Calamity Trigger - Sin (World: Spira)

Vestra infirmitas est jocosum, puer.

They spoke to him, as clear as any words he had heard before. He had heard the muffled cries, roars, and eruptions from outside of the puddle he found himself in, but the water had done it's best to dull their meaning to him. Yet these....these whispers, hisses even went against it all. It was as if they had spoken from a place beyond the water, beyond the physical word, Spira or otherwise, and directly into his mind from every direction. It spoke in a language long dead, and outside a few utterances from the magi he had chosen to accompany that Raven did not speak, at least not fluently...........but he understood every word. It laughed at his weakness.

Post omnia opera tua respondebunt tibi res non modo potes?

It was right, he wasn't on that level. No kind of spell or ritual could change that. He was foolish to think so. It just sucked so bad! He wanted to beat that shark-faced guy so badly and prove he was the better swordsman. He had taken so much pride in his sword, and this defeat hurt more than the wounds keeping him from getting up again. He had made so many promises, to his family, to his new friends, to the summoner. He had worked his whole life to meet his potential and fight for what he believed in, and now he was going to drown in a large puddle because of one bad move.

Illi autem pauper est lancinata sunt animae.

No....no, that couldn't happen. He couldn't let that happen, he wouldn't! He didn't care what happened to him, death was never something he feared, but those people he had met along the way, whether they had accepted him or not, were good people with good causes. He couldn't let their lives be snuffed out by some random occurrence and a wicked sword! The water churned over the lacerations on his body, a heat moving over sliced flesh and fragmented bone, wounds slowly disappearing as if their very existence was being burned away.

He could hear that voice laughing at him as he tried, a couple muscle twitches, followed by a finger or two. He kept telling himself he had to get up. He had to! He needed to fight!

And it was then that those soothing thoughts of helping others faded away in the flames, replaced by a hunger of which he had never experienced before. He hungered for vengeance, and for the thrill of battle again. He felt himself overwhelmed by the need to burn the blue giant to a smoldering pile!

A red glow appeared in the water, the temperature in the drink and in the air around it steadily rising, burning into the very air around it. The water bubbled and turned over, steam rising from it in a thick cloud.

The hunger continued to grow...........

"Don't bother, she is already dead."

Obviously this was directed to Zora as she tried to heal the poor girl stone still on the floor nearby.

Kisame hadn't' stopped smiling once after committing murder of such a innocent child.

He was a monster.

Takato said nothing to the constant mocking of the shark-summoner and clenched his fists. The Magi of course didn't know at all that his little injured friend was already healing that same wound or even could do so. In his eyes he had just saw this man killing two people who were close companions on this adventure. So it was no surprise that the blonde felt anger, sadness and a overwhelming sense of depression. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. Why hadn't he stopped him? He promised to protect the small girl and see to it that Raven (along with the others) returned to their own world. Why hadn't he done anything?

"Avada Kedavra."

Die.

A haunting chime followed these strange words and a blast of green light erupted from the hand of the magic user. It swept through the air with incredible velocity all in the direction of the large sword-wielding shinobi. The glow possessed a malevolent hunger in the depths of its creation and grew in size as it neared Kisame. For such a vaguely unimpressive looking spell it held a strange pressure to it that could be felt as it neared the target. As if commanding the blue-skinned man to kneel and accept fate with a whimper. Unfortunately (or not), the watery bastard was far from weak willed and just swung out his massive sword with a laugh. Not at all intimidated by a fluttery emerald light tossed out by the blonde.

If anything it appeared that the huge sealed weapon had just absorbed the attack like it had done so with others. Drinking it up like liquid. Safe to say, Kisame was unaffected by whatever the 'attack' had meant to do. He looked like he was about to burst out in another pitch of laughter from the general attempt as he swung his sword over his shoulder in another fit of swagger.

"Was that really it? You can manipulate lightning and you just slap me with that? Ha!"

Takato just stared at him.

You....bastard...

"Crucio."

Suffer.

Kisame did not expect what came next. Pain. Pain unlike anything he had ever tasted before in his long deadly career. It felt like his brain was being pierced with a thousand needles and his skin was being peeled off with sharp, bloody claws. The sensation that covered him was like a whole other being than just a spell cast. It wanted nothing more than to hurt him. There was no righteous fury or revenge in this feeling. No. It wanted him to suffer because it could. His eyes bulged out of their sockets and his arms cracked out in odd angles as the increasing feelings of raw agony tore up inside him from head to toe. A part of him wanted to slit his own throat to escape this seemingly never ending assault. His blood burned with the need to escape for several seconds and his mouth twisted in the motion to scream. Yet, he never did. He wasn't deadly for just his strength after all.

The "Monster of the Hidden Mist" had never been more pissed off and hurt. He slowly stood up straight with creaking nerves, gripping his sword in a fit of rage. Then, in a explosion of will and fury he shattered the very spell he was suffering under. The sound of glass breaking echoed throughout the air and Takato stumbled back in shock, grasping his own head as if struck. The large toothy grin across blue features looked positively bloodthirsty as a barking a chuckle followed, "Don't you get it, shorty? I get stronger in direct proportion to how strong my opponent is. I do not tire, and cannot be defeated." His mocking eyes narrowed further after his taunt and slowly trailed over everyone in the area before settling on the water bubbling with such intensity nearby. He could feel something near. Familiar. The only time he had felt something like this was when his old partner had still been kicking around. It couldn't be him however.

Then why did it both frighten and excite him for the thrill of combat at the same time as Itachi Uchiha once did?

"I don't know what you are, but I want to kill you. Come, show yourself and face the full savagery of the Motanai Bijū!"

"Tailed Beast without a Tail"

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Avada Kedavra. (Let this thing be destroyed, to fall)

Crucio. (I want you to suffer, pain.)

Ima's eyes opened in surprise when all the pain she felt was suddenly gone. How? She turned her head slowly, knowing that she was still far from fully healed, to see Zora there with her gun. She had woken up? And as injured as she had been, was still fighting and helping them?

She would never stop being amazed by the strength of the human heart.

Something that someone had said when she first became able to understand the human language popped into her head all of a sudden. Ima had not understood the meaning behind the words at the time, but it had interested her, so she made an effort to remember. Now, however, Ima understood perfectly.

Home is not a place, it is people.

She'd always thought that she was looking for a way to save her people, but she had never quite understood in a way. It was her people that she cared to save, and not the planet itself, though she did love it. And here. Here, these humans had become what she wanted to protect. They made her feel happy, they made her feel safe. They made her feel loved. Zora, Raven, Yuna, Takato...these people were her home.

And if her first home was truly gone, she refused to lose another!

She sat up slowly and turned to Zora. Her throat wasn't healed enough, she could tell that even with the absence of pain, but it would have to do. The child squeezed Zora's hand and smiled, in both thanks and reassurance, before gently guiding the older girls fingers to a button on her gun. R-E-D was then traced into the back of Zora's hand. She then moved her hand again over another button, this time tracing W-H-Y-T onto its back. She did this twice more, with G-R-E-E-N and O-R-I-N-G. The alien was leaving her friend with her gun, after all, and she would need to know how to use it.

Ima stood up then, the ground a few feet in front of her cracking as she did. Using her gravity powers, she tore up stones the size of herself from the earth and rocketed them towards Kisame.

She was not aiming to kill, never to kill, but she was aiming to win.

Zora stares at Ima, trying to hold back the immensive amount of tears as she saw her sitting up and telling her about how her gun works.....WHILE the blood was still falling from her neck. Immediately, she presses the button and shoots out a green light long enough to help her heal up faster before standing up and turning to Kisame. Even with Ima's little gun, she still couldn't do much......at the very least, not at the level of what Takato is doing.

"I can't do much...but I'm no leaving you guys alone!" She hisses, pointing the gun as she shot out a red beam of light at Kisame.

The steam grew thicker, the heat in the air rising until becoming visual in the open space, waves of clear force humming through all sight. Then, it all went silent, before the puddle erupted up in a blast of fury! It was not expulsion, but almost as if everything pure in this word had begun to flee from what hid beneath. The hot mist began to fill the area, a red glow creeping up from the crater, visible to the eye through the blinding fog. A foot step pounded onto the ground, then another, and then another still until the red glow had stopped in the center. The heat grew, smoldering small fibers of hair upon the arm and drawing sweat unlike anything a mortal had felt before from the pores on the body. It was oppressing, and yet the temple around seemed to remain untouched, as if it was built to house these very properties.

The mist exploded outward as eyes clicked open, fading away into the air as the source of the red glow revealed itself. Black and crimson streaks of a flame-like energy licked the ground and the air around the man that stood there, swirling up and covering his entire form. The flame had taken shape around the head of the man it clothed in that of two horns, a sort of "tail" forming behind him as well. The eyes of the silver-haired and silver-tongued huntsman locked onto the blue-faced man, a hint of red burning over the usual grey. What looked on to Kisame Hoshigaki was not the man they had come to know as Raven Blair........

At least, not the personality he had carried.

The agonizing heat that his body gave off was matched only by the agonizing feeling of negativity that swarmed all the eye could see. In this field of being nothing good could exist. There was no purity, no happiness, no desperation to save the ones he cared about. There was just hate. Darkness. The was the unending hunger forged in the very depths of Hades to seek out strong opponents, and consume their legacy.

The Trigger had been pulled. Something wicked this way had come.

Raven never took his eyes off of Kisame, ignoring everything around him as he lowered his sword down to his side, sparks flying off the stone as the slight movement placed a scar into them. The energy around him fell onto the blade, darkening it's very colors to the bleakest of steel, the horns upon the skull ornament growing in size, and red pentagrams burning into their foreheads. Raven said nothing, but his thoughts were endless. He begged for the first move to be made, but for now, he only watched in taunting silence.

If the creature had hopes of feeding, he would fill it's belly until it exploded.

Kisame stood there without a word and swung his overpowering sword over his shoulder, merely spreading his lips in the form of taunting smile. Suddenly he shot forward in a blur with a cackle that dripped with bloodthirsty intent before whipping up the mighty weapon along a roar of wind. The large stones in the form of shooting bullets met the backlash of wind generated by the blow and were consumed without a word. The amount of force behind it was impressive and made for another intimidating sight. What little effect those attacks did couldn't be compared to the own effect of that outwards strike through the air. He paused a few seconds later however. "What the hell are you doing up? Do I have to make you dead a second time? Fine with me!"

His sharply cold eyes were locked onto the very much alive Ima before his teeth grit together in a fit of building annoyance. What the hell? He cut out her throat! It wasn't the end of it either. Zora certainly didn't get away with merely a stabbing look into her soul. He twirled the grip of his sword and swiped up, to casually block those blasts in the same manner he had previously done so with the small girl at the start of the fight. "I'm getting sick of you too. Enough." Safe to say, he didn't get far in whatever he was about to attempt and was blocked with a sudden casting of green-light directly towards him with a haunting melody. Only his reaction time and slashing movement allowed him to block the repeated cast spell. He had no idea what it did, but he didn't intend to allow it to hit.

"Like bugs. You never stay dead," snapped Kisame,

Seconds later Takato Rutherford flew through the air as the large blue-skinned swordsman smacked him cleanly with a "side" of the shredding blade in a forceful ram of raw physical strength. The Magi span in a circle in the air and drilled over the arching staircase, falling a long, long way with a silent crack of echoing bones. It wasn't hard to notice that the blonde was down for the count, even if he was now out of sight. The grin on the face of the killer spoke volumes as he swaggered slowly along towards the remaining targets in his eyes. Ones that he had yet to kill. Of course. To accomplish his mission was the reason shinobi like him were crafted. Built up through years of murder and so much more that normal people simply couldn't understand.

"Huh..?"

The unique transformation that a certain gunman underwent with a cosmic imbalance of energy made Kisame shift lightly and narrow eyes as his attention focused elsewhere. His thoughts went a wild in a second and one image popped into his head. It couldn't be him however. Yet, the aura was the same. It was as if he was staring down Itachi Uchiha once again. It wasn't him though. His back arched and his chakra pulsed with hunger in a blue shifting light around his entire form as hands flashed through hands in a fit of speed that allowed him to focus on a single objective. The heated air became colder and joined with him in a united sequence as his mouth arched with the bit-off Jutsu name on the edge of his tongue, "Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!" (Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave)

Then, like the magic that Takato cast around, water burst forth from the depths of his chest and lashed out from his throat in a tunnel of burrowing liquid. It washed over everything before him in one simple direction and made no move to go anywhere else, as if the water was made of something much more than simple ocean samples. How it was created and formed perhaps had something to do why it didn't touch Ima or the even near the shooting Zora, but instead simply shot towards the released being as he jumped atop the flowing wave. Quite literally, he was riding a piece of the blueness while it rapidly spread over the circular section around them. Kisame gave a single roar and pointed his sword directly at Raven before grinning widely, his voice snapping loudly, "The weak are meat, the strong eat. Which one are you?!"

Raven tilted his head at the massive wave of aquatic fury heading in his direction, not showing as much as a twitch of fear. It was not because he was unimpressed with the technique, but in the state he had found himself in, fear was a strange concept he couldn't comprehend. He loosely took up his sword, placing the edge of the blade upon his shoulder as his enemy grew ever closer. He should've attempted to counter the technique sooner, but the shark-faced swordsman did draw up an interesting question he had been thinking over. Would he be eating at the end of this fight, or would be just be another hunk of meat thrown in for the sharks? It was such a black and white concept, but one that spoke volumes into the belly of his being.

Where this power came from, the only way to progress was to inflict more pain, win more battles. That decision was made for him before this fight had begun. He had to fight. He had to win. He had to be stronger, or he deserved to be that meal. His lips parted, and from them came a voice similar to Raven's, but with a menacing growl and rasp that set it apart from before.

"Which am I?"

Raven crouched down before the dwarfing wave, and then.....he was gone. Not a grain of dust disturbed, not a rock moved, not a footstep sent into the air. It was as if Raven had ceased to exist, but that same chilling voice made it so clear that he was there as it spoke almost directly into Kisame's ear.

"I'm the cook."

The "fire" swelled up around Raven's sword as he swung it back, slicing down at the surfing Kisame with extreme force! From it a large lash of black and red struck down like a whip of flame, seeking to burn the Monster of the Hidden Mist to a pile of ash. A simple warning shot for the bloodbath that was to come.

Ima resisted the urge to call out Takato's name when she saw him hit the temple stairs, knowing that she would be unable to anyway. The child also mentally winced as she saw the green ray hit her. It wasn't designed for her, after all. No outward sources of healing worked on her, they all actually slowed down her natural healing abilities. But she had no one but herself to blame for Zora's mistake, as she had never told anyone.

She indicated for her female friend to go check on Takato as she herself pondered what to do. Samehada ate any energy-based attacks, and throwing rocks at Kisame hadn't exactly worked. An illusion was unlikely to work, not to mention she didn't want to use so much energy anyway. Ima wasn't quite sure what to do that would effectively help her friends.

In the end she just used gravity to pull out a pillar of stone from the earth beneath Kisame, hoping it would hit that place she had heard boys didn't like to be hit.

Seeing Takato flying like a ragdoll when he was hit again by Kisame made her physically wince, feeling her body filled with fear and trembling before noticing Ima silently asking her to check on the young Magi. With Kisame and Raven going at each other's throats with such dark malice, it was the only thing she could do without getting mixed in the soon to come bloodbath.

As quick as she could, Zora dashes over the stairs, not stopping or slowing down until she reached the battered blonde. Still holding Ima's gun, she quickly fumbles and presses the green button first to see if she could at least heal him. "Damn it, Takato...I don't know what the hell you guys did to piss that thing off, but you're not dying on me! I....I still haven't forgiven you for stealing Kuro like that!" she hisses, trying to fight back the anger she felt of how useless she was, unable to fight alongside her friends.

"Just stay alive....I don't care if you get beaten to shit liek this! Just stay the fuck alive!!! What are we going to do without you?!"

It was a strange thing indeed to watch Takato lay there unresponsive to the world. His breathing was really the only comfort one could take as his wounded body cracked with pain. His ponytail had fallen out of shape and hung over his features with a casting of blonde strands that shaped along the edge of bruises. A single side of his face was soaked in blood and leaking to the floor below them - obviously the place where Kisame had more or less bat him aside with the massive sword. He looked soft and gentle for once in his silent suffering, without the spark that burned in his eyes atop that boat not long ago. Weak and simply far too young for someone so brainy. Truly defenseless to whatever wished him harm. Peaceful.

A cough followed,

"...Kuro...? Zora....."

The gleaming beam washed over him in sprinkles of green light and touched various wounds on his body with interest. Cuts knitted back together after several moments, touches of blood faded into nothingness and color rapidly returned back to the face of the Magi. Her objective of healing him up had only partially worked considering he still looked quite hurt and dazed beyond belief, but at the least he didn't appear a inch from death now. His conscious mind had only gained a taste of waking up though and his eyes had yet to even flicker open as he mumbled to her pleading. Slowly, as if responding to both her voice and the growing sounds of battle in the distance, his fleshed arm twitched up careful and comfortably placed itself on her shoulder.

There was very little left in him. He had no spells in mind. He had no secret power or transformation like other spell-casters he knew. Everything in him was screaming at him to stop being stupid and cease moving. That everything in him hurt. He couldn't fight the beast that had hurt his friends and didn't even come close to slowing him down once even at his maximum. Yet, his body persisted and continued to try and stand up. He used Zora as a crutch with his eyes making no move to flicker open and his own shoulders tired, slouched down. Takato was running on nothing but sheer will-power and certain images that stood out clearly in the darkness of his mind.

Get up, lazy. Not....dead yet...

Elsewhere, Kisame wasn't a happy shark-man-thing. Not only had that Bijuu-rip off dodged his wave, but he couldn't even react to the blow in time that lead up from that. His body buckled violently and only his own reacting weapon saved him from being burned alive, grinding against it with it's own unholy nature of power. If you listened close enough it wasn't hard to hear a voice growing in rage and distaste the more the blue-skinned shinobi was pushed back while guarding. His wild eyes stared over the bank of his coat and he gave a savage roar before exploding into water. This in turn erased a strange log that had replaced where he once was in a pitch of the fire and let the swordsman himself standing a few feet away with water dripping from his body.

He was desperately unprepared for the attack launched by Ima too in the usage of that technique. The block of stone that erupted upwards between his legs erupted with such force that it nearly tore his body in half before he was comically launched up into the air by it. It hurt. A lot. However Kisame regained himself with a flip on his fall back to earth and placed his feet onto the floor once more with pain actually flashing through his stare for a single moment. Strangely enough, he didn't seem in the amount a pain that he should have been at. Especially seeing as he was openly male. In fact he looked a little amused and glanced over at the small, blue-eyed child with a loud, horrifying chuckle. She no doubt didn't understand what came out of his mouth next,

"I got rid off that weakness a long time ago. A single cut was all it took."

Then, he began to laugh. His voice oozed over them with dripping, nauseating bloodthirsty insanity and spreading lips. There was no sense of pride or ego in it, only sheer emotion of mocking and disgusting hunger that swallowed them up in a lashing of expanding killing intent. The kind of killing intent that let everyone know that he had no qualms in doing everything to win. A sense of unhinged depravity suddenly licked along his body in the form of a small, blue light forming around his personal space. Whatever demented joke he had just told himself seemed to have made the warrior finally either snap or decide to get serious. Whichever one it was, things were about to get worse. Kisame never stopped smiling. Not once. His sharp, shark-teeth shone brightly and crusted with drops of red as he continued to speak,

"The cook? What a pity. I like eating raw."

Water suddenly burst from the ground and swallowed him whole. Like he had been expecting it to happen. It made a huge fountain in essence and blocked him from view. As if beckoning for both of them to charge it and tempt fate. Whatever was hiding behind it could be heard snarling. Gnashing large, spiky teeth and growing in size. A crunching sound and dragging flesh followed, with a small flicker of something pale whipping out from the very back end of the "fountain" made. Eyes snapped open and muscles flexed savagely in preparation of a brutal attack. A pressure surrounded the entire blue waterfall in-front of the duo and grew with every second they failed to move towards it. As if growing ever more powerful from something very unusual. Against the laws of man.

"You failed the first test. Are you going to fail the second?"

That voice definitely wasn't human.

Ima was very confused by what Kisame meant about 'getting rid of that', but was glad that she had found a way to help. Even though she doubted it would work a second time.

And what was this about a test? She didn't know about a first test, let alone a second one. How were they supposed to pass or fail? In the end the child supposed that didn't matter, as protecting everyone was the first priority.

Though she couldn't help but shudder and gag at the killing intent being sent out by their opponent, Ima stood her ground. She refused to let her fear overcome her again. But what was happening to Kisame now? His voice had changed. Was he doing something like Raven was doing? What was Raven doing, anyway?

She didn't have her gun so there was no way for her to try and evaporate the water. Instead, she attempted to use gravity to push the water away from Kisame as well as send a few more rocks his way. Though it hadn't worked, it might be good as a minor distraction.

Raven watched carelessly as the water began to erupt. There was no attempt to stop the event, nor any want to. He was becoming stronger, and that was exactly what Raven wanted. A bigger kill and a bigger prize. Even in this form desolate from most human feeling, that same show-off Raven could be seen. But this was a serious time, and right now, he knew he needed to stop fooling around and make the kill.

But he couldn't move as quickly as he wanted to. As much as he preferred to take the fish-brained swordsman out now, something inside made he stopped, and look to the people who had been fighting with him. His, well, friends. He gnashed his teeth, shaking his head before, turning to the small child, and then to the approaching magi and drained girl.

"Stand back!"

It was the only warning he could offer. There was no sympathy in the tone of voice, no concern for their lives. It was as if another person had forced him to say it from within. With that, Raven turned his back to the group and took a step further, the aura around him steadily moving faster and faster, the water particles in the air erupting as steam. He swiped his sword through the air one time, then rose it up into the air.

Then, all hell broke loose. Quite literally.

The aura around Raven exploded outward, towering high above the entire scene in what could rival a small building! The heat given off of the flames was unlike anything a mortal had ever felt before, crippling in power. The skin on the body could almost be felt tearing itself off in an attempt to run for cover. The juices of the eyes boiled from staring too long, and yet Raven stood casually inside the source. With an arching motion Raven swung his sword over his head, once, twice, three times, over and over increasing with speed every rotation! As he did, the flames begin to grow from his body, circling out into a massive wall of flame that slithered across the ground and water alike, letting out a dense fog as it did so. It circled around the massive torrent engulfing the shark-man, coming back around to enclose behind Raven himself. With that done, the flames grew and domed over the duo, blocking out the rest of the world in hellfire!

This would be a fight to the death between two swordsmen, and if Kisame Hoshigaki thought he was the only one able to bend the field to his advantage, he was sadly mistaken. Inside the dome of flame, a red glow was cast on everything, and a heat worse than any felt in this battle picked up. It was as if the two had set foot into the Devil's personal oven. It was the first time Raven had experienced this technique or this place in general, but strangely he felt at home. There was no pain where a common mortal man would have melted. These were not normal flames, but to Raven they were cool to the touch.

The flames linked down and covered his sword and part of his arm, always making contact with Raven. This place was a part of him.

Zora's eyes widened in surprise, thinking that Takato was too far off to be saved even with Ima's strange gun. After using the regenerating function as much as possible, she switches it over with the pain blocking white light, trying to reduce as much pain as she could before holding onto Takato as he leans against her.

"Damn it, Takato....Stop scaring me half to death..." she mutters, starting to lead him before hearing Raven's sudden warning. Trying to find a safe place for him, she helps him over to behind pieces of stone as far from the main fight between Kisame and Raven as possible, sitting him down against it as she sighs. "Looks like you're as useful as me now...but you can't even move in your current state. Don't do anything stupid, all right? Stay here....I.....I'm sure Raven's got this under control." The lies she could feel from her words made her hand twitch slightly as she lets go and runs over to Ima as fast as she can. Seeing the powers Kisame was using against them, it was obvious that even Ima's strange gun would be reduce to nothing useful against him.

"Damn it....What are we suppose to do?!"

Kisame lunged forward with a roar bursting forth from his throat while summoning up the sheer amount of water surging forth from his body. His mass moved at incredible speed as he neared his opponent; only to stop. If one looked closely they could see pearl-like drops drifting up from his body and fading into what looked to be water in the air. It began slowly at first and the man-shark appeared to think nothing of it; until it got worse. A strange sound echoed throughout the air in the form of a low-hissing chime that wasn't actually made by any known instrument. Growing lights continued to bubble up from his form and his body became surrounded by what looked to be glowing fireflies. It would have been beautiful if it wasn't happening in such a horrific scene. They could see him stumble for a moment. As if almost struggling with something. His fingers curled around his sword and he faced them with staring eyes unfit for human-nature,

"What have you done?"

He wasn't talking to them. He wasn't even talking to the little girl or the man that had dared to challenge him. Oh no, he was talking to the person taking footsteps down the stairs. Staff in hand. Yuna said nothing and just continued to raise her staff before swinging it in a circle; causing more spheres of light to pop out of him in unison. Strange flickering torches around the temple area began to burst alight and the tense atmosphere that had been a battle of flame and water evaporated in a clear pitch of fresh air. A tornado of flame erupted forth for a single second - then broke. The weight of something much larger than a human hit the ground with a earth shattering bang; claws cleaving through stone. Mighty horns rose and a growl followed directly after her apparent spell. As if it had been there all along. Directly across from Raven and Ima stood a creature that towered over them in height. A cross between a bear, dog and a hulking crimson demon from mythological ages.

"Summoner Yuna, ready!" said the girl in a surprisingly forceful tone. Ifrit almost smiled.

A ball, yes a ball, being kicked with shockingly powerful force smashed into Kisame immediately afterwards; making him stumble even further as those same drifting lights swam from his body. The very same orange haired man and blonde from before ran into view with grins that looked out of place considering what they were fighting. The older man jumped up and grunted as he caught the rebounding ball; spinning it on his finger with a laugh. "I ain't about to sit here and let you guys get munched on; ya? We can talk about things after we take this guy down;" said Wakka, staring straight ahead. "Hey, boyo! It isn't nice ta' go smashing up a temple you know! Didn't you mother teach you any manners for the classics?"

The blonde just chuckled and grinned while bringing back his sword with his arm down by his side, arching his legs. "What he means to say is...we can't run away now we have something special..." Tidus drew back his blade along the ground and then tapped it onto the stone floor with it raised towards their target. "What did you say this guy was, Lulu?"

"Unsent. A curious one; but a unsent nonetheless;" mustered the older looking woman in the revealing dress. Lulu raised her head before looking at Yuna; "No matter how many times you hurt it; get rid of it; or will it away..."

Yuna nodded and looked at Ifrit; then at Raven and Ima; "..I-It will keep coming back. Unless I..."

There was a brief silence.

"I...don't know how you did such things. I..don't know why you look like that, but, please..."

She looked on the verge of tears at the thought of requesting this by someone other than her guardians;

"End his life once more so that I may finally...send him..."

He could see the concern, but it would not register. He could feel the fear, but he could not stop. Raven glared with ruby-stained eyes on the temple turned battlefield, to his fellow guardians, to the summoner he swore to protect and his friends battered and torn from the fight, and he could only think one, solitary thought: they would not take his kill. This blood boiled with the heat of the flames that formed the aura about his body, and just like those flames, aimed to eat at everything it could.

Then he was given the ok.

Raven took one moment to look Yuna directly in the eyes. He need no attempt at nodding or comforting, something striking at his soul wouldn't allow him to, but in that darkened stare there was still the Raven that swore to protect, and in this case, swore to be the sword that made the strike others couldn't. The flame-licked Blair shifted back to Kisame, watching the now even more so shark-like swordsman struggling, the balls of light fluttering and flickering out from his very form. He was distracted, he was recoiling.

He was open.

Raven took a step forward, gripping his sword and holding it high, the tip aimed to the sky above. There was a brief pause, a moment of peace within this site of war.....and then, it happened. Flames matching those that had been unleashed before the Summoner's arrival lashing out and towering to the sky above. They whipped wildly for a moment, before Raven shifted, pulling his sword down to his side perpendicular to his body. The flames suddenly rocketed back to their point of emergence, swirling and rushing into the sword Raven held in his hand! As the last speck of fire was absorbed into the blade, it began to burning a bright reddish-orange, the heat and light radiating from the blade incomparable. What was more interesting was the form Raven took, his aura now gone, it too absorbed into the weapon. He thought with a clean mind, the hate in his soul not from the dread that he had unleashed, but from the memories of the pain this swordsman had inflicted upon the people he had grown attached to.

"No worries......."

He turned over his shoulder and winked to the summoner.

"Just leave that to me."

He turned his focus back on his target, and with all the force he could muster, launched himself! Raven charged at full-force, gripping his sword in both hands, the very force it held inside shaking the weapon even in the double-grip of it's wielder! He took aim, sliding just under Kisame and swinging as hard as he could, slammed the blade right under his jaw!

"ONSLAUGHT HADES!"

As soon as the sword connected, the torrent of fire that dwarfed high-rising buildings, all stored in the blade, exploded outward from the point of contact! Both men disappeared in the maelstrom of flames, rising higher and higher to the point they threatened to burn the very sky above! The ground buckled at the sheer force of the strike, cracks running through, Raven's feet digging in deeper and deeper into the earth below! With a final swipe, the flames dispersed, Raven stumbling back very from the fury of the blast he had unleashed. He heaved with exhaustion, his everything given in a single strike.

If the shark thing had survived that, there wasn't much more Raven could do.

This blue shark man standing before them personally took down what she thought was the strongest of their little group with little effort, tear apart a child's throat without mercy, and had no remorse for any of this...Zora was thinking there was no hope that Raven would hold up too much by himself against this absolute monster. She blinks though, seeing the strange yet pretty orbs being extracted by his body. Was there truly some way to defeat this monster?

Then she saw Yuna and the others appearing to fight as well. Her eyes were drawn at the giant fire behemoth in front of her. WAs this just like Valefor from the ship? It was rather large...Surely it oculd do away with Kisame rather quickly. Then again, if Takato couldn't have done away with him, she wouldn't be too much surprised if this thing couldn't.

Then there was Wakka. The orange haired male made her nearly fall over. How the heck did he injure him with a freaking BALL!? Just....how? It may have bumps around it, but taht didn't seem any threatening. The same could be said for the black mage Lulu. All she could notice was how 'revealing' her dress technically was as well as the small plush moogle in her arms. The only one with an actual weapon was Tidus...and gods know how much help he was on the ship.

"...End him...?"

Zora repeated Yuna's words with held back anger, gritting her teeth before glaring at them. "You're telling us to end him!? Please! Takato and Ima are about to DIE! THey can barely move much less fight! All I have is a stupid gun that doesn't seem to do jack SHIT! The only one who can even match up to him at this point is Raven! What about you?! Look at YOU!" She points her right arm straight at Ifrit behind Yuna. "You have that fire giant! Why don't YOU do something to end his life?! Hell, what about your so called 'guardians'?! They're sure as hell more useful than two nearly dead people and a useless son of a bitch like me!"

Yuna's words made Ima freeze, in both body and mind. She wanted them to end Kisame? To kill him?

She couldn't do that.

She had never killed anything before. She had never even tried to kill anything. Not the first fiend they had encountered, not Quetzalcoatl, not the Sinspawn, not Leviathan, not even Fate. The child had always aimed to weaken, to incapacitate, nothing more, even against the person who had told her that her entire home world and people were gone.

It was a silly thing, she knew, to be against killing. Humans did it all the time, from war to hunting to squishing an annoying insect. But to kill someone, something, anything went against her teachings, against who she was, and even though she had been able to stomach and accept and even adopt some of the humans' sinful cultural traits, she couldn't find it in her to accept this one.

She could not kill Kisame.

Ima stood, useless yet again, and hoped that Raven could do what she could not.

"Not dead..yet..."

A cough interrupted Zora as weight pressed down upon her. She could see the glimmer of amber eyes in the corner of her view slowly opening. He looked like he was trying to give a cheery thumbs up with his remaining arm; and failing miserably. At least the acknowledgement of her support was there; even if he could barely do anything else for the blue haired female.

"I-I...we.." Yuna looked close to breaking down into tears. Every word that the mysterious girl said slamming into her. It hurt, but it was true. She was relying on the actions of those she had been observing to pull out this win. Watching them fight for the past few days on the boat and such had almost installed a feeling of hero worship in the summoner. Something a piece of her was taking guilty pleasure in enjoying. The feeling that she didn't have to be the one to save the world. That the weight of everybody and their dreams weren't on her shoulders alone. Raven and the others were so strong. Strong enough to fight off Sin and the fiends. Strong enough that she cheered in her head every time she thought about that creature of the sea falling. It wasn't right to rely on them though, was it?

"I-Ifrit!"

Her fiery beast roared in response and jumped up; spreading out it's massive claws while gathering growing balls of flaming spheres that soon joined the launched attack. It was an immense amount of power that no doubt they could tell stank of magic after being around the British boy for so long. Takato could only dream about summoning up so much. Slowly the spheres expanded and joined together; matching the mass of the entire group. Safe to say; the imminent explosion was less of a blast of force and more of an eclipsing tornado of fire that reached the sky.

Kisame was hit with two attacks at once.

Whoooooooooosh!

The damage brought on by Raven had done a ludicrous amount of damage. His raw power had reduced to floor to scorched ash and earth; with the maining point of the attack leaving a cloud of dust in a hiss of heat. Everyone in the area could physically feel the how hot the vicinity of the target was simply in the remnants of both Ifrit and the release of might. However; they could still see a figure. Kisame had somehow survived the blow in full-on contact and was walking towards them. Step by long-drawn-out step. Breaths were held in wonder and Yuna look physically repulsed by what stepped out of the aftermath. A complete devastation of mankind.

Kisame was completely barechested from the waist up and burns littered his body in vast amounts. Wounds oozing blood had formed on pretty much every few inches of his flesh in full-entirely. His hands were ruined to such a point that they were hanging down by his sides; turned a pitch-black. Almost like charcoal. His hair was completely gone - turned to nothingness from the flames and leaving a skull-like shape along what remained. His "gills" along his cheeks were releasing small raising clouds of smoke and tar that further dripped down to his chin. His fortunate lack of lips saved him from having them completely singed out of existence; yet that did nothing to help his teeth. The sharp fangs and canines that made up his once smirking features were a brittle crumbling mess on the verge of shattering. His sword was silent; unmoving and unconscious to the world on the ground beside him. Most of his smug remarks gone in a consumption of heat.

And yet. He was still very much alive.

"Looks like that Guado freak was right;" muttered Kisame to himself.

A pause.

"Why..?"

The voice of the weakened Magi murmured.

"Just...why won't you die?!"

Takato licked his dry lips as he finished his words and stared at the fish man through a haze of frustration. Everything within his body shuddered in agony. The only reason he was even standing was because the blue haired girl was holding him up-right. It was an incredible struggle to even lift his arm in the direction of their monstrous looking opponent. He could see Yuna about to raise her staff. To dance. He could see the rest of the guardians on the verge of celebrating and moving to congratulate Raven. He could see Zora in her own wounded state. Hell; he could even see Ima in her almost dazed appearance. But all he could concentrate on was that Kisame just wouldn't shut up. All that mocking. All that pain. All of it..and for what?

It didn't...satisfy Takato. It was a bitter victory.

"Yuna, do your job, ya? Sending time!"

"Alrighty; another win!"

"...Hm.."

"Yuna do sad dance, but Kimahri know that it's right."

Takato stared at Kisame through the haze.

Zora is on the verge of passing out...

Ima on the brink of exhaustion..

Hell; they wouldn't even be here for Raven...but he looked a mess now too...

He didn't know what a sending was. He didn't fucking care at that point.

"Avada Kedavra."

A haunting melody whispered through the air.

White-eyes went dull.

Kisame was instantly swallowed by a sinful green light. The echo of a body dropping following such and the shattering of what hinted at glass joining it. His large form slammed into the ground like a meat-puppet without strings. The glimmering of pyreflies from before just blinking out of life the second the light hit the monstrous man. As if they were never there to begin with. If one looked closely at the fallen form however they would see flakes of sickly green "energy" shimmering over the scarred flesh that still remained. It was only until one could hear the blonde with the sword in the background making a startled sound of confusion that Yuna ceased the start of the "dance" and let loose a loud gasp.

Hoshigaki Kisame, Monster of the Hidden Mist turned to dust.

Takato's full-weight fell down on Zora at that point and his head fell slack.

A smile on his unresponsive lips.

She nearly fell to the ground feeling Takato's body suddenly going limp, having to support his body 100% this time as she looks down at him. "Takato..." She looks up, seeing Kisame's body being reduced to nothing, then turns to Yuna and the others. Their shocked expressions show that this was NOT suppose to happen...So whawt he was whispering earlier was a spell...?

Zora sighs as she felt tired herself, sitting down as she felt her body trying to give out holding up Takato (despite him being so tiny, he weigh like a ton or 10). Surveying the situation, she just noticed how much of the Kilika temple entrance was in ruins. Her first instinct was to take Ima and Takato back to the village...but there was no way she could carry both of them without falling over a few times.

What really annoyed her was Yuna...the demon girl understood why Takato didn't seem to like them, but what happened not a few moments ago basically sealed the deal. "They had all of that and they wouldn't even use it even if it meant we were going to die...." she grumbles to herself as she sighs softly. It wasn't worth the effort to pry about it anymore....least not now.

"Raven...You mind taking Ima down with you? I'll....catch up after I catch my breath. Beansprout here's heavier than i thought..." she said tiredly, hoping her voice was loud enough for the white haired man to hear. "Sorry...I would take her with me...but my body's still sore from that mutt."

Raven glared at the swordsman as he emerged from the flames. Though he appeared as the walking dead and more than likely felt the agony that they could not, he was still standing. With the power at his disposal, Raven had hit him with everything he had. Everything, and he somehow kept going. Was he just not strong enough, or were there some kind of forces at work here that he couldn't understand? It took Raven, the fire beast brought by the summoner, and then finally the killing curse placed upon the shark man by one blond magi. Raven paid no mind as Kisame was engulfed in the sickening light, because the malice that seeped from Takato had drawn his attention. The others wouldn't feel it, but the smirk upon his face was undeniable. The darkness swimming in Raven's own blood reacted to the hatred for the Shark-like swordsman the spell caster held in his heart. It concerned him.

Yet, in the darkest of times, it seems we grow together.

Zora had turned to Raven in a moment of weakness, and even more, apologized to him?! Raven quirked an eyebrow at the question, turning to face the girl with the demonic arm. He nodded to her, trying his best to bring about a friendly smile in the midst of the chaos and the pandemonium.

"Yeah.....yeah no problem. You take care of yourself, get some rest. No need to push yourself too hard. I can carry him if you wa-"

Raven stumbled slightly, catching his stance after a second. That last strike had used near all of his strength. Even standing was a chore at this point. He sighed.

"Guess I won't be much....much help there."

Raven turned his attention to the lady summoner who he had sworn to protect. The guardian of white hair said nothing, though his stare spoke volumes. He had revealed more than just machina. There was a side of Raven Blair not even his allies had known, and now it had been brought out into the public. There would be much to explain. Raven turned to the young alien girl, flashing her another grin.

"Hey Ima, you're going to come with me, 'kay? We're going to go get some rest."

Ima pushed the thoughts and feeling from what had occurred to the back of her mind as she gave a thumbs up in response to Raven, still being unable to talk and thinking that nodding would be unwise with her throat torn out. While there was still enough of it left to hold up her head, she was sure that it was far from healed and didn't want to risk setting the recovery back any farther than the green laser had set her. It really had been silly of her not to say that the green laser was bad for her before now. Hopefully they could at least see that her blood was not safe to touch, considering that it was still dissolving the ground it hit as it poured from her neck.

Something caught her attention as she held up her hand in the newly-learned gesture, however. It was shaking. Ima drew it back close to her face, an expression of puzzlement clear to see, and then looked down to find the rest of her body was doing it as well. Why was she shaking? She wasn't cold and she didn't feel low on energy-

She didn't feel.

Her expression shifted from confusion to shock and no small amount of horror. Zora had hit her with the white laser. Her friend had no experience with the gun, and must have hit her at full blast. That had not only taken away all the pain she had been feeling, but had stopped all other sensory input as well. Due to that she had unknowingly pushed herself past her limit. She had no energy left.

And her friends were completely in the dark.

The alien took a quick glance at the sky, a long ingrained habit, before looking back to Raven. She smiled, a wavering attempt at reassurance for what she knew was about to happen, and then tried to mouth an explanation so that the worst wouldn't truly come to be.

But the child was only able to mouth 'Sorry' before her world went dark, her eyes falling shut as her body fell forward to the ground.

Lungs still.

Heart silent.

By human standards, dead.

"I-I can take care of him...You look in worse shape than me, after all." She chuckles half heartly as Zora turns her attention to Ima. What was with her expression? Even when hurt (despite the...umm...'minor' throat injury...), she's never seen the little girl this terrified before. Just when she was about to get up and carry the small male with her, everything just broke in her mind.

"IMA!"

Zora tries to scramble to her feet as soon as she saw the little girl fall forward. Completely ignoring for the fact she wasn't human, she was afraid the girl was on the verge of death. She didn't get far, though, as a pulse ran through her right arm into her body. Zora cries out in pain as she falls down again, gripping onto her right arm as she struggles to get back up.

"Damn it....DAMN IT! YOU!" She snaps her red eyes over to Yuna in panicking anger. "Do something useful for once! You can heal her, can't you?! Can't you heal them all?! Do something or she's going to die!" She shouts louder and louder as the seconds passed by. "I swear...if anyone dies....if any of these two die, I'll fucking kill you with my own two hands, you BITCH!"

"Y-Yes!"

Yuna jumped; almost ignoring the other factors of what just went on to focus on healing the wounded. Her clenched hands gripped her magical staff and the fiery beast faded away in a glimmer of light; all while she closed her eyes in honed concentration. A shimmering gloom was cast over the group - slowly but surely doing certain things. For simple wounds such as cuts and burns? They quickly stitched themselves back together into normal flesh. The more serious pains that everyone was feeling quickly eased off until they were a dull ache. Marks and bruises being mostly what remained. Bones that creaked in agony were chilled and then warmed with a satisfied reveal of mana. Her shout of "Cure!" was startlingly similar to what the blonde Magi used; but hers appeared openly stronger in strength.

Everyone still felt incredibly fatigued and a little sore - but nowhere near as bad as before. They could actually stand for one. However; the summoner was confused. Ima and Takato hadn't budged. Their wounds were still very much the same and their bodies were unmoving. Something that she wasn't prepared to allow. Her breath took and she gave another repeated shout of the spell name; letting loose the same healing might only moments ago. It washed over the duo and splashed onto their skin; having only minor effects - to doing nothing at all. The blonde Magi actually stirred for a moment and a cut across his face seared itself shut. However he was still unresponsive; and Ima didn't even have that going for her. "W-Why..." gasped Yuna, stumbling at the scene before tightly holding her weapon. Unease hit her.

"Cure!"

So she did it again.

"Cure!"

And again.

"C-Cure!"

Yuna looked increasingly pale. Fatigue was spreading across her features and each flash of power she forced upon the fallen duo grew ever weaker. Thankfully; her repeated attempts had some good news. And bad news. Takato looked miles better. Incredibly so. His face was completely healed and the wounds that littered his body were almost completely gone. The color had even returned to his cheeks. It was only until her last casting that the blue-green eyed girl stopped to catch her breath; almost dropping her staff. Scratch that; she did drop it. "...Why won't it work?" she sounded stressed. Frightened. For all the good she had done for the blonde male; it didn't appear she was doing much for Ima. Even if she was trying her spells were just splashing on the poor girl and fading away.

"...Ow. Who keeps saying the spell wrong....?" groaned a voice.

Amber eyes blinked open and a body sat up; head shaking away dizziness.

"...Did we win?"

Takato was awake. Confused; but awake.

Ima, however, was not.

Ima did not get up. Her throat, which was still pouring black blood, looked like it was no longer healing. Yuna's attempts had done no good. In fact, they had done quite the opposite. While the wound had been repairing itself at a snail's pace after Zora had hit her with green laser, Yuna's many Cures had all but stopped the process. It still was healing, yes, but at a pace indiscernible to the human eye.

But most of this was obscured from sight as she lay on the ground, dead to the world.

The silver-haired swordsman watched the events in a silent horror, unable to find any means of helping. The hands he had, they only destroyed. There were no healing qualities to them, no comfort when moments like these happened. He could not cry tears of concern or of loss, his ducts dry with the searing flames that had replaced them. His eyes were wide, his teeth clenched under his lips. He could do nothing. Nothing.

He could do nothing.

Raven just stared at the child motionless in the pool of black. He said nothing, but the heat inside his body began to grow. He wanted that shark thing back. He wanted to kill him again. Over and over again for what he had done to the child. He needed to die more!

A red glint came to his eyes.