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"Oh, perfect... This is why I hate necromancy..." he thought, staring wearily as everything decayed around him. He had forgotten that the undead were affected by almost nothing in particular. How had he been so ignorant? That was something his sensei would have been deeply angered by.

"You could always use the Awanamruw Dgylr [Elemental Shift]..." Hotaru replied in a matter-of-factly tone as she hopped back into his pack, disturbed by the surrounding undead creatures.

"Yes, I suppose that is a possibility, but I'm not sure it'll work," he said.

"Just do it! If it doesn't work, you'll still have enough magic energy to escape!" commanded Hotaru squawking irritably from the pack's depths.

He sighed frustratedly and glared at the necromancer. "You ask if I risk to use more of my power? What a stupid question. Do I really have a choice in the matter." He glanced over his shoulder as Raziel spoke and he then turned back to glare at Kaias once more. " 'Finish off the mage and be done with it,' he says... How rude." Yes, he was being comical about the situation. What's wrong with a bit of humor, anyway? He then muttered, "I won't be finished off so easily..."

Shiro jerked the Mythril Staff to a vertical position centered at his front. The Elemental Shift was a special magical attack that reversed the attribute type of a certain target. What was the target here? Why--the area, of course!

"Awanamruw Dgylr! [Elemental Shift!]" he exclaimed, causing the orb-shaped jewel embedded atop the Mythril Staff released a colorless irridescent glow. Breezes and gusts alike began to whip through the area. He then began to spin the Mythril Staff in a counter-clockwise motion. As this happened, the clear irridescent glow of the orb-shaped jewel atop the Mythril Staff shifted to a black glow, matching the attribute color of the surrounding area.

A black vortext faded into view the width of the Mythril Staff and the wind started rushing into it. Faster and faster, he spun the Mythril Staff, causing the vortext to follow and spin at an accelerating rate. The skeletons, ghouls and other such things were rapidly sucked into the vortex, their screams echoing around from the vortex. As the last apparition was drawn into the swirling void, it vaulted to a halt and shrunk to a small floating sphere. Satisfied, he slammed the Mythril Staff into the ground beneath it and cupped his hand around it. He murmured several words in the magic language he was most familar with and the wind began to pick up again, this time swirling around him. White bolts spiraled around the sphere and the blackness of the sphere slowly lightened to gray, then to a pure white color. He looked up to the necromancer and smiled.

He spread apart his hands and the now white vortex opened. Out came rays of golden and white light upon the area. Life began to flourish around him and around the path of the light as it charged toward the necromancer. With that flash of holy light, the vortex was gone.

He stood there very poised for a moment and then stumbled slightly and gripped the Mythril Staff that was still stuck in the ground for balanced. "Now...if that didn't do any damage, I'd say that we're in very big trouble. Wouldn't you agree?"

Hotaru poked her head out of the pack. "Yes, I would agree..."

Kaias had time to utter a few obscenities before he dodged as best as he could to the side. Yet even as he collided with the ground he felt the ray of light come by and do a fair amount of damage to his body. HIs robe was torn away, leaving only the hood around his head which obscured the top half of his face. His entire right side was damaged by the ray, he could smell his undead flesh sizzly and bubble. His armour was only heated and let off steam while it burned against his body. The lower right side of his face was burnt black, and his teeth could be seen, his right arm was not moving at all and was sinking low witht he armour he had on it.
Using a little bit of his Necromancy he healed his body just enough fo him to stand on his own. Sheathing his blade he could not help but let a small smile creep to his facce, a smile that looked hideous with the right side only showing his teeth.
" Most impressive young mage. I have not had that much damage inflicted for a long time! I applaud your command over magic ... however I did not lived for so long only to be beaten by a young boy like you!"
He spread his arms out and gave a single thought to Sargos, Stay back, I am not sure if this will affect a pheonix or not.
With that finished he began to speak in his gutter tongue while he moved his fingers around. A brown mist started to ascend from his feet, and as it spread outwards his voice started to echo in the air. Soon it echoed again, and again, and again as if there were more than one Kaias standing in the area. The brown mist was everywhere, no one could see withing a couple of feet in front of them ... except for Kaias of course, with it being his incantation.
He was casting a plague spell, one which did not kill life right away but rather slowly. Vegetation would die much quicker than other living creatures, such as people. He noticed it was different with every person, if one was well versed in magic then they would have the best chance of surviving since the plague itself was magic based. Anyone infected would have feverish dreams, the occasional hallucination, accompanied by a slow descent into madness if a cure was not created. The plague was not a common one, so finding a cure would not be easy but it could be done.
Kaias knew it was not a simple way to kill someone, he would rather use his sword or some of his magic. But he knew this was still an affective way to get the job done, even interesting to see someone deal with the sickness.

Shiro stepped a few steps backward as the smoke came rushing through the area. He held the cloth of his green clock up to his nostrils in an attempt to prevent himself from breathing the infernal air, whatever it was. Common sense could tell anyone that it wasn't something delightful.

"That's not going to help, you know..." Hotaru remarked, leaping off his shoulder and ruffling her feathers.

Shiro sighed in frustration and blinked as he thought he saw a person staring at him from the corner of his eye. He whirled around, Mythril Staff at the ready, only to see the brown smog around him. He blinked and shook his head. Perhaps it was his imagination.

"What are you looking at?" Hotaru asked, hopping a bit further in a different direction and peering through the smog.

"Nothing..." he muttered, turning around once more. He felt a bit light-headed. He rubbed his temple and shut his eyes.

He opened his eyes-but fell backward at the sight of a small four-year old boy standing in front of him. "Gah!" he exclaimed as his back slammed against the ground in his surprised. His hair was a bit flat and brownish gold. His eyes were a bright green, just like his.

The boy walked over to his side and stared down at him with an ear-to-ear grin spread across his face. He looked..familiar.

The boy opened his mouth and said in the jumbled syllables of a normal four-year old, “Hi, big brother!”

Shiro bolted up to a standing position and backed away, pointing the Mythril Staff accusingly at the boy. “Who are you!?” he demanded, his eyes growing wide with the boy’s reply.

“Don’t you ‘member me, big brother? It’s me, Kichiro, of course!”

Hotaru turned around and stared at Shiro demand who nobody was. She hopped closer to him and tilted her head. “Shiro...?”

Shiro didn’t seem to hear her. “You can’t be here!” he informed the apparition. “You died a long time ago, which means that you’re not real!”

A hurt expression appeared on Kichiro’s face. “Big brother...you mean you think I’m not real? But I’m right here!”

Shiro turned away and ignored the boy. There was no possible way he could be real. However, as he turned completely around, he was standing there, not but two feet away. Tears were welling up in his eyes.

“How could I not be real!?” he demanded. The sudden appearance took him by surprise.

Shiro lifted a brow at him, like most older children did when a smaller children said something stupid. “Well... For one thing, the laws of physics say that you should be able to do that...” he said.

“What about magic!?” he exclaimed.

“You’re too young to use magic...” he replied, turning away again. He was there, yet again.

“I could’ve learned to use magic!”

“YOU’RE STILL FOUR YEARS OLD!” Shiro shouted, causing an echo.

Kichiro burst into tears. Shiro sighed with frustration and shoved past the sobbing, sniffling child. It made him feel like he had done something wrong...but he couldn’t have. After all, it was unreal, wasn’t it?

“See?” he sniffed, “You are a coward...”

Shiro stopped and turned back, horror struck. “No, I am not!”

“You’re a coward. You were to scared to save me!”

“That’s not tr–”

Shiro stopped as Hiroshi Village appeared around him. Rain poured heavily and everyone scrambled around as the village was raided by the creatures of the night.

Meanwhile, Hotaru stared at Shiro as he stared around at the smog, looking as if in a panic. “Shiro! Calm yourself!” she yelled at him telepathically, but a wall seemed to be cutting her off through the mental link.

Shiro stared forward as he saw a familiar merchant’s caravan. Under it, he saw his own bright green eyes shining. However, he looked no more than five years of age. Next to it, a vampire held his fangs to Kichiro’s neck, crimson hues dripping their way and mixing with the slushy soil.

The vampire threw the corpse onto the ground and scurried off. He continued to stare for a few more moments until a look of utter repulsion took his face. Kichiro’s head swivelled around and stared directly toward him. “Coward...”

“NO, I’M NOT!” he yelled back to it and closed his eyes only to open them again to see his younger version crawling out from the caravan and point an accusing finger toward him. “It’s all your fault!” he said.

“Shut up!” he screamed, charging on the hallucination and striking it with the Mythril Staff. It faded away before the Mythril Staff came in contact with it and the village did as well. Kichiro, however, got up and pointed the accusing finger toward him. “See!? It’s your fault! All-your-fault!”

He abandoned the Mythril Staff, letting it fall to the ground, and slapped his hands over his hears. He squeezed his eyes shut. “No, no, no! I tried to, I promise! Just leave me alone!” He was beginning to feel light-headed again, sick even.

Hotaru squawked and made her way toward him. “Shiro, answer me right now!” she exclaimed. She gave him several pecks to the head, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Amara poked her head cautiously out from behind the pillar. Is it safe yet? A throwing star thudding into the stone right next to her head was the answer. "I thought we agreed on no weapons!" she called, then realized, Oh... Amara grinned.
~~~
She should have figured out that I'm out of magic by now, Aiya cursed, and drew out two more throwing stars, leaning against the tree and panting with exhaustion. I guess it's time for plan B.

Kaias watched the young mage turn his staff into a sword and charge at him while casting a holy spell on his blade. The attack would certainly affect him if it were to have connected with him. However besides being an adept necromancer he was also quite good at fighting with his sword.
The long blade was out and he deflected the attack, while using his slowly fading energy to patch up his wounds so he would have more mobility. He kept his distance from the mage, so the young man could either flee in his dilousional state or continue running around using up what magic he had left. If it should be the later than Kaias knew he could outlast the mage. Aside from his exsersions in his scuffle witht he mage, he had enough magical energy to last this fight seeing as how it has turned into a melee.

Shiro glared upon the vampire in front of him. He had deflected his attack and his magic energy was almost completely depleted, and the holy light emitting from the Mythril Staff was flickering slightly. However, an idea then came to mind. How he hadn't thought of it before, he did not know. Osmose was his idea. It was a spell in which absorbed magic energies from the target and placed them in the caster's own stores of magic energy. It was very accurate, and since he wasn't that far away, there was a high possibility that it could work. The amount of magic energy absorbed all depended on the distance he was away from the target. However, he would need to create a diversion so that he would be able to get closer so he could be sure that the spell would work. After all, he would have only one chance.

He couldn't use it just yet, this he knew, but it was his last chance to remain living at this point. And besides, he'd get revenge at the same time.

Now, for the diversion... He needed something that might cause the necromancer to flinch. Then, another idea came to him. Holy seemed to be effective, and he currently had a holy enchantment on the Mythril Staff--or short sword rather at the moment.

He ran a hand down the blade and it slowly rippled back into its original form, however, he was careful not to release the holy enchantment in the process. Then, he held his hand over it while it was in a horisontal position in front of him. The mythril rippled slightly in only a few places. With a flick of the rist, drops of the mythril came from the staff's base and hovered in the air. The drops divided and took the form of hundreds of small needles. All of them were glowing with the holy essence.

The Mythril Staff was only about a fourth shorter, but that was okay. He could always meld the separation back together anytime. His alchemic energy wasn't that low yet. He drew his hand back behind his head and then flung it foward once again toward the necromancer. The needles flew forward toward their target. If they missed, the zoomed around wildly in different directions around Kaias.

Hotaru blinked her glowing yellow eyes at Shiro. He was now flinging mythril needs filled with holy essence toward the necromancer. "Shiro..." she said, hoplessness overwhelming her. "What's wrong with you!? Why won't you answer me!?" she screamed, balls of tears forming in her large yellow eyes.

Freezing in his tracks as he was already inside the castle doors, Raziel seemed to take no notice to Amara entering with her sister on her shoulder behind him. Something upstairs had caught his attention, there was someone within his bedroom, more importantly within his study.

He had felt the holy energy surge from it, as well as the armor giving of its usual alarm if anyone but himself entered the room, it was more than enough to catch his attention seeing as it sent a scream and pulse through his mind. Turning on heel towards the stairs without a second thought he took them two at a time; upon reaching the second floor however he cursed himself muttering a few words beneath his breath as a black mist surrounded him and he appeared within his bedroom itself.

Taking a step towards the hidden room, he entered the hallway littered with pictures of his past; his old friends and his sister. Grimacing he continued till he reached the one of himself and the six other Archangels who still remained in Heaven. "....who dares..." he cursed aloud, stepping through the hidden entrance and continued in, walking to the suit of finely decorated armor that use to adore his body. Gently pressing his finger tips to it, he glanced at the broken sword for a moment, eyes narrowing.

"Who is in here." his voice was extremely quiet at the moment, but colder than usual - it was apparent that his ability to sense who was in the room wasn't working.
~~~~

Mia fluttered over the limp form of the female vampire, her jade eyes glowing intently. 'Shikyo...?' she questioned; nudging the pale, scuffed face of her friend who had yet to respond. 'Shikyo! Wake up!' pausing as she felt hot breath ruffle her feathers for a second, she could feel tears welling within her own jade eyes, two single clear tears then fell onto the injured fighter.

One tear touched bare skin while the other slipped into her mouth - a golden mist began to rise upon impact, covering the body slowly and lightly as if in a veil. Within a few minutes Shikyo's arm moved, pale fingers flexing for something, then slowly grasping for grass as a pair of sharp, piercing jade eyes opened slowly, meeting another smaller pair. "....Mia...?" she muttered, the phoenix gave off a muttered sound as she nuzzeled against her friend, the Fallen Vampire rising to her feet slowly while rubbing her head holding her close. "What's going on...Where's Raziel?" at that moment she managed to catch a glimpse of the Necromancer and the young Mage - Shiro - dueling through the trees closer to the castle.

"....Raziel threw me further than I thought......Nexcis." she muttered, the black blade slowly formed in her hand as though it were mist; while it did so she rose to her full height slowly, shaking just slightly and began to move towards the fight.

Seeing the needles that were imbued with holy magic, Kaias was quick to throw up his hand and cast a spell to help take out some of the needles. The spell was a dark void roughly the same size as his body, as many of the needles collided with the void the dark magic would set off the holy magic in the needles. However there were still quite a few that escaped his spell and flew around, some struck unexposed areas while others hit his armour. Those ones either bouced off or stuck in place, either way the holy magic was sent to his body causing whatever remainders of his flesh to burn.
His left arm in particular was victim to most of the attack and it now hung from his body unable to move. With his his body smoking and smelling of burnt flesh he tried to concentrate on an attack to get the mage out of this castle.
He chanted loudly and a large spirit ascended from the ground with a ghastly wail. Flinging his right arm forward the spirit charged for the Mage. The spirit was not meant to harm the mage, merely to 'escort' the mage out of Raziel's castle. Although Kaias was intrigued by the fight with the mage, he had damaged his body quite a bit and had used up a fair amount of his magical energies.