As I charged the Agni, the armor on its chest opened revealing two small missile batteries beneath it. As the swarm of missiles fired I directed the cloth bits to fire at all of the incoming missiles while shooting flares from the backpack.

The Agni raised his claw as I drew closer and as I brought down the beam sword upon the Agni, the blade smacked against a green barrier. Cocking its arm back, the Agni punched the space between the barrier and the beam sword projecting a shockwave that sent me and my machine tumbling back toward the water. Quickly using the thrusters, I oriented Ragnarok so that we wouldn't take another sudden plunge.

As I stared at the color it so vibrantly displayed didn't seem to match up with Ajun's more greyish aura. Something inside of me began to twist as the barrier shimmered out of existence.

"The hell are you using?" I asked, "That's not your power..."

The Agni tilted its head as it seemingly stared at us. Activating the barrier again, a rising fit of laughter began to ring about on the coms. "Oh yeah... I suppose that weakling did have an exceptional ability... Too bad he was too much of a coward to use it properly."

That was Clarke's barrier. It wasn't as strong as his but it was his. Meaning he robbed the dead of their powers as well. It was such a sickening power to use. As if it wasn't bad enough that this guy killed Clarke.

"Soran... We need to pulverize this guy," Claire hissed.

"Yeah... Let's give him everything we've got."

Right after me, the Nightengale charged the Agni, firing its Gatling guns and missiles as it did. The Agni just raised its arm cannon and fired two massive rounds at the opposing machine. The Nightingale rolled to the left but its right shield was grazed by the shot. Electricity snapped across the shield's exterior before it was purged and as it sunk into the sea, a large geyser of water burst from below. The Nightengale fired another hail of bullets from the remaining Gatling gun and a couple of beams from the cannons that rested on its backpack. The Avalon aimed its shield firing a pair of Vulcans at the Agni as well.

The Agni raised its arm again using the shield to protect it, but as it did so the shield began to shimmer in and out of existence. Seeing that the shield was raised seemingly on command I decided to explore more options. Commanding the cloth bits to encircle the Agni, I had them fire upon the machine from all sides. As beam fire rained on top of the Agni it raised its arm and the beams were stopped in nearly every direction. The only area where the Agni was hit was the base of its spine. Although it did minor damage, the knowledge alone was enough.

So the barrier had to be called on command and it only protected everywhere except the back. I relayed this information to Claire and Andrew while recalling the cloth bits. They were just in time as well, as Arjun seemed to turn his attention on me with that beam cannon of his. As another beam was fired in my direction I directed the cloth bits to attach directly to the left arm to form an escutcheon to deflect the beam.

As it struck the barrier, the beam was deflected and split up striking other areas behind me. Something I knew I'd pay for later. Splitting the cloth bits up again I charged forward with the thrusters at full blast. Funneling my power into Ragnarok's frame, the flames being emitted from the right arm began to expand and engulf the beam sword transforming the blade into Ninth Light. As I approached, the Agni planted its feet on the ground and took off straight for me. In its clawed hand, black ether began to gather and take the form of a giant spiked mace. From above the shadow of the mace shrouded the sky above me as it came down.

Feeling a jolt from the Animus, Ragnarok's foot planted right into the harbor's wall. Pushing off from the wall the front thrusters kicked in sending us flying backward with the mace crashing down in the water. The Agni lifted the gigantic weapon placing it over its shoulder.

"Hey... Runt..." Arjun hissed over the com. "Try dodging this..."

Changing his grip on the mace he held it like a spear. Pulling his arm back, the Agni cocked its arm back and launched the mace straight at me.

"Get down idiot!" Andrew shouted over the com as the Avalon collided with the Ragnarok with its shield raised. The mace pierced right through the shield, puncturing the Avalon's arm.

"Andrew!"

"I'm fine! I just lost the arm. Don't lose focus!"

Turning back to the Agni, I switched to the Lumis Rifle. Pointing it at the Agni I began to charge it. Though would it have been enough?

"Claire! Get him into the air."

"With pleasure!"

The Nightengale rushed the Agni, the latter of whom fired more from its arm cannon to try and disable the opposing machine. Using its remaining three shields, the Nightengale continued its charge until it was close enough that it was too late to stop. Then in a shocking turn of events, its armor purged from its revealing a lightly armored machine underneath. The leftover armor casing around its right arm then came apart and swiveled over its right hand changing into a drill-like weapon. The Agni raised its shield once more as the drill collided with the shield. As the drill spun rapidly, the Agni was slowly being pushed back against a building.

"You've got a familiar scent about you young one," commented Arjun. The life force I stole from that weakling... It's much like yours. A sister perhaps?"

"Yeah... And this sibling doesn't pull her punches!" Claire bellowed, pulling the drill back for a moment only to thrust it back into the barrier pushing her thrusters into full power as she did. The barrier began to crack under the strength Claire displayed forcing Agni to lower his arm cannon aiming for Clarke's chest.

As the memory of Clarke's death flashed in my mind one more time I quickly deployed a cloth bit to circle the building Arjun had been pinned to. Firing a beam it managed to pierce through the barrier throwing off Arjun's aim as the beam fired. Although it burned a large hole in the Nightingale's waist it didn't cause so much damage to completely disable it.

At the same time, the drill which caused more cracks in the Agni's barrier finally pierced through shattering the shield in the process. The drill tore a hole through the Agni's claw and punctured its waist before it jammed inside the machine. Grabbing the Agni's face, the Nightingale lifted the machine and blasted off into the air carrying the Agni into the sky.

Recalling the cloth bit, I linked the left arm to the Lumis Rifle and recalled the cloth bits to attach to the rifle. Aiming at the Nightingale and Agni the charging process was nearly complete.

"Claire! Get out of the way!!!"

The Nightingale's arms were purged separating the two machines long enough to squeeze the trigger.

"Now roar! Luminous Magnum!!!"

Squeezing the trigger, the beam erupted from the barrel of the rifle piercing the skies of Neo Arcadia.

"Don't underestimate me, boy!!!" I heard over the com as another beam fired right before it struck the Agni. It was being stopped by a secondary shot but with it being hastily fired it wouldn't stop a shot from the Luminous Magnum without avoiding extensive damage.

Seeing the trajectory of the beam, it was headed for one of the Megaliths. It was the Megalith of the boy, the one from near the dorms. The shot wouldn't hit the structure but it'd come too close for comfort. Looking around for Andrew and Claire the two luckily hadn't been that far away. The Avalon had been pinned to a portion of the harbor by the giant mace while the Nightingale had crashed awkwardly on top of a nearby building.

"You guys alive!?" I asked about frantically launching to save one of the two.

"Don't worry I haven't kicked the bucket yet," Andrew answered.

Claire didn't answer. Checking the squad status I could see that the Nightingale had suffered a severe amount of damage but despite this, the pilot's vitals didn't seem too abnormal. Maybe aside from a spike in heart rate and some immense pain, Claire was gonna be fine.

"Listen," said Andrew. "Go on ahead, that guy isn't dead yet "

"But what about you guys? "You're hurt and you need medical attention?"

The monitor displayed an incoming transmission coming from the Nightingale. Answering it, the display changed to a view inside Claire's cockpit. She'd been bleeding from her head and holding her arm. Seemingly a little groggy, she briefly pointed to me. She started speaking but the words came out as a garbled mess over the coms. But I could read her lips.

"Get going you idiot! That guy owes a blood debt."

Although seeing that she was ok was enough, besides she was right. Turning toward the megalith I holstered the Lumis rifle. It was likely the damage to the Agni was great enough to render it inoperable. Besides, the time limit for the Anti-Eidolon was approaching, meaning the automatic safety mechanism Talia put in place was likely going to activate. One final brawl to settle it.

The although the flight to the megalith felt short, it was like I could notice every second that ticked by. It wasn't the exact feeling but I could understand Andrew a little better. Reaching the top of the megalith, I found the Agni there, heavily damaged from the beam fire. it was kneeling on the structure, Portions of its body were missing along with its clawed arm. Agni had been standing right outside, seemingly smoking a cigarette.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Having the Ragnarok kneel I had it shut down and open the cockpit. Taking my jacket and throwing it over my shoulder, I leaped down emitting flames from my feet to slow my fall. Raising my right hand a ball of flames came to life in my palm and from it the hilt of Ninth Light. Drawing the blade from my palm the emitter opened bringing life to the beam blade.

I approached Arjun slowly, taking care to look out for any signs of a sneak attack. Though my caution came from my fighter's instincts, I knew Arjun wasn't one for tricks. As he turned to face me he flicked the cigarette away and stamped it out.

"You're something kid," he spoke. "Even though you had to gang up on me I could almost see a shadow of that monster of a woman behind you."

"Yeah... she's pretty intense on the training."

He let out a loud chuckle as he ripped his jacket off of his back. Crackling his knuckles and neck he began to approach me as well.

We'd stop just enough to stay out of each other's reach but close enough to where we could see each other. Compared to me, Arjun may have been the most massive guy I'd ever seen. It was like looking at a super juiced-up Clarke or Butch.

"You know... you're a pretty decent Arcadian," Arjun admitted. "Anyone of us would get revenge for a fallen comrade. But every about you is manufactured... You're just a lab rat Solomon is using to keep our kind dead."

As he reached out his hand green energy began to generate and take the form of the mace he'd been using earlier. "I'm going to break you to show you how insignificant your existence is... But I won't kill you. You'll have something nice to watch before you die..."

Power began to surge beneath Arjun's feet. His aura became visible as it cloaked his body.

"As I hang from the Gallows awaiting death... I know my sacrifice will be for the good of all... Passing on I shall give new life to new possibilities... As the Hanged Man, that is my duty."

"Anima Engage: Vijaya"

Crimson armor began to encase Arjun's legs as his power increased. His head grew a pair of fierce horns as a demonic-looking helm overtook his facial features. His clawed hands now complemented the size of his mace. His body appeared even more massive than before. As he leaned down I noticed he now had a tail protruding from his back.

"Let's see if you can survive this?"

Holding the mace with both of his hands he raised the weapon and swung it so fast I could barely register it was coming. As it slammed against my right arm I could feel the bones being crushed by the sheer power of Arjun's swing. The strike flung me so far to the right, If I hadn't stabbed my blade into the surface beneath me I'd have tumbled off of the Megalith. By the time I recovered all I could see is Arjun speeding toward me like a bullet tram. Picking myself up just in time before he completely knocked me out of the park, I fired a ball of flame at the ground between us. The ball exploded creating a wall of flames that was too thick to see through. Even though I was sure he'd only be distracted for a second it was all I needed.

Seeing the mace come through the flames I swung my blade against it knocking the mace off of its intended course. After two more swings followed by two more parries, the two of us were at a short standstill until Arjun raised his mace high again and slammed it down as hard as he could. Stepping to the left I managed to avoid the strike. Then I stomped hard on the mace digging it into the ground and with both hands now in full swing. As the blade neared his neck, Arjun let go of the mace and bent backward completely avoiding Ninth Light.

He then leaned back forward and clasped his giant hand on my shoulder. With all of his strength, he tossed me over his back into the air. He then spun around, grabbing the shaft and pulling the weapon from the ground. Reversing his grip he spun one more time and threw the mace as hard as he could like last time. Holding out my hand I projected four walls of black flame, then switched hands, holding my left forearm for defense.

The Mace treated the walls of flame like thin sheets of paper which luckily, much to my dismay my prosthetic managed to hold up against the weight of the mace. Turning the manipulator all away around I grabbed hold of the mace and gripped it tightly. Dismissing Ninth Light I fired a wave of flames to the right, using it to spin myself around then tossed the mace right back at Arjun. Then in my right hand, a ball of black flames took shape and became the form of Zero Dark. Firing three rounds at the mace, the bullets turned into balls of black flame that engulfed the mace as they struck the weapon.

Arjun raised his hand and the wind began to pick up rapidly. A small gale of wind blew toward me and blew the flames off of the mace. He then pulled back his hand and the gale turned into a vacuum sucking the mace back to the ground where he stood.

Landing back on the surface I switched hands with Zero Dark and summoned Ninth Light.

For the briefest moment, the dust began to settle. Even though we'd only been fighting for only a few minutes it almost felt like an eternity. Finding an opening seemed near impossible.

Steam vented out from the small openings on Arjun's helm as the sound of a sigh echoed through the air. "You know... I thought this would be more enjoyable than last time... Come on, use your Anima already!"

As much as the situation called for it, I couldn't do that at all. Using the Anima as I did before only caused problems. Even though I trained to handle it there was a part of me that didn't believe I could pull it off this time.

Noting my lack of an answer, Arjun cracked his neck again. Another heavy sigh escaped his helm as he picked up his mace. "If you can't still use it, then what good are ya... You're even more of a disappointment than I thought... And Lucian thinks your special or something."

He knelt down and then planted his right foot into the ground pushing off with a great amount of force. Gathering power into Ninth Light's blade I began firing bullets at Arjun hoping to make him dodge and slow him down. But he didn't even attempt. As the bullets struck him they did no damage nor did they even make him flinch.

By the time he reached me, the power I'd been infusing Ninth Light with was only half complete, but I had no choice now. Swinging my sword as hard as I could, Arjun swung from below with his mace. The blunt instrument struck Ninth Light's emitter causing it to crack horribly and the force of his swing sent me flying a few feet in the air. The wiring of Arjun's tail caught me by the neck before I went up too far and he grabbed my head and slammed me into the ground. Picking me back up Arjun dropped his weapon and lifted me above his head.

"And now you will be broken..."

Arjun dropped me on top of his knee and I felt my spin snap in so many different places I immediately lost feeling in my legs. In contrast, if I were to describe the pain I feel in my back. The best I could do is imagine ships blowing up and flames everywhere. That was good enough.

As Arjun stood over me he seemingly waited for me to get back up, which wasn't happening for another few minutes. He then stepped over me walking toward the Agni as he left me there. Looking over at Ninth Light, the entire frame of the emitter was cracked. Even if I could move my hands there was no way the blade would activate again without falling apart. Then there was Zero Dark, which had been in pieces from the fall. So much for Astras not being able to break.

"It's too bad little Xenthos... I thought you were special. I'll do you a favor though... I'll make their deaths nice and easy."

There was no way I was going to let him leave here. I tried desperately to focus my mind on standing up. As long as I stood then I could prevent Arjun from doing anything. Candlelike flames began to appear along my wounds. Gripping both of my weapons I slowly picked myself up as my bones began to snap back together and reset. As I rose to my feet, Arjun turned back and his mouth had been hanging open in total shock.

"Woah... You're still kickin'?" He gasped.

Holding the remains of my weapons it took every ounce of my concentration to even stay awake at this point. It was frustrating that despite that training I still couldn't do what needed to be done. I didn't want to die here and I didn't want this freak to go anywhere near my friends. The very thought of their lives being in danger was more sickening than any nasty food. To top it all off this guy, who needlessly wasted the lives of others just to get more power was as strong as he was.

"Screw you... You piece of garbage."

Arjun grinned and now he turned fully to face me. Looking at both of my weapons I realized I couldn't fight with just them. But until this guy tore me to pieces I wasn't gonna start kicking and screaming. Even if I had to bite him to death or squirt blood in his eyes I'd do my damndest to keep him here.

"You all wanna put this crap on me... I'm special... I'm unique. I'm supposed to be a leader, a hero, some kind of last hope. All of you can go straight to hell!"

Raising my weapons I activated Ninth Light. The beam blade flickered to life although portions of it poked out of the cracks of the emitter. The blade was also not as long as it was supposed to be meaning it could very well fall apart at the seams.

"I'm Soran Xenthos... I'm going to decide who I want to be dammit!"

Aiming the failing blade at Arjun my vision faded for a split second before returning to a world filled with green light. In that instant, I'd been seemingly teleported to an entirely different place. As I turned around I saw Solomon's lab once more with the man himself just standing there. He'd been standing alongside a white-haired woman with blue eyes. She'd been rather short much like myself and her hair was tied up in a ponytail. She wore a white jacket with a blue body suit, but much more importantly she'd been holding something. It was a child, with black hair and blue eyes.

"I'm sorry Kyla," spoke Solomon, "I did not wish for it to come to this."

"Hey, quick worryin' about the small stuff. You said it'll be fine right?" The woman said.

"Yes but... this is your child. Although we had to keep his existence a secret, he's still going to go through harsh trials. Plus... you likely won't even be there."

The baby cooed as it reached for its mother. She held out her finger letting the little boy grab hold of it.

"You underestimate me old friend and you also underestimate his father."

She then turned to me as if she'd known I'd been standing there the entire time. She moved the hand the baby was playing with just enough to allow me to see the back of it. It was a mark with a Wheel that possessed so many different symbols on it.

"Worst of all Solomon... You underestimated my child. He'll gladly pay back anything thrown at him with interest!"

The visage disappeared and I'd been standing before Arjun again. Looking around a bit frantically I realized that only a couple of seconds passed. That's also when I noticed my flames. Instead of the pure white or black color they displayed, they now had a red outline as they covered my weapons.

Something within me suddenly knew what to do. Reversing my grip on Ninth Light I held it above Zero Dark.

"I guess I hit you in the head a lot harder than I thought," scoffed Arjun. "What are you up to punk?"

"I'm not going to hesitate anymore!" I shouted. "I will protect my planet!"

"That's right my son. Use everything you've got to protect what's precious to you. Like a real Arcadian."

I rammed Ninth Light's blade straight into Zero Dark and a blinding green light began to shine brightly from both of the weapons. A mixture of both white and black flames began to converge and molded the weapons into one. A new flame had been born, one filled with intense green light. Reaching into it I pulled out a single blade. The emitter itself was as large as the original sword. The guard now possessed a gun handle with the revolver cylinder merged within as well. As I lifted the blade I could feel my power coursing through my body and becoming whole. Even though there were three different kinds of flame now they didn't feel all that different from each other anymore.

The pain from my wounds faded away and my strength returned. I'd slowly become revitalized and now could hold my sword with both hands. Opening my eyes I now stared daggers into Arjun's eyes.

"Alright... Welcome to the world Astrea Trinity..."

The blade's emitter opened and a beam blade burst from the machinery. "But wait... I'm not done yet."

I tried to remember the chant I used before, but as I opened my mouth to speak I thought of something. Why did I need to chant something so cliche? Instead, an image came to my head, the image of Go Raiser about to transform to fight the forces of darkness once more. Then the faces of all my friends and family came flowing to me one by one.

Slapping the revolver cylinder it spun rapidly as the three flames flowed into the blade.

"Anima Ignition... Anima Ignition... Anima Ignition!"

I clenched my buttcheeks and took in a fist full of air ready to let it out in one loud bellow.

"HEN...SHIN!!!"