The Land of Chaos: Part I

Kana looked around the Gears after getting in untroubled through the gates. Everyone who was a ninja or affiliated with the ninja would could tell that she had once been a ninja. Funnily enough, the frown she always wore on her face, coupled with her serious demeanor, gained her quite a bit of respect. And the fact that she had a large black wolf with white eyes traveling at her side didn't hurt either. That had been the shape that Shadowshifter had taken a liking to. She remembered he'd taken a similar form when she'd been with him as a child. Only now his appearance seemed much less tame, his fur sticking out wildly. She'd come here looking to see if anyone knew if any of the mountains surrounding the Gears were dormant volcanoes. She had a theory, but when she'd come, she'd found out there was a festival going on and decided to take a small break. She had no one to go with, but that was fine too. She hadn't been here in a while, but she was sure the Gears still had a lot of fun men hanging around. She had no malicious intents for this village at the present. Really, she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life right now, but gaining more power was high up on the list of things to do. Why? Because she could. There was no particular reason she wanted more power, but power always came in handy, and she was extremely aware that there were always people out there stronger than her. Every time she thought about it she got ticked off. Aidelia and Felix. Those two silver haired demons both had thought so little of her. Thought they were so amazing. Kyla as well. Kyla hadn't more physical prowess than her, but the old bat had been powerful. However, upon killing Kyla, Kana found she liked the feel of destroying someone who thought they could best her. She wondered if Felix was actually dead like Kyla had said he'd be. She hoped not. After killing Kyla, she wanted to find Felix so she could kill him herself. When she thought about it, if she did that, there would be someone wanting to avenge Felix, and then she'd kill them, and then there'd be someone wanting to avenge that person. She'd never be short on rivals that way. She'd never be short on people to test her power on. However, she wasn't quite ready to take on an entire village herself. She wasn't stupid, and she knew she wouldn't win. So for now she was going to try to enjoy the festivities while they lasted.

A no longer small puppy followed a green eyed male through the village. Kymin had decided, after begging his clan to reincarnate Felix, to settle down in the Gears for a little while. He remembered this was where Felix had wanted to go after the Magma. He never did find Kana, but he was positive that before this life was over he would run into her. The world wasn't that big. But then again, it seemed that Fate wanted to screw him over at every turn, so who knew? Ever since the death of his lover, Kymin hadn't been the same. Connecting with other people was no longer as easy as it once had been. He couldn't bring himself to flirt or joke around. Every day he felt broken because there was someone missing from his side. Felix's soul hadn't faded, but Kymin felt like he'd lost a part of his. Today there was a festival, and though Kymin was reluctant to go, there were a lot of people there, and Vishnu would at least enjoy it. He never had gone back to the Crested. He couldn't bare to find out whether or not everyone he knew was dead or not. He wanted to go back for Christian, but if he found out that the child was dead too...Green eyes blinked away the sadness that was coming to them. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking of the worst. Couldn't stop thinking that everything he knew and loved in this life was probably gone. Who even knew if Kana was still alive. Batsu had said he hadn't taken her soul, but Kymin had even started doubting if he could trust Batsu. As he walked through the crowds, his hand reached up towards his chest. It was still very badly burnt from that day. It had scarred over, and Kymin hadn't the will to bother going to the hospital to have it fixed. He tore his gaze from the ground to look around at all the people, stopping when he saw a familiar woman with brown hair, his lips slightly parted in surprise.

The white haired Phantom tried to keep a low profile as he followed Kana into the village, his face a mask of worry. The staff he held in his hand would occasionally glow a soft blue, but that wasn't of his concern, it did that all the time. What he was worried about was Kana. He was supposed to be looking after her, but he could not approach her. Not only was she severely infected by Madness, but she would not see him. He didn't know why exactly, but he suspected it had something to do with that shadow creature following her around. Now he was looking for help. Someone needed to help Kana because he could not. He knew only bits and pieces of what was to come, but it was enough to make him fear the worst. The Phantom weaved his way through the less crowded streets, trying to sense someone of worth, someone who had the right stuff to help him help Kana.

Cross and Alice had ended up staying at the festival with Jasper, Syndryl, and Serenity after Batsu had left, and Alice shared her meat instead with Syndryl and Cross after they'd all found a table, since she couldn't eat it all herself and Jasper and Serenity had said no thanks. Alice had insisted to Cross though, that they were going to bring Batsu some meat afterwards, because she knew he was still hungry. Jasper and Serenity talked amongst themselves for the most part, catching up on what had happened to both of them recently, although both of them left out the most important and recent parts of their stories. Jasper just didn't have the heart to tell Serenity about Felix yet. Not in the middle of a festival, at the very least. Alice took to talking with Syndryl, who was, at first, fairly unresponsive, still in a sour mood because of what had happened with Batsu. After a while though, he started talking back to the small child, who didn't want to seem to give up on talking with him. He stopped talking midsentence though, his eyes slightly wide all of the sudden. The feeling he was getting was far stronger than that of Batsu's. He glanced to Serenity. He had to get her out of here, but...if he did, would she break their contract? She was the only thing allowing him outside of the Unknown. Without her, he was stuck there without a purpose. But this feeling...this feeling was way too much to ignore. It was identical to in Kokoburo's Pass. Only, in Kokoburo's Pass, the Madness had been very much active, but now...now it felt more passive, but unstable at the same time. "Serenity," he started quietly, putting his hand on her shoulder. When she looked at him, she almost sighed because she thought this was about Batsu again. She thought maybe he was going to apologize, but then she realized the look on his face wasn't apologetic, but worried. Very, very worried, and maybe even a bit scared. This was different from what had happened with Batsu, where Syndryl had been angry and on edge. Her head turned in Jasper's direction when she heard him swear and scramble from the table.

"Son of a bitch, it's him!" he cursed, running off in the direction of one of the side streets. He'd seen that guy, that guy with the white hair and the cloak, and he still had the staff! He hated to leave Serenity like that, but he hated being stuck on this planet as a zombie even more. He'd apologize to her once he got the sword back and killed this asshole for making him go through this in the first place.

Batsu had taken to searching the mountains for souls, making sure to not stray too far in case Jasper in fact did come looking for him. His grey eyes scanned the spare shrubs until he picked up two scents that made him very uneasy. First was that of Madness. The smell was even stronger than that of his own. It almost smelled like Oblivion itself and again he felt that familar tug as if it were calling out to him. Batsu's wings were ruffled as he stood there, waiting for the feeling to pass. Where was it coming from? He decided not to waste time trying to pinpoint the location. He had to get to the others. Surely Syndryl had become aware of this scent as well. Flapping his wings he started into the sky and headed for the village. "Why is the scent so strong? Did Oblivion leave the Unknown?" He didn't have much time to figure it out for the village was coming into view and that second scent that had been masked was also becoming know. "Kymin." What a coinicidence that they would all be here at the same time. Maybe he could break the news to Serenity. However now was not the time. Instead of going through the gates the winged male went over them and found the ground fairly quickly. He landed and folded his wings back. "You have to leave, now." His gaze landed on Syndryl for a brief moment before he looked around. "Where's Jasper?" He looked fairly disturbed by the fact that his only real friend was not among them.

Serenity looked at Batsu as the red haired being came down and told them the same thing that Syndryl's face was saying. "What's going on?" she asked. She was even more concerned when Syndryl didn't seem phased by Batsu's appearance, but instead relieved.

Syndryl shook his head at Serenity's question. "Madness. B-but it's not like before...you don't feel it?" he asked her. He knew that she was familiar with Madness, with its feeling, so why couldn't she feel how overwhelming it was? "We have to leave Serenity," he said, sounding concerned. He didn't want to face Madness again. Batsu had some in him, sure, but this was not like Batsu, this was way bigger than him and it was suffocating.

Serenity glanced back to Batsu. "He left, ran off. He said that he'd seen that man he was looking for," she said. Jasper had told her that some man had stolen the sword he'd borrowed from Silence, and she was just guessing that it was him he'd seen. "He went over in that direction," she told him, pointing towards the alley Jasper had run to.


The moment the Phantom had seen Jasper, he'd taken off running. The black haired man had to admit, the guy was faster than he'd remembered him to be. And what sucked was that Jasper had no weapons with him. He'd never bought any and now he deeply regretted it. The instant he saw a sizable rock on the ground, he picked it up and whipped it at the white haired being. His first instinct had been to aim for the head, but instead he'd thrown it at the man's hand. Despite being such a small target, the rock hit and the staff fell to the ground from the man's surprise. The Phantom looked back at Jasper and quickly picked up the staff. Because Jasper was so close, the staff turned into a sword and the Phantom slashed it as Jasper, cutting his stomach open. But instead of blood coming out, a red mist seeped out of Jasper, as if his blood had instantly evaporated when it came into contact with the air. That had never happened when he was in the Unknown, and the shock of it caused the black haired undead to stop in his tracks. There was no pain, only shock. The Phantom took that opportunity to run again, but it was only seconds later that Jasper's 'wound' had closed up and he got over his shock. He started after the Phantom with the new knowledge that he could fight without having to worry about bleeding out. He could be as reckless as he needed to be.


"Kana..?" Kymin slowly walked towards the brown haired woman, tilting his head as he did. Once she turned to look at him, relief washed over him and he wrapped her in a hug. "Oh god, you have no idea how glad I am to see you," he breathed.

Kana's eyes narrowed when she saw Kymin. So here he was. He'd abandoned her too, but he also didn't know that it was her fault Felix was dead. She'd noticed how close the two of them had been in the Sunshine, and she knew he'd be pissed if he found out. That was perfect. She wondered if she should let Azazeal take his soul to prevent him from being reincarnated. But then he wouldn't be able to see what would become of the world in the future. Her eyes widened when she was suddenly in Kymin's embrace. She pushed him away none too gently and glared at him. "Who the hell do you think you are? After the shit you pulled you don't even have the right to talk to me, letalone get that close," she scowled, her brown eyes narrowed in an angry glare.

Batsu was far more on edge than he was earlier. His grey eyes were narrow and his wings were fluffed. "Syndryl's right, you have to leave." His eyes weren't filled with fear, but a bit of worry and a need to go to whatever was in the village. Batsu was also worried about Kymin for some odd reason. Him and Kymin had no real friendship, but he owed the guy a big favor. "I think I'm going to go find Jasper," he said with a shake of his head. "I promised him i'd help. Goodbye Serenity." He then started off at a jog. "Syndryl, take care of her." He then paused. "Alice, I'll see you later. I'll even buy you lunch." Speaking of he was still hungry. A soul should suffice. He then took off again. He needed to find Kymin too. Too many people, so little time.

When Jasper caught up to the Phantom for the second time, the white haired being tried hitting the black haired male in the stomach with the staff, but Jasper quickly moved to the side, grabbing the staff as he did. Unfortunately, it seemed the Phantom could control the form Silence's Breath took and chose that precise moment to turn it back into a blade to slice through Jasper's hand. Only, unlike last time, the blade was glowing, and pain shot through Jasper's hand full force. This time blood seeped out of the wound too. What the hell, can I only get hurt when the thing is glowing, or what?? When he pulled his hand back, he realized then that the Phantom was no longer fleeing, but looking at him like he was something to be analyzed.

Kymin's eyes were wide with shock when Kana pushed him away. "What do you mean?" He didn't get it. Right now the Sunshine was the last thing on his mind. He'd just been relieved to see the brown haired woman alive, but she didn't seem as happy to see him.

"You and Felix abandoned me in that village, knowing that something was going on! You never came back and I nearly got killed by some soul-eating demon because of it!" she said angrily, drawing looks from nearby citizens.

Cross blinked when Syndryl and Batsu said there was something going on. Honestly, Cross wanted nothing to do with it. He was getting Alice out of here, whether she liked it or not. "Alice, come on," he said, once Batsu was done talking to her. She seemed willing enough, because she could sense what was going on too, it seemed. She quickly went over to Cross, who picked her up and flew up into the air. Once he was sure that Alice was in a safe place, he'd come back to help the village, but Alice came first, always.

Syndryl nodded when Batsu told him to take care of Serenity. That was his primary concern right now. He took the blond woman's hand after she said goodbye to the red haired being and started leading her away. He wasn't sure where he would take her, but she answered his unasked question when she pulled her hand away. "I won't abandon this village too Syndryl. I'm helping this time, and whether you want to help too is up to you."

Hunter was on his way to the Gears because of a message he'd been given by Silence himself. Things were getting out of control in the Unknown with the mass amounts of new souls coming through the gates. Apparently Oblivion had decided to use those new souls as vessels of Madness. It was clearly enough to make Silence send him out of the Unknown. The more souls that were turned and escaped, the more Madness that was released into the world. As he arrived in the Gears, as Silence had directed, he searched for Batsu, who he'd only known as the God of Chaos up until this point. As he searched the village, he ran right into the heart of the festival.

Batsu decided to find Jasper first, Kymin could protect himself if he ran into whatever was inside the village. His eyes widened when he spotted Jasper and the guy with white hair. He came up next to the black haired male and glanced at him. "Jasper, there's something inside the village that is much more dangerous than this guy. You might want to take this outside." His wings were still ruffled from the feeling he was getting.

Kymin cringed lightly at what Kana said. Not just because she'd mentioned how they'd left her there, but because she'd brought up Felix. But then Kana went further. "Where is Felix? Did you two break up?" she said in a mocking tone, despite the anger boiling up within her. The look on Kymin's face told her all she needed to know. "So the old bat wasn't lying. Felix died too."

Kymin stopped completely when Kana spoke. "What..?"


Jasper turned his gaze to Batsu only for a moment when the red haired male appeared. "I don't care how dangerous this guy or the other is, I need that staff." It's my only chance at freedom. His grey eyes widened in surprise when the white haired Phantom spoke. He'd never heard this guy's voice before, and it was creepy. It sounded quiet and distant, like a ghost, yet it was easily heard.

"I need your help." He was speaking to Batsu. "She needs your help." There was a small pause before he spoke again. "That presence you feel is her. She can't control herself." He didn't know how they could help her, but she needed to be stopped before it was too late and things took a turn for the worse. "She could destroy everything."

Batsu's grey eyes blinked when the Phantom spoke to him. Her, who was her? His mind raced to figure out what he was talking about and then he remember the scents. Kymin's and that girl, the one from the Sunshine. Had she become even more consumed by it? It was possible. He turned to Jasper and then back to the Phantom. "Show me," he told her. Batsu knew he could pull Madness like souls, but too much consumption left him in a bad way. He already knew there was too much to consume already, but he could pull enough to keep the girl from going berserk while in the village. He glanced to Jasper before speaking again. "If I save her will you give him the staff," he asked.

Hunter moved through the village until he spotted the Phantom who was in possession of Silence's Breath, Jasper who'd lost possession of it, and Batsu the guy who he was supposed to deliver the message to. It seemed like all three were in the middle of a conversation. The brown haired male shook his head and began to approach slowly. He hoped that he wasn't walking into a fight, he wasn't in the mood for one. He was just the messenger.

"I killed Kyla. Turns out she wasn't lying when she said if she died, so did Felix," she said, her eyes narrowed, but a small grin spreading over her face when she saw Kymin's demeanor changing. She was still pissed off, but to see Kymin like that brought a smile to her face. The smile was dangerous though. Turned out Kymin had cared for Felix far more than he had for her. She wasn't the type to be jealous, but she'd truly cared for Kymin and apparently she'd meant nothing to him.

"You...it's because you killed Kyla that he's gone..?" He'd planned on killing Kyla himself, but that didn't matter now, because Kana had killed the hag despite the fact that it would bring Felix down as well. He wasn't in his right mind, or else he would have asked why Kana was still alive then. He didn't know what to do then. He still cared for Kana, but she'd essentially ripped Felix away from him. When he didn't move, Kana took it upon herself to make a move. His eyes widened when he saw a kunai flying towards him. In a flash of silver, it was deflected, but the moment it made contact with Ira Vangloria, Kymin was sent flying back due to a bomb tag. Several other people in the area got hurt by the blast too, and immediately there was screaming as people started away from the area. Kana's hair wasn't in it's usual ponytail today, so it fell around her shoulders as she walked towards Kymin with a kunai in hand, her brown eyes blazing with a look Kymin didn't quite recognize.

"Exactly. And I think you should go join him. He probably misses you."


The Phantom nodded at Batsu's request. "Only if she's saved," he said. His head, as well as Jasper's, turned at the sound of the explosion. The Phantom turned on his heel and started quickly towards the sound, beckoning Jasper and Batsu to follow him.


(Soundtrack)

Batsu nodded and started off when heard the explosion, but Hunter intercepted him. "You're needed back at the Unknown. Silence has sent me here to tell you that the souls you brought in are becoming infected with Madness and sent out into the world."

The grey eyed male stopped in his tracks. Fear rising in him as he listened to Hunter speak. "Okay, but I can't do it right now. I have to stop the girl." With that he started after the Phantom, his wings flapping as he started into the air and moved ahead of the other two. He frowned when he saw Kymin and Kana. He landed right between the two, his wings spread as the caught ablaze and his teeth were bared. His suspicions were correct, this was the same girl from before and she was heavily infected with Madness. Batsu would save her even if it meant giving up everything. If she meant something to Kymin, the least he could do was keep her from being consumed completely. The guy had lost enough as it was.

Kymin scrambled to his feet when he saw Batsu land between them. What was up with Kana? Why was she acting like this? Well, he knew why, but...this wasn't like her. Sure, she angered quickly, but to have her attack him out of nowhere like that. She was dangerous. Much more so than he'd ever thought he'd see her like. "Batsu...what're you doing here?" he asked, clearly surprised by the appearance of the red haired being. Vishnu was next to the black haired ninja, growling viciously at the woman who'd attacked his dad.

Kana's eyes narrowed when she saw black wings. The first thing that flashed into her mind was back at the Sunshine. There was no doubt in her mind that this was the same creature. "Back to finish what you started?" Her eyes glowed in amusement. "I don't have much soul left to take," she taunted. Next to her, the large black shadow wolf was bristling and growling at Batsu. Kana's soul was his and his alone. The kunai that was in her hand was out of it in an instant and aimed for the red haired being. At one point, Kana had been afraid of this creature, because it had killed everyone around her, everyone she'd thought she'd known. But now he was nothing more than another insignificant enemy to be killed. Destroyed. She didn't wait to move forward after the kunai was out of her hand. She'd take this red haired menace out first if that's what it took to get to Kymin.

Jasper followed the Phantom at a run. He was going to keep a close eye on this guy. Or rather, he would have, if he hadn't seen what was going on. He didn't know her, but the brown haired girl that was attacking Batsu seemed to Jasper was probably the one the Phantom was talking about.

When Serenity heard the explosion, she looked in the general direction of the sound, only to see people fleeing. What was going on? If it had been an issue between ninja, she would have stayed out of it, but she was suddenly feeling what Syndryl had been asking her earlier about. Glancing at the back haired male, Serenity started forward, aware that he was following right behind her. She stopped when she saw who it was. That woman. Hadn't she been Felix's partner in that mission in the Rock?

Hunter had only come to deliver a message and now he was getting dragged into battle. Silence had specifically told him to not return unless he had Batsu with him. How had a soul eater turned into a soul keeper? He really didn't understand this world. Sighing heavily he followed after the three, stopping only when he spotted thhe familiar face of Serenity. His heart immediately broke in two and he was unsure of whether or not he should approach her. He decided he wouldn't, for there was someone else with her. Slowly he stepped away, his purple eyes full of hurt.

Batsu wasn't sure how this girl had become so consumed in Madness. Who was she and why was she attacking Kymin if they were supposed to be friends. Batsu had a feeling that reasoning with her wouldn't be too effective considering that she'd just thrown a kunai at him. He blocked it with his wings and then braced himself for her next attack. He would have used a super nova, but there were too many people who could get caught in the crossfire. He wished they'd leave, but there was no chance of getting everyone out in a calm manner.

Syndryl glanced at Serenity when she stopped. "You can't fight her." He was relieved to notice that the woman nodded in agreeance. "We can get the villagers away from here though," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder questioningly. He wasn't sure if it was okay for him to transform to usher the villagers away. But when she looked at him and nodded, he took a step back from her before reverting back to his true form, a large dark blue dragon. This caused even more screams, but Syndryl moved around the humans in such a way that they would be driven away from the fight. Serenity was helping along by telling people which way to go. She could tell this girl was dangerous, and she knew that she couldn't try to fight her. The least she could do was help reduce casualties and heal those who needed it.

Kana went straight for Batsu, a jutsu forming as she did. He'd taken his eyes off her long enough while blocking that kunai to give her an opening, but not from the front. To Batsu's side, a rock dragon flew at him. It wasn't too large, but it would be big enough to give her a chance to slip past the red haired demon. She ducked under her own dragon as she went past Batsu and straight for Kymin. When she tried punching him, he managed to grab her wrist, and then her other one when she tried striking him with that one. "Kana, what's gotten into you?! This isn't you!" Kana's eyes narrowed slightly. "You don't know me," she growled, pulling back on her wrists so that she could pull Kymin forward, headbutting him just to catch him off guard. She followed it up quickly by kneeing him in the stomach, causing him to double over slightly, and when his grip on her wrists had loosened just enough, she tore hands out of his and put one on the back of his head, slamming him into the ground with no hesitation. A second later, she had to jump back as an icicle flew towards her head.

Jasper's eyes were glowing orange as he stepped forward. He wanted that staff, but he wasn't so cold hearted that he'd allow his friends to be killed as he stood by and watched. He didn't have any weapons, so he'd have to let Boreas take over, which was exactly what he did. He'd seen how fast this girl was, and how she'd slipped right past Batsu and taken down Kymin, though he knew it wasn't for good. Kymin was tough, Jasper had seen that himself in the Unknown.

The moment Kana had jumped back from Kymin, Vishnu jumped at her with canines bared. The moment he got too close though, the shadow wolf leapt at him from the side, smashing the half wolf into a building.

(Holy Ishbal! This is intense!)

Batsu wasn't too happy about being knocked over by Kana's jutsu. This girl was seriously out of control. Regaining his composure, Batsu shook his head and forced himself back into the battle. He came back in time to see Boreas join the fight. The red haired male took Kana's backing away as a perfect oppurtunity to draw Madness from her. He quickly took a grip on her arm and pulled like he would do a soul. He could keep this up in small burst, for he was sure she wouldn't be too keen on him holding her for too long. If it was up to him he'd rip her fucking soul out, but she was Kymin's friend and Jasper need the staff. He was feeling at a loss for that.

(You're tellin me!)

The moment Kana felt the black winged creature grab her arm, she realized that she was vastly outnumbered here. This wasn't even an entire village of ninja coming after her, it was only three or four individuals, depending on if that dragon in the distance was going to join in. The girl's brown eyed gaze shot to Batsu when she felt something being pulled on. For some reason that affected her. She wasn't sure why, but the moment she felt that pull, her pupils constricted and her vision went black for a moment. A blue and green chakra surrounded her arm as she drove it into Batsu's gut. The two chakras were mixed together, but there were still distinctions between the two here and there as it spiraled towards the rest of Kana's body at a rapid pace. Small gusts of wind flowed off the edges of the chakra from how quickly it was moving, causing Kana's hair to wave slightly behind her. The instant Kana regained 'consciousness' from that momentary reprieve, she launched another attack, grabbing the arm that had a hold on hers, and moved to flip Batsu over her and slam him into the ground.

Boreas' eyes widened when he saw the girl's chakra start spiraling out of control. It was still relatively close to her body, but to see it moving like that was, for some reason, intimidating. Regardless, he fired another icicle at Kana, only to have it intercepted by a kunai from the brown haired girl. He hadn't even seen her move!

Kymin coughed lightly as he pushed himself up from the ground. He swore he had a busted lip, but he wasn't sure if it was from the headbutt or from having his face driven into the ground like that. He'd be honest and say that he hadn't thought Kana was so physically strong. Strong with jutsu and genjutsu, sure, but this woman seemed to be equally as good with combat. "Shit," he cursed, getting to his feet. He didn't know what to do to stop her. He remembered the situation like this when he had to face Batsu. There'd been no reasoning with him. The only way Kymin had gotten through to the guy had been by going all out. He swallowed when he realized that this situation would be no different. He'd have to fight Kana with everything he had. Only this time, he thankfully had help.

Serenity glanced behind her at the gust of wind. Immediately a feeling of dread washed over her. She'd seen this happen with Felix before. This girl was going to lose control. And there were still people in the way, the one's who'd been hurt by the explosion earlier. The blond woman told Syndryl to keep ushering the villagers away, which he did, unaware of what she was going to do. She had to get closer to the fight to get the injured villagers out of there. The first person was an older male, probably of his late forties, who had a large chunk of wood stuck in his leg from one of the picnic tables that had been nearby when the explosion occurred. She helped him to Syndryl before going back for the second one, a girl who was closer to the fight. She'd been trying to crawl away, but her side had been burnt and was bleeding rather badly, and to add onto it, she seemed terrified of moving, even when Serenity tried to help her.

Batsu hadn't pulled enough Madness to be physically bothered, but when Kana turned on him and punched him in the gut he doubled over in pain, gasping. His eyes widened as she flipped him to the ground. His eyes closed for a moment as the world began to spin. Why was this happening to them? Why was Madness so strong? He got up, feeling shaky yet determined. He wouldn't go down like this, not without a fight. Batsu's teeth turned sharp and his eyes changed from grey to red. The hell with Kymin wanting to be friends with Kana and the hell with the Phantom and the staff and Jasper. Batsu was going to rip Kana's soul out and if it meant taking out the village along the way then so be it. His wings caught afire and they folded around him. He was preparing for a super nova that would probably take down one too many buildings and far too many civilians.

Hunter had stayed back so far, but he suddenly found himself in a position where he no longer felt the need to stand by. As he saw the dragon and Serenity getting people out he too started to help out of sight. But the moment he saw Kana getting out of control and Batsu preparing for a super nova, he moved towards his old friend. "Serenity," he called. "Get down!" He'd barely made it to her before the entire area went up in flames.

Kana stepped back from the icicles as they shot towards her, turning her attention back to Batsu when the creature caught on fire. She didn't know many shielding jutsu, and she was still too close to get away unscathed. Even so, she was far too out of it to care. She started the jutsu, but by the time the nova hit, she hadn't managed to finish it. Something else happened, however. The blue and green chakra started swirling more and more out of control, absorbing only about half the damage. Even so, she was sent flying back into a now indented brick building, and the bits of flame that had gotten attached to the chakra started turning black as it floated around her like will-o-the-wisps, flickering as they did.

When Kymin saw what Batsu was about to do, his eyes widened. "Don't, there's too many people around!" he called in a panic. For a moment, he didn't know what to do, but he did know he couldn't save everyone. So instead, he ran, pulling Jasper and Vishnu behind a building, hoping to lessen the damage the three of them would take. Instead what Kymin got was an arm full of glass shards from the window that so carelessly went unnoticed.

Serenity turned her head at the sound of a familiar voice. "Hunter?" She didn't know why he looked so panicked until he told her to get down, and then she realized something big was about to happen. She saw him come over to her before it went dark for several moments.

Syndryl had sensed the attack before he'd felt its heat, and immediately abandoned the villagers to go aid Serenity, who was far too close to the blast. And since he couldn't cover her and the two people next to her in his dragon form, he turned into his human form when he was near enough, but kept his large wings. He couldn't cover himself as well, so he wrapped his wings around Serenity, Hunter, and the girl that Serenity had been helping. When the blast was over, Syndryl collapsed sideways, his wings charred and stretched rather limply on the ground in front of him. Most of his human form had been burned by the attack, and the dragon in human form wasn't moving. In an instant, Serenity was at his side, trying to move his wing so she could see his face. "Syndryl!"

Hunter blinked when the blast was over. He looked down to the dragon who was now the black haired human Serenity had been with. The purple eyed male sighed and then looked to the red haired creature. What the hell had he been thinking! "Serenity, you need to get out of this village. I'll help the injured, but you have to go, please." He looked to Syndryl. "I'll help you carry him out."

Batsu's wings unfolded and his eyes turned grey. He was a bit unbalanced as he took a step forward and almost toppled over. He looked only in Kana's direction, waiting for her to get up so he could finish the job. It wasn't Madness, it was a need of urgency to finish this and get back to the Unknown. He suddenly had so much responsibility. The souls that he'd brought in were being turned evil and the Phantom wanted him to help save this girl and Jasper needed the staff. He couldn't do it all at once!

Serenity looked at Hunter when he begged her to leave. She glanced to Syndryl, who still wasn't moving. She hoped to god he was just unconscious. But she couldn't take care of him and the villagers, so after a moment, she just nodded. "Okay..." Carefully as she could, she started lifting Syndryl with her wind. "I can take him out, but...be careful Hunter," she said, giving him a hug. When she pulled away, her blue eyes were a bit sad. "And...I'm really sorry." She'd pushed him out of her life, and he hadn't even done anything. And now that he was suddenly back in her life, she felt very much guilty.

Kymin held his eyes closed for a few moments, trying to ignore the pain. He wasn't about to keep the glass shards lodged in his arm, but if he took them out, the bleeding would probably be really bad. He was going to take his chances with bleeding, that way he could at least help in the fight.

Jasper cringed when he saw the other black haired guy pulling glass out of his arm. That looked painful. Thanks to this douche though, Jasper himself was unharmed. He noticed too, that Kymin had grabbed the dog, that to Jasper looked like a small wolf. He remembered Kymin calling the dog Vishnu. "You should stay here for a couple minutes," Jasper said. "I'm going to go check out what's happening."

Kana blinked lightly, trying to get her vision to stop blurring. What kind of attack was that? No wait, she remembered it from the Sunshine. With a small groan, Kana pushed herself from the rubble of the side of the building. Those black wisps were still floating around her, flames imbued with Madness. Kana grinned when she realized what she could do with them. Those flames had absorbed half the impact of that supernova, which meant she could do about half of that destruction over. And spread Madness while she did. The black wisps started circling her quickly as she looked at Batsu. He hadn't even cared that he'd taken out innocent lives, and that made her grin. Maybe he had a lot of Madness in him too. But he wasn't spreading it, he was trying to stop the spread of it. The faster Kana's chakra swirled, the more apparent it became that there was a beastly figure appearing next to her, though it was still transparent at this point. "Is that all you got?" she grinned. Yeah, granted, she was hurt. She was very hurt. But something in her wouldn't allow her to stop destroying, and honestly, she didn't care to fight against whatever that something was.

Batsu was bristling with anger but he didn't attack again. He was waiting for Kana to come at him. He needed to get close to pull Madness. It wasn't like a soul where he could pull it from a distance. He had to physically touch it. The grey eyed male had used the supernova in hopes that it would slow the brown haired girl down, but he was beginning to wonder if it had done any damaged. He could also see something appearing beside her and it looked fairly threatening. Batsu's wings fluffed up. It was on all four legs like the shadow creature. Speaking of, where was that thing? "Don't get to full of yourself," Batsu growled. "I'm just getting started." He took a step forward. How would he do this without using a last resort attack. He'd killed enough and...Batsu grinned. He'd killed people, which meant souls were out and about, which meant he could have a buffet. He felt bad about the lives lost, but Kana had to go. Batsu spread his wings and pulled the souls towards him. He'd feast then he'd stop Kana. The more souls he had the more power he could become.

Hunter looked at Serenity for a long time after she hugged him. "I've missed you," he whispered. There was a few seconds of silence then he shook his head. "No need to apologize." He followed her out of the village once he had the girl who'd been injured. "Be careful," he said as he headed back into the village. He went straight for the fight, blinking with worry at the sight of Kana and Batsu getting ready to square off. "Damn it, this isn't the time for fighting." He shook his head and started in the direction of a man with glass stuck in his arm. "Hey, you okay," he asked as he knelt down.

Serenity felt even worse after she saw the look on Hunter's face and he told her he'd missed her. After this, she was going to visit him in the Unknown a lot more. She wanted to apologize again when he'd said he missed her, but refrained from doing so when he told her she didn't need to. "You too," she told him. She honestly didn't want him going back into the village with all that was going on. Where were the village ninja, anyways?? Shaking her head, she lowered Syndryl to the ground so she could begin working on the burns. She was really worried that he wasn't moving, that his eyes wouldn't even flicker.

Kymin kept his jaw clenched as he slowly pulled out one of the larger shards, glancing at the brown haired male as he came up. He had weirdly colored eyes. "I'll be fine once I get rid of this damn glass," he cursed, flinching when the rest of the large shard slid out. "You a Gears ninja?" He turned his head when he heard Batsu and Kana talking. The screams were dying down, as those who were too close had been killed by the explosion and those who hadn't had run away. "Jasper, how's it lookin!" he called. He glanced around when he noticed that Vishnu wasn't nearby anymore. "Vishnu? Vishnu!" looking around, he gave a sharp whistle. When he heard a growl and a yelp moment's later, his heart sank and he ignored the glass in his arm, pushing himself to his feet to go look for his dog.

Kana gave a grin and rolled her eyes when she was told not to get too full of herself. She wouldn't. She still had those burns on her arm and leg from when he'd attacked her old village. She wouldn't underestimate him this time. The brown haired girl took an unsteady step back when she felt a familiar pull. And then there was growling. When she looked to see what it was, she saw that it was that dog from before, only this time Azazeal was nowhere in sight. So when the dog got close enough, she pulled a kunai and stepped to the side as the thing lunged at her, slicing across its belly with the kunai and kicking it into the nearest building. Where the hell was Azazeal, and what the hell was going on with her chakra! Kana had to blink a sudden blur from her eyes as she stumbled backwards a step. She'd lost her balance for just a moment, but when she regained it, she focused on those black wisps around her. Whatever creature was next to her was telling her to use them, to do as much damage as she could, she spread as much Madness as she could. She didn't know why she was listening to the silent creature, who was slowly becoming less transparent the more her chakra spiraled out of control, but she knew she was going to listen to it, because she still had to take Kymin out. He was her target, and so was anyone who got in her way. As her chakra spiked out like a dangerous flame, it was apparent that the black fiery wisps next to her were becoming more unstable. She wasn't going to wait for Batsu to do whatever he was doing. The wisps floated together in front of Kana, joining into a flickering ball of black fire before it collapsed on itself and then exploded, shooting Madness and fire in every which direction. Kana had to shield her face, but for some reason wasn't as injured as she'd thought she'd be.

"Shit," Jasper swore, his eyes widening in horror as the brown haired woman took out the dog with neither a moment's hesitation or an injury. "Just stay back there," he told Kymin. God damn it, what was this girl! When he saw the black fire forming, Boreas was the first to warn him. Ice shield up, ice shield up! Making himself smaller, Jasper put a thick wall of ice between him and the blast, but he quickly noticed that when the fire faded, the ice was turning black and translucent. Shield down, put it down you moron! Boreas shouted in a panic. "Make up your damn mind," Jasper growled, dropping the shield and letting it melt as a black gas rose up from the water. He quickly backed away, his eyes wide. "The hell..?"


Azazeal ran in his wolf form, chasing after the Phantom who dared try to take his prey away from him. They came from the same era, only the shadowshifter had gotten here first and laid down the foundation for his plans. Once he was close enough, he pounced at the Phantom, but was quickly knocked away when the Phantom turned on his heel and struck at him with the staff form of Silence's Breath. Immediately Azazeal snarled at the thing which was glowing blue. "Where did you get that!"

The Phantom took a step back, holding the weapon in front of him, the color in his pale blue eyes swirling. "It's borrowed," he spoke lowly. "Leave her. Or I will use this and its full power to take you down."

Azazeal gave a snarl-like laugh. "You and I both know that if you use its full power you'll be killed too." When the Phantom said nothing, the shadowshifter nearly stepped back. "You're not that gutsy, or that dedicated to your mission."

"Leave her. She has a different role to play than this. You can not keep her soul." Silence's Breath started glowing brighter, and the Shadowshifter did take a step back then.

"This is her own path, not the one I've chosen for her. I just get her soul when she's through with what Fate has planned," he growled.

Hunter shook his head when Kymin asked if he was a Gears ninja. "No, I think they all fled," he said with a sigh. He didn't need to say that he was a Sand ninja. There was no point because he hadn't been to the Sand in a very long time and he was considered dead among his family, although he did have a great, great, great...too many greats, but he did have a great nephew. He'd visited him once, but never told him that they were related, only that he was a family friend. Hunter rose to his feet when Kymin took off to find his dog and to his dismay saw that the poor pooch was injured, but that was suddenly the least of his worries as the flames dispersed. Hunter snatched Kymin back around the corner of the building to avoid being hit. "There's no way to stop her," he whispered. "Madness is getting out of control."

Batsu didn't care much for Vishnu, but when he saw the half wolf get injured so ruthlessly by Kana, he moved to help. Unfortunately he found himself facing black flames in the same instance. Not too worried about himself since he was already infected by Madness, he hurried to the downed wolf and covered him with his wings, protecting him from being further injured. "Hey big guy," he spoke softly as he petted the dog. "Hang in there buddy, we'll get you some help." Once he was sure the attack was over, Batsu picked Vishnu up and started into the air. Feathers fell to the ground from the burns he'd received, but all the same he was going to save the dog. Kymin didn't deserve to lose everything. Turning to Kana his hand glowed red with fire and he shot a round red orb in her direction. The moment it got close it exploded several different times in a flash of fire and blinding white light. He wanted to give the others time to find safety, for what he had in store for Kana, would require him to shield the entire village.

Kymin's eyes widened when he saw that his dog was injured. "Vishnu!" he started forward, despite the black flames, but found himself being pulled back. "No! Let me go!" He felt at a complete loss when he felt the heat of the flames, and he put his hand to his chest when he felt his heart acting up. Not now, not now damn it! He quickly pulled away from the brown haired guy, despite his whisperings, to go find Vishnu. He didn't want the dog to be dead, he couldn't be dead. He couldn't lose everything he had in such a short period of time, he couldn't! His eyes had started filling with tears the moment he saw that Vishnu wasn't there, and he could have died right there. He quickly looked around, hoping to god that the puppy had gotten away. When he saw Batsu in the air with Vishnu, a wave of relief washed over him. He would owe Batsu so much after this was over. Kymin's eyes widened though, and he jumped backwards, nearly falling over, when he saw a large blue and white snarling creature take a swipe at him, only to have it's paw and claws go straight through him, like a ghost. In the very next moment, he found that his vision went white with the sound of small explosions. The hell was going on?

Kana glared at Batsu when she saw him fly upwards with the dog. So he was trying to get away? Well that was fine too, her business wasn't with him anyways. Even if she wanted to kill him too, for injuring her. When the fireball flew down towards her, she backed up a step, only to have Shadowshifter come in front of her to block the blast and the flash, in a large humanoid form. Once the blast was over, he turned back to his wolf form and she found herself glad he couldn't get hurt. "Where the hell have you been," she growled, turning only to see Kymin standing there. He'd probably been blinded by the flash. Kana grinned and slipped a kunai into both of her hands, starting quickly towards the black haired ninja, the kunai aimed to strike at his throat and chest. Funny, this was very much similar to the way he'd killed Aidelia all those years ago.

There was a flash of black, and a figure landed on the ground between the two wingless humans. Cross' wings folded around him and he knelt slightly to brace for the impact of such a quick landing. There was a small space that his wings opened when he'd landed, so he could see, but as he stood up, his wings spread to the sides, the feathers fluffed and spread with the sense of danger. His appearance had caused a momentary pause in Kana's actions as she changed her target to the raven haired man in front of her, but the pause was more than enough for Cross to take advantage of. He grabbed both her wrists, and when she went to kick him in retaliation, he threw her into a brick building, causing some rubble to fall in on her. His hand started glowing a bright white and his other moved in such a motion that it looked like he was pulling the light from it and stretching it out. However, instead of thinning as he pulled, the stream thickened and started taking on the form of something with a cylindrical body. When the light detached from both of his hands, a long serpentine dragon sped over to the rubble and crashed into it, causing a large explosion that made the rest of the building Kana was inside crumble. Instead of moving, he stood waiting for something to happen, his blank emerald eyes staring at the spot his dragon had hit.

Hunter gasped when Kymin took off despite him holding the guy back. He quickly followed after him, but found his heart skipping a beat when he saw that Kymin had been blinded and Kana was on him a moment later. This was not happening! Huntre mentally prepared himself for the worst, but then he saw a flash of black and then Cross appeared. Hunter had seen him in the Unknown plenty of times with Alice but never had he expected him to be here. As they guy swifttly handled Kana, Hunter went over and dragged Kymin away. "Batsu, follow me."

Batsu was still in the air when Cross came in. He was relieved to see the raven haired male. He seemed to be a match for Kana while the others had struggled. When the brown haired guy called to him he went to the ground, his eyes still on the collasped building. "Thanks for coming back," Batsu said to Cross. "She has a shadow creature with her as well as something forming from the blue chakra. I'll be back shortly." He started after Hunter who'd exited the gates and was asking Serenity to heal Kymin. "The dog too," Batsu said as he laid Vishnu down. "He's badly injured." He then turned away and started back into the village. Damn this girl and the trouble she was causing.

Cross glanced to Batsu as the red haired male thanked him. "I wouldn't come back in here if I were you," he told Batsu. This place was going to turn into a battle ground really quickly. Cross was sure he'd faced tougher foes in the Unknown, but he wasn't going to get his hopes up just because this girl was human. Batsu had said she had other creatures with her. He waited for them to leave before he started towards the building. He stopped and pulled a knife when he saw a blue and white beast coming towards him. He moved to drive the knife into its neck only to see it go right through. "An illusion," he mumbled. It was one fierce illusion, that was for sure. It looked so real and so solid. When he saw it closer though, he realized that it was actually very slightly transparent. He turned his attention back to the rubble after a quick glance around. There was no shadow creature in sight. He started a jutsu after throwing several circular bombs into the rubble, all of which scattered oil around the area upon impact. He didn't care for drawing things out, so he blew a stream of fire onto the crushed building, which immediately exploded into flames. His oil was much more potent than most. It burned hotter and longer. The flames it produced were blue. Cross stood back and watched the flames burn, to make sure the girl didn't get out. And even if she did, he'd be waiting.

Kymin followed Hunter out of the village, trying to catch up to Batsu to see how Vishnu was. He only got to see the dog when Batsu laid him down in front of Serenity. Serenity, the woman who had told Batsu where to find Felix. He should have been pissed off with her, but he couldn't bring himself to be. He was more worried about Vishnu. "H-him, heal him first," he said, indicating the puppy. He knelt down next to Vishnu and pet the half wolf with a shaking hand. "Hey buddy," he said quietly. "You-you're gonna be okay, alright..?" He couldn't bear to lose the only thing left of his and Felix's short lives together. He didn't care if his arm got healed, so long as Vishnu lived.

Serenity had gotten done healing Syndryl, but the dragon wouldn't wake up, and his burns were too severe to heal fully. They'd been way too close to the blast. Right now the black haired human with wings was laying down, his wings laying over his body. The blond woman looked up when she heard more people approaching. Some people had fled the village, but these were people she knew. Well, most of them. She didn't know the black haired one. When he asked her to heal the dog first, she nodded, frowning sadly at the poor whimpering creature. It really was badly injured. It was a surprise the thing hadn't died from blood loss immediately after the injury. With no time to waste, she quickly got to healing the dog, glancing up when Batsu headed back in. "Be careful," she called to him.

Jasper wandered around the village almost aimlessly. He was...aware he was looking for something, but he wasn't sure what. He'd inhaled a good amount of that black gas and now his eyesight was fuzzy at best, as were his thoughts. He couldn't make out more than a few words in a thought without 'destroy' or 'kill' being one of them. What the hell was going on with him? Why couldn't he hear Boreas clearly anymore? He sounded unbelievably far away when he yelled at Jasper to snap out of it.