[FFnut]

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Palis, The Year 0 Aikia, The Spire

Brain stood before the bowing demon lords when the doors flew open. A man dressed in official-looking armor and holding a broken pendant walked in.

"Who is this?" asked Brain maliciously.

The newcomer merely glared at him. "I'm not here to deal with you, boy. My problem stems from another."

Brain simply raised a hand. "You think yourself to be better than me?"

"I don't think of myself as better than you. However, I know that I am better than anyone from my world. And if my... brother, so to speak, doesn't deal with a certain someone from my world, he's going to find himself to be in a world of pain," said the man.

"Begone, Gamma. We'll deal with this later," hissed Kain from the corner of his mouth.

Brain sneered. "You know him, Kain? Tell me, of whom does he speak?"

"I - or, my 'parent' - controlled the evolution of humanity on my world. Somehow, though, my 'parent' was destroyed by a number of lesser creatures. One of those worthless things came here. Thus, myself and my three 'brothers' came here through the same portal and now we're going to destroy this worm."

Brain simply smiled. "And what would this worm's name be? Perhaps he is one of those who travelled with me for a short while."

"His name is Janus Zeal. Sound familiar? Didn't think so. Luckily, my 'brother' Beta went back to that war zone to kill him."

Brain's eyes narrowed. "War zone? The war that Valmarus led on Gracia?"

Gamma simply smirked. "I'm off to check on the girl. Her power can have tremendous effects if applied correctly."

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Palis, The Year 0 Aikia, Chimera Woods

The entire group, exhausted, watched the last dying embers of the fire.

A screech from the sky sounded.

The fire burst back into life.

Magus got up, scythe ready, staring at the sky. A gigantic shape-shifting thing floated down on constantly shifting wings.

"I hAVe yoU NOw!" howled the monstrosity.

"Lavos Spawn," said Magus.

"Run. Now," said Glenn.

Instead of heeding Glenn's advice, the others drew weapons as well.

"I'll be damned if I let you fight this alone," said Malice.

"WHaT A coiNCiDenCE! yoU'lL be DamNeD anYWAY!"

Flames burst from the creature's transforming mouths. Belial, Osirus, Glenn, and Syne dove out of the way. The other three were not as lucky.

Titania cried in pain as the flames caught her robe. A quick chant later, Glenn had put the fire out with some water magic.

Malice stood and took the heat. The fire was painful, but nothing compared to some of the stuff Boiz had thrown at him.

Magus charged directly into the flames, chanting the whole way. Magic began to flow around him as the fire burned his skin.

The monstrosity directed all of its flames onto Magus. The man's skin began to burn away from the intense heat as magic began to radiate from him.

A dream of the gods. Listen to the great symphony of the multiverse. Hear every star in the galaxy. Listen to each star's song. They coalesce into a single song. A single harmony. A single note.

That note.

It is Fire.

The fires from the monster began to swirl around Magus's scorched body. His own magic began to permeate the flaming tornado surrounding him. Darkness flowed out of every wound, every pore, every orifice of his body. A voice, like a god's, came from him.

"DARK FLARE!"

Flames of pure darkness engulfed Magus and the creature, which promptly cried, "NoOOOooOOoOooOOooOOOoooooOOOooOO! i HavE FailEd!"

The darkness vanished. Magus's smoking body fell to the ground. The Lavos Spawn managed to get up, trembling. Its shifting had slowed considerably and it appeared to be panting heavily. Glenn stepped forward, weapon in hand. "Thou... thou art an abomination. Thy eternal torture shalt never be harsh enough for the likes of thee!" Two quick slashes followed.

The monster howled and took off, oozing important-looking bodily fluids profusely. It managed to slowly fly away, albeit barely.

The smell of acrid smoke filled the air in the camp. Everyone quickly checked to make sure nobody was hurt, only...

Glenn, Titania, Malice, and Syne surrounded Magus's scalded body.

(He's in no condition to talk, or even be conscious right now. I'll go into his mind and tell him to explain everything when he comes around again. But right now we're going to need as much healing power as we can get to keep him alive.)

Ouch! That looks really painful. He's barely got any skin left!

Yeah, are you even sure that all his blood didn't evaporate in that heat?

Mune, you're not helping!

Well neither are you, brother!

(Both of you shut up! We need him healed as fast as we can. C'mon, you tangible people, do something!)

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Palis, The Year 0 Aikia, Outside The Spire

Gamma looked around, the empathic feeling of pain coming from Beta. He soon saw the digusting morphing thing float over.

"Beta! What... what happened?" gasped Gamma.

"JanUS... usEd my FirE agAiNSt Me... wiTH hIs dArkNeSS iNFuSeD... aNd... He wAS bURNeD tOO... BuT... tHE OThEr oNE... iS HErE... WitH THe sWorD anD AlL tHReE Of ThE sPIrItS..." uttered Beta.

"The other one? What do you mean?" asked Gamma.

Beta finally stopped shifting, a single human mouth his only speaking appendage. "The... Frog..."

With a loud groan, Beta finally perished.