The Trickster’s Return

Darius stood at a distance as he watched the battle go on. He had fully expected from the beginning for Akuro to win, but witnessing Akuro's full capabilities was astonishing, really. He knew he was strong, just not to this degree. He leaned back against a large Boulder, scorched black with charcoal from what used to be trees, now nothing more than black dust. How long, he wondered, until Akuro would realize he was in a snare?

Darius watched as a silver god approached Akuro, chakram in hand, at the center of a massive crater. Akuro simply stood there, seemingly unconscious. He was in a trance. Darius figured it was most likely caused by the god. Or possibly by the two who accompanied the god. But the strange thing about them, was that they didn't have any aura of their own. It was like they were reanimated corpses.

The god stopped, an arm's length away from Akuro, and held up the blade of the chakram to Akuro's throat. Darius stood with a sigh.

"I guess I should make my presence known then." He put his hand to his chin and popped his neck one way, then the other. Then he rolled out his shoulders. A moment later he clenched his jaw and his expression went stern as a solid emerald Aura Cloak enveloped his body, a long flowing cloak with thin plates of armor, one covering his shoulder and chest and more down his lower arms and legs. A hood covered over his head as a black mask covered his face and black horns extended from his forehead beneath the hood. The mask resembled that of a gargoyle. A second later green light pulsates around his body and he flashed out of existence.

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Moorza held his chakram to Akuro's throat. He glanced at the destruction around him from the Moon he'd summoned. He was astonished at how Akuro had managed to survive it. He looked back at the boy in front of him. Shadows shifted around the mask as it slowly repaired itself, covering over his eye.

A moment later Nerrik appeared behind Akuro, a large sword placed against either shoulder of Akuro.

"Let me, he pissed me off." Nerrik growled. "He's too cocky for his own good."

"No." Moorza growled back. "He is mine. He is out of your league, now get."

"But-"

Moorza's eyes widened and he spun on his heel, moving aside as the air shifted and something streaked through the air and slammed with a loud *THUD* into Nerrik's head, knocking him to the ground. A deformed knife was embedded in the center of his forehead.

Three silver bursts of light streaked towards Moorza then, who danced aside, dodging them, only to be met by an armored fist crashing into the side of his head and sending him end over end across the crater.

There, at the center of the crater beside Akuro stood an armor clad man, emerald cloak flickering in the wind.

"Yo." The figure spoke.

"Who the fuck are you?" Moorza hissed, getting up onto his feet.

The figure laced his fingers behind his head.

"Does it matter?"

"You just punched me in the damn face, so yea I'd say it does. You one of the Archdemons?"

The figure scoffed. "No. But I am the guy who's gonna kick your ass."

"So you are a friend of his?" Moorza asked.

"You could say that." The figure said. "If you really need to know, my name is Darius. And you are about to die."

"Darius? Wait, you mean- you are supposed to be dead!"

Darius vanished, reappearing in front of Moorza, holding a bow with an arrow knocked and pointed straight up at Moorza's jaw, point blank.

"But I'm not, bitch." He said, then looses the arrow, sending Moorza soaring into the air straight up as his head was blown off by a ray of aura. Darius flashed into existence above Moorza in the sky, his heel crashing down on the God's stub of a neck, crushing his body and sending him flying back down to the earth.

As Moorza stood, his head and chest healing over themselves, he held up his hands. As he did four pearl pillars rose around him, but a moment later they were blasted apart by four beams of silver aura. Moorza's eyes barely caught a glimpse of green light as Darius dashed at him at full speed. When Darius came to point blank range, a ball of silver aura formed in Moorza's outstretched hand, the aura about to make contact with Darius's chest, but the next second Moorza felt his body freeze.

'What..?!' He thought. 'I.. can't move!'

A wall of reflective aura had appeared through Moorza's body, trapping him. It was as though he had literally been trapped inside a mirror. A perfect copy of Darius appeared behind Moorza, copying the original's movements in perfect sync as a fist crashed into Moorza's chest from either side. As the fists made contact, Moorza's body, like a mirror being struck, shattered into millions of shards of aura that still held his broken image in them.

Darius stood, his reflection gone now, over the shards.

"Well." He said. "That takes care of that. Now I've shattered the souls of two of them, so where is the third?"

Darius's ability was able to pull out one's soul and give it a physical form-the mirror- and his reflection was his own soul. As he and his soul struck the glass, it would literally shatter his opponent's soul. It was an unavoidable and extremely affective attack.

Darius strode over to where Nerrik lay, unmoving, and bent over, pulling his dagger from the corpse's head, but as he did the body began to glow with a faint light, casting an ominous green-blue glow over the area in which its light would reach.

"What's this?" Darius asked, surprised, as he sensed soul energy rising from the corpse.

Nerrik suddenly sprang up onto his feet, two massive swords swinging in a scissor action for Darius's throat. Darius leaned away from the attack, launching himself back as he backpeddaled away from the undead god.

As he created distance, he faintly heard the clanking sound of metal on metal. He spun, raising his arms, as Nezzra appeared, three small blades held in each hand between her fingers. She slashed at Darius as though she had talons, the blades not even meeting any resistance against Darius's Aura Cloak, they just phased through it as if it were not even there. The blades cut deep into Darius's arms, leaving gashes that bled profusely before her she halted, leaning onto one foot while the other flew forward, he foot striking Darius's arms and shattering his bones as he was sent back a couple yards.

'Strange..' Darius thought. 'He only started moving again once the dagger was gone.. as though it had sealed his soul instead of shattering it. Is it possible that their souls are stronger than most and can't be shattered by simple means? Or is it something else..?' As he thought in this, his arms healing over completely, Nerrik dashed at him from behind and Nezzra from in front.

Darius stopped, motioning both hands downwards, pointing towards the ground as two walls of reflective aura rose on either side of him, reflecting the images of his attackers. As he did, he then spun, twisting around, the mirrors matching his motion. He had mirrored his enemies and then switched places, capturing their images, the duplicates clashing with the originals. Talon-like daggers ripped into Nerrik's throat, slicing it open, while swords severed Nezzra's body in two.

Darius was about to lower the mirrors and continue to attack his opponents, but a moment later he felt an intense pressure rush at him and he spun about to face it, but was a bit late. As he spun to face the new attacker, his eyes widened as Moorza's fist crashed into his chest, crushing his ribcage in on itself as he was launched backwards through the air and crashed into a wall.

Darius shook his head as his ribs snapped back into place. He stood to his feet, wiping dust from his body and turning his eyes to face Moorza.

"How are you alive?" He growled.

Moorza held his chakram at his side and pointed skyward. "So long as the moon hangs in the blanket of the night sky, I cannot fall." He grinned. "You cannot defeat me. No one can."

"I see.." Darius sighed looking up at the moon. "So your saying to win this I've gotta fight till sunlight or..."

"Or?" Moorza tilted his head.

"Or destroy the moon."

Moorza blinked a few times in disbelief at the words that had left Darius's mouth. "What? Are you insane or something?"

Darius shrugged. "Possibly." Then his bow appeared in his hand and he drew back the string, aura gathering into the weapon creating an arrow of pure energy.

"I won't let you!" Moorza roared, dashing at Darius.

"Checkmate. Idiot." Darius said, shifting the bow to face the charging god as he looked the arrow and a massive stream of aura vaporized Moorza's body, leaving nothing in its tracks as the land was struck and destroyed, carving a massive crevice in the land like a ravine.

Darius then turned skyward and raised his hand. Four mirrors formed in a line going higher into the air one after the other from his palm. Green light flowed through the mirrors, each brighter than the last. The earth shook around Darius as aura gathered in mass into the mirrors before the land around him was obliterated from the force of a massive beam being blasted from the mirrors flying towards the moon. The aura beam was cut short though as a massive dragon appeared in its trajectory path, an orb held in its talons. The orb was struck with the aura, but it was unaffected, instead it seemed to absorb all of the attack.

"Dragon? I see. That's what this is." Darius muttered as he watched the aura in the orb shift and churn before it was all absorbed into the dragon.

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Inari stood at the edge of a sheer cliff outside of Fort Arashi, staring down at the destruction below her. The world was turned on its head, the land in ruin and scorched destruction. She watched the flashing lights in the distance as she observed the battle. But who was the man in the green Aura Cloak? Why was he helping Akuro? It made no sense to her.

She held out her hand, a faint white glow emitting from it as Makane appeared then.

"Makane." Inari spoke. "Who is that? Do we know him?" She nodded towards the figure in green.

"You really don't recognize his aura?" Makane asked. "I guess it has changed quite drastically. That is Darius."

Inari's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She remembered the trickster, weakling from before, and compared it to the man she saw now.

"That? That's Darius? Seriously"

"Yes. He seems to have undergone extreme changes..."

"No say?"

"It's like he absorbed an exponential amount of aura.. could it be..."

"What?" Inari asked.

"I know where Darius has been all this time.." Makane said suddenly. "We need to go down there and join the fight. Now."

"What? How are we supposed to help? We can't even make a solid Aura Cloak yet!"

"We will use all nine tails." Makane said.

"Are you sure I'm ready for that..?" Inari asked, unsure. "I've only ever gone up to seven.."

"You don't have much a choice."