The Darkest Day

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]"You are a fool as anyone else here, Lilith Andres," she said angrily, raising her sword up. "And you will perish in these halls...Holy Explosion!"

Throwing up her other arm she fired a bright ball of white and blue light, which exploded high above them, emitting a burst of radiant, pure energy. Beatrix knelt fast and fell through a Corridor she'd created by pressing her hand into the marble floor and disappeared into the darkness, hoping this blinding, holy light would both injure and throw off the vampire.[/glow]

[Lilith]

Lilith kicked through the ceiling as soon as she heard the word 'holy' and swung through the hole onto the roof. the light burst through the hole she had created missing her my millimetres.

"just had to use light... cheap but clever"
she looked back into the room, Beatrix was gone.
"god dammit"

she jumped back through the hole and took a long breath through her nose.
"nothing..."

[The Alexandrian Army]

A strange black hole appeared several feet away from the mass of soldiers holding down the beast with chains and spikards. The general stepped forward from the rift and gave a hand signal for them to unleash it into the castle, informing the soldiers that Vivi, Lexia and the others were roaming about, and they were to be captured. She stared out a window in the West Wing, staring up at one of the many towers, seeing a flying figure land on one of the sloped, conical rooftops. She snickered and portaled off with her orders.

"Melanie, unhook the last fastener...we've gotta release Prince A--the beast..."

Their captain, Melanie Manchester, frowned, tears streaming down her cheeks as she drew out her sword and sliced downward, cutting clean through the metal links holding the behemoth, minotaur-like creature.

[Secondary Characters]

A dark, horrible roar would erupt from the monster formerly known as Prince. It would shake the walls and tremble the suits of armor while he, a once proud keeper of this castle, ripped away the last of the chains just after the main line was cut. He threw his arms, smashing soldiers up against the walls before rushing forward, bursting through a mahagony door as he ran on all fours. He took off down the hallway, his massive size covered in dense fur whooshing against the air, while the remnants of chains rattled in his wake.

Down the familiar halls leading away from his bedroom he rushed, foaming at the mouth and blind in rage brought on by darkness. Streamers of the inky black would trail off of him, his horns sharpened and cutting through the air and creating something of an air tunnel through which he was able to move even faster. Anger... hate... fury... all boiling in his blood so hot it was almost painful.

He had seen the intruder... or at least one of them. Who DARES to bring a dragon to HIS castle?? NO ONE! He rushed forward faster, blasting through doors and thin walls before scaling the massive tower that the dragon rider would be peeking in. His speed was so incredible, he almost heard the last syllables of his calling.

"-grias?" came Nexus' voice... only to be met with a loud crashing BOOOM!!!

The Beast had crashed THROUGH the wall, grabbing at Nexus' neck and tackling his dragon OFF the top of the tower. Because of his large size, and the way he had pushed the dragon, it was doubtful the creature could extend its wings properly, and certainly not in enough time to stop a full-fledged terminal velocity fall from the top of the tower down to the castle grounds...

[Agrias Oaks]

Beatrix landed square upon the woman's stomach, and since she wore no chest plate, body versus metal gauntlets was critical. She let out a long gasp, her lungs unable to recover. As she fell unconscious, she would look at Beatrix, trying to mutter the General's name, but she was soon seeing darkness, and then nothing...

The knight's body was taken to the tower, where she would be dropped to the floor, and stayed there alone, until the Dragon Hunter came and spoke to her. This caused the knight to stir, opening her eyes weakly to look up to Nexus, "Ne-" and suddenly, a giant blur later, and she could not see him nor his dragon. She sat up, struggling to get to her feet to view a Minotaur-like creature. She gasped, and reached for her sword, being reminded it was not with her.

Stumbling, she cursed under her breath, noticing a metal chain of sorts, and attempted to use it, only to be too late. She kept the chain, and ran through the massive hole in the wall, looking this way, and that for some way to help the boy and his dragon. Her heels began to glow, as she was preparing a jump spell. She had to aim it right... she had never done this before.

She reached down, and tapped her heels, the power of a jump spell was passed to the chain, and she aimed it at the beast. "JUMP!!" she called out, launching the chain, which picked up more speed with the spell. It boomed through the air, and latched onto the Beast, but because of the force and angle thrown, the beast would turn, with Nexus and his Dragon, so THEY would be the ones on top, and he would hit the ground first, forming a sort of cushion for them!

She grinned, looking down and making a fist when the plan worked to the light's favor. If anything, this should soften their landing. Now, she had to leave... she turned to face the door, uncertain of what she was to find...

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]When Agrias turned she would see Beatrix moving in front of the open door and leaning back into it, sealing the two within the highest chamber of the castle. The door locked with a satisfying "click" and Beatrix just stood there, eyeing Agrias and noting how pitiful she looked. She remarked the large hole in the wall with simply a click of the tongue and waved her arm slightly; black mist seemed to pour into existence out of seemingly thin air, creating a barricade of shadow Heartless to cover this exit.

When she finished her calling she turned back to face the Holy Knight and snickered at her.

"Oh, Agrias. A prisoner and yet you still try..." she began clapping in a mocking fashion. "How quaint."

She inched closer to the woman and kicked at her ankles, grabbing onto the scruff of her collar to throw her off so she'd fall to her knees.

"Time to play."[/glow]

[serpentoflore]

Sarah's eyes widened when a creature seemed to break through the wing.

"I have always been fascinated by the power one can wield through their songs, Miss Appleton. You could shatter the very bones within a person's body if you tried; you could manipulate their...strings, if you will, and assume total control of their body and mind. Those whose prowess extend beyond these abilities could cause a range of beautiful or chaotic effects, much like your performance just now. Mayhaps you could even perform certain pieces to deal single, lethal blows if you really wished."

Her body stopped, not sure why she was even outside of the den. "A...creature?" Her eyes tried to focus on the beast, still blank emotion wise.

[Secondary Characters]

"Wooaaah!" cried Vivi as the beast barreled through the doors leading out from the prince's room; as he brushed by the Black Mage was spun around by the sheer force of wind and knocked on his rump.

When he finally regained his composure and dusted himself off he began to shake violently, gripping onto his staff tightly as he squeeled, wheedling between both Nobody and piper.

"what was that," cried the mage, quivering violently.

[Leckseeuh]

Lexia was at least trying to be as graceful as the other people here. Every time someone in one of those poofy, pretty dresses she looked down at her shoes, with already had a few holes in them, and pouted.

She felt a rumbling in her chest as the Beast roared, whimpering and cluthing onto Vivi's shoulder. Wh-what was that? She said, looking down the stairs and whimpering. She always forgot her fear of heights. Didn't stop her from standing on buildings.

She whimpered again when she heard the Beast coming down the halls, covering her mouth from letting out a scream from instinct.

The girl tried to pull Vivi but saw he had himself composed, her smile trembling. Even though she'd be dead if she were a normal human from fear, she managed to smile to keep herself and Vivi happy.

Taking a wild guess there are people out there.

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias did not lose sight of the woman, but how could she ever fight her? She backed a few steps before the general advanced on her and forced her to her knees. She would grunt a little, her eyes squeezing shot a moment before opening to look up at Beatrix, determined to break her from the darkness,

"...Beatrix.. stop this..!" she growled, getting back up. Her ankle snapped a little, her body defenseless without any defensive wear. She landed wrong on the heels, and now she had sprained her ankle, and still, she stood upon it, showing no weakness, even if it began to swell, " 'Tis the darkness' hold upon thine heart! Purge it!" she pleaded to the General.

"Please Beatrix... such cruelty must stop...!"

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]"The darkness' hold, Lady Agrias?" she shook her head and laughed, slapping the girl hard with the back of her hand. "No, I chose this path...and it has made me ever more powerful. You are naught but a traitor. I gave you your chance that day in Traverse Town...but no, you had to perservere and seal me away within my light. But no longer. I have been saved, and now your choices are limited to one. Death. No longer will you have the chance to join our family...you are unworthy."

Another slap and she moved in, grabbed Agrias by the neck and drove her into the wall; she inched her face extremely close, so close her every facial feature was exposed.

"You are such an ignorant fool. You should have been destroyed at birth; I'm sure your father would have done just that, had he known what sort of monster you would grow into..." she released the other woman's neck and backed up, turning around so she didn't have to look at Agrias' face.

"This world is now doomed, Lady Agrias. By the end of tonight you will be dead and my path will be clear; the Army of Darkness will be complete."[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

"Ugh!" Agrias yelped at the two slaps, and the ramming of the back of her head against the stone walls, grunting again. She sat there in a daze, seeing at least four generals in her vision, before reaching some support from the very wall she struck to stand up, " ...Y-you speak nonsense...!" she slurred a little, reaching to hold the back of her head as she spoke.

"'Tis you, who has been clouded by the pitch dark of evil, whom seeks nothing but destruction... Lady Beatrix, thou is not dark, thou'art meant to fight it, as a Holy Knight... Thine mission...is to spread light throughout the realms!!"

She was able to catch her breath, and lowered her hand, it had a few drops of blood, but she didn't seem to mind, "Beatrix... please, if thou can hear me within that dark hold... please, wake up...I ...need you... I cannot harm who I know is there!"

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]"You know, Agrias..." she picked up her sword and ran it through the Holy Knight's arm. "I truly despise you."

She ripped out the blade at a tilted angle so that the wound would widen some and kicked Agrias down. "You speak in nonsensical tongues; you speak in nothings!" she dropped her sword and picked up Agrias by her scruff again and began punching her back and forth with her free hand. She smiled at this, blood flying off her captured prey and smacking warm against her face.

She pulled back at one point and rose a shaking hand, her voice trembling maniacally. "Are...you so convinced that what has died still lives somewhere deep inside? Perhaps I should further beat the truth into you, then?"

She dropped Agrias and turned while she crumpled to the floor; retrieving Save the Queen she brought it back over and raised it.

"I shall..." she began between nervous laughter, "end you now!" she threw down her arm and the blade came crashing, only to strike hard against the stone floor directly by the girl's right cheek.

"I...missed," she said, annoyed, but soon noticed that she wasn't fully right; a sliver of blood emerged, a bit late, but this only showed Beatrix' swiftness with the blade.

"Hmph! Scream for me! Enlighten my mood, Agrias!"

She kicked the cripple in the ribs before turning again, folding her arms together, Save the Queen hanging loosely from one of her hands, dripping with blood.[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias would grunt, and yelp, gasp, and whimper some, but she would never scream for Beatrix, not wanting to give such darkness pleasure. She was abused, and tortured in most horrible ways, and still, she would not weaken entirely. Half her face was cut from sword, and metal gauntlets piercing into it with the steel edges, and her body would be bruised and sore all over.

She fell tired upon the floor from the heavy beatings, and found herself saddled by the evil one, ready to strike her down with her own sword, "...Lady..." she said weakly, the sword landing JUST beside her cheek, a thin red line forming parallel to it. She coughed a little, spitting out a bit of blood. Her vision blurry, and forced itself to focus...

It was then when she saw the general stand, and she would try sitting up, until she suddenly felt a heavy force against her ribs, and she curled up, holding at herself, and coughing, and gasping for air. She tried to sit up after a few moments, her dress bloody and torn at her side and thighs from the cuts of the gauntlets.The poor knight pressed her shoulder against the cold, red painted stone wall for some support, trying to catch her breath.

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]Beatrix quivered, drenched in a cold sweat. When she turned to face Agrias she gave the limp woman a look of utter disdain. She spit on the cold floor at Agrias' side before slowly turning her full body once more to face the fallen knight, and lowered her arms.

Raising her sword high enough and poising it to pierce the heart and taste sweet bloode, Beatrix cackled madly. "Agrias, doomed! You are doomed to a fate far worse than any of your foolish comrades. Now die!" she lunged the blade forward and, right before it would stab the heart she directed it lower and to the side, watching in surprise as it grazed the woman's stomach only.

Beatrix gritted her teeth, angered by the fact she couldn't just get this done and over with.

"Grah! I grow tired of this! I shall return!" she declared before stomping down on her fresh wound and walking off, disappearing into a Corridor of Darkness leading to a private sanctum of sorts where she could think.[/glow]