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He had a smug grin on his face.
"Oh I'm sure I will..."

Skadi woke up in a cold sweat, she took a moment to remember where she was and leaned up against the cool cavern wall. She reached behind and put a hand on her back. There was the faint remnant from a scar that used to be quite deep. It was just a nightmare, he's not here. She pulled her knees up to her chest and held them close, gnawing at her lip. Why am I thinking about that now? It was a long time ago, another life, and he's dead. I remember, I killed him with his own sword. She held out her hand and grasped as if to seize the hilt of a massive sword. "Shadows March Forth." She said quietly and a chill swept out of the cave throughout the countryside at the mere utterance of the name.

"M'lady, would you like a proper blanket?" Asked the demon as he rolled out of his hammock. "No, go back to sleep. It's just too noisy around here." He nodded and did as he was bid. Skadi walked over to the blades on the floor and examined each, one by one. She set most back down, but picked up a small blade hidden in a simple wooden cross. She could still notice the scent of the angel blood that had spilled upon it by it's first owner, faint as it was. She fashioned it into a necklace and slid it around her neck. She clasped it tight as she lied back down and knew it would keep the nightmares away, at least until morning.

Leo: .....I.....I dont understand anything about me..... yet some stranger knows more about me than I do myself........yeah like hell I'll die before I find out who I really am... dont underestimate me!

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Kain: { he wakes up and he quickly looks around as he holds his katana closer}.....yamato...the blade of chaos is the brother blade of rebellion blade of calamity..both create a set of the great Azareal's devil arms arsenal........Father intrusted these blades to me and my brother....I wonder why these were his 2 strongest weapons and what was with that nonsense the power isnt in the blade its in the weilder.....he was quite a foolish man........

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Leo: { he glances at his blade and his eyes become sort of sad}.....* what is this feeling* { he regains focus} so what now?

*Grohl screams as being dragged through the main gate*

"Ahhh! Oh... Wait we are here great!"

"I guess we should trust him Leo." he sgihed.
I don't remember much at all either
"Well stranger lead the way."

Fionn woke up inside the gates.

"What's going on?" His vision was still a little blurry but he could see Alex standing not too far away, panting heavily. He looked past the closing gates and squinted; his vision slowly recovering.

"Those are.. Those are the beasts that killed my people!" Fionn screamed and rushed through the gates as they closed.

He stopped a few hundred feet from the city and caught his breath.

"I SWEAR! ON THE BLOOD OF MY FALLEN FIANNA!" Fionn tore his blade from its sheath and brought it in front to face the Rabanashi as his hair began to stand up, "NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU WILL REACH THESE WALLS!"

Alex:hes A Fool! Go grohl to king hector! i can't let this idiot die so soon after getting here!

[spun around and ran to fionn and knocked him out so he wouldnt have to deal with him, he then picked him up over his shoulder but then noticed he was surrounded]

Alex: Damn you all! you won't get past me i swear it! [he pulled out his sword and confronted the demons]

*Grohl salutes Alex*

"Yes! Right away Sir Alex!"

*The young Bard ran to the castle throne room and kneeled before the King*

"Oh Great King Herctor, It is I, Sir Grohl, the Singing Swordsman Knight!"

It wasn't a nightmare that stirred her next, more like a prophetic dream. Skadi leaped to her feet. "Retainer, get some rest. I'll be back for you soon enough." "Aye, m'lady, but where are you off to this time?" "To war. A great many Rabinashi have gathered together on this plane. Which means they intend to strike somewhere, and with the amount of killing intent, I'd say very soon. And I can't have them killing all my human knights on me, now can I? If Kain wakes up, be hospitable." "Shall I tell him, where you've gone?" "Oh, he'll know. If he does ask, just give him fair warning. Do not touch my humans. They're mine to defeat." "Of course, m'lady." Skadi melted with the shadows again and reappeared before Alex.

She took a moment to get her bearings. The demons paused, they were getting an impression of what Skadi was, but they weren't sure what she was doing there. She turned to Alex, "If you would be ever so very kind, please take the young knight inside. I can't have him taking a stray sword before I fight him." Although she said it kindly, it still carried the weight of both command and the subtle threat of 'Do this now, or I'll kill you.' that almost always came out in her voice.

She hopped backwards and jammed her claws through the skulls of two demons. She used them as impromptu throwing weapons and cleared a passage for Alex. She stretched and motioned for the rest of the nearby Rabinashi to come, they didn't move. "Oh, come now boys. I'm not even using a weapon. Ok, if it will make you feel better, until one of you actually lands a blow I won't use anything above the waist." One tried to jump her from behind and got slapped by her tail. "Next, actually, all of you come at once. Otherwise I'll get bored too fast." As if given a mental command they all began rushing her. After a dozen or so one finally grazed her and was summarily "grazed" by Skadi's claws.

Alex:this day couldn't have gotten any better, rabanashi fighting eachother...not a pretty sight, maybe that one in the middle is just stupid

Max:We gotta get out of here before the castle falls!

Alex:[shocked by her words]No! we can't leave we gotta protect the portal

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Hector: Ah ser Grohl how have you been?

"Sir all is well in my homeland just came back from the scouting mission and joined up with Alex, Max, and Fionn II. However, they are in trouble and need our help protecting the portal... Send reinforcements to aid me!"

Skadi glanced back at Alex when he made his comment about her being stupid. She smirked, I suppose I'm not the most brilliant mind ever. Of course, I do know when I'm facing an enemy beyond my capabilities. "Of course that requires finding such an enemy first." She withdrew her stone blade and slashed threw the first of the actually strong Rabanashi. "Well, I dare say I ought to step it up a bit if all your boss is going to send are the small fry." Her ears piqued at Alex's next comment. Perhaps an objective opinion will help.

Need to create some breathing room first. She threw her sword into one rabanashi, a pair of twin swords appeared in her hands and two more swords grew out of the shadows of her wings. The stone sword flew back to Skadi and with a pirouette all of the rabanashi within fifteen yards were cleaved clean in half. With a roar she spun her blades in front of her and created a whirlwind of death before her, clearing out a dozen columns. She hopped back to where Max and Alex were talking. "I know I'm not exactly an expert on human tactics, but you can't exactly protect anything if you're dead. Not that I would retreat against these numbers, but I'm a master of the Hecatonchires Style, well, the master actually. Anyways, whatever decision you make, wouldn't it be easier if this guy was awake?"

She knelt next to Fionn and placed her swords in the ground around him. "Yu mo meg gwai- wake the hell up!" She rapped him on the forehead with a single claw. As he wakes up Fionn will see an image of Skadi in all her terrible glory in his mind and if he's dreaming he'll see her cut through whatever dream or nightmare he's having, and then himself. Skadi stood with her arms crossed and her blades floating around her, awaiting for Fionn to wake up and the humans to make a decision. I bought them some time, but the rabanashi are regrouping from my five blade twister and only the relatively strong ones were still standing. I hope these knights don't disappoint, or I went though all this trouble and lost my body for nothing. Of course, I can't use my strongest techniques just yet either. This body is so weak.

Everything was black, then in the darkness Fionn could see almost a dozen demons heading for him. He searched for his sword, but it was not at his side. He tried desperately to run, but some force held him still. Then, at the moment it appeared that the demons would attack him, a female figure with wings jumped in and slashed through the creatures with two swords. Fionn waited, half dazzled by this amazing display of power and half in fear out of her next victim. The lady turned. Silence. Not even Fionn's heart dared to beat right now. The winged woman approached and began saying words that bared no audible sounds. Right as Fionn was about to ask her to repeat it, she slapped him in the face and he was now surrounded by light, growling, and several serious pains in his head.

Fionn stood up, his vision blurred by the sudden transition. "How many times have I hit my head now?" He raised his hand to his forehead where some blood was leaking from a thin wound.

The images around Fionn began to clear up and he could now make out the shapes of over a hundred demons not far off along with the winged lady from his vision. He still wasn't sure whether to be dazzled or to fear. Next his eyes captured the picture of the last Fianna blade lying in the dirt rather close. He grabbed at it and stood up. "My head hurts," He brushed his white hair back, "don't tell me one of them snuck up on me."

Fionn looked around, Alex stood next to him. "Alex? What are you doing here? I didn't know anyone managed to follow me out. You must get inside. I can defend here until Hector has a plan."

Without warning a beast jumped at Fionn from behind. Fionn spun around while lowering himself and sliced through the creature’s stomach with one clean swing spraying more crimson liquid into his face.

“You foolish beasts! I am the descendant of King Fionn himself!” Another demon dared to try its luck with Fionn, lashing out with a clawed hand. Fionn dodged to the side and sliced the fool’s arm off with one vertical swing then followed with a rib shattering blow using the metal knuckles on his gloves to the hulk’s side sending it to the ground. Fionn stood with his sword out and glanced over at the lady. “And where do your allegiances lay?”

((Well, I have been quoted. I'm honored.))
Skadi granted Fionn a fiendish smile, this boy certainly is what I've been looking for. Fast, strong, talented, and a tang of red hot anger. She placed a hand over her breast, "With my heart of course. As everyone's should." Four of the blades sunk down into the shadows and she resheathed her stone blade. "Now, you have much to discuss." She grabbed a fallen block of stone and kicked it a few times before sitting on it to listen to the young knight and his associates, fellow capable knights she hoped.

While they discussed, she half listened while thinking on the tactics employed by the rabinashi. She wondered if she knew who their commander was. She couldn't recall anyone in particular that employed these tactics, but there were a lot of missing memories, and sending in the rabble to be slaughtered and test the enemy's defenses was a fairly basic tactic employed by many.

[he sheathed his sword]

Alex:speak now while you can, i doubt we can kill you but, well first off give us a reason why we should trust you, you dont find many people on the other side of battle willing to keep the enemy alive.

Max:even if we wanted.....the only thing we can really do would be to keep you at a distance, what would be the point you don't seem hostile...

Alex:you came so tell me, whats so important about this portal

Skadi sat there, bemused by the presumptuous humans. As if they could keep me at a distance if I didn't want them to. "I would sooner justify myself to a horse than to ungrateful humans. And as for the portal, you are the one so adamant about holding your ground and dying for it, so you tell me."

Fionn stabbed the beast's head on the ground. While more demons seemed to appear every moment, they dared not pass a particular distance from Fionn and Skadi. Are these creatures so easily frightened? No. Not in such large numbers. They are simply buying time for something.

"We don't have time for this Alex. While I'm sure many would fall before I, at this large amount there is no possibility of success. We must flee. As for the traitor to her own kind..." Fionn looked to Skadi and recalled his fallen Fianna, "I will tend to her if she appears a threat to you or I."

*Grohl runs out with a few warriors to Alex's aid and unsheathes his blade*

"Very well Alex, is this demon wench causing us trouble? I shall fight if I must!"

Skadi's bemused grin faded, she was becoming annoyed. "Enough. All I've done since I showed up here is help you humans. And how do you repay my magnanimity? Threats and insults. You call me traitor when you know nothing. As I said before, I am loyal to my heart alone. I bow to no one. Human or Rabinashi." She leaped from her seat into the air and darkened the sky above her as she shouted down to Alex, Fionn, Grohl, and Max. "I am the INVINCIBLE SWORD PRINCESS!"

A series of dark lightning bolts flew toward Skadi, striking her in the chest and leaving scorch marks as they shot threw her. She fell back down to the earth. Alright, whoever their leader is. They just signed their own death certificate. Skadi pulled herself out of the plummet just in time to break her landing enough to avoid serious injury. Energy from the dark lightning bolts was sparking from her horns and fangs. She had managed to redirect the majority of what her scales hadn't deflected into her stone blade, which now shone with a dim inner light, but she had taken some internal damage from the attacks. A half dozen skilled mages and over a dozen others, still a potent mix. They must have been waiting for me to reveal my presence. She snarled as she writhed on the ground. Curse this weak body, if I had my true body this would be nothing.

There was a great cheer as the demons saw that Skadi hadn't risen to exact vengeance on the mages. Although emboldened the demons still seemed to be waiting for something.

Kain: { he grins as he leaps down and he lands in a crowd of rabanashi as he draws his katana} TASTE MY BLADE!!!!!! { he swings causing a surge of magical energy as he cuts through an army of rabanashi} AUNTIE! { he keeps cutting the rabanashi with great speed} show me your power Yamato! { the blade glows blue as kains eyes glow red and his right arm transforms into a claw with blue scales like Skadi's arms} RAAAAAAHHH!!! { he grabs a rabanashi and crushes its skull in his claw as he throws the body flying as he continously continues his assault as he finally reaches skadi} AUNTIE! { he shows sword skills fighting off the attacking rabanashi similiar to skadi when she weilds one blade} are you okay?


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Leo: yeah I guess we have no choice.... where do we go now?