[Job] Matter of the Soul (Zack/Ayato)

Just as Ayato thought matters in this specific area were handled, they were not. Dark mist formed heavily around the ship, and the embodiment of fear became curious- not scared, strangely. Perhaps the creature had become overwhelmed by his fear already; too much to be frightened by another presence. Meanwhile, Ayato looked at Zack. There was no way he was letting this mist overcome him. Ayato pouted. "You're one of the top in the guild, Zack! Stand up!" Ayato shouted, "Watch! I'll show you what Blue Pegasus is all about!" Though he spoke so supremely, Ayato had no idea what to do. In total, Zack had taken care of fifteen ghouls by the time the two beasts were on him. Beasts? Just how many of them were there in this world. "You!" Ayato pointed to a shadowy leader, "We've had enough of your world's games! Where is your leader?" The shadowy figure laughed, then merged with the shadow next to him. That shadow merged just as the one before did, and the pattern continued until there was just one shadow remaining. The fused shadow drifted off, giving a clear atmosphere for the two to see, should Zack overcome his new problem.

"Remember all of the success you've had, Zack." Ayato remarked, "You've probably had a lot of great days up until now. You've become ridiculously strong- immeasurable to my mind, really. You have nothing to fear. You're at the top of the hierarchy, damn it! I should be the one scared, not you." The last statement was a joke, obviously. Just because Ayato was lower-ranked did not mean he needed to be scared. Not at all. All Ayato required was more training- that's all. He would have to do as much work as Zack did to equate with his rank. If there was anything to fear, it would be what came later in Ayato's adventure, honestly. He had nothing to lose now. He looked over at the embodiment of fear. "You alright?" Ayato asked, "You know, despite that whole mess, your grip has gotten a lot tighter. Could yo--" Ayato saw a heavy frown on the creature's face. Dark energy emitted from its hands, and pasted itself on Ayato's legs. Ayato struggled, and grunted in pain for a moment. "You truly are hindering me, no offense..." Ayato added, "Why are you doing this?" The odd creature nodded its head. Ayato examined the creature's gestures. It really was telling the truth; unless it was the best liar Ayato had ever seen. It must have been summoned to be a weakness for whomever stood near it. Ayato was beginning to lose feeling in his leg, though he shook it off every once in a while to wake it up, if that makes sense. The two really were in a predicament, now that Ayato thought about it. Ayato attempted to slash at the beasts, which stood completely still while their fog encircled Zack. It seemed the beasts became part of the mist slowly after activating it. "Better step back in case Zack breaks from the magic furiously just like me..." Ayato suggested to himself. He really did not want a sword near him.

Zack considered the words Seitenshi had said. Remember his victories. Remember his successes. Remember his strength. Remember the good days. Of course. The way to defeat the negative memories and emotions of this world was with the positive. In his old body it would of been easy as he had a lot of victories back then. This body was new. Well, if it was his old bodies victories he had to remember then he would act like his old body. He focused trying to get his mind into the right perspective. With a gesture of his hand he formed his black sword. The one that was so similar to Ayatos. He took a deep breath and then begun to move it in a blur in several complex patterns. He didn't channel magic into it like before. No this time he used patterns he remembered using from his greatest victories.

"The fall of the wolf king." he said as he formed a quick pentagram slash. "Capture of warden." He said leaping upwards forming a powerful headbutt. He flipped over in the air and drilled downwards striking at the ground. "Death of the big bang shark." He drilled through seemingly nothing and flipped over. The mists were slowly fading, but hadn't yet destroyed completely. What other great victories had he acheived. Those three were some of the big ones. Then he thought about the demon king. The ashurasaurus. That had to be one of his biggest victories. S rank him versus H rank+ super demon. He leapt upwards all the way to the sky going as high as he could. He drilled downwards once more and then flipped skyrocketing upwards at high speed before striking down again. Then he went to the left and drilled across. It wasn't quite as impressive, but it would do. "DEATH BY BLAZING DRILL."

Despite not using a fire spell an aura of flame seemed to surround him as he broke free of the illusion blasting away the dark mist and freeing him from the illusion. "Good advice Ayato. As usual." He extended his hand once more and pointed the way. "That way."

(remember we aren't on the ship anymore btw. We are walking through the world. Devon is back with the ship defending it.)

(1/2 posts till shadow ghouls return)

Magic:

"I'm trying..." Ayato complained, "This guy holds some power that sticks onto my leg, and refuses to get off. Perhaps it is also influenced by the person- or thing- behind this." Ayato truly was struggling. There was still a lot of this world Zack and Ayato at least had yet to discover. Well, there could be a chance that Zack knew already if he could compare it with the ordinary Celestial Spirit World, though as someone who was just used to a spiritual book and sword, Ayato knew nothing. The creature was crying as Ayato moved. It really did want off of Ayato's leg, but it could not, for some reason. Additionally, it did not know how to speak. All it could do was spread emotion. Thankfully, Ayato's lineage always seemed to instantly heal the wounds produced by the little monster's attachment skill.

"Any suggestions as to where we go after this?" Ayato asked, "I saw how overwhelming those beasts were, and I bet their numbers only increase as we continue eliminating more copies. Those other shadowy figures will keep reforming, and attempt to get us. I did, however, find a way to rid of some completely, and that is a source of light." Ayato investigated what was ahead. There was most likely a path ahead that did not allow any sight at all; a place where the leader behind of this was probably going to attack. These pests seemed to love the dark, anyway- and cheap shots, in that matter. An epiphany came to the storyteller's brain while the two had already travelled a kilometre or two. "Zack, I remember in another meeting that you mentioned a Celestial Spirit King..." Ayato remarked, "Do you think the leader may be the parallel of that?" Ayato silenced himself after this. This world was bound to be more personal to Zack than Ayato, which kept making him think that his words did not matter as much. In fact, his words only seemed to count when Zack was affected by those three beasts. He could only wonder how Devon was doing. "We must get through this world...quickly..." Ayato muttered.

Zack looked at the creature attached to Ayato's leg. He didn't know what to do in relation to that. It was hampering Ayato that was for certain. However, he didn't want to try removing the creature incase he damaged it beyond repair. He instinctively knew the creature was important to their succees somehow. He sighed deeply. So light was the weakness of these creatures. That made sense. So perhaps if those shadow creatures came back he should use light to destroy them. Though they didn't seem to be much threat. The only real threat to him and Ayato were the fear creatures. They could bring them down if enough gathered at once and got an effect on them. If more arrived he would be force to use magic.

The fifteen creatures from before reformed and as they did another fifteen formed. There were now a full twenty of them, which was quite irritating, but they were no threat. What was a threat were the three dark spirits he could see in front of him. Three more fear creatures. Three would be too much, even for him. He had to destroy them instantly or as close to it as possible. "Meteor Shower." he said and was instantly coated in an aura of pale blue light. He blurred forward rapidly and in an instant all 30 of the shadow ghouls were completely vaporized. As he destroyed them his sword began to glow and runes upon it that were normally invisible to the naked eye glowed brightly. What they were was not clear. However, that was not important. What was important were the next words Zack spoke and the actions that followed.

"Instant Light." he said and shot forward as a stream of light slashing the first of the shadow creatures and bringing it down. He then shot to the side and sliced the second and then again to slice the third. All three had fallen in an instant. It was more magic power than he had wanted to use, but it had been necessary to bring them down before they could effect their minds.

"Not a very satisfying fight." he said half to himself as he flourished his sword around once more before sheathing it.

Magic:

The member 'Speed Demon Zack' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

It seemed just as Ayato was hoping to have a nice conversation, even more company arrived. "Do not use too much power, Zack." Ayato advised after the quick defeat of these monsters, "Using too much energy right now will only drain us by the time we get to the person most responsible for this mess." That is, if it was a person. As this was the Dark Celestial Spirit World, and as someone who had yet to visit Celestials, anyways, Ayato was in no position to tell whether or not his greatest enemy in this mission would be human or not. A fight was all Ayato needed to take note of, so far. The two seemed to proceed more smoothly as more and more creatures were taken out, Ayato getting used to the pain behind the embodiment of fear, though the darkness kept making the poor thing more attached to Ayato's leg. "In a matter of time, I will not be able to feel my leg, you know?" Ayato warned, "We need a back-up plan in case this thing decides to flee." If the embodiment of fear's magic ever decided to quit, this small monster would most likely release itself and run, right? It did not seem like a fighter, and still refused to see most figures it passed. "These shadows just keep teasing us..." Ayato muttered.

Eventually, Ayato saw the greatly darkened path he could sense with the Ring of Yin. "This path may seem blinding for you, but with my ring, I can probably see through it all." The storyteller remarked, "Perhaps it is time I take the lead." The last comment was actually rhetorical. Ayato forced himself to go ahead, though still keep himself close enough so if anything danger erupted, his friend would be right there to assist him again, whilst Ayato would do the same for his friend. "Beware. I bet most creatures will be hunting us down here." said the Blue Pegasus Mage, "My white fire will identify if I am in trouble or not, alright?" Ayato gave Zack a thumbs-up before he moved to the east. There was no wind in this place of the world, unfortunately, so Ayato just had to assume destiny was on his side at this time. Danger always seemed afoot, though Ayato was always prepared. In fact, the though of a pretty dazzling spell was always kept in mind; one Zack had seen before.

Zack allowed Ayato to continue forward ahead. There wasn't much he could do at this point except think and keep his guard up. So far they had faced fear and lots of it. It wasn't exactly terrible, but it was boring in a way. A lot of missions were like this. Long periods of boredom followed by short bursts of excitement. However, it was odd that it was so quiet. Why call in someone like Zack for a job that was, for all intensive purposes quite easy. Perhaps if they had attacked in greater number they might of succeeded. Yes, he had almost fallen to it once, but it hadn't really taken that much to wake him up. A strong willed, strong minded being would of been sufficient. There had to be something more here.

As he walked he thought about fear as a concept. Fear was said to be the opposite of bravery though more truthfully it was more the ability to conquer ones fear. However, if he took the more traditional thought line than this fear area was the opposite of a brave area. The bravest zodiac he could think of was Leo the lion. Theoretically speaking that meant that potentially the opposite of him might be here.

"Figured out have ya tough guy?" said a voice. No it wasn't speech. It was more of a squawk. Zack turned rapidly unsheathing his sword in a blur. A being leapt backwards. It had bird like legs, golden feathers covering its body and an orange beak. Upon its hand was a ring with a chicken head. "Woah watch it. Not nice to attack someone for no reason. I mean I haven't even introduced myself yet."

Zack sheathed his sword thoughtfully and stared at the strange chicken like creature. "Ok...name yourself. Or should I call you Anti-Leo?" The chicken creature shook its head.

"Nah they call me Pullum the Chicken." it replied and Zack raised an eyebrow. So he was right. This was an anti-leo.0 "And i'm in charge of this little area." Zack's eyes narrowed. So he was the one sending the fear creatures against them. "Woah there buddy. Don't get too hasty mister speed demon. Just following orders. Her Majesty's orders." So there was a dark celestial queen the anti-thesis of the celestial spirit king. Interesting. "I mean i'm gonna fight ya of course, but might as well be pleasent about it right?"

Magic:

Once Ayato entered the immeasurably dark path, shadow figures instantly appeared, and formed what seemed to be an endless line. A familiar figure stepped down the path, and with each step, Ayato was put into more shock. This thing looked just like him. Of course, knowing the nature of everything else that had appeared in this dimension, this version of Ayato had to be dark. There were no mind games here. "Yo!" The dark Ayato greeted, "What you are seeing is just as you believe it to be. I am you...from this realm." The original Ayato smirked in response. He honestly did not expect someone like this to appear in front of him. In fact, what he expected at the highest degree was a replacement for the Celestial Spirit King that Zack had mentioned in another meeting. "So you're the true enemy I have to defeat here, huh?" Ayato commented, "Show me what my opposite has to offer!" The Skillful Elucidator and END in Ayato's hands glowed as their full essence was unleashed. Ayato could feel the adrenaline in his soul pump. It was a great feeling! However, just as he saw himself doing this, Ayato noticed his parallel doing the same thing!

"Oh, by the way, just to assure there are no tricks..." Ayato's parallel remarked, "REVERSE CHAPTER TWO: DESCEND!" A black fireball appeared in the sky, and came down in Ayato's direction. "CHAPTER TWO: DESCEND!" The original Ayato called."[/color] A white fireball appeared in the sky, and came down towards the direction of the black fireball. The two humongous catastrophes clashed, and an extremely large burst of magic energy blasted both Ayato and his parallel back. So the fight was going to be like this, apparently; a fight with all moves mimicked. In contrast to Ayato's fight with Daisuke/END, this fight was not boring to Ayato, but really exciting. Ayato did not want to look back to his friend due to the agility of his parallel, but he did feel the magical presence of something else while facing off against his opposite. Zack must have been fighting his own enemy as Ayato was fighting his own. "May the best me win!" Ayato's parallel cheered. The two launched each other towards the other with their respective swords, and continuously collided. This was most likely going to be the hardest battle Ayato believed he was destined to win.

"Whether its by orders or not I don't particularly care. I've had my head messed around enough with in the past and I don't appreciate it happening again." Zack replied unsheathing his sword. There was a very serious note in his voice. "Even if it is orders you have the choice to disobey. Or to go through it by other means...then again as you're 'the chicken' I would assume your levels of bravery are in the negative." Zack blurred forward to launch a punch, but the chicken exploded into a blast of feathers and appeared behind him.

"Nah you got me wrong broski. I'm not exactly the fighting type, but i'm no coward...I'm more the type who turns people's fears against them...take down their minds so I don't have to hurt them physically. Guess you could say i'm scared of hurting bodies? Maybe?" Pullum replied and pulled a feather from his body which rapidly expanded to form a strange feather like sword. He made a gesture with his hand and feathers flew off all around the area. Three formed into the blast mist like creatures and fifteen others into the small shadow creatures. However, they now seemed more solid and seemed more like mini-pullum's rather than incorporeal creatures. Could it be they were stronger when they were near pullum? Or perhaps they were actually part of Pullum and so he could make them stronger near him.

"So...you plan to use illusions to bring me down?" Zack said. With three of them it wasn't quite enough particularly with Meteor shower still in effect. Even if they were stronger. He blurred suddenly going not for the illusion beasts or the shadow creatures, but straight for Pullum. He seemed surprised by this and only managed to get his feather sword in the way just in time to block. The force of the blow did send him flying though. He flipped up on one hand and skidded to a halt. As he flew backwards there were several feathers that appeared launching at Zack. With a swift movement he sliced them apart.

Magic:

The member 'Speed Demon Zack' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Swords continued to cling together as the angry Ayato and devilish Ayato clashed countlessly throughout the darkness that seemed impossible to look through. It was a pitch-black fog with occasional sparks produced by the collision of two blades. Fear-based beasts slowly approached Ayato while the brawl went on, though thanks to the Ring of Yin, he could see through them all. "So this is your trick, huh? Keep me occupied with this fight while the beasts get in my mind." His parallel laughed hysterically, and halted. Ayato's parallel suddenly came to a stop, and let the sword pulverize his heart. "Might as well let you challenge my friends before you face me for real..." His opposite spoke in a demonic tone before disappearing. This was all so weird. It infuriated the storyteller.

"Why you little!" Ayato yelled towards the army of darkness that approached him closely after the absence of his replicate. "CHAPTER TWO: BURNING SOUL!" Ayato chanted as his sword was drawn downwards, and a trail of white flames unleashed itself harshly and swiftly through the battlefield. One of the beasts was struck by the blast, while the light from the white flames burst, and eliminated all of those little shadow companions surrounding. Meanwhile, Ayato rapidly launched himself at the other beasts, and decapitated with his sword. Unfortunately, Ayato knew that there would only be more of these shadow people if he and Zack could not somehow find the leader, and eliminate him or her soon- possibly it, actually. Ayato had already used three of his four spells included in the second chapter of his book. While the beasts were killed, Ayato noticed a dark mist emerging from their bodies; a mist that travelled back to one source. "Look at that, Zack!" Ayato remarked, pointing to one pathway that all dark energy led to, "I think we know where the big boss is..." Hopefully Ayato was right.

The member 'Seitenshi Ayato' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

"Its time for you to fall." Zack said and then lunged forward blurring once more. As he blurred he thrust out his sword and it began to move around him by itself like a buzz saw. A second blade joined it turning Zack into a moving weapon of mass death. However, he decided to take it a step further. As he lunged forward he began to move to the side. This alone was impressive, but what made it a lot more fearsome looking was Zack using his innate ability to bend light in order to form illusionary copies of himself so it looked like not one, but dozens of Zack. A straight line of them coming from seemingly every direction. There was no clear way to dodge except straight up.

That was the opening Pullum saw and tried to exploit. However, at the last moment Zack came from that direction and hit the upward moving Pullum as he came down. "Sssssdeath." Zack said and sliced through the creature. It was a situation suitable for movies. He moved so fast that Pullum seemed to freeze in midair a surprised expression on his face. As Zack hit the ground and his swords thudded into the earth there was a huge gasp and then Pullum fell into multiple pieces which faded away into a black light. "Well...as good as it gets with celestials." he said with a shrug and watched the illusions fade away.

He looked over at the direction Ayato had indicated and nodded. "Yes and I have a good idea who we are going to face when we get there." Zack said grabbing his large sword and with a flourish sheathing it as the light of meteor shower faded away. He walked over to Ayato. "Get ready Ayato...I reckon who we will be facing is...well...ourselves." It was an odd thought, but it was the truth. They had faced their fears at the hands of the Anti-Leo, but he felt from what he had seen that something worse was up ahead.

Magic:

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