, about three miles in and only five minutes since getting in, Wesley spotted a certain icy-blue dress from the corner of his eye. “STOP THE CAB!” He shouted at the cabby and he would completely halt the cab and land it on the ground. Wesley had spotted Savayna and he would wave her over and yell. “SAVAYNA!”

As she flew, she heard Wesley’s rather loud voice. She looked over, landed on a streetlamp, and slowly descended to the ground. She smiled at her friends. “Boy am I glad to see you guys. I take it things went well with Roman?” She asked them.

Wesley nodded and smiled. He was just about to speak, but that’s’ when he saw two shadows above him and they would land on the ground. It was Meli and Michel. “See hun, I told you that if we followed the soon-to-be colliding auras, we would find all of them..” Michel said as he smiled.

Emiri's jaw dropped as Jaakuna concluded retelling what had happened to him in Nabudis. Normally, she would have felt an immense guilt and even a sentimental need to comfort him, but that last sentence threw every kind of good feeling out of the airship. She closed her mouth and walked up to him, placing her hands on her hips again as she glared down at him. Oh, now she was mad. Now she was mad. "Are you serious?" She asked, it coming out somewhat harsher than how she had originally anticipated. "Tell me you aren't serious. Did you forget what happened when we were on our way to get to your father? Did you forget how you struggled over having control of your own body?" She kept going, obviously riled up. "Why in Ivalice would you do that?!"

---

No matter what, huh? How many times had she heard those words? She shook her head, clearly having heard it all. As Francis offered to show her proof, she could only raise an eyebrow in clear disbelief. Before she knew it, however, he pulled her to him, causing her stiletto not to agree with the ground. She nearly tripped and ended up falling towards Francis, and before she knew what was happening he was kissing her. Lip to lip contact had been made, and for the first time in a very long time Shion was in complete shock. "Mmm?!" She exclaimed though her lips were clearly occupied.

---

Meli placed one hand on her hip, eyeing each member of the group. "Yeah, yeah, shut up." She replied, clearly annoyed that Michel was right (As usual). "Wait..." She narrowed her eyes, then looking at Michel. "They aren't all here!" Nadeline bit her lip. She was glad they had reunited with Savayna, but she didn't like the idea of fighting both Michel and Meli. Still, as Meli shook her head, she looked back at the group. Nadeline did not like that look on her face. "Ah, well, either the other two eventually show up or their screams will draw them out."

Jaakuna knew that Emiri would react this way. Like, how else would Jaakuna expect her to react? He just told her that he willingly let Zodiark to transfer some of his powers into him. So, of course Emiri was mad, even when she came up to him, and pretty much gave him the death glare. Even if he wanted to, Jaakuna couldn't look away from Emiri. She was literally that close to him and boy her expression was livid.. He would let her finish and then speak. "It's not like last time." Jaakuna said as if excusing what he did or trying to justifying it. "It's just a small portion of his powers, and I have it under control." He continued trying to explain it to Emiri. "And I did it to save you. If I hadn't, I could've killed you back in Nabudis. I didn't know who the real you was." He said as he told her the reason why he did it, but he knew that didn't excuse what he did. "I know there isn't anything that I can say that will justify or make it right, but I was left with no other choice."

---

As he kissed her, he heard and felt her shock, but she did not turn away, so obviously Shion liked the kiss that Francis was giving her. He would pull away very slowly, the saliva stretching from his tongue and hers. He would smile at her. He could still see the shock in her eyes. He would also release her from his embrace. "Now then, what shall we do now?" He said as his gaze came to the bloodbath around the floors of the club.

---

Michel laughed slightly at the comment that Meli gave about him pointing out that their target that was Savayna would lead them to the others. He could just sense the annoyance from her, but then she would point out that two of them were missing. Michel had noticed that as well, though it really didn't matter. Like Meli said, they would be drawn out eventually, it was only a matter of when not if.

Savayna and Wesley looked on and both of them would brandish their respective weapons, Savayna had her Ice Queen Sword and Wesley his newly-obtained Sword of Order. Wesley's own would pulsate and emit a orangish-brown glow and his Lion Seal would react to it. Wesley could feel the power flowing through him. He would look to Grant. Wesley would nod at him as he would waste no time and dash quickly to Michel, who would get his own weapon as it would meet Wesley's own steel-on-steel, but it was more than that. Both blades would pulsate and glow. Wesley's already showed its own glow, but Michel's would glow a faded violet color. It would then increase in the glow and get more bolder. Then, almost as if on instinct, the blade — and Michel by extension — would repel The Sword of Order and send Wesley back a few feet. Wesley was a bit shocked. That's when Michel's dagger returned to it's normal look and he smiled. "It's not going to be that easy, Prince Wesley." Michel said smiling still.

"To save me. And now we get back to what I was telling you before: I can take care of myself." The brunette threw her arms up in the air, clearly exasperated. "You sound pretty sure of yourself considering this thing whole-fully possessed you. What if it happens again? How do you know you call to it and not the other way around? What...what were you thinking?!" Emiri felt so angry and frustrated she found herself repeating her previous words. The girl started pacing in front of Jaakuna, clearly not happy with the situation. She remembered her own nightmare and it clicked into her head. "You have to get it out. You need to make sure he doesn't take over your body again."

---

Shion was not a woman to easily stun. She had encountered various enemies in her life and has been on the brink of death so much that Death was but an ally of hers. Never in her life had anything ever surprised her, as battle was just second nature for her. Now, however, she was completely and utterly shocked. Boy was that a dangerous feeling. As Francis smiled at her, she only stared at him in disbelief. Oh she did not like being surprised like that. She found herself touching her lips with her finger, though quickly removed her hand as she looked away. Dear gods this was dangerous. Her rose glowed again, and she lightly patted it. "The girl isn't with them." She said, her voice coming out quieter than she had intended it to. "Hm. I wonder...she can't be too far."

---

"Alright then, let's dance."

A surge of magic rushed through her veins, and as Nadeline's staff clashed with Meli's sword, she felt the magicks within calling out to her. The feather in her hair glowed, and as Nadeline pushed off her sword, she spotted the all too familiar tendrils closing in on her. Without missing a beat, Nadeline raised her staff in the air. "Thundaga!" She called, summoning several bolts of lightning to come down and zap through each tendril. After a second, however, she then realized exactly what had just happened. That wasn't White Magic. That was Black Magic. She had intended to repel the shadows with a Protect, but what came instead was a Thundaga. Meli was just as surprised, having been expecting the same thing. The sheer force of the spell also left the air with some static and had ripped through the shadows like it was nothing. The princess' magic was strong, that much she had to admit.

Still, in those few seconds of realization, Nadeline recovered from the shock: "Faith!" She called, greatly enhancing her magic, though she then pointed her staff at Savayna. "Bravery!" The spell sang through the air and wrapped itself around the blonde's sword.

Oh boy, she’s really mad now.

Jaakuna knew that she would be especially on what he said and how he said it. From the ways her arms flailed up into the air out of anger or just the way her nostrils were flaring up, Jaakuna got every ounce of angriness that was within her. From when she pretty much yelled at Jaakuna for being so stupid(she didn’t really say that, but it was heavily implied). Jaakuna wouldn’t even speak between her brief pauses(not for a lack of trying), but each time he would start, she would continue, so he would wait until she was done before he did.

When Emiri finished, Jaakuna rubbed his temples very firmly as he looked at her as she was up close to him, so he had no choice. “It’s not like I can just call upon the bastard and tell him to take his powers out of me, believe me I’ve tried.” Jaakuna said trying to explain it to Emiri. “Still, it’s not like the last time. And no, I’m not just saying that so you’ll be satisfied. I feel different.” He said, “Last time, I felt my body and mood getting empty and aggressive, but this time around, I don’t feel any of that. I have no desire to kill for no reason, which was how I felt last time.” He continued, arms moving around as if to add to his point. “I really don’t know what the bastard has planned for me, but it doesn’t seem like his power is posing any real threat to me.”

---

As the rose in her hair would glow, Francis would see Shion lightly pat it. She would then mumble something about a girl and her not being there. Francis arched a brow as he would then hear her speak to herself again, but this time about where aforementioned girl could be. Francis was curious as what girl she was talking about. He sort of leaned forward, below her head, eyes at her, and head cocked. It was a weird position for him to be in. He still looked to her as she was definitely in her own zone. “So, what girl are you mumbling about?” He asked her.

---

While Michel and the other two guys were fighting, the ladies would take lead as Meli would launch her shadow tendrils at Nadeline. The Rozarrian Princess, as Savayna saw it, would block it with a surprising spell. Savayna definitely was surprised when she saw a black magic spell instead of a white magic one. The spell that came from Nadeline’s staff was Thundaga and it ripped through the tendrils like it was a butter knife on butter. That’s when Nadeline would cast Faith for herself to enhance her magical prowess and Bravery to Savayna so her physical own was upped some. Savayna smiled and gave a nod to Nadeline.

When she turned to Meli, Savayna laughed slightly. “Time for you to chill out!” Savayna said as her free arm extended forward, light blue magickal energy glowing around it and pressing forward. A white glyph would appear in front and then a wave of icy-wind would be shot forth at Meli.

As the winds were shot forth to Meli, Michel looked over and smiled arrogantly at Wesley and Grant. He would taunt them to follow him as he would gently glide backwards. Wesley knew what he was doing, but he followed anyway. His Sword of Order was still glowing as it must have been a normal thing. However, Wesley wasn’t going to let Michel be the leading factor in whatever he was planning. Wesley’s right arm glowed with the same shade of his sword and the magickal energy flowed through his free one and went into the ground. The magic would cause the ground to shake, and the part below Michel would pop up like the other end of a seesaw. Michel noticed it, and was not only pressed upward into the air, but he was also sent flying about twenty feet away from everyone else.

“Grant, now’s your chance!” Wesley said, pointing to the now airborne-flipping Michel.

"It IS a threat!" Emiri practically yelled. Jaakuna was just not understanding how concerning the matter was. Why wasn't he listening to her? At this point, however, she had found that she had enough. She just didn't care anymore. She practically kicked off her heels, going over to her boots and yanking them on. "Fine. Then you have no say in me using my power." She told him, once she had finished lacing up her boots she stood up again, making sure they were secure. Once she grabbed her scrunchie she pulled her hair into her usual ponytail. "I'm going to help the others. You stay here." She ordered him, walking out off the room.

---

"You've probably heard of her. A girl with the power to control time." Shion told him as he began walking out of the nightclub. They had no further business there, and she saw no need to remain. No doubt the troops would arrive at any minute, anyway, and the last thing she wanted to do was get blamed for the mess. "Scion of time, broken off from an Esper's power...As long as she is alive, the Espers are able to roam in our world. Kill her, and the Espers go back and remain in their cages--and Zodiark will be effectively weakened as well." She informed him as she walked. "The Esper Chaos warped her Mist so that she could become a key, so to speak--specifically that of her mother, Justine Iniabi. This ability was passed down to her daughter, a girl named Emelia. These days she goes by a false name: Emiri Iniko. She is my target."

---

As Michel flew into the air, Grant took Wesley's cue. Taking aim, he watched Michel closely, his arrows charged with Dark magic. He fired off around a dozen of them, though Michel would soon find that some of them had missed at quite a distance. Holding his hand out, each arrow would began sparking his Dark spell out, each freezing in the air and forming a circle around the young assassin. "Darkja!" He called, setting off the initial spell. The burst of the energy erupted towards Michel, and this one would cause the rest of the smaller spells to fire off as well, creating a dark explosion so to speak.

Meli watched Savayna and Nadeline closely. She was sure she could take them both out, but this little newfound talent of the princess had thrown her off guard. As if to even the odds, once she threw up a shadow guard to protect herself from Savayna's wind, she jumped down into her shadow, popping up a distance away. She pulled up her shadows and shoved it back down, and with that she sheathed her wakizashi. She unsheathed it once more, though instead of having a solid blade, it was more of a dark substance. She withdrew it completely, and Nadeline saw it as more of a dark, shadow whip of sorts. Meli whipped it back, wrapping it around Savayna's leg and pulled the blonde woman towards her, her own shadow tendrils ready to strike.

As Nadeline realized what had happened, she moved forward to help, though a noise distracted her. She turned and brought up her staff to block the attack from one of Meli's shadow clones. She staggered backwards somewhat, though she held her stance at the ready. "Firaga!" She called, the flames dancing underneath the clone until it erupted. To her surprise, it remained there, though as the spell faded away she saw more clones popping up. Quirking an eyebrow at this trick, she pointed her staff at them. "Scourge!" She called once more, and several dark tendrils resembling Meli's own came out of her staff. They followed and pierced through each clone, though a few managed to escape.

Well, if she wasn’t at the maximum of how mad she could get, then Jaakuna just witnessed it first hand. He really didn’t understand why she was acting in the way that she did. When Jaakuna first told Wesley and Grant about having a portion of Zodiark’s powers in him, he saw the anger that they had in their eyes. Emiri had the same anger, but for her, she was definitely vocal about it. Wesley and Grant were more worried for him than anything else, which still prompted some kind of anger within them in some way, shape, or form.

As Emiri would yell at him, she would also take off her heels rather aggressively, no doubt cause of the way she felt towards Jaakuna at the moment. She would then lace up her boots as fast as she could and before she left, she would pretty much state that she was going to help the others and that Jaakuna was to stay in the Ifrit, as if ordering him. At the moment that she did, Jaakuna was speechless. He let out some starts to words, but before he could get them into complete sentences, Emiri was gone from his room. He would walk out to stop her, but by the time that he composed himself, she was already in the elevator. Even if Jaakuna were to chase after her, she would already be out of the Aerodome by the time he was in the elevator.

Completely in shock at this point, Jaakuna walked back into his room, pacing back and forth, tugging at his hair with his hands, screaming, shouting, cursing, and pretty much doing everything that he could to get out his frustration. He cursed the moment that he let Zodiark into his body, he cursed the moment that he agreed to accept Zodiark as his new god, and he cursed the minute he gave into Zodiark’s words and let part of his power get into his body. Jaakuna cursed himself for letting everything get so out of whack.

Just as Jaakuna was doing more pacing and cursing, he heard a laugh. He first thought it was in his head, but as the next ten seconds would reveal, a black shadow would appear before him and soon that shadow would shape itself into what Jaakuna remembered the form Zodiark took. “Poor Jaakuna, did your girlfriend not like our dirty, little secret?” A smug look of arrogance took Zodiark’s facie.

Jaakuna was livid now. “That’s none of your business!” Jaakuna snapped.

Zodiark laughed at Jaakuna. “Oh, you hurt me with your words. I thought we had a connection. I am inside you, after all.” Zodiark mockingly acted like he was hurt by Jaakuna’s words.

If Jaakuna wasn’t livid before, now he was after Zodiark’s words. “Why are you even here? To torture me more?” JAakuna asked him clearly pissed off.

“Actually no, Jackson. I’m merely here to check up on my favorite Hume.” Zodiark said smiling, his tendrils on his back retreating into it. “So, why don’t you let dear ol’ Zodiark know of your troubles, hmmm?” He said, trying to coerce Jaakuna into confiding into him.

“Why don’t you drop dead!” Jaakuna snarled.

“Why Jackson, I’m hurt. I mean no harm, I promise.” Zodiark said, genuinely(on he surface) hurt(mockingly inside)

Jaakuna wasn’t buying it one bit. He knew that Zodiark was up to something. “Why am I even talking to you after you sent your hounds in the nightclub that my friends and I were at? I should just leave.” Jaakuna said as he actually was about to.

Zodiark tsked a few times. “I wish you’d trust me. I had my reasons for doing that.” Zodiark said.

Jaakuna was now curious as what he meant by that. “Okay, you have my curiosity.” JAakuna said standing firmly in his position. “What did you mean by that?” He asked half-curious, half-suspicious.

Zodiark let out a rather happy “heh” as Jaakuna asked what he meant. “There is someone in Archades that is blinded by my power. This person is a poison to my cause. “ Zodiark said.

Jaakuna was even more curious now. Who exactly was this person that Zodiark was referring to? “And who might you be after, I wonder..?” Jaakuna said as he raised an eyebrow.

Zodiark smiled. “I got a proposition for you, Jackson. You take care of this person and I will take back my power from you and you will never have to deal with the burden of it anymore.” Zodiark knew that Jaakuna wanted to rid himself of his power.

Instead of being half-curious, half-suspicious, Jaakuna was full of suspicion for Zodiark. He didn’t even know what he was planning or if he was even serious about taking away his power. “How do I know that you’re even serious? For all I know, you can be lying just to get this person out of your way.” Jaakuna was definitely on-edge.

Zodiark made a noise that expressed disappointment. “Oh come on now. I might be evil, but I have honor too. I promise you that I will do it. “ Zodiark said as he would let Jaakuna know that he was an esper of his word.

Jaakuna still was highly suspicious, but given his current mental state, he wasn’t right in the head or even thinking clearer. “Fine.” He simply said.

Zodiark let out a slight cheer of excitement. “Okay, so this person you are to take out blinds their identity and gender from my omnipotence, but they align themselves with a wolf that shines of gold and fathers to an aura of the enigma kind.” Zodiark told Jaakuna. “You should be able to track them with my power. I’m counting on you, Jackson.” Zodiark said as he would then fade away was gone from Jaakuna’s presence.

As Zodiark went away, Jaakuna thought about who this person that the King of Espers was so determined of getting rid of was, he knew exactly who the Wolf was. Only an idiot wouldn’t know. If they were Archadian, that is. “So, I wonder what Francis has to do with this.” Jaakuna mused aloud. He would shrug it off for the moment as he went into his closet, changed out of his flashy gold and red outfit, removing each component of the outfit one piece at a time. He would then go to his usual outfit that consisted of a red jacket, dark olive-green pants, black shoes, and a belt with chain.

As he was ready to go, Jaakuna thought about Emiri. “She’ll be mad, but once I get rid of my-” Wait, did he just? “--Zodiark’s powers, she’ll understand why I had to leave.” Jaakuna said as he would get out of his room, go to his armory, get his twin swords and make his way out of the airship and onto would just follow a certain feeling that he had as he tapped into Zodiark’s power as he suggested and Jaakuna found where Francis was.

---

Michel was not expecting Wesley to use Earth Magick. Last time he remembered, the Dalmascan Prince specialized in offensive white magick. So, when the usage of the earth kind came, Michel was caught off-guard and was sent flying. As he was flipping backwards into the air, Michel stopped himself, but only with a few seconds to prepare(or not prepare) for the dozen arrows coming at his direction. Michel sensed a faint darkness about them, which made him deduce that they were all laced with dark magick. Just as he was about to send them all away, Michel noticed that they would freeze and soon surround him. They were injected with Darkja and the next thing that he knew it, Michel was in the center of a Dark Magick explosion, which sent him flying further.

As Michel landed thirty feet away, it would be seen that parts of his sleeves were burnt off from the explosion and it wouldn’t be long until he saw both Wesley and Grant appear before him. Mcihel smiled and actually started to laugh. He was pleasantly surprised at how strong both Grant and Wesley proved to be. Obviously he underestimated the strength of both of them. Granted, he didn’t think that Wesley had talents other than what Lola, Shion, and Meli had told him about. It mattered not, at least not at this point. It just meant he would be able to give it his all.

“I am surprised, Prince Wesley of Dalmasca and Prince Grant of Rozarria.” Michel said as he ripped off his torso attire, revealing seven tattoos all of seven different colors that circled around a sitting monk in a meditation state. “I hope you both are ready for what is coming for you.” Michel said as the yellow tattoo began to glow and Michel’s body was surrounded by a strange aura that just grew from the tattoo itself. In the minute that followed, his body was surrounded by a fire aura of red and orange color and heat so high that it distorted the moisture in the air. Extending his arms forward, fire trailed along it, circling it

---

Savayna’s icy wind went straight towards Meli and the Ice General would see as the shadow-user would throw up her shadow powers to block against Savayna’s ice ones, which froze it where it was positioned at. As it would soon crack, Savayna saw that Meli wasn’t there. She would deduce that she disappeared into her shadow and now Savayna would look behind her, ready for when the shadow bitch would show herself again. A half of a minute hater, Savayna saw that Meli was now ten paces away and she would sheath her wakizashi. Savayna would notice something off about the blade as it didn’t seem to have a solid blade like most. No, this had something of a dark substance about it. Before Savayna knew it, something had a hold of her leg, and it pulled her off of her feet and she was being tugged with tremendous force.

As she was pulled towards Meli, Savayna could see shadow tendrils poised for offense, no doubt to impale her. The tendrils would launch at Savayna, who was five paces away from them. Savayna held her hand up and a glyph appeared, to which Blizzaga was released. First, it took the form of an icy wind, but then reshaped itself into blocks of ice to which destroyed not only the tendrils that were coming for Savayna, but the grip that was around her leg. At this point, Savayna was up in the air, and she regained control and used the sparkly icy wind to float in the air. “Oh, and you were so close.” Savayna said mockingly. She would then rush downward, hand extended and fired a straight blast of water magick as a glyph would appear. “Waterga!” She said as the blast of water expanded.

---

As they left The High Life, Francis would listen to Shion as she explained who the girl was. She said this girl was the highly-rumored girl of time. Of course Francis knew of that girl. Everyone in Ivalice has at least heard about that girl at one point or another. The rumor was that she had the power to revert time to a point where something was back to where it was before being injured or whatever. Though, Francis always thought it was just that: a rumor. However, as he would listen to Shion explain that this girl was more than just a girl and that she was in fact a Scion of Time, Francis’ eyes widened in shock. Even more so, he would be further shocked when she said that the esper of time, Chaos or otherwise known as The Walker of the Wheel, warped a certain woman’s mist so that she could be a key of sorts. She would further state that this woman’s mother was Lady Justine of Rozarria, wife to André Iniabi. Francis knew that meant that the girl that Shion was referring to was Emelia Iniabi. Shion would confirm that and state that she went by the cover name of Emrii Iniko.

As she finished, Francis thought about it all. “It certainly makes sense.” He said agreeing with Shion’s motives. IT wasn’t just because he’s in love with her. No, he was agreeing with her cause it made complete sense. To save Ivalice from the Espers and Zodiark, getting rid of the key that has unlocked the espers was the best route to go about it. “Killing this girl does seem like the only way or else I’m sure you would have considered it. Any idea on where this Emiri--” before he could finish, Francis saw someone that he recognized. “Oh, Jackson, what are you doing here?”

Jaakuna smiled as he was in front of Francis and Shion. “Judge Francis, nice to see you.” Jaakuna smiled.

“I repeat, what are you doing here?” Francis repeated himself.

“Forgive me, I wish not to do this but, you are in the way.” Jaakuna said as he extended his right arm, hand out, fingers separated, and a shadow appeared beneath Francis, tendrils arose from it. They constricted Francis and tossed him twenty feet away and he would crash through a ceiling of a building. When Francis was gone, Jaakuna looked at the blue-haired beauty in front of him. “So, you are the one.” Jaakuna said as he examined her head to toe and then toe to head. “I admit, I didn’t want to do this, but to rid myself of these godawful powers, I must eliminate you.” Jaakuna said rather coldly, taking out both of his swords, and taking a poised fighting stance. “But before I do, I ask for your name. It doesn’t seem right to kill you without knowing whose life I am about to take.”

As Emiri exited the Aerodome, she looked around. It was quiet, and there was no sign of battle yet in this area. They must have been in the area of the nightclub, still. She tapped the hilt of her Diamond Sword as she tried to remember how to get there. As she picked a direction and began to run, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. That flash of purple was one she recognized all too well. Against her better judgement she followed suit, and saw her run into an alley. She followed, and at a dead end found Lola and some of the ninja gathered together. She watched them from around the corner, hiding behind the wall.

"So if Jaakuna is facing the boss and the others are facing Michel and Meli...that means she's alone." She heard Lola mutter to herself. Jaakuna left the Ifrit? Damn it, didn't she tell him to stay?! And the boss she spoke about...that must have meant the leader of Utena. Damn it! "Question is, where the hell is she? Alright, get everyone to start looking for her, she is here in Archades." She informed the man in front of her, but he did not move. Emiri decided that she had heard enough, but she noticed they were eerily quiet. Lola stared at him for a moment, and then to Emiri's horror, she looked right at her. "Well then, today's my lucky day." She mumbled rather sarcastically as Emiri began to run.

The brunette unsheathed her sword, knowing all too well that she wasn't going to outrun Lola. Several shadows in front of her informed her that she had definitely caught the ninjas' attention as well. Common sense told her that she should have been running faster and doing whatever it took to get away. But something burning deep inside of her wanted to fight Lola. For some reason she felt a burning rage and a shame when she looked at her. Emiri was not backing down from this fight. As if on cue, Emiri skidded to a halt, raising her blade as Lola came at her fromt he air, and the two clashed blades. "Good, you're not running." Lola smiled rather happily. "Boss says I can't keep you, though. So I have to kill you. Sorry~"

"The only one that's going to die here is you." Emiri informed her rather coldly, pushing the woman off her blade and swinging at her only to find another blade intercepting. She recalled how much trouble the others had with these guys, but she didn't care. She was going to kill Lola if it was the last thing she did.

---

As expected, his attack had not been enough. Of course hoping that would have finished him off was entirely optimistic, but you can't blame a guy for hoping. As the air cleared, the prince spotted Michel's tattoo and suddenly felt just a little warm. Good thing his hair was still tied, but as he eyed Michel, he knew they were in for a fight. "Kinda wish I had my gun." Grant admitted to Wesley as he took aim at Michel. "But uh I'll back you up." He stated, taking out his hand bomb. He took only one out, eyeing Michel. Here goes nothing. He mumbled internally, but he hoped this would be only a distraction so Wesley could get a hit. He tossed the Oil Bomb towards Michel, firing off an arrow. The bomb exploded, further amplified by Michel's flames, though of course they were not aiming for contact. He hoped Wesley would take the opening as he opened fire on Michel with regular arrows.

---

As Savayna mocked Meli, the woman held her whip to the side. It would snaked behind and around her, wrapping itself around Nadeline's leg. The princess looked down, but at that moment Savayna had rushed forward. Nadeline prepared a spell to get rid of the shadow, but her opponent was faster at that moment. Without a moment's hesitation Meli tugged at it and effectively threw Nadeline at the spell. She let out a slight cry of surprise, but Meli was not what she was worried about. "Shell!" She yelled hastily, protecting herself from Savayna's spell. It had been much too close and Nadeline was not stopping. Her Shell darkened, obviously not having been complete, and before she knew what was happening Nadeline found that Savayna's magic was quite strong. So strong, in fact that it broke Nadeline's Shell. The blonde let out a shriek as she felt the brunt of the Waterga. Meli smirked and jumped backwards as Nadeline crashed into the ground. At this point her sword solidified and she rushed forward, intending to drive her blade into Nadeline's chest.

---

As Shion listened to Francis, she noted how he stopped. She would see the source of that would be none other then the formerly disgraced prince of Archadia. Once again, it seemed Shion didn't have much luck; now every member of the group had been spotted except for the one that mattered the most. She let out a slightly disappointed sigh, closing her eyes, though she opened them as Francis was tossed away. Perhaps had it been a few minutes ago, she would have been concerned, but the presence before her needed every bit of her attention. Zodiark had planted his seed in the man before her. Her amber eyes stared at Jaakuna, expressionless. He would tell her that he needed to eliminate her. She could have died of laughter right then and there; even with Zodiark, at his current state he was no match for her. Yet, this familiar darkness made her rethink that.

"Before I kill my own enemies I too like to have an identity to the corpses I lay waste to. " Shion stated, taking out the flower in her hair and grasping it tightly. Its petals were glowing brightly. "To think you would accept Zodiark into your heart...truly you must have been desperate or you are a fool." She stated, crushing Blue Rose in her left hand. With her right hand held out, a pool of darkness appeared beneath her arm, distorting her shadow. Said shadow wrapped around her shoes, replacing them with flats, and it placed itself in the palm of her hand. She held out the crushed Blue Rose, as if showing Jaakuna, and gently blew on them. The blue petals scattered all around them, a rather ominous wind picking up and making them dance in the air. Holding her hands in front of her, from her open palm she began to pull, and from the darkness she pulled out her katana. The darkness disappeared, and the petals remained in the air.

"By the time the last petal falls to the ground, you will die." Shion informed Jaakuna, taking the closest petal in her hand. "Know this: I am Shion of Nabradia, leader of Utena. Your life is mine, Jackson of Archadia." The petal wilted to dust and surrounded her. Putting her blade to her side, she leaned forward very slowly. With a rather inhuman burst of speed she jetted forward, swinging her sword up and bringing it down. No doubt he would block it, but the impact itself had such a force that at that point, normal people's swords would have shattered underneath hers. The ground beneath Jaakuna would no doubt break under the immense attack.

Poised and ready to fight, the blue-haired maiden would echo what Jaakuna saying about wanting to know who she would be killing, though Jaakuna slightly laughed at that comment. He didn’t think that she would actually be able to kill him, but she did seem pretty sure of herself. She would then take out her blue rose from her hair . Jaakuna took notice to the flower glowing rather brightly. He would then hear her say that Jaakuna was a fool or desperate to accept Zodiark into his heart. He would smirk slightly. She wasn’t wrong. He was indeed desperate to even consider Zodiark into him.

When she crushed the rose in her hand, a shadow would appear beneath her and trading her heels for some kind flat-like shoes. Jaakuna paid no mind to that, but he did eye her intently, watching everything that she did and also watching the shadow wrap around her right arm. She would blow the petals towards Jaakuna and they would pick up speed, dancing around them. Jaakuna sniffed three times and the smell was very comforting. He always enjoyed the smell of roses. As he watched her extend her arms and with one hand reaching into the darkness and pull out what looked like a katana. The darkness was gone, but petals were still up and about flying around them.

As Jaakuna would smile, the blue-haired beauty would inform that Jaakuna would die before the last petal dropped and reveal herself as Shion and that she came from Nabradia. He saw that she would grab one petal, and turn it to dust and she went forth with her attack as she leaned in slightly and came at Jaakuna with such fast speeds, it was like a blue blur. The next thing that Jaakna knew was that she was in front of him, sword raised and coming down. Jaakuna brought his two swords up, crossed like an X, laced with with his fire magick as if on pure instinct alone, and blocked her attack. Though, Jaakuna felt the ground below him starting to crack under the pressure. Jaakuna would try to hold his position for as long as he could. He felt his magick giving away, so Jaakuna dug into some of Zodiark’s power and his swords soon replaced the red and white from his own power to the pure blackness of Zodiark’s Influence.

As Zodiark’s Influence seemed to balance the scales, Jaakuna began to push her sword back as his body soon began to show a flickering black aura. The more he was lifting his swords up, the less the flickering happened and the more it would solidify. After a full minute of pushing her sword away, he completely did it, but in the process, Jaakuna’s body was now fully surrounded by a very evil-feeling aura. He was able to push her a few feet away and Jaakuna smiled. “You’re right, I was desperate when I gave into Zodiark. I admit that, for a while, I was hating it, but at the moment, I couldn’t care less. It’s going to help me defeat you and that’s all I care about, Shion of Nabradia.” Jaakuna said as he would embrace the influence from Zodiark. A single vertical slash from both of swords would release an eerie and evil wave of pure darkness to Shion.

---

Wesley smiled and chuckled when Grant would make a note that he wished he had his gun. Though, he would take out his hand bomb and toss up an oil bomb that would ignite as soon as it hit Michel’s fire attack, causing a stalemate between the two attacks. That left Wesley with an opening and he would take off in a fast dash to Michel. From the distraction that Grant provided and the moment that Michel took his eyes off of Wesley, he didn’t see the prince come at him from the side. Wesley had his Sword of Order to his side and as he swung it upwards, Michel looked at it and he would lean backwards, but that didn’t stop Wesley. The Dalmascan prince would swing downward, upwards, diagonally. He just kept doing it in reptition hoping one would get Michel.

After about five rounds of doing all of that, Michel was finally hit along his right arm. The sword had slashed the right inner-forearm of Michel and with a scream of pain, Michel spun around, using his free arm and a shifting of auras into the violet one, to repel Wesley away. However, the salt and pepper-haired man saw it coming and used his earth magick to block the repelling force from Michel and kept him in the spot he was in. After the raised earth disappeared, Wesley used his free hand to summon Holaga, which sent a wave of white magickal energy to Michel, sending him flying three paces behind where he was previously. Now Michel was on the defensive.

As Michel got up, he knew that he was in pretty bad shape. His right forearm was cut, he had bad burns on his chest from the holaga and he didn’t know how much juice he had left. It definitely was getting to a point where Michel probably was going to have to use drastic measures. Though, for now Michel would shift his aura into green, which was the healing one. It was within a minute, his wounds started to heal and he stood up, looking to Wesley and Grant. “Not bad, Wesley of Dalmasca.” He said as he used his Green Aura’s elemental connection and manipulated the air and he took flight. He would then extend both arms, winds gathering around them. He would then bend them as far back as they could and extend them in a fast motion and two individual tornados shot forth, swirling and combining into one moderately-huge tornado at both Wesley and Grant. In his instinct, Wesley manipulated the earth and brought up three large walls of earth, with the closest one being five paces away, but the tornado would smash through the one furthest from Wesley and Grant. If they didn’t do something fast.

---

It was too late. Savayna couldn’t stop her spell as she saw that Nadeline had been whipped by Meli. Even when the blonde princess would use Shell, it was too late. Savayna’s spell broke it and Nadeline was hit by the Waterga spell and Savayna heard Nadeline shriek out from the pain. It would also seem that Meli would capitalize on it as she would then go to impale Nadeline through the chest. Savayna, not wanting that to happen, extended her free arm once more, but this time it was not for a spell. A glyph glowed on her forearm, and in the seconds that followed, a trident would block Meli’s sword, and send Meli back a good five feet

Savayna would touch ground and she would use Curaga over Nadeline’s burnt flesh. It would progressively heal it and it took a few minutes to do so.. Meanwhile, she would look over to Meli, who no doubt was surprised. “I would like for you to meet my esper, Mataeus, The Corrupt.” Savayna said as Mataeus held up his trident, ready for round two. Meanwhile, Savayna would turn back to Nadeline whose injury was at least base healed. Savayna stood up, a hand out. “Can you stand?” She asked Nadeline.

For a while, the numerous ninja had their numbers as a great advantage against Emiri. She might have wondered if the others had gone through the same thing, except her every thought was occupied with 'where the hell was the next one coming from'. Still, the brunette found herself more worried about where Lola had gone. She was pretty sure the perverted lesbian was ogling her from a distance, but as she kept slaying them she anticipated her jumping in at any moment.

---

Grant stared at Michel healing his wounds. That was completely unfair. As the tornadoes converged on the pair, Wesley was able to protect them for the most part. "Yeah I really wish I had my gun." He admitted to his fellow royal with a small shrug. "It just comforts me." He looked at the distant tornado, shaking his head. "See, my question is, why are you and I always stuck with the more difficult ones?" He shook his head, placing one hand on Wesley's shoulder "Graviga." He casted his spell over the tornado, forcing the winds to scatter and dissipate. "It worked. Wow."

---

Nadeline let out a low groan of half pain, half relief as Savayna's Curaga went over her very aching arm. She wanted to tell her it was half assed out of anger from getting hit from her spell, but she took her arm and pulled herself to her feet. "Curaja." She muttered, healing the rest of the wound. A part of her almost thought that the woman had done it on purpose, but again that was her own anger thinking. She shot a glare at Meli, who had been sent back by Mateus. "That skank is going down." Nadeline declared, clearly displeased.

Meli let out a low whistle as she eyed Mateus. This was her first time actually seeing an Esper, and she had to admit it certainly had an intimidating presence about it. "Of course the whore gets the slutty mermaid." She said as multiple shadow clones rose from her own, and they all went in for the attack.

---

Jaakuna was stronger than she had anticipated. It was good to know she wouldn't completely flatten him, she found herself admitting she liked the idea of a challenge. Shion skidded to a halt, and as the dark wave approached, she simply shook her head. Raising here katana, it glowed an etheral white, being the pure opposite of Jaakuna's dark attack. She mimicked him, slashing the air twice and releasing her own white waves. They clashed with the dark ones, the two medling before separating and causing what could only be described as an explosion of pure energy.

"You are not the only one that has the power of the Espers at their disposal." She informed him rather coldly. "You may have tapped into the power of the Dark Esper, but this blade was dipped in the power of the High Seraph herself. While Zodiark clearly outclasses her, combined with my strength this sword is more than enough to take care of you." She held the katana in front of her, and a second rose petal turned to dust, surrounding her hands on the blade. The holy aura flowed from her katana as she raised it above her head. She slashed in downwards, the wave going right for Jaakuna and ripping through the ground as it approached him.

Michel had to admit it to himself. He was actually surprised at how effective these two were against his own attacks. They've been giving him one surprise after an other, from Wesley using Earth Magick to Grant using Gravity Magick to completely make the tornado disappear. Michel just didn’t think that they would be this much of a challenge. That was just foolish arrogance on his part. Michel will not make that same mistake. He would land on the ground, five paces away from both of them. The air within the air started to circle around him, the speeds of the winds starting to shove Grant and Wesley back. Michel would extend his arms out and gusts of wind would randomly be shoved to the two princes. The wind would get so strong that it probably could start to be felt by the ladies who were about thirty or forty feet away from them.

As the winds got stronger, Wesley was doing all he could just to stay on the ground. For every pace he took forward, he was sent back three. Grant was no doubt experiencing the same thing and Wesley knew that this was a bad situation. Meanwhile, the two princes would see that Michel was like a Hume-sized cyclone. The winds actually got so strong that the air was starting to distort. The ground around him was being raised up and sucked into what looked like a vacuum. This was very, very bad. Michel just laughed. It was his emotions that were controlling it and right now, the green aura was showing slight signs of violet and blue, mainly violet though. For anyone who knew about Michel’s power, they would know that the space-time aspect of his violet aura was causing the distortion.

As Michel would stop laughing, he would use the wind as he glided around both Wesley and Grant. He was going so fast and he was circling them so many times, that not long after he started doing it were they trapped in a tornado. The speed of the tornado would definitely cause them to be forced up and by the time they would get to the center of it, little blades of wind would start to slice their clothes and eventually their flesh. At the rate the tornado was expanding both vertically and horizontally, the winds would no doubt reach the ladies. Up in the sky, the funnel clouds were starting to form and that would be seen by everyone in Archades and even noticeable by the people in neighboring countries.

---

When Savayna’s own curaga spell finished, Nadeline would further her healing with a curaja spell and then she would stand up with Savayna‘s help. Savayna would hear Nadeline speak to Meli, stating that she was going down and even calling her a skank. Savayna chuckled. “Together, we can get this bitch!” Savayna said cheerfully determined. Savayna would then hear Meli let out a whistle, no doubt because of the sight that was Savayna’s Esper. She would then claim that it was a slutty mermaid. Savayna found that statement funny, but what she didn’t find funny were the lot of shadow clones of herself coming at them.

As Savayna would join the frontlines with Mateus, the Ice Esper would prepare to attack the shadow clones and Savayna would as well, but then they definitely felt something and it was the strong gust of wind coming from where Grant and Wesley were fighting Michel. Furthermore, they soon saw a tornado in the distance and it was only getting bigger as the seconds went on. The gusts of wind that came to them would send all the shadow clones flying and getting killed. It was no doubt that everyone aside from Mateus would be forced off their feet and tumbling in all different directions. Mateus, however, was hit by the gusts of wind and due to the damage he sustained(which was a lot), he would fade away/be desummoned.

“Damn, this is not good! I don’t know what’s happening, but if Michel doesn’t stop, we’re all going to die.” Savayna said rather dramatically.

---

As Jaakuna’s attack came in, Shion would match his attack with her own twin blasts of magickal energy, but inverted to Jaakuna’s own. The two attacks clashed. Black and white beautifully met each other and after a minute of a struggle, they both canceled each other out in a beautiful white and black explosion. Jaakuna, while shocked, couldn’t help but be impressed. Of course, he expected nothing less from the leader of Utena. Jaakuna heard Shion state that Jaakuna was not the only one with the power of an esper as his disposal. She said that her blade had been graced with the strength of the High Seraph. Jaakuna had to admit that he was a little shocked at this, but not all that surprising. Though, he did smile when she said that her strength plus her blade would be enough to do away with Jaakuna. Clearly she was underestimating him.

“I will admit, you are stronger than I first thought, but don’t let that cloud your rationality.” Jaakuna said as he saw the wave rippling through the ground and coming straight at him. Using his reflexes, Jaakuna dodge rolled out of the way to the right, the blast nearly missing his left leg. He looked on and saw the blast go for a mile, crashing through several buildings. He let out a low whistle and stood up, brushing off his clothes from any dirt that might have got on them. He would then sheath his swords and looked at Shion shaking his head. “Well then, you weren’t messing around.” Jaakuna said smiling.

Jaakuna found himself just smirking. The more he would use the powers of Zodiark, the more it seemed to shift his personality. He didn’t really notice. Or maybe it was that he liked the shift of his behavior. Even now, as he looked to Shion without his weapons, he wasn’t like he was a minute ago. Closing his eyes, Jaakuna would hold his arm out, and let Zodiark’s darkness cover his skin. It was like the more he gave into it, the more that a physical representation of it would be shown on his body. Soon he would start to show the bare minimum of Zodiark’s armor-like body. His arms were showing the armor, his bare chest was showing it, and the red sigils appeared on the center of his front waist and hands. Jaakuna then opened his eyes, and as he did, a shadow would appear beneath Shion and tendrils would shoot up so fast that there was only a three second interval between the tendrils rising and her being bound by them. All the while they shot up, Jaakuna was smiling evilly, as if he was enjoying what was about to happen.

Lola watched Emiri from on top of the building, though as the wind picked up, she spotted Michel from a distance. She let out a low whistle, her legs swinging on the edge. Michel was getting serious, it seemed. She noticed her shadow stretching behind her, and from there Meli climbed up, shaking her head. "Fucking Michel...can't even warn a bitch." She muttered as she looked at Michel in the distance. She looked at her older sister, placing a hand on her hip. "And what are you doing? Are you waiting for the girl to escape already?"

"Zodiark is taking over that guy." Lola explained, lightly rubbing her shoulder. "Boss is fighting him...I mean, I don't think Boss will have trouble, but...he's strong too."

Meli rolled her eyes, looking down at the still fighting Emiri. "Don't you think that's exactly why you need to...oh I don't know...fucking kill her already?!" She kicked Lola, causing the woman to stand. "You've already fucked up once."

"It's just this air...a lot of powerful people are fighting and it's throwing off my game." Lola muttered, shivering slightly. "But you're right...here I go." As Emiri sliced through the last ninja, she let out an irritated huff. Where the hell was Lola? As if on cue, the woman touched the ground behind the brunette. Emiri turned towards her, sword at the ready. Lola raised an eyebrow at her, looking her up and down. "Good job. Now I'm your opponent." She stated, unsheathing her iaito. There was only a secon of hesitation before their blades clashed.

---

Oh damn it.

Grant didn't like the feeling of being thrown around like a ragdoll, especially in the sense that he could possibly crash into a building and die. He was not not a fan of wind in general, though for some strange reason he was glad at the least that his hair had been tied. More importantly, he was feeling somewhat nauseous. Everything was twisting and turning and he found that he much preferred that his feet be on the ground. He turned his body, looking around for Wesley. He spotted him not too far off, though he realized he was on a crash course with him. Sticking out his arm, he tried to grab onto him and it was only by purest luck that he managed to grab the prince.

"Gravity!" He called, a light purple surrounding them. The spell froze them in the air, no longer being forced by the winds. They began to descend, and after a moment they touched the ground. Michel's abilities were strong, and even though they managed to be on the ground, Grant still kept his spell activated, lest they get swept up again. He looked at Wesley, still holding his arm. "Now what?" He asked as the tornado whirled around them. "This one is just a little too big for my magic."

---

Meanwhile not too far away, Nadeline definitely noticed the tornado. She definitely noticed the clones blown away. She definitely noticed Mateus disappearing. She definitely noticed that instead of having both feet on the ground she was now spiraling around. Boy oh boy did she notice that. Her heels were meant to walk on the ground and lengthen her legs, not be tossed around like this. The princess managed to grab onto a nearby telephone pole, clinging onto it for dear life, though she was pretty sure that either it would get ripped from the ground or her grip would loosen.

"I was not aware he was so powerful!" Nadeline exclaimed. "How could we possibly hope to combat a tornado?!"

---

Zodiark was definitely grappling a hold over Jaakuna. Most people would be concerned, but Shion was secretly somewhat thankful. Now she wouldn't feel as bad killing him, and as the battle went on her conscience got quieter and quieter. Now she would feel no remorse when she killed him. She had no need to underestimate him; his desires would only prove to be his own downfall. As the tendrils sprang up around her, she closed her eyes and posed herself. Her sword was drawn back. One second, two seconds, and then the third. She whipped her sword in a horizontal line, and for a moment it appeared as if the tendrils had frozen. After three more seconds passed, a white glow overcame and overwhelmed them, causing them to fizzle out.

Another rose petal faded. The remaining ones glowed and a few of them sank to the ground. From the fallen ones seeds could be seem blossoming into more blue roses. The three petals that had faded appeared in her hair once more, forming a tiny little flower. She began walking towards Jaakuna, passing one rose. She cut off its head, the petals scattering. They turned white and gathered around her blade, forming several circles around the katana. "You haven't seen anything yet." She informed him. "The more you dig into Zodiark's power, the more you assure my victory."

She went in for the direct attack again, though her blade was stronger this time. As she did her familiar aerial strike, she brought her blade down. As contact would be made, a rather brilliant light would erupt. The many circles around her sword would then surround their pair, swirling around them. The light may not have appeared to be much, but in actuality it was a purification technique. She knew if Zodiark didn't want to get expelled from Jaakuna's body, he would make Jaakuna draw on more of his power. She was counting on it. She locked eyes with Jaakuna, amber on emerald.

Keeping the tornado going for as long as he could, Michel was starting to feel his green aura get overtaken by his violet and blue ones. Slowly but surely, he was getting more electricity into his body than the freeness of the wind. With that being true, Michel couldn’t help but notice that Grant was using Gravity quite a few times to get both him and Wesley on the ground. Though, he did notice that the raven-haired prince didn’t look all that hot. At the point that they touched ground, they were barely able to stay on there. Michel smiled, but then the winds started to slow down.

As Wesley heard Grant ask him what they should do now as his magic wasn’t strong enough, it was as if on cue of his words that the winds started to slow down. It slowed just enough to where Wesley was able to stay on the ground without the aid of Grant holding his arm. Once he got stable footing, Wesley noticed his Sword of Order wasn’t in his hand. Just on reflex he held out his hand and from ten feet to his left it came, and telepathically responded to his desire to have it and it was in his hand a few seconds later. Wesley would then look to Michel with a slight smile, but he knew that the green-haired youth wasn’t done yet as he saw a mixture of blue and violet tracing around his body.

“Hey Grant, you see the same thing I am?” Wesley asked him. “His aura seems to be losing stability the more he uses it. Before, he could control the color and its elemental variant, but now it seems if he uses a lot of one, it becomes unusable.” Wesley said. “I’m guessing that’s why the winds stopped, cause he used all he could of it.” Wesley deduced.

---

Savyana knew that Michel had power in his body. She knew that from when they would clash back when he was her assistant and even from the times they would spar. She knew that he had the power of Aura manipulation, but shit! She had no idea that his power was that strong. Savayna found herself clinging for dear life as she had her hands gripped so tightly to the edge of a building. Yeah, she was forced so much off of her feet that she went flying into the sky and was barely hanging on the edge of a building with her body — excluding her arms and head — were facing the sky.

When she heard Nadeline cry out something about fighting a tornado, Savayna didn’t know, but a minute later, and more screaming from everyone — minus Meli, cause it seemed she vanished — the winds would stop. Nadeline would be on the ground, Savayna would be resting on the building after letting a rather loud grunt from landing on her neck. Savayna would press herself up, shaking her head just so it was broken or worse. After spending a good fifteen seconds doing that, it seemed all was right with her neck joints. So, she then would glide down to the ground, to which she landed right next to Nadeline.

As she would look over in the distance, she saw that the winds had completely stopped, which was weird. Either Michel did that on purpose and he was planning something far worse or he ran out of juice and the boys would actually have a chance. Either way, Savayna would turn to Nadeline. “So it seems that shadow bitch ran away.” Savayna said stating the obvious. “We should take this chance to go help out the guys, what say you, Nadeline?” Savayna asked her.

---

As the tendrils would go up, Jaakuna saw that with a whip of her sword, Shion froze the tendrils and then a white glow would make them fade away rather quickly. Jaakuna couldn’t say that it surprised him. This woman was definitely testing him and may herself. Jaakuna couldn’t be sure, but he knew something about her actions was an indication that she was merely warming up. Still, Jaakuna could handle himself.

Jaakuna would take notice to one of the petals in the air fading away, seeds of new roses would bloom from their fallen position. Jaakuna also took notice to a small flower forming back into Shion’s hair. He thought that was a little weird, but he paid no mind to it. He instead watched Shion as she would slowly approach him, passing by one of the roses, swinging her sword at its head. The petals floated and faded into her sword. In its place, ethereal white circles. Shion then said that the more he dug into Zodiark’s power the more that her victory was decided. Jaakuna let out an arrogant — or was it ignorant — laugh. As he did, however, he would notice a brilliant white light coming at him. On instinct alone, Jaakuna raised his hand up and following its motion, a defensive wall of black magickal energy shot up from the ground to block it. While it defended around the attack successfully, Jaakuna was feeling something in his body. He couldn’t place it, but he didn’t like it.

“What did you do to me?!” Jaakuna breathily asked.

Jaakuna could feel the powers that he had tapped into from Zodiark being pulled from his body. Gripping his heart, the red sigils on his hands and waist soon would start to fade away as would the black armor-like skin. Bit by bit, it would be gone. At least, that’s until Jaakuna heard a laugh in his head that otherwise would be discomforting, but this time around, however, he was happy to hear it.

It seems that instead of wanting it gone, your heart desires more of my strength, Jackson.
Oh would you shut up. But I guess you’re right, at least for this fight.
All you had to do was ask, but I must warn you.
Yes?
Your body cannot handle that much of my power without some nasty side-effects. I know not what you wish of this, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you.
Oh just shut up and give it to me already.

Zodiark did not say nothing after that. He just laughed and then it was like time froze for Jaakuna. He felt his heart thumping louder, faster, and longer. Then, his vision was getting blurry. He was seeing two, three, four, six the times of Shions than before and his head was starting to hurt. He gripped it and found himself falling to one knee. Then, as he looked up, just for a moment, he didn’t see Shion, no. He saw the two people he did that one time he had that vision. He saw the Grim Reaper and the inverted version of himself.

“Your life is now dead.” Said the grim reaper in the same echoed, eerie voice.
“Your death is now unknown.” Said the inverted version of himself in his own voice, but echoed.

As he would stand up, the two would be gone from his sight, and he would only see one Shion. Though, now Jaakuna would notice something as would Shion. He would be surrounded by a thick, hard shell of a sticky and almost mist-formed blackness. Appearance-wise, the shell looks like a black and grey circular form of cracked earth. It was so full of evil and darkness that even if Shion had the light of Ultima, not even that would be able to revert what was about to Jaakuna.

Thank the gods his feet could stay on the ground. His Gravity dispersed, and while the tornado was gone the winds would still occasionally came here and there. The Dalmascan prince would then make a suggestion, guessing at Michel's limits. Grant squinted at Michel for a moment. Wesley's deduction seemed right on point, as usual, though the question was how could they use this to their advantage? "Then we take a beating until he is fully drained and hope we have the energy left to kill him?" The prince suggested somewhat skeptically. "I'm all for that, but would we even last that long?"

---

The winds had stopped, and Nadeline found herself sliding down the pole and landing on the ground with a small 'oompf' of surprise. As she got up and dusted herself off, Savayna would join her shortly. It would seem Meli was not around, and the blonde general made a note of that. She would then suggest to go help the boys with Michel. "I would like to think she ran away as well, though that seems somewhat unlikely." She admitted, gripping her staff with both hands. "Most likely she has gone to join Michel. We too should go, a man with that strength is dangerous as it is."

---

Emiri and Lola's battle was going nowhere. The two were physically evenly matched--Lola had her speed and Emiri had her strength, but neither one could land a decisive strike. Green eyed studied purple ones, but no matter what one did the other knew how to negate and counter. As the wind picked up around them, both ignored it, not wanting to give the other any openings. Lola had to admit that Emiri wasn't just a pretty face for the most part. Emiri found herself somewhat impressed by Lola in return. Still, the longer they clashed blades, the more impatient they each got. This battle needed to end. They also knew the deciding factor: Emiri's power.

The question was why did she not use it? The two were well aware with it Emiri would end the battle, yet Lola knew that despite her boasts, she was now afraid of them again. She wanted to rely on her body, but said body just would not take the strain. Emiri would hear Chaos whispering to her, but she had to ignore it. She couldn't use it no matter how much she wanted to. Lola knew this as well.

And then an opening occurred.

Lola's iaito managed to clash with Emiri's Diamond Sword again, only this time, Lola put her back into her next move. She lifted her iaito upwards, parrying Emiri's attack rather than blocking. This threw her off guard for only a second, but that one second was all Lola needed. She lunged at her, fully intending to pierce her with her weapon. Before she could control herself, time stopped around Emiri, and she fell backwards. She heaved and breathed heavily, Lola still in position to strike. She let out a yell of frustration, slamming her fist on the ground. The truth was that she didn't even consciously do it. The same thing had happened in Nabudis as well; when she prepared her arrows, she didn't even notice that she used her power until afterwards. It was just second nature to her at this point.

The girl threw her head back, using the temporary pause to catch her breath. Her head pulsed, signaling that she needed to resume time. She got up, angling her sword in front of Lola, and she stared at her face. It was not the usual silly and nonchalant one she was used to. Lola had every intention to kill her. So be it. Emiri closed her eyes as time resumed, and Lola would lunge forward. As she did, she would slice herself along Emiri's sword. The woman let out a slight gasp of pain and surprise as the sword cut through her side, and the next thing she knew she was on the ground.

Emiri opened her eyes, looking at Lola. She watched the blood ooze out of her rather deep wound, wondering if the strike had killed her. She looked down at her sword, covered in Lola's blood, and she whipped it to the side, splattering her blood on the alley walls. Taking in a deep breath, she looked at the sky. The winds had ceased, but something sinister was in the air now. She looked at Lola once more, and then decided to investigate. Running through the streets, she noticed a blue rose on the ground. It looked completely fake, but as she looked at it, she could tell it was somehow very real. It glowed very faintly, and as she looked around, she saw more of them. With sword in hand she cautiously kept going, though she would soon find the source of the rose and the sinister feeling.

The aura belonged to Jaakuna.

What could only be described as pure darkness surrounded him. As expected, he had dug further into Zodiark's power. Shion stood at the ready, Ultima's sword glowing some what dimly. She watched him rather carefully, and the small flower in her hair glowed. She looked to see the brunette staring at the two of them. Of course the girl of time had to show up now of all times. With the way Zodiark possessed the boy in front of her, she doubted even killing her would release his grip on him. She poised herself, ready to attack. A rather alarmed Emiri started walking forward. Shion raised her blade, turning it downwards, and stabbed the ground. The light glowed brighter and would form a small circle on Shion's palm. She pulled out another katana, her usual one, and picked up the second, stance at the ready.

"Jaakuna!" Emiri called out to him. Shion bent her knees, and in another burst of speed, went in for the attack. "No! Stop!" The brunette called as Shion swung both blades.

Both ladies agreed that with how strong that Michel proved to be, it was most likely that the guys would need their help and that Meli would eventually make her way over to Michel as well. It was with that the two girls would start jogging their way over to join — and help —Wesley and Grant.

Wesley took in Grants words and he was right. In theory, the idea that Wesley brought up was right, but that’s all it was: a theory. Michel most likely has access to other powers like the wind he just displayed. If Grant and Wesley were really to wait it out, how exactly would they be able to? And if they were able to, would they have enough energy to face him? Yes, this was definitely something that they had to both consider, but for the time being, they had to just focus on surviving.

Just as Wesley was going to speak and respond to Grant, Savayna and Nadeline appeared on his right. “I take it you defeated Meli huh?” Wesley asked them.

Savayna sighed. “No, she vanished after Mr. Weatherman here,” She said pointing to Michel, “Went tornado on y’all’s asses.” She said slightly annoyed that Meli actually went away, but she was glad as Meli probably would have proved to be too much for her and the others.

Wesley thought hard as he placed his fingers against his lips. “Well, whichever the case is, I’m just glad your both safe.” WEsley said looking at the girls, but especially Nadeline. Though he would bring his gaze back to Michel, who was standing there, looking at the sky and admiring the stars.

Michel heard nothing, so he assumed that they were done. “Oh good, you’re done kissing and making up.” Michel said. As he would poise his body for battle, Michel felt something…off. He couldn’t place it, but with the absence with Meli and now the weird feeling he just felt, something didn’t feel right. Whatever it was, however, in his gut, Michel felt it coming from where the boss was AND where Meli seemed to be. Michel would then look at the others, and he sighed. “This is your lucky day.” Michel said, “I have something else to do, so you all are spared for the moment.” Michel said as in one second, he was gone from sight.

Wesley blinked his eyes a few times. “What just happened?” Wesley said just dumbfounded.

Savayna didn’t know either. “I guess he really had to go.”

Wesley would shrug as he would suddenly get a chill all over his body. “Did you guys just feel that?” WEsley said looking up to the sky and he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but the last time he got a chill like the one he just did was when he was last in front of Zodiark. “Let’s go. I fear that something bad is about to happen.” Wesley said as he didn’t even wait for a reply from his friends and fiancé. He just started to run off into the distance, Savayna and the others most likely were right behind him.

---

About five minutes later, Michel appeared in the area that he felt Meli’s aura at and he saw her next to a badly-wounded Lola. He shoot his head and could only wonder what Boss would say about Lola now. Michel remembered Boss telling Lola that she was not to play around with her pet anymore. Though, Michel would just put that thought aside as he could see a rather worried look on both Meli’s and Lola’s face. Of course, Meli was worried cause that was her sister and Lola cause she was badly hurt.

Walking over and getting down on one knee, Michel activated his green aura, though it would be obvious that he was struggling a bit. “Hold still, Lola. This might sting at first.” Michel used the healing properties of his Green Aura to at least heal the outside parts of Lola’s wound. It wouldn’t be much, but it would at least get her to her feet. He would be at it for five minutes.

---

Jaakuna couldn’t feel anything. He wasn’t sure if it was cause he gave into Zodiark more than he should, but he felt nothing. He could hear every single word that was said on the outside of what could be described as a shell of mistified darkness. As each word would be said, first he would hear slight whispers from his own voice to Zodiark, but then he heard Emiri’s voice. Jaakuna didn’t do nothing though. As stated, he couldn’t feel inside whatever he was inside and probably for the better.

And then it happened.

As if moments before he heard Emiri pleaded with someone — most likely Shion — to stop, darkness exploded. The shell that surrounded Jaakuna erupted forward, sending off any attack that would or wouldn’t come at him. The darkness, as it would fend off Shion’s now canceled out white light attack, would spiral around Jaakuna. Nothing could be seen other than shades of black, grey, purple, and dark green. About every other ten seconds, there was strikes of sinister lightning shooting off in every possible direction.

As the darkness and lighting would soon fade, as would the mystery of what happening. As Emiri and Shion would most likely see, Jaakuna it what looked like a partial, demonic form. One half of his body was normal. It had Jaakuna’s tattoos, his blonde hair(just longer), his hume skin, even his pants were there. However, the other half of Jaakuna was completely molded by a hard exterior that resembled Zodiark in many ways. The darkness seeping out from the edges and the way his eye looked on that half was a definite chill-sender.

Looking at the two women, Jaakuna looked to Emiri. He knew she was pretty mad at him, but Jaakuna didn’t say anything. He couldn’t say anything, no like there was much to say and explain what happened. It was pretty obvious that he gave into the dark temptation of Zodiark and was now half-transformed because of it.

“It would seem you four arrived just in time for the show.” Jaakuna’s voice said, though it was weird. There were definite signs of his usual voice, but it was underneath what seemed layers of twisted, demonic words.

Wesley and the others couldn’t believe what they were looking at. First thing was that Emiri was there, then there was some blue-haired maiden and now to make things worse, it seemed that the feeling that Wesley initially felt was Jaakuna. “What the hell happened to you?!” Wesley would shout out, taking a step forward.

As Wesley’s foot moved, Jaakuna’s demonic arm waved and flames of darkness would create a border of sorts to stop him and Emiri from progressing from where they stood. “None of you are to interfere. I have unfinished business with this cunt.” He said referring to Shion.

"What part of 'don't fuck around' did you not get?!" Meli yelled at Lola, kicking her as Michel healed her. "Are there rocks in place of where your brain is supposed to be?! What the fuck, Lola?!"

Surprisingly the brown haired woman shot a glare back at her younger sister. "I WAS taking it seriously you asshole." She snapped back,, though her threatening tone lessened as she winced. "How the hell do you fight a chick who can stop time? Seriously? We were toe to toe the whole time until she finally decided to use it, and it wasn't like I could change my attack once I got going. She managed to use my own momentum against me." Lola let out a small groan. "This hurts." She whined to Michel, though she was aware the complaint fell on deaf ears.

Meli and Michel had come to her rescue, it seemed. She was pretty sure she was going to die; she ran right into Emiri's sword. She also didn't think Emiri would just walk away, she was so sure she would finish her off. It was bitter, but at least she was alive. She looked at her sister, who had quite the sour look on her face, arms crossed. "Gods, we should just leave you here to die, goddamned idiot." Meli huffed, clearly displeased.

---

"No! Wait!" Emiri called, though of course it was too late. She didn't understand what was going on--no, she understood, and she was horrified. Without really thinking, she rushed forward, but as soon as her outstretched hand touched the darkness, she felt a somewhat strange sensation. Within seconds she withdrew her hand and was surprised to see that it had been burned. It certainly didn't feel like fire, and yet it disturbed her deeply. She looked up at the barrier, a rather hopeless desperation filling her. Why wouldn't Jaakuna just listen to her for once? She shook her head, and noticed the blue rose close to her.

The princess took Emiri's hand and cast a Curaja over her injury. "What is this...?" Nadeline asked, looking at the barrier though unlike Emiri she did not dare to touch it.

"It's Zodiark." Emiri replied rather quietly. "He's giving in...and taking his power." Grant looked at Wesley as Emiri spoke. It looked like Jaakuna's secret was out.

Within the barrier Shion looked at Jaakuna, never taking her eyes off of him. He sure seemed confident enough, though at the very least now he had the power to back up that confidence. She still had both weapons in hand, ready for whatever Jaakuna-Zodiark would throw at her. The aura around them was suffocating to say the least, though she remained steady. At this rate, either Zodiark would fully possess Jaakuna or worse, there would essentially be two dark beings roaming Ivalice. She needed to end him right here and now. Holding out both katana in front of her, a bright light enveloped her hands and the two blades. It erupted to form a much larger blade. Grapsing it together, she dug her feet into the ground and swung at Jaakuna.

Continuing to heal Lola, Michel had no choice but to stop here and there from the words that the two sisters were exchanging. While verbal at first, Meli’s leg came into Lola’s gut a few times, thus why Michel had to stop at points, which made the healing go on longer than he had thought it would. Though, eventually Meli would stop her physical assault on her sister and just settle for verbal. It was cause of the ceasing of physical violence that Michel had finished. Granted, Lola would still be sore and probably not at full health, but her wound was closed and she would at least be able to walk.

Michel stood up and brushed dirt off his clothes. “Now that we’re done here, I think we should head to boss.” Michel said, “I’m sure you two felt that sinister feeling before. It’s Zodiark, but it’s weird,” Michel said, “It feels like it’s coming from Jaakuna.” Michel couldn’t place it.

---

Before anyone of them could do anything to stop Jaakuna, he had raised his demonic arm and sent a controlled wave of what looked to be black fire and had separated them from even trying to interfere. Wesley was more intrigued by this new brand of fire than worried. Of course, he was worried for his friend. He didn’t know if Jaakuna gave into Zodiark’s power voluntarily or if it was Zodiark doing it by force. Whichever was the case, Wesley didn’t like it. Even more so, he would see that Emiri was in some sort of denial or something and that she touched the border-like barrier of Jaakuna’s black fire.

When Nadeline had took Emiri’s hand and what it was, she would heal Emiri’s burnt hand and the brunette would then say that it was Zodiark and that he was giving into the King of Esper’s powers. That’s when Grant and Wesley exchanged looks. A bit relieved, but it still was very, very bad. The fact that Jaakuna gave told Emiri was good, but the fact he gave into Zodiark was just confusing for Wesley.

When Emiri told them that, Savayna couldn’t believe it. She was livid with Jaakuna for doing it, but even more so with Grant. No, she wasn’t as mad at Wesley(Nadeline would take care of him), but Grant, oh she was beyond livid with him. She would appear just slightly behind him, but on his side, and put her right hand on his right shoulder. “So, is there something you want to say to me, darling?” Savayna said rather calm, but she was everything but that.

In the barrier of black fire, Demonic Jaakuna could see Shion looking at him, as if she wasn’t even going to attempt to do otherwise. He would see her lift her two blades and the light of Ultima would grace both and combine into one single blade of ethereal white. Jaakuna smirked at the sight of it. He was impressed, but it didn’t mean much. He had more than enough power to handle this.

Jaakuna’s power was tested as Shion took her blade from above and struck downward at Jaakuna. Using only his demonic arm, Jaakuna raised it up alone and would try to block it. Instantly, bits of white light and black fire would meet. Jaakuna’s arm was being bent down as if losing the struggle, but then as he would dig more into his power, Jaakuna would raise his arm up more and shove the sword slightly upward. By doing this, the fire around Jaakuna’s arm increased in both overall strength, but intensity. It got to the point that Jaakuna’s arm was a literal arm of black fire. More so on that, a loud yell came from Jaakuna’s mouth, mixed with demonic sounds, and his body began to develop more of the demonic appearance he had, specifically his other leg was about halfway composed of the same look that his already-transformed leg had. Adding to that, Jaakuna began to walk forward and each step left a small trace of black fire.

At the point that Jaakuna took three steps, he was not only pushing back the Ultima Blade back(and Shion by result), but he was also slowly getting fully transformed. By now, the transformation had completely taken his lower body and was almost halfway up his torso, past his abdomens. “You..will not defeat me!!!” JAakuna yelled out as his arm then exploded in black fire, sending Shion and her sword back a few paces. In doing so, Jaakuna’s body was surrounded by pure black fire, the ground burning where he stood and his transformation was complete, much to the shock and horror of his friends and his fiancé.

Lola rolled her shoulders, letting out a small sigh. "Jaakuna, eh? Yeah...probably."

Meli looked at Lola rather incredulously. First she thought her boyfriend was nuts but apparently Lola was just as crazy. That or the girl of time had made her hit her head. "The fuck you mean probably?"

"Well, I TOLD you Zodiark was lurking in that guy's head." Lola sighed. "Come on, let's get going."

Meli raised an eyebrow, though her shadow opened up on the floor. "Jump in, then." She instructed, doing exactly as such. Lola shrugged at Michel though she followed suit.

---

Emiri and Nadeline first looked at Savayna as she asked Grant, though their attention then split from the prince to Wesley. The way Savayna asked made it seem as if Grant had known something. That would mean that he had kept a secret from them. It then clicked in the princess' head that this had been what they had been keeping a secret. If looks could kill, Nadeline would no longer have a fiance. Grant knew he would somehow get blamed for this and he remained as silent as an Elemental as the three women glared at him. Nadeline may have relieved him temporarily by glaring at Wesley but he was well aware that she would return her look soon enough.

"You can't possibly be serious." Nadeline broke the silence left after Savayna spoke. "Honestly, you two knew about this?"

'Wait, you guys knew about it?" Emiri asked, surprised. "Why in the world wouldn't you say anything?"

Grant perked up slightly, though he had a rather defensive tone. "It wasn't like he wasn't going to say anything, Jaakuna wanted to tell the group." He paused for a moment, looking at Emiri. "He's not the only one with something that should be addressed."

Nadeline's rather scathing glare turned to Emiri. "What is he talking about?" She demanded to know.

"I don't know what he's talking about." Emiri replied. "And don't change the subject!"

"Listen, the point is that it was going to eventually be told...just got...derailed." Grant murmured in response, looking to Wesley for help. Their attention was soon turned to the battle (much to Grant's relief) though it was not for a good thing. It seemed that Jaakuna had transformed even further, much to the horror of the group. Shion was pushed back a distance, though she remained steady. For her, this would be a good warm up and an idea to how Zodiark would be in battle. It was time to get serious. The woman held onto her mega holy blade tightly, several rose petals disintegrating at once. From her back a light simmered though did nothing for the moment. Her flower in her hair became more complete looking, and Shion held her blade aloft.

"The power to conquer demons--" She spoke, slowly swinging her blade around in a circle, leaving a dozen sword lights in place. As her sword came in full circle, she pointed her sword in the air. "Emundabi!" She pointed the sword at him, and the swords circled around the demonic Jaakuna. Several of them remained circling him, though they would glow and fire off beams of light. The remaining swords went in physically, swinging in from different directions.

Michel just stood there and looked at the two sisters going back and forth about whether or not Lola was crazy or not. These two sure had a weird way of showing that they loved each other as siblings, not like Michel would know. He’s an only child and cause of that, he never knew the pleasure — or displeasure, depending on who the person was — of having a sibling. If anything, the closest person he has that could be considered a sibling would be Savayna and well everyone knew how that ended up.

On Meli’s cue, both Lola and Michel would jump into Meli’s shadow and they were gone from the area they were just at.

---

Oh boy, this is not good at all..

Wesley didn’t like this at all. Nadeline knew he kept a secret from her and a big one at that, not to mention that he didn’t even get the chance to tell her. What was even worse was that Nadeline would not stop glaring at him. He knew she was beyond pissed with him and without even saying anything(yet), he could just hear her words of disappointment and surprise(the bad kind) in his head. It wasn’t until Nadeline and Emiri would start speaking that Wesley could feel him shrinking and them getting taller and louder. Even when Grant would explain it, Wesley didn’t feel like it made things any better. Honestly, he felt as if it got even worse, specifically when he made a mention towards Emiri and her powers. Yup, none of anything being said was going to lower his heart rate.

“We can talk--” Much like with Grant, the words of Wesley were cut off by a rather horrific sight. It was the sight of a fully-transformed Jaakuna and Wesley couldn’t help but just stare, eyes widened and mouth dropped. Savayna was the same. Neither of them could understand how Jaakuna could give into such a beast like Zodiark.

As everyone was looking on, Jaakuna, fully-aware of what was happening, smiled, laughed even. He looked on first he saw multiple blue rose petals seemed to be scattering around and then Jaakuna couldn’t help but notice a bright light from behind her and then he saw her blade circle in front of her. As it came full-circle, there were twelve blades of pure light. Once she called out some word, the twelve blades instantly shot off to Jaakuna and from what he could gather, half of them surrounded him and shot off beams of holy light while the rest came in for a physical attack.

When the ones coming after him-physically, Jaakuna did all he could to fend them off as he would raise his right arm and try to blow them up using spontaneous bursts of black fire. A few times, it would miss, but the eventually the blasts would get them, but one did get by. It stabbed Jaakuna in the right thigh, and exploded on his thigh. Jaakuna could notice that in the place of the sword was his hume flesh. Eyes widened and Jaakuna understood now, but he realized it before it was too late. The beams of light that were firing from the swords circling him were starting to purify him. Each beam would hit him and each hit would cause a yell of pain from Jaakuna’s mouth. Even if he had got about three of them to explode due to the black fire that would come from his arms as he waved them, there were still three circling him and shooting off beams of purifying light.

By the time three minutes had elapsed, the swords were gone due to Jaakuna doing all he could to get them away from him, but the end result was that Jaakuna was more or less back at fifty percent of being transformed. The areas in which were gone was the right side of his head and neck, the left torso side of his upper body, and his entire right arm and left leg. It was when he was at this point that the border-like barrier separating Jaakuna and his friends were gone. Jaakuna himself was on one knee, panting and breathing heavily.

When Wesley saw that the barrier was gone, he didn’t even wait for anyone else, nor did Savayna. Both of them went in front of Jaakuna, Savayna with her weapon in hand and Wesley’s hands glowing white. He wasn’t going to allow Shion to attack Jaakuna anymore. The blonde in question looked up, trying to stand, but pain beyond his own comprehension went through his body and a yell of representation of that pain was released from his mouth. “You..don’t have to do this. I can take her.” Jaakuna said finding all the strength he had to just stand up, but his legs were shaking and using the strength he had to stand up would cause the rest of his former demonic self to crumble away, leaving a naked Jaakuna behind Wesley and Savayna.

Wesley turned back to Jaakuna. “Just shut up and let us handle this.” Jaakuna’s eyes were widened and Wesley turned back.