(“Only got to take out one?”) My body dissipated into mist as I shadow stepped behind my target, mid magic Wayne emerged out from my chest and took shape in my right hand as I raised it. Within a blink of an eye I had already pulled the trigger, Anabel lay on the ground shocked after being pushed out of the way by Clyde with his single edged curved sword raised in front of him. (“Deflected it?...Seriously?”) I stepped forward at full speed as a lightning strike zooms past behind me where my head previously was, out of the corner of my eye I saw Natasha pulling her bow back again while Clyde rushed forward with a downward slash. Clyde’s sword roared out like thunder as it sliced the air around it while another lightning like arrow left Natasha’s bow, I leaned forward as my form faded to mist and I once again stood in the middle of the room. The instant I appeared I rushed forward at full speed towards Natasha with now both pistols in hand, I pulled both triggers as the pistols let out an automatic flurry of projectiles.

Natasha turned towards me and pulled back her bow but wasn’t quick enough, suddenly the ground between us exploded as hundreds of vines grew a wall and began to surround me. I stood my ground as the vines cocooned me in while a black mist oozed out of my body, the mist exploded and expanded at massive speed engulfing the vines and a vast area around the cocoon. (“Eight minutes”) The vines around me began turning to dust as the mana within them got completely drained by the mist, I raised both pistols to each side of me and began firing haphazardly while moving backwards. As I had expected another arrow struck through the mist towards me, my body faded into the mist as it continued to expand. (“I hate this form”) I could no longer feel my body but I could still sense each one of theirs, they surrounded the mist in groups of two, Clyde had joined Natasha while Anabel, Risa and Ell stood together not far from the other two.

(“Three seconds per arrow”) without wasting any more time I bent the mist around me to assault their positions, the mist broke into two and rushed towards them as they broke their stances and moved out of the way. I bent the mist once more as it surrounded three of them and began draining their mana, suddenly an ear piercing sound filled the arena as Clyde slashed the air in front of him sending a wave of mana into the mist. The wave dispersed the mist forcing me to take form again, I stood there facing them both as Anabel, Ell and Risa lay on the ground between us too low on mana to do anything else. (“Take out…so low mana isn’t applicable? Damn you Zeaxar…Six minutes”) I leaned forward with both pistols aimed ahead of me towards the three on the ground, an arrow zoomed towards me as I lowered myself to evade it and Clyde followed it by leaping over the three while coming down on me with his sword.

Instead of stopping I continued forward abusing his mistake, I fired three shots all aimed at him and while he deflected each one I was already gone. He turned around with my mist still passing over him to see me appear behind Natasha with both guns raised, I pulled both triggers to release another flurry of projectiles. My eye lids opened wide as her body was engulfed in electricity somehow increasing her speed enough for her to evade to the left and avoid my attack, Clyde slashed another wave of mana into my attack to stop the projectiles from hitting him or the three next to him. Natasha spun around while pulling her bow string and took aim on me, Clyde leaped as thunder roared behind him sending him spiralling forward. (“Five”) I let myself fall backwards as their attacks passed over me, as I fell I shot another flurry of projectiles towards Natasha with one pistol and one at the ground beneath me with the other.

Natasha evaded using the same ability again while Clyde stopped himself to turn and attack, by the time they had taken a stance I had already shadow rebound and all that stood between them was an explosion of sand. I stood over the three on the ground as Ell tried to will some vines to cover them, I pulled the trigger at both her and Anabel. Risa rushed into me pushing my arms apart to force my attack to miss as I leaped backwards to retreat, I landed a couple meters away as she fell back to her knees with less mana than she previously had. Clyde rushed forward with multiple leaps, within moments he was standing in between me and them with sword raised towards me. I took a moment to take in their expressions, Anabel was enraged, Ell was confused, Natasha was tired, Risa was grinning and Clyde was focusing. (“Going on the defensive? Good choice”) we stood there facing each other while Natasha pulled back her bowstring and stood ready to release, (“Four”) I began charging up my left pistol as I turned to aim my right towards him.

I fire shot after shot as he expertly deflected them while two handing his sword, I suddenly fired a flurry of projectiles forcing him to slash another wave of mana. The moment he did I shadow stepped away, I appeared behind Natasha again with my right pistol aimed at her back. Instead of firing I charged it up while her body was engulfed with electricity and she spun around taking aim on me as well, she released her bow string and an arrow made of blue electricity formed then shot forward. I pulled the trigger and released my own projectile, the two collided creating a blast strong enough to push both of us back a couple steps. The blast also created a large smoke screen of sand cutting off their vision of me, I raised my left pistol and pulled the trigger. A black mass of mana shot out of the barrel and devoured through the sand, I heard a sudden thundering roar as Clyde took on the attack head-on with his sword.

His blade sparked with electricity as it slashed downwards releasing an air wave of dense mana into my blast of dark mana, the two attacks collided as my black mass momentarily slowed down while it devoured through the larger wave of air. Clyde slashed wave after wave into my attack as Natasha positioned herself to the side while pulling back her bowstring, I shadow rebound out of the way of her arrow and appeared behind the others and Clyde as he sent one final wave clashing into my extinguishing attack. I raised both pistols as Ell rose to her knees with her left arm raised but she didn’t have enough mana to cast anymore vines (“Two”), I then suddenly noticed Anabel whispering something which made me tense up and leap backwards (“Her mana regeneration has increased…”) she shouted the last words of her incantation as she stood up and pointed her right arm towards me “lend me an Inferno”. Between us a blazing hellfire erupted cutting me off into the corner of the arena, I was cornered and couldn’t shadow step out as I needed direct sight while I couldn’t shadow rebound either as I needed to shadow step first.

I waited but the inferno didn’t seem to be going away any time soon (“Eighty”) I released both pistols and raised my arms “Devouring mist rise, hunger through and drain over” I began reciting an incantation “Corrode their weapons, absorb their magic” a thick black mist quickly grew around me “rush over them with your gluttony and devour their minds”, the mist exploded on my last word and tripled in size and density while more and more was being created around my body. (“One”) The enormous mass of black mist filled the corner and collided with the blazing wall of fire, I bent the mist to focus in front of me as it drained Anabel’s fire. Suddenly a piercing pain filled my back making me fall to my knees (“This…again…”) I forced myself up while merging with Wayne which seemed to reduce the pain, the mist broke through the fire and just then Anabel released her magic so I also released mine.

The fire and the mist began to quickly dissipate as I shadow stepped the second I had line of sight, I had appeared between Clyde and Ell while both of them reacted to my sudden appearance. Ell stepped back while summoning a vine from her right arm, Clyde on the other hand spun around while his sword sparked alive with electricity as a thundering roar echoed out of it. They both stabbed towards my position as I raised both arms engulfed in black mist, I shot the mist forth and it hit them head on but they continued forward with their attacks. I grabbed Ell’s fist with my left as her vine crumbled to dust then grabbed Clyde’s blade with my right as it’s spark died out, their expressions changed to shock as I pulled both of them closer to me. I shifted my hand to grab Clyde’s arm and along with his own momentum I pulled his blade towards Ell as she also continued on with her momentum and my pull on her arm, Clyde’s blade stabbed towards Ell’s neck as I stepped out of the way.

(“Ten, it’s over”) Clyde’s blade was centimetres away from her neck now, suddenly he let go of the hilt (“You…”) the blade sparked alive again and disappeared with a thundering howl. I finished taking my step back as they collided with each other and fell to the ground, I quickly move towards their falling state with my right arm raised back while the spikes on my elbow faced Clyde’s back. The other three were either under mana exhaustion or too slow as I descended on Clyde, suddenly I felt a hand on my left shoulder pulling me back “Time’s up”. Clyde and Ell hit the ground with Clyde on top holding onto the back of Ell’s head as he also got a face-full of her breasts, I turned around to see Zeaxar standing behind me. “Congratulations, you all pass” He glanced around at the others “You will find your uniforms in your dorm rooms, further information will be sent to you via notification through the Irises given to you” he then met my gaze “Matthew come with me, we have some things to talk about”.

He turned around and began walking towards the exit as the barrier once again became transparent, I glanced at the others, Natasha stood alone while giving her brother a jealous glare, Anabel sat on the ground next to Risa as the both of them took deep breathes, Clyde was still sunk between Ell’s breasts as she rose up and suddenly noticed him making her face go red and pushing him away. Clyde was thrown off and hit the floor with his face “Ow!...” the smack seemingly snapped him out of whatever daze he was previously in, I chuckled at this scene but then turned to follow after Zeaxar. Before I walked out of the arena I glanced back at Risa as she stared at me “Go rest, I’ll send you a message on the Iris when I’m done”, she nodded so I turned around and walked over to the console where Zeaxar stood waiting for me.

“What is it?” I stopped next to him as he surfed the menu on the console, “We’ll talk in my office” he selected the teleporter on the map and activated it. We teleported into his office “What happened back there?” he walked over to his desk “I may have limited you but you still held back, I still remember your power from back on Earth. So why?” he sat down and calmly stared at my position, I chuckled “Would you believe me if I told you it was my back? I’m not completely sure myself but for some reason when I use an excess amount of mana I get a piercing pain in my back, along with the pain my ability to control my mana slows down and the flow of mana itself seems to change” I unmerged from Wayne while moving closer to the desk. His expression changed to one of deep thought “Your back huh?...Where exactly?”, I began to flow my mana rapidly through my whole body and suddenly the piercing pain returned “Right beneath my shoulders on both sides”. He nodded “Well nothing I can do about that, you’ll have to figure it out as I’m no expert on…well…Hybrid biology” he tapped the monitor flat on his desk “Also” a holographic illusion appeared as a screen between us “Do you recognise this?”, the screen showed the sky swirling into a whirlpool of black, purple and grey as if reality was being spun around.

“It’s too unstable to be a tunnel but not enough to be a rift so it must be a portal, from the colouring I’m guessing…A void portal” I glared at the screen with resentment, “That it is, which begs the question…Why so soon? Surely the void hasn’t procured enough resources to invade again within so little time? What changed? What opened this portal? Those questions are your first mission as Frost squad” I raised an eyebrow at the name “Frost?”. He sighed “Since I now have two Elite squads I cannot simply call them by numbers, that would decrement their importance. The first Elite squad will now be name Elite Seven as its predecessor while your squad will use the acronym Frost which stands for Forward Relational Operations and Scouting Troops, I found them fitting since the Elite squad will always hold the most experienced and skilled of the company while the Frost squad…well…my dear cold blooded killers. Now one of you may not be so cold blooded…but I’m sure she will adapt, she’s been quite useful a sorceress so far and is exceptional at large scale magiks“, he turned off the illusional display “Sir, there is also some things I wish to discuss” he looked up from the monitor “What is it?”.

I raised my left hand to the black gem on my horn “Remember when I was contacted by Chaos through my unconscious mind? It happened again” his eyes widened “Chaos spoke to you again? So your change didn’t destroy your connection?” I shook my head “I don’t know but this wasn’t just Chaos, it was also Darkness. It contacted me to warn me and ask something of me, it warned me of Chaos emerging from it’s cage which Darkness itself was and about Chaos legion’s capabilities. It asked me to find its children in return I was given power, this gem is that power but I am not sure how to utilise it”. Zeaxar tapped the monitor erratically “I will inform the alliance leaders, yet another threat…this doesn’t bode well…Will this Darkness be on our side then?” he looked back up at me “No, The God of Darkness is no more. With the God’s dyeing breath Chaos emerged from their body…We do not have long”.

He sighed and laid back in his chair “You witnessed the death of a God…That gem was its gift?...I am curious at what it is as well…You should let Heiken have a look at it after the mission, I know you don’t want to be anywhere near him but he’s the best scientist we’ve got and your best shot at figuring yourself out”, he tapped the monitor as he looked back at me “So figure yourself out captain” I began to teleport out from the office. When I appeared I was standing yet again in the cafeteria (“Figure myself out?...”) I sighed (“I’ve been trying to do that for years”), “Matt?” I heard Risa calling from behind me so I turned to find her standing there “Hey, what are you doing here?” she walked over and grabbed onto my arm “I..don’t remember how to use the…teleporter…We didn’t use the stairs…so I don’t know what floor they are on…I thought I’d wait for you here since…we appeared here last time too…”. She looked up at me “Can we…talk somewhere?...somewhere else…” my whole body stiffened “Yeah…come on I’ll show you the outside” I already knew what she wanted to talk about, I guided her to the console and selected the map then engaged the teleporter to the outside of the base.

We appeared at the top of the mountains “This is DarkGlade, a place of grand history for my race and the Etyrian races” we stared down at the ruined fortress under the light of the descending sun, “So..what did you want to talk about?” I asked anyway in case I was wrong but “About us…” she let go of my arm “You’re always so collected, you keep everything to yourself and I cannot read you at all” she looked out at the ruins. “What are we to you? What…am I to you?” she continued to stare off, I continued to stare at her “We are what we want to be, you are what you want to be and to me you are the one I want by my side. You’re the only being to ever affect me emotionally other than with hatred, ever since my release from slavery I had vowed to myself that I’d protect the innocent and hunt the wicked yet here I stand betrayed by both” I moved closer and pulled her close as she turned to look up at me “I had settled my mind the moment we first kissed, shutting away my emotions hasn’t served me anything by loneliness and space for more hatred to boil up. You are my reason to live, you are my reason to fight and you are also my reason to come back” she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled up to where her mouth was by my right ear.

“I feel the same…we are both…the same…I will follow you where ever you go, I will do whatever you ask me to do, you showed me who I truly am and in return…” bright red embers began to flow out of her hair as the black was engulfed in a piercingly bright red signalling how emotional she currently was, “As you are mine…I am yours…” she pulled back momentarily but then moved back in. We stood there holding each other with lips together moving erratically, until I suddenly fell back pulling her down on top of me.

---

An unknown figure stood in the middle of a white wasteland as snow slowly fell upon him, he wore a dark blue cloak with dark grey leather straps falling behind him like a cape. Only the figure’s hands and mouth were visible from under the black furred cloak, his skin held a tinge of purple as small blue characters shone brightly while lining up with what seemed to be his bone structure. The being suddenly turned to face a single direction of the snowfields that seemed exactly the same as any other, he was standing in a large opening of snow surrounded by hundreds of crystal blue trees that grew around and into each other making it seem more like a jungle and less a forest. He continued to face the direction he was alerted to as a low pitched horn sounded off in the distance, his mouth curved into a fanged grin as he raised his left arm to pull down his hood. His face was revealed to be of a young adult with the same shining blue characters running across it in a skull like pattern while so many surrounded his eye sockets that they seemed to be a single patch each, the eyes themselves on the other hand did not match each other at all with the grey left eye having the same blue characters form four circles within the white area and the right purple eye constantly pulsated dimly while an eerie purple mist flowed out only to dissipate after reaching his neck. His hair was pure white with strands of purple growing out a bit longer at random spots, he chuckled maniacally as he waited.

He stared into the trees as the horn sounded off again followed by the shouts of warriors in an unknown language, the snow itself seemingly trembled at whatever was moving towards him. He stood straight as a sudden movement from the trees caught his full attention, half the jungle surrounding him was completely trampled as large humanoids larger than the trees themselves ran over them as if they were no more than bushes in their wake. The warriors wore a full set of dark red plated armour that seemed to give off enough heat to evaporate the falling snow, their helmets showed only their fierce green eyes and three long black horns that curved their way out of the top. The warriors held an assortment of weaponry including what seemed like cannons and staffs but lacked the commonplace sword and shield or even a spear, albeit axes, maces and hammers seemed to be the three most favoured among them. He stared on in glee as the army that seemed to number in the thousands rushed towards him at great speed, as the first warriors got within ten meters the army broke into two and surrounded him while continuing to trample the trees along with a couple boulders.

When the army finally stopped moving he began to looked around him as the armoured giants fiercely glared at his direction, he raised his right arm to his throat as a dim blue light momentarily shone when his fingers touched the skin. “You brought numbers but where is the bringer of them? Show me your leader” his eyes shone more brightly as he spoke with a ghastly voice, with each word he said the snow around him shifted with strange winds. Suddenly a larger warrior began moving through the army until he reached the front, it wore the same armour but had no helmet. The being had night blue skin and short snow white hair with a short beard tied up in a warrior’s knot, it’s eyes burned bright red as it raised a two handed war hammer twice its own size and spoke in a deep gnarly voice “You come, in our lands. You side, with our prey. You kill, our hunters” with each word the army stomped the snowy ground as steam rose all around them “You pay, for your acts. You pay, for your words. You pay, with blood”. He smashed down his hammer into the ground in front of him and a smokescreen of steam rose engulfing him completely, “You die, tonight. FOR OUR BROTHERS!” with one final war cry that echoed throughout the army they followed their leader like a pack and charged the lone man.

The leader was the first to reach the man as he stood there staring with an all too amused grin, he brought down his enormous hammer onto the man who till the end did not budge. The army stopped as confusion filled it’s ranks while their leader raised the hammer from on top the man, they all stared in horror as there no longer lay any part of him there. The leader stepped forward and gently kicked around the snow for any sign but found nothing, he began to look around his warriors then turned his hammer and glanced at its face. Suddenly a bright purple light shone from the sky and everyone looked up, the man was now a couple hundred meters up in air looking down at the grandiose numbers of the army. A purple sphere of mana surrounded his body as blue runic characters began to appear all over it, he opened his eyes wide as his grin grew into a full smile “Listen carefully for I the Demi-God of Chaos shall speak, you have ravaged this world for long enough and tonight marks the end of your existence. Tonight the bright light of a thriving race shall lose its final embers, tonight a race will be met with extinction” he lightly raised his right arm and aimed an open palm down at the ground.

A sudden flash of blinding purple light momentarily filled the scene, when the light faded the army was completely gone, the remaining trees and snow were completely gone and in their place was a deep circular crater twice as large as the land the army had occupied. The lone man hovered down to the current elevation of the ground, he looked up at the night sky illuminated by its four moons “It’s nights like these that I miss her…” suddenly a dark shadowy figure appeared behind him “Makes you think how everything would have gone if you had stayed by their side”. The man glanced at the shadow with a menacing glare “I will ask when I require your life-advice Kurt, lose the form the dead do not speak” the shadow like humanoid bowed and suddenly took form, the wolf like man straightened up and met his gaze “Where to next?”. The man looked away and back at the sky “We shall meet with Erza and you two will move on to the next realm, I on the other hand have an asset to check on”, the beastman sighed “Did you have to bring in a child into our plan? He’s gone through enough you know”. The man shook his head “I had no choice, he was chosen for a reason and is therefore our only hope. He is no longer a child also, he hasn’t been a child since he lost it all. You don’t know my kind, when we lose everything…that is when we reach our limits”, he raised his arm and looked into his palm “but when we have something to save…to live for…those limits mean nothing to us” in his palm lay a pure white ring with two names etched on the inside.

“One day…I will return…Arryn…”