The Spire.

[Frisk E. Coyote]

The elder dragoness clenched her fists so hard that her claws drew blood from her palms, which leaked dully onto the ground. She knew the limits of her abilities. She was powerful, but she was also realistic, and there was no way a mere servant like her could match a god's sanction, the very being she was chosen to protect. "It's just another futile effort, Ryoji. One would think that after so much vain defiance over the centuries, a dragon like me would learn to give up in the face of odds like this." She flung an arm forward, eyes blazing, her blood flew up in an arch only to catch fire and solidify into what seemed to be a brilliant staff of light, which she twirled around skillfully before letting loose a powerful wave of magic fire to intercept Ryoji's attack, clashing with it, meaning to be disabled in place of Ereth's mana. They needed his magic more than ever now.

F'Nerah held the the shining weapon like a rifle, and as the light slowly drifted off it like wisps of glowing smoke and cinders, a golden bayonet with flame-like motifs engraved on the edges was the first to appear, followed by the rest of the weapon; a gleaming, flintlock rifle with ornate golden, flame-like designs, about six feet long. It seemed to be made of a mysterious marble and wood-like material entwined with gold. The rifle gushed steam out of ornate, motor-like exhaust valves at the back, and glowed like magma from every nook and cranny on it's being. "But where's the fun in giving up?" She smirked painfully, eyes shedding tears that resembled magma as the details on her body started glowing too, silently grieving for Katt and Nero, who seemed all but lost. "Come on, Ryoji, not many have seen my Searing Heart before! Allow me to show her off a little." She caressed the barrel of her rifle, then called out at her comrades. "Why is it always you youngsters who get into these situations? Honestly, you're like some organization hell bent on attracting cataclysmic godlike beings to invite you to your doom!"

Nero struggled and fought until he could barely move. He struck a rather studly pose that showed off most of his muscles, just in case he turned into a statue- at least he'd be immortalized in a way that made girls wet. The bits of gravel coated his body, up his neck, covering his ears, his eyes... everything went silent and dark. He liked it. He was born and raised in the dark, and silence was his lullaby. He could go like this, sure... but he wasn't raised by F'Nerah to be a slacker. The stone slowly coated his muzzle as he whispered his last words...

"Shadow... Blessing..."

The stone encasing Katt and Nero suddenly exploded outward, shattering like crushed taco shells. Black tendrils of wispy shadows were wrapping themselves around the feline and the winged lupine, like thick, black smoke, but more voluminous and solid until finally, there was an aura of darkness emanating from them, granting shadow-based speed, enhanced strength and durability.

"Ah..." Nero rotated his shoulder and turned his neck left and right, making cracking sounds with each turn. His voice seemed a little more... hollow. Echoey and silent, but still loud enough to be heard. It was like all the grief at a funeral manifested into his regular, upbeat tone of voice, and it sounded strange. "Thanks for the darkness, chum. But that got me a little STIFF." He slammed his fist into the ground, causing a forest of dense, jagged bones, strong and sharp enough to pierce unhindered through the through the tough stone-like surface of the spire, to erupt beneath Ryoji's feet. "Ha-HAH! Stiff! Get it? Stiff? Boner? Bones? Erection jokes! They get me every time."

[Erethzium]

"Hm, you too I see..." Ereth growled softly as his magic was all but completely resisted, recognizing the spell that was being cast back against him, his teeth gritting together as he braced for the impact of it, only to see what F'nerah had done. "Whoa, thanks, sexy." he added with a grin toward her, before holding his claws near his sides again. "Let's see...if ice didn't work, how 'bout lightning?" he thought, lightning arcing between his claws before he thrust them out again, a stream of lightning bursting out at the god dragon.

[DragonMasterX]

Glass-shattering sounds were heard as the tendrils reached Ryoji. The spikes simply burst in front of him, the energy around his force field was too strong, overly to the point of bouncing the lighting Ereth had shot right back at him, "Your foolish attempts only delay the inevitable," Ryoji uttered, holding his claw out and upwards again as if he was holding something again, "You delude yourselves into thinking summoning your greatest strengths will aid you in this staggering ordeal. You cannot be more blind to the truth. Allow me to demonstrate."

All of a sudden, Ryoji's empty hand was filled with a purple sphere that cackled dangerously with lighting, it seemed as if some sort of void was inside of it, a void so empty that it ironically could be said to be full of demise and oblivion. Ryoji wasn't going to waste his time attacking, he would end this quickly, "I must mend this rotten world. And you all, half-breeds, and human symphatizers, will not be in it!" he said, suddenly smashing the purple sphere against the floor, causing a jet-black shadow cast over the aerie's floor, making everyone step on it. The black ground suddenly started sporting dark-purple tentacles, all of them twitching and starting to orderly point at each of Ryoji's opponents. All of them were being targeted, and more and more tentacles were coming out.

A grunting voice could be heard not too far away, "Th-this wasn't... part of the deal!" another dragon, this one wearing fancy clothing, said from behind a large boulder where he had been hiding, the tentacles having wrapped him, "You...! You betrayed me!" he said, his glistening emerald scales being dusked by the strong tendrils coming from the floor, his red eyes were full of fury as he stared daggers and at the same time feared at Ryoji, who hadn't even turned to watch him, "Answer me! I gave you everything you needed! My organization dug up all your artifacts and relics, you... you were supposed to share the power!" he screamed as the tendrils squished his body.

Mar looked at his friends fight, but it seemed like this battle was one-sided. He wished he could assist, but now nothing seemed easy. He'd always been used to dealing with enemies on his own or at the most having a tandem partner but how was he supposed to fight to protect if he already was completely tied up? He at least figured he would be able to catch some useful information by listening to Ryoji talk with this newcomer, apparently they were related, and not only that, but this guy also seemed to have helped Ryoji. What if he could seize him and get him to tell him what they needed to know? Dot in his arms, no, it was impossible. He stood up as the shadowy floor covered their footing, he was unsure of what to do but to keep Dorothy safe. That's when a large tentacle sprouted from behind and shot itself over the huge dragon, not giving him a chance to react. The black tentacle didn't wrap around him, but instead it totally crashed on him as if it had been some sort of liquid, totally engulfing him, "Grrr! What the hell... is this?!" he said, trying to fight the goo off, only managing to get it all over his body, the goo was making him feel heavier, duller, and eventually he had to drop Dorothy. The tendrils were ignoring her, "D-Dot... ahhh!" he roared, trying to run over to her, but more tentacles shoot over on top of him, completely enveloping him, turning him into a black lump on the floor.

"Whhaaaa! Mister Terramoore, what's going on?!" This time a familiar voice could be heard as Mar was trapped. A rather irritatingly annoying young female chirp, "Lino! Are you okay?!" Lina helplessly screamed, both young whelps were being held by the tendrils as well, although Lino seemed unconscious, a nice bump on his head evidently suggesting he had been somehow hit, "You shouldn't have tried to protect me, dummy!" she cried, "Mr. Terramoore!"

"Shut up! He won't listen!" Terramoore roared, totally humiliated as Ryoji still hadn't answered him, "ANSWER ME, UZUMAKI!!" he finally shouted to the golden dragon.

[Shadowknight]

Shadow growled as he slashed at the advancing tendrils, each one either absorbing the blow with no damage or simply growing back if they were chopped, "Dammit, I'm thinking a tactical retreat might be in ord GAH!" he grunted as a blow wrapped around one of his feet, with a loud growl of frustration he chopped through it, kicking the remaining goop off.

He glanced over towards Mar, "Don't worry dude, help's, sonuva," he cursed as one of the tendrils grabbed his empty arm, his other moving to chop it free before it too was grabbed causing his weapon to fall from his hand. He tugged at his arms in attempt to free them, glancing around quickly, his ears twitching at a high pitched noise, "Hey, little dragon," he called, forgetting Lina's name, "Think fast!" he shouted, kicking his dropped sword towards her, aiming for the tendril holding her with the intent of the flying blade to chop it apart and free the dragon.

[Frisk E. Coyote]

"Oh! Oh! Not agaaaain!" Lacia wailed as she tried to kick and flail the tentacles off her, recalling the many experiences she's had with monster octopi, plants, sentient slime and what seemed to be living spaghetti. "Why does it always have to be tentacles? Vortex Slasher!" She invoked, and a flurry of wind blades that sliced at the tentacles rapidly, vainly, only managing to slow them down rather than stop them. Soon, she had dropped down to the ground, coated in black goo.

"Ew- UGH!! I don't want to star in some sick hentai!" Nero gave up trying to attack Ryoji as the tentacles crashed into him, making feel heavier and heavier. He tried to fight it off, sprouting bone spikes and blades, breathing black flames at them, it didn't work. He faced Ryoji and snarled. "You SICK Jap PERVERT!! Get this fetishist's wet dream offa' me!!"

"I- I think he's Chinese!" Lacia managed to squeak an interjection.

"Like it matters! Japanese, Chinese, Korean- I don't like this!" Nero barked back at her and struggled some more.

"Mend? Ryoji, you shouldn't try to mend what isn't broken! Pyros- The darkness gives way!!" Nera commanded as she made a horizontal slash with the bayonet of her Searing Heart rifle, unleashing a massive wave of white, ghostly flames, which attempted but failed to incinerate the dark tendrils off. The flames were overwhelmed by the void, the sheer destruction fueled by Ryoji's elitist views and hatred for other races, and she ended up coated in purplish black goo, which spread over her slowly as they seemed to boil and evaporate upon contact with her magma like scales. "-And this world is rotting because hatred from people like you poison the harmony- the balance-"

[DragonMasterX]

OOC: Lol, nobody really paid attention to the fact that Terramoore called Ryoji Uzumaki. That blows.

IC:

"Eeeep!" Lina shifted, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead as a sword cut through the tentacle holding her in air and released her, the blade having nearly cut her tail off in the process, "Be careeeeeful!" she reprimanded, but got the message and tried to pull the sword off the ground. Being phyiscally weak, Lina was unable to properly grab it but by making use of all her will she was able to finally swing it around, cutting the tentacle holding Lino who dropped to the floor face-first with a thud, instantly waking him up.

"Owww! My head!" Lino winced, rubbing his paws on top of his skull, "That hurt!" he whined with a small tear hanging from the lower-right eyelid, "Ah!" he gasped as he appraised the scene: Their boss helpless, "No!", their pursuiters helpless, "Alright!", their boss helpless again, "No!" and their pursuiters helpless once more, "Alright!"

The cycle was interrupted as Lina smacked her brother hard, "Come on, dummy! They need our help! Boss is acting weird and I don't know what our client's up to!" she quickly explained, helping her brother up before she put her paws on Shadow's sword, "Here, help me with this!"

Terramoore still was madly yelling incoherent barrages of insults at Ryoji, the golden dragon being more concerned and delighted with his opponents instead. "You still speak?" he said to F'Nerah, "I wasn't expecting a young eldress to understand my ideals," he said with a nonchalant shrug, his first act of mortal-like demeanor in a good while, "But that's why me and the adults will have a looong talk together. I intend on changing what balance and harmony will be."

As the tendrils continued to amass onto the group to turn them into indiscernable dark-purple lumps glued to the floor, Lino and Lina began sneaking past their immobilized boss. They had to make a choice: Free him and attempt to run for their lives with him, or try to strike their client down to save everyone at once. Their boss was there, he could probably either bail them out or use his contacts to get them out of the Equator faster than Julian would be able to pull a pair of handcuffs out, so helping their pursuitters was redundant, yet, it had been one of them that helped them out of their predicament.

Both whelplings were scared, but their thoughts didn't need to be discussed among them. They went past their boss prepared to swing the sword, Ryoji didn't seem to notice them yet, and if they could get a good critical strike from behind, they could beat him, or so they thoughts.

"Now!" both whelplings shouted, making use of all their combined might to swing the large sword, but before it even reached Ryoji's back the blade shattered and disintegrated. Both children had disbelief plastered all over their faces, having been hidden throughout most of the initial battle they hadn't seen how futile it was to clash against Ryoji with traditional arms. Disbelief was replaced with total despair as Lino and Lina saw Ryoji looking at them from the corner of his right eye, his neck having titled just slightly.

"I expected more obedience from your pets, Terramoore," Ryoji softly barked, the children not having enough time to call for help as they were also engulfed by the dark-purple goo, joining the darkened floor.

"Now you talk!" The helpless green dragon in the suit growled, "This prophetic powers of yours...! I want my part! That's was our deal!" he insited, not even concerned about his two little helpers, "Give me what's rightfully mine, Uzumaki!"

"Rightfully yours?" Ryoji closed his eyes, a small smirk drawing in his face as he finally gave his back to F'Nerah and the others and brought his full attention to his supposed accomplice, "A god, you?" he spitefully stammered all of a sudden, the darkness in his words making Terramoore stagger in his place, "You cannot be a god. You are but a mortal who cannot see further from the material belongings and, although useful in the past, you are but a pawn to me. Your disdain for knowing your own place has finished to entertain me," he gave his back to Terramoore as if he was bidding farewell, "You remind me of those I hate the most."

With Ryoji's last words, Terramoore was also consumed by the tentacles, his voice now a handful of slowly vanishing muffled sounds on the ground.

[Shadowknight]

Shadow growled a bit, wishing he could smack himself, he continued tugging at his arm as the purple goo grew along it, "Nero was right this is like some fetish gone horribly wrong." he growled actually starting to jump up and kick at the blob as best he could before his leg got consumed by it as well, "Grrr, dammit," he growled. Only thing he could think of now would be chewing off his own arm and leg, an idea he'd much rather not attempt, "Hey, lizard boy!" he shouted up towards Ryoji, "What's the matter, all the flash just for show? Don't even have the strength to fight wolf to dragon?" he laughed, hoping to annoy the dragon into making a mistake.

[Frisk E. Coyote]

OOC: XD Mein gosh! I didn't even notice that! I automatically assumed Terramoore thought that Ryoji was Uzumaki! *gasp* Are they... related? *thinking* Oh noes- I can't remember the color of their scales, so I can't compare!! DX

IC:

"Leave them alone, Ryoji! They're only children!" F'Nerah snarled, and was about to spout some more Aeon Dragon mentality based lectures that was basically the same as calling Ryoji a douche, as well as the importance of children, when something struck her. "-Uzumaki?" She raised a brow. "But isn't your name Ryoji Zhang!?"

"Kids? There are kids here?" Nero asked, his eyes covered in black, shiny goo. The corners of his muzzle turned up in a ferocious snarl as he forcefully ripped the goo away with his monstrous strength, bony hooks forming on his knuckles as he did his best to tear the void off his body, disregarding the damage he did to himself in the process. In the end, it was futile.

"Children-" He huffed, "Do not-" He got up on all fours, as if ready to pounce, "Belong in the battlefield!" He roared, and absorbed the black goo and tentacles through his skin, sucking the black mass on everyone else toward him.

"Nero-" Lacia gasped as her face was freed from the goo. "What're you doing- you crazy wolf-" She cried as she saw the growing mass of dark tentacles and black goo amassing around her friend, forming a growing black sphere.

"Shadow Ascension." Nero's voice echoed ominously throughout the battlefield as a pair of massive, black, skeletal arms with clawed fingers reach out of the black sphere, it's claws raking the ground to get a firm grip as black ligaments and muscles formed along the bone frame.

"Nero? Nero- wait- do not do that-" F'Nerah said frantically as the goo was sucked off her. "You don't know what forces you're playing with! This is not darkness!"

"Any force that will readily attack children is dark enough for me."

A skeletal tail burst out from behind the sphere, long and ridged with spiked vertebrae, followed by hind legs, and two more skeletal limbs- wings- until finally, a skull-like dragon head emerged up front. The skeletal frame quickly filled with ligaments, muscles, flesh, and then big, black scales. Nero's massive tail coiled around his friends, his four claws grasping four separate edges of the spire. He spread his great black wings and let out a roar that cleared cleared a patch of sky above. The wolf had ascended to his Shadow Dragon form.

"You're... you were a dragon all along?" Lacia looked up at Nero's scale-plated underbelly as his great wings slowly retracted into his back, forming bone spikes.

"Of course not, what the heck gave you that idea?" Dragon Nero asked without moving his muzzle, glaring at the far smaller, golden dragon that was Ryoji. He extended an arm and gently raked the ground, harmlessly moving Lino and Lina back toward his comrades. If there was one soft spot he had, it was kids. "I'm a wolf damnit, and proud of it!" He said, oblivious to his pure, Elder Dragon heritage.

OOC: Yay. I has a Nero. :3 I wonder how long he'll last before Ryoji mops the floor with him? XD

[DragonMasterX]

"Most impressive," Ryoji said as he casually looked up to Dragon Nero, "I personally can't say I endorse the punishment of children, either, but some sacrifices must be done in order to maintain the new balance I'm building I'm afraid." His shoulder seemed to vibrate slightly as he silently laughed, "You've taken the void unto yourself to attempt saving everyone from certain obliteration, that's most commendable, however..." he turned his hand around, palm pointed toward the skies as his arm reached outwards towards Nero, "...You should've listened to the eldress," he said, and suddenly a massive concentration of the dark-purple matter began concentrating in the skeletal creature's belly, expanding until it could be contained no more, "Your idea, however, will become useful in my plan to rid myself of resistance," he darkly smiled, suddenly clutching his claw tightly as if he was crushing some invisible creature in his palm. The void inside Nero suddenly imploded.

[Frisk E. Coyote]

"Are you kidding? My kind thrives on this sorta negative energy!" The Shadow Dragon Nero smirked smugly, and spread his jaws as if to fire a beam of some sort at Ryoji. "I'm gonna- GUAAARRGH!!" He recoiled all of a sudden, his body and bones twisting into odd, painful looking angles, and he started thrashing around, roaring in pain as black and purple arcs of void coursed through his body.

"NERO!! Expel that energy at once!!" F'Nerah screamed at the massive black dragon, parrying his wild tail with Searing Heart, which sent her skidding backwards a few meters. "Listen to what I say for once you impetuous stubborn child!" She cried at him desperately.

Without warning, the dragon crumpled into a condensed, black and purple sphere, silent and still, before just as suddenly exploding outward, a dark wave resembling an instantaneously growing ball bursting radially from him until it engulfed the entire top of the spire. And just like that, the backlash died down.