Tempo Trigger Chapter 9
The Kazin Incident
By Nanaki
975 A.D.
"There it is!" Raganorn pointed excitedly toward Moogoo's castle. He was hovering about fifteen feet above the ground, something Schala had been trying to figure out how to do, and she couldn't see it yet. The light was weird too. The clouds were thick over the mountain pass, and the grass seemed to be a very odd color.
"Well let's get down there, because I think we're about to have a thunderstorm out here." Tempo had picked up on it too. Raganorn looked a little too happy to be bothered by the weather.
"You got it. Let's go give that son of a bitch what he deserves!" He charged down the trail. The other three ran behind him. Amazingly, even here, there was no opposition from the enemy.
"This is starting to freak me out." Tempo admitted as they ran. "It's like he doesn't even care. Or else this is a trap."
"All their other "traps" have worked out for us so far." Schala reassured him. With that, they were close to the imposing main gates. Moogoo's castle was full of twisted spires, and oddly rounded windows. Raganorn and Leopold would have expected the castle to have very narrow windows, or none at all. Up close, it looked very alien, and Raganorn finally stopped grinning.
"Get ready everyone. I'm going to blow this gate in." He stepped back, and raised his fist into the air. The others readied their weapons.
"Now, there's no need for that." A mocking voice came from behind the gate, and it slowly creaked open on ancient hinges. Kazin stood in the center, and as the gate swung wider, they all saw a fair amount of Viashino standing there too. "It's not like you ever could have gotten inside anyway. Now, that's far enough!" With that, the Viashino rushed forward.
Tempo got things rolling with the same technique he had used against Barada on the stairs. The ground burst up and outward in front of him, causing many of the big lizards to lose their balance. Raganorn drew out his claymore, and proceeded to lay much waste. Schala and Leopold did what they could from afar, while Tempo charged in to finish off whatever Raganorn didn't. In a few minutes, the lizards stopped coming. Kazin sighed. "Well, it looks like I'm actually going to have to do this myself."
"Don't sound so confident." Tempo grinned. "We're gonna bust you up."
"It would appear that way, but I prefer to fight one on one." Kazin stretched his arms out, and retreated farther into the castle. They all ran after him. Suddenly, Schala, Tempo, and Raganorn were encased inside individual force fields, leaving only Leopold on the outside. "And you're the one I prefer to fight against." Kazin finished, pointing at him.
"You coward!" Raganorn shouted from inside the prison, banging his fist on the invisible barrier.
"Don't worry about it master. I can handle him if I really need to." Leopold grimaced. It was a lie. His wrist was still killing him from the Flame On he had used earlier.
"You really think so, huh Leopold?" Kazin drew out a wicked looking scimitar. "You'll soon find out how wrong you are!" Leopold whipped out both of his sais in response. Wasting no time, Kazin charged at him. Since the scimitar had a much longer reach, and he wouldn't be able to use his right hand much anyway, Leopold did the most logical thing he could think of. He quickly raised good arm, and whipped the sai at Kazin, then transferred the other sai over to his good hand. Kazin honestly didn't expect the move, as his expression indicated when the dagger buried itself up to the hilt in his chest. But he quickly whispered a few words, and the sai fell out as a soft white light fell on him. The wound closed instantly. The action prompted Schala to try to use magic against him, but it seemed the field prohibited her from that too.
Leopold jumped high in the air, then came down at a forty five degree angle, thrusting his sai forward. Kazin blocked it easily. Leopold resigned himself, then his legs began to glow brightly. "Thunder Kick!" Lightning seemed to engulf the lower half of his body, and his foot raced furiously fast toward Kazin's head. Kazin went flying through the air, to smash back against the castle wall. 'Wow! I'm actually doing it!' He thought, smiling to himself. 'Too bad I had to use my soul powers though. That probably took a few weeks off my life.'
But Kazin wasn't finished. He groggily got back up, then raised his scimitar again. "Use your soul powers on me again, and you'll live to regret it, although you won't live long after that."
"You're all talk." Leopold twirled his sai expertly in his left hand. He anticipated Kazin's sword thrust, and caught the blade between the prongs of his sai. Twisting it, he quickly disarmed Kazin, then grabbed him by the arm. "I think you're going to like this one. Flame On!" Instantly, Kazin's body burst into flame. Leopold jumped back quickly, as Kazin chanted an ice spell. A large crystal of ice fell on him, extinguishing the flames. As the smoke cleared, he looked extremely pissed off.
"I warned you. Now it's too late." Kazin's eyes lit up with an orange glow. "Dancing Blade!" Instantly, his scimitar lifted of the floor and began to rotate wildly. It criss crossed the room at lightning speed, and the three reluctant observers gasped as blood began to spurt from Leopold in several places. The scimitar came to rest in Kazin's hand, and he grinned.
Leopold couldn't believe it. He watched the blood pour out of him with wide eyes. He quickly realized that he was bleeding to death. There was only one thing he could do. It would shave years off his life, but that was better than dying right now. He closed his eyes, and reached into the depths of his soul for the strongest spell he knew. "Diamond Body!" His eyes opened as he shouted. Instantly, a blinding white light encased him, and his body crystalized. The bleeding stopped instantly.
"Very impressive." Kazin nodded approval. "I wasn't aware you had that much skill." Then, his grin quickly faded into a sneer. "But it's time you learned that there are ways to break a diamond! Icequake!" The floor turned to ice instantly, but Kazin focused the spell more this time. Ice quickly encased Kazin's legs, and ran up his torso, leaving only his head free. He struggled, but somehow couldn't break through the ice. "Now..." Kazin began to concentrate, then he rushed forward. "Heee-" He punched Leopold's torso. Cracks appeared in the crystal. "Yaaah-" He kicked Leopold's right leg. More cracks. "Shio-" A roundhouse kick, nailing him in the back. "Kei!!!" And one final punch, that went all the way through Leopold. He literally shattered, thousands of diamond pieces scattering off into the dark.
"Nooo!!!" Raganorn shouted, pounding on his barrier again.
Kazin turned calmly toward them. "Next." He studied them for a minute, then Schala's barrier disappeared.
"You're the biggest coward who ever lived!" Tempo shouted at him. Kazin didn't pay attention. Schala smiled as she drew her dagger. The way things were going, they were all in for a surprise.
"What do you think you can do to me with that?" Kazin almost laughed at the puny weapon she carried.
"You're about to find out." She continued to grin, then launched herself at him. For the first time since she had landed here, she was really giving it her all. The three men watching were very surprised at the speed she moved, given the robes she was wearing. Kazin had a broad gap in his armor before he even realized she was getting close to him. He brought his scimitar up and charged forward. A large blast of purple energy pushed him back. "You're lucky I'm not at full power," she taunted him, "or you would be SO dead."
"There's big difference between luck and power." He ducked down low, and immediately thrust up with a huge swing. Schala parried with the dagger, but was knocked backwards. "It's time you learned what that difference is. Absolute zero!" He immdediately swung downward, giving her no time to defend. The scimitar cut fairly deep into her shoulder, and ice began to spread down from the wound.
Schala couldn't even remember a simple fire spell. She was extremely annoyed with both him and herself, but couldn't do anything about it. Half of her body was frozen. "Leopold couldn't compete with me." Now he taunted her. "What made you think you had a chance?"
Schala had a hard time not revealing it. She felt the Nooze working fast and furious to break down the ice. Suddenly, the blue crystals shattered, and she instantly charged at Kazin. She was tempted to stop and savor the look on his face. But then, something was wrong. Just before the dagger connected, his hand hit her shoulder. Then, he flipped through the air, landing right behind her. She started to turn, but too late. In a flash, the scimitar was imbedded deep in her back, then all the way through. She was effectively impaled. Kazin let go, and she sank to her knees, then the ground.
"Schala!!' Tempo cried out. He didn't want to watch anymore. He couldn't believe they were all going to end up like that. Well, he was anyway. Kazin would probably call on Moogoo for help with Raganorn. He turned away, toward Raganorn, so he wouldn't have to watch. Just in time to see Raganorn go insane.
At least, that's what it seemed like. His eyes radiated a brilliant green. "El! No, not again!!" He punched the barrier as hard as he could, many times, in rapid fire succession. He kicked it, threw his shoulder into it, as he howled with rage. The barrier seemed to shimmer slightly each time he hit. Kazin turned to watch too, ignoring Schala's still form. Raganorn actually seemed to think he could get out of there.
Schala slowly stood back up. She was really going to enjoy this. "Sorry." She began. Kazin instantly whirled back around. He had though that she might find some way to heal herself. That, he could accept. But no, the blade was still protruding from her midsection. Eerily, there was no blood to be seen anywhere. "Sorry," she said again, beginning to grin, "but that trick only works once." Then, incredibly, she began to pull the blade through her, out the front. The hilt proved to be a problem, so Schala rotated the sword around inside her, making the hole bigger, before pulling it all the way out. Kazin just stood, dumb with amazement. He could see all the way through her, and there was no blood. He jumped with surprise as Schala threw the scimitar at him. No, she was throwing it TO him, not at him. "Here. I think you're going to be needing this." She was grinning widely now. What could she possibly mean by that?
"Eeaaaggghhh!!!" Kazin felt an intense magical backlash, and then Raganorn was free, his huge claymore heading right for Kazin's neck. Green bolts of lightning crackled around the room.
"This is impossible!" Kazin shouted as he jumped away.
"You have no idea who you're dealing with here." Raganorn smiled as his blade connected with Kazin's armor, rending a giant tear in it. "And for underestimating us, you will die. This is for Leopold!" Kazin suddenly remembered that he had his scimitar back, and he held it up to ward off the next blow. Raganorn's claymore shattered it, and carved deep through his torso armor, deep into his chest. Kazin screamed in pain. He held up the broken hilt to try to ward off the next slash. The claymore severed his right hand.
"You don't have any idea who you're dealing with either!" Kazin shouted as he used his left hand to try to stem the blood flowing from the bloody stump. "Killing me will make no difference in the long run!"
"Probably not." Raganorn paused momentarily. "But it'll make me feel a lot better." He struck upward in a vicious arc, and Kazin's left arm was struck off. He screamed again. Raganorn jumped high up into the air, then brought the giant sword down hard, splitting Kazin in half. Brains and blood flew everywhere, spattering across Raganorn's arms and face. He didn't seem to notice. "Hmm... Never thought I'd be using one of HIS skills." He observed offhand.
"I never saw Kazin use anything like that." Schala wiped a small drop of blood off of her hand.
"That's not what I meant." Raganorn shook his head. "Forget about it. I'll lose the knowledge in a few seconds, now that I've kept the mission intact again."
"What mission?" Schala gave him a piercing look now.
"I... don't know." As she watched, she saw the bright green color steadily fading from his eyes. Schala felt another magical backlash, and the barrier containing Tempo shattered.
"Let's not sit around here!" He waved his arms. "We've got a score to settle with Moogoo."
"Yes indeed." Raganorn clenched his fist. "I'll make him pay for the deaths of two of my best men!" They quickly walked deeper into the darkness of the castle.
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"I'm not gonna forgive you!... Never!" - Edge
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