The Coming Darkness

Making it to the field last, the announcer spoke again into the intercom. "Team Valor appears! Now, fans, what will happen when two of the most exciting teams clash? Let's find out!"

[[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naL8hgzrh6k ]]

Enzo noticed X and Droy standing 20 feet infront of them. Droy wore a large, unnecessary frog hat, and it bugged Enzo. "O-oi, are you some kind of mascot?" He accidentally blurted out.


http://www.cosplayisland.co.uk/files...ran_reborn.jpg

"Are you some kind of fish?" Droy replied mockingly. F-fish? what kind of comeback was that? X looked as if he were sleeping while he was standing. Droy turned to him, and asked "Can you pay attention so that we don't have to waste too much time here?" However, X kept his eyes closed.

"Ahh, you must be the team leader, X!" Enzo called out. Upon hearing his name, X opened an eye and stared at Enzo. "Battle start!" The announcer declared. The field shifted and changed to an urban city area, it looked to be an illusionary battlefield. It had startled Enzo, as he felt a rush of fear and nervousness flood him. "W-well, I hope we'll have a clean-" Enzo got caught off by a large beam of energy hitting him and smacking him into the wall of the building behind him.


http://i46.tinypic.com/34yzq0m.jpg

"Shut up." X sneered.

"Stupid... Why is even trying to be formal with enemies like him?" Kenji thought out loud. Once the smoke cleared, Enzo had fallen off of the wall behind him, and was on his knees.

http://gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=2540075&t=o

"That was rude of you, X."

"He's pretty dumb if he thinks being nice will do anything in this fight."
Silver sighed and sat down next to Kenji, covering the cut in her shirt with her left hand while leaning her head on her right. She hoped the fight would be entertaining, but she was also hoping that Enzo wouldn't get hurt too badly.

Ling came out following Enzo and the two of them stood pretty much side by side, but a couple of distance between them. "Aiyaa, those two look like a troublesome bunch." He glanced over at Enzo. "No matter. We'll just have to win this I guess." Ling also made a quick contact to the VIP section and could see the shadow of his Master's face through the darken Plexiglas. Ling exchanged a nod and the man gave him a smile. As soon as the "Battle Start" ringed through his ears, the whole arena changed into a different location and the illusion of the battlefield became real.

Lings footing was off so he ended up being in a location of a building so he was pushed up into the tall sky as he got a skyscraper height away from the ground. He could barely see what was happening down at ground level, but he could see a burst of flame coming from X and hitting directly at Enzo, crashing into the building he was on top of. "How will I get down from here?" He was stuck all the way at the top and tried to looking around for somewhere to get to and saw a lower building he could jump off to.

"Okey-dokey, X. Looks like i'll be taking care of Jackie chan." Droy said before running into the building Ling was on.

"Those flames... Are you some kind of sick joke?" X asked Enzo. "How did a kid like you..."

"Enough. Here I come."

http://gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=2833326&t=o


http://i47.tinypic.com/w0i6uc.jpg


Enzo looked up into the air and saw him using his guns the same way Enzo used his hands for flight. He can fly too. He thought.

http://gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=2841077&t=o

Maya watched the broadcast and leaned back. "We are... What's the word? Dead. We are dead." From what she had just seen, she had went over the odds in her head and the chance of Enzo and Ling losing was too high for her liking. "I just hope it's a clean fight." She murmured. Enzo was above cheating, but she knew his opponets might not be. She slipped her mask back into her bag and slid down against the wall, still watching the battle. Enzo and his opponet had flown up into the air in a fiery mess. God bless them, she thought out of old habit, and was immediately angry with herself for thinking about anything having to do with religion.

Flying upward towards X, Enzo dodged beams of fire coming from his guns. With each dodge, Enzo looked at the beam, closely examining it. They seem strangely similar to my flames. He thought. He closed in on X, getting within range of him. Enzo went for an uppercut, but it was dodged when X leaned back. And to rub it in, he smiled as Enzo realized how vulnerable he was. I'm open... he thought as he stared down the barrel of X's gun. "Disappear, imposter."

Enzo got blasted back with just one of his guns. The shot was a direct hit to the chest, sending Enzo back into a building. He crashed through the wall, continuing to barge down the other walls until he came to a stop.

Kenji looked at Maya, who had just voiced her thoughts out loud. "I don't want to agree with you, but, at this rate..."

Droy casually walked up the stairs to the building Ling was on. He yawned and stretched his arms while moving. "Jackieee-san!" He cried out playfully. "Where art thou!?"

"Who is this Jackie-san you're trying to call out for. I'm Bruce Lee." Ling walked out from one of the roof entrance and walked up to a close distance to Droy. "So you're suppose to be my opponent while Enzo was fighting X? Aiyaa, so troublesome." He looked over to Droy a bit unimpressed and he crossed his arm and gave a grin. "You don't look very strong, and I can say the same for myself. So because we're both weak, how about we just let those two fight it out and decide from there. Seems like a fair deal don't you think?"

"Peace treaty?" Droy's voice sounded like he had no sleep for a few days, yet he was perfectly awake. "Sure, Jackie-saaaan." He laughs.

Enzo opened his eyes, his vision was blurry, and slowly started to clear. He saw the destruction made by his own body crashing through it. It reminded him of the pain he was in. "Guh..." He looked over to his glove and realized that he forgot to protect his battle watch. Luckily for him, the watch was still intact. He stood up onto his legs, and brushed himself free of dust. X descended down into the hole in the building, and saw Enzo standing up. He aimed his gun at him, and spoke. "What magic school did you attend in order to gain that ability?" "What does it matter..?" Enzo replied. He was learning to ignore his pain for the sake of the battle. Perhaps this delay in the battle was in his favor. "Those flames don't belong to you." X stated. His words confused Enzo. "I was born with this curse. It's not magic."

Looking annoyed by Enzo's odd answers, X shot his gun at him, sending a beam hurling towards him. Enzo sidestepped, letting the beam go past him and out the other side of the window while he flew beside it, catching up to X. With his other gun, X fired again at Enzo, and once again, it was dodged. He had little room left, so he flew straight into X, sending him out of the side of the building. They both recovered in the air, and were close enough for melee combat. Enzo threw some attacks at X, only for each of them to be blocked using one arm. He decided to flank around behind X, trying to catch him off guard. He went for a leg kick but X performed the same maneuver, getting behind Enzo. Damn! X kicked Enzo down into the ground below. He crashed into it, shaking the ground and sending smoke stories high.

X landed near the crater that was created with Enzo's body. The smoke cleared and Enzo was on his stomach, crawling out of the hole. I must not lose control.. The more hurt I am, the harder it is to control... Though his body was battered, not a single drop of blood was on him. His hyper form made his body tough, though it didn't stop the bruises from showing. "Still alive? What a stubborn maggot." X said as he stepped on the back of Enzo's head. He began to stomp on it. It was almost as if X wasn't even concerned about breaking his watch. He just wanted to make him suffer.

Every stomp echoed through the entire stadium. The fans were silent. They didn't know weither to cheer for X winning, or call for help. Still, the fight was an entertaining one. "Team leader.. My ass!" X shouted. "I'll go after your pal and end him just like this, too!" Upon hearing that, Enzo's eyes shot open. He flew from under X, and crashed back onto his stomach. He tumbled until he came to a stop, on his knees. His spiky, dust covered hair covered his eyes, hiding his emotion. "Do whatever you want to me, but don't even think about embarrassing one of my friends like this too." "Damn, that's cheesy." Enzo stood up, his flames started to increase in size.


http://gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=2556170&t=o

There's no mistaking it.. He must be the runaway. X thought. "Just for that, I'll stop going easy on you." Enzo said before flying towards X at a much faster speed.


http://gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=1519041&t=o

Ling let out a whistle and was pretty surprised to see that Enzo was keeping up. "He just keeps getting stronger and stronger every time he gets into battle." He glanced over at Droy, still wary if he was that willing for peace. "Your partner looks like the type who would kill you if you're not participating. Is that fine?"

Droy looked at Ling and smiled. "Senpai is always angry at something. Nobody in Phantom is soft, so if you can't defend yourself, well..." It went without saying what happened to a member of Phantom if they were too soft. "What about you, Jackie-san? Won't flame-boy be upset?"

After receiving Enzo's fierce punch, X quickly got ready to propel himself out of harm's way, but was stopped when Enzo grabbed his arm. "I'm not done." Enzo said. He quickly planted both of feet on X, and while although going at a fast speed, they were close to the ground, so Enzo pushed him down onto the ground and body surfed X across the cement and stone ground. Once they slowed down enough, He kicked X hard enough in the chin that he did a backflip and landed it perfectly. X on the other hand, was shot into a car created by the illusion field.

X stood up like it was nothing, He took both of this guns and they both started to charge with extreme power that everyone in the stadium could feel.

http://i47.tinypic.com/xarj1g.jpg

"You..."

http://i45.tinypic.com/4q3pj.gif

Spoiler

http://i48.tinypic.com/24eyfqt.gif
"...pissed me off now!"

X's shadow seemed to have grown a mind of it's own. Enzo had to fly back to avoid the shadow's growing mass. Just when he thought He had avoided it, the shadow mass appeared out of the shadow of the building, coming up behind Enzo and smacking him to another building. To Enzo, the shadows felt the same as the beams. Let's try something... He corrected himself in midair and stabilized himself. From the looks of it, X was preparing to fire at Enzo with both his guns.

Spoiler

http://gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=302094&t=o

That stance.. When did he learn that move? Kenji had seen this being used before, but not by Enzo. "He's activating the glove's secondary function..."

Once his guns were ready to fire, X sunk into his own shadow to appear out of one of the nearby buildings for a better shot.

"Disappear!"

Spoiler

http://gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=2168761&t=o

Silver stared at the screen showing Enzo and X fighting. "Did he just..." She couldn't believe it. Did he actually just absorb that shot? He's a LOT stronger than I thought he was...

X stayed still and watched in confusion as the explosion shrinked, and was absorbed into the boy's gloves. All of the flame Enzo had turned to ice, and he fell to the ground. X descended back down to the torn ground, and realized Enzo wasn't where he just fell. "Where did that brat go?" He looked around the surrounding buildings. Smoke was flowing out of the places that Enzo was thrown at eariler. Enzo's eyes glowed in the shadows that he stood in. X noticed it too late and Enzo grabbed his shoulder. Ice formed on him, freezing his shoulder and going all the way down to his wrists. "What the hell are you doing to me?!" X shouted. Enzo only gave him a stare before turning it to his gun. "You never threw a single punch." He finally spoke. "You don't have a single bullet in your gun, either. So the fire is coming from within you, correct?" X didn't reply, he couldn't move for some reason, either. Looking down, he realized Enzo had his feet frozen, too. And to his side, his other gun aswell!

Enzo watched the gun carefully, after a moment, the gun changed form. It retracted back onto X's hand, forming a single ring. "I see. You have the rings too." Enzo grabbed his wrist and melted the battle watch, eliminating X from the battle.

"Wow! X was eliminated from the battle! ...And.. huh? Droy was too!"

Droy looked at his broken watch on the floor, then back to Ling. "Oh, you beat meee." Droy mocked.

Artizle was reading his favorite novel while Volitaire trained on his spells. Volitaire was skimming through the book of Void magic to see what he could start with. He saw a kind of "magnetism" spell. Volitaire read quietly "Use your arcane energies to spread space around a certain point, but in a abrupt fashion. Making the space try to close itself to maintain stability. In the frenzy, objects without a arcane output may be pulled from the surface and to the point of opening. Creating a "magnetizing" like effect. When releasing the magic from the opened space, everything will return to place and a sudden push of gravity will repel everything that was taken from the surface at an astonishing rate. Implying a dangerous effect." Volitaire put the book at his side. "Okay, Arti. You may need to get out the way." Artizle kept to his book and got up and walked to the other corner of the room. Voliaire focues his magic at a point in the middle of the room. He stood there for minutes trying to get a rift to open, he pushed more magic into the focal point. Suddenly a small shaking ball was forming in the middle of the room and a small pull could be felt. Stationary items began to move towards the ball, with even more focus it grew bigger and formed ripples around it. Even bigger items flew towards it, the walls even began to come apart and attach to the sphere. Volitare spent so much magical power on the rift that he lost focus and the sphere closed and blew everything back. Parts of the wall crashed into what's left of the room and items flew away and broke. The force blew Volitaire on his back and Artizle fell over. The room was a total mess.

Ling looked at Droy and just gave him a much more darker smile and his face became something sinister. "Nice for you to just drop out the match, but you and X aren't getting off easily." The crowd went in an uproar as they watched the match. The announcer was about to yell into his mic for the victor before Aleister waved his hand. "Activate Aurora." The whole world started to slow down and everything became dim and grey. Even the man who cast the spell was stuck in Aurora's effect. The only one who did not feel the effect was Droy, X, Enzo, and Ling. He picked up Droy by the neck and jumped off the building, landed on his ground from a distance of Enzo. He threw the frog hat boy towards the ground in front of Enzo and started clapping his hand. "Aiyaa, look at that. We won the Battle Royale. That was certainly an amazing spectacle. I should applaud you for the amazing fight you have shown." Ling started to walk towards Enzo.

[Note: Montesque who is a time lord should have not felt the effect of Aurora, but should have noticed an activation]

The flames on Enzo quickly went away once he saw Droy fall infront of him. "Ehhh... What a jerk..." Droy muttered, face planted on the ground. Enzo turned to Ling and smiled. "Yeah, well you seemed to do good against Droy, aswell, took him out at almost the same time I did X." It made him wonder just how strong Ling was, even IF he was a non-magic user. Wait.. something's different. Enzo thought. The illusion field seemed more gloomy then usual. Probably just a mechanical failure due to the stray attacks...

"Oh, I didn't get a chance to fight. Droy and I made a peace treaty and we both left it up to the two of you to fight. But you know, seeing the two of you fight got my blood boiling." He walked over to Enzo and placed his arm over his shoulder and leaned in closer. His eyes open wide and a grim smile came over his face as he spoke softly. "How about we keep going Enzo?"

Enzo's eyes widened quickly, and his voice began to shake with nervousness, as usual. "B-but we can't! We already won against them!" He said to Ling. Meanwhile, X's guns were frozen, and so were his feet, so he couldn't move at all. Droy on the other hand, had apparently fallen asleep in the same position he fell in.

"Well you're no fun. I thought we could have been on the same boat. You know, show that Sorcerers was the best of best." He walked over to X and looked at him. "Hey X, I didn't expect you to be so weak. Enzo pretty much beat you down with his hands tied. How does that make you feel?"

X scoffed. "And who the hell are you, huh?" He sneered. "Melt this ice and i'll be sure to kill the both of you." Man, things got pretty scary for some reason.. I feel uneasy. Enzo thought. He looked back over to Droy, who was falling into a deep sleep now. If they didn't fight, why did Ling have to do that to him?

Ling gave a big smile. "I would have been a bit afraid if you said that while you're unfrozen. But thanks to Enzo. I can do this freely." With one swift movement he was able to uppercut X and his head knocked back. His eyes went white instantly from the blow. His upper unfrozen body went limp but Ling caught him before drooping. "Hey hey, I'm not finish." In the middle of the sentence he punched X in the face again and blood spurt out from his mouth and nose. "This is why I hate you Magic-user, you people are so arrogant and talk big." Ling kept on punching his body like a punching bag, inflicting bruises and make X bleed with each and every punch. His smiling expression to something of annoyance.

Enzo's body was flushed with fear and panic. Instinctively, he ran over to the two and shouted "STOP!" He had no idea Ling had a side like this. His usual optimistic smile turned dark, and Enzo wasn't used to seeing it at all. "What are you doing, Ling?! Don't hurt him!"

Ling glared at Enzo. He then changed back to his ever-smiling face. "What do you think I'm doing. I'm just doing what I want to satiate my boiling blood." He then pushed Enzo away and walked over to Droy. He then picked the boy up and started to punch him. Droy unaware of what was going on instantly fell unconscious. "You must have been thinking, man Jackie-san must be weak in the back of your head. Thinking that someone like me could not take on someone who was a Magic-user." He then kept on punching away and then tossed the body towards a building as it let out a bloody mess to the wall. Ling let out a sigh. "Phew, that took some energy out of me. What do you think Enzo. You can join in if you want."

"No..." Enzo looked at his shaking hands. He had to do something about Ling. If he continued, he just might kill them. Ling.. is my friend.. but, I can't let him do this to people. He balled up his hands into fists. "I won't let you do this anymore, Ling!" He shouted out.

"Well, look at that. Little Enzo is trying to play hero again. It pisses me off. You magic-user who abuse the power given to you. It should have been better if magic didn't exist in this world." Ling brought up his fist and lifted it towards Enzo. "If you really want to stop me, you should just do it with your magic. Strike me like how you fought with all those other people you fought up till now." Ling let out a creepy laugh and looked like he was prepared to strike Enzo.

[[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B5QHJ2iwdk ]]

Enzo looked down, for some reason, he had remembered the time when they had first became friends.

Spoiler

"I've been that way for everyone I've met, with the exception of Volitaire." Those words brought both Kenji and Enzo bitter memories of betrayal, and the harsh truth. "But, I'm here now, and i'm ready to try again." Enzo looked up to Ling, who was unusually tall. "Of course you can be my friend." Ling could not help but well up till tear starts rolling down his face from his closed eyes. "Really Enzo, I'm just so relieved. Let's enjoy our years at Sorcerer together alright?"

I don't know what's happened to you, Ling, but it's okay. He closed his eyes, his flames slowly returning to him, and his rings formed. I will wash away your darkness.

"Stop taking your sweet time Enzo. Come at me with everything you got."

Outside the battlefield, the effect of Aurora was wearing off. Aleister stood up and turned to the butler. "Activate the illusion disruptor. Make sure that you don't let the barrier disappear until my signal." The butler simply nodded and moved over to the control panel and pressed a couple of buttons. The audience just noticed that the battlefield was covered in darkness and the big screen and camera just recorded nothing of the battle that just ended. The announcer started talking again. "We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties with the illusion battlefield and it seems that the fighters might be trapped inside. We are getting the staff to fix this problem so sit tight and wait it out." People were starting to talk and everyone just simply chant for Team Valor because they had witnessed Phantom losing both of their watches.

Joanne sat in one of the VIP lounge watching the screen record nothing but static. Aleister soon joined her. "Our plan is now set in motion. It is up to Ling to fulfil the final goal before we commence with my revolution." She simply nodded. "Yes Master Aleister."

"If you wish."

Enzo flew forward toward Ling. He was still juiced up from the attack he absorbed from X. He stored the flame in his right hand, while using the left to go for a quick, basic and blockable jab to the face.

Ling took the punch to the face, his head was knocked back as if he had broken a neck. But he didn't flew off from such a jab. "That actually hurt." He pulled his face forward and with Enzo being too close to Ling, he tried to throw a blow towards his stomach.

Enzo didn't see the attack coming from his angle, and got hit by it. He got knocked back a few feet, and hoovered in the air, still saving most of his flames. It was clear he was trying to hold back. "Why did you come to Sorcerers if you don't like magic or it's users?" Enzo questioned him.

Ling gave a smirk. His nose started to bleed due to the direct hit from Enzo's punch. "It was all for a mission. All for the sake for my Master who wants to put all of the evil magic-user and control the powers of magic." Ling picked up his fists. "Castle Aurora was a prime example that you witnessed. Terrorist who have such ability abuse their magic and the result always ends with death with their trail. Those villagers and Einso were casualty based on their actions. But Castle Aurora wasn't just the only one. There have been countless reports of normal humans being caught in the crossfire of magic user. Those who could not stand above them just roll over and die in the hands of magician in cold blood. I have witness such horrors in the past. Innocent people losing their lives because more and more magic-user keeps appearing and more and more we see them losing themselves to their abilities and people die in the end." Ling changed to a much more solemn expression. "Our master, he sees the evil in this world and he wants it to change. We normal people who have been cast aside and live our life. Either in fear or ignorance of magic. We're only normal people who can't even defend against any of you. Enzo, how about joining us? You're ability is not like any of those users. Join our organization and help us put a leash on magic."