[Traitor]

It was now 1vs1. Nhieling was facing the red team leader. This one seem through, his whips were slamming the ground around him. His cripple curse was effective, at least, but this one was really naturaly strong, he was still dangerous with the curse casted on him.
Nhieling was retreating slowly, but prevent him from approching with his puppet. Whip were good for attacking, but a lot weaker when it come to defending yourself, and the big guy couldn't afford to step forward of he could be cut to piece.

Nhieling take a look around him. As the fight seem to go on, his ally seem to take the upperhand. Thugs really weren't up to the level of pro mercenary. Their stamina and their will to fight were starting to run out

The blade brothers get faster and faster as the fight go one, slashing and spining through their enemy. There weren't any heavy casualty in their group, but mortal injury were just a matter of time. The monk start a maneuver to cut their opponent group in two. Blocking his two initial fighter in a way they couldn't support the two others. He was taking some small cut, but he was able to avoid most attack, and his healing ability were up to the level he could use them while fighting.
Stoic, he lift his arm in a knew battle stance an start a strange prayer. "The death as only master, we follow the reaver. On the path of battlefield, of the pain we fed. Our battle in vain, but we brough our enemy fear and pain."
Then a wave of pure fear goes through all of the red team member. A fear able to make someone loose control over his own body, making him crap his pant. An ununderstandable fear draw out by the holy power of the war god.

Only waiting for an oppening, the two blades rush into their opponent, striking them criticaly.

Back to Nhieling : You know, I hate fighting. If all of my enemy could just accept their defeat it would save my time. I let you a last chance : Surrender now and you'll live.

After seeing that scene surrender was on the last thing on their mind.

OmegaRed after seeing the blade bros critically hit Ashton and Kutch's partners he had enough.

The bandits also were riled up after seeing their comrades fall.

Losing one comrade in battle was a tragedy enough, but losing 2? even 3? that was beyond unforgivable.

Red was full of fury and the remaining 4 bandits follow'd his lead. They were the hot heated bunch of the group that related so well to Red they moved in synchronization.

Red suddenly wrapped both of his whips around the Blade Brothers necks. He started siphoning their strength as he kept them in place, as the four remaining bandits simultaneously attacked them. Two hitting the outside arms and the other two striking their sides, nothing too fatal but they'll need proper healing after if they lived.

Leaving both with wounds on their body and one with their left arm nearly left useless, and the other his right arm as they were getting choked by Red.

But by then Red then let go of his whips and drew his Battle axe. He faced the puppeteer with a look of pure maddness.

As if mental warfare was ever a problem with him he thought as he always knew he would end up like this. Losing himself to the madness in his mind as they aggressively fought without error for the next few minutes.

But like all things the survivors were losing steam as they huddled together. At least they thought their minds are not wavered anymore, they had full conviction to fight it out to the end. To protect each other, as they clung to the last thread of hope together, was all they had left.

Right then as they had their backs to each other prepared to fight for their lives a ominous figure was making it's way to the area.

They finally made their way back to base they found Francis outside the door bleeding all over the place.

Francis! What happened to you? TrickBlue said as he saw him first.

Francis looked up with a look of fear of his eyes. TrickBlue then suddenly understood... but he had to be sure.
By the look from his face Francis nodded to acknowledge that IT happened.

...Oh no how are we going to live through this? he wondered. The leader unhappy with hearing that Red was having trouble was on his way now to punish him, the merchants everything that was in the general area.

His face shook with horror as he viewed the consequences of it.

When the group finally caught up he yelled

Reggie! Shawn! Evacuate the town Francis should be alright and will help you too, he looked back to see Francis nod acceptingly even though he was bleeding pretty bad.

Alright we have to go now! My leader is out of his cage and he's gonna go on a rampage he screamed as he ran out to rescue OmegaRed.

A few minutes away the Legendary Dark Death Bringer Dragoon Jecht Fox had his sights of Omega Red and the mercant convoy that was pushing them back.

Hmph, insects...

Mortimer was on Jess's trail in bat form... granted it had taken him a while to catch up given the distraction caused to parts of himself by the local insect population... but that was a story for another time. He believed he was on the right track for Jess when the being entered his empathy range.

It was dark....very dark. Practically as dark as Umi and Nhieling's puppet combined. The force from the soul spoke of hatred, disgust... but no fear or pity. Mortimer wanted to stay away from it but he could now feel Jess Darren and.... NHIELING? It figures that he would be involved in all of this.

Mortimer would have rolled his eyes if he had a uniform set of eyes to role with but instead he increased his altitude riding up on a thermal. He would circle around from above for a while but would come crashing down when it became neccessary.

To the orbiting shadow mage, split up into numerous bats... it seemed like it was going to be one of "those" days. Especially when the dark presence began moving in on Nhielings position.

Nhieling was too absorbed into his fighting to sense anything right now. His opponent hard turned berzerk.
There is nothing more to say... You're nothing more than a beast... brainless.
Nhieling was disappoint. His opponent were nothing more than a brutal fighter from the start, but he really hoped for at least a good fight, not an execution... You've lose the fight at the same time you've lost your mind.
Nhieling was now ready for fighting.

At the other side, the battle monk said : Prepare yourself for Suu Yo.
"All your hate, all you have, it's now mine..."
Then he reversed his precedent spell, this time he absorb everything about his opponent, sucking the two blades into his spell too. All their anger, their will, all of this became his.
Then I was like an illusion had broken. The monk wasn't drawing the attention before, but suddently it looked like he change. It was like no one really look at him before. He was thin and tall, but extremely muscular, with long arms and legs. The dark aura start glooming around him, and take the form of armor of his hand, feet, shoulder, knee and elbow.
He lift his arm, and then hit the ground with his feet and his whole weight. Sending an high pressure all around him.
Then he shundo, getting above one of the thief. Then what followed gave shiver to all of the thug around. He smash him down with his full power, breaking the ground and all of his target bone at the same time.
Get ready to fight the war god agent over earth.

Then Nhieling finally started attacking. His puppet was overwhelming the big guy with his speed now, but he was still holding up. The red team leader was now raging, then Nhieling add his Phantasmagoria curse to the cripple one, to divert him.

Next strike will be fatal... Mutured Nhieling to himself.

Happy to show who's boss Jecht approached who shundo'd an amazing distance as he instantly appeared to where they were. Laughing evilly as his hand glowed red. He caught the monk in the face as he dragged his face across the ground and ending with a discharging explosion that sent the monk flying off in one direction.

He turned to look at Nibelung, Dark energies encompassing him.

OmegaRed donned in heavy armor sweating profusely ,was hurting here and there, but otherwise fine looked to see his mentor.

He remembered how he looked all to well as he observed his dark master.

A insanely strong human being who showed explosive power and didn't care to hide it in a fight. He radiated strength, commanded respect and fear and worst of all was on the darker side of the spectrum in the end of the day. He had his weapon with him this time the dark magical dragoon weapon of legend changes shape from owner to owner this time being a wicked great sword that spanned longer then even his own body. He threw the thing on the ground resting his right foot on the base.

I hope you are much more capable then that guy...

Jecht glowered

or else I'll have to level this region back into a inhabitable desert he said encovering himself in an intense flame Ki.

[What kind of thug have you here o_o, if all of them are top class fighter there weren't even any point into them stealing for living]

The monk stand up, making his neck crack a few time.
Who are you speaking of? Eh... The monk were now glooming with energy. Then, without a sound he shundo on Jecht. This last on dodged the first strike, but the monk didn't even loose his balance, steping on his hand, he landed a perfect kick on Jecht face. The flame start burning the monk feet, but his aura started eating the flame aways.
"Be it evil or not
Let it be we cannot
Power shall be our
Soon blood will pour."


Using this distraction, Nhieling finally land one hit on the thug left shoulder, hitting deeply into the weakness of his armor.
Looking away is NEVER a good idea.

TrickBlue and his party rushed unto the battlefield.

He looked with fear of the scene that has been depicted to him. 2 bandits dead and 2 wounded, OmegaRed is spent, and worse of all they seem to have put actually cut Jecht.

He saw his mentor took notice in his new wound and thought
"...that blow sealed it. There's absolutely nothing that he can say or do that will stop him from absolutely destroying the area."

He saw Jecht do the motions he wasn't going to playing anymore and he's about to go out.

He looked at Nhieling and then back at Jess and thought if I'm gonna that I better do it now.

Dark Dragoon Jecht Fox! Today is the day you die! By the Pride of the Sifler Clan I will replace my father as the heir of the bloodline and kill the murder of my mother!!! he screamed at Jecht wielding his dragoon weapon, a huge lance with a great sword for a blade, he had trouble keeping it upright but he knew if he wanted to damage Jecht he had to use it.

Jecht looked at his new wound, smiled wickedly as he noticed the small gash on him.

Suddenly he grabbed the monk by the leg and slammed him into the ground and finished by throwing him like a human throwing star towards Nhieling.

He then turned towards Darren

Then come and get me Boy! I'm not wearing anything fancy! He smirked ripping off his upper armor.

His skin showed that he was barely injured. Jecht only wore his armor against the greater dragons. Wearing it against a bunch of humans seemed redundant he thought, as his skin was already rock hard.

Humph!!!! He grunted as he sent a tidal wave of flame in Darren's general direction.

Darren stood in the way of the flame.

Oh no....

Nhieling was extremely bad at dealing with this kind of heavy projectile that were also know as human body. He took the hit fully, and roll over the ground with his ally corpse.

Shi... Cough cough... It hurt like hell damnit ! Nhieling look at the monk body. Probably dead he through, but then the monk eyes suddenly oppened. Dark ray were emited from his eyes and his mouth, then the monk grasp Nhieling leg. Feeling that his dark feelings, the raw material for his curse, were draw out of him, Nhieling tried bashing him away with his puppet, but it was really the wrong choice after all.
The monk was drawing his power from battle, or at least from what lied into the battle : Hate, fear.... And Nhieling master soul, that was sealed into the puppet, got suck dried in a few second. For the monk it was like a gigantic amount of energy.
With a gloomy crack, his neck get back in place, and he stood up, stronger than ever.

Nhieling felt empty, being sucked from all the emotion that were filling the empty shell he was let him... Different.
Speaking with a gentle voice for once, without any sarcasm, he said : Sorry everyone, I won't be able to use any curse for some time, I'll give my best to help you through.

Like a bat out of hell (well... a swarm of them really) Mortimer reformed behind Darren grabbed him and shundo'd to one side of the approaching "wall of fire".

"Stay back and get everyone you can out of here" Setting Darren down, he shundo'd back to the previous position. It was about time that he joined the fight. At this range he could feel how strong this man really was.

He was at least twice... no two and a quarter times stronger than himself. A rock hard body and power and accuracy to match. He had magic power by the bucket load... though thankfully not as much as Umi... But unlike Umi and Nhieling he was in shape. Physically powerful and a number of techniques which Mortimer didn't know and couldn't begin to counter.

His odds of wining were desperately low, and so he had instead opted for stalling the man. "Would you mind telling me exactly why you have decided to kill everyone in sight?" He asked the bronze-skinned dragoon as he subtly sent his magical energy into his shadow ready to form it into one of his tools in a second.

Jecht took a look at him.

Another strong man he thought looking at him then the monk.

1st I'll deal with him then all of Darren's little friends he thought as he drew the gigantic dark greatsword from the ground.

"I'm actually in hiding from the other Dragoons" He said "I got a bad reputation after I decieded to "spar" with my teammates and ended up slaughtering the bunch.

Dragoons, Dragons it doesn't matter anymore as long as I get into a good fight. I've been in hiding from the remaining dragoons for some time. This one he motioned to Darren had his father leave him and I decided to be the dictator of this area now that he's gone. Now as you can seehe said matter o factly I'm nearly unstoppable. Now, I'm going to hunt every remaining dragon and dragoon in this world. I've already started with the little Sifler boy's mother here he smirked looking at the obvious hatred Darren directed at him.

Darren gave orders to his squad as he stood next to Mortimer.

I've never forgotten about that day. I was hidden but I always feared that you knew that I was there. He gripped his weapon tighter.
That's why I've dedicated my time searching for my dad, searching for allies, motioning Jess and Mortimer and dedicated myself to counter you to finish you once and for all he growled.

The heat in the air around him started to chill as his spell was subtly cast when Jecht had his turn to talk. The flaming ki aura died out a bit as Jecht glared at Darren.

Actually I change my mind. I'm going to kill you first he said raising his great sword.

Your welcome to try to touch me Darren retorted.

Innocent Rage take shape! Enveloping Winds!

The wind around Daren suddenly picked up as Darren was swept up by the current moving as if he was the wind itself.

[Please put the "riding" the winds of that spell in your next update, and do your update soon otherwise you're OP'd/godmodding]

As Darren lifted off Mortimer cast his spell "Vente!" Even as the dragoon tried to take off he was pushed down by the sudden gust of wind counter to his trajectory.

This was enough for Mortimer to grab his ankle and yanked him down. When he was close enough Mortimer shifted his grip to Darrens collar before shundoing as far away from the battlefield as he could.

He starred hard into Darrens eyes. "Now you are going to listen to me. When I say get everyone out of here, I mean Get Everyone Out of Here" He said all of this with a quite yet forceful intensity.

"For once will you think Realisticaly! That guy, Jecht or whatever his name is, just took on Nhieling and won! Now I don't know how strong your friends are, but he was able to kill them too! And just to make things realistic for you, he is twice as powerful as ME. To put that in perspective, that's TWENTY times the power of Kagami OR Taurou. TO put that even MORE in perspective that's A HUNDRED times more powerful than YOU! Even if we pooled all the power we had it STILL wouldn't be equal to his AND almost everyone would die! Now you just did a stupid thing, a REALY stupid thing. You got his attention! Now you are going to have to do the job I was trying to do. YOU are going to have to run as far away from here as you can, as fast as you can while everyone in a five mile radius runs in the opposite direction! If you engage him, if you fight him, if you do anything other than move away as fast as you can, you and everyone around here is going to DIE!"

"Well isn't that sweet." A stunned silence fell over them. Well Mortimer had been giving his speech to Darren, Jecht had caught up. His spear-sword held high as he brought it down aiming at Darren.

Mortimer tried to push him away as the sword sliced down like a guillotine. Hopefully Darren would take his advice, and hopefully they'd be able to survive more than one hit!

Nhieling was wondering what to do. He wasn't fast enough to catch them up, but he really wanted to help so badly. It was actually the first time he ever felt that way... Strange. He couldn't use his curse in this state, but strangely enough, it didn't seem to bother him this much. He felt numb and happy at the same time. The monk was looking him with strange eyes like : "You're really sick man" With the amount of dark feeling he had draw out of Nhieling, he was now overflowing with power.

Can you carry me to the action please?

It wasn't the first time the monk observed total change of personality after being exposed to his ability, but it was the first tile he saw something this crazy.

Yes I can...

Then he catch Nhieling by the back, and shundo to Mortimer position. The monster was ready to attack them.
The monk went with a second shundo, getting behind Mortimer with Nhieling, landing a low kick on the leg of the monster in the process.

It may help you to know that I never take any risk when I'm accepting a mission. When I hit it sooner, the claw of my puppet were poisoned with a neurologic poison. He's way to big for getting affected by it right now, but if the fight last longer, or if we put him is an overbreathing state his brain will get affected. He will lose most of his focus and his thinking if we can hold this long.

He listened intently to everything that Mortimer was explaining to him.

His mind was going a mile a minute as he was processing everything.
Who is Nhieling? ...the one who attacked Red, How does Mortimer know him? Eh it doesn't matter.
Mortimer was also intimidated by Jecht too? He wasn't the only one scared like a little girl? Eh whatever he made his point We have to get away befor-

He didn't have time to finish that thought as he suddenly saw the silhouette of a dark figure attempting to stab down at both him and Mortimer, he looked to see Mortimer and another figure near them in the process of trying to push him out of the way, that won't be enough he processed.

Arrggghhh!!!! The winds responding to his impulses and emotions pushed stalled Jecht's downswing for a quarter of a second as it also pushed the four of them far away. And just in time too as Jecht pulled his sword out of the small hole he made. By then Darren was making tracks back to his group.

He saw them at the top of the 1st sand dune, his squad has successful rescued Omegared and made their way over to the caverns. He nodded, good plan he thought. The caverns has many passages connecting to the different regions of the area. One of those passage in particular, lead to a room with portals leading to all the regions around the magical world, even one to the human world. It was a secret Darren shared with only Amelia and OmegaRed, something that even Jecht wouldn't know.
Darren aimed a shundo to jump to the front of the group.

Jecht Stre-
Yes?- Jecht answered sarcastically as he then appeared behind him aiming a lariat at his head
am!!! Darren finished as he dashed to the front of the group.

Oww... he exclaimed as he landed on his back in front of the group. The lariat barely touched him actually, but the shock from getting touched, truly startled him causing him to trip half way through the shundo.

Jecht then looked at the group as they ran away.

Hehehehe, WHAT"S WRONG BOY?!?!?! Lose your nerve? Don't think I'll let any of you get away unscathed.

He looked at Mortimer, Nhieling, and the monk.

Hmm...

Mortimer escaped with little damage from the harsh downward swing... well if you could count losing the skin of your hands little damage at least. It may sound like I'm kidding but I'm not, the skin on Mortimers hands was now gone, sheared off, missing! All that was left was the muscle beneath... and it was painful. The sharpness and precision of the sword... or rather its wielder, was astounding. To be able to skin a persons hands was a difficult task by itself but this was beyond precision. This was art... painful PAINFUL art.

He wouldn't be holding anything for a while that was sure. Mortimer bit down on his lip, drawing blood to distract him from the pain in his hands. Wrapping his bloody hands in shadows he hoped to keep them out of sight and away from any infections.

As he finished, he was swept up into the group fleeing for the caves. The others seemed to think the caves were a "safe" place... Mortimer was skeptical of this but given the situation he didn't have much options for getting everyone to safety.

Glancing back at the "fight" Mortimer say Jecht through a lariat only to keep it from ensnaring Darren at the last minute. The brawler was toying with him. He could kill Darren at any time but he was playing with him! Making it seem like he was missing, barely glancing the young dragoon, giving him ounces of hope of escaping at a time...

The others continued running but Mortimer was too stunned at what he saw. Jecht thrust his Massive sword into the ground, seeming to nail Darren to the ground. With barely a glance in their direction he waved his hand at the fleeing group and hurricane force winds blew towards them. Mortimer didn't even have enough time to put up a barrier or dodge. He could see the attack but it was like he was rooted in place. Everything moved in slow motion, including him as he futilely attempted to stop the attack. A combination of pressurized air, vacuum blades and buffetting gales would kill virtually anyone caught in its path.

And that's exactly what it did. Mortimer was hit first, being the farthest behind in the group. He could feel pressurized air like a sand blaster boring into his skin, while areas of concentrated vacuum tore him apart. Cuts, lacerations, puncture wounds. It was like the man had just hurled a wall of swords in their directions. He could feel each of his joints being dislocated knocking the balls out of their sockets. Vacuum needles pierced his skin, his stomach, his skull. Some may have even pierced his heart or brain but Mortimer couldn't feel it anymore. Finally his ribs, broke.... all of them as he was finished with what felt like a cannon-ball like blast to the stomach.

He was momentarily lifted into the air by this last blow before cashing into the ground, his already broken body suffering more as he was knocked back into the course dune. His head bent back from the blast he could see the others suffering his same fate... only much worse. With their backs turned to the attack the first things to suffer were their spines. Mortimer could only watch as those who had tried to run were cut down, punished, pummeled and torn to shreds by the attack.

Mortimer knew that none of those people were nearly as strong as him... they were dead. Everyone who tried to get away from Jecht was dead. Only those who hadn't kept up with the group were still alive. Only the ones who hadn't headed for the caves made it.

All Mortimer could do was lay there in numbed agony, bleeding from every pour inside and outside his body.

The last thing Mortimer heard before he passed out was the sound of Jecht laughing at how they had all dropped like flies... how they had all died so easily.

[What a mess... This is what we get for making a NPC so strong... I'll try to rearrange this, if you're not happy with the way I'll do it, just PM me I'll make change, but with two corpse I'll make some urgent decision]

Nhieling, back to his own self, start thinking at full speed. He only have this three information :

-The monk and himself were probably the last survivor (Jess being safe, but god know where).

- Jecht was a lot to strong for them two to handle, but he couldn't follow a shundo at least.

- He know had a bunch of corpse over the arm.

Sigh... Then Nhieling jumped over the monk back, infusing him with all the energy he could and sending him information through telepathy.
Giving Nhieling a piggyback, the monk shundo to the group direction. Their state were absolutely horrible, nothing to save off. Mortimer was still living, but it wouldn't last long, and Nhieling knew an only place in the world where he could get the material he needed to save him right now : The old ruin he was the keeper.

Looking at the other, he cussed : %*@! ! I hate doing forbidden spell such at this. No choice this time. He stored all of their soul into his puppet, and gave the order to the Monk to grab Mortimer, and another corpse, the one of the bleu team leader would do, it wasn't destroy beyond what Nhieling through of using it for.
Hold on Mortimer, just a little longer.

Then they shundo the farther they could. At the second they stopped, Nhieling jump on the ground at start incantating the teleportation ritual. Jecht was catching them up at an insane speed... Nhieling was doing it the faster he could.
At the second Jecht was about to get in the invocation circle, Nhieling spelled the last word. Then the three of them, plus the corpse, get transported to the old city.

Touching Mortimer hand, Nhieling check if he was still alived.



[The other NPC are as good as dead now, concerning you two, I could save you an RP way, just gave me a sign of life Al ^^ If you're dead I have another method too without you ending up as an undead ]

As Nheiling touched Mortimers hand the shadow mage gripped it with more intensity than he should have been able to muster. His shadow wrappings destroyed, his hands of exposed muscles and loos sand shot in pain as he gripped the puppeteer. His eyes opened wide briefly for a moment, long enough for him to exhale a silent scream arching his back before dropping back down into unconsciousness. He was alive but in agony and most likely dying.

Despite the horrible conditions of his body, Mortimers mind was at rest.... near-death experience at rest. Everything around him was calm and quiet. He drifted down through the darkness as if it were water... or perhaps vegetable oil. Maybe jello even? Regardless of the substance he felt himself drifitnf further and further down, slowly through the black eternity, and he knew that at the end would be a place where he could rest his head down. A place in the darkness without pain or suffering. A quiet gentle place, perhaps with people he once knew, all laying down, peaceful and asleep in the dark....

Before he could reach the bottom however he felt himself moving upwards, pushed, no Pulled by some invisible force drawing him closer and closer to the surface and up to the light. The bright bright light! The light of life!

Darren was in a complete mess also. What saved him most likey was that he has already seen the attack that Jecht just did earlier before, he thought, it involved the highest use of vortex. The area around Jecht would have turned into a bloodbath if only Jecht wasn't so sadistic as to insisting on making each and everyone of them suffer a bit for cutting him.

Right before the actual attack reached him he curled up into a ball and called Albert to help him in whatever way he could.

The attack was still fatal nonetheless. He had cuts all over his body, gashes spilling out new drops of blood, and to add insult to injury a giant cut on his back in the shape of an giant J.

The only thing his actions did was have it so that Jecht didn't kill him by accident while he was systematically broken down by the attack.

He opened his eyes to see a dark area as he was taking in some panicked gasps of air. Am I already dead? Is this what the end looks like? he thought as he coughed up some blood from his mouth. He felt extreme pain everywhere in his body except his neck and some parts of his front body where it just felt excruciating.

Ugh...I should just die already he croaked at the darkness.

From there everything went hazy as he closed his eyes and was taken in fearfully by the darkness.

Nhieling diriged the Monk, that was carrying the two body. He set the surgery table and his new mate put Alberio on.
Nhieling wash his hand, put on a mask and light the operation light.
He turned on some medical unit.
May I help? Asked the Monk?
Oh yes ! This thing will stabilize his condition, I'll start the surgery but I'll need you to apply ultra precise healing to reatach the flesh where I'll say you to.
The Monk nodded, pretty calm about it.
Nhieling started taking his scalpel, and all the thing he would need. First he bagan with the throat/ There wasn't so much work here, since Mortimer unconsciously protected his head, but he need to make sure his trachea wasn't damaged. Once it was done, he just ask the monk to close the skin as everything seemed fine here.

Then... The thoracic cage. Here was what Nhieling was fearing. The internal organ were torn off, and his broken ribs had caused a lot of damage.

%*@!, without the help of magic he would have no chance, but with this much healing wave we'll shorten his lifespan... Still better than dying today I guess.

Using his doll to hold a laser, he start by destroying the broken part of Mortimer ribs in his body, one after another. Each time one of them was vaporized with the flow of magic particle, he operated the damaged organ to put it back the way they were before, and asked the Monk to close the wound.

Nhieling were now sweating slighly, using his puppet as a nurse to mop up his forehead.
Mortimer lungs were fine now, but he was still worried with his heart. Luckily it wasn't destroyed beyong reparation, but the damage here were still astonishing. Without the help of the magic system, Mortimer would be long dead now.

Hold on Morti-kun, hold on...

The heart was now done. Taking a deep breath, Nhieling look at what was still to be done :

His spine didn't seem to be damaged this much through, nothing that wouldn't heal by natural way.
The stomach wasn't an urgent matter, since he will had to be feeded by a tube for a few day at least.

Making what could be done for the stomach, Nhieling started another extremely difficult task : Mortimer solar plexus. The solar plexus was also playing the role of ki center, and any mistake here could cause irreparable change for Mortimer.
Looking at Mortimer, Nhieling said : I'll have to use my own energy here, you are good for a terrible Nightmare, sorry about it, I know you don't like sharing my own self but I don't have any choice.

Using a thin stick made to let pass the vital energy, Nhieling start infusing Mortimer energy system with his own to stabilize the unatural pulse that could cause him a deadly spasm.

This part was now done.

Nhieling was working anesthesia-less, since any morphine could be deadly in Mortimer state. Then he look at another... Probematic part. Looking under Mortimer pant, Nhieling just said : It seem he unconsciously protected this part too...

Next, Nhieling attacked the leg and the arm. The work here was astonishing, but Nhieling was just doing the minimum, what nature wouldn't do by herself, like putting the bone back in place, and helping the muscle to get back in place.

After 3hours of work, Nhieling was finally done.

Letting Mortimer, that were still unconscious, sleep over a bed, he turned to Jukensong, washing his hand covered with blood with a towel. He wasn't very nervous about him since he was ready to see a corpse. He was still wondering if he should going for some necromancy, or make a clone and reinmplant Juken soul in it.


Juken seemed to breath, at first surprise Nhieling jump over him. Yes, he was breathing. **** !!!! Another urgent case. I dunno how he could survived this long but we need to operated him fast !

Putting Juken body over the surgery table, he start everything back from the start. The only difference was that the main wound was in the back now. Nothing were left of his back muscle, and his spine was totally destroyed.
First Nhieling started with the heart and the lung, but operating from the back, since opening him from the front could be deadly.
He just hoped his neck would be fine.

Once he was done, he started thinking about the dorsal spine. There were too much damage. Nhieling had to think about something. Seeing his puppet, Nhieling got an illumination.

Ehehe, finally something nice, sorry Juken but you'll be the support for a never ever seen experiment.

To avoid him being paralized, Nhieling start implanting magical thread, the same one he was using to manipulate his puppet in Juken back. Connecting them to his neural system wasn't through, it was connecting it to the brain that was extremely hard.

At worst, I'll make some correction later, I can't hope for something perfect just now...


The rest of the surgery went smoothly. Nothing special.


When they finally end up, Nhieling and the monk were totally worn out, they just take two bed and started sleeping next to their two patient.


[I'll just make it so that you'll awaken three day later. The part about you waking up is now up to you]

The purple haired mage opened his eyes blearily unable to register what was actually happening save for the bright flourescent lights all around them room. It was several more seconds before he remembered what had happened and he groaned at the thought of it. He should have been dead but here he was in a "clean" room. Blearily he looked down at the rest h=of his body. Most of it was wrapped in bandages but he didn't seem to be in too terrible of shape. That is, except for the pain he felt whenever he breathed. The better part of his ribcage was missing!

Apparently someone had decided to play ameture surgeon with him while he was passed out. His insides felt like someone had just tossed them like salad then tried to re-assemble them. Everything felt broken and out of place now and he only knew of one way to fix it... the only problem was that he couldn't speak right now. His throat felt like sandpaper and his mouth was dry. He was fairly certain he was running a fever and any attempt to move even a toe caused him to feel nauseous.

After strugeling for a short time, he realized he wasn't alone in the room. Aparrently Darren was there too suffering from a similar "full body cast" situation. He wanted to call out and ask how he got there or where he was but his throat was too sore. He'd have to rely on silent incantations for a while.

It took him several tries but he managed to call up two assault soldiers. Their razor-sharp hands were ideal for this situation... or so he thought as they "gently" sliced open the numerous casts splints and bandages. From his experience what he was about to to worked best when there wasn't any extraneous material with him. Unable to control the soldiers with his usual accuracy, the process of removing the medical equipment was painful to say the least. To say the most it would have been something along the lines of;

OhmygoodnessthisistheworstpainI'veeverfeltinmylifeohpleaseGodkillmenowandletmelieinthedusttobekickedbyeverypasserbyfortherestofeternityasareprievefromthis!

Of course that would be a little melodramatic and so the thought only barely crossed Mortimers mind. Needless to say he was not too happy with the situation... nor was he happy with what had happened to the people he had tried to escape with. Leaving the interesting question as to why Darren was here and seemingly alive even if he was in just as terrible shape.

But all of this was best saved for another time. Silently casting again, this time Mortimer enveloped himself in a cocoon of black shadow. He'd be able to escape the worst of the recovery process in there. He may be out for a week and he may be stiff as a board but when he emerged from that protective layer he would be healed... and ready for round two.

Nhieling was here when Mortimer woke up. He was currently trying to produce something that would replace the destroyed ribs, using their DNA as raw material. Looking at Mortimer cocon, Nhieling just sighed.

Three day of work for nothing... Really he could have saved me this pain from the start.
Then, Nhieling put back Juken on the surgery table. His pulse was finally stable. Talking to the monk : Hey ! Second part now...

The time, Nhieling was fairly decontracted. The last thing he needed to was to attach the artificial bone he had created to replace Juken old one. This new one might be a little more rigid than his ancient one, but this little draw back would make it harder.

Anesthesing him this time, he said : Operation start !

Reopening the skin, he started reattaching the bone. After a few hours of work, Juken was finally in one piece.

Bones : Ok. Organ : Ok, nerve contact : Ok. Skin : A few scar, but OK. The last thing will be to make some improvement on his dorsal spine, but we'll work on this during his rehab. After a few test it might work.
Shaking the monk hand, he said : You were a great help Suwo. Thank you very much.

No problem, but you haven't forget our promise don't you? Said him.

Don't worry, I always respect my promises, or most of the time at least...

Nhieling had nothing to do now other than waiting for the other to wake up.

[Let's make it something like both of you wake up around at the same time]

It took awhile for Darren to fall asleep after the operation.

That damned sadistic puppeteer!, he thought when he woke up in a full body cast. That stuff hurt! Without any tranqs or anything he was in so much pain! He wasn't able to scream or anything throughout the whole procedure.

And don't get him started on the 2nd operation...he woke up to find Nhieling with his hand inside his back and him feeling alot like jelly as he messed with the sensitive areas of his back. He fainted this time after 10 seconds of being awake.

Suddenly a bit after the operations Darren was bombarded by constant nightmares of his darker self going against his virtues with Jecht representing the darker side went and devoured the rest of his morality. As he was recovering about a week in until Darren finally opened his eyes again. He looked around the room once again to see Mort in the same room wrapped in shadow.

He took time looking at Mortimer as he lied down in his little cocoon.

Hmm...the shadows he used never seemed to malicious or chaotic under his control he saw.

Hmph if only he was able to control the darkness in his heart. Those shadows were in constant battle with his soul always leading him to do horrible things.

He thought for awhile looking at Mortimer.

But what if I can controlled the shadows. He kept a steady gaze at Mortimer.

Hmph he made it look easy he thought ...and thats exactly why I have to ask him if he can teach me the basics one day.

He looked up from his bed, imagining himself using the shadows to conceal himself from the rest of the world.

Hmm...if only... he murmured

...Awaken

Mortimers eyes shot open as the shell of shadow cracked then broke under the pressure. His fist punching through the top as his now free arm clamored along the surface. Tearing open the shell which was his protector and healer for the past week the shadow mage emerged, seemingly reborn. He gasped slightly as he took stock of the room. It looked like a medical ward but Mortimer was certain the place was Nhielings secret abode.

Pushing himself off the table he realized that he was still naked before hastily forming a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans from his shadow. Padding across the floor he went to go look at his still sleeping apprentice. It would normally take him a month to heal but thanks to the work Nhieling had done on his body he would be mobile in a few days. Casting his shadows-embrace on the young dragoon, Darren was pushed into a deep slumber. His bed-rest time had been shortened to just over an hour. He wouldn't be fully functioning but his recovery time would be shortened dramatically. His bones and organs would reset and muscle tissue would re-knit itself. Mortimer was unsure as to the shadows effect on brain damage or nerves but it couldn't hurt right?

When he was done with his task he called out "NHIELING! YOU GOT SOME SPLANNIN TO DO!" Not knowing where the puppeteer was exactly he felt it would be best to signal him with the classic (if out dated) greeting from the 1950's television sitcom "I Love Lucy". Recently Mortimer had gotten in to watching old television shoes but that was a story for another day. In retrospect a lot of Mortimers dealing were things best saved for "another day" but that was really the only way he knew how to live. Deal with what you can now then save everything else for when you're NOT dealing with a crisis... on the other hand virtually everyday for Mortimer was a crisis of some sorts. And the introduction of this new character aka "Jecht" was more than a little disconcerting.

They weren't going to take him down easily and even after much planning and training he didn't know if they could stop him. The man was a menace truly enough, and his actions were indicitive of anti-social personality disorder two-clicks away from genocide. The main thing to remember was that he had seen their faces and was powerful enough to kill them in addition to what was most likely going to be a rampage of destruction and mayhem in a quest to eliminate both dragons and dragoons from the face of the magical world... So no pressure. He was dangerous and he needed to be stopped. And as far as Mortimer could tell, only he, Nhieling and Darren were the only ones alive who knew what danger he posed.

Nhieling put his pipe into a staircase when he heard Mortimer. Smoking was a bad habit of him, each time he had some stress pilled in.
Sigh... Just resurected and aleady so noisy... Just what are we feeding the young with nowadays, too much energy.

Sighting another time, he stood up and stretched. He had taken the time to study the dorsal spine during the time they were recovering.

He walked into the white room, and get to Mortimer.

Hi, Morti-kun, had a good dream?
For the occasion he had put a nurse clothe over his puppet.

I prepare clothe for you in the next room. I tried to respect your style. Feeling good anyways?

Moving over to the next room he allowed the shadows to dissipate and put on the normal clothes. Shadows may be good but wearing them reminded Mortimer too much about combat. "Stop joking you know I don't have dreams. And yes I am feeling better. And REALLY! You couldn't have sprung for taking me somewhere else? A PROFESSIONAL maybe. Someone who actually went to SCHOOL to learn how to slice and sew people up properly rather than reading out of an outdated mystical diagram of the human body?" Mortimer popped his head out of the doorway several times to punctuate some of his words as he got dressed.

"Now amateur surgeon aside you did save my life which happens to bring me to my next question." Emerging from out of the other room fully clothed in loose fitting dress clothes he asked the immortal "So if you are technically immortal, what exactly does that entail? Can you live through ANYTHING or is it just that you don't die from old age or get sick by normal means or you don't need to eat regularly or what? Will you live if you get hit by a bus or poisoned or how exactly can you die and what are the conditions for immortality... and please PLEASE don't ask me why I'm asking you this until AFTER you've answered my question.... Ok?"