The Clan, Ep 2

[Spirited 13th]

Where am I? I stare upon the vast wasteland, I can see nothing but the setting sun. The field was endless, with unlimited blades stuck onto the ground. Nobody was there, no sign of life. But only me, only I was standing across the unreachable horizon. There was no sound, but only a slight breeze of wind, that stirred up the dust of the wasteland. The sky was orange, but slightly dusty. For another moment, it was not completely silent. The sounds turning gears, the polishing blades filled the silent air. Is this a violent dream, or is it a brutal reality? Only one person stands in this deserted wasteland, with nothing but swords...

Axel slowly opened his eyes, his wounds have healed. He slowly got out of bed, his sight is still a bit blurry. Desperately trying to remember what happened, he started to think.

"I...was defeated?" he sighed and whispered to himself. Without noticing there were others around him.

[Razo]

Raybrig:No, you weren't defeated, you were...

*Before he could even finish his sentence, Razo interupted him, knowing what he was going to say*

Razo:Pretty much, Raybrig here stood in for you, turns out that guy iss a bit more special than we first thought...

*Razo looked around the room they were in, all 3 Stacked Deck members were sat in chairs along each wall, with Axel's bed being on the wall that wasnt next to a chair*

Razo:So, since your not bleeding more than a slaughtered cattle anymore, who are these things?

[Spirited 13th]

"Oh its you guys...sorry for being such a nuisance, but thanks for saving me. Now if you ask me what are these things...ugh?!" the moment Axel tried to recall his memory about the mysterious opponents that have been appearing, his head started to hurt. He grabbed his head with both of his hands and kneeled down, as if in pain.

I can see, I can remember...a golden king, a black armoured girl, a grey wolf, a giant, a black knight, a martial artist, a samurai, a magician, a scientist, a mummy and a blindfolded one...who are they? I can remember all their appearance, but why can I not draw any connections...?

He then came back to his senses, as Axel narrowed his eyes a bit. Stood up and shook his head. "...sorry, I still cant remember much that would be of any use..." he replied.

Outside the motel, in a building across. Two mysterious women stands on the rooftop, it seems like they were discussing about something. One wore a magician's hood and clothes, covering all her physical appearance. The other wore a rather revealing costume, with slight gizoid armor on her hands and foot. Her eyes were blindfolded by a purple leather blindfold.

"You know why I called you in don't you?" the magician asked.

"You never change do you...?" the blindfolded one replied

"Well if you know the reason, then get to work, we don't have much time left." the magician commanded, this time somewhat impatient.

"Its just a matter of time before Andromeda activates, what's the rush? Just because you failed to kill that boy there doesn't mean you can start pointing fingers at people to do the job for you..." the blindfolded one shamed her partner.

[Razo]

Raybrig:Damn, and here i was hoping for more people to kill...

*Razo looked at Raybrig, he didn't sem to impressed or annoyed, he turned back around to respond*

Razo:*sigh* Ok, guess we are no closer to finding out who that those weird people were...

*Razo now looked slightly annoyed, expecting Axel would know who the people that attacked him would be, as they must have had done something to get attacked*

[Spirited 13th]

"Well, im really sorry for that..." Axel apologized, not noticing whats going on in the building across him. The women all covered up turned to the window Axel was standing.

"I will show you how to kill someone. Even though I might not be an Assassin class, nor am I an Archer class, being a Caster means magic. Put it in science it means beam weaponry..." she pointed her mechanical hand. It was a mile away from the rooftop of their building to the window Axel was. But it proved no threat to her, her mechanical finger started to glow and a straight line of purple beam fired. Unlike the previous beam rifles, it was a straight line without end. The blindfold watched silently.

The beam soared across the air, it was going right for Axel's head, without him noticing...

[Razo]

*Takata was sat at his chair, not moving at all, suddenly his eyes lit up, as the beam that was heading for Axel was picked up on his motion sensor, he picked up the Pandora, and it transformed in a bright yellow light into its boomerang form, he threw it at the window, narrowly missing Axels head himself, as it jam itself at an angle in the window frame*

Razo:What the hell was that all about?

*The beam bounced off the Pandora at an angle, bouncing off and hitting Raybrig straight through the head*

Takata:Whoops...

*Raybrig got out of his chair, and cracked several of his bones as he did so, looking slughtly annoyed that the beam had struck him, and was even more annoyed when he realised it was by pure unluckiness that it had hit him*

Raybrig:......That's really annoying...

Razo:Whatever it is, we should get out of here, snipers arent exactly something i'm all that great at hitting...

*Razo opened the door and left the room, looking for the exit to the building, as Takata pulled the Pandora out of the window, removing some of the old window frame as the boomerang blades had embedded themselves into the frame, he forcefully pulled them out, before following Razo and Raybrig with the boomerang still in hand*

Takata:You want to get shot or not?

*He said, as he turned to Axel*

[Spirited 13th]

"Ku...am I causing all this trouble again...?" he mumbled to himself as Axel rushed towards the door.

"Well, I forced them out. You go kill that boy..." the magician took a step back as the blindfolded female said nothing. She jumped down the building, even with wings, she did not fly to descend. But started to run, running perpendicular down the building. She was fast, but elegant. Before Axel and the Stacked Deck arrives on the ground floor, she was already there.

It was deep in the night, nobody was outside in the middle class street. The town was rather silent, and there is not much light located in this corner of the city. When Axel comes rushing out the door, she quickly threw something sharp. It was took quick for Axel to react, he was hit by the incoming object. The blindfold quickly reeled it in, it was a chain, with a giant nail attached. The nail penetrated Axel's arm as he was quickly pulled in by the blindfolded one. Just when they were about to meet face to face, she gave the one pulled in a jump kick, Axel's skin teared with the nail as it came off. He flew a few meters back into the wall.

".........." the blindfold said nothing, she was silent even in combat.

"Ugh...what the, what was that?" Axel questioned, still puzzling about what hit him.

[Razo]

Razo:Yeah...It is safe to assume you are causing all this trouble again...

Raybrig:Looks like i'm up again...

*Raybrig slowly waled forward, however, before he passed Razo, he put his hand on his chest, stopping him from going forward*

Razo:I'll take this one, you go take care of the attack magnet...

Raybrig:...

*Raybrig took a step back, as Razo turned to face the blindfolded female, the spikes from the Gilgamesh gauntlets shot out of the arm slots and extended to the same positionioning of Razo's hands, he looked back at Raybrig, however, and grinned slightly*

Razo:If you want to make yourself useful though, go back to the basement, if i remember correctly, there should be something left behind before we joined the first mission

Raybrig:Fine, it better not be useless though

*Raybrig walked back through the door, and down a set of stairs, to look for Razo's little something*

Razo:Now then, i'm guessing your one of those thats too ugly to ever see the crack of dawn, your one of the same buffoons as that last set, and your going to try and kill me since im getting in the way, correct?

*Razo seemed confident even with a silent opponent, hoping to provoke a reaction with which he could respond*

[Spirited 13th]

".........." She said nothing, but continue to eye Axel, even though she is covered with a blindfold. Without waiting for any further delay, she started to move. Like a serpent, her running style was low and fast, slithering towards Axel. Completely ignoring Razo, she was only loyal and focused to complete her mission. By the time Axel could realise that she was approaching, the blindfold have already got to the blindpoint of Axel's sight. Then when he turned his head, she was on the other side. In just a mere second, Axel was bounded by two hard chains.

"..!! Damn..." he was being squeezed rather tight as words cannot come out of his mouth. The blindfold pulled Axel in until he's kneeling right in front of her. She put her high heel metal boots on his face and stomped it down.

"How pathetic do you look my boy..." finally, words came out of her. Cold and sharp words battered Axel while he was being tied down and stomped on by metal high heels.

[Razo]

*Raybrig was now coming back up the stairs, bemused by what he had found*

Raybrig:Y'know Razo, how the hell did you manage to get another one of these?

*As he said this, he walked out of the door, holding what appeared to be a Katana in a black sheeth*

Razo:Mind giving it here?

Raybrig:Well i can't use it...

*Raybrig threw the Katana at Razo, who upon catching it in his left hand, almost immeditiately unsheathed it and placed it in the way of the females metal boot before she could hit Axel again*

Razo:You think i'll just stand around watching you stomp a hole in this guys face? Not happening...

*He said, as Razo was looking straight at the female, with the katana in his right hand, ready to attack at the first move*

[Spirited 13th]

The blindfolded one did not react, knowing she wont be taking any hits. Somehow the ground under Razo seems to be very heavy. His movements suddenly become sluggish and even a rather light sword felt like a ton. Without notice, the magician teleported from the top of the building to the sight of battle.

BGM

"Why hello there boys, seems like we meet again. I dont have much to do with you, so die..." she said coldly as her body started to float, taking some distance, the magician cloak opened up wide. Like the cape was being blow up by the wind, it spread out wide like wings. She was a fox breed, her hood still remain intact though. With nine tails, she was elegant, but her personality did not fit that beauty. Her facial appearance was not shown, but she had purple fur on her legs. Her hands and body are covered by a light blue gizoid armor, but arms were not covered. She had a magical staff looking thing in her hands, it was long with a crescent shape on the top, some rings hanged off it making clinging sounds every move. From the cloak, lights began to glow as rains of beam fired out of it. Under heavy gravity, Razo was unable to move, and he was facing a rain of beams coming to batter him.

"I believe its time I introduce myself as well. My name is Maria the Manipulator. Not even ash will remain being battered like that..." she declared her name, but not her spirit. Unlike the awful arrogance of the previous hybrid, she was not so careless to reveal which spirit she is.

Upon hearing that name, it was like a switch triggered in Axel, he suddenly have an image of his lost memories. Although incomplete, but he remembered slightly about what he is, and who these hybrids are, as well as why he is targeted. But that does not concern the blindfold, even if her partner has revealed her name, she has no intention to do so. She jumped, lifting Axel off the ground with her chain, swung him around in air and the chain went off. Axel went flying into a wall again. There was no sound for a few seconds, but suddenly a blast of beam came out from the smoke of the broken wall. The blindfold quickly avoided it, as Axel was standing there, with a beam rifle in hand.

"Ugh, that shake was hard, but thanks to that, I remember a bit from before. Isn't that true, Claire the Rider?" Axel declared her name, she did seem a bit surprised at first, so it can be assumed that Axel got her name right.

[Razo]

Takata:Hmm...A Gravity field...

*Takatas boomerang transformed in another yellow light, when the light faded, the Pandora was now a triple barreled Bazooka, easily the size of Takata himself, he aimed it at Razos feet, as if he had turned on him, however, he flicked a few switches and pressed some buttons on the Bazooka, and the sound of a reloading could be heard*

Razo:Uh...Takata, the thing thats going to hit me is above me...!

Takata:Shut up and get ready, i have this worked out!

*Takata fired the bazooka at Razo, 3 clear orbs hit the ground Razo was on, as the intsensity of the gravity slowly reverted to normal*

Razo:Hmm...Thats interesting...A Gravity Cannon..

*Razo looked up at the beams coming down on him, rather than dodge them, he slashed upwards at them with the katana, as an array of purple beams came down around Razo and crossing the path of several beams, the beams then took a large cut down them, cutting down the beams aimed at Razo, causing them to all completely miss and explode around him*

Razo:Battered you say? This Yamato blade says otherwise, so you'll have to try harder than that!

*He said, taunting Maria into trying something else for Razos Yamato to be used on*

[Spirited 13th]

"Ha, seems like you boys do have some abilities. Not bad, but my job is to not let you people disturb that thing there...therefore I shall do this!" Maria referred Claire to a thing, but did not get much complaints. She raises her hand and lets it down, a purple line cut through the cement all of a building, she then grabs a person in there. A magical field like structure appeared in air, she threw the hostage captured, and he was pinned to the sky. Like being crucified, just with legs spread out and in pain much more than being stabbed, the person screamed for help. Maria ignored the screaming, and the hostage was sent to the top of a building.

"You boys, how much morals do you have...? Oh and by the way, there is a nuke planted underground here. If I am to die, it will explode destroying this city flat..." Maria laughed with a sneer.

Hearing that, and seeing innocent people being dragged into their pointless battle, Axel was enraged. "Hey! Thats just not fair, you dont have the right to drag in people like that!" he shouted at Claire, who did not respond at first, but then challenges Axel to a battle for real. "If you want to save that person, follow me..." she said cold, then quickly she started to run up the building perpendicularly. Axel was somewhat amazed at how anyone could do that, with high heels even, but he did not have the time to think. He ran after Claire, himself pretty stunned how he can run up the building as well.

Ugh, seems like my physical abilities didnt change much, though I dont remember anything...

They were running up the building smoothly, until Claire suddenly jumped at Axel giving him a kick in the chin, knocking him off balance. He was about to fall, but quickly grabbed onto a window. Claire stopped as well, she hung onto the 90 degree walls with all four limbs, like a spider she crawled. "Seems like you have the fear of heights dont you?" she taunted as Axel clenched his teeth a bit then started to run. He cannot give up, whether he knows that person up there or not, it is against his will to ignore someone asking for help.

It was not long later did both of them reach the top, but this time on ground Maria had a slight smirk. Its over then, Claire's Noble Phantasm can only see use in the high skies, but once that is cleared, nothing can match her. It is a bit of a waste to rank her number 10, but oh well... Looking at the Stacked Deck, Maria did not speak much. As on the top of the building, nothing can be seen on ground, but only a huge flash of light.

[Razo]

Razo:How much morals do we have? Raybrig,How much morals do you have?

Raybrig:If kill counts as a moral, 1.

Razo:Yeah i'm not gonna count that...Stay here

Raybrig:Where are you going?

Razo:I've got business to attend!

*Razo turned to the building where the action was now taking place, he ran at the wall, and jumped at it, he stuck the Yamato blade into the wall, and then rammed his feet into it, the saws on Gilgamesh giving him enough grip to stay on the wall, he removed the blade and kept stabbing it along the wall as he ran up, gradually moving up faster and faster*

Razo:And here i was expecting the Gilgamesh to just smash the building to pieces...

[Spirited 13th]

BGM

On the rooftop, Axel was not believe it to be true. He believed horses exist, and birds exist, but never expected a pegasus to exist. Claire was there, riding on a mythical beast, the winged horse pegasus. It glowed in white, entirely covered with white fur, and white feather wings. But unfitting the white image, rides a melancholic blindfold dressed in black.

"So, thats why you are called the Rider. I doubt that thing is a holographic image..." Axel complained as he closed his eyes. He imagined something in his mind, a weapon that would be effective.

I am the bone of my sword...

He whispered out and opened his eyes, then two swords formed in his hands. As if out of thin air. One was black, one was white, it had a fairly wide blade, and the swords were rather short.

"Kanshou & Bakuya..." he raised his twin blades and pointed them at Claire. But she just patted her treasured pegasus as the light from the horse intensified. The pegasus let out a loud neighing sound, like a horse. Its hooves made the same sounds as running on ground, the beast ran in the sky, charing right at Axel, seeking to trample him to death. Although Axel wanted to take the beast straight on with his twin blades, he realized something important and quickly got out of the way. The pegasus hit the ground with its hooves as it ascended back into the sky again. Its rider Claire then eyes Axel that just barely avoided that one.

"Phew, that was a close one...im not taking this thing head on..." he said

[Razo]

*Razo eventually reached the top of the building, just in time to see the Pegasus miss Axel*

Razo:A Pegasus? Never thought i'd get the chance to see horses fly...

*Razo stared at the Pegasus, knowing eventually it would try to kill him as well, he applied more grip to the Yamatos handle, and it glowed a bright purple from the tip of the blade to the base of the handle, as he made a fist with his other hand, small amounts of red electricity was being released from the fist, like when they were back at the USI building*

Razo:Acting up again are we...?

*He said, questioning why the Gilgamesh was acting strangely again*

[Spirited 13th]

The light from the pegasus was too bright, nobody noticed that someone climbed to the top already. Claire's pegasus flew up high, this time higher than before, and rushed down towards Axel. Heading straight down, the beast crashed into the building roof, shaking the entire building, then flew up again. Axel barely avoided that again, but was blown back by the shockwave of the impact. A huge crater was left in the roof, surprisingly the building did not collapse.

"Damn, cant even scratch that thing." Axel clenched his teeth as he got up. The silent rider opened her mouth again to explain the beast she is using.

"Some dirty filth like you can never touch my baby here..." she insulted

[Razo]

Razo:A horse...Did that? Good god, how much steroids did you feed this thing?

*He said to himself, amazed that a simple creatue managed to make such a large crater*

Razo:But surely we can't touch that stupid thing if its up there? Come on you big pansy, get down here!

*He taunted, hoping to provoke some response again, as he was ready to attack, but needed the beast to come closer*

[Spirited 13th]

And again, there was no response from Claire. Ignoring any disturbance and only focus on killing Axel. The pegasus flew up again and descended. Axel once again managed to avoid it, but just barely. Another crater was left on the rooftop, the building is now starting to shake. Axel as Razo and quickly ran over to his side.

"Seems like its not called a mythical beast for nothing, you got a plan against that?" he asked Razo, breathing rather hard. Even if direct death is avoided, the shockwave from the impact does relatively hard damage.

[Razo]

Razo:I have some idea on what to do...

*Razo raised the Yamato above his head, he slashed in the riection of the Pegasus, as a large purple crescent shot out where the Yamato had slashed and headed up to the Pegasus, however, after using the attack, a huge strain came over Razo*

Razo:What the...? This attack drains my energy...?!

*More red electricity sparked from the Gilgamesh, this time from both the Gauntlets and the Greaves, Razo shouted out in agony, the first pain he had experienced since he lost his sense of pain and mortality*

Razo:What the hell is happening?!

*Razo's spines grew longer, and curved around his body, forming a ribcage pattern, as well as this, the spines on his head curved around, to the middle of his face, with the 2 spines meeting in the middle and 2 holes forming in the spines over his eyes, then the spines cut off from his head and jutted away from the back of his head, giving him a distinctive spine mask, both the mask and the ribcage pattern then shone a bright gold, and turned ito solid golden armour, the red fur that covered Razo's body had been turned to a grey colour, and a black and red stripe pattern formed down the middle of his body where the ribcage armour didn't meet up, afterwards, the Gilgamesh turned to a bright gold colour, with the pulsating blue and red lights becoming fixed to a solid red, Razo was shouting in pain while all of this happened, next, at the back of where each of the rings that made the ribcage armour emerged, a large black streamer burst out right next to the armour, making 6 black streamers bursting out his back, each of them grew a large red spike at the end of them, and seemed to move with Razo's movements. Finally, Razos shouting turned into a heavily demonic screeching, and the black holes in the golden mask shined a bright red, signalling his transformation into a Demon, when all this had finished, the figure collapsed to the ground*

*Raybrig and Takata heard the hole thing from the ground below*

Raybrig:What the hell was that?!

Takata:Scans indicate that the black form on Razo's Gilgamesh...Was a demon, and it seems to have taken over him and emerged!

Raybrig:Your not saying...?

Takata:Yes, Razo is, for the moment, a demon...

*The demon picked himself up off the ground, he picked up Razo's yamato that he had dropped, and looked up towards the Pegasus, not saying anything, only thinking in his head "Finally, it's about time that i emerged from my so called "Counterpart"'s shell...*

[Spirited 13th]

Claire felt a strange power emitting from Razo's weapon, although she is unwilling to attack, and she knows from some kind of instinct that new form of Razo will not be something she can defeat without the aid of more power, she still remained loyal to her mission. The pegasus went charging for Axel and Razo.

That power...cannot be overlooked, but I am obliged to complete my given mission. I cant back down now...

[Razo]

*The demon noticed the Pegasus coming straight for him and Axel, he turned to Axel, knowing him despite not knowing him personally, only knowing things by being hidden inside Razo's Gilgamesh, the 3 streamers on his right side combined at halfway, forming a 3 spiked claw at the end, the claw grabbed Axel's shoulder, and before the Pegasus made an impact, the Demon and Axel seemed to vanish into a shadow, and reappeared a few feet away, in the shadow of a cloud, the demon let go of Axel with its claw, and the streamers split back into 3 seperate ones, the demon turned to Axel, and spoke in a demonic voice*

Veloci:My name is Veloci, don't bother introducing me Axel, i've seen all the events thus far through Razos own set of eyes.

*Veloci stared up towards the Pegasus again, as he put the Yamato back into the sheath that remained while he was emerging from Razo, he tied the yellow string round his left thigh, his black streamers spread out, forming a hexagon shape behind him*

Veloci:Come on then, you useless lump of meat...!

*Veloci's words were much more arrogant and confident than those of Razo before him, and he knew he would be a target now that Axel was next to him*

[Spirited 13th]

"...!!" Claire noticed some ability very similar to an ability she hates. She seemed to have lost a bit of calmness and clenched her teeth for a while, but then let out a deep breath and stared at her new oppnent. A golden rope seems to have appeared in her hands, and she was not sitting directly on the pegasus, but on a bright yellow saddle.

"Sorry, but I have no choice. It might hurt a bit, forgive me..." Claire apologized to her horse, as if it was her own children as she grabbed the golden rope tied to the pegasus' mouth, and whipped it with the rope. All of a sudden the neighing sound of the pegasus intensified, it was loud and violent, its eyes turned red. It flew up the sky like a rocket, violent screams of the horse can still be heard, and making a big U turn, the pegasus descended down like a meteor. This time not trying to trample, but like a suicidal attack. It was no longer seen as a horse, it was physically a ball of light coming down from the sky, with a trail of white behind it.

"Bellrophon!!!" Claire let out the command of her noble phantasm, the ball of light crashed into the building, not directly but close to where Axel and Veloci stand. The immense force made a huge explosion, the originally shaking building was not completely collapsing, from the middle it was split into two and the halves were crumbling down. The huge impact knocked Axel off his feet, he spat out some blood by the immense shockwave. Axel went flying down a building, the damage done to Veloci was unknown though.

Guh...am I to die again...? That noble phantasm, was very beautiful, but full of thorns...

[Razo]

*As the smoke was clearing, a large black image could be seen through the fading smoke, like a large wing, with the 3 spikes lining the bottom of it, Veloci's helmet had also changed, and he seemed to have taken almost no damaged from the shockwave*

Veloci:Surely, if your going to do something as suicidal as that...you would actually kill something?!

*Veloci turned his head, and noticed Axel had fallen off the building...*

Veloci:.....Always the targets that almost die...

*Before he could even finish his sentence, Veloci had dived off the building to go and prevent Axel from dying, he grabbed his hand, almost crushing it with his own hand by mistake*

Veloci:No, too much grip..

*He loosened his grip slightly, as he spread his large black wings out, and with a single flap of the large wings, he and Axel were no longer falling, only a few feet off the air, he dropped Axel down to the ground, hoping he wouldnt break anything on the fall, before finally descending to the ground himself, Raybrig and Takata were quite confused by what Veloci was doing...*

Raybrig:I though demons wanted to kill EVERYTHING?

Takata:Maybe Razo has got lucky and found himself a demon like himself...

Raybrig:Stupid, daring and arrogant?

Takata:As much as i hate to admit it....all of those, and a...Hero...

Raybrig:Surely he can't be a heroic demon though...

[Spirited 13th]

After the building collapsed, it appears that Claire had suicided herself to complete her mission. But that was not true. A light emerged in the sky as it soared away. Maria said nothing as she knows the situation have turned against them. She disappeared in into thin air, like a teleport.

The enemies are forced to retreat.

BGM END

There was a slight gust of wind, as the dust from the collapsed building was picked up and hurled through the streets. It was deep in the night, but surely nobody knew how to react to a building suddenly falling into two.