Close The Book On Us(Character specific)

[Daisuke]

Only those characters who are in Nor Harbor right now may participate in this fight. This is the end of the Skade Arc, and I believe it requires its own thread to mark it as a milestone. This thread is separate from the Nor Harbor thread, though it does happen very close to it. As a forewarning, Skade is at this point considered the "Final Boss" of this story arc. Do not expect even your most powerful attacks to work on him by yourself. Only as a team can you bring him down.

There will be bloodshed. Lots, and lots, of bloodshed. This will be a very dangerous thread to be in.

You have been warned.

~~~~~~~Close The Book On Us~~~~~~~

It began as a fire. It grew into a man. It burned the outer buildings to cinders, ruining chance of finding survivors within.

Skade was here, and he wasn't leaving until every last one of them was dead. His irisless, pupiless eyes of solid jet and his overbearing bone armor made him stand out immediately. His sword the size of his body with a giant, blinking eyeball made him stand out more. The ever present, very loud beating of a heart within the ears of everyone present made him stand out so much, it was impossible to not know he was there.

"Time to test my lab rats." he said to himself, unleashing yet another fireball toward the center of town to draw attention to his direction. He was fighting Darien at a quarter strength. Now, he would hold back nothing. His form changed immensely; the bone armor he sported was now dripping with blood, and a deep red mist was on constant stream below his feet. Tnerrot's eye closed, and was covered by a large sheet of obsidian sprouting into a blade, which then covered his entire body as a second layer of armor. His mask fell off, rotting away and revealing the decomposing flesh and vein beneath it. The crimson hair stained in the blood of his victims, seemingly burned and burned, until his head was encased in flames.

He had revealed his true form.

The burning of his head caused the charred flesh within it to reek, and the pre-decomposed parts were dripping away. From his back, the large Megraffe vertebrae he wore had become a giant, horrifying pair of spined, winglike structures. His chest revealed the giant eye of Tnerrot, and it pulsed against the ground, which within ten feet of him would feel like it was shaking. His raw power could be felt by all magic users, and the heat from said power could be felt by all organisms. The bade itself had become part of his arm, and was still the size of his body. For the final touches, his other arm clutched a large mass of molten magma, magically manipulated to remain orbital and not harden into rock.

"Which lab rat will be first?"

Flynn, Vera, Iris and Luria all turned to see the horror. This was... No mere monster. Vera was scared, and that took unimaginably dangerous odds. Luria was too paralyzed in fear to move. Flynn felt an anger boiling up inside him, seeing that this monster was the one who had genocided the entirety of the Kohma people, and doomed their home world to suffer under the reign of a dictator like Zephyrus. This one man single handedly ended an entire world, right before his eyes. They could not take him lightly.

"Yuri!" Flynn shouted, preparing his sword as Vera redied her chain knife, and Iris readied her... Bionic arm. She had seemingly cast away the sword.

"Crap," Vera looked to a building by the ocean. The craftsman who was still operating... He had left out their weapons! Yes! "Guys, I can't use a sword, but that one over there is laced with that giant cobra's acid poison. We need someone to use it!" she started spinning her weapon above her head, and then realized Luria was still nearby.

"Luria, run! This is too much for you!"

She was frozen in terror.

[A New Familiar]

Razulen had gotten started on clearing debris and helping survivors. Granted, she didn't get far when the arrival of the most foul and haunting being she had ever felt slammed into her senses. Something so foul, so powerful, it was something she couldn't ignore by any means. She felt it down to her very core, that this thing was a crime against nature itself. The worst thing of all, was this monstrosity's smell was coming straight from where Luria and the others were. Dropping a piece of debris to the side, she took a moment to breath.

"No rest for the weary...figures. This is the war all over again."

Razulen bolted straight back in the direction of the others, all the while feeling the ground tremble the closer she got. When she finally got a good look at what had arrive, she was repulsed. It was the most vile and horrific thing she had ever looked upon in all the thousands of years she had lived. On top of it all, she saw that Luria was there. She could see the terror in her expression, and needed no further reason to be there. She stopped, skidding a bit and ending up right in front of Luria.

She took her right hand, and swiftly two fingers down her left. A series of magic circles formed around her arm for a moment, before sinking into her body. There was a small burst of energy from her body, as the ground cracked beneath her feet. She then spoke in a deep, resonating voice that had a bit of a growl lurking underneath.

"Calling upon the power of the sentinel guardians of ancients past... I, Razulen the Caretaker, stand ready for battle."

As she finished the command, a black and red glow outlined her entire form. Glancing back for just a moment, she made a gesture to Luria and spoke to her in her normal voice.

"Luria, get out of here, now!"

This was no place for Luria to be, not in the least. This being, whatever it was, wreaked of insurmountable power. It was something that Luria couldn't handle. Something Razulen, with all she had in her, would not allow to lay a hand on her daughter.

[Cao]

Great. Of all the people to show up now, it just had to be the main man himself. Yuri could feel, once again, his blood boiling with rage. From the mess at Zaphias to his massacre of not one, but three innocent people. He was worse than Ragou and Cumore, far worse. This man thought of people as nothing but playthings, manipulating their lives as he pleased. He'd almost driven two brothers apart, and deep down, he knew Skade was responsible for Nor's destruction.

He had to be stopped. Right here, right now.

"What?" he asked, casual smirk on his face as he stepped forward (no, he was not afraid, dammit) so he was closest to Skade. "You get tired of waiting for us or something?"

At least they wouldn't have to find a way to get to Zaude.

The smirk on his face dropped, eyes closed as a look of seriousness took over him.

"You're done here, Skade."

"Kill him."

Where ever the voice was coming from, he didn't know. Nor did he care, however. His grip on Torrent tightened again, though this time, the blade seemed to be growing a mind of its own. It, once again, pulsed, and more strongly and more noticeably as the hilt grew, wrapping itself around his arm.

Without so much as another word, nor time to allow anyone to prepare, Yuri charged, aiming for the first strike as he slashed the air in a giant 'X', the remnants of the strikes hovering as to green blades before he directed them forward, the formation flying at a speed unheard of in a typical arte.

-----------------------------------

Seeing no luck in waking up his fellow Yalurian, Tohru decided that taking her out of the ruins would be the better option. She was hurt, badly, yet all he could do for her was bandage whatever injuries he could find, once again cursing his inability to use any kind of healing power. It couldn't be helped, though. It didn't appear like she was in any immediate danger, either.

However, no sooner had he thought that than he felt an overwhelmingly evil presence, his blood going cold as a blast suddenly sounded throughout the town. He immediately was on guard, finding the source and almost regretting it.

There was the man who they had all been hunting for, the man who had tricked Alex, the man who was responsible for the deaths of many: Skade.

He steeled himself, hands curling into tight fists at his side as he stood, calm anger welling up within. It took a mere moment to make his choice, throwing his right arm out to the side and summoning his boomerang. He spared a glance at Alice as he released the weapon, having it instead float at his side. "Stay here and keep them safe," he said, referring to Alex, Raven, and the unconscious Yalurian. "If it looks like it'll be too dangerous, then move somewhere safer. The Golem will follow you."

And, as if to emphasize this fact, the golem carrying Alex suddenly sprang to life, its eyes glowing green again, ready to move at a moment's notice. With that, Tohru left to join the final battle, gaining a nice position at ranged, sending his boomerang flying at Skade at top speed.

[Mimizuku]

Kaufman looked over as Skade arrived. " See you, Yuri. " She said, walking away from them, going back to her boat, the Nopeasti. Beginning to leave towards Deidon Hold.

- - -

About to look for survivors, Lloyd turned around, seeing a new arriving person, though this one was obviously not here to join the party. It looked more to Lloyd like he wanted to kill everyone there. If they didn't stop Skade there would be even more dead bodies lying around.
He stood there, looking at a building, seeing a little girl laying against the wall, Ren.

[[ This was a crappy post. o n o ]]

[XxSkyeAngelxX]

S a r i a

Saria looked over the area as Lloyd began to yell about who could do something like this. Something in her heart sunk. She would have done something like this.. She DID do things just like this. Of course it was the Maiden using her body, but Saria still counted every one of those things as her own accord. She closed her eyes tightly and when Lloyd began to walk off the find survivors, she stepped forward, "I-I'll help you look for survivors.. if you don't mind. I'm really very worried about Raz, but I feel she can hold her own much better than innocent people," Saria explained, walking over towards Lloyd. She hoped that he did not mind, or wasn't really the type to want to work alone.

[Mi-chi]

[[ dont like this. but here. o: ]]

Alice listened to Tohru as he spoke, a worried smile on her face. Of course, she could sense the evil presence ahead as well, and it did concern her enough to go as well, but Tohru trusted that she would stay here. "I'll be sure to keep them safe, Tohru. Be careful out there." She said with a bright smile. But hopefully Skade would not come in this direction. Alice had limited artes; healing and light artes. Most of her light artes were extremely powerful, but could only be used sparingly (much like the case of Ion's Daathic fonic artes). They were her artes, no one elses. She had basic artes that anyone could learn as well, Holy lance and Photon, but she believed it would be better to use all her strength to protect them. "You'll all be alright, " Alice promised, even when many might not hear her. " I wont let them get near you."

Estelle was told to stay behind and tend to the wounded, but Alice seemed to have that handled. As much as she didn't want to have her troubled, She could tell that much worse was going on further ahead. "I'm sorry, but may I please ask you to watch the wounded? You seem worried for the others as well, and I can aid them with healing artes. " Golden eyes stared at her for a moment in slight shock, before she nodded, "Don't let them get too hurt... ok?" Alice didn't like showing concern all that much, it made her feel weak. Estelle laughed lightly, "I promise you Alice." She then said her goodbyes, and went after the others, making sure to keep her safe distances from Skade. She watched the others carefully. She didn't want anyone to die today... she wasn't going to underestimate Skade, his presence... it was so sickening, so undeniably powerful!

[Venetian]

Upon entering the town the first thing that he noticed was that it was on fire, that it smelled of death by burning, and he heard the moans and cries of the suffering. What type of sick person would do this..? If anything was an example of war, it was just this.
Jade's lips straightened into a very thin line as he analyzed the area. He heard movement, like the sound of footsteps and he looked up to notice this... He didn't know what to call it... The skin was dripping from a fire on the humanoid's head like the soft material that dripped from a candle. It took a lot to make Jade's eyes widen in shock, but this entire scenario caught him off guard completely.

It was simply a painting of Hell itself.

Without a second thought his lance materialized in his hand by the mere thought of magic, and he systematically ran over the possibilities in his head. His breath caught in his chest with both worry for his own well-being, and from the anger of all the lives that were lost today. He remained where he was standing, chanting the spell that he hoped would do something, his eyes focused on Skade's location, " INDIGNATION! " A half-sphere field of thunder magic would hopefully then encase the humanoid in it's boundaries, with lightening piercing through the boundary at every angle.

[Katzenstreu]

Oh, she'd completely forgotten introductions. How rude of her, though she supposed it was excusable, given the chaos. "Raine Sage," she provided, "and you've also met my student, Lloyd." And speaking of that... Raine's face twisted into a frown at his words. He would never forget the events at Iselia, she suspected - no, knew.

Still, before she could say anything towards Lloyd, it was decided that would kill two birds with one stone. "That's fine, and probably better in the long run," she nodded. And then, she remembered something from back in Aspio. From when Lloyd first arrived. "I wonder," she cast a glance at the bracelet. Yes, back then, it had sensed Lloyd coming, so. What was the prompt again? "...Ai, wake up," she said, upon remembering.

"Would you scan the area for any sign of life?" Because hopefully, there would be someone in all this mess that was alive. She relaxed as that command was given, and glanced back to the rest of the group, watching as Saria started to join Lloyd in the search. Then, something clicked in her.

"Saria... you wouldn't happen to be Saria Laurent of the Crisis Crusaders?" Her face was so familiar, a distant memory. Perhaps she was wrong? Not that she had much of a chance to find out. The air itself became full of a constant pounding noise, and a familiar mana signature could be felt in the air. But there was something wrong, so very wrong.

There was a man. No, more like a corpse; hideous as any nightmare. "What... is that?!" Honestly, she didn't expect an answer to this, but...

[Daisuke]

>Prompt_Alert

"There are fifteen living creatures hidden within this rubALERT"

_>Prompt_Emergency

"Neganite being detected, identifying now..."

Flynn gave a curious look to his friend, seemingly taken over by the sword in his hand. With no game plan, Yuri was a goner. What was he thinking?

__>Processed_Information

"Being identified. Skade Mutsumi-Kohma, Known by the alias, Moonslayer. He is one of one thousand manufactured mirror beings, capable of absorbing and reflecting all forms of magic used against them. Skade is best know for the murder of Lun, who was the God and embodiment of the Neganite moon."

Vera caught that one with her keen ears.

"We're up against a guy who destroyed a freakin' moon?!" she exclaimed. Iris and Flynn took to their respective shocked expressions rather quickly. Hearing this information, Flynn shouted to the group.

"Avoid using magic, he'll throw it back at you!"

Skade gave a slow clap of his hands to congratulate them for finding this information out, and laughed. His voice did not echo, or even leave his lips. Rather, it was heard in the back of their heads. A nagging, faceless voice.

"And this information will do you... What good?"

Yuri's attack landed, and was absorbed. Skade faded into the shadows, and reappeared behind Vera, the one who shared this information with everyone. His hand extended, Yuri's arte fired out from his hands, instantly cutting into her back and rendering her quite dead.

"Such useless lab rats. Where is the challenge I crave?"

Flynn was sick of this man. Ai presented more information on him at present, though.

__>Prompt_Information(cont.)

"Skade's only known weak point is the eye of TNERROT, WHICH IS THE SPIRIT CONTROLLING HIM. He is otherwise an average human, possessed by the entity Tnerrot, created by Zephyrus. The sister being to Tnerrot is Torrent, who will, but has yet to, control the wielder of the blade as well."

"Skade is... Human?" Flynn was even more astonished by this than anything. Other than the fact that this man was capable of ending entire worlds single handedly, and there were a thousand of him.

"But, wait..."

Iris butted in.

"Our friend was just killed and you're talking schematics?!"

Flynn came back "Yuri is being possessed." he said, quietly. He remembered Vera's words, and made a beeline for the weapons that were available.

Luria was by this point, far away. back in town, attending to wounded. It was here that the Yalurian girl began waking.

Skade returned to position, forcing himself to be hit with Indignation. Yes, it did some decent damage. is bladed arm flickered into a regular arm briefly, but not for long. His free hand started crackling with electricity. His hand raised, aimed at a little girl in the distance.

None were safe.

He launched the Indignation directly at her. If it connected, one as young as her would definitely not survive.

More information from Ai.

___>Prompt_Information(3)

"Torrent and Tnerrot are the most powerful spirits of the mirror race, and are often in power struggles. hey are destined to clash for all time, and the winner of the clash then absorbs the body of the loser."

Iris ran at Skade, winding back a punch. She was furious that her friend had been murdered. As were the others, surely, but she was less in control of her emotions. Skade caught her fist and threw her aside, colliding with a pile of rubble.

"Dammit... We need a plan. But we can't let Yuri become like him. If we do, it's going to end the same way... Dammit!"

His attention turned to Tohru.

"Do what you can to get Torrent off of Yuri, while myself and other melee fighters keep Skade busy!"

He turned to the magic users of the group.

"All spellcasters, focus on healing and distractions, do not attack him directly!"

[Mimizuku]

Lloyd watched as Skade stabbed the girl, Vera, from behind, killing her. Who the hell was this guy?! He looked at everyone and listened to their conversation. Human? How was this guy human!? He then turned around, watching as Jade used Indignation, Skade using it on the little girl against the wall, Ren.
He looked at Ren. She was just a little girl! What the hell did Skade want with her?
He ran over to Ren as fact as he could, getting in the way of the indignation. He tried to grab the girl, but when he made his way to her, the attack landed on the girl, blood splattering all over the building outside wall, and flung at him as well. He clenched his fists once more. He was angry, he couldn't even save one little girl. " Dammit! " He yelled, looking at the dead body.

[XxSkyeAngelxX]

S a r i a

Saria nodded as Raine introduced herself, realizing just how familiar the girl was by both name and face. She definitely knew her, and it was all proven when she asked if she was from the Crisis Crusaders. She was one of them! She was Raine! All the memories began to flood back and a huge grin came across her face, even during such a time as this, "Ooh I knew you looked familiar! Yes, it's me! It's so great to see you again Raine! B-but on such occasion.. I'm afraid all reuniting must wait until this is all over!" Saria announced, finally seeing the man that was before all of them. Skade was what his name was announced to be.

His aura.. the power this gave off was completely different, yet so similar to that of the Maiden's. Chills flew down the blonde's spine and she looked up in a mixture of fear and anger. Suddenly she saw him attacking young, and the fact that he had killed the girl that someone had called Ren not too long ago. Saria's fists clenched, thinking back to the young girl from Flanoir. The one who's life she almost ended while being the Maiden. He was cold just like the Maiden was and this made the blonde snap. She heard a boy yell out, one who she immediately recognized as Flynn and ran over as fast as her feet could take her. She could fight melee, but it was not her forte, so instead of attempting to do so, she figured she should go with the distractions.

"Flynn! I hope you can explain to me what the hell is going on once things calm down here! Until then.." She began, turning to look at Skade. She saw a girl, Iris, get completely thrown back by Skade as she attacked and aimed a healing spell right at her, "Healing Mist!" She cried out, bringing down a boost of energy over the group facing Skade. She wished there was something more that she could do.

[Cao]

"Torrent away from Yuri?"

Tohru blinked, spotted the man in question, watching as he seemed unfazed by what was going on in the battle. Further inspection brought Torrent's form to light, the weapon having covered most of its current wielder's arms. He didn't know what it meant, though merely looking at Yuri alone was enough to tell him that the blade was calling the shots now, and it seemed hellbent on going after Skade.

"Understood, Commandant," he replied reluctantly, manipulating his boomerang once more out at Skade before focusing on Yuri, who was continuing to try and land whatever hits he could. How was he supposed to sever blade from wielder? The obvious answer was that he simply sever his arm, but something told him that doing so wouldn't appeal to Flynn very much. They would also need Yuri, still, if he was able to continue fighting once released from Torrent.

The first step, he assumed, would likely be halting his efforts.

[Mi-chi]

Fire, fire, why was the city suffering so much destruction?! Alice cursed under her breath, "Hey, " She turned her heel to glance to the Golem. "We need to get away from the fire, and the only way out is to escape town..." What was she doing, talking to a Golem? Could it even understand her? "Make sure to protect Alex with all of your power. I'll help, of course, but first, I need to wake up the others. Er... was it... Captain Karol or something? Um, could you help me?" She had heard most of the group members name's earlier. She took notice that the brown-haired Yalurian had gotten up as well. "O-Ok... " She shook Raven's shoulder gently, as to not scare him. "M-Mr. Raven, you really, really need to get up!" She was told to aid the others, and she didn't want them to be burned alive when they were her responsibility.

----

Estelle heard the shouts, that they needed to get the blade, Torrent away from Yuri's grasp, and that they should not attack Skade with magic artes, since they would only be reflected back at them. How is it possible to remove Torrent from Yuri's grasp? Honestly, to her, it looked more like Torrent had a grasp on Yuri. And to distract Skade, we could send artes around to try to keep him in one area? But he could move to absorb them... and we can't go about using too many artes... Estelle pondered to herself, an uneasiness washing over her. Skade was a difficult opponent, so they had to be sure that their strategy was the right one.
I'll just aid the others! She went to Saria where she was casting spells, healing the others. Estelle decided it would help to use an healing arte as well, to help the others more. If there was more healing, they would have more of a chance. "Revitalize!" [/color] [/size]

[Venetian]

The town was on fire... The buildings were doomed already. There was absolutely no point in trying to save them because it was futile. Jade looked up at a building that was about 3 stories tall, and suddenly an idea spawned on him. If he couldn't attack the enemy directly with his magic... He could use his magic as a canon, so to speak, that would propel other things at skade. Skade could use the magic on him... But certainly the material would do SOME damage since it was not directly magic. Jade rushed into the town. It was on fire, yes, but he would be dead if damage was not done to Skade. He stood behind the building on the opposite angle from where skade stood, he calculated with just his eyes about where he should hit the building so that the remains would propel toward the enemy. Then he used a slightly more powerful energy blast, and the building exploded and the remains collapsed down on Skade. This would slow him down. And it would also likely piss him off, Jade realized.

[Daisuke]

This was still fun to him. And that was all that he cared about. Yuri was clearly losing his internal struggle, and soon would be just like Skade himself. A building exploded in the distance, with debris heading right for him. How cute.

His blade arm extended to catch it, and upon impact, the debris broke in half, pieces of it falling at his sides. The dust would make it hard to see, though, which was annoying. So what was a fix for that? Fireballs that turned the dust into chunks of glass, and hurling them in all directions, propelled by fire.

Flynn knew better than to rush the monster, so his attacking was very limited. However, there was a familiar voice close by.

"Saria?"

His eyes dared not leave his foe, as he was already being pressed to the absolute limit of his abilities, dodging and weaving through spell and glass. He needed Yuri to rejoin the fight, and quickly. What could help keep Torrent at bay?

"Saria, no time to explain!" he had to keep his cool, which was becoming very difficult against the monster. Especially when it began to translate horrifying illusions into his head. Failures from his past, people he could have saved, mistakes he had made, all came flooding into his thoughts. This same exact process would be felt by anyone who was in contact with him for even remote amounts of time.

Though one memory did strike him. That pendant of Junes... Could that be what suppressed Torrent for her? What was it made of?

"Dammit, I don't think..."

Skade was laughing all the while, dodging Yuri and refusing to attack back. He was enjoying himself a little too much. What Iris herself noticed, though, was that it was Torrent's cloth grip that was wrapping around Yuri. Strands of it vaguely dangling off the handle, which looked to be long enough to string into a necklace.

"Flynn! The handle!" she shouted, collapsing to one knee as she was severely damaged by the building.

Flynn gave it a look. Yes... It looked identical to the strands that formed June's pendant. But what was that gem in the center?

"Dammit..." Diamond. They needed diamond.

"We need a diamond charm!"

Skade gave Flynn his attention for a moment, and smirked.

"This one's catching on." he said, a laugh following him.

"Can we get it off Yuri with the handle grip the way it is?" Iris asked. Flynn shook his head and smirked, his confidence returning as he remembered what a certain Yalurian was capable of.

"Tohru, can you make us a diamond from the raw minerals around here?" Flynn asked, turning his head briefly to the crowd behind him.

"Can anyone here craft charmed pendants?!" he shouted.

That would be the perfect job for Lloyd.

But, still... Dammit, Skade was just far too strong at the moment to allow that kind of time! He recalled Razulen and Jade. Two casters it seemed.

"Jade, Razulen, any ideas on distracting it?"

The poison sword was still far away. Flynn had halted his attempt at grabbing it for sake of saving his friends. Someone else would have to grab it. Someone Skade wasn't focused on.

"There's a poisoned sword over by that building," he motioned with his head toward it, "The poison is so strong it acts like an acid. We can probably melt his armor away with that."

It was all falling into place now. Every detail would come together to make this victory inevitable.

Except, of course, the Yalurian teenager in the back finally waking up. Her first instinct told her that there was an immense heath around her. So, she wasn't safe yet. She noticed the fire, and that she wasn't buried alive anymore, and she became worried. She saw the... What WAS that thing?! And her last noticed thing... Wait. Was that...?

Why was Tohru here? Was he saving them?