Leocon and Jholis were returning home as the sun sunk slowly in the west. A dim fog was rolling over Sarutabaruta, making it harder to see by the minute. When the two reached the porch of Leocon's house, they saw something disturbing... No lights were on. Ariwen was always home fixing dinner for Leocon every night. Jholis didn't like the looks of this, so he took Leocon to his house, and departed north, towards Giddeus - the common harvesting spot Ariwen visited.
The Yagudo stationed outside of the fortress payed no attention to Jholis, as they saw he was far stronger than them. They just turned their backs cowardly as Jholis ran on by, chuckling. As he entered the valley leading to Giddeus, he noticed fresh blood glistening on the dirt at his feet, trailing into the depths of the Yagudo stronghold. Gripping the hilt of his sword with his right hand, and growling deeply, he marched forward.
The bloody trail led him to a sort of shrine he'd not seen before in his life. An odd black stone slab with white lines veinign through it was burried deep into the ground, or so it appeared to be. And as if that wasn't odd enough, some sort of burning symbol was embeded within the very alter. Jholis was unsure of what to do next, as the blood trail ended on that symbol... He feared the worse, and walked up onto the flames, which were warm, but did no harm to him.
After a few seconds on this alter, he felt a strange sensation pass through his body, and looked up to find himself in some sort of arena. He stood on a stone slab similar to the one he was just on, but when he turned aorund, he saw a dirrect dead end. Facing forward again, he unsheathed his blade, and moved onward. After passing through a small valley, he came up to a large ring constucted of that black stone material. He looked into the center of the ring, finding Ariwen lying motionless face up. He yelled her name and dashed forward to see if she still breathed, but after passing though the gate, something hit him in the back of the head, sending him to his knees.
"Kyah! More peoples to sacrifice to Xicu! Kyah! Kyah!" Hacked a Yagudo wearing a long red mask, covering its eyes and beak, while weilding two katanas. Jholis stood up and held his shield in front of him, attempting to coax the bird closer to him. "Kyah! So you want to put up a fight, do you? Kyah ha ha! Xicu does enjoy her dinner tenderized!" And with that, the Yagudo leaped towards Jholis.
Jholis deflected one of the katans with his shield, but took a slight hit with the second one, leaving a nice little scratch in his Iron Musketeer cuirass. Taking this time to strike, Jholis pivited on his left foot, and thrusted his blade forward into the Yagudo's back, but as the weapon entered the bird, the beastman vanished before his eyes, and Jholis felt a blow to his back, sending him to the ground near Ariwen. The Yagudo dashed for the paladin, but Jholis threw his feet out, attempting to trip the bird. Like last time, however, when he touched the creature, it vanished before his eyes.
Rolling to the right, Jholis managed to escape a shuriken in his head. Leaping up, Jholis concentraited on the Yagudo, and quickly casted a Flash spell on it. The blinding light enveloped the Yagudo's eyes, but after the light dimed, the third and final shadow of the ninja vanished. Jholis truned around to find the Yagudo casting another Utsusemi spell, and charged toward it, holding his shield low. As he reached it, he threw his shield up, slamming it into the bird's face, stunning it. With the bird helpless and exposed, Jholis held his sword forward, and chanted one phrase...
"The aura of Altana engulfs my sword... Seraph Blade!"
His sword began to glow with the element of light, and with full force, he sent it through the beastmen twice. Stepping back, he followed it with another swong of his blade. The Yagudo fell to its knees, screaching in pain, but casting an unknown spell to Jholis. But before Jholis could take the chance to interupt his foe, the Yagudo pulled an egg out from its feathers, and snapping the top off, whiped it towards him. A red and black subtance came flying out of the egg, and into Jholis' eyes, makign them burn painfully. Jholis let out a scream of pain, as he went blind.
The beastmen stoud up, and taking advantage of the disabled prey, ran to the edge of the ring, and pulled another shuriken out. But as it got ready to throw it, Jholis started casting a spell. Jholis was overcome by a white aura, which concentraited on his eyes, and relieved them of the burning and pain, making him able to see once again.
"Kyah!? How can you know Blindna!?"
Jholis just chuckled, and threw his shield up, knocking the shuriken away. Then using the distance between the two to his advantage, started casting Banish II on the ninja. In a rush to end the fight, the Yagudo threw another shuriken at Jholis, but in his haste, misaims, completely missing the paladin. Jholis' casting finished as a multi-coloed light overtook the Yagudo, ending what lifeforce was left in it, and making it colapse to the ground.
Jholis rushed up to Ariwen, and saw she was still breathing...but very shallow. A bright full firesmoon reached the top of the sky, and after going dim, turned brown, as the day shifted from fire's to earth's. Jholis' Cure III brought Ariwen back to conciousness, as the ordeal came to a bloody, but successful end...
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