"We are relieved you came," greeted Darkness

"We are glad that we did come in time, young one." replied the Elder. "Indeed, very glad. The world would not be a good place without you."

Darkness blushed to the extent that his armor turned a deep redblack hue. "Sir, I am not that great or powerful to warrant such a commendation."

"Yet..you show great promise.." mused the wise elder.


"Sir, the mages are beginning to break through the barrier!" cried Deathbringer.

"I am afraid I must take your leave, reverent. Perhaps another time?"

"Yes..yes.." the strange looking ripperzan watched as the Dark Durahan stalked off. "Could he...could he be the one?"

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Darkness watched as the mages worked in turns to keep the beam of energy going against the barrier. And they were working hard.

"Wow..these espers must be powerful creatures indeed.." He watched as the gap in the barrier opened slowly, then closed back up, then opened a little.

"I wonder..could this be?"

Darkness ran to his carriage and climbed in. Soldiers stared in amazement as they saw their leader ripping through his personal belongings. Had he really gone mad from the stress? Or was there a purpose to his insanity?

Their question was answered moments later, as they heard a loud cry of excitement. "AHA! I FOUND IT!"

The Dark Knight walked out of the carriage carrying a large blade, entirely clear. He held it up in the light and walked all the way to the barrier. As he walked the soldiers could see the blade clearly.

Made of a reflective glass, the sword was seen to have ancient runes running the length of the blade. But of more interest was the quick, sudden movements inside the blade, where streaks of moving..silver? could be seen. All present wondered at the mysterious blade. What could Darkness possibly want with such a blade? Ornamental, certainly, but was he planning on using such a delicate looking blade against the enemy?

"Eh mate, I think the commander's gone mad," commented one hare to his tiger companion.

"Maybe those Xycros knocked him a little funny after all," replied the tiger. They continued to stare on in fascination.

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Darkness felt the power in the blade. Silver light thrummed up and down its length, reaching his hands on the hilt. Was this the time to use it? He did not know, but he would soon find out.

As he walked toward the barrier, he wondered about his motives. Why did he trust that psychic in Forsha city so implicitly? Was it because he had recieved the sword as a result of the dying man's word? Surely not. Yet he felt..fascinated by the man's last words. Kneeling by the man's deathbed, the man had predicted his future.

"Son, you will become very great. Very great indeed. But on your path to glory, you may need this." The man drew a long, glassy looking sword from under his bedside table. "I think you will need this one day. I cannot tell you when or why you will need it, but when the time comes, your mind will know. Trust your instincts, my one and only Durahan..." Without another word the man passed away.

Now Darkness knew why he trusted the old man's last word so implicitly. He had been his master. They had lived together and had had a long and happy life. Until X- Blitz came...yes, that was why he had vowed to kill X- Blitz in the first place!

Strengthened by his memories, the Dark Knight walked with a renewed sense of purpose toward the barrier. All his soldiers felt the calm aura emanating from within him, and stopped questioning. They would fllow their commander anywhere, without a single thought as to their own well being.

Darkness stopped 3 feet away from the barrier. "On my mark, drop the barrier." The members of the Order bowed their heads as one.

The Dark Durahan slung the blade straight in front of him in the blink of an eye. He pointed it right at the epicenter of the magical energy blast.

"one..two...THREE!"

The barrier dropped.

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The soldiers gaped in awe as the blast flowed into the Durahans sword. Was it all being absorbed by the magic of the blade?

"Holy.."

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Darkness gasped as the power flowed throughout the blade, then was absorbed. His hands shook with determination as he struggled to hold his sword.

Then, the blast stopped. Darkness waited until the haze cleared before he went into a defensive stance.

All the mages were standing side by side, in three rows, running the entire length of the riverbank. Each of them held charged up spells in their hands. It seemed like time was in slowmotion as the lead mage lowered his hand in a chopping motion. At least, to Darkness anyway.

Then the battle erupted.

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Spells of all natures exploded against the makeshift fort walls in the form of fire, ice, and lightning. Magical storm clouds created by the espers rained electricity onto the dark army as the soldiers retaliated with cannonballs and arrows. Everywhere on the north bank, monsters were burning, freezing, or being fried to crisps by electricity. main structures blew up and created large bonfires.

Yet just as much damage was ocurring to the mages' forces. Cannonballs obliterated mass amounts as they held their line. Only when they lost their first line in the blink of an eye to the electrocuted mud did they fall back.

Lesiones put out fire and Golems shored up the fort walls again as the battle raged on. Pixies dived bombed the mages again and again, each time returning with one or two missing. The mages threw fire and lightning as fast as they could. No longer an organized line, they played down and dirty. Espers wearing staffs channeled lightning from the heavens as fireballs exploded with varying amounts of damage. It was a grisly scene.

The two armies withdrew as night fell. Large booming noises and drilling could be heard from within the Dark Army's encampment, but no one could be sure what they were. The mages were to find out, to their cost, the next morning.

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"Sir, the tunnel is complete"

Darkness sighed, finally seeing an end to the conflict. "Instruct the army to be ready to go. We will rendezvous at the tunnel entrance in 30 minutes."

30 minutes later Darkness approached the tunnel entrance. During the night a passage had been dug from the army's fortress to the enemy camp. Now the time had come to utilize the Dark Army's advantage.

"Everyone ready?" Asked Darkness. "CHARGE!"

The Dark Army rushed into the enemy camp.
Zans, tiger, hares, durahans, and monsters of all kinds, bounded into the fray. The enemy might be long range experts, but no one could get a spell up in time to block a melee attack in close range.

Darkness walked calmly in the midst of fighting monsters. A mage walked out in front of him, twirling a staff expertly. "Come on, tough guy."

Charging forward, Darkness brought his sword down in an overhead arc, slicing cleanly through the staff and the man's head. Continuing on, he lopped off three heads with a well aimed air cut. After following up with a downstroke he brought the sword back up in time to block a mage's staff. The Dark Durahan rammed the mage through the stomach, savagely twisting it out so he could behead the next opposing mage. Suddenly, he saw a tall flag bearing the sign of the mage. He ran toward it and was about to enter when he was thrown away by two zans. Looking up in disbelief, he saw 3 arrowheads, 4 Garus, and the two zans defending the tent.

"Monsters in the mage army? How?"

He heard an evil laughter as a shadowy figure emerged from the tent, draped in robes of white and gold. He held a long, polished staff that ended in a ruby stone.

"You may be defeating my army, Dark One, but you will not live to see your own army win!"

The mage snapped his fingers and the bodyguards suddenly attacked.

Darkness sheathed his crystal sword and drew his twin blades, spinning them in circles, faster and faster, until they formed twin discs of spinning fury. "Lets go."

The twin zans came first. One of them swept low in a downward kick as the other jumped in the air. Darkness jumped as well, avoiding the kick. Then, he was knocked onto his back as the other zan caught him in mid air with a drill dive. Darkness got up and jumped forward, spinning his swords. Both zans came at him in a flash of whirling blades and karate kicks. The first zan reached him first. A blade rushed toward his neck, then was blocked by one end of his blade as the other end blocked the zans other blade from cutting off his knees. Darkness flipped over his sword and kicked the zan in the face with both feet, sending the monster back into his brother. Before either monster could move, Darkness summoned the spirit of fire into his blade and stabbed downward, impaling them both.

Next came the Arrowheads. the first sign was the burrowing sound beneath his feet. Darkness jumped back just as 3 stingers exploded from the ground where he had just been standing. "••••, my swords."

The Dark Knight drew his glassy looking sword once more and charged. As one arrowhead jumped on top of him he slid, holding the sword up. It sliced cleanly through the Arrowhead's soft underside as he came back up in time to attack another arrowhead with a gust attack. It blew right through the monster's brain. Suddenly, Darkness felt a flying sensation as he was thrown backwards by the last arrowhead's tail. After getting up he walked forward cautiously. The two combatants peered at each other intently. Then the arrowhead charged, raking its claws at Darkness. The dark durahan deflected its attack and twirled around its pincer, coming up right in front of the arrowhead's face. Lacking the time he needed to slay the arrowhead with his sword, he drew a dagger from his belt and stabbed it into the arrowhead's head enough to kill it.

Darkness began to feel the effects of battling continuously now. His vision became woozy and his eyes felt heavy as he squared off against the four Garus.

A scream of pain pierced through the battlefield and reached Darkness's ears. Turning around, he saw a most horrible sight. One of his lords was dead. Miyama had tried to take on the shadowy mage, and had fallen at the mages hand. A feeling of anger and pain came up inside Darkness. His eyes filled with a blood red color, the likes of which had never been seen before, and he rushed the four garus with incredible speed. He blew straight past them and turned around, then blew past them again before they could react. He was halfway to the mage before the Garus heads fell off, then their torsos.

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Nothing could describe how Darkness was feeling. He felt his mind cloud, then he just went blank. He looked out through his eyes as if he were trapped in a room in his brain. He saw as he ended the Garu's lives in a perfect stroke, then rushed toward the mage. Yet he felt nothing. He didn't need to. He could see the emptiness inside him that had been created with Miyama's death. And he wanted to fill that hole. The only way to do so was revenge.

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Darkness slammed into the mage full force, plowing him through dozens of tents and into a tree. Pulling out his glassy sword, he slashed the mage for what seemed like forever, inflicting nonfatal torture. He mutilated the mage as no one had ever seen mutilation. All he could feel was the need for revenge. Blow after blow landed on the hapless mage as Darkness forgot his swords and used his gauntleted hands. After while, Darkness came to.

He stopped beating the man and looked around. All his soldiers had stopped and were looking at him in shock. He saw carnage everywhere. Bodies littered the battlefield. It seemed that for every one Dark Army soldier that had fallen, 1000 had gone with him. He felt the incredible sorrow overwhelm him. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, sobbing. He stood up.

"Mage, you are lucky. I will torture you no longer. May you burn in hell."

Without any further ado Darkness picked up his sword and forced the spirit of fire into it. He stabbed downwards.

um..technically im not supposed to post a message right now..but just one question

Where is everyone?

CHB I guess..is busy with air force with the wars and all

But everyone else is gone!

Don't know why there has not been much activity on the boards, I have not had much time to read or post anything. Most of my time is spent between school, and spending time with my fiance anymore personally. Your story is really turning out pretty good, some of the fights are kinda hard to follow like the one with the arrowheads its kind of unclear what happened to Darkness's swords but oh well. Other than that and the very odd image that came to mind when trying to imagine what a suit of armor blushing would look like its coming along very nicely.