The sacred forest of Gomen looms in the distance as three cloaked and masked figures walk towards it, their postures oozing with confidence. "Our sources tell us he's dropped his students off for the Exam." The masked man to the left says as he turns to the man in the middle. "Do we know what'll happen after we break the seal?" The middle man stops briefly, looking deep into the forest. "Once the seal is broken, it'll release a monster so big it could destroy all of Azunee, but I like the sound of world domination more than destruction." They approach the outskirts and the mist that covers the ground of the forest begins swirling. "Remember what I said about the mist, stay close."
The three walk through the forest, their eyes scanning the area intensely. "It's as quiet as always." The middle one says as a nearby rustling in the bushes causes all three to turn to it.
Wasting no time he reaches his hand inside his cloak, throwing a dagger at the bush.
A loud screeching bawl comes from the shadows, "It was just a deer, Hora go put it out of its misery." Hora, masked boy to the left gulps as he approaches the bush. Peeking past it he sees a mystical white deer with the dagger sticking out of its neck, the deer causing Hora's heart to drop. "Dargus! Hera! It's a trap!" Hora screams out before the deer starts glowing a brief blue. He tries to leap away but it's far too late.
BOOM!
The deer explodes into a giant ball of Chikara, smoke and dirt fills the air.
"Risaki Payne, always the clever one." The smoke clears and Hora and Hera are inside of Dargus's barrier. He says no words as the barrier fades away.
Hora and Hera watch as Dargus keeps forwards, "He knows we're here." His voice is cold and detached from reality.
As they venture deeper into the forest the sound of wildlife ceases, Hera's eyes widen as she sees what's in front of them. "The Dipea-Kicho Dojo." Another step is taken and a figure appears in front of the main doors a few hundred feet ahead of them, Causing Hora and Hera to stop but Dargus continues forward.
"Dargus." Risaki Payne's voice is strained as his straw hat tilts slightly revealing his angry expression.
"Risaki Payne, it's been a long time since I've been at this decrepit place." Dargus stops, holding his hands behind his back. "You seem to be getting old." Dargus says while chuckling.
Payne takes a step forward causing Hora and Hera to get into defensive stances. "This is a legendary Ronin, said to rival the strength of wardens and watchers." Hera says as she analyzes Risaki Payne, Hora on the other hand walks towards him. "Enough talk-"
"Don't move." Dargus commands, causing Hora to freeze.
He points at Risaki Payne, a dark red Chikara swirling around his arm. "Seven years ago, I came to break the seal, alone."
"You stopped me before, but this will be different." His eyes glow a faint red through the mask as he continues talking, "Attack."
Wasting no further time Hora dashes towards Payne.
Anticipating the movement, Risaki pivots his foot dodging Hora's punch with ease. Hora spins around to hit him with a spinning backfist but it's blocked easily.
Risaki pops Hora with a stiff jab that sends his head snapping back.
He comes barreling in with a hard kick to Hora's stomach sending him tumbling back, Hera watching her brother get ragdolled dashes towards Risaki.
"It's my turn!"
She throws a side kick at Risaki which he blocks with his palms. But it's not enough. He gets sent flying back.
He channels Chikara into the soles of his feet to anchor himself to the ground. "Hora and Hera, the twin assassins OMEN have been trying to track down. Wanted for countless murders across all 5 continents." Hora appears next to Hera with a smirk on his face. "Risaki payne, guardian of Gomen and protector of the serpent seal."
Risaki looks past them locking eyes with Dargus, "What is your end goal Dargus!"
Dargus smirks as he starts walking towards him. "My goal is the death of you but… We were tasked to destroy the seal. I'm killing two birds with one giant stone here Risaki." The air begins to distort around Dargus causing Risaki to ready himself causing the air to distort around him as well. "So be it."
VANISH!!
Both men disappear at the same time, appearing in the middle of the clearing with their fists clashed. They stare each other in the eyes, gritting their teeth, waiting for someone to make the first move.
Hora blinks and when he opens his eyes Risaki and Dargus in a heated exchange of strikes.
Risaki dodges Dargus' punch retaliating with a kick that gets blocked. Risaki summons a chikara ball and darts it into Dargus' chest. It explodes upon impact but Dargus completely ignores it, punching Risaki straight in the face. He uppercuts him, sending him into the airborne momentarily. "Exploding Barrage!" Dargus screams out as he begins throwing numerous Chikara balls at Risaki causing explosions and smoke.
"I guess he was weaker than we anticipated." Hera declares as Hora's eyes widen. "Look out!"
Risaki's fist hits Dargus's in the face hard, sending him skidding across the floor. He summons chikara into his hands, before crushing it, turning it into dust.. "All 3 of you, come at me."
Hora wastes no time dashing in, throwing multiple punches that Risaki blocks with ease. "I promised my student's I'd see them after the exam. I won't break that!"
Risaki blocks Hera's incoming punch while blocking Hora's kick.
"You two are severely out of your league!" Risaki says but Hora and Hera spin around in unison screaming out. "Chikara Hoko!" A white light forms at their hands blinding Risaki.
"Damnit!" Risaki screams out as he begins being bombarded with punches and kicks.
Hora hits Risaki with a hard left hook, grabbing his right arm and pulling him into a hard slicing elbow that does just that, cutting him open right above the nose.
Hera hits him with two body punches, an uppercut and a spinning back kick that sends him flying through the forest.
Hora and Hera high five, their faces bright with happiness. "So much for-" Before Hora can even finish his sentence Risaki comes flying in with a 360 spinning kick that slams into Hora's head. He crashes through multiple trees.
Hera can't follow Risaki's movements as he comes in with a quick jab followed by two hooks that sends her head rattling left and right. She blocks his next punch but can't react to the flying knee that sends her airborne. He quickly throws a barrage of Chikara blasts at her screaming as he does.
The Chikara balls explode as she lets out a blood curdling scream, Hora from a distance screams out "Hera!" He tries to move but his body doesn't let him. When the dust settles Hera is on the ground laying in a pool of her own blood. "No…"
Dargus walks towards Risaki with a devilish grin on his face, he stretches his arms before stopping 40 feet away from him.. "You took care of the assassins now its time for the real fun! It'll be just like old times Risaki!" His smile haunts Risaki as the air around Dargus gets dry and a storm starts to form overhead.
"Chimeric Hide!" Dargus says as his body starts changing, Green scales start to cover his growing body. His face shifts into something more animalistic, his teeth sharpen and his body becomes muscular. "King of Monsters!" He screams out as the transformation is complete, becoming a 7 foot monster.
Risaki's eyes widen as he recognizes the form, it's the same one he killed their master with. "You bastard!" He screams out, "I'm gonna show you the power of the Dipea-Kicho! The hidden technique!" He gets into a specific stance and as he does the air around him crackles. Chikara begins to surround his body going from a clear color to a mystical blue. "Let's do this, one final time." The blood drips down his face from the cut above his nose. "I will avenge my master!"
Risaki holds his arm out "Blade of a Thousand Cuts."He says as Chikara starts swirling in his palm forming a 4 foot black blade with a rose as its hilt and a giant stem as its handle. "Rosemary."
Dargus stares at him with wide eyes upon seeing his blade. "The greatest swordsman of Azunee, 40 years ago.." His voice is laced with humor as he talks. "While you keep aging, I'll keep getting stronger and soon the Noctis Dominion will take Eldoria for itself."
FLICKER!
They both disappear and reappear in the air with Rosemary clashing onto Dargus's claws. Risaki makes the first move, hitting him in the face with the handle. He comes down hard with a slash that Sargus side steps, the sword leaves a giant slash in the ground but neither of them pay attention to it.
He dodges Dargus' next punch, ducking his hook and leaping away from his ground shattering stomp.
"Too slow!" Risakis says as he slices Dargus' arm slightly causing him to almost be backhanded but he blocks using Rosemary. Risaki channels Chikara into his arms to accelerate his movements.
Dargus throws a punch which Risaski side steps, a hook which he ducks, A low kick which he jumps over, all his attacks are being avoided skillfully.
Dargus' face is pure anger as he takes a gigantic leap back. "Damn you!" He raises his hands to the sky, summoning a giant ball of Chikara above his head.
Risaki Payne starts walking towards Dargus, "This is your end."
Hora jumps in front of Dargus, unzipping his cloak slightly to reveal his augmented arms, colorful Chikara visibly flowing through the metallic veins. "How much time do you need Dargus?"
Dargus looks at Risaki who's still walking towards them. "10 minutes."
Hora nods, "Count on me!"
He walks towards Risaki as his arms release pent up steam from his shoulders. "I gotta make it count."
Risaki comes blitzing in with a punch to Hora's gut. "AAUGH!" Hora screams out as Risaki begins repeatedly punching his gut, until eventually he hits him with a lead left hook followed by a right cross. More strikes come that Hora can't even react to. "How is he that fast!" Hora's thoughts barely formulate as he continues to get hit by a volley of strikes.
He crumbles to the ground with a loud thud.
"That's the twins down." Risaki's voice is cold and calculated. He turned around to Dargus who's still charging his attack. "It's only been 2 minutes. Damnit!"
"That's enough Dargus!" Risaki Payne screams out as he raises Rosemary above his head channeling Chikara to the blade of it. "One Hundred Sla-"
Suddenly 2 beams hit Risaki's left and right shoulder causing his arms to lock in place and him to drop Rosemary. "W-What the.." A yellow crackling energy surges through his arms.
Dargus grins as he sees Hora with glowing arms, "How do you like my restriction beam." He says as Risaki grits his teeth. "I got careless."
Hora runs in with a hard punch that his Risaki square on the jaw.
Risaki tries to throw a kick but it's caught by Hora who starts swinging him around in a perfect circle. "Without those arm your useless-"
With his free foot Risaki shoots a beam of Chikara into Hora's face making him have to let go of Risaki's foot to block it.
Hora screams as he throws a barrage of punches towards Risaki. "You damned bastard!"
Risaki does his best to avoid Hora's punches but he doesn't account for the front body kick that sends him flying into a tree.
Hora flickers to Risaki immediately as he hits the tree throwing 3 body hooks, a hard left hook, a quick uppercut and he summons all his Chikara into his fist. "Die!"
Risaki's eyes open wide as Horas fist comes flying towards his face at subsonic speeds.
CRACK!
Hora's mask resembles that of confusion as his fist punches through Risaki's afterimage. The tree falls over from the impact of Horas punch.
"I didn't know you could move that fast." Risaki says as he appears behind Hora.
Hora quickly spins to face Risaki, his arm nearly taking Risaki's head off but he ducks it. "Every attack has killing intent, and I still can't move my arms."
Dargus grins as he watches them battle. "It's ready." He says as he looks up at the gigantic ball of swirling colors above his head. "The end of the Dipea-Kicho Dojo is today!"
Risaki leaps away from Hora's double axe handle, only to be met with an explosive barrage from behind that he has no choice but to get hit by. "AAAH" Risaki's body skids across the ground. "Damn you…" his voice is shaky and the exhaustion finally starts setting in.
Hora looks at the person who hit Risaki with the attack. "Bout damn time you got up."
Hera smirks as she walks towards Risaki, her wounds slowly closing as rain starts to pour down on Gomen, "What a sad day for the world." She stops in front of Risaki before kneeling down and analyzing his Chikara points, her eyes glowing a soft blue. "He doesn't have much time." She looks over at Dargus who nod's at him.
Hera turns to Hora, walking towards him. "Our work here is done." Dargus' face is one of pure joy. He drops one hand as the gigantic ball of chikara begins to shrink into a condensed version.
"This Energy…" Risaki whispers to himself as Dargus starts walking towards them.
Hora and Hera both leap a sizable distance away letting Dargus and Risaki have a personal moment.
"Rise to your feet" Dargus voice is cold and his gaze even colder.
Risaki slowly stands to his feet, Rosemary appearing in his hands. He looks at Dargus who's 6ft away from him "You think you can kill me like you did Nao huh?" The ground starts rumbling and the rain starts pouring harder.
Dargus grin's and takes a few steps back, "So you're finally taking this seriously huh!"
With no wasted movements Risaki dashes towards Dargus, "I think you forgot who protects this place Dargus, And I will no longer allow myself to be disrespected!"
The roots from the tree's around him start to emerge from the ground.
Dargus cocks his arm back and the ball of energy he had grows larger than before. "Then show me something to respect! Behemoth Fall!" He launches the massive attack towards Risaki with enough force that causes a gigantic shockwave that can be felt from miles away.
The roots start to form a barrier around Risaki enclosing him in a matter of seconds, but it's no use as the second it makes contact with the Dargus says, "Explode."
Ka-BOOM
Within seconds the entire area is engulfed by a giant dome of heat and destructive energy that acts like a beacon for everything around. The light from the dome stretches through almost the entire continent of Azunne, even reaching Archfield.
The people inside of Archfield all look up to the sky feeling the rise in temperature and the darkening of the sky. "Report this to Erik Stormbreaker now!" A high ranking sentinel demands as 2 Operatives dash towards the Pinnacle Lookout.
The sky above them shifts from the light of the dome to a gigantic pink and green aurora borealis. The operatives continue on their pace only quickening at the sight of it.
Erik Stormbreaker sits inside his office, standing in front of a giant glass window. The two operatives run through the door, their hands on their knees as they pant. "Sir! It seems to be a disturbance near Gomen, we can't appear because a giant dome surrounds the region! Not to mention an Aurora Borealis has sprouted from the middle of it causing the sky to darken!"
Erik turns to them, "Adrian, Kevin I can see it." The Operatives gaze at the gigantic heat dome and through the glass window, Erik sighs before walking to his desk that has but a single paper on it. "If it's near Gomen we can trust that Risaki's got it under control."
He looks at them with a serious expression, "So until that dome dissipates and we can enter, we'll focus on the OMEN Exam." He walks past them and towards the door.