38 00110011 00110111 Eclipsed Bones

When Ratatoskr entered the room with the skull he knew that he was going against the grim reaper. Something he had known the moment he was told their mission. But this was something more than he expected.

The floating spectre before him gave off a cold light as it drew forth it's red obsidian scythe. The feeling of cold frosted the room. The cobblestones below his feet seemed to rattle as the grim reaper raised its blade to its side obviously going for a horizontal slash.

Immediately Rat went into action. He grabbed his shield and ran slamming it to the ground and lept onto it. The world seemed to suddenly go faster. Contrary to what most people thought his acorn shield wasn't actually a shield. It was a sled/skateboard type object. Allowing him to ride at speeds faster than most could think. In Myth Ratatoskr was a messenger of the Norse gods. A squirrel that made the world tree his home. As such the world's attached to it were his playground.

Mixing his sleds power with his unique ability to pass through objects without care of what they were was an amazing assassination Combo. And this is what awarded him enough attention to get on Arthur's team.

As he skidded around the room his body became a blur of motion. Sparks from the stones danced about wherever he landed leaving small amounts of dust and wind in his wake. The wind began to build in the room till it was a powerful cyclone with Henry at the center. His scythe still ready to swing and seemingly at a loss for what to do.

When Rat saw this he couldn't help but smirk.

The skill he was using was Hurricane of Yggdrasil. A skill that boosted his speed and inhibited his opponents by creating winds from his constant movements. The longer he moved, the stronger it got.

"You really thought you could take us on individually?" He lept forward smashing Henry's right shoulder with his acorn mace. Some bone splinters cracked off and fell to the floor from beneath his robe at the impact. But Henry didn't say a word as he resumed his stance.

Rat huffed at him and just continued to ride around. He continued to strike and leap away before Henry could react. A strike to the head. Another strike to the left foot. All joints that were weak to impact he targeted.

"You were all fools to think any of us alone weren't enough to handle you all. And now. Your faction is dying today." He laughed. His horribly squeaky laugh echoing through the wind.

Henry's form didn't look so good at this point. His skull was cracked and a couple teeth were missing. His left foot had been blown off so he was only standing due to his right foot and leaning on what remained of his left ankle.

But despite all this Henry never said a word.

Rat just shook his head at the person before him. "What? Not going to say a word? Then I guess you'll just die quietly." He shouted as he charged forward.

Little did he realize that every time he struck Henry. Henry's blade turned more and more crimson. Till it was oozing a Red mist that rose like thin tendrils of smoke from its blade.

"I think you should have shut up when you had the chance." Henry said coldly. His voice seeming to roar through the winds as his body suddenly turned into nothing but a blur. Even Rat lost sight of him.

And as suddenly as Henry moved. There was a snipping sound. The air suddenly died down as Rat landed on his sled.

He checked his body quickly with a concerned look. Something about him felt off. His hurricane of Yggdrasil skill that he activated while riding died like it never existed leaving dust particles floating slowly down like snow.

He turned to see Henry standing awkwardly on his broken leg. He almost wanted to laugh and say Henry missed. But then his vision split. A great red line appeared on Rats body. Right clean down the middle. The same color as Henry's scythe blade. Slowly Rat began to desintegrate. His energy slowly being absorbed by the scythe.

"Huh... I didn't think I'd lose. So easily." He said as his body completely fell apart and his vision cut out.

Meanwhile Henry's body lit up with red energy as the blade fed him the energy it had taken from Rat. His foot re-grew from the stump of his ankle. His cracked and broken body quickly repaired it's fractures and losses till there stood a proud and happy Henry.

"Hehehe... Hahahahaha! I knew I could do it! Oh mama! Hahaha! I love you!" He said as his skull seemingly kissed his scythe before polishing it with his cloaks sleeve.

In the main room Rat appeared falling from the ceiling with a loud thud. "Gah!" He said as he impacted the floor.

Slowly he rolled over before hearing a door open.

"That was a decent bout. But I'd say you shouldn't focus on your speed so much little chipmunk." Henry's voice echoed through the hall.

Rat turned around quickly to see Henry standing there leaning against the door with the scythe against his shoulder. Rat pouted and turned away. "Why should I listen to a guy who couldn't even keep up? My tactic works on everybody. Even you with your stupid trump card." He said.

Henry shrugged. "Whatever dude. Your choice." He said as he turned to go back into the room.

"I'm a girl! You beast!" Rat shouted throwing an acorn from her mace towards Henry.

He was so surprised that the acorn hit him in the face and knocked him over.

Meanwhile in Beth's Room

"Been a while Erin." Beths voice echoed through the mist in her room. Agni held his throats. Despite not feeling pain he still felt a form of pressure in his throat from breathing this miasma in. His health bar was taking a hit just standing there.

His eyes were bugging out as he turned every way possible to find who had spoken.

"It has Beth." He croaked from his right head. "But this isn't a comfort call. No matter what you say I have to do this." His left head said as loudly as he could despite his uncomfortable throat.

Beth's shadow appeared in the back. Her mourning widow appearance creating quite the contrast against the mist around her. Her umbrella tapping the ground lightly as she slowly strode forward.

"We were once unit buddies. But that was a long time ago. You are with a group that destroys the young and capable just to produce some result. Mine is much different. So... are you going to stay there like a bitch or come at me?" She said raising an elegant gloved hand beckoning Agni to come forward.

Steam began to rise off his body as tiny particles fell from him. Heat waves rolled off of him causing the mist to retreat. His health slowly stopped dropping and his flaming bangles began to rotate at a high speed looking like rings of pure light.

Once the mist somewhat cleared it showed what the room looked like.

It was a graveyard. Not just a graveyard. One filled with tombs and tilting marble gravestones. An eerie and dark place. The tombstones were cracked and the writing illegible. The grounds dark and having little life. Only splotches of grass here and there for its cover.

"Out of respect. I'll be bringing you down today." He said smashing his fists together As more arms emerged from him. Seven arms bearing bangles now appeared around him. A third leg appeared from his rear area crouching till he was basically sitting on it.

"We haven't fought since we arrived here. What's it been? A couple hundred years. And not one battle. Must be some luck that we get to do this now." Agni chortled from his right head while his left head snarled.

"Let's just beat her you ignoramous!"It snarled.

"My my. I would teach that one manners before we're done here." Beth said stopping before planting her umbrella tip solidly on the ground.

A wave of mist rose form her as she slowly pulled a handkerchief from her lapel and swung it through the air. Droplets shot from it toward Agni. But they never landed. They hit his heat barrier and dissipated into steam.

The heat barrier had extended to the nearby graves making the rocks steam and heat up. The ground itself exuded a type of smoke when Agni stepped forward in his awkward three legged fashion. "I've been waiting years for this." He said as he launched forward. The ground exploding in chunks of dry hot dirt as he did so.

Beth stayed where she was as Agni reached out a hand and swiped at her. His clawed nails reaching like an animal. She side stepped before swinging her umbrella like a bat. Hitting him in the temple with the handle sending him flying past her.

"Arrogant and barbaric as always." She said as she resumed her stance. She looked very much like a combat instructor if you took away the fact she wore funeral clothing.

"After all this time you continue to just lunge and claw. Your talent in the military in CQC needed work too. No wonder they just stuck you at a desk. Even after all I taught you." She said side eyeing him as he growled. He forced himself from the ground as fire filled his hands. He began to throw red fireballs at her in quick succession. All seven arms never stopping.

Explosions were heard as she continued to stand in place. Seemingly not moving. The mist was replaced by smoke as tombs cracked further and earth exploded from the fiery impacts.

"Never needed CQC! I was always better at long range! And you never understood that! That's why I was stuck at a desk all those years with my health failing. I was 43 when they tried forcing me out! The same day the Blood flooded the base! I was trapped in an office with nowhere to go! And where were you? Huh? Where!?" He shouted. He stopped launching the fireballs to see what remained of his former instructor.

The smoke drifted apart to reveal an empty charred mound of dirt and grass.

"I was training more people than you will ever know. Good talents that would have gone further than me if the Blood hadn't shown up." Beth said as she stepped from behind a gravestone.

"And people say you're slow." Agni said glaring at her. "Lying to your teammates now are we?"

"No. I never said I was slow. I just like being pampered." Beth said blowing on her handkerchief a bit more before dissappearing before his eyes.

"Wha-" He felt something slam into his face sending him crashing into one of the tombs followed by the sound of crumbling stones and a coughing fit. His health reaching a dangerously low point where it turned bright yellow.

"You know. I put all my points into two things in my body. My legs and my eyes. Cause all I could do was cry when I fought. I hate fighting. Truly. So I'd rather run. But the thing I've learned from my newest rookie. Is that sometimes running won't get us what we want." Beth said. Her one gloved hand held out extended from where Agni once stood.

"What? You're preaching to me now?" Agni growled as his flaming rings seemed to explode with light. "You won't have time. Prophetic Meteor!" His left head shouted as he held his hands to the sky. A rumble filled the room as the ceiling turned into the night sky. A distant red star began to grow brighter and larger.

"I wasn't preaching. I was just telling you why you had no chance." Beth said as she appeared in front of him. Her clothes smoking inside his heat waves. She shoved her hands against both his open mouths. As mist poured from them filling his lungs as his once yellow health bar finally dropped to the bottom. His body crumbled to data bits as he stared at her wide eyed.

"If you tell them anything." She said holding an index finger to his lips.

"I will crush you every chance I get." She whispered with a cold glint in her eyes.

His body finally desintegrate and the ceiling faded back to it's normal look.

The sound of a bell chimed in the main room Rat was waiting in. Henry was sitting with her drinking tea. A hole opened in the ceiling and in fell Agni with a Yelp.