Mea maxima culpa?

[Chronos]

This is basically a way for me to further explain my characters and their internal struggles. I hope you find this interesting.


Yes, it gets good, by the way.
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Deep in the darkest part of Blackstar's forests, there was a cave. This cave had a disturbing aura around it. It seemed not only malevolent, but genuinely dark. As dark as every heart that inhabited it. But how dark is that, really? Was every soul within the Corrupted Cave lost to the evil within them? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Clack...
Clack...
Clack...

Click clock.

In an oddly high place in the cave, there existed an inlet of sorts. Within this daughter cave, there dwelt a monster of feather and scale. Ensichrys, once known by the same name as the god of time himself, was pacing in his quarters. The former knight of oblivion was troubled. His emotions had been getting the better of him recently. He was also faced with a horrible desire to talk to the true Chronos. Repeating in his head those words he had once heard from the timekeeper, audi alteram partem, he tried to think of a way. Ensichrys did not belong here. Or did he? Was it possible that everything that had transpired was entirely his fault?

Indeed, he had been the coward that turned tail and hid in the bushes while the Bellum Aqua was raging. His plan was going to work though, wasn't it? If he had increased his power by enough and fast enough, he would have been able to destroy the leaders of Chaos and bring the forces of Order to glory. He was not, however, there when he was needed most. Chronos was killed and the Nexus fell to Chaos. Had Ensichrys been there, things could have been different. They would have been different. Was it any fault of his that Oblivion was destroyed?

It must have been.

"Sic transit gloria mundi," Ensichrys said softly. He often spoke in Latin. The language had actually come from oblivion. How it had leaked into the mortal and lighter realms, he did not know. Some creatures called the Romans were commonly held responsible.

Where was Ashen? She was never around when Ensichrys needed her most. HisLordship, whom Ensichrys greatly admired, was also nowhere to be found. Addman, who had first welcomed Ensichrys to the EC, well, he was there, but he was probably devouring a mound of cookies. Ensichrys scored the rock floor with his foot talons in a fit of frustration and began tapping his head on the rock wall.
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The forlorn Guivre slithered into the desolate lake near the foreboding Corrupted Cave. Submerged, he began thinking, as he often did, of Ensichrys and how troubled he was these days. He missed the cheerful feathered ball of energy. The only time the Guivre ever got to see him was when he was needed for some dreadful errand. It was as if Ensichrys kept him sola gratia; the rest of the EC certainly did not care about him. Why was life always so lonely? He could weep. Speaking Latin himself, the Guivre hissed loudly. "Sunt lacrimae rerum!" Indeed, there were tears for things. The snake cried, as he did nearly every night, for his loss of his only friend.
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A terrified shriek rended the night. Some poor nocturnal creature, a wolf by the feel of it, was paralyzed as a massive root smashed it's back in two. Feeling the awful constriction of three other roots around its body, the wolf took a last rasping breath and was dragged brutally down to hell. now piercing the ground was a small, slightly wilted flower. Fragile in appearance, Mortracta cycled through many thoughts. Her new allegiance with the Evil Council. Her master, Ensichrys. The Guivre, a pathetic creature indeed. And of course, the wolf she had just sucked clean of nutrients and water. Skeletal ash was all that was left of the once noble beast, who now lay beneath many feet of earth, left to decompose at a terribly slow rate until the end of the realm itself. Mortracta felt she could have been the most powerful organism in Blackstar. She knew not of the many species of the realm. Doubtless, Mortracta would certainly come off much the worse from a battle with a Dark Fire Dragon.

Mortracta had been getting angrier as time went on. She wanted more, but ascending that, she wanted peace.

Si vis pacem para bellum she thought cryptically, having also just learned the language from Ensichrys.
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Yes, there's more. Tell me what you think, ex gratia.

[Chronos]

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The Guivre heard a splash from underwater. It was weak and odd. Awkward and uncomfortable. Doubtless it was a human! Swimming with haste and rare excitement, the monstrous serpent approached the young girl who had been pushed into the lake by a younger brother who had been jealous of some trifling privilege given to his older sister. Spluttering and coughing, the sister, who had difficulty swimming, attempted to doggy paddle to the bank where her brother had a wicked grin on his face.

Swimming painfully slow, she could hardly see. She did, however, notice a curious undulation behind her. She had no time to even realize what was happening when the water burst into hundreds of large droplets. The Guivre's horrific horned face emerged from the icy water. His jaws clamped around the helpless young girl's waist as she screamed awfully. The young boy was frozen in fear and his heart was rended by guilt as he saw the terrible monster bite his sister in half. Still barely alive, the girl was about to be finished off by the giant snake, when the Guivre saw her brother turn to run away. Hurling the impressive length of his body, the Guivre siezed the boy in his jaws and began shaking him to and fro, dealing the final blow by striking the boy's body brutally against a tree. The Guivre tossed the lifeless form of the little boy a good distance and left the girl in halves by the lakeside. This was what made the Guivre a truly cruel beast. He did not eat the children.

He killed them not for food.
He killed them not because he thought it was right.
He killed them because he hated humankind and needed a multitude of corpses to his name.
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[Chronos]

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Ensichrys was fairly shocked. He had been traveling to the lake to fill a bucket of water and suddenly, a human corpse landed in front of him with a nasty smack. At first, he had thought it was a Cornelius clone, but on a second look, Ensichrys saw that it was a small human boy. He had terrible injuries. Whoever slew this boy clearly despised him. It became all too clear to the insightful Ensichrys who had done this. The Guivre.

The Guivre was still shivering with exertion when Ensichrys stepped in. He saw the stern look coming from Ensichrys and sighed. He never got to express himself anymore. "Guivre, look at this. Why do you always make such a mess? What evil did this child..." he trailed off as he saw the two pieces of the girl on the lakeside. "So, let me get this straight, you just massacred these two innocent," here the Guivre looked up in anger, "young children?"

Hissing out with difficulty in the only human language he knew, the Guivre spoke: "Huic non talis bestia innocus homo hominus." Translating as "There is no such animal as an innocent human."

Ensichrys thought a bit. The Guivre may have had a point here. Who was he to argue? After all, there really was nothing he could say to contradict this. Ensichrys shrugged and turned to walk away, looking over his shoulder to say "You've been hanging around in the cave too much," with a slight chuckle.
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[Chronos]

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What appeared to be an undulation in the earth suddenly stood still and became a lump. Mortracata's deceptively delicate "face" poked through the grass. Well fed, she had no reason to expose her roots. About 30 minutes passed as she waited quietly, fantasizing about tomorrow, as it was getting late.

Suddenly, Mortracta sensed something was amiss. Faceless, nameless, completely unknown, but something was not right. Some... malicious presence. Mortracta withdrew her main stem into her mantle. She could feel signatures in the soil. It was the equivalent of tension sweat, though clearly not human. There was something... otherworldly about this beast.

Mortracta waited. This creature was clearly nervous. Mortracta had the edge! She tried to pinpoint its location. A shifting of soil, then a shriek of agony followed Mortracta's signature "Abrupt Impale." She took the mysterious creature straight through where its chest probably was. She did, however, only get it with one root, and not very deep. Feeling a horrid stab of pain, Mortracta lost the tip of that root suddenly. With an unnatural enraged roar, Mortracta exposed fifteen more of her roots, keeping two underground lest she need to retreat to the depths. Thrashing wildly about, she eventually connected with the creature. Lifting it clear from the ground, Mortracta smiled inwardly.

Then, from an unknown direction, a hellish searing torrent blasted Mortracta. The heat was unbearable for her. Falling unconscious, Mortracta's last thought was that of horror... an awful demonic... horror...
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[Chronos]

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Far away from the lonely flower, Ensichrys winced. Turning his head slowly in the general direction of where Mortracta had been, he inhaled and exhaled deeply for several seconds. Something bad had just happened. A shift in the balance! More insanity had entered this already insane realm. Or was this something... different? It felt so very familiar.


Chaos!

Chaos from another realm, no doubt. But why was his sense of the balance so acute right now? Something else was now bothering him. Something had happened to someone close to him. Process of elimination narrowed it down to two possible victims: Addman and Mortracta.

They were the only two people close to him that he currently did not know the locations of. Shakily, Ensichrys spoke. He called the lonely flower.


"Mortracta?"

He waited.

He called her again, "Mortracta!"


Nothing.


The flower did not come. It was her! This could not have been a coincidence. Mortracta was hurt or in danger at the exact moment that a force of Chaos invaded Blackstar. Suddenly, Ensichrys' mind jumped.

If this was the work of chaos, the next logical victim was The Guivre. Ensichrys had to protect him. He also had to inform Fort and the rest of the Evil Council of the situation. What was more important?



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Back at the lake, The Guivre's head broke the surface once again. Something was amiss. In the distance, a faint orange glow could be seen criss crossed by the demonic branches of the Black Forest. For once in his life, The Guivre was frightened. Feeling his blood run colder than usual, he froze, unsure of what to do as the orange luminousity grew ever closer.
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[Chronos]

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Ensichrys shook his head wildly hoping to rearrange his thoughts. He succeeded only in ruffling his feather mane, which he promptly fixed. He hated having to choose between emotion and tactics. Maybe the best tactic at this point was to follow his emotions.

Ensichrys abruptly took off running to the lake. He fervently hoped the Guivre was not already taken.

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The Guivre did not know what he was seeing. The orange luminosity was within striking range now, however, it did not look like something he wanted to strike. This appeared to be a floating chunk of citrine quartz. Somehow, however, it seemed... sinister.
Malicious.
Deadly even.

It then did something odd. Beginning to rotate, its glow began to fade. Rotating exponentially faster and growing exponentially dimmer, it faded to a translucent yellow whirling death trap. It flung itself into the lake, a virtual cannonball. The splash threw the Guivre sideways, rolling him through the icy water.

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Ensichrys saw the splash. It was now very dark outside. Putting on a jolt of speed never before attempted by him, he reached the lake's edge in record time.

Stillness.
Ensichrys could not see very well, but it seemed that there was nothing here. Suddenly, a monstrosity broke the surface. It appeared to be the Guivre constricting a large gem-like monster with one arm and no legs or head to speak of. There was only one entity Ensichrys ever knew that looked like this.

Citristilo, sub-lieutenant of Chaos.

How had he gotten here?! How was he even still alive? To this point, Ensichrys had believed himself to be the sole survivor of the Nexus, of all Oblivion! And now Citristilo, an envoy of Chaos was here in Blackstar as well? That did not matter right this second. Ensichrys had to help his friend.

Luckily, Citristilo was composed of mostly natural Citrine. Citrine is peppered with ferrous iron ore, a great conductor of electricity. Firing an intense stream of electricity into Citristilo, Ensichrys realized that he was connected to the Guivre.


They were in the water.


Citristilo howled in pain as he was electrocuted alongside the Guivre, who was hissing madly. Immediately stopping the stream, Ensichrys contemplated what his next attack should be. Remembering an incident in the wilds, Ensichrys concentrated a small sphere of electricity in his hands.

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The Guivre was injured, but not too badly. He clung doggedly on to the monster's "shoulder" with his jaws. Letting go in an attempt to impale Citristilo with his horns, The Guivre spotted the concentrated blast Ensichrys was about to fire and, using his amazing suppleness, Hurled Citristilo in the air and submerged. The monster did not come back down. It began to glow again. It now traveled toward Ensichrys, who was nearly ready to fire his plasma blast.

The Guivre resurfaced and attempted to help, but it happened far too quickly. Ensichrys fired his blast straight into the center of Citristilo's glowing form. The orb was lost to view as the orange glowing aura swelled up to engulf Ensichrys. Then, quickly as it had come, Citristilo was gone, along with Ensichrys.
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[Chronos]

It was a truly piteous sight. The Guivre had passed from forlornness into indescribable sadness now that his only friend ever had been lost to him. Swinging his head in the air as if trying to find some sort of portal or catch a scent of Ensichrys, the Guivre began to howl in anguish. Ceaselessly weeping, The Guivre tried everything he could think of. He then thought of the lonely flower. She hated him, but it was worth a shot. After all, Ensichrys was her master.

"Mortracta!!!" The Guivre hissed brokenly. The flower did not come. Had the same thing happened to her? This was terrible. There was only one option remaining. Beginning to calm himself, the Guivre stopped weeping and glided to the Corrupted Cave.

Entering the cave, the Guivre ran into Leporidae, who had been exiting it. The Guivre began to tell her what had happened. "Ensichrys! Silex maxima croceus no nare! Silex aggredior Ensichrys! Uterque evanesco!" Leporidae stared dumbly at the madly hissing serpent. What kind of gibberish was it speaking? o her it sounded like a chattering squirrel. Leporidae assumed the Guivre was just being a good little snake and patted him on the head as she left him.

The Guivre raced to and fro within the cave. Nobody would listen to him. Nobody tried to help him. The Guivre began to cry, for the first time, in public. A virtual orphan having just lost its only parent, trying to seek help in a place where no one understood its language.

Finally, he reached Fort's office. Now producing a sound equivalent to a snake's sob, The Guivre hissed to Fort. "Silex maxima croceus no nare aggredior Ensichrys! Evanesco! Ensichrys evanesco!"

"I'm... sorry? Are you supposed to be here? Why don't you run along to your master now and tell him to keep you the hell out of my office."
The Guivre persisted. Somehow, perhaps by repeating the name "Ensichrys" so many times, Fort got the idea that something was wrong. Eventually, The Guivre rose up and motioned for Fort to follow him. "Sequor," he said. The Headmaster seemed hesitant, but rose.

[Chronos]

Gliding swiftly through the cave, The Guivre knocked barrels over, scraped the wall slime, and displaced other objects in his rush. Fort, not feeling very athletic today, was lagging behind.

The cave must have looked like a great mouth leading to hell as an enormous horned serpent and a demon with antlers emerged with frightening speed from the depths. Speeding through the woods, The Guivre started flattening small plants when Fort yelled from behind. "Hey, lakebreath! Slow down, you're going too fast!"

The Guivre stopped and looked back, cogitating. An idea came to him. Waving his tail in Fort's face, he tried to get him to grab it. Fort slapped it away angrily. "What are you doing? Get that thing out of my face!" The Guivre tried again.

"Capto Cauda," he said meaning "Grab tail." Fort stared at him blankly. "What the hell are you talking about, speak English!" Frustrated, the Guivre seized Fort in his mouth and carried him to the lakeside where the battle had taken place. Dropping the struggling Fort, the Guivre looked around in the dark. He waited for Fort to finish yelling in English words he didn't know then he began to speak.

"Hic locus. Ensichrys evanesco hic. Adservio mihi quaero Ensichrys, ex gratia!"
Fort understood about two words of this trough sheer repetition.
"I take it that 'evanesco' means 'isn't here' or something to that effect?" The Guivre nodded. "Well what do you want me to do about it, give him a curfew? He probably went somewhere with Ashen. Don't blame me for where that feathered mess takes himself!" Fort began to walk away in the darkness. The Guivre began to shed more tears.

"Mortracta evanesco etiam."

Here Fort turned around. "Mortracta? Mortacta's gone too?" The Guivre nodded violently. This was bad. Both The Guivre and Fort knew that you had to be very strong to take down Mortracta. Indeed, they had been using the lonely flower recently to attack traveling heroes and steal their goods and weapons.

Their thoughts were interrupted by a gold sphere of light that seemed to just appear over their heads.

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Ensichrys opened one eye open groggily. Looking around, he saw nothing but dark red smog. Out of this smog, a figure hopped toward him on one leg. It looked all too familiar to Ensichrys. "It's been a while... Noble Ensichrys. Yes, it is I, Alloexustio, Admiral of Chaos, and the reason for your being." Ensichrys could scarcely believe his eyes. He realized now that he had been chained to the wall. Looking at the floor, it had a familiar dirty teal shade to it.

The Nexus!

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[Chronos]

Alloexustio was an odd looking creature. His skin was composed of hematite. He looked Reptilian with a grungy insectoid element. His head was rather long, ending in a disfigured mouth. His lower jaw had six jagged teeth and his upper jaw was simply a ridge of bone that acted as one large tooth. He had two antennae on either side of his head, one pointing forward and the other pointing horizontally. His neck was about half the length of the neck of Ensichrys. He had very slim shoulders. Two long spindly arms came from his shoulders as with any humanoid. At the ends of each arm, his hands were composed of three thick claws that stretched to 1 foot in length. He also had a smaller version of these arms sticking out of his chest. His one leg was centered and only bent once, he had no knee, simply an ankle. His awkward hopping combined with his hunched gait gave the air of a sickly, if not elderly creature.

Looks, however could deceive. Alloexustio slapped Ensichrys across the face, leaving three raking lacerations that bled awfully. Ensichrys' feathers became stained, which was too much for him to bear. Ensichrys began lunging forward and tugging on the chains with all his might. Snarling in fury, Ensichrys looked like a mad scientist's deranged pet.

Alloexustio stepped back. "Hahaha, easy there, Order Knight. Those chains are from the old dungeon. They will never break-" The chains snapped at the exact moment he finished his sentence. The look on Alloexustio's face was one of stricken terror as Ensichrys threw himself upon his age-old nemesis.
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The Glow hanging above the two vulnerable figures in the darkness began to dim. The Guivre looked at Fort. "Silex maxima croceus no nare! Aggredioro Ensichrys!" Fort still did not understand, but looking at the huge floating chunk of citrine quartz, he began to figure out what had happened.

The Guivre attacked Citristilo once again, this time with a vengeance to seek. Citristilo began pounding on him with his arm. Bringing Citristilo down to the ground, The Guivre hissed insanely with rage. It seemed like the Guivre was winning the battle to Fort, who was standing stock still with his mouth open. The serpent had just thrown Citristilo into a tree. Citristilo lied there for a few moments and the Guivre thought he had killed him.

Citristilo had not died. He began to glow again. This immense snake was powerful. Citristilo would have to pull off a dangerous technique if he was to capture this creature. He began to glow more yellow than orange now. This glow swelled as he launched himself in the air. Fort looked up, his mouth gaping open as the citrine sphere began to fall toward him. Fort scrambled to safety in the nick of time. Citristilo landed and literally ripped a hole in the realm of blackstar. Reaching out and headlocking the shrieking Guivre, the two abominations fell into the hole, emerging on the other side in the Nexus. Fort stood still for a moment and then bolted to the Corrupted Cave.
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[Chronos]

Ensichrys bit his nemesis on his shoulder. Barking in anger, Alloexustio put his only foot against Ensichrys' chest and, extending his crooked leg, he flung Ensichrys across the vast room into the other wall. His back hurting badly, Ensichrys staggered onto his feet again and charged his talons with electricity.

The two began moving toward each other, Ensichrys running with his arms in the air poised to strike, and Alloexustio now leaping on his crooked appendage. As the two were about to meet in the center, Citristilo and The Guivre slammed down on top of them. Bouncing, now with Ensichrys and Alloexustio tangled up with them, the four creatures rolled off toward a clifflike drop off, as the floor was sloped.

Just before they bounded off the metal cliff, Alloexustio freed himself from the tangled ball. Sliding along the floor, he dug his claws into the floor, making long grooves. Reaching the edge, he stopped and clung grimly onto it as the other three hurtled over the drop off.

Down, down they went into the grey bowels of the nexus, now wreathed in crimson smoke. Even as they plummeted, The Guivre was still grappling with Citristilo. Wrapped around the gem demon's middle, the massive serpent shoved him into any wall they were about to hit or any obstacle in the way, rewarded every time with a loud clang and a growl of pain from Citristilo.

It seemed to get brighter as they neared the bottom. Looking down, there was Procinctus, the battle well. All of the fighting styles ever invented came from an inspiration of this well. The three landed in it. The water was surprisingly soft.

Now with renewed strength from the well, The snake and the gem were battling viciously. Citristilo now wielded himself like a mace underwater. He had the advantage, he did not heed to surface for air. The Guivre eventually needed to come up, but Citristilo held him down. Ensichrys looked on in horror on the surface of the water, unable to help, as any electric attack would fry both Citristilo and the Guivre. Looking on from above, Alloexustio began cackling.

"What will you do now, Knight?"
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[Chronos]

Ensichrys tried to think of some method of rescuing the Guivre. If only he'd had his war talons with him, they would be able to shear through Citristilo's body easily. Ensichrys then remembered he still had his flometal extract.

Applying it hastily, Ensichrys now had a tail horn like a skewer, a beak like scissors, feet like razor blades, wingtips like guillotines, and hands like machetes. He dove in headfirst to rescue the Guivre.

The Guivre was an amazing creature, almost at his limit of air, he still fought doggedly on. Citristilo was relieved when the Guivre began to slacken its body. He couldn't have held him much longer. Then, just as everything was working out, Ensichrys came, a bolt out of the blue.

The avian demon came down hard on the thinnest part of Citristilo's arm (which was still a foot thick pillar of quartz). The flometal extract had worked wonders. Silently, he thanked Ashen for her welcoming gift to him. Now with only seven inches of his previous twelve on his elbow, Citristilo's grip weakened considerably. This was just enough. The Guivre swam weakly to the surface and gasped for air. He regained his strength quickly and resubmerged. Ensichrys tried telling him to stay out of the water, eventually having to motion with his hand for him to get out of the water. The guivre was hesitant, but seeing a small electric pulse, he knew what was going to happen.

Leaping out of the water and onto the floor of the Nexus, the Guivre thought to himself worriedly. Ensichrys had never made a selfless act like him. He had been having bouts of righteousness lately. Just a few weeks ago, he registered as 100% pure good on the evil-o-meter. People dismissed this as a broken machine or an unusual train of thought, but perhaps it was legitimate. Ensichrys hadn't been doing a good job of being evil lately. Cruel, but not evil. And that's when realization hit the Guivre.

Ensichrys was good.

He was still a noble soul. He didn't belong with the Evil Council. But why could he not realize that? He had never actually gotten the whole story out of him. What had happened? What made him turn to evil in the first place? Why was Ensichrys so convinced of himself that he is evil?

The thought broke off into surprise as the well flared up in an immense blast of azure light.
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[Chronos]

Alloexustio, now on top of the cliff again, looked on in a mixture of annoyance and awe. What was happening? Such power... all he knew was that it did not come from Citristilo. But then, Procinctus was a strange thing. The well had turned the tables in many wars. Without it, the Nexus could not have been won to Chaos. Procinctus had changed many warriors over the ages into complete opposites of their former selves. The weak had learned fighting styles from it that made them seem invincible. The proud had learned fighting styles centered around humility and succeeded with them thanks to the well. Perhaps Citristilo would emerge a more powerful subordinate.

But Citristilo did not emerge at all. Out of the well emerged a singed Ensichrys. The flometal extract had completely chipped off of his body. He had won, however. Walking with a slight limp to his pet, Ensichrys would have smiled if he'd had lips. The Guivre was curious as to what happened.

"Qua silex croceus no nare," he asked wondering indeed where Citristilo was.

"Citristilo," Ensichrys replied, "inferus."

"Tu interfeci?"

"Sic. I did kill him-"
"Something that you will not repeat," rang Alloexustio's voice from above.

"Really now? And I suppose a big strong demon like yourself is going to stop both me and the Guivre," Ensichrys yelled scornfully.

"No. I can't stop you," Alloexustio said calmly as the massive cliff seemed to sink into the ground to half its former height. The floor Ensichrys and the Guivre were on began to rise eventually to twice its height and meeting the clifftop in the middle so there was no longer a dropoff, but an even floor. After much gear grinding and huge clicking sounds, Alloexustio spoke again. "But they can."

There was no smoke at this level, and Ensichrys could now see clearly behind the Admiral of Chaos. There, in a cage of flames, was Mortracta. She was unable to get out, as she would burn if she tried. Two more demons stood on either side of the cage, one of which was an intangible flaming humanoid, the other being a gray skinned humanoid with a gaping hole in his chest and an unlit torch in his only hand.

Alloexustio turned. "Cindi, light the torch." The spiritlike conflagration shot a beam of fire at the torch in his companion's hand, lighting the torch. Ensichrys saw what was coming. "Poppy, begin the torture of that mass of roots and dirt," Alloexustio ordered as the gray skinned demon thrust the torch into one of the roots. Mortracta squirmed massively and began thrashing, burning herself further on the sides of the flaming cage. She reached through the gap between two flaming bars and wrapped a root around Poppy's waist. Mortracta began pounding him into the floor when Cindi blasted the offending root with flames. Mortracta was forced to unseize her tormentor. She now realized that these two had originally captured her. The flower was scared. Her companions were scared for her. "I ask again, what will you do now, knight?"

It seemed no one but Alloexustio knew what to do.
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[Chronos]

Ensichrys tried to evaluate the situation. Mortracta was invaluable to the Evil Council. Even more so to him specifically. Yet he could do nothing to save her.

The Guivre too was at a loss. What could he do to help? If he struck at Alloexustio, he would have Mortracta executed. The Guivre never liked the lonely flower though... she was a fundamentally cruel creature. But was he not cruel as well? What of Ensichrys? Wasn't he cruel sometimes? No. None of them were, not compared to this Alloexustio. But what could he do to help?

Mortracta was confused. Not possessing the gift of sight, she could not see that Ensichrys and that foolish snake had come for her. With this metal floor, she could not tell where anyone was, as there was no soil signatures. She was blinder than usual here, and helpless as well.

Alloexustio was blissfully happy. He had finally conquered his opposite. That foolish bird! Always so vain. Always such a coward when it mattered most. The Admiral of Chaos could not help but gloat.

"Haha, well now, it looks like I've won- again! What are you going to do now, Noble Ensichrys? Are you going to run away, like you always have?" Alloexustio began to get emotional and angry, stressing every word. "Every single time you've EVER been in charge, you've run away. Yet, people still looked up to you. Your own General of Order held you in such high esteem. Nobody could see your faults! I was a great Admiral, I never ran away and won nearly every battle, yet my General treated me like a useless doll. Because of YOU, Order lost the Bellum Aqua. Because of YOU the Nexus was destroyed. And now, because of you, I'm finally going to win everything. I don't know whether to thank you or kill you! I think I'll do both. Poppy! Torch her again!"

Poppy thrust the torch again into Mortracta. She squirmed terribly. Ensichrys was standing open-mouthed. Alloexustio was right. Everything was his fault.

[Chronos]

Ensichrys froze. Suddenly, realization hit him like a meteor. Innumerable lives had been lost, and it was all because of him. Ensichrys had ruined his own life as well as the lives of countless others. The Nexus, Mortracta, The Guivre. All had died or were about to.

"Mea culpa," he said brokenly. "Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa!" Translated, it was a time-honored admittance of deficiency- "My fault. My most grievous fault."

Ensichrys fell to his knees. If he could not stop this from happening, his life will have meant nothing. Ensichrys felt a burst of rage emerge within himself. He looked directly at Alloexustio. "You... you destroyed everything! And I just let it happen, didn't I? No longer," he grated out.

Ensichrys launched a terrible bolt of electricity at Alloexustio, which hit him and was diverted in all directions. There was a glowing red spot on his chest where the bolt hit him.

"What was that supposed to be?" Alloexustio asked sarcastically while recoiling. It had been painful, though he tried to keep a straight face. "You know that happens whenever you try and zap me with your little particle manipulation techniques! Guess what, Ensichrys, I have a particle manipulation technique as well. That's right, you remember. I was the only one in the Nexus that could kill you. I could magnetize you to death right now-"

"But you won't," Ensichrys shot back. "You are equally as vulnerable. Electricity loves magnetism. If you magnetized me, it would take us both out and you know it!"

"Ah, how right you are, Noble Ensichrys. But, as you see, I rule the nexus now. It's all made of metal, you dolt. The only stone parts of this place are the floors and doors, you know this as well as I do. Why magnetize you, when I could just... decapitate you?!"

Alloexustio propelled a sheet of metal hanging off the wall straight toward Ensichrys' head. Ensichrys whipped around and jumped over it as it flew past, straight into Alloexustio, laying him flat.

This was all the Guivre needed "INTEREO," it hissed at a shouting level, and flung himself upon the Admiral of Chaos. He bit and gored and strangled, fighting as hard as he could against the thrashing Alloexustio.

Poppy was having great fun torturing Mortracta to death. Suddenly he felt an odd sensation in his neck. As if something had gone through....

And that was Poppy's very last thought.

The gray-skinned demon collapsed, his head severed, revealing none other that Net behind him! Now wielding a copycat blade, Net beckoned the others. Half of the Corrupted Cave was here to help.

Ensichrys looked on in bewilderment. Why had they come? How did they know? He had not told anyone. Now was not the time. He had to free Mortracta somehow.

Cindi turned around. An EC grunt, who was in this case Cornelius, dove into him, only to realize too late that Cindi was intangible. Cornelius burned to death as he skidded across the floor on the other side. Cindi looked around at what was happening. This was bad.
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[Chronos]

Cindi looked all around himself. Net wielding the copycat blade, The Guivre mauling Alloexustio, Poppy's headless corpse, the stricken Ensichrys, and the mass of Evil freaks charging toward him. He couldn't use his power well enough while still keeping Mortracta in the flame cage, but he also couldn't release Mortracta according to Alloexustio's orders.


Alloexustio was having difficulties with the Guivre. It seemed to be on par with Ensichrys' level of ability. It was just as hard to beat! Alloexustio decided that it was time to start fighting even dirtier. A third, smaller arm with a three fingered hand emerged from Alloexustio's chest. It had talons, but only on the fingertips.

Alloexustio plunged deep, in hopes of finding this creature's heart. The Guivre's extreme length, however made pinpointing its heart nigh on impossible. Thankfully, Alloexustio did not need to breathe here or he would have suffocated already under the weight and constricting coils of the huge serpent.

Ensichrys had no idea what to do. Why did the EC come to his aid? How did they get here? What was to be done about Alloexustio, could the Guivre handle him alone? Ensichrys dashed into the crowd of Evil Council Grunts and Officers. Looking around, he spied someone who was most definitely out of place.

It was the Owl. What in Chronos' name was he doing in this godforsaken place? He noticed Ensichrys as well, seeming to sense his urgent need to speak with him. As the Owl landed in front of him, Ensichrys noticed that he was slightly taller in this place.

"Owl, what is going on here," Ensichrys asked, perhaps a little more forcefully than he should've.

"Calm yourself," came his cool reply. "Our headmaster alerted us to your predicament, though we were not informed that we would be roped into a fierce battle for an ancient ruin of a realm."

"Yet you brought hundreds of EC grunts? Why did you come?"

"You seem to completely lack consideration of your comrades. Why on earth do you think we came? Together, the three of you form a powerful force. A force that the Evil Council unfortunately can not afford to lose," The Owl replied while turning around.

He lifted off. "And we might just be concerned about you as well," he said, somewhat angrily. Ensichrys wondered if he'd hurt the Owl's feelings.

Doubtful...





Ensichrys now had a new target. Cindi must fall.