“It would be much more effective if you were to take me on together, but if a death like this is the way you want to go then so be it.” Totsuka said in a slight sigh of annoyance before looking over at Derith.

“Well see about that.” Derith replied, moving the exact moment after, locating himself right behind Totsuka, a single pistol placed against Totsuka’s back. If one didn’t know better, they might have thought that Derith, in his transformed state, had a speed fast enough to catch Totsuka off guard, so as the gun shot rang out, for a short moment; some may have assumed it was the end of the battle. Rather than making a direct hit with the close distance shot, the large blast burst through the empty space in front of it, quickly finding Totsuka to the side of Derith, already going for a strike. Luckily a pure white bandage managed to deflect most of the damage, giving Derith a short while to create distance between the two of them.

Totsuka paused for a second to look at Derith. This strange form was interesting. The speed was quite impressive, but compared to what he had dealt with and what he himself could pull out, it wasn’t really too much of a worry. The real problem was the fact that he was a marksman and his pistols could clearly deal some long lasting painful damage. He still wasn’t certain exactly what caused this state to occur, but it was on a whole different level from Derith earlier. It would probably be best to get a closer up attack and finish it quickly though it wasn’t hard to figure out that that was a statement easier said than done.

Having rebounded and regained his footing on the battle field floor, he raised his left pistol and launched out the same shot he had been shooting previously, figuring that if he could keep a consistency of the bullets launched, then maybe it could go assumed it was all he could do. Besides, that was just to get some movement going.

As any would expect, Totsuka quickly moved out of the way of the attack, taking a quick dodge to the right of the attack before centering his focus back on Derith, the target.

For Derith, he had a short fraction of a second to consider the options as Totsuka moved to dodge the first initial attack, but the thing that amazed Derith was the speed that Totsuka was moving at. Prior to taking upon the transformations, his movements were barely traceable and now he could actually see the movements clearly, even if they were very fast. Quickly he raised both guns, both facign forward, though both slightly pointed inward, seemingly to aim at little to nothing, before launching. From the right gun came the bullet that was something similar to a beam that branched off into a tree-like shape. From the left gun came the bullet that multiplied into several smaller ones. Given the angles that they were launched at, the two attacks nearly covered a full 180⁰ arc.

Given little to no area left to go, Totsuka quickly took a leap upwards, narrowly dodging the wide range that Derith’s attack covered, before he seemed to vanish and reappear behind Derith. While marksmen always made the hardest targets to fight one on one against for an assassin like Totsuka, there was one rule that remained, when both weapons are turned in the same direction, the opposite direction provides an open space to strike.

As Derith had hoped for, Totsuka was not only forced off of his straightforward path, but moved to the path behind him. If he could hold him down for a second, even a mere second, the battle would be over and he could go assist Shita and the others. For that, he could use his bandages, though the issue that laid there was that in the transformed state, he wasn’t certain as to how to use the white bandages as they seemed to act on their own for defense when they felt like it. It was times like this that he wished he could call upon his normal demonic form’s bandages because they were more useful but even though he may have wanted it, he knew it was impossible. Or was it? It would be a risk but if anything were to be attempted…

As Totsuka arrived behind Derith, he immediately went in for a straight attack from the back. As Totsuka attacked, thin streams of the signature black energy seemed to start to form between Derith’s hands and the area around Totsuka, only to suddenly dissipate as his right hand suddenly flicked out launching a large blast from his gun, clearly missing Totsuka and letting him land a fairly decent wound in Derith’s back. Totsuka probably would have went for a second or third strike while he was close, but at the time being three of the glossy white bandages shot out, aggressively aiming for vital points at a shockingly fast speed causing Totsuka to retreat back a good distance. For a short while it seemed like Derith was stunned in his place, a few white bandages dancing protectively around him.

At that short moment, Derith was certain it was possible to draw upon the non-transformed abilities and found himself really confident as the attack began, though somewhere in there, something had interfered. He was not sure exactly what, and he wasn’t sure exactly what that reckless shot was, but he struggled to believe that it was actually him doing it. Something was off. Even now, in the middle of the battle, he should be moving, fighting, though despite it all, he found himself immobile and incapable of moving. Was this… He needed to cool down and be more careful. While in this state, the rush of power and speed tended to get to him. He needed to slow down. This state was unstable, a fact he almost always forgot in the heat of battle, and going fast would not help at all. This transformation was a concept of balance between human and demon, so it was only natural that if he were to try to pull upon more of the demonic part, the stability would shatter. He had to remain calm and take this battle carefully. As he took a few deep breaths, the white bandages seemed to settle down and sink back into his body.

Totsuka watched for the few seconds that Derith seemed frozen in his place. While it would be a good chance to try to get in, the white bandages had almost seen to have a speed, mind, and power of their own and it didn’t seem like they were planning to let him past, so rather than attempting he took note of this odd situation. It seemed apparent, when placed under pressure, this form wasn’t the most stable, and given he had already managed to land an attack; it was a matter of keeping the pressure up until he snapped into a more defenseless state. It would be then that it would be the easiest chance to strike.


All through the battle, Aquity watched the two of them duel it out from the outside. While she did feel like it was a bit wrong to be sitting out in the background watching the fight, it was probably the safest and best route for the two of them to take. And besides, while it may be old news for most of the members of the group, this was the first time Aquity got to see a transformation in first hand, though her own eyes and it was pretty impressive. To think that such a transformation could change the scenario so drastically, from not having a single chance to being capable of keeping on par. “Wowie~” She spoke to herself in awe. “They weren’t kidding when they said these transformations were powerful. No wonder generals were taken out by these things. Im actually shocked that Totsu guy is actually holding up so nicely against that power. I can barely see the battle with the sheer pace of it.” She spoke, almost sounding as if she was watching some kind of action movie. What she found pretty interesting was the sudden change in fighting style that Derith took up shortly after the time that he froze up. There were a lot less strategic offensive shots but rather shots that seemed to serve for a more defensive purpose. Maybe it could be accounted for the fact that Totsuka had picked up the sheer speed, strength, and frequencies of his attacks but to Aquity, it seemed almost as if he was trying to learn something, trying to figure something out. Each head to head round the two of them would take, it would seem as if Derith would try something new, stall out for a bit, then flinch for one reason or the other, and take some kind of wound, that of which would be patched up with one of the white bandages shortly later. And even though he was taking wound after wound, it seemed almost as if everything was still going as planned. “Ah. I think Derith has something interesting up his sleeve.” Aquity said in a mildly excited tone, swaying her head back and forth slightly. “I cant wait to see what he does~” She finished in a bit of a sing song voice.


After a few minutes of dueling head to head, the two managed to generate a bit of a distance between the two of them. At this point of time, Derith, even in his transformed state, seemed pretty worn down, having his clothes torn, short breath, and several pure white bandages sealing up several wounds, some deep and some shallow, that were inflicted through them all. If one were to look at some parts of his body, it wouldn’t be hard to take notice of the oddly burnt parts of his body which could really only be attributed to a side effect of using this form for so long and so extensively. Although, even with all this, if one were to look in his eyes, his confidence had not faltered, in fact, if anything, it looked stronger than before.

On the other hand, Totsuka remained in his nearly unscathed state. He seemed to be getting mildly tired, but compared to the amount of time he was going at it with fast movements, it was a wonder how he wasn’t completely drained. He let out a sigh. “Just give it up already. You haven’t landed a real direct hit on me since we started fighting one on one while Ive managed to land several. This battle will just continue down to your slow death if you don’t just give up now and allow me to make this quick.” He said, seemingly getting annoyed by the sheer length of the battle.

Through the duels, Derith had been testing out the factors of balancing the two types of energy that this form enabled as well as an attempt at learning to use the white bandages better. From the practices he learned three things. First, an unbalanced amount of the energies where demonic energy was favored caused a lack of control. Second, an unbalanced amount of the energies where the human-exorcist based energy was favored caused internal damage and pain. And thirdly, the bandages did not function in the way like his normal bandages worked as they acted more like separate entities and needed to be treated as such. He took a deep breath and lost the stance he was standing in. “Sorry about that.” He said, pausing between the words to catch his breath. There really wasn’t much of an option left. Even if he were to apply those three factors into battle, it wouldn’t do much in the state he was currently in. Naturally Totsuka was right here, but there was something else he could try, even if he wasn’t completely sure exactly what it was. It could ultimately fail, but if it worked, if whatever his gut and instincts were telling him to do, it might be enough to end the battle once and for all. He glanced over at Aquity who was still sitting watching the battle ever so intently. In worst cases worst, if this were to fail, she could probably swoop in and save him from any fatal attacks that Totsuka might try right? Maybe not… although he figured the possibility was probably worth the risk.

He took a second deep breath as an odd energy wrapped around him. It was a very soft energy and had a color that was a gradient from pure white to pitch black as it swirled around him.

“Im guessing that’s a no?” Totsuka sighed, tightening his grip on his dagger.

--------------

Kage watched the screen closely as the battle went down. Having seen the energy and taken whatever information he could, he couldn’t find the scenario anything near settling. “Kaia. Get him out of there. Now.”

“Awww…. But its just getting interesting.” Kaia whined. “Don’t you want to see what the little shadow boy will d-“ Kaia quieted herself as she looked up at the clearly serious Kage. “Fine.” She said in a minor pout as her eyes reverted back to the normal color, ultimately releasing the minor memory swap she had done to get Totsuka into the game. “There. Now if everything goes as planned he should..”

--------------

As Kaia undid her work, the ground around Derith began to turn into a pure pitch black surrounded by a clear white strip surrounding the edges of the ground that began to turn black. As it did so, the surroundings itself seemed to dim into a darker shade. Having been brought back to the normal state so abruptly, Totsuka took a few seconds to calibrate exactly where he was and what was going on before quickly coming to a conclusion, causing him to flee in a faster, more frightened style than a gazelle being hunted. In the matter of seconds, he was far from the battlegrounds and in less than a second after that, his energy trail was basically unnoticeable.

With the sudden and odd retreat, Derith was taken a bit off foot, but the black surroundings retracted back as he took a knee. It seemed like Totsuka was well gone and he would get a short break to recover. After a few seconds of nothing, Aquity came on over to Derith. “Hey. That was a cool battle.” She said with a bit of a smile. “You should relax, I just viewed the other battles and I think we finished up first. You should be fine to power down.”

Derith shook his head lightly. “We will take a short while to recuperate, but we need to go aid the others as soon as we can. And it would be a bad idea to get out of my transformation right now. If I were to, I might not be able to engage in battle so…. Just give me a short while. This game shouldn’t continue too much longer.” He said with a light sigh, sitting down and glancing down at his watch. The others were in battle it seemed, though Aquity seemed to not be alarmed and she could check into what they are viewing so they couldn’t be in that bad of a condition. He took a deep breath. A few minutes of rest couldn’t hurt. He couldn’t put too much strain if he planned to stay in this form for long periods of time.

The water fired from Nanatsu's weapon appeared to slam directly into Shita's head. The instant before the blast hit him, there was a small spike in Shita's energy. The force of the impact sent the water flying out in all directions while a light cloud of steam was formed that enveloped both Shita and Nanatsu. After that, there was silence. No sounds from either Shita or Nanatsu came from the steam as it slowly began to fade. As more and more of the steam drifted off, an image was formed. Nanatsu hadn't moved and still had her weapon extended out in front of her. As for Shita, he was still there, but this time he was facing towards Nanatsu and the tip of the trident he held was pressed lightly against Nanatsu's neck. Shita himself had changed. He was now in his transformed state and was looking Nanatsu directly in the eye.

--------------------------------

Andrea smiled as she heard Kira say that he was alright and promptly lunged forward to hug him. "YAY! I KNEW YOU'D LET US KEEP THEM!" She said, clearly either accidentally or intentionally misunderstanding Kira's words of "take care of them"

Naturally on a normal basis, Hiratori would be watching Derith's battle intensely, hopign for his safety, though as Aquity had taken the scene, her attention drifted over to check out the other fights going on, seemingly keeping an oddly calm disposition while watching. It wasnt until she took a few seconds to examine the 'battle' that Andrea and Kira were dealing with that she noticed something oddly familiar. She took a few seconds to try and recall what it was before stumbling upon the title "Shé Kēng Mábì" a certain Chinese demonic assassination tactic used by... She paused for a second, looking down slightly as she thought, before looking up. She couldnt recall the names, but she was certain the tactic was something akin to this. She would have put a bit more thought into it if the action over with Derith's battle hadnt just picked up, causing her to return her attention over to them.

------------------------------

Kira stepped back to dodge the hug and paused for a second before sighing. "Andrea... I didnt mean keep them.... I mean to kill them. Get them out of the way. Carry on with the fight and al-" He stopped his sentence part way through as he quickly turned to Raynik, who fell to a single knee with a quiet thud, one of his claws hanging down to the side. "Raynik! Whats wrong?"

"My claw. It-" Raynik winced lightly, his hand in a seemingly paralyzed state as occasional shock of pain rang up and down his arm.

"Its a toxin." A soft, feminine, yet threatening voice spoke from the opposite end of the field of snakes, where a massive green snake emerged, traveling from one large branch to the next. This was Xiao, at least in her snake form, who had apparently figured she had her share of amusement. One might have thought she smiled lightly just as the surrounding snakes seemed to self destruct into the same purple fluid that appeared when Raynik had killed a snake.

Andrea seemed a little put off that Kira rejected her hug, but seemed to dismiss it as Xiao made her appearance. She looked at Xiao with her typical 'not a worry in the world' expression and smiled. "Hello!" she greeted cheerily. "My name is Andre-AH!" Her words were cut off by a surprised yelp as the snakes exploded, covering Andrea's clothes, arms and legs in the purple goop. Andrea blinked and looked at her clothing with a quizzical expression. Wordlessly, she scooped some of the gunk with her finger and brought it up to her nose to smell.

"Wha-" Kira began to speak before getting cut off by the snakes exploding into the purple goo that now covered a good amount of his clothes and exposed skin. It probably would have gotten a good fraction of his face if it wasnt for the natural reflex to shield the face. He swung the arm that shielded his face to the side, in the process, splattering some of the purple goo onto the floor.

Only a few seconds after exploding though, the goo seemed quickly vanish in a way that seemed to be evaporate. As it did so, the green snake that seemed to had spoken earlier seemed to quickly launch itself off from the branch, slowly taking the form of a human girl as it did so. She could actually be considered fairly pretty with her long green hair and matching green eyes. When she took form, she walked forward a bit, her steps matched with the sound of squishes as her feet stepped on the goo that had not vanished yet. After having taken a few steps, she snapped her fingers lightly and stopped walking. This girl was Xiao Suzhen, the assistant to the famous assassin Bai Suzhen.

As soon as she had done so, a sharp long-lasting sting stuck through Kira's body in all the places that the goo had touched, causing him to quickly fall to a knee, then flat on the floor with a light scream. After a short while, the pain seemed to lessen to a continuous but more mild sting. Although when Kira tried to pull himself back onto his feet, or at least onto his knees again, his body was unresponsive and the sharp sting returned for the very brief moment.

As with Kira, the goop that was covering Andrea vanished as well and she looked around, clearly confused. Her attention briefly focused on Xiao as she transformed and started walking towards them, but the second Xiao snapped her fingers her attention snapped to Kira. She winced at the sound of Kira screaming and rushed over to him, though was strangely unaffected by the goop herself. Perhaps it simply was taking longer.. "Kira! Kira, what's wrong!" she said worriedly,leaning in close to Kira, but without actually touching him. After not getting a response, she looked over at Xiao, "What did you do to Kira?!"

Xiao seemed a bit hesitant at the lack of a reaction from Andrea. She was human right? And even if she wasnt... It was probably just slower to act for her... Or something like that. She thought before sighing. "I told you didnt I? Its a toxin." She spoke, adding some odd emphasis on the word 'toxin.' "Really, its traditionally a snake pit trap but it can come in other variations, like butterflies, or pebbles or whatever." She continued in a fairly casual manner, looking over at Kira and occasionally glancing over at Andrea as if waiting for her to fall to her knees. "Bai just prefers the more traditional look and I just like to carry it out that way as it was originally the technique she came up with." She continued, clearly avoiding answering the question directly and clearly buying time, not moving from her spot where the distance between her and Andrea was still present.

Andrea listened to Xiao's explanation without changing her expression. So it was a toxin, which meant that the goop that landed on her was going to have the same effect. She looked at her hand and arm curiously. She felt no different. She wasn't affected yet. She turned her attention back to Kira. "So I have to suck the venom out." she said with maybe a bit too much enthusiasm. Meanwhile, a beetle dug out of the dirt near Andrea and started crawling towards the forest. Before it could, however, it toppled over onto its back. It struggled to get itself upright for some time...then grew still.

"Its not a exclusively blood based toxin and even if it was, youd probably have to suck his blood out well clean if you wanted to get it all removed from his system." Xiao muttered somewhat quietly, having wanted to explain that to Andrea, though still be unsure if it would be the safe wise idea.


In the meanwhile, Kira found himself struggling to make speech and movement as at this point, the slightest movements in the fingers stung like sharp needles, making both breathing and speaking a fairly painful action. He let out a small hiccup of sound before being cut off by a stinging pain. "Raynik... Can you lend me a hand and get me out of here, or at least get Andrea to take this seriously?" He spoke to Raynik telepathically, really the only easy way of communication at the time being. "This is really painful." There was no response, something that was odd as Kira could see in the corner of his eyes that Raynik was still present, even if he seemed mostly stunned and in a bit of pain. As long as he was conscious he should be getting the message, so it was strange for him not to respond. "Oi... Raynik. You there?" His question was responded to with pure silence and just as he was about to try and get Raynik's attention again, a sharp pain that felt almost like he was stabbed, rang through the back of his neck, making him drop his head to the ground completely with a light grunt of pain, possibly the loudest sound he could make at the time. Simultaneously, Raynik seemed to vanished almost in a way of being desummoned rather than killed, typically a sign that a lack of energy was present to host his manifested form.

If he was given the chance to panic, he probably would have, but he was quickly greeted with sharp shocks through his head for every thought he made, each thought being paired with a silent wince.


Xiao looked over at Kira then over at Andrea before back at Kira. The toxin was working well for him. When it came to messing with the lymph, energy, and neurological systems, humans were always so fragile to it. It was a wonder as to how Andrea was still acting fine, but given the boy was pretty much already down to the toxin, it was a one on one battle now. And if the girl had the weight that called for her to protect another person, then it shouldnt be too hard to take off on human girl.... or whatever type of girl she was.

She jumped back a short bit as a closed fan formed in her hand from a bright purple energy. Immediately she made an odd symbol in the air with the fan before opening it up. "With the power of Lady Bai, lets finish this battle quickly." She said quietly under her breath as the battle field filled with a fairly thick fog making it difficult to see too far ahead of oneself. It was only to be presumed by who Andrea was fighting and the color of the fog that it probably wasnt just normal colored fog.

Andrea once again did not react to Xiao's actions as she sat there and just stared at Kira with a worried expression. Kira was really dying. He was in pain. She had to help him somehow. If Shiro were here he'd cure him. If Shita were here, he'd extract the venom. But she didn't know any healing spells. She didn't know how to get rid of the venom in time. The only one who did was....

Andrea turned to look in the direction of Xiao, looking straight at her as though the fog weren't even there. She made the venom, she must have an antivenom. In the instant that Andrea looked at Xiao, it happened. As suddenly as flipping the switch on a light, everything went dark. The trees, the sky, the ground, even your own hand in front of your face. It was all impossible to see. The only sound to be heard was whatever the brain imagined due to the sudden change in environment. Beyond that, the darkness actually had the feel of a solid object, exerting pressure and making it hard to move or breath. Every action only served to increase the pressure, making it even more difficult to keep breathing.

Xiao's heart skipped a beat as the environment suddenly changed. What had just happened? What was going on? What was this? Its was heavy. It was strong. She winced as she fell to a knee under the pressure. This cant be. How could a mere human exert such strength? She was a human... right? No. She was nothing but a mere human, a mere human could not over power the protection that Lady Bai had granted upon her. It is impossible. This situation was fake. There had to be a trick to it. Just as she was about to turn her head to look around or call out, she quickly noticed the sheer strength and pressure of the darkness as she started to cough. What was this... It didnt matter if it was real or fake, if it was a ruse or not, the power was consuming. She wanted to fight back in the name of Lady Bai and for her life, but the strength was too much. She sat there, on her knee, wishing to fight back and to move, but instead was left completely defenseless and coughing.

Odessa frowned as she looked at what was being showed to her on the screen. It was an incredibly strange sight. Kira was pretty much unconscious at that point, Andrea was looking at the snake girl who was weirdly just on her knees and coughing, yet there didn't seem to be anything causing it.

--------------------------

As Shita and Nanatsu faced each other, both waiting for the other to make a move, Shita was half-distracted by what was going on with Andrea. He explicitly told her not to do that. She was putting herself in grave danger. Damn it, if she had just waited! He had to end his fight with Nanatsu immediately, which meant pulling out all the stops.


---------------------------

While Xaio sat there, on her knees and struggling to take but a single breath, a soft glow came from in front of her. That glow was Andrea, and despite the light growing brighter and brighter by the second, it still did not illuminate anything other than Andrea herself. Andrea rose to her feet in a very gradual, continuous motion, and began to walk closer to Xaio.

"You hurt Kira," Andrea said, her voice echoing into the void. "You poisoned him."

Xiao froze up a bit as Andrea came into sight and began to speak. Was that what this was about? Was that really all she cared about? Was that why she went to this length? For a little human boy? She winced as she managed to gather the strength to say a broken up, quiet "So what?" before falling to her side, catching herself with her elbow, as she tried to regained the air she lost.

------------------

Nanatsu barely seemed to make much of a reaction to Shita's transformation. Sure it was menacing and sure its a greater threat, but despite it all, Nanatsu remained fairly unphased. She took a short while to examine Shita, taking a quick notice on how he seemed partially distracted by something. Regardless, it was a poor decision to divert his focus away. Quickly she closed the distance between the two as she threw her left gun high into the air, freeing up her left hand as she prepared to take a stab at Shita.

Umm.... Is it too late to join? Or is this a private thing? Just asking.

I'm sorry. This RP is a little too far in for anyone new to join.

Shita wasn't about to be caught unawares as his attention snapped back to Nanatsu before the gun even left her hand. He didn't move at all, but as she moved in to stab at Shita, the chains he held shot downwards, no longer taking the shape of a trident and wrapped themselves tightly around Nanatsu's sword. As the chains both prevented her from proceeding with her attack and retreating to a safe distance they extended out till they were tightly wrapped around her wrist. Then Shita took action.

"You remind me alot of another demon I recently fought. General Destrain, she called herself...Truly a shame. She had so much potential." Grabbing his end of the chain tightly, he yanked hard on it with enough force to launch Nanatsu into the air and slam her down on the other side.


--------------------------------

Andrea: "Kira and I are destined for each other, you see." her voice losing the booming echo, yet still sounding just as terrifying. "So...fix...him. Make your choice soon. Your body won't hold out much longer."

Something seemed to have caught Nanatsu off-guard making it rather easy to slam her into the ground. Upon impact a small body-sized crater and thin cloud of dirt were kicked up, though despite the damage a toss like that probably would have done to her, she sat up fairly quickly, spent a few seconds with an expression that was somewhere between a glare and a wince before the gun that she had toss quickly manifested in her hand. The second the gun was in her hand, she shot up from her sitting position and immediately shot both of her guns, one aiming for Shita's head the other at his lower body. "Shut up." She said with a tone that had a tint of venom, which, while only being a tint, was a large change from her old monotonous voice.

--------------------------------

She just wanted her to fix the boy, to make sure he didnt die, and then she would be allowed to be freed from this pain, allowed to live. Thats all that was needed to live. Xiao began to use some of the little strength she had to reach into her kimono, the place where an antidote was stored, but stopped part way through. If she were to give in, she would be aborting the mission, throwing it aside and goign against her orders. She was specifically told to take these two down, make sure they didnt interfere. Letting them go could mean trouble for Lady Bai. She would have failed her Lady. Instead she let her hand fall to the side. "I refuse.... I am under the orders... of Lady Bai.... I cannot."

Shita wasn't at all fazed by the attack and dodged them with little more than a simply sidestep. The entire time, his eyes never left Nanatsu's and he continued to speak. "She was incredibly skilled and was more than willing to die for her lord. I still remember the instant her life finally ended. It sounds incredible, but even her dying thought were for Leviathan. Ah she cared truly for him. Enough to defy his wishes and save him from his own mistakes." His words seemed to hang in the air as he slowly began to walk in a large circle around Nanatsu. "Were the two of you close? I have to wonder if perhaps she shared her misgivings with you. Did you make light of her worries? Was she pushed into action by your lack of belief? Or perhaps it was the other way around. Her worries were clear as day, yet you failed to recognize them until it was too late. To prevent a tragedy."


------------------------------

Andrea blinked. "Lady Bai? Who is that? Is she your boss? Will she know what the antidote is? Perhaps I should see if she'll cooperate..."

Nanatsu stayed where she was as Shita talked, head slightly down, seemingly listening to what he had to say rather than taking the chance to get a good attack or two in. Through it all, she didnt speak a single word and her movement was practically minimal with the exception of her mouth as she started biting her lip half way through Shita's speech. A second or two after Shita had finished speaking, she seemed to mumble something that was difficult to understand before quickly shooting up from where she was and, with a hand coated in a water that seemed similar to the disks she used earlier in the battle, reached out quickly in attempt to grab Shita's neck. "Dont talk about Dimia as if you knew her! You filthy monster! You killed her! You are nothing but a monster- A murderer! Just die!" She shouted in a very aggressive tone that seemed to have the sound of innocence that Nanatsu normally carried around but the venom that came with the persona she seemed to have been showing before.

---------------------

"She..." It was useless wasnt it. If this was used on Lady Bai it would degrade her as well. This was evil. This was cruel. She had failed her Lady. Giving in would be failure and not giving in wouldnt do any more than put her Lady in the way of danger. It was her fault for underestimating the humans, and if this was her punishment, then so be it. She coughed a few painful coughs. The girl was right. Her body wasnt going to withstand it all that much longer and the least she could do is satiate the girl to protect Bai. "My... Kimono... Pocket.." Xiao managed to say in between coughs.

"Sir" Skylar said, attempting to get Leviathan's attention as he glanced over. "His claims on General Destrain... There is a possibility that they accurate going by Destrain's character and her sudden absence from post, but the issue here..." He trailed off a bit in a silence.

Leviathan seemed not to pay attention to Skylar as he spoke, or, at the very least, he gave them little to no recognition. It seemed his attention was strictly tired to the scene going on that was vividly displayed on the television screen. It wasnt the fact that it was now pretty well established that it was Shita that had taken down Dimia that bothered him as it didnt take a genius to at least figure he was the likely candidate, but rather the situation that Nanatsu was in. He was playing cheap and Nanatsu was breaking out of her normal bounds. He was toying with his precious Nana's emotions and using Dimia's murder as a tool to do so. It was disgusting. It was filthy, dirty, and degrading of the dead. It was something that was not okay to do to Nanatsu. It was most definitely not something he want to be used on her.

For a quickly moment he stood up from his chair seemingly ready to break off the whole game and intervene before his eyes flickered as he reluctantly sat down, quietly cussing under his breath, just barely loud enough for only Skylar to hear.

Skylar's eyes remained on Leviathan. It wasnt hard to tell that he was getting quite worked up about it as he usually had a lot more control, and even as little as he expressed at the current moment, he usually remained stoic in nature. But now... Skylar looked back at the screen. Leviathan had a right to be getting upset. What Shita was doing was too harsh for someone like Nanatsu and everything else that this person did only made it worse. To think that he was managing to break Nanatsu in her warrior state was something surprising but also something horrible for their end. After all if Nanatsu were to get too reckless... it wouldnt be good.

Throughout the entire battle, Shita's eyes never changed. Even before transforming, his eyes had the same calculating coldness that he now had...Shita didn't move, even as Nanatsu closed the distance and wrapped her hands tightly around his neck. As she choked him, cursing him and his words, Shita did nothing. It was almost sad to see his opponent in this state...and even more so to see her blame his words. So all Shita did was stare at her, with the same eyes as always.

Yes, even before transforming, his eyes were the same as they were now, except this time his actions were reflecting it. It hardly mattered how despicable or deplorable he was acting because in the end, what he stated was the truth. It existed long before he spoke them aloud and they would have continued to exist even if you removed Shita from the picture entirely. It was a fact, and it was this fact that drove Nanatsu to take her rash actions.

It was more than a whole minute after Nanatsu started strangling him before Shita finally began to move. Slowly, his arm lifted. Because Nanatsu was still strong, if she was permitted to continue, she actually could strangle him to death, however; Shita did not attack like one would expect. Instead he rested his hand on Nanatsu's left wrist and began to slowly push against her, relieving the pressure on his throat just enough to speak, yet it could not have been Shita speaking. It sounded nothing like him. The voice that came out was more lighter, more feminine. Only someone intimately familiar with the sound would recognize it, even through the rasp of having nearly had their throat crushed.

It was none other than the voice of Dimia Destrain.

"Na....na...tsu. Nanatsu...."


==============================


Andrea tilted her head as Xiao spoke and slowly she leant down and reached inside of her kimono. She felt around for a bit until she located the pocket and withdrew a vial. "And this will save Kira?" she asked, to which all she was able to get was a weak nod. "Very well..."

Andrea stood up and began to turn away to go help Kira, but stopped halfway. She looked back at the helpless form of Xiao and blinked. It would be easy, wouldn't it? A quick surge of power and her body likely wouldn't be able to take it. It might even explode. Andrea once again tilted her body before leaning back down. Gently, she placed her palm against Xiao's cheek and leant forward. Her lips pressed against Xiao's forehead incredibly lightly. "Now sleep. You must be tired."

As soon as Shita spoke, Nanatsu's eyes grew wide, she stopped her name calling and both hands released in sudden shock. For a second... just for a mere second, she could have sworn she was attacking Dimia. She.. was attacking... Dimia. Was she attacking Dimia... Did she.. Did she turn on her own..?

Nanatsu stumbled back a bit in confusion, her scales slowly vanishing in the process until she accidentally bumped into a tree behind her, causing her to fall and ultimately making her sit against the tree looking up at Shita. As she hit the tree, her hair seemed to come undone as the hair tie broke, freeing her long hair from her ponytail.

"Wha..t..?" Nanatsu muttered quietly under her breath, her eyes still as wide as before. "Dimia- Dimia. I didnt mean to... I didnt- I dont... I..." She said in a very apologetic, guilty tone that no longer sounded like that of a warrior but rather that of an innocent young child that realized she did something really bad. She averted her eyes and face from Shita as a few streams of tears began to roll down Nanatsu's cheek. "I didnt mean to..." She said in a quiet muffled voice.

----------

What. What was going on. Did he just..? The bastard didnt think it was enough to use Dimia's death as a tool against Nanatsu but even thought it was cool to use even her voice?! That was blantant disrespect flat ou- Leviathan's thoughts were cut off as his attention turned towards how Nanatsu was reacting. It was not good. It was not good at all. He was breaking her. He was obliterating and destroying her psyche. This was too much. This was going to far. It doesnt matter whats at stake. It doesnt matter what is destroyed. It doesnt matter if he dies or gets killed. It doesnt matter if he gets his second most prized possession back if it means he has to watch his most prized get tortured and killed. His precious Nanatsu has endured enough. She already lost one person close to her- No. They, Leviathan and Nanatsu, both have already lost one close person too much. There was no way he could sit back and watch the only thing he has be taken away from him. Not again.

Leviathan shot up from his chair abruptly and ran to the transparent window that seperated the box from the outside, slamming his fist roughly against it. The force of the hit seemed to cause a small ripple in the window, but doing as it was built to do, seemed practically unharmed. On the other hand though, the force of the hit seemed to crack the screens of the TVs that were near it. "Nanatsu! Nanatsu!" He called out, hitting the window again.

----------

Xiao's eyes flickered a bit. She didnt want to sleep. She wanted to continue, but what would continuing do at this point when she had already degraded herself? Wouldnt it just be better to die? Maybe it would be but... Her thoughts seemed to drift off as Andrea kissed her forehead as her eyes drifted shut into a sleep.

"I know Nanatsu," Shita said, still speaking in Dimia's voice. "I know you didn't. It's alright."

Shita began to walk forward, towards Nanatsu. He wasn't going slowly, nor was he moving very quickly...he was just walking. As if this entire scenario were perfectly normal to him, he walked. With a simple flick of his wrist as he walked, Shita's chains contracted and connected, taking the form of a longsword once more.

It only took seconds for Shita to reach Nanatsu. He looked down at her for a second before slowly crouching down to look at her. His left hand raised itself to grab her chin, forcing her to look at him. It was over. Nanatsu couldn't power back up in time to prevent it, but even if she could and even if she snapped out of her delusions, she would be incapable of combat. Leviathan's temper had destroyed the monitors which meant that the only person capable of viewing the scene was Shiro.

As he forced Nanatsu to look at him, he slowly began to change before her very eyes. The shape of his face, the clothes he was wearing, even the feel of his hand on her cheek felt different as Shita changed.

"Stop crying, Nanatsu. It's not like you," Shita said, now not only speaking in the voice of Dimia, but in her likeness as well. "You know me. I was going to do what I thought was best regardless of what you did or did not say to me. It's just how I am. I think you know that."

She paused for a light giggle, her eyes closing lightly in her smile. "Even now, knowing how things turn out, I would still do the same thing. We'll be together soon, Nanatsu. We'll be able to share everything, say all the things we want to each other, but before that I wanted you to understand one thing."

Shita, in the form of Dimia, leaned forward and lightly tapped Nanatsu's forehead with her own, hard enough to shock, but not enough to hurt. Dimia grinned. "I forgive you, ya big dummy."

...and then the blade pierced Nanatsu's heart.


----------------------------

Andrea gently laid Xiao down after she drifted off and smiled. "Sweet dreams." she whispered before turning her attention back to Kira. By now, her power had lowered to the point that she was basically back to her usual self. Andrea grabbed Kira roughly and practically shoved the vial down his throat to make sure he drank it.

"Dim...ia.." Nanatsu said softly as the sword pierced through her chest. For a second, for those who looked close enough, there was a small glimmer in her eyes before they seemed to dull out into an empty gaze as her body fell into a still death. There she lay, leaving the battlefield in silence, only for a loud deep buzz was heard throughout the stadium signalling the end of the game.


As soon as the buzzer rang, Leviathan's head shot up to look at the TV screen that was still broken in hope for some kind of mistake. Something to counter what the buzzer was supposed to mean. Something that would tell him 'Nanatsu did not just die'. Something that could mean anything other than the loss of his precious. However, the buzzer rang silent after a few seconds and the doors to the viewing box clicked, signaling that the doors were now unlocked and they could leave. The battle... was over.. and Nanatsu was... dead.

Leviathan's eyes seemed to widen. Nanatsu was dead. She... was dead. The thought began to slowly process in his head. She was dead. His precious Nanatsu was dead and gone forever, taken from this world and stolen from him. She was tortured and then died- no. She was tortured and then murdered. His head drooped slightly down, his long blue bangs, hiding large portions of his face. They had killed his precious Nanatsu. All that he had left was killed in front of him.

Shortly after his head had lowered, a thick dense blue energy seemed to surround him, tracing his body about three inches wide. However while the visible energy seemed to cling around his body, the density and strength was strong enough to shatter the windows that he had been striking. It began to build for a few seconds before it seemed to abruptly stop and shrink down to a low level.

But what was the point? What good would killing them do? Who was there to even say they were the ones who had killed Nanatsu? How much of this could have been avoided if he had remained level headed- if he had killed them rather than playing games, rather than trying to make amends with the dead. How much of this could have been avoided if he had only kept Nanatsu from the game, or at least obliterated the game before anything were to have had happened? He slowly turned around and crept back to his seat. He was the one who had let Nanatsu die. He was the one who had let the last thing he had left slip through his fingers yet again. A man like him who could no learn had no right to fight. A man like him who had nothing had no right to live. He minus well keep to his promises. Leviathan sat down and slowly raised his head back up, his face holding a mostly straight expression, however his eyes had little left, leaving nothing but the eyes of a broken man flooded with sorrow. "Skylar... Escort them over here will you. They need to claim their prize." He said in a soft tone.

Skylar looked over at Leviathan with a look of shock and dismay. "Sir. You cant be..." He strongly at first before his voice drifted off as he caught eye contact with Leviathan. He had a right to be down like this. Skylar sighed softly. "Sir." He said in a gentle tone as he stood up. "With all due respect, for the first time in a few hundred years, I must reject." He said before darting off at an astonishing speed as he jumped out of the shattered glass and darted into the arena.

"Skylar-" Leviathan began only for Skylar to have made the distance too quickly to bother. Rather than attempting to stop Skylar, he sighed. There was really no point any more.


It had not taken long at all for Skylar to find his way into a place a fair distance into the arena, but not a distance far enough that he couldnt also defend Leviathan if he need be. He sighed before he pulled out a small gadget and spoke into it, his voice resonating throughout the arena. "I will not permit any advances towards my lord. If you wish to do so, I will be your next enemy." He said before stashing the gadget back into his pocket and sighed. What he was doing was basically suicide. Just one of them had the strength to take out Dimia and then Nanatsu. Just that one could probably kill him and defeating every one of them was not even an imaginable thing. However if it gave Lord Leviathan a chance to snap out of it and survive, then his life is only a small price to pay for his Lord's life.

As Nanatsu's life left her and the buzzer rang signaling the end of the game, Shita sighed as he faded back into his original form. He stood up and rubbed the back of his neck in a tired motion. He didn't seem to be in much of a hurry at all. It was as if he just wanted to leave all this behind and take a nap. But he didn't have time it seemed as everything immediately began to move on without him. Leviathan snapped, destroying the spectators booth and emitting power that could be felt even from all that distance. There wasn't any time to contemplate or even give Nanatsu the farewell she deserved.

"Oi, Shiro. You can come on out now. There's no more danger in the immediate vicinity. In addition to that, we should rendezvous with the others as quickly as possible."

-----------------------

Odessa was immediately on her guard as Leviathan gave his outburst and watched warily as Leviathan and Skylar conversed. After Skylar left, Odessa frowned. This wasn't good at all. If Leviathan went back on his word, all this was worthless.

"HEY! You're gonna let us kill you, right? Well come on then. Let's get this over with."

-----------------------------

Andrea looked up as the siren sounded.

"WE WON! YAAAAY!" she exclaimed in a cheer. "Or we lost....BOOOO!" she exclaimed again.

As soon as the buzzer went off and the alarm was heard Derith quickly opened his eyes and stood up, caught a bit off guard by the loud noise as it snapped him back to focus from his rest. On the other hand Aquity was sitting on a branch just above and she looked down at him. "We should get heading back to group now. Are you good to get moving again?"

Derith paused for a bit as he regained his focus. "Yeah. I should be good enough" He checked himself, noting he was still in his transformation and then down at his watch. There were a few strong readings marked on the map but most of the fights had settled down. "It should be over now right?"

"I wouldnt say 'over' exactly..." Aquity muttered under her breath. She was looking off into what seemed to be nowhere, clearly checking up on the others.

"Wait what?" Derith asked quickly looking back up at her.

"Oh nothing nothing~!" She replied cheerfully as she jumped down from her branch. "We just need to hurry and be ready for combat in case something happens." She quickly began to head off, Derith following shortly behind.

---------------------

"Are you okay?" Shiro replied in a quick and worried manner as the barrier above him vanished. Quickly- and with a bit of an initial slip- Shiro pulled himself up and out of the hole before going over to Shita to get a better look. "I could help you-" He began to speak though his voice seemed to drift off a bit as he noticed Nanatsu. From where he stood in the battle he could only really hear what had been going on, but to see it and its aftermath was a bit difficult to look at. "I cant save her as she is can I?"

---------------------

Kira let out a bit of a moan as the pains began to quickly come to a stop. He rubbed his head lightly- still feeling the toll that the poison had left behind when it was still active. "Why are you scre-" He began to question in a weak and tired voice before the message hit him. "Wait. Is it over? Is everyone alright? Did we win? You beat Xiao? Why are you holding me?" He asked back to back as if some kind of life just sunk into him.

---------------------

"I would." Leviathan said slowly rolling his head against the chair to look tiredly over at Odessa. "Actually I might even prefer it if you were to." He muttered very quietly under his breath as he slowly turned his head back to look at Skylar. What did that kid think he was doing keeping him alive like this? There was no point to it. At this rate the group would fight Skylar and Skylar would...

Skylar stood where he was as a water surrounded his arms and legs as a blue energy seemed to gather around the water. Quickly the water seemed to expand outwards to form what seemed like many massively long tendril-like tentacles with Skylar's location as the center. If only there were more water in the area, it would be easier to expand his reach and not rely on the water that he could muster from his own energy but with what he had- this would have to do. It wouldnt be too long before Shita or Derith or Aquity came to pose a fight, which meant he had little time to get things done. He turned his head over his shoulder and looked at Leviathan- still sitting almost lifeless in his chair. "Leviathan sir. It was an honor to serve you. But when I swore loyalty to you many years back I stated I would protect your life even if that meant sacrificing my own. I will now keep that vow in hope for you to come to your senses- your sector needs you."

"No" Leviathan said softly. "No. You cant. Skylar you cant die. I do not permit it."

"I must decli-" Skylar began to repeat.

"Skylar." Leviathan interrupted abruptly. "Its over for me. I dont have anything left. They have robbed it all from me then and now. Even if I were to fight back, these guys managed to kill Devin and Nerin. You die, I refuse to fight, I die. You die, I fight, I die. You live, I refuse to fight, I die."

"But sir!"

"Skylar" Leviathan spoke in a strong, firm, and demanding tone once again- one very similar to how he used to speak. "Dont make me cause your death as well. Its done for me- its over- and when Im gone you need to be the one to take care of the sector. Theres would be no one other than you left."

Skylar was silenced for a second as the tentacle-like streams of energy seemed to retreat back to the center point, almost as if Skylar was hesitantly going off of the defensive.

"Go." Leviathan asserted once more. With that statement Skylar quickly turned his head away from Leviathan and pulled his hood over his head as the tentacle-like streams of energy surrounded him like a cocoon and quickly vanished leaving no trail of the energy or Skylar behind. Leviathan sighed and sat down. "Come on." He turned to Odessa. "Go get your friends and lets get this over with"

Shita: "Even if you could, Shiro, I would not allow you. Considering what we have to do next, it would be cruel to bring her back to this world just to witness something she cannot change. Nanatsu's live was forfeit the second Leviathan challenged us to his game."

Shita looked down at Nanatsu one last time. The chain sword was still embedded in her chest. Slowly, he reached down and grasped the sword with his right hand, drawing it out from Nanatsu in one slow motion. The only noise to be heard was the 'schlick' sound of the sword leaving her flesh.

"...we should go. The others are likely on their way to Leviathan as we speak."

====================

Andrea: "YUP! It's over! I dunno. Yes we did, unless we didn't. I beat who? Silly Kira, you ask so many questions. heehee" she exclaimed in rapid succession, while also not at all slackening her grip on him.

====================

Odessa smirked at Leviathan's words. "Are you insane? As if I'm going to let them hog all the fun. I stood on the sidelines for this game so far, but there's nothing that's going to hold me back now." she said, sounding more demonic in that moment than any monster they've faced thus far. "For a Succubus, draining a demon's life energy is the greatest crime or sin they can do. But I can't just let an opportunity to take the life force of a Demon Lord slip out of my grasp."

Slowly, Odessa began to advance with all the confidence of a cat closing in on a trapped mouse. A deft movement of one of her hands yielded one of her daggers while her eyes began to change color rapidly. First pink, then orange, then green. It seemed to go through a limitless number of shades before finally settling on a majestic deep ocean blue.

"Oh I'm practically salivating. I'll give you a long slow kiss, drain you of your power, and kill you all in one simple motion."

Simon, who had been dumbstruck since the game ended, quickly spoke up. "Odessa! You can't be serious!"

Shiro hesitated a bit. Shita was right. As much as it hurt to let her die, it would be more cruel to make her live. It would be ideal for everything to continue as it was but with what was going on currently, ideal isnt something they could hope for. He turned his head away from Nanatsu and looked over at Shita as he began to follow shortly behind.

------------

"I mean-" Kira began to speak, clearly getting ready for another long list of questions, before interrupting himself and letting out a small sigh. There wasnt really a need to ask all these questions because regardless of the answers, the ending result would be the same- the game is over. "Andrea we should get going if the game is over. Meet up with the others kill Leviathan and get going." He paused for a second. "And can you let go of me?"

------------

"Isnt that a bit... uncouth?" Hiratori spoke up in argument to Odessa's actions.

"A kiss?" Leviathan said quietly, a bit surprised by the method. It wasnt too strange as she was a succubus however it wasnt what he had expected of a general assassination. That being said it would be a death one way or the other and a deal was a deal. He sat back down on his chair. "Fine then. Come and get it over with then already."