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[ ? ? ? ? ? : Frozen Coliseum ]

Amidst the chaos of battle, Nemesis might have realized that there was a new noise in the background. It was faint--so faint, in fact, it would have gone without notice had it not been familiar. It was an odd sound from the recesses of some dark corner, like a constant humming he couldn't place.

Something flickered near where the throne platform had been--like something caught the light and bent it just so as it went through the mist-laden fog. On further inspection, it was simply... more fog.

"I suppose you could say I've had the chance to see past the veil of Darkness."

Despite the soft volume, everyone would have heard Kyle's voice echoing from the throne's spot. But even that was distant, distorted... unreal.

Over the charms, however, there was an instant response from the dragoon: "Not it."

The distant humming Nemesis heard continued.

Rera clashed head-on with Joe, moving with him toe to toe, the man's flaming strikes matching each monstrous fist, causing eruptions of stone at their feet, wind at their flanks, as well as fire and ice around their fists. Rera the heavy handed was enjoying this fight, matching his movements to Joseph, flipping and clawing and slamming at every opportunity. Once, grabbing at Joseph he snatched the air, finding the man on top of his massive arm, a kick flying at his face before his other hand blocked the blow. His fist closed around the leg but fire ignited beneath his palm blasting away his grip. Another strike, another miss as Rera ducked beneath and turning while they continued their brutal dance, he brought his arms up and down again with clasped fists, the hammer strike meeting the stony floor causing a spiked uprising of ice that spread out in a small circle at their feet for a short moment before the ice dissipated into mist.

The inferno mage, who flew into the battlefield, past the giant beasts and struck at seemingly nothing, was deflected, a flickering shadow parrying her strike as one of the figures in her unique vision spun what seemed to be a staff reverse holding the previous ornate head of the staff like a hilt to a long sword. The meteor on the other hand landed behind the first figure and in front of the latter, which quickly and nimbly moved back and father away, from its form several strands of what looked like hair springing to life momentarily with regenerative magics.

While Rera and Joe fought in mobile fashion around the battlefield, Nashir, moved to the defensive, clamping down and bringing the massive blade up diagonally across his body to use the flat of it as a shield against most frontal attacks, only pushing back enough to deflect blows and attempt an occasional bash to the face if one came too close or opened themselves up for a full on attack.

The shells silencing both Jenny and Amy shattered, but as it would seem, the traps were long-lived enough to completely interrupt their previous flow of magic, dispelling any beneficial or malefic magic placed on them as well as dismissing any charge that had been procured.

Above, Atir, still falling, twisted her body to aim her massive crossbow... 1... 2... 3... click. The javelin sized bolt stored up within erupted from a barrel-like structure of the gun and flew, directly into the dragon side.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, after their attacks connected, Bael, collapsed to the ground in a heap of ice, broken and lifeless... but in that moment, a tiny string floated up from his body, glowing a deep blue. The boy-like body shifted and stood once more, stumbling, but standing again with a renewed vigor to the glow of his crystalline eyes.

Similar regenerations were happening across the battlefield where anyone with scan or clarity could see the generals where just as quickly recovering their debilitation as they were receiving them.

In the sky above, Justice collided with Nemesis' gut, knocking the air of out his lungs and sending the two further skyward. Nemesis careened until colliding with a loud bang against something in the darkness. The lights that ran along the invisible walls glowed bright in defiance but there where Nemesis had broken through, a tiny peek of light pierced through to the darkness and spread out like a curtain over part of the battlefield. Still, even this tiny droplet of vision granted to the warriors of light and their unlikely allies a glimpse at their surroundings. The previous abyss was not at all endless, but rather they stood at the center of a larger cylindrical and black metal tunnel. Shifting plates that spun within and around themselves in circles like massive rings.

There was a moment of peace in the air over the battlefield, where Justice floated with a few selective beats of his wings, staring at the light as crimson flames licked his limbs, the broken halo looking oddly fuller than before yet still clearly split in two.

There was a shift, a shadow clogging the piercing ray of light that bent around the coffin-bound audience and orchestrators casting disorienting shadows. A whistling noise screeched through the cavernous expanse before countless red shafts of ice pierced the monsters that sang and bellowed and chanted in discordant worship of their conflict. Their bodies collapsed in upon themselves before returning to hearts that had been used to sustain their existence, then like the soldiers outside the castle had been absorbed by Atir in the illusion, the hearts of the fallen were drawn away, collecting into a single dot that in its luminescence, overcame the white shade of light that pierced the veil, but turned the entire battlefield scarlet, making the frost on the floors and walls look more like blood.

At the hole where the light had dared to peek in on their conflict, Nemesis stood panting, his bone limbs holding tight to the edges of the broken metal plating that he'd been forced to smash through like a flesh-covered battering ram.

Blood ran down his face and over his mouth that had formed a sadistic grin once more as that same blood lined the space between his teeth as he licked them in a panting fury. In his now free hands, he held a mass of convulsing red energy. The man laughed hysterically for a couple seconds before stopping short. Then with both hands he pressed the mass to his face as he, like a rabid animal snapping and frothing at the mouth, devoured the mass bite by squelching bite.

Justice who looked on with an expression of even deeper fury, gripped the heart that had at some point during their momentary clash, transferred hands.

Nemesis lurched over and crossed his arms over his stomach as though to vomit but threw back his head, which with the angle of his body directed his face at the combatants below and Justice that floated a good distance above them, "Face the agony of 1000 tortured hearts!"

Then with a span, sprouting from the skeletal limbs attached to the walls, corruption, vein-shaped growths appeared across the entire roof, colored the same as his appendages, though at each joint and intersection, a black and scarlet glob of darkness sat rippling with quickening intensity.

And in the blink of an eye, the 1000 spheres released their charge and just as many lasers converged on the battlefield, not with a target, not with any particular goal in mind, but rather to obliterate the entire platform(and all on it) as a whole.

They stopped short however as a massive barrier erected itself over the platform, originating quite obviously from Kyla's bestial shard that stood glowing like a spotlight at the center of everything. The shard let out a pained gasp as the beams continued to press against the outside of the barrier, sweat instantly beading in his forehead as his opponent continued his barrage, moving the lasers along the outside, poking and prodding the wall for any weakness.

Outside the barrier, Justice dodged in and out of criss-crossing beams slowly making his way through the deadly maze to his opponent on the far side, but his enraged roars and curses at Nemesis could be heard even through the barrier.

There was a sound of breaking glass and metal under severe pressure.... before something broke. The barrier shattered prematurely and it looked as though they'd be destroyed for sure before everything was.. rewritten.

"This ending isn't any good... let's try that again..." said a voice only audible to Joe, the Fencer.

Script, like a foreign language wrote across every surface, even floating upon air. The beams reversed direction, the barrier rebuilt itself before vanishing, the coffins rebuilt themselves from rubble though the frozen hearts within remained missing, the airborne shards flew backwards as everything continued in rewind just before the impact.

Then the script vanished and time reverted to normal... only-

Nemesis collided with Justice, the two struck at each other, trading blows, each ignoring their own wounds to continue bleeding the other. At last they locked into a grapple and plummeted to the ground, colliding with the floor with a massive explosion that would knock everyone from their feet, ice soldier and light bearer alike.

When the air calmed, at the center of the shock-wave, Nemesis and Justice remained locked in a stalemate, each holding one hand over and under Rachel's heart, energy sparking from their fingers to form a tiny, impenetrable barrier, at each of their necks, the other held a contrasting scythe to the other.

"I'll kill you, Nemesis," Justice seethed, eyes pure boiling red, each word spoken releasing fire that spit from between parted lips, "You and him will NOT be allowed to revive."

"Hahahaa! You could try! But I won't let you get what you want. You won't kill me, you won't kill Louis, and Justice will never be served," Nemesis chuckled, looking up at the halo over the opposing shard's head, "Blind as ever, you pass down judgement on the guilty, but you never consider the consequences your actions have on those surrounding the condemned."

"I don't care, what matters is you die," the halo over Justice's head was no longer floating about in a circular pattern, but instead hovering in loosely connected molten pieces that curved up from his temples and back halting just before connecting in a pair of sharp points... like horns, "What happens to the rest doesn't matter."

"So you know," Nemesis grinned baring a mouth full of fangs, "You'll kill everyone his spell has dominated under its thrall... how very like you, Vengeance."

"Shut up! Louis would perform even worse atrocities again if allowed to live," red lightning sparked from between the two and struck an unoccupied corner of the platform. Kyle could feel his own heart ache as though something where being wrenched from it as the two spoke, "I'll make sure Louis never has that chance and I'll crush any who stand in my way of making it happen! Justice will be served."

Meanwhile, the soldiers that had previously been fighting viciously, had stood from their prone positions, only to take defensive... yet pensive postures. They looked hesitant, though several had clear shots at Justice or the light bearers, they made no move to attack.

Choose Their Fate

[Joseph: Frozen Coliseum]

The monk wasn't exactly trading blow for blow, but he fought on, yelling with each attack. Screaming at his enemy that dared strike him. His rage was consuming him as he kept up with the attacks.

Untill Rera raised it's arms up. Joseph's bo was brought up to try to take the blow. The fists and the staff connected, stopping-

Nothing. The fists came down, the bo doing nothing to stop the attack as it suddenly snapped, shattering in the center as it broke into two.

The pieces fell to the ground in slow motion as Joe's face started to lose color. Going from the red of rage to the white of confusion and fear and misunderstanding...

The ice from below struck him, biting through his clothes and slicing into flesh.

He fell to his knees, staring into some unknown distance. His blood was pumping hard, still. It was all he could hear, the heartbeat in his ears. Externally, he seemed to shut down for a moment. Internally, he was grasping, clawing for something, anything to do, to feel.

*splash*

Around all the chaos, the beating of his blood against his brain...something splashed. Reaching from the depths of his innards, something bubbled and crashed and shifted. And he clung to it like a drowning man.

He clung to rage once more, and grabbed half of his broken staff. He was blind to the pensiveness of the creature in front of him. All he knew was that he was screaming, the jagged, broken part of the staff was pointed at the creature, and then he was thrusting it, aiming for the thing's chest. And if nothing stopped him? He was likely to run the creature through.

[Kyla: Frozen Coliseum]

“Oh, of COURSE they’d regenerate… jeez-“ that would make it too easy now wouldn’t it otherwise?

Kyla gasps, the pain in her back a little more sore form her fervent sketching motions as the battle field continued to clamourize with more cluster phobic combat. All leading up to a maelstrom of attacks that she simply wasn’t fast enough to block yet- damnit damnit- WHY couldn’t she be faster? Where was swift-cast or something?

Note to self... my hit list of things to research-

- NOT nOw!
Kyla squinted as the world went white, then glaring red. Their many enemies coalescing into what was probably their original purpose. The batteries an even BIGGER gun! 1000 hearts worth of fury came raining down aaaand-
Throwing her hands up in a futile attempt or reflex, half way through a shield drawing- a different barrier suddenly appeared in the way. It took no time for her to realize why- “Esteem!” More of a statement, then a question. Just like that time, he seemed to reflect her summons powers only at a much more amplified state. If only he could use reflect. But would this mean after using this power he’d be down for the count again for a while?

No time- where, why were they regenerating? How come? “We need to scan what’s syphoning health to these bastards!” Maybe it was somewhere up above?
They were running out of time to- the sound of the barrier breaking. Kyla tried to recast her own to fortify it, but it was useless. It broke.

She knew no more and was back to casting something offensive as the two major shards clashed above them.The Scene Rewritten

The shards were crazy, both of them- “Ok, since we came in here… anyone else sure the first cleansed shards could ‘stay’ that way? Or does prolonged exposure to this plane saturate them in something?” It was something she hadn’t considered- just because they were purified once, doesn’t mean they were guaranteed to remain that way. Either through their tether hosts, or just this place in general, what effects did the events since then have on their shards?

[Axel: Frozen Coliseum]
“ok… what’s up with them?” he gestured with a jut of his chin. “Common – lets go I’m still fired up!” he swung his Chakram around again - ready to smash the little feral beasty again, as much as it would take before he was nothing but ice cubes for drinks-
But the little bugger wasn’t budging. He- they, all of those generals look nervous. Up at their superiors above. Ok THAT was never a good thing.
“Um… Is Justice sounding a bit looney too to you guys?”

[Kyla: Frozen Coliseum]

Kyla couldn’t be sure some where she was standing because she was having trouble hearing. There was a buzzing in her head- and at first she allotted it to her fever. The ice wasn’t help anymore. She felt hot.
But like hell she was going to let her guard down. She cast her Warding Lotus finally on herself, and picked off the next in line when she caught sight of them- James, non-leader Joe, Sayrike, and Riku.
The humming got louder.
“Anyone hear that?” she said, looking around for the source- what was next? Some bomb going off?
This was stupid it, in the manner which they were being messed around with, they all felt like puppets on strings. Surely the puppeteer was somewhere above them, gleefully swaying the cross hangers of those tangling threads of cruel fate. “This is less a coliseum and more a...stage?”
Voices.
How fitting she’d think that.

“Who’se...talking?...” And then she heard his voice. It was the cadence that gave it away. Unless the original finally snapped under all this pressure- and she was praying that wasn’t it- “oh no..”

She saw his back for a moment and Boy did the audience get loud- she winced as they screamed. “Aaargh- for Pete sake!” The fog exploded and then the eyes. She almost shrieked and backs away from them.

When the fog lifted, the voices died. Kyla felt her head was still pounding but was grateful for the silence.
“…things are never good when you start hearing things…” she muttered, exchanging a gaze between the shards, and generals- and then to-
Ajora.”…ugh.” So much she wanted to say or scream, but with Bobbi’s question an annoyed grunt was all the artist could muster.

And then Joe went berserk. Whatever was holding that man together had been splintered during this entire encounter and his sudden explosive behavior didn’t seem too much of a surprise- what was a surprise, was his weapon being broken.
“..oh God- Joe.” He lost it, and thankfully Zell was grappling him, but he was no state anymore. He looked hurt, since the Ice bit into him.

[Axel: Frozen Coliseum]
“HEY! Get your head on man!” He figured Zell could use one more pair of hands fast enough to grapple the berserker Light bearer.
There was no telling what Joe could dish out in this state right? Might as well make sure he didn’t get himself killed- or Zell for that matter.

“If he doesn’t relax, think anyone can put him to sleep- or heal him? He looks roughed up."

[1st Flight of Blades Canceled due to Rewrite]
”

[Dawn : Louis' Heart : Frozen Coliseum]

Dawn's feet froze, ending her dances when she caught the sound of 'Kyle' in the distance. She looked around confused and on her guard, expecting some sort of attack by the beastman or one of the others once more. Then he came out of hiding. It was Ajora.

'How did he get here?' she thought as she looked at the specter that caused them so many headaches, though something seemed off about him. About the appearance, then she remembered something said before.

"Guys, I don't think that is really him," Dawn said trying to ease the others, like Bobbi and Kyla who were in arms with the appearance, "Liar said that he used my seal to get close to Ajora. Who knows how close? Some of himself might still be within Louis's heart for all we know. And we all know the bad guys always find ways to linger or come back."

Dawn glanced back at Riku for a moment then over to the younger Joe, who now held the purified shard previously known as Liar in his heart.

"You're... alive?" Nemesis' expression softened, mouth hanging open slightly, eyes fading to a hint of white ever-so-sligh-
Tap.
"NO! You're dead!" the shard known best as Justice shouted, seething, fire sparking from the molten lines running through the feathers of his black-charred wings, "I watched you die, there's no way you lived!"
Tap.
Nemesis faltered, his jaw clenching, fangs visibly grinding together, "Noo... I watched you die. Again you taunt me. You won't fool me twice, Kyle. I know you're there, playing your stupid games!"
Tap.
Rera, while still hesitant, was oddly and perhaps the most shockingly visibly surprised. The icy face contorted as he stepped back away from Joe who was practically radiating anger. Shadows whispered with glee in Joseph's ear with rising tremor, "Kill...Kill...KILL...KILL! KILL THEM ALL!"
Tap.
Justice, or perhaps Vengeance, all the while unable to move, unable to strike out at the vision of Ajora grew all the more frustrated. Then there was tapping. Incessant, annoying, infuriating tapping. His eyes followed to the source of the sound. Rage engulfed him in a blaze of fire as jagged lines of red energy spread like a web between the two shards coming directly off of Rae's heart. Crimson lightning shot out from the sphere between the two, arcing and striking where Amy stood providing a constant driving force that left a trailing crater in a line from the impact point out to the edge of the colosseum before the light show sputtered out with a crackle.

[Joseph: Frozen Coliseum]

Joseph struggled against the two males holding him down, yelling all the while. His rage had him half-blind to everything, but he did hear Auron 'scold' him.

It wasn't until the Cura hit him, healing the gashes on his legs, that he started to calm a little. He was still raging, but he seemed to stop struggling...besides getting a hand out to ******** you!" He yelled at Auron, pointing at him. And then he arched himself as best he could to see Rera. "And ******** you too!"

And he pointed in the general direction of the Louis shards. <******** you and your stupid ******** voices in my head I know they're not mine why are you so ******** intent on being so ******** creepy!"

And with a relatively vile sneer he pointed at Ajora. "You know what? ******** you too! I miss my ******** eye!"

Well, he was still struggling by nature of not liking to be held down in a situation like this. And he was breathing heavily and still yelling in anger when he spoke. But he still seemed to have somewhat calmed down...for the moment, at least.

Telling people to go ******** themselves seemed to have been helpful.