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It frowned. "Well, if you can walk, go get yourself some coffee, and a cookie. I'm gonna wander. Things sound fun." She'd wander towards the sound of crazy gunfire, and hell. In the middle of the hallway, before the room with the guns. Lowering to a kneel, She'd set her shotgun down, and draw her Browning. Peering around, into the room, she'd target the turrets, one at a time, and fire at them until they were non-working. She'd take out Four with one clip, and then reloading, would step further down the hall, Holding the shotgun against a shoulder as she went, arm extended, cocking around corners to target more. She'd reload, of course. Peering at the remaining, previously unseen turrets, she'd snap off a few rounds, before ducking away. Little did she know, she was probably mingling with the covertly camo'd troops by now.

"What's got you little wonders all- OW!" She's silenced as the turret blasts her shoulder with a lucky burst. She sags the shoulder a bit, even as her body kicks into effect, first clotting, and then healing the wound slowly.

It would scratch her head as the voice spoke. "Damn imagination, talkin' up again. I am your master, imagination, and I do believe you have no reason to know what I'm doing. Go back to being quiet until I need to lie, or something." She'd wander off, through the office, calling out. "Hulloo? Who's been pissing off the turrets, eh?" Peer, peer. She seemed to have an almost innocent mindset, a child with a gun. She continues raising ruckus, peering into cubicles looking for the people pissing off the guns.

The flares revealed dragons, though they appeared smaller, and the missiles flew. For each missile that actually hit a dragon, it would vanish, and the skies would flash with multiple explosions, but nothing would fall. They were mere illusions.

A shadow dragon appeared in the city, literally jumping out of the shadows. It opened its maw and breathed out a cloud of billowing, smoky shadows with weakening (energy drain) effect, engulfing one of the fire patrols and it's escort infantry troops while busy fighting the inferno from the remains of The Storm. If the troops and firefighters didn't succumb to the dragon's frightful presence, they could probably fight back, but they would suddenly feel weak and exhausted once the dragon's shadowy breath weapon engulfed them. The dragon would charge into their ranks and start tearing them to pieces soon after that.

Another dragon slipped out of the shadows behind a different formation of troops and firemen, sweeping it's tail to toss them all into the fires. The rest appeared in different parts of the city, mainly around the wreckage where more forces were concentrated. They used their breath weapons to weaken the defenders before tearing into them, or employed hit and run tactics - using illusions to draw the troops' attention before striking, then hiding in the shadows again to strike elsewhere.

"What's this, dark dragons, our fighters are almost useless, hn?" Doctor Iskugawa said, "Yes, I see, they must be utilizing some sort of Shadow power, oh nothing, I think I have the perfect solution, someone with the perfect power, quite the protege of Yaits himself. I will set up the move."

Iskugawa put the phone down and turned on the deflated preacher, "The shadow dragons are killing innocent people with their dark powers. We need a white mage, and despite our association you still seem rather untainted. Do you wish to see any more people die today, Holy Man?"

"Well no," the preacher said, stammering.

"Then you are going to use every last ounce of your power tonight, and drain those dragons of their dark life force. Use your healing spell to absorb all of their dark powers, it may heal them if their is anything left untainted, or it may kill them if they are dark to the core of their heart, either way, you will have absorbed all their power."

"They'll slaughter me," the preacher said.

"There is a chance, but we shall see, now follow! This is the moment you were born for."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A platform rose from the center above the center of the building, underneith the wind blown holy robes of the preacher was something the Doctor reffered to as a protective vest and full armor was actually a power amplifier that would increase the preacher's power up to a hundred fold as long as the preacher had the will to do so. Around the preacher was a protective TESLA field outside an energy induced protective barrier that would not be withdrawn until the preacher was ready, if any of the dragons ventured too close, they would be in for a shock. The platform itself didn't go up too high, only about ten meters above the fortress itself, enough to allow the preacher to see the death and destruction unfolding around a city he had grown to love and still did despite the recent revelations. The anger rose inside him, not only about the destruction of the city, but also against the betrayal of Yaits that led to such destruction and he decided on his course of action, both short and long term. Silently, his power welled, and the dragons would heed it. A new power welled from deep inside him.

I'm not going to be so gullible any more. I'm not going to be afraid of my own power. I have no need for Yaits, no need for Ymir, I have no need for darkness disguised as light, My powers are my own. The light in my soul will overpower this darkness.

"Darkness, begone!"

The sheilds came down.

New Technique



With the power amplification, the effects of the preacher's inner power would spread over a radius of 100 kilometers, destroying the undead, and draining the dragons to a helpless state if they relied exclusively on dark abilities. Every living person who had sustained injury within a hundred kilometer radius would find their wounds miraculuosly healed. The security guard with the broken wrist, the stray shot Eripse had taken (Unless she thrived on evil), any wounds the R.I.O.T. had taken, and any injuries sustained by those in the city would be healed as well. Amazingly, the preacher's power would break through much of the magic defenses in the lower portions of the building, disintigrating a number of chimeras in the upper levels of the section three research lab. The most secure experiments deep in the building which were sealed off from holy power's downward surge via return runes and spiritual protection fields would survive, as the preacher projected most of his power outwards and upwards.

Not one bit. Shadow dragons had ties to the Plane of Shadow, but they were not creatures of shadow. They were mortal, composed of the same things that true dragons are made of, but their abilities differed since they resided primarily in the Plane of Shadow. It did, however, serve to heal whatever wounds they may have suffered in the meantime. Any remaining undead in the city would be destroyed by the spell, but it would hardly gather enough dark power to miraculously heal everyone who's been maimed or injured.

The priest drew the attention of one of the shadow dragons, while the others busied themselves with continued devastation. Taking to the air, the dragon rose up high and then stretched out its wings, swooping down toward the priest. It opened it's mouth as it neared the priest, but rather than shadows spewing from its maw, electricity came instead.


Bolts of chained lightning, similar to that of a blue dragon's breath weapon, streaked from the shadow dragon's mouth to strike the priest dead - or at least fry him nice and well done.