User blog:DaWalkinWaffle/King of Steel: Part XLIV

These are exhausting. :P

By now, both Ark and Winter had realized they were of equal sword skill so now it was a battle of wills. Winter held Revan in a two-handed grip and grinded it against Ark's twin blades. They shoved each other away and glared at one an other.

"I would have thought you would have improved since our last fight." Ark said.

"Hard to improve from something that never happened." Winter replied.

"You really do not remember?" Ark asked.

"Should I?" Winter said. "After all, this fight isn't that memorable."

"You can't goad me into a mistake." Ark said. Winter shrugged.

"Never know until you try." he said and attacked with Revan in one hand and steel energy in the other. Ark blocked both attacked but couldn't defend against Winter's next steel-energy enhanced slash. He stumbled back.

"X-Rave." he said. Ark attacked with 2 translucent afterimages and he hit harder than before. Winter changed into his astral form and dodged.

"Let's try something new." Winter said. He sprayed some steel energy into Ark's face. Rather than a bolt, it was more like a solid mist and it blinded Ark.

"Gah! Enough of your old tricks." Ark said.

"I just came up with that." Winter said. Despite being blinded, Ark was still an excellent warrior and he used his other senses to dodge Winter's attacks. Ark shook of the blinding.

"I'm done with you. You told me when we last fought that you had fought me before. You said you understood. Something else is at play here. Be gone! Judgement Blade: Asterio!" Ark said. Winter erected a shield that absorbed the blows. By the time it was over, Ark was gone. Winter reverted to human form and turned to Sefia and Kikuri.

"Odd guy." he said. Kikuri rolled her eyes.

"You recognized the emperor's head servant, didn't you?" Sefia asked. Winter nodded.

"Yep. He's a real troublemaker."

"Is he a threat?" Kikuri asked.

"To us, he's a friend. Now we just have to get to him." Winter said.

"How do we do that?" Kikuri asked.

"Just the relatively simple business of sneaking into the palace, of course." Winter said.

"Simple. Right." Kikuri said flatly. Sefia laughed.

"Let's go find my friend." Winter said. They decided to go that night.

Sneaking into the palace was relatively easy. The flew up to an open window and climbed in. The real problem was navigating the palace itself without being seen. They snuck around the corridors before finding a door with a light coming from it. Winter opened it slightly and peeked in. It was the bedroom of the younger princesses.

"May I help you?" someone said. Winter jumped and spun around.

"Damn it Chaos! You scared the living daylights out of me." he cursed. Chaos chuckled.

"I see you've made some friends." Chaos said gesturing to Sefia and Kikuri.

"Is this your troublemaking friend?" Kikuri asked.

"Yes. Sefia, Kikuri, this is Chaos. Chaos this is Sefia and Kikuri." Winter whispered.

"Pleased to meet you but I have to attend to the princesses." Chaos said. He walked into the bedroom.

"Mr. Cade? Who were you talking to?" a soft girl's voice asked.

"Oh, just a friend, Miss Nightshade."

"Can we talk to him?" Nightshade asked.

"Depends on if he wants to talk." Chaos said. "Winter? Would you care to talk to the princesses?" Winter cursed and walked into the bedroom. There were three princesses in the room. The one Chaos was talking to was the youngest. Winter walked over.

"You have shiny hair." she said. Winter smiled.

"Thanks." Winter said.

"Watch them. I need to get something." Chaos whispered in his ear. Chaos wandered off leaving Winter with three young princesses.

"What are your names? I'm Winter." he said.

"My name is Rose." the oldest said.

"I'm Violet." the other said.

"Are you guys getting ready to go to bed?" Winter asked.

"Yes." Violet said.

"Did you want to see something cool?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Nightshade said excitedly. Winter concentrated. In his hands he formed a necklace made out of steel energy. He made a pendant out of cosmic energy, the symbol for nightshade in the ancient language. He solidified it and held it out to Nightshade.

"Here. See this symbol? It means nightshade, like your name." he said.

"Woah. It's sparkly." she whispered. Winter put it over her head. He did the same for Rose and Violet with their respective symbols. The wonder in their eyes made him happy. Chaos came in the room. He quickly waved his hand and the princesses fell asleep.

"What's up?" Winter asked.

"Bad news. Turns out Afla Dilith isn't content to wait for Maxwell to come to him. He and his forces are moving to Zevalhua."

"And Maxwell and Cardes?" Winter asked.

"Ryvern. But that's not the worst part." Chaos said.

"What?"

"We're in Agni." Chaos said.

"Yeah?"

"Agni is between them. Agni is where they will converge."

Winter turned away.

"There is nowhere to run." Chaos said.