Four Horsemen

"Kill Rubeki? Hey now, don't be so rude..." A voice said.

Boo and I turned our heads to see a man emanating in a red glow. He seemed to be missing the skin on his right arm... but he also looked like a Rubeki. The formation of his character was so confusing to me that I looked at him with a confused stare. The man standing in front of me wielded a huge great sword that was glowing in the same red color as him.

"I don't... care...?" Boo said to him. She drew her katana and he drew that great sword, holding the tip of it by her face.

"Why don't you two have a talk with us..." The Rubeki-Man said. He looked at Boo and quickly at me, then focused his scary glare on me permanently.

"Hey! You're Sky Asterio!" Holy shit, they're not going to believe this!" The Rubeki said.

Blood barely seeped out of his mouth and he wiped it, throwing it to the floor as another voice came up from the distance.

"You're right, I can't believe it myself." A bow-wielding Rubeki said to his friend.

"They're intelligent, but they're also sentient...? They know about you as well, Sky." Boo said to me.

"You're telling me we could end this here? War, Pestilence, what are you waiting for?" A third voice?! You have to be kidding...

I pulled Boo's arm to reposition ourselves to face all three at once, and that's when the fourth, and apparent final appeared from the same hill the other three did.

"Don't be stupid. You know we can't kill both of them. We just need to keep them alive for the time being, until Providence arrives." The Rubeki named War said.

"Providence... you four know Mom?!" Boo asked them.

"That's the girl... it's definitely Buusu. Providence asked us to keep her alive, and even Sky Asterio. Why does she want both of them?" The man who went by Pestilence asked.

Things were slowly starting to connect. Everything Mom and Boo said, why do they want us alive? What importance do we serve?

"That sucks. This will be a pretty one-sided fight, it looks like. You can't kill either of us, but it's our job to murder you? Don't be stupid. You're trying to scare us, but you're the ones that should be afraid." Boo said. Following her lead, I summoned both purple sabers and held them up, ready to attack anybody that came close to Boo or me.

"So accustomed to violence. Say, Sky Asterio, why don't we have a little chat?" A scythe-wielding Rubeki asked me. He explained his name was Death, and the final remaining Rubeki wielding a mace was Famine.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked him. Death snapped his fingers and just like that, all Rubeki dispersed into their black smoke around us.

"I just want to help! It looks like we're in crunch time now as everything falls apart around us, so I figured I should save you the trouble!" He explained.

The students of MTG all looked around confused as the Rubeki vanished, as nobody knew why. Boo and I were the only people who knew why the Rubeki simply vanished.

"How did you..." Boo quietly muttered, but Death just sat there with a weird smile.

"I'm the top of the line for my Rubeki. They're all mine, just fractions of me waiting to be used as tools. There! Now, nobody else has to die. You owe me a quick conversation for that, don't you?" Death asked me. I silently agreed to listen to what he had to say.

"Can you take golden strands yet? Can you process them? Your mother, Ali Asterio, implanted me with those golden strands. How about we strike a deal? You were saved by me because I eliminated those Rubeki. Now, you save me by taking these things out. How does that sound?" He asked me.

"Oh, that's what you wanted?! Sure, that'll be easy!" I told him. I put away both sabers and walked over to him with my hand held out for him.

Death tried to grab onto it and in the split second I caught him blinking, I summoned the purple saber and swung it straight through his body, cutting him in half.

Death jumped backward and his body quickly reconnected as he spat up blood and looked full of content.

"I didn't know you were already such a bad guy. To think, Sky is already such a master at deception." Death told me.

"What do you mean by that? Your words. Already? What are you saying?" I asked him.

"Huh? Wait a minute... you're not here of your free will, are you?" He asked me.

"I wanted to join MTG. What the hell are you saying?" I asked Death again. His jaw dropped even further.

"Uh, Death, I don't think he's aware. That's sweet... then it's probably that Illya girl, isn't it?" Famine asked Death again. They were talking without including me and I was totally left in the dark! What the hell?!

"You guys better start talking before I murder all four of you," I said to them. The purple sabers appeared out of thin air and just as I was getting ready to attack, a sword planted itself into War and sent him flying back toward Death. From behind War's old position, Shike jumped up and peered at each and every single one of the four Rubeki.

"Sorry we're late, Sky," Shike told me. Shike, Belle, Alexia, Mitra, Myth, and Illya were all standing with their weapons drawn, looking at each of the Rubeki.

"I'll handle War. Leave him to me." Shike said, slowly walking toward the fallen Rubeki.

"I'm allowed to kill you. Don't get so cocky, white-haired kid." War said while coughing up blood.

"I'm not being cocky on purpose. My strength fits my words. Does yours?" Shike asked with a smile.

"I guess we'll just have to find out," War commented again.

"Belle! Alexia! You guys take Famine! Boo, Mitra, Myth! You take Pestilence! Sky, can you handle death?!" Shike yelled out to me.

"You're damn right I can," I told him while gazing upon Death.

"Don't be selfish. We'll take him out." Illya said, walking up next to me and focusing her vision on Death as well.