The monsters and the skins they carried became absorbed into Junicon’s figure, and the masks that they might have been carrying shot out forcefully in all directions. Ryan grabbed Joel’s shoulder and pulled him down to cover as several masks shot their way. Masks that hit any building or structure became stuck inside them as if they were sharp spines. Even the base tower had become penetrated by the many hundreds of flying masks.

As the sound of masks shooting out and colliding with the city stopped and faded away the two Guardians stood up and were greeted by a far more ruined city. The tower was bent out of shape on one side and felt as if it was about to collapse from the force of the masks shooting into it. Most city buildings and houses had been destroyed as well by the projectiles. City dwellers crawled in pain under fallen material, some dead from being crushed and unable to find means of escape. Overall the city moaned in sorrow and fear of what would come next.

"If that’s Junicon, what’s going on?" Joel asked. He turned to Ryan and asked, "Do you know, Ryan?"

Ryan let out another of his grins and said, "It’s our monster. Let’s go."

The tall Guardian hopped off the building and glided down to the ground in front of the building where Junicon stood. Joel looked down the side of the building that had been attacked and began sliding down along the side following Ryan’s trail. As they set foot and the ground they watched Junicon begin to alter his form slightly.

Junicon let out a calm sigh of relief as the monsters became completely absorbed into his body.  A new skin slide over his face from within his dark black helmet-like hood as the black aura faded.  The being looked up and around him and let out a sudden gasp of alertness as he saw the two Guardians standing before him watching.

"So my need for human flesh has caused my true nature to become discovered." Junicon said.  He shook his head slightly and said, "I truly wish things did not have to come down to this."

Junicon raised his right arm from his side and aimed for the two Guardians.  The eerie glow returned around his arm and two transparent beams shot out like wires.  As the energy wires flew out towards the Guardians, Joel leaped to the side with caution, but Ryan stood there, grinned, and caught the wires with his left wrist.  The energy wires wrapped around Ryan's arm and began trying to tug him in to Junicon.

"Nice one, Junicon." Ryan taunted, "Makes my hair want to stand up, but for some reason you just don't touch me that way."

Ryan tugged back at Junicon's beam, causing the being to stumble forward and slacking the wires.  Junicon's face then dimmed out for a moment, and as it reappeared he found Ryan's own face carved onto his opponent.  Suddenly Ryan began to feel the wires tightening around his wrist and soon all around his arm.  The Guardian's squeezed limb had begun pulling towards Junicon once more at an accelerated rate, sliding Ryan's feet along the broken ground.

"Woah!" Ryan cried, "Hello me!"

"Joel, Ryan, what's going on down there?" Luke's voice buzzed in through the communicators.

"Your buddy Junicon's got me stuck in some energy attack tractor beam, man." Ryan told Luke.

"We see that, Ryan.  Our tower is also damaged severely.  We've taken some casualties." Luke said.

Junicon raised his left arm and his hand quickly turned into a set of long, sharp claws, and Ryan's eyes grew wide as he cried, "This is going to hurt!  He's mad, man!  Do something!"

As Joel watched his friend get pulled closer to the giant claw of their foe he made quick steps around the side of the action. With his hands together in front of him he shot a thick burst of flaming energy out towards Junicon, striking through him. Junicon soon let go of his pull on Ryan as he brought his hands down over his body where a hole now resided through his robes and body. No sooner than when Junicon let go of Ryan did the energy wires dissipate into the air.

"Nice shot!" Ryan told Joel, giving his friend a thumbs up.

Joel returned the look and said, "Just be careful next time."

They turned their attention back to Junicon, but as they looked for him they were overcome with surprise when they found neither a body nor a trail of blood. A moment of silence passed by them as they looked around for Junicon and listened to the communicator for further information. From around the corner of the tower behind them they began to hear the sound of two hands clapping together. Junicon reappeared in a completely rejuvenated state as if he had not been hit or damaged.

"Impressive hit, Guardian." Junicon called out, "It’s too bad you couldn’t pull off enough energy to destroy me. You won’t, because I could feel it from your blast."

Joel looked at Ryan quickly and asked, "Another Guardian? Who is this exactly?"

"Beats me, man. It’s no Guardian I’ve ever seen." Ryan told Joel.

Junicon shook his head and explained, "I am neither human or Guardian." He walked slowly around the Guardians as he spoke, "I am an infinite being that comes to unite all under the final holy ultimatum for the common good." He stopped in front of the Guardians and turned to them sharply and announced, "Junicon, disciple of the Hades Helmet."

A lump formed in Ryan’s throat, and as he swallowed he clenched his fists and called out, "Hades!" His voice echoed throughout the city as he called out the name, and he quickly reached his hands out and told Joel, "Quick! Let’s blast him together and take him out!"

The two Guardians nodded at each other and positioned their arms out equally ready to fire, and Junicon extended his arms out from his sides as if he were expecting to get hit. They attempted to fire at Junicon with all their might, but nothing was released from their power sources. Their eyes opened wide in panic as they continued to try shooting their target.

"Crap, man, are you out of power, too?" Ryan asked Joel.

"Yeah. I must have used it all in my last shot." Joel replied.

"Stupid Guardians." Junicon taunted, "Trying to get in the way of our holy order and the resurrection of the great god." Two energy balls appeared in his extended hands and he called out, "Here’s what you get for trying to interfere!" Junicon brought forward his extended arms to his front and called out, "Twin Laser attack… Fire!"

The two dark, burning balls of energy transformed into thick long beams as they where willed out at both Guardians, and Joel and Ryan both fled from the oncoming attacks as fast as they could. The attack curved up away from the ground as it came in for a collision and sped up towards the backs of the Guardians, sending them flying up into the air and into the side of another building from force of the impact. The two smashed into the building and limply bounced back down towards the ground as the energy waves faded away.

Ryan shook his head and moaned, "Man, he’s got my face and one of my moves, too." He stood up and looked down at Joel and said, "I hope we haven’t been slacking off too much to be able to take this guy."

"What’s going on down there!?" Lynn cried to Luke and the guards in a furious rage.

Inside the monitoring room Lynn had tackled Luke and the guards in a dog pile and was growling at them as she held them in restraint. She positioned herself over Luke with her hands pulling his hair back and pushed her foot down into his back.

"Aren’t you supposed to screen people for mental problems before you let them into big shot positions like this?" She asked.

"I wasn’t the one voted him into the position! Don’t look at me!" Luke cried.

Dirk raised his hand and said, "Wait you guys. The fight hasn’t really started yet." He looked down at the monitor and said, "Give our friends some time to really come out."

Lynn let off from Luke and the guards then and stepped up next to Dirk and continued watching the fight. The three men strangled on the ground wobbled for a bit in a daze from Lynn’s beating before finally coming back to their senses.

Junicon began a rushing assault towards the two Guardians as they crawled about the rubble after being clobbered by the energy attacks before. As Joel heard the rumbling foot steps through the rubble behind him he leaped to the side and rolled away. Ryan jumped to his feet and unsheathed his Masamura blade once more and turned to meet Junicon head on. He swung his sword quickly at Junicon as he neared him, but Ryan was met with an arm across the face, knocking him further back into the rubble.

As Joel slowed down and caught his balance he turned himself around and ran back towards Junicon for a counter attack. He threw a left punch, then a right punch, both hitting Junicon, and then a round kick along his side, but Junicon did not flinch to the impacts of Joel’s attacks. Junicon sighed and turned around, throwing the back side of his left hand out at Joel, but as the hand cut through the air Joel dodged by leaning over to the side and hopping to his hand. Junicon followed up on his own attacks with his right hand next, and Joel continued his own movements by hopping off his hand into the air away from Junicon’s fist and claw, sending a foot out into Junicon’s face.

The attack was successful in hitting the enemy; however Junicon still did not flinch. As Joel bounced away with the impact Junicon reached out and caught onto Joel’s legs before he could get away. The demon’s eyes then began to glow with dark energy as his body did before, and two eye beams shot out at Joel’s body as he fell down in Junicon’s grasp. The Guardian howled in pain as he was struck and fell limp into the air. Junicon reached back with his giant claw and prepared to strike Joel through his back, but he stopped and turned his attention away from Joel as he heard a disturbance in the rubble of buildings.

Ryan jumped up and began rushing towards Junicon with his sword ready again and called out, "We can’t use normal attacks! We need to use magic weapons and attacks to hurt him like the monsters!" He leaped up in front of Junicon, sword glowing high up in the air, and he chanted, "Runed Sword of the Forgotten Mind!"

Junicon released Joel, allowing him to drop to the ground. He turned around and threw his claw forward towards Ryan’s sword attack as it glowed with power as well.

"Runed Sword attack!" Junicon echoed as he swiped at Ryan.

The two energy waves from both beings collided and fought back and forth between each other. Ryan struggled to maintain his grasp on his weapon as he hanged high in the air over the energy collision and fought to hold his concentration. With Junicon’s idle expression and motionless face mask it was hard to determine what was going through the demon’s mind just by looking as he held his position on the ground. The energy collision began sending powerful shockwaves out around the two fighters as each continued to push energy in through their weapons.

As Junicon and Ryan struggled, Joel stood up and staggered away from them slowly. He positioned his arms accordingly and prepared to recharge his energy while Junicon was distracted. Junicon turned away from Ryan for a moment and saw Joel in a position for recharging, and the demon sent an overdose of power through his end, overpowering Ryan and knocking him back. He then disappeared and reappeared in a split second in front of Joel with his hand readily positioned in front of the young Guardian’s face and shot a light ball of energy at him, knocking him back onto the ground.

"Naughty Guardian." Junicon taunted Joel, "Ryan might have gathered just enough for that one attack, but I will not let either of you gather any more."

Joel rubbed his burning face and said, "So are you just going to use us like play things until you’re bored, or what?"

Junicon reached down and pulled Joel up close to his face and said, "Actually I intend on taking all of your faces." He waved his hand into the background and said, "Just like my minions did for me to all the other city dwellers of Traquo!"

Lynn stomped her feet and banged her fists against the control panel and growled, "That’s it! I’m going down!"

Luke waved his hand in disapproval and said, "Wait. That’ll put you in more danger than we already are, Lynn."

Lynn marched up to Luke and eyed him down and exclaimed, "Do you have something to say to me!"

Luke jumped back in grief with wide open eyes, but he soon cleared his mind and said, "Yeah. We’re going to stay here and let those two handle this." He snapped his fingers, summoning the guards, and said, "Make sure Lynn doesn’t make it out of here. We mustn’t loose another life no matter what."

"What?" Lynn growled as she turned sharply into the sight of two guards around her with their weapons positioned at her. Her head inflated with steam and she mumbled, "Man, I wish I were a Guardian, too."

Joel struggled in Junicon’s grasp and asked, "Why do you want all of our faces?"

"Because I am able to draw additional power from them, you fool! Normal human faces rot and decay over time, but Guardian skin is seasoned for their immortality!" Junicon told Joel, "That is how I’m able to perform such things as the Twin Laser attack and the Runed Blade." He slid the back side of his claw over Joel’s cheek and said, "Who knows what I may draw out from your face."

Ryan stood up and held his hands over his chest where the blades of energy cut through his leather armor. The energy was just enough to lightly cut the skin of his chest, showing four long lines of red irritation over the Guardian’s body through the cuts of his armor. He closed his eyes and began focusing quickly, but before he was able to recharge again Junicon shot an energy beam at his foot, stopping his action.

"Stop right there, Guardian!" Junicon called out, "I said you’re not recharging! Not tonight!"

Ryan irked for a moment and then grinned mischievously and said, "Fine. I don’t need energy to fight you." He sheathed his sword onto his belt and said, "Won’t need this either."

The tall Guardian reached through his cape and behind his belt and pulled out three throwing daggers. He flashed them at Junicon under the moonlit sky, letting the demon get a good look at them. Ryan then brought his hand that held the daggers by the tips back and flung them forward at Junicon. The great monster boastfully bellowed, laughing at Ryan’s attack, and extended his limbs with Joel still in grasp, allowing his whole body to be exposable to the oncoming attack.

"Stupid fool! Non-magic weapons don’t harm me!" Junicon gloated as the throwing daggers stuck into his body, claw arm, and right leg.

"You’re right, they’re not magic." Ryan told Junicon with gleaming eyes. He shook a finger at him and looked away with a grin and said, "But you didn’t see the medusa venom tapped in them, did you?"

Junicon gasped in shock as he began to feel a pinch of poison working through his veins. His arm, leg, and the side of his body all began to turn into solid rock. Junicon began to struggle, trying to fight the poison off, but it was too quick for him and became stuck on the ground. Joel took the opportunity to wobble about and kick through the crackling stone body of Junicon, destroying parts of his body and leg. The great demon let out a great cry of pain and let go of Joel once more while his body split in half and spewed blood-like liquids over the ground.

Ryan waved at Joel and yelled, "Let’s get going now and recover while we can, man!"

Joel hobbled on his feet for a moment and then pursued Ryan down the ruined streets of Traquo. The watched their backs and noticed Junicon was already on his way to regenerating himself. Small tentacles sprouted out from his decapitated wounds which soon grew into larger tentacles and combined into objects that looked like muscles. The demon soon was ready on his knees and onto his feet in a distant chase after the Guardians.

"I never knew you had that stuff, Ryan!" Joel exclaimed as they ran through Traquo.

"It’s expensive stuff, that’s why." Ryan told his friend.

Ryan pulled Joel around a corner and into a narrow passage of dim shadows. Junicon soon appeared after them, but passed them by and turned away through other corners. As the demon’s figure faded away into the streets the two Guardians let out sighs of relief and began catching their breaths while hanging onto the walls. Sweat trickled down their face and limbs and their wounds soaked their clothes with blood.

"We won’t be safe here forever, man." Ryan told Joel, "Let’s regain as much power as we can before trying that again."

Joel nodded and said, "But he might sense our charging and make a move before we can do anything."

"Therefore we get as much as we can before trying again." Ryan repeated himself, "Here’s another battle tip for you that’ll help pull in more energy in a shorter amount of time. When you charge and receive that one feeling that your power is coming back try holding onto that feeling for as long as you can. The longer you have that locked down the longer your energy will restore. Got it?"

"Yeah, I think so." Joel replied.

"Good. I have a plan, too." Ryan told Joel, "We might be going at this all wrong. We might have to go for his head instead like all normal Guardians. He may have a core we need to wipe out to beat Junicon."

"I’ll try my best. But that guy has different regeneration abilities, though." Joel said, "It looks like he’s able to do it whenever he’s hurt instead of waiting for danger to pass."

"We can’t doubt our assumptions now." Ryan said as he positioned himself for a charge.

Ryan began to summon all of his energy back into one constant flow, and Joel followed his friend up in imitation. A small shockwave jolted around them both, and as their individual shockwaves collided they created a wave of energy that surged between them. The shocks pushed all the rubble around them back a little bit. As the two proceeded with their charging the air around them began to move as if there was a vortex sucking in any energy around the Guardians.

As Joel predicted, Junicon soon attacked them once again in their hiding place, but this time when Junicon attacked he came from above. The Guardians cleared out from their focus and jumped out of the way, and Ryan took up into the sky as he caught his footing on the ground. Joel rolled away and began firing at Junicon rapidly, but as the small Fire Bolts closed in on the demon they were deflected away by the slightest slaps. Most of the fiery energy blasts went up into the air towards Ryan, who took control over each blast and sent them back down to the ground at Junicon. As the rain of fire came back down at the ground Junicon slammed his fist into Joel’s chest with great speed, launching him back again into the wall behind him.

At that point Junicon began assaulting the young Guardian like a bull dowser, running rampant into him and knocking him back and forth through the ruined city. With every hit Joel helplessly took in he grew weaker. His body crashed into buildings and was soon pummeled through the walls and pipelines of each of them. Ryan watched closely from above and descended into the action with his weapon out for an attack, but as the tall Guardian swung at the demon, Junicon shifted to the side, evading the sword attack, and turned around to present his fist to Ryan.

Ryan flew back from the hit to his face, but he recovered with a flip onto his feet as he glided through the air and then jumped high up back into the air. He sheathed his Masamura again and aimed his left arm out towards Junicon and positioned his right hand onto his left wrist as he began charging a beam attack. Ryan’s energy began to sparkle out through his arm and gathered at the palm of his hand.

"Monoshot!" Ryan called out as he fired the ball of energy as a beam towards Junicon.

As the gleaming beam of light shot down, Junicon turned around, leaving Joel staggering about behind him, and threw his claw into it. The energy halted and began to build up into a bigger orb of energy as Junicon held it there. The demon let out a great roar and leaped into the air into the orb, hitting it back towards Ryan, and at the same time he came charging up at the Guardian from under the counter attack.

Ryan watched the giant orb of energy fly back at him at an accelerating rate and reached out to catch it with his hands. As he held it back from engulfing him into the striking energy, Ryan began his attempt to absorb the energy back into his own power, but as Ryan was in the process of holding the energy off Junicon swiftly flew up over Ryan and flipped down to kick him, causing Ryan to lose his hold on the energy and fall into the giant orb. The tall Guardian dropped out from the ball with torn armor and a bruised body and eventually hit the ground near Joel.

He stood up and shook his head. Ryan looked over the ground as he was coming into his senses and noticed a large shadow over his own and turned around to find Junicon waiting for him slightly above him. The tall Guardian staggered back and quickly cast a haste spell over himself, but Junicon immediately cast a stronger slow spell to cancel out Ryan’s would-be speed enhancement. The demon then grabbed Ryan by his shoulders and bashed his head with his giant helmet.

"It’s your turn now, fool!" Junicon told Ryan. He raised his claw up and placed the tips of the blades to Ryan’s upper body and said, "I’ll make it quick, because I know that’s what you want inside your mind."

Ryan gasped in shock and began struggling as Joel was before. He shot energy blasts rapidly into Junicon’s body, but he failed to stop Junicon as he brought his claw back for the final attack. The Guardian closed his eyes tight and prayed for help to come for him. At that moment Junicon sent his claw in towards Ryan, but he found himself held back in restraint. The demon looked back and found a bladed hoop connected to a strengthened wire wrapped around his arm and stuck into his back. Further behind him stood Lynn, who pulled back at Junicon with all her might. On the other side of his back, Junicon felt another pinch strike him. He looked to his other side and saw Dirk standing behind him with a harpoon gun.

The two humans pulled back at Junicon as hard as they could, and the demon eventually let go of Ryan. As Ryan landed in front of Junicon he quickly teleported himself away next to Joel before the demon was able to throw a foot at him. He helped Joel back onto his feet and cleared him out from his daze.

"Thanks for the help, Lynn." Ryan called out with a flip of his hand.

"No problem. I’m glad I could convince Luke and the guards to let us come help." Lynn called back with an evil grin.

Dirk twitched at Lynn for a moment and said, "You’re one nasty girl!"

Lynn winked at Dirk and said, "Some lovely womanly charm, and a beating to the head, will get a girl anywhere." She looked over at her friends again and shouted, "Hey, if you two are going to kill this guy then nows the best time to do it!" The two humans jerked forward a bit, but continued to hold Junicon back, and Lynn yelled, "We can’t hold Junicon all night, you know!"

Joel and Ryan looked between each other and nodded. They each held their hands out and shot their own powerful energy attacks into Junicon’s face. The beams exploded inside Junicon’s helmet and created a bright flash of light and a cloud of smoke. Lynn’s hoop and Dirk’s harpoon were released from Junicon’s back at that point and they both reeled them in for future use. They each watched the center of the explosion carefully in defensive positions, unsure if they had defeated the monster yet.

Surely enough, as the flash of light faded and the smoke cleared Junicon still stood there. He stood slightly bent over with his hands over his face and helmet. The demon began to moan and then roar in an odd fashion as the dark aura returned around him. Ryan took this opportunity to attack Junicon with his sword, and when he ran up and clashed the Masamura over Junicon’s head the helmet began to crack and fall apart. As soon as he could, Ryan sped back to his comrades before he was able to get attacked again. From within Junicon’s helmet fell a great number of human fleshy faces that had been cut off that day, burned and obliterated. Beyond that appeared three necks and three heads from Junicon’s body that shrieked unlike any type of monster the group had laid eyes on. At that point Junicon’s true face and true form had appeared.

"Woah! He’s a hydra monster!" Ryan exclaimed.

"A what?" Joel asked his friend.

Ryan looked down at Joel and said, "A monster with more than one head. It could get harder to hit him since he can look in more than one direction. Bad if he had lots of strong face masks to draw power from, though, but at least that explains to me how he could switch face masks so fast."

Junicon looked up and roared into the air with all limbs extended and cried, "This shall not go unseen without my retribution!"

Ryan leaned down to Joel’s level and whispered, "Now would be a great time to use that Slayer transformation, man."

Joel jumped back and exclaimed, "But I locked that away, remember!"

The tall Guardian slumped his shoulders and said, "Oh yeah, that’s right." Within seconds Ryan received an idea from out of the blue and called out to Lynn and Dirk, "Hey Lynn and Dirk, run for cover! Joel’s about to make a Slayer transformation and wreak some havoc on Junicon!"

Dirk looked at Lynn and asked, "What’s a Slayer?"

Lynn raised an eyebrow and said, "I’m not too sure yet. But we’d better get out of here like he said."

As the Guardians watched their human friends run for safety, Joel turned to Ryan and asked, "I am?"

Ryan grabbed Joel’s hand and said, "Yeah! Come with me!"

He pulled Joel away from Junicon while the demon was still in a daze and summoned a bowl of face paint. Ryan dabbed a paint brush tip into the paint and then began painting onto Joel’s face the facial marks he remembered Zareon having on his face as a Slayer. Upon completing the designs, Ryan sent the bowl of face paint away and patted Joel on the back.

"That’ll do, I hope!" Ryan told Joel, "If we can get Junicon to believe you’re a Slayer I’m sure he’ll become intimidated and afraid."

Joel nodded and pushed up his jacket sleeves and said, "Alright, I’ll give that three headed monster all I’ve got."

Joel jumped out into the open and found Junicon walking around the city in his new three-headed form. Each dark fleshy demon head looked around the body in separate direction as Junicon went on his search. When he finally caught sight of Joel he began charging quickly at Joel for an attack, but as Junicon’s three heads caught a closer look at Joel’s face with the face paint he stopped and scratched his middle head.

"You…" Junicon called out, "What do you think you’re doing now?"

Joel let out an evil grin and put his hands on his hips and let out a bellowing laugh and exclaimed, "I’ve made my change into a Slayer Guardian! I’m going to let you have it now for all the wrong you’ve done to the city!" He tilted his head down and said, "No, not the city. The whole world!"

The two outer heads of Junicon turned and looked at each other as all three began to sweat, and Junicon said, "Wait. I thought Slayers were supposed to grow and get pointy ears and fangs. Not to mention red eyes! How can you possibly be a Slayer?"

Joel looked intimidated for a short time by Junicon’s remarks and thought, "I can’t let him mess up my act! I gotta keep thinking positive!" Joel tightened the expression over his face and said, "You probably haven’t even seen a real Slayer before."

He shrugged his shoulders at Junicon and then let back his right arm and quickly threw it into Junicon’s body. From inside Junicon’s chest came several tentacles that shot out and wrapped around Joel’s arm. The demon began laughing at Joel and pulled him into the air and flew high above the city of Traquo. The young Guardian struggled to try breaking free of Junicon’s lock, but he once again showed no signs of success.

"A real Slayer, huh?" The three-headed beast taunted Joel, "I’d like to have a taste of this power of yours then!" A small monster appeared crawling out from Junicon’s back and began to slowly move across Junicon’s arm and onto Joel as Junicon said, "Come, my faithful servant, and fetch the skin of this Slayer for me."

Ryan leaped up into the air from the shadows and hovered in the air across from Junicon with an orb of energy in the palm of his left hand, and he called out, "You’re getting nothing, bitch!"

The tall Guardian shot his energy blast at Junicon, and the demon raised his right arm to block the attack. However, Ryan’s attack was strong enough to shoot through Junicon’s arm and hit away the small monster that was on its way to Joel’s face. The creature fell down to the ground and shattered as it hit the surface.

Junicon glared at Ryan and let out an evil sneer from his three heads. Ryan gave a cocky grin and then quickly flew towards Junicon with his sword in hand. As the Guardian came towards Junicon, the demon turned around and flashed a swing of his giant claw through Ryan, but as the blades of the claw came through Ryan he faded away as if an illusion or an after-image. As Junicon looked around with all three heads dumbfounded he felt a sharp blade swing up through his body from below, cutting off his lower half, arms, and the tentacles that held onto Joel. Ryan appeared behind over Junicon then with his sword covered in dark green blood and guts from the demon’s body, and he made a quick turn around down to catch Joel as he fell down to the ground.

"Curse you, Guardian!" Junicon screamed in the air as he fell down out of control.

As Junicon slammed into the ground, Ryan held onto Joel tight and landed out in an open field surrounded by roads to set Joel down. The two looked in the direction of Junicon and already saw a large glowing energy radiating from Junicon’s crash point. Upon further inspection they found the demon was already regenerating his body. Tentacles from Junicon’s body shot out in every direction, making him look like an octopus, shooting through buildings as if they were nothing.

"That’s not good." Joel mumbled.

Ryan nodded and said, "This guy’s definitely something, man. It’s time to move to Plan B."

The two Guardians stepped forward, and Joel nodded back at Ryan and said, "Right, Plan B! What do you mean?"

Ryan crossed his arms and explained, "Well, do you remember that special ability of yours that I told you never to play around with? It’s about time we use it, and you’d better start it up now." He looked up into the air and pointed to the stars and said, "Star Fire."

"You’re sure about that? We’re not going to kill everyone in the city like you said the last time, are we?" Joel asked.

"No man. I have a plan." Ryan told Joel. He lifted his headband from his head and put it away and said, "I’m going to hold him off in the air while you perform it so the attack hits him in the air before colliding with the city." He patted his friend’s back and said, "Let’s go, man. Raise those hands in the air like you’re celebrating victory!"

Joel slowly raised his hands in the air, gathering his confidence, and then flipped his hands up to the sky. He let out a deep breath and looked up into the air as the dark night’s sky began to light up. Ryan looked up in the air and watched the sky light up with Joel and then looked down into the city and saw Junicon back on his feet making his entrance back on stage.

"Well look what the cat dragged in!" Ryan called out as he stepped forward into the line of action, "You look a little naked there man."

Junicon balled up his fists and shook in anger in front of Ryan and roared, "Silence you fool! I’ll have your heads for what you’ve done to our dream!" He leaned back with his hands in the air and let out many of his minions back out into the world and he cried, "Get those two no matter what the cost! I want masks for my strength!"

Ryan’s eyes grew beady for a moment as he watched the little creatures crawl hastily towards him, and he thought, "Oh crap." He shook his head and came to his senses and thought, "Well, so much for that idea. Now I know how Joel felt when I put him into action." Ryan set himself up in an offensive position and thought, "I’ll have to make a quick path through the monsters so I can hit Junicon into the air for the special attack."

Just as Ryan was about to take off into action, Joel called out to him, "Wait! How long is this powering up supposed to take anyway? My arms are getting kind of tired!"

Ryan waved back at Joel with an embarrassed look over his face and said, "How am I supposed to know? I’m sure you’ll feel it when it’s coming. Just don’t give up now."

Ryan turned around once more and began his hasty advance into Junicon’s horde. As the mindless monsters turned their complete attention onto Ryan in their grand march towards domination, Ryan began blocking and defending himself from the monsters, pushing away and dodging anything that came into his personal space. As he swam deeper into the sea of monsters he unleashed his sword again and quickly spun in a circle and slicing several monsters in his reach. He felt a tremor underneath him and jumped up, avoiding one of Junicon’s large tentacles shooting up from the ground. From that point in he had to weave in and out of Junicon’s web of tentacles from his body as he dodged the rapidly oncoming monsters.

Joel’s body began to glow with radical energy as he acted as a beacon for the star energy from outer space to come to. The dark clouds over Traquo began to shift and swirl in circles, clearing an opening to the sky. The midnight sky boiled and flashed with dazzling stars. Jolts of lightning flashed between the swirling clouds and began to strike around the city as a result of the massive energy being summoned.

"I can feel it!" Joel thought. He looked down into the action and saw Ryan and thought, "But Ryan hasn’t gotten Junicon into the air yet! I hope I can hold the Star Fire off until he gets things ready."

The young Guardian suddenly felt tremors under his feet. He looked down around him but did not break his concentration on his attack. Several large tentacles began to ripple out from the ground like lively tree roots from ahead of Joel. As he saw the tentacles flying toward him he gave up on his attack in order to dodge and run away, but he was caught too soon before he was able to make any successful actions. Tentacles shot through Joel’s chest, shoulder, and leg and then tightly wrapped around his whole body. A shot of more than pain entered Joel’s entire body causing him to squeal in agony as the tentacles squeezed him and pulled him in.

Junicon began to let out a loud roar of a laugh, which came as unexpected to Ryan as he yelled, "Ah shut it, man!" He jumped up and flipped back as he cut through several more monsters and said, "We’re already heard enough of you giggling like a school girl."

Suddenly it felt as if the whole city was undergoing an earthquake, and all of Junicon’s limbs shifted from their positions. Junicon began moving himself forward with his new legs, breaking from his roots around the city. He walked through his swarm of minions and through the web of tentacles until he met with Ryan, who had found himself busy fighting for his life in a situation he suddenly found too hard to handle alone.

"It’s clear to me now that none of you can defeat me! Not even your new plan." Junicon taunted Ryan.

"That’s what you think!" Ryan exclaimed as he flipped around and dodged for his life while taking out more little monsters, "Just give me twenty minutes to clear these things of yours out."

Junicon raised his claw into the air and sent a wave of energy out into the air, causing all of his minions to stop attacking. As they stopped Ryan tripped and fell onto his face, but quickly recovered and looked around at all of the monsters surrounding him with a questioning look on his face. He breathed deeply from the overstressing work he was putting himself through.

The large demon spread his arms out, opening himself to all forms of oncoming attacks, and he said, "Come on. Show me what you got!"

Ryan shivered and coughed as he struggled to hold himself together and catch his breath. A third eye appeared on his forehead as it did long ago in his last huge battle, and Ryan brought back his left hand with his ready special attack.

"Fine!" Ryan exclaimed as he channeled energy through the third eye as well as his fingers, "Nightmare…!"

Joel appeared from the shadows behind Junicon, wrapped tightly in the demon’s tentacles and dripping with blood. Ryan’s eyes opened wide in shock as he saw Joel and held back his attack.

"What’s wrong, Ryan? Afraid something might happen to your friend when you put me under your special attack?" Junicon taunted Ryan. He ran the sharp edge of one of the blades on his claw down Joel’s cheek, cutting it and causing it to bleed, "A trusting friend, indeed. I’ll let you have him back so you can cast on me all you like once I take his face."

Ryan lowered his hand down and quickly looked up into the sky, watching the clouds thicken and close to the way they were originally, and he mumbled, "Shit. We didn’t make it in time." He looked around frantically for another solution and thought, "I’m all out of ideas here. I don’t know where to go from here."

The tentacles began to ripple and wave around the three of them until they were completely surrounded and entrapped. Ryan tried to escape as the tentacles came flying down, but he was slapped back by random tentacles as if they were actively trying to keep the Guardian down. He then swung his sword up at the tentacles, but no matter how many times he cut through the vine-like limbs more would grow back in place. Ryan stopped his onslaught for escape for a moment and landed on the ground to catch his breath in the encased darkness and looked up at Junicon, waiting for a sudden move.

"Your soul is mine now, Guardian!" the three heads of Junicon exclaimed with a glorious triumphant laugh.

The large demon stepped forward from his position, leaped forward towards Ryan, and began a rapid pummel assault on him. Ryan watched each punch and kick fly his way and did his best to block and dodge each and every one of them. Even though he was able to block most attacks he still felt spikes of pain shoot through his arms and legs from the strong impacts from Junicon. Eventually Ryan had to fall back a little to continue keeping up with Junicon’s attacks so that he might find an opening to counter attack to demon. He soon found his back set along the slimey tentacle wall behind him, still trying to guard Junicon’s attacks. Not long after that Ryan felt a strike enter his chest as Junicon punched him. The Guardian’s arms spread out from the force of the impacts, and he began to cough up blood as Junicon rapidly hit him.

Once Junicon felt he had Ryan completely locked down he raised a hand towards the Guardian and proceeded to shoot him with a rapid stream of dark energy blasts. The energy exploded around Ryan’s body, covering him in a cloud of darkness. The bursts ripped his armor apart as they hit him.

All things seemed to point at Junicon as the victor once more, but just as Ryan began to feel weakened from his damage Junicon slowed down and eventually ceased his onslaught. Ryan looked up suddenly at the demon and noticed he was beginning to sweat like he was heating up. The tall Guardian dropped to his knees and held onto his body like it was about to fall apart from the damage, and upon looking back behind Junicon he noticed Joel’s body glowing with an extremely bright red aura. The tentacles entrapping the young Guardian had begun sizzling and twitching, giving a similar expression as Junicon was.

"No! I can’t stand this heat any longer!" Junicon howled as he staggered back from Ryan, "Where is it coming from? I must destroy it!"

The tentacles began to unfold from around Joel’s body, but still held through his body. The wall of tentacles placed around them also began to unravel and draw back into the ground as Joel’s heat continued to radiate. Even Junicon’s minions outside were crawling around in agony.

"Is the heat power of the sun too much for you, Junicon?" Joel asked as he slowly lifted his eyes. He raised his hands into the air and summoned a large orb of fiery energy above him and called out, "Fire Volt!"

Joel threw his hands down, causing the orb of fire to slide down through the air towards Junicon. The demon raised his hands to shield himself from the oncoming shower, but he was amazed to find that the energy drained into the ground around him. Junicon looked around quickly with his three heads and began laughing hysterically at the two Guardians from Joel’s poor aim.

"You idiot! You used up all of your power in that one attack and you missed!" Junicon laughed, "You’ve doomed yourself now!"

The demon surrounded himself with dark energy once again and the tentacles rose up from the ground, surrounding them again. Joel stood without appearing to be bothered by Junicon’s taunts, but he instead extended his hands out around his sides, facing the palms to the ground. The young Guardian began to focus on all of the energy he sent into the ground and took control over it. Every crack in the ground began to light up with an orange light in the area around them.

"I’m sorry Traquo, but this is the only way I feel I can take all the monsters out at once." Joel mumbled to himself. He lit up his eyes and threw his hands up into the air and shouted, "Destruction Array!"

The ground beneath them began to rumble and from every crack in the ground shot up Joel’s fiery energy. It burst up like spears, breaking apart what was left of the roads and buildings in the area, splitting apart most of the small monsters on the ground, and as the flames reached mid-air they turned around and fell back down to the ground, destroying whatever monsters remained. Junicon fell down to the ground as the spears of destructive fire shot up through him into the air, and the demon’s body was struck through again as the energy came back down upon him. The tentacles surrounding them all disintegrated, even the ones holding Joel in his place, allowing the young Guardian to drop down to his feet.

It was then that Joel came to Ryan’s side and helped him onto his feet. He dragged Ryan away from Junicon as fast as he could drag his own body with his wounds in place. Joel kept himself from looking back at the enemy as he knew that his new attack was still not enough to destroy the demon.

"I used up all my energy in that last attack. We need to get as far away from here as we can so we can recover." Joel told Ryan, "If I’m right then Junicon’ll be up on his feet again in no time!"

Lynn and Dirk watched the fight along the side lines in both dread and excitement. As the situation changed on the battlefield they adjusted their positions accordingly so that they would not get in the way of danger and trouble. Lynn was more than ready and willing to jump in at any time to give assistance to her friends as she showed when the two saw Ryan and Joel become trapped within the barrier of tentacles before getting brutally injured by the enemy.

"Wow! Joel really packed a punch that time!" Lynn cried in excitement, "I wonder what they plan on doing next!"

"Hopefully it’s not an attack as big as the last one. We can’t risk having the city be destroyed any more than it is." Dirk said, "There are still people out there who may be trapped within the ruins of buildings. Our lives are just as fragile as theirs are right now."

Lynn jabbed Dirk in the shoulder and said, "We need more credit than that, y’know! If we didn’t step in they might have lost for sure!"

Junicon began to crawl out from the rubble towards the Guardians again. This time he staggered slightly as if dizzy from injury. As the demon approached, Joel set Ryan down on his feet and prepared to defend himself again.

"Why… can’t I… take your faces?" Junicon slowly called out, "It s,seems… that every time… I… I have the c,chance… to take…" Junicon stumbled onto his knees and stopped in the middle the field just before his enemies and said, "But I must have your faces! They… will help… the creation… of the great divine haven…" He stood up once more, breathing deeply through all three heads, and then brought out his right arm and said, "Come forth, my minions!"

The two Guardians stood ready for more of the tiny monsters to attack them, but this time no monsters came from Junicon’s command. Junicon shook his arm trying to work his magic, but after several moments there was still nothing. Joel and Ryan came out from their defensive stances at the sight of Junicon’s weakened state, and Ryan crossed his arms with a sarcastic look of disappointment.

"Man, Junicon, who’d have thought that all the regeneration we put you through took up so much of your energy!" Ryan taunted the demon.

"What! No, that’s impossible!" Junicon cried.

Ryan turned to Joel and said, "Now’s the time to try the Star Fire attack again!"

Joel nodded again and jumped back, holding his hands up high into the air again as he did before, and he called out, "Here we go!"

Ryan looked up at the sky and watched the dark clouds clear up again with radical storm energy shooting around as Joel restarted the special attack. Junicon looked up with Ryan after a time and let out a quick gasp of fear when he saw the stars dancing around the clear night sky. He then looked down at Ryan, who was watching the attack come forth with a triumphant smile on his face, and then looked back at Joel as his body flashed with flaming energy. It was at that point when Junicon felt true hatred for the Guardians strike over him, causing him to rumble and growl anger.

"No!" Junicon cried, "I’ll never let you ruin our dream!"

The demon’s body regained its dark glow as Junicon spoke, and he began running towards Ryan with his claw out and ready for an attack. However, as he closed in on Ryan with a swing of his giant claw, the tall Guardian’s eyes gleamed at Junicon with a quick shot of a fist into Junicon’s body, knocking the demon back and stunning him.

"Sit down!" Ryan exclaimed sharply as he hit Junicon. He then brought his foot back and kicked Junicon up and away into the air and said, "Actually, go up there."

As Junicon flew up into the air, Ryan quickly teleported himself next to the demon and batted him further up into the air, high above the city of Traquo. Junicon flew up through the air miles above the surface, almost leaving the bounds of the planet’s atmosphere before peaking out and dropping again. At that point Ryan flew up into the stormy sky through the raging energy surges across from the demon with a third eye appearing on his forehead and pointed directly at Junicon.

"Nightmare Final!" Ryan called out as he commenced his special final attack.

A slim bolt of energy that was transparent to the naked eye shot out from Ryan’s fingertip, sending Junicon into an alternate dimension. The demon trembled in fear as he found himself now in a dark reality being watched over by Ryan from above. Soon Junicon was surrounded by a rally of Ryan duplicates, and the beat down began over the demon as a rain of punches, kicks, and sword slashes hit him from all sides. The duplicates of Ryan all kicked back from Junicon after severely hurting him and all shot him at once before disappearing. Junicon looked up in contempt and fear as his body bled while Ryan watched him almost pleasantly. The alternate reality then lit up with what appeared to be stars as if Ryan had teleported him into a far reach of space. Junicon looked around and tried to move freely, but his whole body was paralyzed and unable to move under Ryan’s control. A meteor shower flew through Junicon, crashing into his body and breaking any bones he might possible have had as he drifted through his final nightmare.

As the meteor shower cleared, Junicon floated limply about in the cold, dark space. He was barely able to open his eyes at that point after Ryan’s onslaught of revenge, and Junicon soon found himself returned in the middle of the air back in the reality of Traquo. He faced up into the dark starry sky at what appeared to be the sun in the middle of the night. Junicon twitched his body in an attempt to cover his eyes to see more clearly, but he was much too weak at that point to move his own arms. However, in the middle of the air high above the surface he was able to hear one voice.

"Star Fire Crash!" the voice sounded off.

Junicon looked through the corner of his eyes and was barely able to see the ground, watching Joel throw his hands down at the ground. A constant loud roar like a jet plane came closer to Junicon’s ringing ears, and his whole body began to sweat from a strong heat source above him. Junicon began to moan from heat stroke before his whole body was engulfed in a fiery storm from above, first melting hit body and then incinerating the rest of the particles remaining, allowing no time for a scream, shriek, or cry.

The four standing on the ground watching above watched the Star Fire attack strike down on Junicon in a grand-sized fire energy blast. As Ryan suggested, the finishing attack stopped short of any remaining standing buildings in Traquo as it struck down Junicon. It was like a display of fireworks the whole city had never seen before as the dazzling fires blazed over the city sky before cooling off and fading away, returning to their sources in space.

As Junicon faded away, so did any and all of his minions that remained, dead or alive. Joel, Ryan, Lynn, and Dirk gathered on top of a hill together and watched the dark clouds dissipate from Traquo’s sky as well as a gleaming ball of fire drop from Junicon’s death spot. The ball landed short from the group’s location, and under further inspection it was revealed to them to be a large helmet like a warrior would wear.

"Where’d that helmet come from?" Lynn asked.

Ryan kneeled down and looked over it and then picked it up as he said, "One of the five pieces of Hades Armor. Junicon said he was the disciple of the helmet of Hades." He turned to Dirk and handed the item to him and said, "Take this up to the chief and tell him to place Traquo’s best security over it, but don’t let anyone put it on. The armor of Hades is cursed, you see. If anyone puts any piece on they transform into the disciple."

Luke took the helmet in hand and nodded in acknowledgement to Ryan and said, "But who do you suppose was the person who put it on in the first place?"

"The world will never know, man." Ryan said with his hands up in the air.

Joel gazed over the city and said, "Finally Traquo is free and our names as Guardians are cleared. I hope they can rebuild and live in peace from here on."

"And now it’s time to go back and celebrate!" Lynn exclaimed with a jump, "Party!"

Ryan caught Lynn by her shoulder, holding her in mid-air, and said, "That’s great and all, man, but we’ve got a schedule to keep up with!"

"That’s right, Miss Lynn." Joel said. He looked at Ryan and asked, "How long will it take now to get to the next city to meet my brother?"

"I’m glad you remembered our task list!" Ryan exclaimed with a wide grin, "With a few days walk from here we should make it to the next city!"

"Would you like my help? I can drive you there if you need it." Dirk offered the travelers.

Ryan shook his head and explained, "That’s not possible. The place we’re going to is in Old World. They don’t let you take cars there."

Lynn groaned in disgust and cried, "Can’t we at least stay for the night? I’m beat, and I’m sure you are, too!"

"I don’t need sleep." Ryan said. He dropped Lynn to the ground and raised his hand and exclaimed, "I’m the Guardian of the Mind! I’m unstoppable!"

Lynn snatched the helmet from Dirk and said, "Want to test that, buddy?"

Ryan’s eyes popped at Lynn as she held the helmet in front of her face and began chasing her down the hill into the city yelling at her. Joel watched the two run off and shook his head as the night came to a close. Dirk extended his hand to Joel there on the hill and the two shook hands warmly.

"Thanks for all your help, Joel." Dirk thanked Joel, "I knew there was something good about you the day I helped you escape."

Joel replied with nothing but a warm smile to Dirk’s thanks and promptly turned to walk back into the city of Traquo. Along the way the young Guardian could only think of what Junicon’s true intentions were as he would always call them good for the world. Try as he might, no matter how hard he thought about the situation all that mattered was the Guardians had defeated their alleged enemy. As Joel and Dirk reached the city they gathered with all of the survivors and celebrated with what they had left to offer, and with a healthy night’s rest Joel, Ryan, and Lynn left the night day, leaving Traquo to mend itself back together.

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