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From every direction in the city people were running in a raving panic from Zareon. Many buildings were burning and crumbling apart from his run through attacks. Some people stayed behind in the face of danger trying to save their loved ones and carry the injured out. Zareon had stopped his rampaging and faced Ryan with crossed arms and a smile across his face.

"You’re late." Zareon called out to Ryan, "So you decided to save the human after all."

"Damn right, man!" Ryan yelled with anger, "Why did you do that to your friend? If you were there all that time you must have seen things through Joel’s eyes."

Zareon shook his head at Ryan and said, "Why are you asking me? Did you not say yourself how much the human race is inferior?" Ryan jolted back in surprise, and Joel continued, "You of all people shouldn’t be talking."

Ryan looked slowly around him again, hearing the cries of pain and suffering. He then thought back to his discussion with Joel about not caring about them.

"I said I’d help them as I came across them, though." Ryan said with shame. He looked back at Zareon and said, "And you can count that I’ll try helping the rest of them here in this city!"

"A little change of heart? You oxymoronic fool!" Zareon laughed, "You’re either for them or against them!"

"I don’t care!" Ryan yelled at him, "I’ll do whatever I want!" he tightened his fist and said, "I was even beginning to like the girl."

Zareon laughed at Ryan even louder, putting his arms around his gut and leaning over uncontrollably. As he finished laughing at Ryan he stood back up tall and pointed at him.

"And all this coming from the guy who said..." Zareon trailed off for a moment, and Ryan gasped in astonishment, "’We don’t want any half breeds running around’... ‘Guardian and human... Not a chance in hell...’"

Ryan sighed and looked down and away for a moment, standing still and silent, then said, "So I did say all that. But traveling with Joel changed how I felt. He had that aura about him that could change anyone."

Zareon chuckled and shrugged, saying, "That human soul inside me that I foolishly took in for fusion while I was dead. He’s merely a weak and stupid shell that keeps me back from my true intentions." He turned his back to Ryan and said, "I won’t play your game. You can find someone else to fight and beat Euzhacho if you wish. As you said, I will do as I please on my own time."

"But... But what about when he killed you the first time?" Ryan asked, "What about the time I took my first death in your place? I would have been the Slayer right now if it weren’t for that!"

"A complaint from another unsatisfied fan of mine." Zareon sighed, putting his hands in the air for a moment.

Ryan growled at Zareon as he starred him down from the back. He glared down at his fists and threw off his broken mantle, letting it crash into the ground next to him. Ryan put his arms out beside him and put his right foot ahead of him in preparation for an engaging attack. Zareon’s long and strengthened ears began to twitch for a moment, and he looked to the side slightly as he listened to Ryan’s movements carefully.

Celia continued to wave her healing magic through Lynn’s body. The bloody hole through her small body was being reconstructed and patched together by the healing. As it closed completely and the blood stopped running out from her Lynn began to slowly shake her head and limbs with a slight moan.

"Don’t talk." Celia told the woman, "I can make you better, but you still need to recover. Just take it slow."

Koichi and Stephanie stood around Lynn’s body and watched Celia at her work.

"Was that Ryan?" Stephanie asked.

Koichi nodded and said, "Yes it was, but I don’t know who this is. Do you, Princess?"

Celia shook her head and said, "No... Ryan never told me he brought someone else with him and Joel."

Lynn opened her eyes slowly and glanced around, seeing the three strangers standing up over her. She screamed out loud with fear and began crawling back away from them, but the pains still inside her body prevented her from getting very far. Lynn cringed from the pains of still open veins and torn muscle inside her belly and fell back on her side. Master appeared from his house and began approaching the group in search of the sound of distress.

"Who are... where... why... am I still alive? Why?" Lynn cried desperately

"Fine way to greet the woman who saved your life." Stephanie said, looking down at Lynn.

Ryan dashed into the air towards Zareon and threw a punch at him, but Zareon swayed to the side and dodged. He brought his hand out and quickly hit Ryan on the backside of his neck as he passed by, sending him into the ground. Ryan bounced on the ground several times on the high-speed impact. He shook his head slightly and flipped back onto his feet, and Ryan turned around and made another charge towards his opponent. Ryan threw a long kick towards Zareon’s gut, and Zareon grabbed Ryan’s leg, then tossed him into the ground before him.

Ryan twitched as he lay on the ground before Zareon, who was still standing tall with a big smile on his face. He moaned slightly and hit his fists into the ground, then turned quickly onto his feet and swung his fist at Zareon. Zareon disappeared into the air above them with great speed before Ryan could get him, and he looked off to the side at the surrounding buildings and put his hand out at one of them. His hand began lighting up with fire as if he were going to blast it, and Zareon looked down at Ryan again and smiled with glee.

Ryan stood up quickly as he saw Zareon’s actions and thought, "Man, he’s just trying to taunt me, but..." he put his left fist up and put his right and around his left wrist and called out, "Enhancement!"

A strong aura began to envelop Ryan’s body, causing him to glow red, then green, then white, and then blue. A circle of transparent time symbols began circling around his body and faded away, then a giant transparent sword rotated around him in a spiral motion and faded off as well. Ryan’s eyes glimmered with hope and determination, and he jumped into the air between Zareon and the building.

"One of my finer spells." Ryan called out, "It increases all of my abilities and resistance levels for thirty minutes. Remember that, because it should be all I need to wipe you down."

Zareon shook his head in disbelief and told Ryan, "Once again, you talk too much."

Zareon shot a blast of fire towards Ryan and the building, and Ryan dashed forward and hit it away with his hands. Zareon thought for a moment then shot another blast, which Ryan deflected away into the air as well. Ryan began rubbing his hands from the heat he was taking in from hitting off each attack. Zareon looked down at the ground and descended to the streets, and Ryan followed him down with a close eye. He laughed at Ryan again, showing him the palms of his hands, and Zareon kneeled down and touched the ground with both of them. The street glowed a fiery orange and red for a moment as Zareon touched it and within moments the land behind Ryan began to toss and turn. The ground had melted into lava, and the building tilted and sank slowly, burning into ashes.

Ryan jumped out of the way as the building tilted down towards him, and he flew towards Zareon into another attack. He spun around and hit Zareon’s face with the backside of his arm, knocking him back. As Zareon stumbled on his feet the lava cooled back into the street surface and the building stopped sinking. Ryan ducked down and swept Zareon’s legs, causing him to fall down out of total balance. He chained his movement into a back flip and kick, hitting Zareon from underneath in his back. The force sent Zareon catapulting up into the air, but before he began falling again he regained his focus and stopped himself mid-air. Ryan jumped back up into the air and started throwing a barrage of punches and kicks in Zareon’s direction, but as Zareon slowly floated back to his feet he made quick movements to blur himself out as each attack came his way, dodging each one of them.

As the attacks kept coming in as rapidly as Ryan could muster, Zareon continued to dodge them as a speed like he was not moving at all. He put his arms up as he dodged and looked over himself again with an evil grin over his face. Suddenly Ryan made contact with a hit across Zareon’s face again, and Zareon jolted back in the air. He quickly regained focus and held his stand in the air.

Zareon threw his hands into the air and began chanting as bolts of fire jetted around his body, "Fire..." Ryan put up his guard, ready for a beam attack, and Zareon threw his arms down at the ground, chanting, "...Volt!"

"Huh?" Ryan jerked suddenly in surprise.

A wave of fire appeared over Zareon and rolled over at Ryan. It hit him down, causing him to hit the streets again, and streams of fire like electricity flowed from around Ryan into the ground. Ryan’s blue leather armor began to singe from the flames, and he rolled around on the ground to get them put out. He jumped back onto his feet and held his hands up aimed at Zareon.

"Alright, you want to play like that, huh?" Ryan called out, hands lighting up, "Let’s do the Twin Laser Attack!"

He shot two long beams towards Zareon and jolted back from the force. Zareon watched the attacks coming his way, and he put out his hands in the direction of the two beams. He caught them both and squeezed them together in his hands, then popped the ball of collected energy. Zareon waved his finger at Ryan with a laugh again, then he began flying down towards Ryan at high speed. Ryan saw Zareon on his way down and flew up hi way as well. They both swung their fists and hit each other’s knuckles dead on in the center. The two brought their arms back, and Zareon shot his other arm out and jabbed Ryan in his chest. Ryan bent over with Zareon’s fist in his chest, floating back a little bit, then he charged forward and hit Zareon in his gut with his knee.

Zareon’s eyes grew large from the impact from the pain, and he opened his mouth and bit Ryan’s arm with his sharpened teeth. Ryan cringed and yelled out loud, hitting Zareon’s head with his available arm, but Zareon would not let go. Soon Zareon pulled his head back and ripped off a layer of Ryan’s upper arm. Ryan grabbed his injured arm and cried out in pain shortly, watching Zareon float back again with the chunk of flesh still in his mouth. Zareon turned his head to the side and spit it out and chuckled with his mouth colored red.

"Do not be afraid, young lady." Master called out as he approached Celia, Koichi, Stephanie, and Lynn.

Koichi and Stephanie snapped to attention as Master approached them. Celia stepped to the side, and Master kneeled down in her place and looked over Lynn.

"Have you come to join us in training?" Master asked, "Little did we know of your arrival, and thus we do not know why you have come here."

"It was Ryan, Master." Koichi told him.

"He who speeds swiftly through the winds?" Master asked.

Lynn calmed down for a moment and looked around, then said, "R,Ryan? Where is... he?"

"Flew off." Koichi told her.

"We don’t know what’s going on, Miss. Could you tell us?" Celia asked

Lynn looked forward a bit and noticed Ryan’s bloodied cape and picked it up.

"Yes..." she put the cape to her cheek and continued, "We were... walking through the forest... Shroud Forest. Suddenly a man appeared... Said he wanted to fight Joel... He... did..." she let out a loud cough and a sniffle, "He... He killed the man, and... Joel... looked in pain... He... changed..." she began remembering images of Joel approaching her and inflicting the mortal wound through her, "I... uh..."

Lynn fell limp to her side and threw up. She lay there idly with weak eyes and heavy breath. Tears rolled down her cheeks again. Master reached out and touched the small woman’s head, then looked at Koichi and Stephanie.

"You two carry the girl inside to a bed. Let her rest until later." He commanded.

Ryan gritted his teeth and turned around quickly. He shot forward and gave Zareon a smashing head butt. Zareon staggered back several feet, and Ryan stepped up and punched Zareon in the chest again, causing him to stagger back several feet more. As Ryan sent in another punch, Zareon regained his concentration and hit his arm out of the way. Zareon leaped forward a bit and launched a kick at Ryan, but he flipped out of the way just in time to dodge the attack. His success was cut short, however, as Zareon followed up his kick with a spin around and kick from Ryan’s back. Ryan once again was shot down into the ground with a few bounces.

He stood up and put his hands on his head and shaking for a moment. Ryan looked up to see Zareon approaching steadily again and was kicked up into the air. Zareon sped up after Ryan as he bolted back up and caught him by his arms. He spun Ryan around and released him at a high speed, hurling him towards the ground. Ryan was able to slow down and stop himself in time before crashing, and Zareon began dropping down for another round of attacks. As Zareon attacked Ryan with a round kick, Ryan blurred out into seven figures as he preformed his Seven Fast Stance technique to evade Zareon. Zareon stood still with his arms crossed and began to smile at Ryan again with a chuckle. His ears twitched a bit as they traced Ryan’s every movement, and Zareon shot his fist into the air. His fist hit Ryan as he was making a quick pass around Zareon during his technique, and Ryan flew back another several feet.

As Ryan recovered from the hit he looked back up and around for Zareon, but he could not find him anywhere in sight. He looked up suddenly and noticed a big shadow hiding inside the sun on top of another building. Zareon had flown up high and had his arms high up in the air, chanting something out loud.

"Jin sungam vulzai-cov ralla mahn zorr kai..." Zareon shouted. He quickly lowered his hands towards the ground and called out, "Lavathan, arise! It’s play time!"

The ground below them began to rumble and quake as Zareon’s chanting came to an end. Ryan started to loose his footing as the earth crumbled, and he jumped up high in the air to watch. Lava and fire began spewing up from the giant holes in the ground in large flaming waves. Suddenly a long giant arm burst out from the ground. The claw of the arm reached out onto the ground and pressed down, and another long arm reached out on the other end and grabbed onto the ground. A giant head of the scaly beast Lavathan began to surface again. The giant four-legged monster quickly spotted Ryan in the air and began swiping at him with its two long hind arms.

"Woah!" Ryan said as he dodged the arms of the Lavathan, "I’d better think of something fast! I haven’t mastered my monster summoning abilities yet!" He quickly drew out his Masamura blade from it’s sheath to knock away one of the arms, then flipped the sword around and called out, "Runed Blade of Forgotten Mind!"

The Masamura started to glow with a bright white light, and mystical symbols began floating around it. Ryan glared at the large monster and began dropping down towards it with his sword. The sword let back a long stream of energetic light as Ryan sped down towards the head of the Lavathan. Another arm came flying towards Ryan, and he swung his short sword with all his might, causing it to let out a long and round cutting beam towards the Lavathan and it’s arm. The attack cut through the long arm of the monster and cut through its scales and slightly into its body.

Lavathan let out a loud roar of agony and started to sway back and forth on its feet around the city. It swung its remaining around wildly out of control, tearing down other buildings from all around. The beast also started to spew its fiery breath back and forth through the city, burning down trees and crumbling old buildings. Ryan flew down in front of a building as the Lavathan swung its long remaining arm towards it to destroy it, and he made his best attempt to grab it with his remaining Enhancement effects. The impact of the arm caused Ryan to get pushed back as the arm moved towards the structure, but Ryan caught footing on the side of the building and started to forcefully push the arm away. The Lavathan then brought its arm back with Ryan still holding on, causing him to fling off from the building and off the arm as it stopped swinging around.

Ryan stopped himself in the middle of the air again and flew up over the large monster going rampant inside the city. He looked up at Zareon, who was still watching over things from up higher with his arms crossed.

"Now what?" Ryan thought as he began to sweat, "I won’t be able to beat this thing very easily, let alone with Zareon included..." Ryan looked passed Zareon, higher into the sky, and thought, "Maybe it’s time I used that attack... But it’s a gamble for the whole world." He looked at Zareon again and shouted, "Alright Zareon, if I can’t beat you I’ll suffocate you to death in the most outer reaches of space!"

Ryan reached his right hand straight out to his side and circled it once around counter clockwise. As he finished bringing his arm around he brought both of his arms to his chest in an X-fashion, then extended both his arms into the sky. The sky began to dim to black as Ryan made his movements, and loud echoing sounds squealed from out of no where. Far above all of them it appeared as if there was a crack in the middle of the air in space, and the crack burst open into a large black vacuum, sucking everything around it slowly inside.

"Dead Zone!" Ryan called out as he finished his activation movements.

Zareon yawned at Ryan and began floating down to the top of a building again and said, "And I suppose you’re going to let me know what it does."

"If you’d like to know so bad..." Ryan called out.

The injured Lavathan began sliding back and lost its footing on the ground. It began getting sucked up quickly into the air and soon disappeared into the hole, letting out a fading echo of a cry for help. The hole was now swirling high above the area with a diameter of three miles.

Ryan pointed his thumb back at the giant hole in the air and grinned, saying, "Get sucked in and you’ll be shot to the ends of space. You’ll suffocate and die all the way out there."

Zareon shook his head slowly and called out, "And if you do manage to get me into that hole, what makes you think I’ll really die as you say?" he shrugged and said, "Do you know that I will? Have you tried it yourself?" he pointed at himself and asked, "And what about your precious friend inside me?"

Ryan growled and said, "We’ll see."

Lynn tossed and turned slowly in her bed as Celia, Koichi, Master, and Stephanie watched over her.

"R,red... red..." Lynn mumbled, "Red... aah... eye... red..."

She turned her head about rapidly as if she were in a panic.

"Red eyes?" Celia mumbled to herself. She looked at Koichi and asked, "Do you remember Joel saying something about that once?"

"Yeah, back at our castle." Koichi said, nodding.

"Right. He told us to get as far away from him as we could in case his eyes went red and he started glowing." Celia said, remembering the Ro’Ten fight.

"Glowing eyes?" Stephanie asked, butting into the conversation, "What do you mean?"

Koichi shook his head at Stephanie and said, "We don’t know either. We saw it, but we don’t know what was going on."

Master nodded at them as he sat back in his resting chair and said, "Whenever in doubt, ask the witness."

The three looked up at Master, then looked back at Lynn.

"What’s your name, little girl?" Celia asked her.

Lynn began to slowly close her eyes as she regained her senses for a moment again and muttered, "Lynn Claner..."

Celia nodded with a smile and introduced herself, "I’m Celia." She pointed at Koichi and Stephanie and said, "That’s Koichi and Stephanie, too!"

"Hello..." Lynn said quietly as she looked faintly at them all.

Stephanie approached Lynn and began stroking her hair back. She removed her headband so she could feel cooler around her head as she rested up.

"How old are you, little one?" Stephanie asked.

Lynn let in a deep breath for a moment, then said, "Nine..." she stopped and exhaled, then breathed in again and said, "...teen..."

The three thought for a moment, then they all dropped to the ground in stupidity.

"Nineteen?" Celia said as she lay down on the ground with a blank and surprised face.

"She’s got to be joking." Koichi said in a similar position and look.

"But she’s so small." Stephanie said in the same fashion.

Lynn let out a smile and looked down at Koichi and asked, "Wanna do me?"

Stephanie quickly jumped to her feet and jabbed Lynn in her face and pressed her head down, growling, "What did you just say?"

Koichi and Celia stood up, and Koichi looked at Stephanie in surprise as he backed away from Lynn.

"Wow, Ryan really left us with an odd ball, didn’t he?" Celia said, thinking to herself.

The vacuum of the Dead Zone attack from Ryan was slowly becoming stronger as it floated high above the city. Large trees had started to rip up out from the ground and fly into the air above Ryan and Zareon. Cars began rolling around and floating up as well, crashing through different buildings and houses as if a tornado were throwing them around.

Ryan jumped up into the air, feeling his spell take effect on himself as he slowly drifted upwards to the center of the hole, and he made another quick approach towards Zareon. He swung at Zareon, then flipped forward into a kick. Ryan could felt his Enhancement spell wearing off, as Zareon was able to evade his oncoming attacks more frequently again. He did not give up, however, and continued to put an effect into attacking his enemy. Ryan started to circle around Zareon, increasing his speed and blurring out into four multiples of himself. Zareon yawned at Ryan once again, provoking him to attack, and Ryan began flying in quickly from all angles to attack him from. A kick from the left, a jab from the front, a ram from the back, and a hammer from the other side as all the images of Ryan came in for another assault.

Zareon quickly dropped down between the attacks, leaving the images of Ryan in the middle, fusing back into one as Ryan stopped all together. Zareon flew up high above Ryan again and leaned forward with his hands held back. His hands lit up with dazzling sparks, and Zareon threw them forward, releasing a large Fire Bolt towards Ryan. Spiraling flames surrounded the attack as it shot down towards Ryan, and Ryan stood his ground with his left arm back.

"Alright, let’s see if I can’t use the remainder of this Enhancement spell to knock that big thing off its course." Ryan thought.

The Fire Bolt grew closer and closer towards Ryan. He started to sweat from the mass heat it was producing. The beam started to grow and expand from its base, and soon Ryan found himself in front of an attack range much bigger than he was. He swayed in the air slightly as the Dead Zone vacuum took more of an effect on him. Ryan swung his arm out towards the beam as it came within feet from his position in an attempt to deflect it with his own strength away into the giant hole, but instead he found his arm and side engulfed in the large fiery beam as it shot passed him. He felt his body tear and char from inside, and parts of his armor burned away. As the Fire Bolt dissipated Ryan’s arm was charred black from his burning skin and red from his cooked muscles inside. It sizzled like overdone sunburns to Ryan, and as he attempted to move it his arm cracked and fell off from his body lifelessly. Ryan squeezed his eyes tightly together and cried in pain unlike he had felt before. He felt more pain through his body than he would when he demonstrated his cutting off the arm and regenerating it back.

Zareon watched Ryan peel over in the air with his other arm over his sizzling side and smiled.

"It’s game over for you now, Ryan." Zareon called out, "When you’re trying to make someone the strongest force alive, next time be sure they won’t suddenly turn around and kill you."

Zareon flew down at a steady pace towards the injured Ryan. He stopped in front of Ryan and gazed deep into his eyes for a moment, then he sent his right arm into Ryan’s chest. Ryan’s eyes widened as he was hit, and he coughed out loudly, letting out specks of saliva. Ryan’s saliva landed on Zareon’s face and began rolling down, and Zareon began punching Ryan deep into his chest continuously again. He pushed Ryan back up into the air several meters, then Zareon smashed his head into Ryan’s. Ryan shot backwards further up into the air and began to slowly turn backwards upside-down. Zareon wiped his face off and closed his eyes with his arms crossed along his chest. He then raised both his hands up into the air and gazed into the sky through the blackness of the Dead Zone.

Ryan floated up into the air backwards continually as his own Dead Zone spell started taking effect on himself. He began to shake and moan a bit and stopped himself from floating back. He was getting too close to the black hole above them and was having a hard time staying still and flying away. Grim dark shadows began shooting out for him from within the spell, trying to grab Ryan and pull him in. Each shadow reached out onto Ryan as if it were holding onto him, but they all slowly faded off back into the hole. Ryan pulled himself together and made a quick effort to teleport himself back towards the ground.

"Damn it, so much for Enhancement." Ryan griped as he held onto his side again. He looked up and noticed Zareon with his hands up in the sky and thought, "Oh no... He’s performing the Star Fire..." he looked down at his remaining arm, "With my powers the way they are now I won’t have enough time to charge up enough energy for a second round." He shook his head and thought, "I guess I’ve been holding this last attack off for too long." He put his hand over his headband and gripped it, "Forgive me, Lady Adele."

Ryan lifted his headband off from his head and threw it back onto the ground. His hair fell down and flowed in the air wildly through the colliding energies in the air from the Dead Zone spell.

"You took your headband off, Ryan." Zareon called out as he noticed him, "You must have something very special up your sleeve."

Ryan put two fingers up to his head and began shaking on the ground, and he called out, "I started collecting the power to do this when you opened up my anger. I now realize I should have used it long ago!" Thunder sounded off and lightning striked between them, and Ryan shot his hand out at Zareon, shouting, "Nightmare Final!"

A third eye appeared over Ryan’s forehead, and his three eyes gleamed brightly. Suddenly a hundred eyes appeared behind Ryan’s figure and opened up wide with gleaming lenses. A tiny beam shot from Ryan’s hand towards Zareon faster than either of the two could see, and before Zareon could react he felt as if his world fading away. He looked around quickly as he held his hands up high, slowly putting them down as he cautiously watched his surroundings. He found himself standing around a plane of space and time where the stars gleamed through the blackness of space and motions of time rolled over in grand clocks. Zareon thought for a moment as he found himself alone in the dark world.

Zareon jumped back with a startled look as a large image of Ryan appeared before him. Ryan stood one hundred times larger than Zareon, and Zareon could only see him from the shoulders up. He dashed towards Ryan for an attack, but he could not reach him as hard and far as he ran. Suddenly two giant hands surrounded him, and large streams of energy jolted down from one hand to another from the fingertips around Zareon. He cringed, gasped, and roared as the energy flew through him. The hands suddenly disappeared and the energy faded, then a long stream of asteroids flew by and randomly hit Zareon and broke apart. He staggered back and forth as each piece hit him, then he dropped to his knees doubled over and breathed heavily. He looked up again quickly and cautiously and found himself surrounded by four blue shades of Ryan. Zareon brought a hand forward and shot out a blast from his Fire Bolt, but it passed right through the image of Ryan he made an attempt to hit. The shade walked up to Zareon and picked him up by the collar and tossed him up in the air with a punch, and the other shades joined in knocking Zareon back and forth with a fast series of punches and kicks. This time Zareon could feel them all like they were all real. His skin began opening up as two shades drew their Masamura blades and hitting Zareon several times across his body. His body waved around for a while from the daze caused by the massive rain of attacks on him, and the huge image of Ryan in the background began shrinking and approached Zareon at a high speed. Zareon finally staggered back and was shot into a building as he faded back into reality as Ryan blasted him with his remaining fist.

Ryan jumped back from his position and watched Zareon hit the building and fall down onto the ground. Zareon lay there silently on his face with his wounds open and bleeding slowly.

"If that doesn’t knock him out cold for a while, I don’t know what will." Ryan thought and he held his hand back to his wound.

He began to hear Zareon’s laughing again, and Zareon picked himself up slowly as he chuckled at Ryan some more. He stood up on his feet and raised his arms up towards the sky again, and the stars beyond the Dead Zone spell began to dance and sparkle wildly. Ryan sighed and fell back onto the ground in total exhaustion, and his arm began to slowly regenerate in his quiet relaxed position. Zareon began floating up high into the air and laughed at Ryan some more with a menacing face over him. His hands fired up with blazing energy, and thin lights from far out in the deep reaches of space beamed together from the stars, then began shooting towards the Earth.

"And now it’s time for the grand finale! The Star Fire extravaganza!" Zareon shouted out all around. A bolt of lightning crackled through the sky and Zareon shot his hands down towards the ground at Ryan and shouted, "Now go!"

The area began to heat up as the long line of fire drew closer to planet. They could see the blazing flames approaching quickly, and the beam hit through the direct center of the Dead Zone. There was a loud clash and boom from the collision, and everything around the Dead Zone began to rumble uncontrollably. Soon the Star Fire attack broke through the Dead Zone, causing it to shatter and release it’s vacuum force from the city, and it suddenly curved away and was sent back off to space, nearly missing the ground where Ryan laid. Ryan looked up with interest again and saw Zareon getting kicked off and away by a tightly wrapped and cloaked figure with long jagged purple hair.

The figure stood about as tall as Zareon had become through the Slayer transformation, and she wore gloves with long claws extending from the points. A mask that went over their nose and mouth closely covering the face, and as Ryan looked more closely he could make out what appeared to be a woman. The woman ran up to Zareon again and jumped up, kicking him down with both her feet, and she flipped away a great distance onto her feet. She turned around and made her way into a fighting stance with her knees bent down slightly, right claw up high in the air and pointing down, and left claw down with the palm up. She cringed and twitched suddenly, and a burst of light flashed over her whole body from front to back. Her body’s form changed as the light passed over her body, and she grew a long angelic wing on her right side and a purple demon-like devil wing on her left.

"Who the hell?" Zareon suddenly said.

The woman appeared angered through her shaded clothing, and she disappeared before everyone. A heavy gust of wind flew towards Zareon as she appeared in front of him. Zareon’s eyes widened in surprised, and she grabbed onto his head and began emitting magical beams. Zareon cringed and ached, screaming in horror as he felt his worlds truly break and split apart into his lawful and chaotic selves. She let go and kicked him away, and Zareon began tossing and turning around in a crazed fashion on his feet with his hands over his head. As he screamed and roared out into the city his eyes began to flash back to green and his facial marks of the Slayer began fading away. He shrunk down to normal size and fell to his feet, and his voice returned to how it was before the transformation.

Ryan began approaching the woman and Zareon slowly, and he called out, "Hey, what’s going on with Zareon?"

Zareon tossed his head around and cried, "My name is not Zareon! Aah!"

The woman turned and stepped away with her claws down. She took a deep breath and changed back into the way she first appeared without her wings. Ryan jumped back suddenly in surprise and kneeled down and bowed his head.

"Oh my god! You’re her, aren’t you?" Ryan asked, "Man, oh man, I should have realize it before and been more proper."

He began to shake in fear before the woman, making sure he did not look up at her again. She shook her head at Ryan and removed her mask, setting it down on her chest.

"You never change, do you Susalini?" she asked.

Ryan fell over on his face flat on the ground and asked, "Please... don’t call me that. Eheh..."

"Still denying your heritage as well, I see." She said. She turned around and said, "Zareon will be fine. I cast a spell on him that put his evil side to rest."

Ryan stood up and grinned, saying, "Oh, really? Thanks a lot!"

He retrieved his headband and mantle and put them back on again.

"This is what happens when Guardians don’t properly stay incubated in their chambers for the full time required for the reprogramming and merging of spirits." The woman told Ryan.

"I see. There’s been a lot of Guardians waking up early like this lately, hasn’t there? It must be a sign." Ryan said. He scratched his head and looked up at the lady and asked, "So what brings you here, Lady Lyz?"

She looked down at Joel, who was still bent over on the ground crying and suffering from the effects of the transformation, and said, "Zareon called out to the discord and summoned me here saying he was the strongest one of all. The discord had to set him straight." Lyz smiled evilly at Joel, then looked at Ryan and said, "You’re lucky that the order was on your side, or else I wouldn’t have been in a very good mood for either of you. Consider yourselves lucky I put you in my presence."

Ryan ducked behind his hands and blurted out, "Eww, always have to set everyone straight so you don’t look all mushy, don’t you?"

Lyz waved Ryan off and said, "Put a lid on it, joker."

Ryan smiled widely and chuckled to himself, showing his teeth.

"I’m going." Lyz told them, "Don’t let me catch him acting off like that again, because I’ll destroy both of you next time. I’m off to beat down Euzhacho some more now."

Ryan stood up straight and snapped to attention sharply at his superior as she jumped up and flew away with great speed. He turned around to Joel again and kneeled down next to him. He put his hand on his shoulder and nudged him slightly.

"Hey man, are you okay?" Ryan asked.

Joel stood there curled up on the ground silently as he cried some more, then looked back slightly and asked, "Did I really kill all those people and destroy this city?"

Ryan nodded and looked away with a sigh and said, "Yeah. Your body, but not your soul. It’s not really your fault, and I can back you up on that."

Joel stood up and swayed about on his feet slightly, wiping his tears from his face, and said, "It all started with the break out at Traquo and Sarralyn’s sickening death. Tell me why she told me to let her die, Ryan."

"I don’t know, man. I can’t tell you what either of us don’t already know." Ryan said with a slight shrug. He looked away and said, "The only way to find out is if we move on and learn some how."

Joel shook his head and sniffled a bit, then said, "No, not yet. I will mourn for a long time here for those who I killed. It’ll also give me time to forget how to use the Slayer transformation."

He walked slowly towards the town square at the center of the city and kneeled down, closing his eyes. He set his hand down on the ground and gathered his thoughts, and Joel remained there like an unmoving statue. Ryan watched Joel for a moment and sighed in frustration, and he dropped back on the ground with his hands out in a rested fashion.

"Ah man, but we don’t have time for mourning!" Ryan complained out loud. He sighed and said, "I’ll wait for you and make sure nothing happens. Just don’t take too long, because a lot can happen when you’re not moving!"

Ryan dropped his head back and hit the ground with his tight fist, and he began resting up after a long and hard day of fighting. And so began the long five month wait of depression for Joel. Time seemed to pass fast for Joel, who stood there quietly and unbothered by the changing weathers, even though it was forever for Ryan. The autumn leaves fell all around them and piled up high around Joel. They were soon blown away by the changing winds, and passing creatures also disposed of them. Soon winter came over Joel, and his hot aura covered him through the cold season, melting away the snowy blizzards that would come. Spring then came and melting the surrounding snow away around Joel and people began to come in at the masses to rebuild and repopulate the city. Through the entire wait Ryan could only think of one thing most of the time.

"Why didn’t Zareon go and destroy all of Traquo instead?" Ryan thought to himself as time went by, "It was right there, but..."

He shook his head and continued to wait for his friend to come out of his state of mourning.

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