Raid #101

Flames were spread far throughout the Galbadian capital of Deling City, as was much of the surrounding territory as well. The night sky was rank with the smell of death, thickened by the mass amounts of smoke given birth from the embers that fueled them. Many citizens ran for their lives throughout the blackened streets, trying to avoid the randomly spawned pools of darkness that seemed to stalk every last one of them. As a single woman tried to make a dash for the former residence of now ex-President Deling, hoping for some sort of safety behind the cast iron gates, onlookers upon the sidewalk turned in time to see the doomed girl pulled into a pool of Darkness by several Neoshadows. Fearful expressions gripped the features of these clueless civilians, however their attention was soon diverted; a coalescence of Darkness, formed upon the balcony that plaid scene for the passing of Deling at the hands of Ultimecia through Edea.

Deep violet and black wisps danced throughout the air, only to find themselves brightened with intense neon before transforming into cryptic glyphs that remained suspended elegantly. As the negative energy formed into crests, a bright spire of power pierced their center, creating a cocoon upon the cold steel that soon broke apart; the commander of this rare occurrence revealed in the wake of dissipated energy. Eyes green, fused with the power of mako snapped open, gazing out to rest upon the site of a city burning. It was as if he were standing upon a much more refined and wealthy duplicate of Nibelheim, how fitting. As gold burned with wood upon this pitiful scape, the moon shone brightly upon the tragedy befalling Deling City, whose every aspect seemed to be lit up with a bright shade of orange. Leather creaked as Sephiroth flexed his hand within the black glove that warmed it; the legendary SOLDIER rising to his feet to meet his full measure in height. His wing remained hidden, for he had not yet called for its use. Sephiroth remained calm and collected as always upon his survey of the scene, taking note of all those who attempted to flee the clutches of the Heartless only to fail with a shrill pierce in the air.

The former SOLDIER himself had not summoned the creatures, yet they proved to be a suitable distraction for the Keybearers, should any arrive for an attempt to cease his actions. There were none who could, just Cloud. Yet something told the Angel that the traitor was displaced within himself, off fighting for whatever flawed, broken reason that was not his own. So if Cloud remained plagued, diluted with the permeating thoughts that there was something worse than that of himself, worse than his arch-nemesis, who then could guide him? Ignorant human, there existed no such force. Sephiroth was and would always remain burned into Cloud's heart, and yet the puppet was incapable of seeing this. Instead he would rather shy away, and hide within his misery than face the Angel. It was such thinking that solidified the certainty within him, knowing full well that no matter who stepped forward today, they would not provide enough of a satisfaction for the Angel's thirst for combat. No other could soothe his hatred as much as every blow he dealt upon the puppet. What he craved was on a caliber rivaling that of his duel atop the Shinra building, yet as he looked to the smoke filled sky, Sephiroth could sense the distant aura of Light growing ever so slightly with each passing moment. So...they were already on their way.

"So predictable..." he spoke out loud to himself, raising his left hand high into the air to create a long streaking flash of Lifestream green. Within an instant the Masamune was held firmly within the Angel's grasp, leather creaking more as it tightened over the wrappings of the hilt. Sephiroth lowered the massive weapon, then continued to stand there as he watched the city burn on, a soft string serenade playing softly within his mind. The intense orange played off of his eyes in their depths, reflecting the madness within. To be honest with himself the former 1st Class saw great beauty in of all this; the destruction of something great so that something more prophetic might stand upon its ashes, to serve his cause. Simply divine.

(OOC: You're welcome, and let me just say, you are roleplaying as the best Sephiroth I've ever had the pleasure of crossing swords.)

A large flash of light cast off the surface of reflective weapons before a loud clang resounded of tempered steel; the thick blade of Falchion sparked against the indestructible thin razor that was Masamune as the prince tested Sephiroth's power. The metal resounded between them as they held in place, neither one of them willing to give up the pressure should the other take advantage and crumple their defenses. Noctis was suspended in mid-air for the moment while he realized he was being held aloft by the other swordsman, his feet defying all sense of balance and gravity having not touched the ground. Realizing this strength and what would happen if the equilibrium was pushed in his direction, he stretched to have his feet touch the ground to add to the applied friction. When he was pushed off, his reflexes told him to push off and away from the ground as more force was placed behind the sword, and allowed him to leap back to his starting point.

The enemy was strong, a different strength he had not encountered before. Not stronger; just different, and from the fact he had fled from the conflict like a coward beforehand only told him that he was going to be unpredictable if not confident in his own abilities. Noctis looked up with navy eyes under ebon bangs as he brandished Falchion in one hand and to his side, ready to attack or defend when necessary. It did indeed seem so his ally Genesis had also tucked tail between his legs and fled as he did, for the castle was no longer under the so-called 'self-righteousness' of the men wielding the darkness. As peaceful and neutral as they claimed to be, they stood by while letting the darkness they brought with their presence as a tool with the means to terrorize, but their loss of the war of words Noctis proved they were merely stalling with had shown their true colors to the only true reigning monarch in the world at the time.

There had been no further movement to interrogate the silver-haired man with justified aggressive action, as he seemed he was about to speak with an answer for him. But when he listened, ebon eyebrows only furrowed in response, for all he received were an arrogant 'hmph' and a cruel laugh, followed by his amused declaration at how naive the Prince was. From the sounds of things, it sounded like this man had fought this 'Light' before, which sounded like other people that supported the Prince's point of view. "Questions are the best way to seek knowledge. And I can see now you chose to simply see them for what they are, because you are ignorant of their true nature yourself." he answered smugly, shaking his head disappointingly. Perhaps this was true to some extent one way or the other, even if he knew exactly what they were capable of, but that no longer was of any relevance. "No matter. As long as their darkness harms others, and you willingly bring that darkness and do nothing as it destroys life, then regardless of how you all cower in your darkness we'll strike you down every single time."

Then the wearer of the black coat mentioned a comrade of his that wanted similar answers, claiming the answer like that he implied of Noctis was unworthy of 'her' and diminished the Light. The only female that had been in the presence of the long-sword wielder before he slunk off to leave Genesis to his fate was Lightning, so he had to assume it was she that he was regarding. At this, the noble couldn't help but exhale out of his nose in a brief snicker. "Really? That's interesting, considering the fact you departed before she even entered the room." he answered. There was brief shake of his head again, as if in silent disbelief as he looked at the malevolent male against the backdrop of the flaming city behind him, before he answered tensely. "But I can assure you, whatever this 'Light' is that you're talking about, our strength is far from diminished by your own lack of knowledge."

Again he spoke more that he knew more than he was letting on; this time about how he was a cursed warrior, and this coupled with his talk of the 'Light', and this time Noctis paid attention in all seriousness. The smirk faded from his lips, and he had to wonder if the goddess set this champion on his path just as he did with Genesis, and had something to do with the Light that Noctis could only see and the curse that came with it. "You know nothing of my curse, nor anything of this 'Light' you are preaching about. Even if my fate is to become a memory, I will do whatever it takes to take down your darkness and your goddess, and give my kingdom prayers for a better future." he remarked with steely resolve, and readied his blade, lifting it for an attack having done with talking. He had broken inadvertently the strong bond between this SOLDIER and his own comrade, and he would continue to do so until the worlds they aimed to conquer were safe, but it seemed that the wielder of the immensely long katana had the same thought. As uncontrolled fires caused by unmanned sources of heat from the invasion of the Heartless below, were fanned by the cold night wind and lit up an orange glow of destruction from the many crackling spot-fires below, another flash of light thrummed from the warrior's blade as a barrage of five vertical shock waves the same width and length of his sword streaked towards him.

Noctis inhaled and did not move, as if time were slowing down around him, his stance suddenly relaxing as he let him stance become a neutral one. For immediately before the flood of projectiles could make contact with his body, a sudden fan of weapons came into existance in a circle around him and rotated rapidly, blocking the ranged attack with the dubbed Coat of Arms technique. "Impressive. I hope that's not the best that you've got." the Prince noted rather calmly. The spiral of weapons slowed down their rotation around him and stretched out to fan out behind him, all guided by a sudden gesture of his hands. The man had his chance to show off his godly lightning speed; now it was the turn of the man of royal blood, and he would show this man in turn his power was not going to be wasted on a mere lowly grunt. Exerting the power that had run through his family for generations, he let go of the Falchion in his hand as it hovered within his reach and moved alongside his limb as he made a forceful wave forward with a flick of his wrist. Using Telekinesis, the machine saber flew through the air at a intense speed towards Sephiroth's right shoulder.

"Now, let's see why my power's worth your caution!"

---

Coat of Arms: The 'defensive' maneuver Noctis uses with his Telekinesis, he can arrange them to became a 'wall' in front of him, which will reflect gunfire back at the user and block most ranged attacks and spells, including even explosions. Only other weapons can damage the weapons, which he will rather not do if he can help it, so he won't use this in melee combat. (Use for one post, cooldown during the next post, before he can use it again.)

Telekinesis: With little effort, Noctis can summon his weapons out of thin air with magical power, and materialize them anywhere in the free space of the battlefield. They hover within the air and are almost transparent if one doesn't look hard enough, and he can't materialize them into people or objects, so he needs to grab them out of the air and throw them in order to move them around to make offensive use of them in combat for the most part. He can also use his telekinesis to rotate them in the air, both to set a almost invisible trap in a switchblade-motion, or to orbit around his body in his defensive 'Coat of Arms' technique. He can summon one weapon at once, which he always chooses his main weapon, the Falchion as his weapon of choice along with any additional weapons. Even then, he may only use a few at a time, leaving others as back-up for projectiles or to act as a defense. (He can only summon as many weapons as there are opponents in the thread.)