Temple of the Seal(Perma-open!)

[prythian]

The monk merely looked at Hades silently. That was all the answer that was required for the man watching invisibly.

He appeared from a black portal, covered in black-plate armor with gold outlines. He chuckled. "Of course... why did I not see it before? The Seal is in fact powered by life-force... the only way to contain what it does as well as remove the Temples from these worlds." He bowed to Hades, a mockery of the monk's bow. "From one death-bringer to another, I greet you. You have aided me greatly, and as such... I suggest you leave her at once. You would not want to stick around."

The black portal reappeared behind him, and he stepped into it, leaving the parting words. "Things may get a little messy..."

Heartless began appearing rapidly. Emerald Blues appeared in swirls of wind, as well as a Chameleon-like Heartless crawling on the walls of the Temple, disappearing as it blended in. Orias shook his head in denial. "No... the Heartless!"

[nascent]

Just when he thought he had things under control... THIS! Hades growled in irritation, leveling a glare that could petrify lesser beings with fear at the Heartless that had surrounded him.

Despite his anger, Hades knew better than to charge in. For one thing, this far from the Underworld a lot of his regular godly powers weren't likely to work -- no poofing from place to place or hovering in the air as he pleased. What's more, he was on a fairly narrow walkway stretching over a drop that basically led straight down into the brimey drink, and fighting in the water did NOT offer good prospects for a god of flames. It hadn't been since the Titanomachy that he'd been backed into a tight spot like this...

The grim god cracked his knuckles, fiercely determined to rise to the occasion. "Ori, get yourself and that kid inside. NOW. Make sure nothing gets to your boss, capiche? Or I'll hold you personally responsible. This..."

His gaze narrowed slightly. "This one's on me."

He was no hero, but neither was Hades the kind to be easily intimidated -- least of all by a pitiable band of half-baked Heartless. What's more, that black-armored guy who'd worked the whole situation for his own ends... while the grim lord did admire his initiative, playing a god for a sucker was an inexcusable offense! Especially when that god was HIMSELF! Even on a practical level, there was no way he could just let the Heartless overwhelm this place. What if it made the distortion WORSE? Oh, Hades had every good reason to stand his ground, even if he cared jack squat for the people around him.

"Alright, you little hellions, LISTEN UP!" Hades roared at the Heartless. "You poor suckers got summoned to the wrong fight. I am Hades, Lord of the Underworld, god of the dead! I've commanded legions of your kind! Cross me, and I can GUARANTEE you sufferings unimaginable -- the ones I annihilate will be the lucky ones!"

A tempest of crimson flames roared up around him, spiraling and swelling with the black-robed deity's harnessed fury. He held his arms out to the side, looking like a terrible beast ready to claw its prey in two.

"Don't, just DON'T, mess with me! Now turn your pitiful little ephemeral selves around and LEAVE!" He clenched his fists, causing a roil of flames to spill like liquid down the path. Twin fireballs churned into existence in his hands, forcing open his fists as they grew, ready to be tossed at a moment's notice "I am HADES! OBEY ME OR PERISH!!"

[prythian]

Orias quickly grabbed Dante and pulled him into the Temple. ((Sorry, Dante.)) "You'll only get in his way." He said, explaining his actions. "There is not enough room to fight there for more than one person. Stand here and be ready for any getting through the doorway." He stood protectively in front of Dante, preparing for battle in case. May I be forgiven for allowing violence inside the Temple. Inside his mouth, his tongue began glowing gold.

Outside the Temple, the Heartless seemed unimpressed. Several of the Emerald Blues began blasting each other with wind... which swirled around those targeted and was blasted back more powerfully. A large blast of wind shot at Hades, powered by multiple Emerald Blues, and the resulting tornado around Hades twirled the flames upwards before putting them out. As an added insult, his hair went out.

[nascent]

(OOC:

As an added insult, his hair went out.

Somehow, I just knew that'd be coming eventually. xD)




The god of the underworld stood there for a long moment, stunned and wide-eyed at what had just transpired. All his flames had just been whisked away...

... even his hair.

" . . . . . wha... wha..."

" . . . why... why you LITTLE FREAKS!!"

Hades didn't waste any more time on theatrical intimidation -- it clearly hadn't worked, anyway. With a renewed gush of anger and fire washing over him, he immediately set about getting down to the business at hand. A fresh set of fireballs swelled in his fists, and these he sent flying straight towards the Emerald Blue that had been the focus for the whirlwind. The ones closest to it would also be unpleasantly surprised to find that these balls of inferno came with splash damage, a full four foot diameter shockwave of flames on impact. Whatever they hit was in for some pain.

The lord of death didn't stop there, however. Shrouded in a symphony of flames, Hades charged forward and began wading into the fray himself, throwing flaming punches at whatever Heartless were unlucky enough to get within arm's length.

"Hey, kid!" He shouted from the midst of the fray, hoping Dante heard him. "Keep an eye out for the lizard!"

[Dante]

Dante was confused. Where had the Heartless come from all of a sudden? Who was that guy that was clad in ominous armor? Was the knight with Hades? Whatever it was, the warrior had to act fast and protect the Temple. With a few movements, Dante removed the cleaver from his back and looked around, hearing the shouts and screams from Hades outside. The guy got mad real easily, seeing as how he would burst into a blazing inferno with just one little hint of back talk.

A haze of heat shot forward as Hades began yet another spasm of anger, Dante covering his face. Then he heard the Lord speak... to him! "Hey, kid! Keep an eye out for the lizard!" Lizard? Well, if Dante saw any lizard, he would be sure to take care of it for Hades. Looking around, the searching teen couldn't find anything that would deal with a lizard, so, disregarding the monk and his orders, Dante shot forward with speed, appearing on the outside.

Lizard, lizard, lizard. Where would you find a Lizard? Dante was still dazed, but at least he had something to do, right? Searching around the outside, keeping a safe distance from Hades' flames, the warrior summoned two measures of music and placed them on the walls of the temple, conducting a few notes. If the lizard was hiding, this would hit it if it wasn't already inside, but then again, Dante wasn't all that skilled in finding things.

[prythian]

Hades's assault destroyed multiple Heartless, not prepared for a physical assault. The fireball had been shielded against by Aero-like magic, but Emerald Blues dissolved under the flaming punches, barely defending themselves against the flames that came with his presence.

It appeared air didn't protect well against fire.

Dante's attack was slightly less effective. The Chameleon-like Heartless flinched, returning to visibility as darkness hit it, but let out a loud hissing noise as the attack did minimal damage. With remarkable speed, it crawled across the walls, bursting into the Temple itself. Its tail slammed into the monk, dashing him against the wall as the Heartless made its way farther into the Temple. Orias groaned as pain flashed through his body, and knew instinctive that both arms and legs were broken, as well as some ribs.

He spit then, the saliva glowing golden from the power that he used. As it hit the floor, a trail of gold went into the Temple. It would show the path the Heartless had taken. He felt himself lose consciousness then, slipping into darkness.

[nascent]

Hades spun around upon hearing the loud, snarling hiss not far from the Temple, seeing the Heartless beast unmasked before the naked eye.

"Lizard! Kill it!!" He shouted, gesturing wildly at the creature while his other hand swung at dead air, the remaining Emerald Blues easily able to dodge his blind swipes while he was looking the other way.

The chameleon was fast; it rushed the entrance and was inside almost before Hades finished speaking. Not good! The grim god strongly suspected it would head straight for a single weakened target... the Temple leader. No, he couldn't let that happen.

"Oh no you don't!!" Hades bellowed, sprinting for the Temple entrance and pushing past Dante unceremoniously, curbing his wild flames so as not to burn the mortal. "Nobody dies here until I SAY SO!"

The lord of the Underworld noticed the glowing path -- how could he NOT?! -- and took off in pursuit down the passages and corridors of the Temple, leaving Dante to fend off the stragglers outside. If he could just catch up... just get within sight of the tricky Heartless...

[Dante]

Angry at himself, Dante clenched his fist, gritting his teeth. The lizard had gone in, crushing the monk as it made its way. "Damnit Hades... Damnit!" Furious and filled with the adrenaline of pure hatred, the warrior took his cleaver and ran towards the heartless that were left behind. They would be weak, thanks to Hades, but he couldn't let any others slip inside.

"Come on! Fight back!" The heartless were harmless against the giant blade. As he took the last one down, Dante ran towards the monk, kneeling beside him. This was all his fault. If he hadn't listened to Hades, this would've never happened. there was no way around the fact that he had killed an innocent protector. He was a murderer. Making a secret promise to himself, the redemptive warrior stood up and ran after the death master.

On the floor was a golden trail, which was odd. Taking no time to think, Dante followed the trail and hoped to catch up to the heartless, forgetting about Hades.

[prythian]

The golden line ended in a large hall. Oddly enough, no other monks had tried stopping the out-of-control Stealth Sneak. As a matter of fact, several of them had gathered around the broken body of Orias, honoring him as best they could. No healing would work on him now. The damage done to him had been too severe for any magic to fix.

Inside the hall, the Stealth Sneak waited, facing the entrance into the room. It knew it was being pursued, just as it had sensed the destruction of the ordinary heartless outside. It, however, was different. It slowly faded out of view, waiting to ambush its followers.

[nascent]

The flame-haired god chased the glowing trail deeper into the Temple, pursuing the lizardy Heartless with a furious intensity. When he spotted the trail's end, however, all that was there to greet him... was an empty room.

"Hmmm... alrighty, you shifty little bugger," Hades stated, looking warily all around him as he cautiously stepped towards the center of the room. "Quit hiding! I know you're in here... you can't really hope to win. I am, you know, a god, after all!"

He lit one of his hands on fire. "Your goose is cooked, scaley."

[Dante]

Making his way down the hall, Dante saw a flame ignite, feeling the intense heat it gave off. It was a Hades flame, no doubt about it. This meant that the lizard heartless was nearby. The warrior met up with Hades, a stern look plastered across his face. "Hades, have you seen the heartless around? You were the one pursuing it." Dante wasn't to happy, as most could tell, meaning that this wasn't the best time to tick him off. Still, he wouldn't be as bad as Hades.

Where was the trail of gold? If it had shown the way to Hades, it should have shown the way to the heartless as well. Would that mean that, in this very room, the heartless was hiding from the two? This just pissed the already angered Ex-Apprentice off even more, causing him to yell something quite over the top of Dante's normal anger shout. "You damned heartless! When I find you, I'm going to take my blade and rip you to shreds!"

[prythian]

Two glowing green dots appeared in the middle of the room, before shooting outwards in strange crescent-shaped beams towards both Dante and Hades, one beam for each. The Stealth Sneak, confident that this would distract them from noticing, moved and climbed up the wall and on top of the roof, hoping that they would be foolish enough to think it would stay on the ground while fighting them.

[nascent]

Hades recoiled from the crescent beam of energy, knocked back a few feet by the distraction. However, the attack -- ANY attack -- was just fuel for his anger, and lines of crimson inferno rose all across his body in response to the assault. Still... without a target in sight, the grim overlord's fury had no true outlet. That little sneak was fast, and as long as it stayed invisible they'd never catch it.

Hmm...

"Hey, kid... what you did before; think you can do that again?" Hades glanced briefly at Dante before stepping out toward the middle of the room. Hazy dark energies, not unlike smoke in appearance, began to swirl around his left hand. If he could just see the little bugger he could pin him down... and put an end to this little interruption.

[Dante]

Where had that beam come from? Well, the answer to that question would have to wait, for the laser was heading straight for the warrior himself. Dante lowered himself on one knee, folding his arms around his body as a shield from the darkness forced itself from the earth to protect the dark user. The beam shattered the barrier, of course, but since it was a projectile attack, it ricocheted off of the shield and went straight back towards the user, although it didn't hit it. Standing up and unfolding his arms, Dante looked to see if Hades had gotten through, the dead lord already making his way back to the center of the room.

"Hey, kid... what you did before; think you can do that again?" Could he do the Melody again? Of course, but it would be the final use. "Well, yeah, but you'll have to wish me luck. The attack is limited to a few uses and this is my final one." Without another word, the young man closed his eye, inhaled a deep breath, and placed his left hand on his temple, darkness forming around his right hand. The warrior concentrated on his attack, two bars of measures appearing across the room. Dante's eyes jolted open, his right hand flashing as he brought it up and swung it in a circle.

Notes began to shoot out in a random order as the teen conducted the attack, his mind set on finding this thing.

[prythian]

The notes struck the Stealth Sneak hiding on top of the room, sending it falling down... right on top of Hades. It flailed for a moment, upside down. It knew it couldn't win at this point, and there was no hope of it completing its primary objective by releasing the Seal.

That left one option for it. It was time to fulfill secondary objective. The Heartless stiffened up, halting all movement, and then turned black. The Heartless symbol on its chest glowed brightly, and faded out as the creature began melting into pure darkness. When Hades was out of the mass of darkness, he would find himself on top of a 2-foot diameter pool of darkness with a flat Heartless Symbol stuck upright in the middle of it.