Chapter 6:The Warriors of the Master

"My god..."Justice said as he and the others stood on the edge of the forest, the decimated city before them. The wall meant to ward of invaders had crumbled. The shining gold towers shined no longer and toppled to the earth. The gardens burned, homes were reduced to dust. The great fountain, once the centerpiece of the city, stood in utter ruin. The home of white birch had not been spared, destroyed by a massive explosion. A fire now raged throughout the city. The flame seemed alive, burning through solid stone with ease and constantly seeking something else to devour. The monsters who once populated the city had all been slain. Many were burned to death, still others had been hacked to pieces. In a matter of minutes that which took so many years to build had been obliterated.

Justice shook his head disbelievingly, wondering how all this could happen so quickly. He looked to celine who'd turned ghostly pale, tears rolling down her cheek she watched helplessly as her home burned. It was totally silent now, except for the crackling of the many fires. Who or whatever had attacked seemed to have gone. Beatdown walked over to a fallen woodknight and gave a slight nudge. His head silently rolled away, now nothing more then a poor suit of armor.

The durahan approached the fountain which had been totally destroyed. He dropped his gaze and looked down at his reflection in the still water. His stare was answered by a pair of cold eyes, eyes he remembered. Then the fountain erupted as a large aqua cutter surfaced and attempted to stab justice. The durahan fell back, barely avoiding the deadly attack. The Cutter laughed, water cascading off his transparent body. He bore the crest of the eye.

"Liqua..."Justice said remembering the night of his trainers death and feeling his hatred for the cutter anew. At last the chase was over, his prey had come to him. But in his lust for vengeance he'd forgotten he was unarmed. He was quickly struck down by liqua who then laughed again at his failure. The cutter then descended upon the fallen knight, egar to rend him limb from limb. This never came to pass as liqua was struck by an energy shot followed by a mega ray. He fell backward, splashing into the fountain.

"I will finish him off!"Cried the woodknight who lead them into the forest to battle moo."For revenge!" The knight leaped into the air and pointed his blade downward before descending on the aqua cutter. Suddenly there was a flash of light, a ball of energy struck him before he could impale the cutter and exploded, killing him. As the dead woodknights charred form fell to the earth a wicked laughter could be heard. It sounded very much like a joker, but the voice was a women's. She appeared a moment later, seemingly out of thin air. A Lilim, the dreaded cross between a pixie and a joker, she descended and landed next to liqua. She too wore the symbol of the eye. Before anyone could attack this new threat she was joined by yet another. The lorica Vor appeared, taking a quick glance at justice and his companions.

"Are these the ones who've been following you?"The lilim asked Vor. The lorica nodded silently.

"So, your all together."Claw hissed,"Just who the hell are you guys anyway?"

"We are the warriors of the Master,"Vor said, with great dignity and pride, relishing the words as he spoke."We serve him in all things. We give action to his thought, meaning to his word. We strike down any who would oppose him. We are the living extensions of his will! And when the Master takes this world, we will enforce his law."

"Who's the master??"Beatdown wondered.

"You will know him soon enough,"The lilim said"And so the entire world will know the Master as well. Hahahahahahaha!"Her laugh was truly horrible, worse then a jokers, like the tormented cry of a thousand tortured souls.

"Shut up!"Celine ran forward, her depression boiled over into rage."I don't care who you are or who you serve! I'll kill you for what you did to my city, my home."

"My city, my home."Vor mocked and his comrades laughed,"You pathetic tree coddler! You will be the first to sample my steel!"

"Leave her out of this!"Justice pushed celine aside"Your battle is with me. I'll kill you with my own hands if I must!!"

"Calm down old timer,"Vor said"I'd like to kill you myself today, I really would. But I have to aid my fellow warriors with our prize." He turned his back and justice became enraged. He charged Vor from behind, but the lorica heard him coming. Vor turned and slashed justice across the chest leaving a deep scar in his armor."Take that wound as a gift from me. To add to your shame of failing to protect your own trainer! Suffer this in your last moments of life! Liqua! Jakira! Kill these dogs in the Masters name!"

"As you wish,"Jakira said"I'm so glad he made it a direct order. I do love mixing business with pleasure." The lilim flew into the sky and began raining bolts of energy upon the burning city. The four monsters were forced to take cover amongst the ruins. Justice wanted to wait until she tired, until she had not the will to continue the relentless bombardment. That never happened and Jakira continued to turn the already destroyed city into a large crater.

"This is pointless!"Celine said staring hatefully at the lilim."I'm going up there, somebody has to shut that witch up."

"all right, becareful. I'll take care of liqua."Justice motioned to Claw and Beatdown"Backme up."

Celine took to the air tossing a lightening bolt at Jakira to get her attention. The lilim laughed once again and responded with a bolt of her own. The dryad dodged the attack as the others ran to confront liqua. Celine looked up and gasped, several balls of energy were screaming toward her. Once again she barely avoided death as they sailed passed. They impacted with the ground behind her and the resulting explosion sent the dryad hurtling out of control. Celine beat her wings furiously, finally able to regain her balance. Dazed by the shock of the explosion, celine seemed an easy target and Jakira swooped in for the kill. However, though her vision was blured and her head ached celine could still hear the sound of that horrible laughter well enough. The dryad shot a mega ray at her enemy, jakira rolled in the air, the ray grazing her left arm.

"Damn it!"The lilim screamed, holding her bleeding arm."Damn this hurts! You'll pay for that, with your very soul!"

"Whats the matter?"Celine asked"You can dish it out but you can't take it!"

"Is that corny line the best you can think of!?"Jakira seemed to forget her pain and began to laugh."Allow me to demonstrate just how much I can dish out."

With those words Jakira flew straight at Celine with such speed the dryad didn't have time to react. They collided, each abandoning all high powered techniques for an old fashioned brual. What had begun as an battle of magic had disintegrated into an airal catfight. The lilim wrapped her hands around celine's neck and began to strangle her, claws sinking painfully into her flesh. As the life was being choked from the dryads body she noticed they were both falling to the earth. A fall from this height would kill them both, but jakira held on, determined not to release her death grip. In a moment of desperation celine struck jakira in the stomach, forcing her enemy to release her. She then followed up with a bang attack, the blast sent jakira flying backward. As celine saved herself from impacting with the ground she looked for her opponent. Jakira was still alive, hovering over a cluster of burning trees.

"Your tougher then you look,"Jakira said, she was breathing heavily but relatively unhurt."You'd be a good ally....if you weren't so weak."

"What do you mean weak!?"Celine screamed and jakira proceeded to torch a nearby tree."No! Stop it!!"

"See what I mean? Weak."The lilim laughed once more."Getting so emotional over a bunch of worthless plants. I can't stand you dryads."

"Worthless huh?"And as Celine spoke those words the forest responded. The trees below jakira trembled and they reached up, branches outstretched like fingers. They grabbed the lilim, tightly binding jakira as celine looked on. She began to summon the power for a final blow and end this struggle. A golden ord of light began to grow in her palm."Now you'll pay for your crimes against my people!"

Suddenly Jakira burst free of the trees grasp and retaliated with flame. The evil fire began to devour the trees instantly, but still their branches came. A huge scythe materialized in the lilim's hands and with it she cut down the plants feeble attempts to capture her again. Seeing this, Celine wasted no time in throwing her orb of light, which might spell death for her nemesis. Jakira laughed and batted the orb away with a swing of her scythe. Celine was nearly hit with her own power, she dodged and the golden orb blasted into the scorched earth. But as she turned to face her enemy again celine found jakira hovering a mere six feet away.

"Lets see you dodge this!"Jakira screamed"Death energy!!"

Justice made his way toward Liqua who was still in the fountain. The cutter was in an almost relaxed position.

"I likes water,"He said in a classic display of naga stupidity."You oppose master? Liqua will kill! You are lucky, Liqua will use Master attack!"The aqua cutter put his hand on the symbol of the eye and it glowed deep blue."Aqua command!" The spring behind him exploded, pillars of water surged to the surface and aimed at justice with errie accuracy. He tried to run, avoiding the first stream but was nailed by the second. The force push him into a section of wall still standing, his steel frame leaving a deep imprint. Another surge attempted to pulverize him but claw pulled the durahan to safety.

"Getting slow old man,"He said with some concern"Your not gonna let him do that to you are ya??" Before justice could respond several balls of energy rained down from above. The two monster quickly took cover and the blasts left many deep craters in the ground.

Justice pulled his battered form up."Attack! For Vengeance!" They charged, beatdown tried to attack with a her hand to hand combat moves. A wall of water erupted from the ground and knocked the fairy hare back. Claw came in with a deadly pierce but he too was hit with a powerful stream of H2O. Justice was about to attack head on as well but stopped, Liqua wasn't going to let them get close enough to even land a punch. Instead he pulled beatdown aside."I have an idea. Find my sword." She nodded and ran off to accomplish the task. Stone claw was still trying desperately to get close enough to harm the cutter.

"Claw? Think you can pull off a drill attack?"Justice asked. Meanwhile Celine and Jakira continued to light up the sky with there battle.

"You nuts?"He panted"I'm exhausted, I'll need five minutes." "We don't have that long....look out!"Anouther blast of icy water came at them. They both avoided it."How is he doing that?? Could it be the crest?"

"Last time I checked the power to control water wasn't on the naga list of attacks."Claw said dodging another surge."Just use your air slash or something!"

"I'd need my sword..."Justice said as beatdown appeared carrying his blade. She tossed it over to him and justice caught it, feeling whole once more."Now we're ready! Distract him while I kill that murdering freak!" Beatdown and claw attacked once again and liqua, still in the fountain, turned his full attention on them. Meanwhile the ageing durahan used a trick he'd learned during his many years in the tournaments. Summoning the power of lightening into his sword he took aim and hurled the blade at his target. But his target wasn't liqua, it was the fountain itself. The charged sword landed in the fountains waters, the liqua began to shake involuntarily as he was electrocuted. Finally his charred body fell forward, unmoving.

Before he could check the body justice heard celine cry out in pain. He turned and saw her fall out of the sky, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. She didn't move as Jakira flew over to liqua who amazingly, still lived.

"How dare you,"She said"You dare to strike a warrior of the master? This will not be forgotten durahan! You and your friends will die along with the rest of the masters enemies. We will not underestimate you again..." Suddenly a building in the distance exploded. Justice realized it was the same one the dryads were guarding so heavily. A large dragon like creature appeared and took to the skys carrying a huge metallic object. A smaller figure followed close behind.

"Ah, Shielka and Grapper have claimed the masters prize."Jakira said"Until we meet again..."The lilim weaved some sort of spell and the two disappeared before there eyes. Justice ran over to celine who was badly injured, bleeding from multiple cuts, and took her up in his arms.

"Justice!"Beatdown said"White birch is still alive! He told me where to find your sword. He's hurt bad though, he doesn't have much time left..."

"I'm going to get some answers,"Justice said carefully giving the dryad to Claw."Hold her, be gentle."

"Gentle?? I'm a trident if you haven't noticed!"Claw said"Being gentles not in my blood."

"Just don't hurt her anymore then she already is,"Justice said and followed beatdown to whitebirch. He recovered his trusted shield along the way. They found the old mock in what was left of his house. He was nearly dead already and had begun to breath his last breaths.

"Did you...stop them?"He said painfully.

"No, what is it they stole?"

"A machine from the ancient times,"The mock replied."It radiated a strange energy. I knew moo would want it so I had it locked up. I Didn't know of a way to destroy it safely....is celine all right?"

"Still alive for the moment,"Justice said.

"Take her with you, she is the last of this city."He said weakly,"I am afraid to think of what those lunatics will do with what they stole." Justice looked up at the destroyed ceiling, night had fallen, and once again no stars shone in the sky. He didn't know what this 'Master' intended...but he knew they'd find out soon enough.

-- Black Razor (Allanmontalvo@mindspring.com), May 16, 2000

Answers

WHOA!!! *Awards Razor as many literary prizes as she can find* That first paragraph was SPECTACULAR! Not only did it conjur the mental image of the decimated city, but told how it was supposed to look, how it looked before it was destroyed. Wonderful! Oh, the rest of the chapter was cool too, but that first paragraph...

-- Justice (DemonCougar@hotmail.com), May 17, 2000.