[The invasion of Earth realm is already well underway, and I’m nothing but pleased with the results. Already their struggles to survive the demonic onslaught have provoked several fascinating theories, and my analysis of their behavior and “technology” grows more complicated every day.]
[What seems odd to me is the sheer dominance these humans have here on Earth. They have little to no physical superiority over even the primitive beasts that inhabit this sphere with them, yet they have for the most part mastered their environments and created means to thrive, using knowledge of natural laws that, in some cases, surpasses even my capability to understand. Were magic not so unfamiliar to them, these weak and fragile braincases might have even won the war by now.]
[The humans’ ideology, moreover, is based on the “fact” that they are inherently superior beings, and as such display a type of spirit and individuality that I’ve yet to find in humans from other realms. While this attitude is not surprising, given the level of isolation these people have enjoyed, I can’t help but feel smug as those perceptions are shattered every passing day. This arrogance in their superiority has proven to be a great weakness, though it is one that I myself may yet fall prey to.]
[Although more intensive study will begin once I have gathered more data, for now I turn toward the people of the Eastern continent. It has come to my attention that there are certain humans very different from the species average. Humans that display levels of prowess and capability far beyond others of their ilk. I have dubbed these particular humans “alphas”, and look forward to their study.]
[The concern, of course, is that the alphas will be wiped out before the Death March is concluded, one way or another. They seem rather quick to fight the demons, and while they’re often successful at it, they’re always killed eventually. On the other hand, the Death March itself seems to have drawn many alphas to the surface. Who knows how many there will be once the war is over and everything’s sorted itself out?]
[That’s one of the most difficult things about this experiment, I suppose. Opening the Nexus gates, contrary to the rumors circulating around the councils, was not an action of predetermined intent or particular direction. While I certainly expected and deliberately provoked armies to emerge to conquer Earth realm, my intention is, for the most part, to lie back and see what’s left once things have been sorted out.]
[Of course, I can’t exactly sit back and take NO part in all the chaos that I’ve so whimsically created. I have, on occasion, pulled some string here and there to lead one side to victory over the other, or let one group survive when it should have been exterminated.]
[One such instance was a very recent study I’ve conducted using the “Phoenix” people of Mount Phoenix, and the alchemist stone Yarwell’s Tear, a bauble I found in the Infernal realm and have been saving for such an occasion.]
[The Phoenix are a race of humanoid avians whose entire race has been holed up in a mountain in China for some foolish reason. Not particularly powerful or intelligent, and even more arrogant than the humans, at first I was only interested in them as an intelligent race that shared a realm with humans, yet lived in a confined hole while their physical inferiors roamed free to expand and dominate. Eventually, however, I learned of their king, a demi-god known as Saffron.]
[The term “demi-god” is typically used to describe any being of seemingly infinite power that is not accepted as a true god. In Threshgan, the term is commonly applied to the imperial black, gold, and ancient dragons, and throughout many realms, there are histories pockmarked with “demi-gods” that I would call liches. However, the term originated as a nicer word for “hybrid”, in order to refer to those particular spawn of the less-than-divine and the infamous ancients, who were, for all intents and purposes, true gods themselves.]
[It is my belief that Saffron is the bastard offspring of the ancient Gona and some manner of harpy that had evolved into the remotely more capable Phoenix. My sources have revealed that he possesses a nearly unlimited pool of mana to draw upon in battle, and possesses an aura that automatically regenerates wounds in combat, or resurrects him if slain. Such a creature would be invaluable to my studies.]
[Of course, as foolish and stupid as these creatures are, it would hardly be wise to try to restrain a demi-god while conducting experiments. Naturally, I’ve found a better solution.]
[An alchemist stone, as any decade-old mage neophyte knows, is a powerful mana channeling device that acts both as a catalyst and a mana circuit, storing and activating spells while changing and manipulating spells cast upon it. It took weeks, but I managed to configure the fire ruby with the proper enchantments to draw power specifically from Saffron, as well as alter his mind to make him more susceptible to future manipulations. It will take a matter of years, and will work only so long as the Phoenix king holds it, but Yarwell’s Tear will eventually absorb an imprint of Saffron’s magical aura, his zodiac asphyx (if he does indeed have one), his DNA, and even part of his soul for my own study. Meanwhile, it will act as a focus for his powers, encouraging the fool to channel more power through it and speed up the process.]
[It still amuses me when I look back on it… the ignorant creatures actually accepted some magical rock from a complete stranger, and took it straight to their master. The humans at least display a proper suspicious distrust of magic. I can only wonder how these stupid birds managed to survive for this long.]
[Hopefully I can think of a suitably amusing way to take the stone back. Something with irony… I will sleep on the matter.]
- Entry 3999 of Doppler Thaeramon’s personal scientific journal

Nexus II
by Black Dragon
https://www.angelfire.com/anime5/fanficlair

I will now do the disclaimer in haiku.
Ranma is not mine.
Rayden Shikodan is mine.
Japanese is hard.

Chapter 3
Battle of Flameheart
*****************************************************************************************

"W-Well, I mean, it wasn't really m-much to dodge. Th-The guy, uh, he, um, kinda threw out a few e-energy blasts, b-but I didn't have much t-t-trouble..." Ranma tried to tell his story without stuttering badly, but to no avail. He just wasn't used to being surrounded by so many naked women (well, female humanoids, at least) at once. And they all just kept grinning at him.
For the numerous lesser dryads and nymphs, the sight of a young man blushing like mad while trying to not to look at anything but the treetops was simply too adorable to resist. The fact that he presented an attractive figure and had heroically slain the demon hunter that had killed the forest mother had significantly increased his popularity as well, and now the biggest problem seemed to be dividing up the night so that all the mystics of appropriate age would get some time with the young warrior before he passed out from exhaustion.
Humans were the mate of choice for nymphs and dryads (given that the species had no males of its own), and they had been in painfully short supply ever since the recent jakku attacks had begun. In addition to (literally) cutting the number of traveling merchants and caravans that were already rare in the mountain regions of China, Saffron's decision to entrust the forest mother with the Phoenix Stone had made her edgy and overly cautious, and she had scared off more than one company of young men seeking asylum from the undead assassins.

"Here's some fresh water for you, Ranyaka!" A younger nymph (the equivalent of a pre-teen in human terms) handed the young fighter a large mug made of tightly entwined wooden vines, and giggled when the pigtailed boy looked at her blankly.
"Ranyaka? Uh..."
One of the older dryads chuckled, "Aw, the little one's already come up with a pet name for you. Isn't that sweet?"
Ranma gulped. "P-Pet name?"
The dryad that had originally led him to the mystic village smiled and nodded. "Oh, yes! 'Yaka' in old runais means 'love toy'!"
Ranma's skin suddenly went several shades redder, and after a moment, he unceremoniously turned the mug of water upside-down over his head.
*Splash!* 'Must stay cold, must stay cold, must stay cold...'
“Oh dear! You’re all wet! Here, let me help you!”
“Take off that shirt, you’ll catch a cold!”
“Let’s get these pants off you…”
‘Muststaycold, muststaycold, muststaycold…’ Ranma began to twitch anxiously as the mystics began to advance on him, and suddenly shot up to his feet.
“I’ve gotta… um… talk with my dragon! Yeah! Where’s K?” Ranma’s head jerked from side to side, searching desperately for an excuse to escape.
One of the dryads blinked and pointed toward one of the bigger treehouses that were spread throughout the woodsy settlement. “I think he’s settled in the main hall. He wanted something to eat, and-” she stopped speaking as the dust from Ranma’s departure blasted into her face, and several of the other mystics sweatdropped.

“What’s with him?” The younger nymph asked, watching in wonder as Ranma bounded off of a tree and landed on a vine, running across it to get to the treehouses.
“Don’t worry, little one. We’ll get him before the night is done. Still, I wonder why he’s so shy?”
The dryad that had brought Ranma to the village grinned as she lolled about lazily on a tree branch. “He’s just inexperienced, that’s all. But you should have seen him fight that demon knight! It was incredible!”
“Speaking of which,” the older dryad started, weaving a had through her willow-leaf hair, “are we sure the demon knight is dead? Those hamakku always survived our thorn pits, and he was strong enough to kill the forest mother.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” the other dryad responded, smirking. “He fell into the southern pit.”
The older dryad blinked, and her skin suddenly took on a much paler shade of green. “The big one?”
Nod. “The big one.”
“Ah, well… I suppose that’s that, then. I still don’t know why you built that…” Though the forest was seeded with traps of varying lethality, the pit trap to the south had been constructed by a number of younger mystics with the intent of total destruction; even a lesser golem couldn’t escape the series of spikes and blades without being torn apart. “But at least we don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“……………”
“……………”
“Did anyone else feel a cold chill just now?”
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma jumped from one thatched roof from the other, grabbing hold of branches to make his way to the main hall as quickly as possible.
The village of mystics was constructed entirely of treehouses, with the most elaborate and extravagant homes being constructed within the bases and knotholes of the largest trees, and the lesser dwellings being simple huts based upon criss-crossing tree branches and connected by vine rope ladders and bridges.
The main hall was set in the largest tree in the village, and it seemed as if the tree itself had been grown to hold up the hut, giving it a resemblance to a massive claw holding up a jewelry box.
Needless to say, Ranma was nervous and confused at the moment, and really wanted to find K so he could he could be subjected to the familiar sensations of humiliation and ridicule. Besides, Ranma knew that the metadragon would hate to pass up such a ripe opportunity to tease him. And he was far more comfortable dealing with smart-ass dragons than amorous, man-hungry women.
Grabbing a low-hanging branch, Ranma swung himself under and then used his momentum to shoot upward toward his destination. Latching onto the wall of the main hall, he scaled sideways until his hand felt a window, at which point he pulled himself over it and slipped into the hut feet first.

"You know, there's a ladder and a door on other side of the hall. You DO know how to use doors, right?" K deadpanned after watching Ranma swoop into the room like a burglar.
The pigtailed warrior looked around for a moment. In the middle of the hall was a large table covered in various types of food, from apples to salted pork. K was squatting atop the table as well, and was putting away an admirable amount of food, considering the number of fruit scraps and meat-stripped bones lying in a pile beside him. The only mystics in the room were a few sprites, who seemed stunned at seeing someone who was completely welcome in the hall break in from a largely inaccessible window.
Ranma let out a breath he was holding. Sprites were wind mystics and akin to fairies; thus they were all too small to try anything weird. "Yo, K? Can we talk? Like, in private?"
"Sure. Ladies, you mind?" The sprites all made cute pouting expressions, and a few of them winked at the kid dragon as they flew out of room.
Ranma stared at the sprites as they left, then turned his head to stare at K. "That's just wrong."
K raised a steel eyebrow. "Well, someone's mind is in the gutter. Strange, considering it's yours."
Ranma shook his head and took a seat at the table. "Sorry. I'm a little worked up right now." He immediately began to stuff his face full of grapes and buns, leaving K a bit confused as to what was wrong.
A short evaluation of his manner of dress (ties on his armor undone, pants hanging down slightly on one side, soaking wet) and the way he was acting, nervous but not really afraid, led the draconian scholar to the correct conclusion.
"Girl problems?" K asked, smirking.
Ranma simply nodded, and ripped off a leg of goat from the middle of the buffet.
"You know, most guys come for help when they can't get chicks to notice them, or can't seem to get lucky. Why don't you just give in and stop whining about your popularity?" K reasoned, stopping to lap up a few grapes in his beak.
Ranma swallowed a mouthfull of meat, then sighed. "It's not that simple... sure, it'd be easy to just... you know... and... well..." he sighed again. "I don't know. I've given in before, and it just gets so messy."
K raised an eyebrow. "Literally?"
"Stop that," Ranma deadpanned.
K smirked. "Aw, c'mon! Is it because they're dryads? You know, with the right protection, the chances of getting a splinter are negligible!"
Ranma twitched. "One more, metal mouth... just one more..."
K cocked his head to one side. "It really bothers you, huh?"
Ranma nodded, his tension deflating. "I just have this feeling, deep down inside, when I get that close to girl, that I'm gonna regret it if I go all the way."
K thought about that for a moment, tapping a talon on the table. "Well, you're not a virgin, are you?"
"Nope."
"So, you've had this feeling and done 'it' anyway?"
Ranma shrugged. "Hey, I'm still human."
"Whatever," K dismissed his excuses. "How did it work out?"
Ranma stopped to think about that, and cupped his chin in his hand. "Well.. three out of five times I ended up regretting it. A lot."
"Ah. Bad odds, huh?"
Ranma nodded. "Besides, it's kind of a leap, you know? I think I should at least take them out to dinner or something first."
K just sighed and scanned the pile of food for something tart. "You're hopeless, you know that?"
Ranma grumbled a bit as he watched his companion grab a green apple in his beak and bite into it. "Hey, don't even start. I trust my instincts because they're usually right. If something like this comes along that's too good to be true, it probably is."
*Gulp* "Or maybe you're just being so cautious that you're passing up the opportunity of a lifetime for no reason. You'll barely hesitate before taking on pseudo-dragons, but find yourself backed into a corner when a girl invites you under the sheets?"
Ranma stood still for a moment, his left eye twitching slightly as K's statement sunk in. Then he turned away sharply.
"Wait a minute! What the hell am I doing? Asking a baby dragon for advice on women! I must be out of my mind!"
K rolled his eyes. "What worries me is that after the conversation we just had, now I'm sure that I know more about romance than you do."
"Shut up, metalhead," Ranma muttered, grabbing up some more food. Despite his annoyance, it was a great relief to be back on familiar territory. Verbal battles were nothing compared to matters of the heart.
K turned his head as he heard the vine ladder creaking, and smirked. "Speaking of which, I think your little harem has come for you."
"Oh, geez!" Ranma started panicking, and began looking around for hiding places. "You gotta help me! Just come up with an excuse or something for me!"
"All right, all right..." K mumbled as the naked humanoids started piling into the hall. "Pardon me ladies, may I have a moment of your time?"
The dryads and nymphs all stopped rushing toward Ranma, and glanced at the metadragon uncertainly.
K nodded to them. "I really think you should hear this before you... try anything with my friend over there."
The mystics all glanced toward Ranma, who waved pathetically at them from the opposite side of the buffet table.

Ranma put his hand down, mentally berating himself for being so pitiful that he had to get a talking lizard to get him out of a jam. Still, he was sure that something would go wrong if he let his guard down and gave in. He had felt the same thing in the Amazon village, and might have well been devoured by that wyrm if he had been "distracted" with Shampoo.
As K spoke quietly with the girls, Ranma frowned and rubbed his chin. Come to think of it, he HAD been feeling more edgy than usual lately, and it wasn't his hormones. Ever since the Amazon village, he had been encountering small, wandering death squads, usually composed of lizardmen or grends. That in and of itself didn't bother him, as he must have fought hundreds of raiders over the course of his lifetime, but these death squads almost seemed to be targeting him specifically. Whether it was the frequency of how often they found him, the veracity and swiftness of their attacks, or the fact that some of them had a sketchy description of him and K on them, Ranma just knew that someone out there had it in for him.
The fact that he now possessed some magic rock that a number of people wanted also worried him, but at least he knew what that was about. And once he hocked the gem for a new katana, that whole deal would be over and done with anyway.
'Hmmmm... maybe something with a mithril edge... or, if I can find a mage that really wants it, maybe I can even get the whole blade made of mithril!' Making a staff of the super-tough alloy was one thing, but tempering a blade, especially one as delicate and finely constructed as that of the katana, was worth far more than most fighters could ever afford. He'd probably need to find some other treasure before he could get one like that. And there was always the difficulty of actually finding a swordsmith that worked with mithril to consider...
Ranma was startled out of his thoughts by a series of gasps from across the room, and gulped as all the mystics stared at him in horror and sympathy.
'Uh oh... what did that rusty gecko tell them?'
He didn't get time to ask his companion, as very quickly, the dryad that had first led him to the village sprinted the distance between them and tackled him onto the floor.
"Oh Ranma! I'm so sorry! I didn't know! You poor, poor man!" The nubile, naked, teenage girl squeezed the pigtailed boy to her tightly, tears slowly leaking from the corners of her eyes.
Ranma, for his part, was too shocked and nervous to even notice that the tree mystic was crying. Also, his body was having a very natural and understandable reaction to having an attractive, naked, teenage-equivalent girl rubbing up against him.
"Who would do such a horrible thing! To think, that you can't even..." The dryad trailed off for a moment, then blinked. Then she looked down. Then she turned toward K. "If he's a eunuch, then what's that?"
K bigsweated as all the mystics began frowning at him. "Uh... did I say eunuch? I meant, um, what's that other word... impotent! Yeah!"
Ranma sweatdropped. 'That moron.'
The dryad stared at K for a moment, then looked down again at Ranma's lap. Then she looked at K again.
"I give up. You're on your own, Ranma," K conceded, sliding his wings over his head to escape the disapproving stares of the mystics.
"You're useless!" Ranma yelled as he tried to struggle out of the dryad's grasp.
"Ranma, why are you trying to keep us away? Don't you want to be with us?" The dryad asked softly, staring Ranma straight in the eyes.
'Oh, you have got to be &$^%!+# kidding me...' looking past the naked green girl that was clinging to him, Ranma saw the other dryads and nymphs, many of them a good deal older-looking than the first dryad, on the verge of tears. 'No! Gotta think fast!'
"It's... it's not that I don't like you or anything," Ranma began slowly, managing to gently pry the busty tree mystic off of him, "or that I have anything against non-humans..." that was technically true, although the fact that the girls weren't human reinforced his reluctance. If he had to do the deed, he always preferred women within his own species.
Ranma gulped, and an idea suddenly popped into his head. "It's just that... I'm married!" Ranma smiled brightly at his own brilliance. Why hadn't he thought of something so simple sooner? "And even though I know that my wife'll probably never find out, it just wouldn't be right to fool around on the side." He nodded seriously, sure that they'd buy it.
"Oh, that's okay, we don't mind!" One of the nymphs assured him.
Ranma sweatdropped. "Uh... I meant that I'd mind." Ranma clarified.
"We don't mind that, either," an older dryad said, winking at him.
'Oh crap.' Ranma threw away backup plans C and D and immediately jumped to the all-purpose Saotome special solution: run away. Quickly scanning the walls for windows, he catalogued all the possible escape routes.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!"
Everybody in the main hall jerked to attention at hearing a shriek come from outside, and Ranma immediately jumped to his feet.
"The hell with this! Someone's in trouble!" Rushing away from one heroic "obligation" to another, Ranma leapt through the window he had entered through, ignoring the protests of the mystics.
K sweatdropped as he took to the air and flew toward the main entrance. 'Isn't that sort of thing how he got into this mess in the first place?'
_________________________________________________________________________________________

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!" The sprite's tiny lungs quickly ran out of air as she screamed as loud as possible, and began to pant heavily from the exertion.
The figure in front of her twitched, gently massaging his forehead. "Couldja scream a little louder? I think there are still some people in Taiwan that didn't hear you."
The sprite turned around, and took another deep breath. "HELP!!! ZOMBIE!!! KILL IT!! KILL IT!!"
The man twitched again, and a vein popped up on his head. "I am NOT a zombie! It's just normal battle damage, all right? It'll get better!"
"QUICK!!! SOMEBODY KILL IT!!! IT TALKS!!!"
"Would you cut it-eh?" He turned suddenly as he heard someone shout a short battle cry, and only managed to glimpse the sole of somebody's boot before he was kicked away into a tree.
*Wham!* "Ow! Ugh..."
Ranma backflipped as he rebounded off of the intruder's face, and landed in a crouch, his hand on the hilt of his gun.
His eyes widened when he got a good look at who he had kicked. "Wh-What? You again?!" Then Ranma winced. It was the same man he had fought earlier, who had supposedly killed the high dryad for the Phoenix stone. While he was apparently alive, to Ranma it looked like he shouldn't be. His body was covered in bloody cuts and gashes that looked to have been hastily and poorly cleaned. His coat was torn, had many crimson stains, and was sopping wet. And worst of all, the seemingly indestructible swordsman still hadn't removed the katana blade protruding from his stomach. "That looks like it hurts."
"Your sympathy is heartwarming," Rayden deadpanned, still on the ground.
Ranma scratched the back of his head, ignoring the sprite that was clinging to his back trying to hide. "So, what're you doing here? I'm surprised you're even alive. Shouldn't you be healing up or something?"
"Yeah, well, that's why I'm here, actually..." Rayden mumbled, getting up and fingering the broken sword in his gut. "I can't get this thing out of me. I was... uh... sort of hoping you could help me out."
Ranma stared at the demon hunter, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well... I don't know. How do I know you aren't here trying to catch me with my guard down and steal the Phoenix stone?"
Rayden blinked. "The what?"
"The Phoenix stone," Ranma repeated.
"What's a Phoenix stone, and why would I want one?" Rayden asked, genuinely curious. Phoenixes were known for coming back from the dead; maybe Ranma had something that could heal him? He'd make a full recovery in a few days anyway (provided he ever got the katana blade out of his abdomen), but he didn't like walking around in a forest full of hostile creatures while so heavily injured.
Ranma stared for a moment at his former opponent. "You're telling the truth, aren't you?"
Rayden blinked. "About what?"
"Never mind," Ranma muttered, moving his hands away from his weapons. "Let's get that blade out of you." He clapped his hands together several times, then crouched down on one knee, as if he was about to run a race.
"Hey!" The sprite protested angrily, "you can't help him! He's evil!"
"Just a little," Rayden assured her, waving off the comment. " 'Sides, this don't involve you, small fry." Then he frowned as he watched Ranma. "Uh... hey, how exactly are you going to-"
"Don't move," Ranma ordered. Then he took off like a bullet, running at full speed and jumping into the air, immediately moving to perform a flying kick.
"Wh-What the hell?!" Rayden shouted, surprised at being subjected to an attack rather than first aid, or maybe surgery. As it was, he was too weak to move out of the way in time, and could only squeeze his eyes shut and hope that the pigtailed fighter would make it quick.
*Wham!!* Ranma slammed into Rayden right over the broken end of the blade, his kick angled almost straight forward.
The swordsman let out a gasp as he felt the impaling piece come out the back of him, and staggered backward clumsily as Ranma flipped upright.
Rayden blinked, then stood straight up, smiling as he felt his back fall into position without scraping against anything that shouldn't be there. "Oh yeah! That's way better!" Then he noticed Ranma staring at him oddly. "What?"
"How can you even walk right now?" Ranma asked, feeling a little queasy as he watched blood ooze from the now-open sword wound. "There's no way you should be alive right now. I mean, the sword wound, fine, but that spike pit..."
"Ah. Yeah, it was pretty rough," Rayden agreed, clapping his hands together as if dusting them off. "But I've taken worse. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,' and all that."
"Well, I'm afraid you're not getting any stronger today," a powerful, feminine voice said.
Rayden looked up and sighed. Ranma turned around to see an older dryad glaring hard at the swordsman.
"Uh, look, if you still wanna kill this guy, that's your business, but I don't really have anything against him any more. Is that cool?" Ranma asked tentatively, scratching the back of his head. On the one hand, he didn't want to look like a coward or anything, but on the other hand, he was really starting to feel sorry for this guy. Especially as it seemed he wasn't after the magic rock like everyone had assumed.
The dryad nodded from her position upon a tree branch. "It's all right, Ranma. You've beaten him once, and thanks to that, he's more than weak enough for us to handle. You have our eternal gratitude."
"Uh... yeah. Great," Ranma mumbled, looking around for K. Wasn't he with the mystics?
"As for you," the dryad intoned imperiously, pointing a finger at Rayden, "you will be disposed of with proper punishment for one who would desecrate our forest!"
She made a quick gesture with her hands, and Rayden blinked as several thick, thorny vines burst from the ground, swiftly wrapping around his legs. He looked down at the tendrils, then looked up, a bored expression on his face. "'Proper punishment' huh? So, what, are you gonna chop me up and burn me? 'Cause the samurai kid already tried that, and it didn't work."
"Silence!" The dryad shouted. She made another hand gesture, laying her palm flat down and then slowly lowering it. In response, the tree branch she was on gently moved downward, stretching to deposit its mistress safely onto the ground.
Behind her, several other dryads of various ages walked from the numerous huts and descended to the ground, either by the same method as their spokeswoman, or by grabbing onto hanging vines that similarly acted to transport their passengers.

Ranma sighed and looked up to try and spot K (mostly to avoid gazing at the abundant level of bare female flesh present). He was getting worried now. If nothing else, the metadragon wouldn't miss a chance to watch a fight like this.

"Arise, treants!" The dryad shouted, raising her arms into the air, one palm aligned atop the other. Behind her, every other dryad did exactly the same thing, and the whole group of them started glowing with a dark green aura.
Rayden glanced around as a number of low-pitched, hollow groans erupted from the surrounding forest. "Treants, huh? Well, why not? I needed something to warm up on after getting that piece a' metal outta me." He stretched slightly, ignoring the trails of blood that soaked into his trench coat.
All at once, the trees surrounding the village began to move, their branches shifting and twisting into arms with numerous raking claws. Their roots burst from the ground violently, twisting together into thick, powerful appendages that resembled a spider's legs.
Rayden whistled to himself as he waited patiently for the animated trees to arrive. The village wasn't very big, but treants were pretty slow. Their legs had to be carefully manipulated so that the trees could move, and even once that was mastered, if the creatures went too fast the large, heavy heads of the treants would cause them to topple over. "Could we hurry this up? I still need to dress these wounds, you know."
"Silence!" the head dryad shouted. Then she jabbed a finger at the swordsman as the first treant came within striking range. "Treants, attack!"
*Kreeeoooooo* A creaking moan came from one of the forest guardians as it lifted one large branch to the attack.
At the same moment, Rayden reached for the broadsword strapped onto his back, not even bothering to free himself from the vines that held him immobile.

*Kshing!* *Slash!* *Crack!*
Ranma winced as the "battle" began, and shook his head at the foolishness of it all.
*Shrak!* *Smash!* "Shadow break!" *Ka-kroom!!*
"*Sigh* The guy killed the powerful dryad, nearly fought me to a standstill, and survived a drop in that nasty spike pit, and they think a few walking trees are gonna take him out?" Ranma turned away. This was officially not his problem any more. "I'm outta here."
"W-Wait! No! Don't go!" A nymph ran up to him in a panic, and Ranma quickly averted his eyes slightly.
'Dammit, why are they always naked?' "What? This has nothing to do with me."
"B-But you can't leave! Who'll punish the evil demon man?" The nymph asked, trembling.
It was quite fortunate that Ranma was deliberately facing away from the young mystic, or else he very well might have been swayed when seeing her large eyes shining with unshed tears. "I already punished him. You see all this blood on the ground here? That's all his."
"But... But... he's killing all those trees!" The nymph protested.
Ranma sweatdropped, and looked back at the battle. Rayden still hadn't left the hold of the entangling vines (Ranma knew it was purely a decision on the swordsman's part; he was more than strong enough to break free), and was on his fourth treant.
The tree creature attacked, and Rayden cut into the strike, shredding its claw-like branches. A second, more powerful stroke cut cleanly through the tree's body, and the treant toppled over in two.
Ranma turned away and shrugged. "They started it." He walked away from the mystic, ignoring her. It wasn't that he didn't sympathize at all for them, but after what he'd seen from the guy, Ranma had to guess that the mystics weren't in any real danger that didn't come from the swordsman acting purely in self-defense. Of course, if he was wrong, there would be hell to pay, but for now he just wanted to find K and leave.

He had gathered his pack and walked some distance before he finally spotted his companion, who was looking rather stressed out. K was flying in circles up near the forest canopy, holding a position on the edge of the village.
"There you are! Were you eating back in the lodge the whole time?" Ranma asked, frowning.
"Huh? Oh! There you are!" K said, surprised at seeing his companion again so soon. "Did you take care of whatever you left for?" he asked, zipping down to settle firmly on Ranma's shoulder.
"Nah. It looks like he can take care of himself," Ranma muttered.
K blinked. "Huh?"
"It was that guy that we thought died in the spike pit. He got better."
"Ah. Well, whatever. We've got trouble."
Ranma blinked, and then massaged his head. "Aw, man... now what?"
K sighed. "Remember that winged chick that attacked when we found the Phoenix stone?"
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "She's back? Already? It's not even nightfall!"
K shook his head. "No, she's not back. But a few of her friends are."
Ranma raised an eyebrow, and then craned his head up.
Four armored figures flew into view above, their wings flapping rapidly as they search the forest canopy below.
Ranma rubbed his chin in thought. "It's weird... I thought these guys were angels at first... but somehow they're a little more bird-like." He raised an arm and waved, quickly catching the attention of one of the winged soldiers.
"What are you doing?! They'll kill us!" K shouted.
Ranma shrugged. "They might try. Or, they might be looking for that other girl that attacked. She might have been a thief or something."
The soldier that noticed him appeared to shout something to his companions, and then took out a crossbow and armed it.
"Well, damn," Ranma mumbled, letting his hand drop.
"Told you," K said miserably.
*Thwip!* The projectile sailed through the air, and Ranma sighed and brought his hand up, plucking the heavy bolt out of the air calmly.
K's eyes widened as Ranma snapped the bolt in his hand, and gulped. "You're not... planning on fighting all of them, are you?"
Ranma grinned and sped forward, rushing into a small clearing that offered a much better battleground for flying opponents (he had to draw them down in order to defeat them, after all). "Of course I am. I can handle four flyers, no problem."
"Uhm-" K was silenced as Ranma skidded to a stop, being forced to dig into the shoulder guards of Ranma's leather armor to keep from being thrown from his perch.
Ranma smirked and looked up to see if his opponents had tracked him. Then his smirk faded.
"I was trying to tell you," K said miserably, "there's about thirty of them, not four."
"You're on a streak today, I see," Ranma mumbled as his opponents began descending. Every one of the Phoenix soldiers was well-armored and armed, and apparently still light enough to fly. The speed with which they approached didn't bode well, either.
'And my sword's broken. Crud.' This was definitely a bad time to take on a band of what looked like well-trained soldiers.
Nonetheless, Ranma removed his mithril staff from his belt and extended it, moving into a defensive stance.
'It probably doesn't matter. The staff's better for fighting multiple opponents anyway. If I can just surprise them and then draw them into the woods...' Ranma was still planning on winning this fight, but now the emphasis was on tactics rather than skill. If these birds managed to surround him for long, his mediocre leather armor wouldn't do much to blunt a thrust from one of those scimitars.
"K, leave," Ranma commanded stiffly.
K stumbled, and then turned toward Ranma, gaping. "What? Leave? I can't leave you!"
Ranma grimaced. "And what are you going to do if you stay? Do you have any helpful advice on dealing with angels?"
K blinked. "Uh... well, actually, I don't think they're angels..."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Then what are they?"
"Urm, I'm... I'm not completely sure..." K admitted sheepishly.
Ranma sighed. "K, just go! I can't fight this battle if I have to worry about you too." Seemingly having dismissed the metadragon already, Ranma threw his pack into a nook under a tree near the edge of the clearing, taking careful note of where it was.
K gave a long, sorrowful stare at Ranma, then shook his head slowly and gently took off toward the woods. It just wasn't fair! Ranma had saved his life, and he had been little but a burden to him!
'Ranma, I swear, someday I'll make it up to you! I promise!'

The first of the flying soldiers finished circling, and cautiously landed a few meters in front of Ranma. Brandishing a long sword and a shield, the soldier took up an offensive position, and then spoke.
"I'm to let you know that there's still hope for you to leave this place alive. If you surrender the Phoenix stone now, there's no reason to waste anyone's life."
Ranma stood up straight and fingered his chin, as if considering it. "As thoughtful as it is of you to offer to save me the trouble of beating the feathers out of you nimrods... I'm going to have to decline." He smirked and twirled his staff around in one hand flamboyantly, as if daring the soldier to make a stab at him.
The soldier twitched, and waved his shield in the air. At once, two other soldiers dove down to the clearing, landing heavily on their feet.
"I gave you fair warning, human! We'll make you suffer for-"
Before he could complete his taunt, Ranma darted to the side, making as if to escape. The soldiers immediately moved to hit his rear before he made it into the forest, and Ranma smirked as he moved his staff perpendicular to his body.
Killing his momentum and then dashing backward, Ranma smashed two of the soldiers in the face before they could adjust to his change in speed. The third ducked under the staff, then stabbed at Ranma, which he dodged by twisting away and moving into a sweep with the staff that threw the Phoenix off his feet.
*Poom!* *Poom!* Two more of the Phoenix landed on either side of him, and wasted no time before charging their opponent.
Ranma rushed the nearest opponent, overwhelming the soldier with the speed of his staff strikes and eventually landing an incapacitating blow to the winged fighter's head. He then pushed his staff back over his shoulder and dug it into the ground, barely blocking the swing of a battleaxe that was aimed for his back.
With his staff stuck in the ground, Ranma pushed toward the other soldier and used it to swing a back kick into his armored head, sending the hapless grunt flying into one of the other soldiers that was just recovering.
'Oh great, and now the others are getting up...' Ranma watched as three more Phoenix descended to land in front of him, and yanked his staff from the ground.
"Flash fyre!" Streaks of flame rushed through the small clearing, knocking two of the soldiers over while others bore the attack and rose to their feet regardless.
Glancing behind him, Ranma saw one of his foes diving in an aerial attack, and backflipped upward, timing his jump perfectly to land on the soldier's back and drive him hard into the Earth.
Ranma parried several attacks with his staff, snapping the mithril pole quickly at his opponents to keep them at bay.
'A lot of them have landed... I think it's time I took 'em out.'
Ranma pulled back, skidding over the ground and putting his staff over his right shoulder as he crouched.
'Boy, is that dork with the sword going to be surprised if he picks a fight with me again,' Ranma grinned as his aura built around him, with streaks of red circling his forearms.
"Blazing claw! Silver blitzkrieg!" Ranma's form blurred, and his form was suddenly replaced by an almost ghost-like apparition that pushed into the crowd of soldiers with reckless speed. All around the blur, blades of fiery ki cut and slashed into Phoenix, sweeping into the crowd too quickly for them to dodge.
Ranma's skidded to a stop on the other end of the clearing, having blasted through a majority of the soldiers that had blocked his path. In his right hand he spun his staff around, letting the last energies of the blazing claw technique fizzle out on the ends of the staff in a neat-looking red sawblade effect.
"That was easy. You dorks better shape up, or you'll all get eaten by giant spiders or something," Ranma wagged a finger in the air as if lecturing them.
Suddenly he jumped back as a bladed chakra zipped through the space his neck had occupied, and he sweatdropped.
"Whoa... okay, that was a little too close... GYAH!!" Ranma jerked to one side as a spear jabbed for his back, and whipped around with a back kick that dented that soldier's helmet in.
Sensing another series of attacks in the moment of distraction, Ranma turned quickly and deflected two sword slashes with his staff before raising it above his head to block an axe strike to his head.
As a soldier jabbed his sword forward, Ranma dropped down onto his back, and then spun on the ground as he brought his staff up, tripping the two soldiers in front of him and striking the one behind in the arm. Closing on the Phoenix still standing, Ranma blocked an axe chop with his staff, and then he ducked down and swept the Phoenix's legs out from under him before catching him on one end of the staff, and using it to catapult him into one of his recovering companions.
Ranma dashed away from another attack, and then used his staff to deflect several more chakras sailing down at him from above.
*K-shing!* *K-shing!* "C'mon you guys! I'm getting bored!"
Ranma laughed for a moment, then quickly swatted a crossbow bolt out of the way. A glance upward revealed a number of Phoenix fitting bows and arming crossbows; not a big problem for someone who was adept at dealing with guns, unless one considered the enemies on the ground as well.
'Even the ones I hit rushing through the field are getting back up... I guess its time to move on.'
Ranma started running backward, spinning the staff in his hands around in a circle in front of him, creating a shield that deflected several bolts and arrows before he reached the edge of the clearing, rushing into the web of trees and out of sight.

Ranma knew very well that his opponents wouldn't give up so easily; after all, they had him outnumbered, and he was tiring.
He couldn't help but snicker as that thought crossed his mind. "Come and get it, ya overgrown turkeys!"
Hearing several of the commanders shouting among rustling foliage, Ranma leapt up into one of the thicker networks of tree branches, positioning himself for an ambush. This was going to be too easy.
The first of the Phoenix broke through the bushes, obviously encumbered by his wings when trying to move through the thick woods. Five more companions joined him, four of them sporting bruises and settling burns that they tried to ignore as they slowly made their way through the forest, searching the brush for their quarry.
"I can't believe Saffron's stupid rock fell into the hands of that wretched human," one of the men growled, flexing his wings irritably.
"I can't believe how fast that little twerp is," another commented, holding his head, "or how strong." His helmet was dented, and Ranma suspected that if these feathered morons had heard of any technology more advanced than a catapult, he would have needed something stronger than aspirin to fix up his skull.
"SSH! I heard something!" The leader froze and slowly scanned the treeline, his companions remaining perfectly still.
Up in his tree, Ranma frowned. Had he made any noise? He was being perfectly quiet, even making sure that his breathing stayed soft and soundless.
*Crick* *Crack* The six soldiers blinked as mounds of dirt began to rise at their feet, breaking the hard surface of dried Earth.
"What in the-"
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* Under each Phoenix a green, fleshy vine burst from the ground before wrapping around him, coiling instantly around the waist, legs, and neck.
"What the hell?!"
"Cut them off!"
"Does that little rat know magic?"
Up in his tree, Ranma blinked. Were the dryads helping him out?
*CHA-SCHINK!* Simultaneously, all the vines sprouted dozens of thin, spiny needles, instantly piercing their prisoners in several places at once.
With the vines around their necking having suddenly sprouted thorns too quickly for the soldiers to react, not a one could even give a final scream as their blood sprayed across the forest floor.

Ranma blinked again. "Whoa... harsh."
Looking around nervously, Ranma could see no obvious source from which the vines could have originated, and wondered if he should really be hiding in a piece of foliage in a place like this.
Jumping out of the tree, Ranma landed in a crouch, and stared cautiously at the thorny vines and they writhed around their victims.
After a moment, the vines stopped moving and went limp, and a moment later, the healthy-looking green whips hardened into brown wood, dead as the corpses they still entangled.
Then he heard voices further off into the woods, and considered jumping back into the tree.
'Nah. I'll take 'em head on this time.'
Though the trees and bushes were too thick for him to see anything, he could hear his enemies just fine as they struggled through the forest.

"Did anybody else hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I don't know. It sounded like... like a steel trap going off, or something. I'm not quite sure."
"It's just the human. He's around here somewh-what the?!"
"Vines?! The hell?!"
"Cut them off and keep moving! This is just a distraction!"
"Augh! It's around my neck! The stupid-"
*CHA-SCHINK!*

Ranma paled slightly and glanced down at the ground.
"Hordes of enemies with swords and spears I can deal with... magic is another thing entirely." He began scanning the ground more carefully, searching for any regions that might burst open.
"Ranma? Ranma!"
He blinked. "K? That you?"
The metadragon flew out of the brush after a moment, orienting on his companion's voice. "THERE you are! Come on! You've got to see this!"
Ranma looked back at the Phoenix corpses. "Does it have anything to do with that?"
K shrugged his wings. "Probably. You'll have to check it out though. I think this girl needs help." The metadragon quickly launched himself off the branch in the other direction.

Ranma followed a short distance until he reached an odd clearing in the forest. What made it odd was that there were large, glowing crystals jutting out of the ground in a perfect circle around an odd-looking young dryad. What made her odd-looking was that she had webs of pulsing gray veins all over her head, neck, chest, and arms, and that her natural perfectly green skin was pockmarked with slimy black spots.
"Ewwww..." Ranma mumbled under his breath. "Uh, hey! You need some help there?"
The dryad slowly turned to look at Ranma, and the pigtailed adventurer blinked in surprise as he saw that her eyes were blank and fogged over.
"You who possesses the Phoenix stone," the dryad spoke too softly to be heard, but her voice was immediately amplified somehow, and boomed from all directions, as if coming from the forest. "You must go to he who seeks it."
Ranma stared at the young mystic oddly. "Huh? What are you talking about? You need some healing or something first!"
The dryad shook her head slowly. "My time on this realm is over... I have managed to slay the Phoenix soldiers, those servants of the Phoenix king that were pursuing you, but my power has almost exhausted."
"Whoa, whoa! Just hold on! We can get you to a healer or something!" Ranma stepped forward and reached a hand out toward her.
A heavy sigh erupted from the surrounding woods. "Foolish human... there is no hope for me, but there is still hope. The Phoenix king will not stop until he has recovered the stone to complete his power. If you wish to help... me..." the words started coming slower, and she began to tremble violently, "then... then..... kill S-... Saffron..."
*BLOOSH!!* Ranma jumped back, horrified, as the dryad suddenly burst like a watermelon with a bomb inside, spilling fluids and gore all over the magic circle.
"Aw, man!" "Ugh! Gross!"
K nearly gagged and looked away from the unsightly display, only to glimpse something out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, what's that?"
Ranma pried his eyes away from staring morbidly at the dryad's remains to see a small purple crystal hovering in the air about at the level that the dryad's chest had been.
Then he saw K launch off of a tree branch and approach it. "No! K! Stop! Don't touch that thing!"
Before the metadragon could get close enough to do anything of the sort, however, a loud cracking noise pierced the clearing, and the crystal shattered then and there, spilling tiny fragments of purple glass onto the ground.
*Crack!* *Crack!* A split second later, the exact same noises came from the crystals generating the magic circle, and they too broke apart and fell to ground in a heap of jagged shards.

Ranma stared at the scene around him, and then wearily turned to K. "So, you wanna take a guess at just what the hell happened? I'm gonna say ghosts."
"Ghosts?" K scoffed, "don't be ridiculous. They don't inhabit forests! Well, not while the sun is still out, at least." He jabbed his beak at the large crystal pylons. "I recognize what those things are, at least. When mana crystals are arranged as pylons surrounding a single point that channels or manipulates mana, they act as a powerful amplifier for magic energy. Basically, what we just saw was a miniature Nexus," K concluded, nodding his head, "and a temporary one, apparently."
"A miniature... Nexus?" Ranma said softly. He had heard the term many times before, usually from non-humans that he had talked to. It was the term given to the structure that served as a gateway to several other worlds. The structure that had led the flood of demon armies to Earth.
"They're actually called crystal circles or something." K finished. "Though I have no clue what one's doing here, or what was up with that dryad a moment ago."
"Well, damn," Ranma muttered. "Another dryad's dead, I still have the stupid rock, and now I have to hunt down ANOTHER all-powerful jerk. This quest sucks." He sighed and started forward, gesturing for K to follow him. "Come on. We'll get my pack, find somewhere in the forest to rest for the night, and then get this guy tomorrow."
"Are you serious?" K asked incredulously. "How do you even know where to find this Saffron guy?"
Ranma shrugged. "I heard some guy on that merchant caravan we ran into before the Amazon village mention a place called Phoenix mountain, and he pointed the peak out for me."
K blinked. "And you're sure he's there?"
"Well gee, I dunno," Ranma said sarcastically, "Phoenix soldiers, Phoenix king, Phoenix stone... I really have no idea where I'm getting this, now that you mention it."
K sweatdropped. "Well, you're certainly in a sour mood all of a sudden."
"Meh."
_________________________________________________________________________________________

The lone Phoenix guard stared out at the vast valleys created by China's mountains with an empty statue-like gaze, his eyes glazed.
Normally, he was ridiculously attentive and alert for a guard posted on the side of the mountain which nobody approached from, going day after day without ever seeing anything beyond the common fowl of China making their nests on the jagged crags below. But today, his attention was distracted.
Several of his close friends had been gathered the previous day to track down the thief that had slain the high dryad of the forest and stolen the Phoenix stone. Four groups had left the mountain to search. Three had returned.
What kind of creature was it that could dispatch over two dozen trained Phoenix soldiers such that not a single one could escape alive? Certainly such beasts existed, but usually in the forms of great demon knights or magical champions that rode into battle with small armies at their backs.
"Ouch! Look out where you're landing, K! You're dropping rocks on me!"
It was possible that the thief had been a demon lord or champion in human guise, but what would be the point? Saffron wasn't known as a particularly powerful demon lord himself, and his people had largely survived the Death March because of their relative isolation, much like the Amazon tribes.
"Sorry! These crags are so brittle they can barely support my weight! Why can't I just fly right up, anyway?"
Why would such a powerful entity hide itself? There was the possibility that Saffron himself would assault the intruder, and if that happened then its destruction was certainly assured, but the scenario was still unlikely.
"I told you! It's nearly impossible to hide climbing these cliffs as it is! If you fly up, everybody's going to see you!"
The guard shot up. "WOULD YOU MIND KEEPING IT DOWN?! I CAN BARELY HEAR MYSELF THINK WITH YOU TWO YAPPING AWAY LIKE THAT!!"
"S-Sorry!"
"Sorry 'bout that!"
Frowning deeply, the guard sat back down. Some of his dearest companions hadn't returned from that patrol, and... wait...
The guard shot back up, and quickly rushed to the edge of his post to look down the mountain.
"Intruders! Who goes-" just as he reached the edge of the cliff he was guarding, Ranma jumped up from the edge and somersaulted over him, grabbing the Phoenix's shoulders as he passed overhead. Shifting more force to his feet, he completed his landing and then threw the guard with his remaining momentum, slamming him into the wooden chair he had been resting on.

Ranma dusted off his hands. "That should keep 'im out for a while. Let's find an entrance to this dump."
"What was that noise?"
"Over that way!"
Ranma grimaced as the sound of armor scraping against rock merged with the sound of wings scraping against wind, and promptly grabbed K and ducked behind one of the larger rock spires.
Peeking out cautiously, Ranma watched as two Phoenix guards swooped in and landed next to their unconscious companion, their eyes darting around nervously.
Ranma patted K on the head. "Hey, go out there real quick and fly past them."
Without argument, the metadragon leapt into the air and took flight, darting through the air toward the two bipedal avians.
With his metal scales gleaming in the morning sun, one of the guards noticed him immediately, and pulled himself and his companion back. "Look out!"
K flew by, and both guards prepared their weapons for pursuit, only to freeze and stare as they got a decent look at what had just buzzed them.
"What is that?"
"I looks like a... flying metal lizard?"
Ranma extended his staff behind them. "He's a dragon, not a lizard."
Before either Phoenix could fully grasp their sudden situation, Ranma slammed each end of the staff into their heads, denting the metal helmets deeply enough to sufficiently impact the skulls beneath.
The pigtailed warrior snorted and flipped the staff over in his hand, eventually resting it over his shoulder. "How these morons ever survived the war without guns is beyond me."
K gently flew back to land on his shoulder. "I'm afraid I can't help you there. I don't know much about Earth realm's history yet."
Ranma shrugged as he hopped forward from rock to rock, making his way around the peak of the mountain. "I just hope this 'Saffron' guy is a little more clear-cut than the last one. I'm not even sure if that demon hunter's a bad guy anymore."
K rolled his eyes. "As demon hunters go, even the ones with the worst intentions are usually considered 'good guys'."
"Shhh!" Ranma commanded as he approached an outcropping.
Closing his eyes, the young adventurer stretched out his awareness, using his newly-refined ki sensing skills.
After a moment of concentration, he opened his eyes again. "Damn, I'm still not very good at using that. There are a lotta guys there, but I can't tell how many." He turned to K. "Do you think you could squeeze between some rocks or something and take a look? Stay in the shadows so no one sees you."
K nodded quickly, very pleased that he was at last becoming of use (even if it was only as a scout and decoy).
Ranma laid back flat against the rock face he was resting on, contemplating his tactics. He had performed infiltrations before, but never against a fortified cave dwelling. From what he had gathered, there were multiple entrances all down Mt. Phoenix, but as one got higher, and therefore the chance of entry by a non-flying enemy became more unlikely, there were lighter guard units.
A scratching noise from below caught Ranma's attention, and he looked down as K came crawling back to him.
"Well?"
The metadragon shook his head. "No go. There are twenty of 'em. Not the standard fare, either. These guys have gold pins and everything. One of them even looks like a mage."
Ranma nodded slowly. "I get it. Mr. Phoenix King must live here, at the peak. So we still have to deal with a heavy guard. Swell."
K shook his head again. "There's no way. There's an alarm right there; if they see you, you'll have their whole army on your back!"
Ranma nodded slowly, rubbing his chin. "Yeah... those odds would be slightly out of my favor..." K rolled his eyes. "But how else am I supposed to get in there?"
*Clang!!* *Clang!!* *Clang!!* "Intruder!!"
Ranma and K jerked up as the alarm bell sounded, looking around frantically for their pursuers.
"Down the mountain! We're under attack!"
"Take wing! Move, all of you!"
"They've broken into the mountain already! Make haste!"
Ranma and K watched, bewildered, as the elite guards began to fly down the side of the mountain toward whatever disturbance had sounded below.
"Eighteen, nineteen, twenty!" K counted. "They're all gone! The entrance is clear!"
Ranma scratched his head. "Weird... usually my luck is something like the opposite of this."
"Whatever. Let's get in there, before they come back!"

Ranma jumped over the edge of rocks that separated the peak balcony from the undeveloped crags of the mountain, and landed in a crouch, confirming that, indeed, the area was barren of protection.
"Heh. Stupid birds." As he was about to enter before K, he felt a sudden trembling sensation in the rock below, and halted. "What was that?"
"What was what?" K asked, hovering in the air behind him.
Ranma frowned and watched as loose pebbles and rocks rolled down from the mountain peak, shaken loose by the slight, but obviously powerful disturbance.
K noticed the rocks as well, and covered his head with his wings cautiously. "Is it an earthquake?"
"I doubt it," Ranma muttered. "They said there was a disturbance below... hmmmmm..." he thought about it for a moment. "Let's hurry up and get in there."

Past the entrance to the mountain were a series of gilded halls, seemingly devoid of any of the Phoenix that apparently made their home here.
Ranma kept his senses open, even as he observed his surroundings. He decided that the halls definitely had a sort of "royal" air to them, with plush velvet cushions and delicate, exotic-looking candles set in golden shafts.
Before long, the halls had converged on a huge pair of gilded doors with a large, elaborate flame painted across them and a shield in the middle of each. The shield had a crest on it that was a monochromatic representation of a simply drawn skull with a sword impaling it through the jaw and upward. The picture lacked any sort of detail, and looked almost as if it was simply stamped on.
Ranma heard K gulp, and glanced over to him.
"That's... the crest of the Council."
Ranma blinked. "Ah, of course. The Council...... what Council?"
*Clang!* K lightly smacked Ranma over the head with his wing. "You don't even know about the Council of demon lords?"
"What? What do they need a council for? All they do is kill stuff and hoard money," Ranma asserted, ignoring the blow to his head.
"Well, yeah, but sometimes they do it in teams," K reasoned. "Also, powerful people are usually careful not to piss off other powerful people. The Council gives the demon lords a forum to declare their territory and make deals. Every realm with more than one demon lord has a Council, and sometimes the different Councils even meet with each other."
"Well, that's just peachy," Ranma grumbled, "'cause if there's one thing Earth needed more than a bunch of overpowered jerks trying to take over humanity, it's a cooperative team of overpowered jerks trying to take over humanity."
"Hey, Earth realm had it easy, from what I heard," K insisted, "most other realms that get invaded by demons don't win their Death March."
Ranma ceded that point with a reluctant nod, and then jerked his head around. Soft but rapid footfalls echoed from down the hall, announcing that someone was coming, though they weren't heavily armored.
Making sure K had a good grip on his shoulder, Ranma jumped straight up, grabbing hold of the ceiling.

Kiima dashed through the chambers as fast as she could, still badly hurt, and unable to fly, at that, from her earlier abuses at the hands of Ranma and then Saffron. As was typical of Saffron's hall when the alarm had been sounded, the chambers were empty, all the advisors and servants restricted to their chambers, while all the guards were either dealing with the threat below, or guarding Saffron himself in his chambers. Although Saffron kept a rather small guard for himself.
Reaching the large double doors, Kiima pushed her way through, immediately closing them behind her afterward.
Ranma quickly jumped back down to the floor as the heavy doors closed. 'Hmmm... it's that chick I smacked around earlier. So she's in league with this guy, eh?'
gesturing for K to keep quiet, Ranma cautiously moved his ear up against the door.

"My lord, as you no doubt are aware by now, Phoenix Mountain has been assaulted!"
"Then don't waste my time telling me the obvious! Have those jakku returned?! Thaeramon promised that I would have no more trouble with their kind!"
"No my lord. I did not see the attacker myself, but judging how the guards rushed to the assault, it is most visible."
"There's only one?!"
"As I was told by the commander of the guard, yes."

Ranma scratched his head in thought as he heard that. One attacker was storming the place? Who would do something like that? 'Well, besides me,' he added to himself after a moment.
*Crash!*
Ranma zipped around as a ceramic platter shattered on the floor, and froze as a young Phoenix woman stared at him fearfully with her arms withdrawn over her chest, shaking.
"Intr... Intru... Intruder!" she coughed out weakly, obviously too frightened to even scream properly.
Ranma was about to stutter out something foolish, when K slapped a wing over his mouth.
"Oh, don't worry, we were invited," K said casually. "The big guy here just gets nosy sometimes. You know how it is."
The maid blinked in surprise at hearing the dragon speak, and then shook her head slightly. "Oh... okay. I'm sorry I startled you." She bowed and rushed off, ignoring the mess she had made.
After she was out of earshot, Ranma looked at K appraisingly. "You speak all languages AND you can lie with a straight face. I'm sorry for every time I ever called you useless."
K smirked. "Forgiven."
_________________________________________________________________________________________

"I'm sorry, Lord Saffron, but from what I was told, the enemy had burst through the lines and was headed for the supply warehouses. Though it's entirely possible it doesn't know its way around." Kiima bowed deeper to her master, wondering what manner of beast had infiltrated their sacred home this time. At least those jakku, deadly as they were, were quiet about their assaults.
"Then whatever foolish being violates our ancestral territory is trapped, and will die here. As is fitting." Saffron almost looked bored for all the panic that the attack was causing, and leaned on his elbow which rested on the armrest of his chair. "Actually, bring word to the commander that he is to take this attacker alive, if possible. It may know something about the slime which now possesses my stone."
*Wham!* Kiima pitched forward as the doors to Saffron's chamber suddenly burst open, and a human teenager in leather armor stalked through them and pointed angrily at the Phoenix king.
"NOBODY calls Ranma Saotome slime and gets away with it!" Ranma shouted, quickly scanning the room. Six guards, plus the chick who was already beaten up and big bird himself. Too easy.
The Phoenix all stared back at him expressionlessly, as if rooted in place.
Ranma lowered his finger for a moment, looking as if he suddenly remembered something. "Well, except for that one guy who called me slime and then ran away. He got away with it." He then pointed at Saffron again. "But MOST people who call me slime don't get away with it!"
The Phoenix kept staring.
"Well, actually," Ranma made another revision as he thought it over, "that one guy who called me slime and ran away... he was the only guy who's ever called me slime before." He again pointed to Saffron. "But after today, only HALF the people who have called me slime will have gotten away with it!"
Saffron sweatdropped. "Are you done?"
"Yeah, I think we'd all like to move forward now," K added, looking bored.

Saffron cleared his throat, and then glared at the pigtailed adventurer who had intruded upon his halls.
"Ranma Saotome... so you would be the one who stole my Phoenix stone?"
"'Stole'? Whatever!" Ranma scoffed.
"Regardless, I feel obligated to allow you the opportunity to return the stone yourself. Shall you elect to do so, I promise that your death will be as quick and painless as possible."
"Oh, well, gee, you know, that's such a good offer, I'll have to think about it," Ranma deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest, "how about instead, you recall all your goonies, and I won't break that nice-looking throne over your head. How's that sound?"
Saffron's left eye twitched, and he glanced at the leader of his personal guard. "Kill him. Make it slow."
"Sir!" The Phoenix responded, drawing a long, double-handed sword from the large sheath set between his wings. The other five guards did the same, and the heavily armored soldiers began stalking forward.
Sitting atop Ranma's head, K snorted. "I'd give these guys ten, maybe fifteen seconds."
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Not even." Then he addressed the Phoenix assembled in front of him. "You know what's wrong with you ancient Chinese guys?"
Without waiting for a response, Ranma pulled his .50 caliber Nighthawk from where it was hidden under his belt.
*Blam!!* *Blam!!* *Blam!!* *Blam!!* *Blam!!* *Blam!!*
Ranma flipped the gun over in his hand as smoke wafted from the barrel, and grinned as the six guards fell to the floor, nursing bloody leg wounds. "You need to modernize."
*Fwsh* Drawing his staff in one hand as he put his pistol away with the other, he approached the fallen soldiers almost sorrowfully as they tried to push aside the pain of their wounds and rise to the attack.
*Thwack!* *Wham!* *Thunk!*
Saffron watched with mild amusement as his finest soldiers were batted around like helpless animals, tossed to all the corner of the great hall with punishing swings of Ranma's mithrill staff.
But the amusement was not enough to quell the hunger he felt deep inside him. The human had it. The stone was with him. Saffron could feel it pulsing with power, power that was rightfully his!
"ENOUGH!!!" Saffron stood up fully from his throne, and Kiima scurried out of the way as the Phoenix king's aura exploded around him.
Ranma jumped back, sparing the last guard on the ground a painful lump as his own aura lit around him. Unlike Saffron's aura, which burned like a bonfire, Ranma's enveloped him tightly, embracing his body and strengthening it.
With a slight gesture, K evacuated the battle zone, flying up toward on of the balconies above.
Saffron stalked forward slowly, flexing his talons. As he reached the guard on the floor that Ranma had been about to disable, he raised one of his arms into the air, and then brought it down, not quite touching his bodyguard.
*SHRAK!!* Blades of fire ripped into the hapless soldier, and the Phoenix didn't even have time to scream before the cauterized remains of his body fell to the floor, fused with charred strips of his own armor.
Ranma's eyes widened. "Uh... wasn't he on your side?"
Saffron snarled. "I have no need for weaklings!"
Ranma stared for a moment, then nodded in understanding. "Oh, I get it. You're one of those types of kings, huh?"

"HRAAAAUGH!!!" Saffron charged forward with incredible speed, intent on cleaving Ranma in the same manner he did his own guard.
*Thock* To the demi-god's utter surprise, Ranma caught his attack on the way down with his right hand, the gauntlet protecting it seeming unaffected by the tremendous heat Saffron commanded.
Ranma batted away Saffron's talons, and then used both hands to quickly thrust his staff into the Phoenix king's stomach, stunning him long enough for Ranma to finish with a powerful staff strike to the side of his head.
Backing off slightly, Ranma flexed his gauntleted hand appraisingly. "You know, I didn't know if that would work or not. I'm still not sure what this thing's made out of."
"I'll be sure to look into it," Saffron said as he stood up straight, his aura building, "after I strip it from your ashen CORPSE!!"
Then he threw his arms forward, and the world turned white.
*BWOOOOOOM!!!* A massive line of fiery explosions blasted across the royal hall, instantly incinerating two guards that happened to be in its way, and completely blinding most of the others that were present.
After a few seconds the light receded, and the floor beneath the flames fell through completely to the level beneath, the paved tile and hardened rock turned molten under Saffron's power.
Saffron started to smile, but then realized that he could still sense the stone, and it wasn't in front of him so much as it was...
He jerked his head up to see Ranma waving at him with his left hand and aiming his pistol with his right hand, while his legs were firmly clamped around the golden chandelier that hung over the royal hall.
*Blam!!*
Ranma snorted as Saffron's jerked backward, the hole in his forehead evident. "Some demon lord. No magical force field, no bullet-proof skin, no nothing."
Saffron merely glared at him, and the bullet wound in his forehead slowly shrank and then sealed itself.
Ranma blinked. "Oh... you can do that. This is going to be harder than I thought."
Saffron sneered and raised a hand toward his foe, small spheres of fire lighting up around him.
All at once the spheres blasted forward, and Ranma jumped down from his perch to dodge as small explosions blasted the ceiling.
The moment he touched the floor he had to dodge Saffron's talons as the mighty king make a swipe at his head and then a thrust for his chest.
After sidestepping the thrust, Ranma kicked Saffron in the back, only to have the Phoenix king throw a fireball that slammed into Ranma and knocked him back several meters, where he landed roughly on his back.
"You're no match for me. Give yourself to the flames."
"Hmph." Ranma got up easily and dusted himself off. "You're lucky your element is fire, or you'd be in soooo much trouble about now."
Saffron barked a short laugh and launched forward, slashing his talons with lightning speed. Ranma deflected the first two attacks with his staff, but Saffron held the third back for a bit longer, and struck with such power that the mithril pole flew off to the side, out of Ranma's grasp.
The next thrust Ranma ducked under, and ignored the sound of crumbling stone as Saffron's talons pierced the chamber walls. He kicked upward and then spun into a sweep, knocking his enemy down while giving himself time to make a dash for his weapon.
"GYAH!!" Saffron made a clawing gesture toward the staff, and a blade of fire cut a flaming gouge in the floor between the weapon and its owner, stopping Ranma short. Another gesture, and Ranma was backflipping away as more fire blasted the walls and floor around him.
Ranma landed in a crouch, keeping a careful eye on his seemingly invincible opponent. It occurred to him that the way to defeat an enemy with an affinity for heat would be to use an attack that used cold, but he didn't know any attack like that, and given that the Hyoken school used a flame aura to execute its maneuvers, it just wasn't possible for him to improvise a fire-killing move on the spot. But otherwise, Saffron seemed invulnerable to physical attacks. Or at least, blunt impacts and small piercing wounds.
The Phoenix king saw his enemy hesitate, and got back to his feet, flame building in one hand.
"PERISH!!!" A solid beam of white-hot light blasted into Ranma, slamming him back into one of the walls of the chamber, and completely engulfing his form in a cocoon of white fire.

"RANMA!!" K yelled in panic, watching as the floors and walls closest to his companion began to melt from the intense heat.
"Ha! The pitiful mortal thought he could defy the gods and live! A fitting death!" Kiima cheered on her master as he flexed his claws, reveling in the glory of victory.
Saffron grinned as he turned toward the metal-clad annoyance perched on his balcony. "And you're next, little one. You'll cook quite well in that metal wrapping of yours."
"You should really... make sure... that I'm finished first!"
Saffron whirled back around, and gazed in disbelief as a badly charred Ranma stood up in the corona of white fire, a halo of red surrounding him.
Ranma grimaced and stepped away from the molten area behind him, wiping his forehead. If the Hyoken training and aura hadn't given him such a high resistance to heat himself, he was certain that Saffron's blast would've taken him out for good. 'At least my right hand feels fine. I'm beginning to think this stupid glove's just plain invincible.'
"You live?!" Saffron asked, as if the figure standing before him might be an illusion or spirit.
Ranma frowned. "Yeah, I live. And I'm sick of carrying around this stupid rock!" Ranma took the Phoenix stone out of his pocket, observing how Saffron's eyes gleamed when he saw it. "You want it? GO FETCH!!"
Ranma reared back his arm, then threw the magical gemstone at an angle, bouncing it on the floor past the Phoenix king and into the hole in the floor he had made with one of his earlier attacks.
Saffron moved to go after it, and then jerked to a stop. This was obviously a distraction! Turning around, he thrust a hand toward where Ranma's staff lay.
*SHRAK!!* Blades of fire tore into the floor once again, knocking the well-protected staff into the air harmlessly. Ranma was nowhere near it.
*Shrick* Saffron gaped as the blade of his guard's greatsword poked out of his chest, and gasped helplessly as he was spun around to face Ranma.
"Payback time, sparky." Ranma grabbing his shoulder with his left hand and then started pounding the Phoenix king with his right, his arm jackhammering into Saffron's face and chest.
*Thock!* *Thock!* *Thock!* *Thock!* *Thock!* *Thock!* *Thock!*
Ranma then kicked Saffron away, and drew his Nighthawk before his opponent had even hit the floor. *Blam!!* *Blam!!* *Blam!!* *Blam!!* *Blam!!*
He let the dead clip fall out of the loading chamber, and then stuck his pistol back in his belt as his oppoent fell backward onto the floor, propped up by the oversized sword he was impaled on.
Ranma grinned. "Let's see ya get up from that."
Saffron's body twitched, and then his hands fell flat on the floor, pushing his body up.
Ranma blinked. "Uh... hey... I was just kidding... you can die now."
"Saffron will never die!" Kiima yelled from the sidelines, "his power is eternal! He is-"
"Oh, will you SHUT UP?!?!" K yelled irritably, above her. "Geez, get a life you stupid avian!"
Ignoring the exchange behind him, Saffron stood up fully, the bullet and impact wounds on his face already healed. Raising one hand, he formed it into a fist, and then punched himself in the chest over the tip of the greatsword, causing it to burst out the other end of him.
"So, am I like, the only one that wouldn't feel up to fighting if a sword was sticking out of both sides of me?" Ranma wondered aloud.
Saffron chuckled slightly as he stalked forward. "You are to be commended for your prowess, human, even if your wisdom is lacking. It has been a great treat to fight someone who would have had the upper hand in a 'fair' battle. Unfortunately for you, mortality is fleeting. And now so has yours fled." Saffron raised his talons to the attack.
*RRRRRRUMBLE!*
Everyone staggered as the chamber shook from some nearby vibration, and Saffron looked about wildly.
"What? The attacker? But... wasn't that you?"
Ranma blinked. "Uh... no. You mean you forgot about the attack?"
*KABOOM!!!* A section of the floor from behind Saffron's throne burst apart in an explosion of black energy, and tendrils of dark lightning crackled around the hole as bits of rock and tile fell around the room.
*Clang!* *Wham!* *K-shing!* *Shwit!* *SLAM!!*
Ranma blinked as the sounds of battle came from the hole. "What's going on down there?"
*K-shang!* *Thwack!* *BLAM!!*
The chamber shook slightly, and the noise from below paused.
Then a figure jumped out of the hole in the floor, landing in a crouch on the chamber floor.
"What the-?! YOU AGAIN?!" Ranma shouted.
"The hell? You following me?" Rayden asked, getting up and resting his broadsword over his shoulder.

Up on the balcony, K groaned. The demon hunter was back, and despite him looking surprisingly better than he had the previous day, he still had a number of bloodstains and cuts about him.
Of course, by all accounts, he HAD just fought all the way up from the lowest level up to the peak of Mount Phoenix, and his trench coat had several crossbow bolts and arrows sticking out of it, so it was rather likely that his current wounds were recent, even if K couldn't fathom that the man had recovered from an impalement and near-dismemberment in a single day.

"And who are you?" Saffron muttered tiredly, deciding that he really had to put more effort into training his guards.
Rayden turned his attention away from the teenage samurai, and jabbed the thumb of his free hand at himself. "I'm-whoa, wait, hold on."
*Shyick!* Rayden turned and performed a horizontal slash right as a Phoenix soldier flew up out of the hole in the floor, and a thin spray of blood lashed out as the Phoenix continued flying upward. Upon contact with the ceiling the soldier immediately split at the torso, and blood and body fell to the grasp of gravity and fell back into the hole.
Rayden's left hand pulsed with dark energy, and a black aura surrounded it, crackling with electric arcs of the same color. With a gesture, he launched an energy bolt into the recesses of the hole, and a few short shouts were heard before a loud detonation, and a proceeding silence.
Rayden turned back around casually, his left hand trailing smoke. "Sorry 'bout that. Well, not really." He grinned and flipped his sword back up so that it rested on his shoulder.
The others in the room watched in morbid fascination as the blood on the broadsword's edge quickly disappeared, as if it was evaporating... or perhaps being consumed by the sword itself.
"Well, that explains a few things," Ranma mumbled.
Rayden looked about the room, then nodded at Saffron. "You there. You're Saffron, right? I've heard some things about you."
Saffron raised an eyebrow, and flexed his talons experimentally. "Really now?"
The dark paladin nodded, and pointed at his prey. "Yeah. You've asserted your rule over the surrounding lands and driven out anyone who might pose a physical or economic threat to your monarchy. You've forbidden technology trading so that the people can't get weapons to fight off your soldiers, and you tax them harshly without providing anything but enforcement for your own self-serving laws."
Saffron smirked. "All true. And I suppose you're going to strike me down in a heroic victory for justice and good, aren't you?"
"Yeah, somethin' like that," Rayden shrugged, bumping Darkrune off his shoulder and letting the ancient blade fall to the floor. *Thud* It made a heavy impact as the point of the sword dug into the tile of the chamber, and Rayden hunched over slightly as he grabbed the handle with both hands. "Just tryin' to work off some bad karma. And maybe root through your treasury for some booze money."
Ranma sighed. "And just as I was starting to think this guy was alright..."
"Hmph!" Saffron snorted. "The mortals of today's generation are too insolent! To have to dispose of two of you in one day? It's below me to deal with worms like you!"
Rayden smirked. "Mortals, immortals... it all tastes the same to Darkrune's edge, chicken boy."
Saffron rolled his eyes. "At least this other pest had the courtesy to assault me with style. Burn for your trouble, insect."
His claw flared with the same light from when he had blasted Ranma, and once again the pure white beam blasted across the chambers, engulfing Rayden in a molten pillar of light.
Ranma sweatdropped as Saffron turned back toward him. "Aren't you going to make sure he's dead?"
"He's dead," Saffron asserted, his talons glowing once again.
"Are you sure? You made the same mistake with me."
"I'm sure." Saffron took a step forward, and the fire around his arm glowed even brighter.
"Seriously, I made the same mistake before myself. That guy's really tough."
"Stop stalling," Saffron said, raising his talons in the air.
"......... I don't think he's dead."
*Shoom!* Saffron halted as a wave of heat rushed over him, and he caught a glimpse of dark energy out of the corner of his eye.
"Nope. He's alive. Toldja."
"Venom strike!" Darkrune glowed with a blue-black haze as it cut forward in a simple vertical chop, cleaving the Phoenix king through the head and down through one leg. Flowing after the physical blade was a trail of black, pulsating energy that made its way through Saffron's wound and attached itself to the damaged flesh, feeding on the demi-god's life force.
Rayden drew the sword out, and then held it straight up in front of him, idly dusting the off the burned sections of his trench coat with one hand. Saffron's blood followed the blade's movements, flowing from the wound to the sword's edge like iron in the presence of a magnet.
The blue-black energy returned, and the purple gemstone set in the broadsword's pommel glowed suddenly.
"Huh. I was wrong. He seems to like this guy's blood a little more than usual." Rayden said, obviously perplexed by the morbid occurrence.
"LORD SAFFRON!!!" Kiima screamed, falling to her knees as Saffron's body did the same. After a moment, the corpse fell forward completely, the festering split falling open.
She glared hatefully at the swordsman. "You have not won! Saffron is invincible! He will be reborn soon!"
Rayden snorted. "Yeah. Right. I doubt it."
*Gshzaaak!* Arcs of black lightning curled around Saffron's corpse, and the Phoenix king began to disintegrate, his flesh burning to ash, and his blood continuing its constant flow to Darkrune's edge.
"NOOOOO!!" Kiima yelled, tears starting to stream down her face. It was impossible! Saffron's life could not be extinguished! He was the Phoenix!
The dark paladin sheathed his great blade, and placed his right hand in front of his nose, holding the palm flat while pointing upward. "Gushay narai gackoo noh torgra. The flames of Kharak purge the soul of its physical prison, and the dead find peace in eternity as the dust of the living fade." His prayer complete, Rayden began to dust off his hands. "Well, time to loot the place!"
"You... you..." Rayden halted, and Kiima took a step back as Ranma suddenly advanced on the demon hunter, his left eye twitching.
"Hey, whoa. Back off now kid. We're cool right now, and I don't wanna-URK!!" Rayden was unsuccessful in warding off the teenage adventurer, and found himself hunched over as Ranma grabbed him by the collar and yanked him down to stare him in the eyes.
"ONE. HIT." Ranma said, gritting his teeth.
Rayden blinked. "What?"
"ONE HIT!!" Ranma yelled, causing the swordsman to wince. "I worked my ass off punching, kicking, striking, shooting, and stabbing that overgrown canary, and you come up behind him and kill the jerk with a single blow!!" He shook Rayden violently back and forth for a moment, then yanked him up close again. "Do you understand me?!"
"N-No, not really," Rayden muttered dizzily, "I mean, what do you want me to do about it?"
"Teach me to do that," Ranma said, absolutely serious.
*Thud!* From his perch on the balcony, K performed a spectacular, though painful, seven-meter facefault.

*BOOM!!!*
The four conscious occupants of the room all blinked as a loud noise came from below, reaching the royal chambers primarily through the two holes that had been ripped into the floor.
*Shrak!*
"AIIIIEE!!!"
"Run! Run for the exits!!"
"It's no use! They're-Glaugh!" *Schick!*
*Bwack!*
"Look out!"

Ranma and Rayden looked at each other.
"Friends of yours?" Ranma questioned.
Rayden shook his head. "Nope. Are you sure it isn't your dryad friends?"
"Assuming you didn't kill them all, maybe," Ranma muttered, "though I doubt they could cause that kind of disturbance."
*Bam!*
The room's occupants turned as the doors to the chamber burst open, and an elderly Phoenix man rushed in, panting.
"Alert Lord Saffron! The mountain is under attack!"
Kiima blinked, then scowled. "Of course it's under attack! Have you been asleep for the last twenty minutes?!"
He shook his head. "No, you don't understand! The jakku have returned! Not just a few, but a whole assault force! With golems and..." for the first time since arriving, the old avian took a good look around the room. "Say... what happened here? Where is Lord Saffron?"
Kiima lowered her head in shame. Ranma, Rayden, and K jabbed their thumbs and beaks at the bleached, winged skeleton that now laid next to the burning throne, split in twain and laying in a pile of ash.
The old man took a step back, horror seizing him. "It... it cannot be! He has abandoned us in our greatest hour of need!"
"Well, it wasn't totally his fault," Rayden reasoned. Ranma rolled his eyes.
"No! We're doomed! Doomed! Doo-GURK!!" The elder's speech was cut short as a large, heavy claw burst through his chest, spraying blood and gore on the floor in front of him. As the Phoenix's corpse fell to the floor, the chain went taught, and each person in the room could see that the end of the chain seemed to disappear in midair somewhere near the doorway.
"Hamakku!" Ranma shouted, finally recovering his staff from its position behind the decimated throne. "Look out for its crossbow!"
"You! You must fight!" Kiima shouted at the two men desperately. "Our lord cannot protect us because of you! You must save us!"
"Alright! Alright!" Rayden said irritably, cracking his knuckles as the stench of barely preserved flesh entered the chamber. "After that pathetic warmup your little winged friends gave me, a bunch of zombies should be no trouble at... huh?" Rayden blinked as glowing symbols appeared in a ring off in a corner of the chamber. "Is that a transport circle?"
K blinked, and then quickly flew to Ranma and landed on his head. "I th-think it is!"
Rayden nodded, and his fists crackled with black lightning, preparing to unleash their dark power.
To everyone's surprise, however, the circle didn't transport something into the chambers, but instead expanded suddenly in radius, moving beyond Rayden, Ranma, and Kiima's positions to cover them in its effect range.
"Well, damn." It wasn't clear at that particular moment who said it, though its quite likely it came from more than one mouth.
*Shooo!*
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Up on the very top of Mount Phoenix, Doppler let the light between his upper hands die, and smiled. "So, he is alive after all. What a fantastic creature he is." The demon lord shook his head at the thought that he had nearly killed such a fascinating specimen in a moment when caution had beat out curiosity. Surely it was a shameful mistake for a great scientist!
Tio looked over the swarms of undead and constructs that flooded into the Phoenix stronghold, courtesy of Genex Karl's tireless workshops. "I'm sure the advance wave has reached the royal chambers by now. Even if they're powerful enough to destroy the demi-god, as you said they have, I wouldn't count on them still having the strength to fight such an army."
"They're out," Doppler said simply. "What a stroke of luck that I remembered that magic circle I drew to teleport in Karl's golem puppet. From here I was even able to teleport different sections of the circle to different areas. Shikodan should turn up somewhere further north, while that interesting human will end up to the east."
"And the Phoenixes?" Tio asked, only mildly curious in Doppler's latest long-range experiment.
"Eh." Doppler shrugged. "The girl ended up somewhere... else. I wasn't really paying too much attention to her. The others were outside the circle still." He then snapped his fingers on his top-right hand. "Oh, and speaking of which, since we no longer have to worry about how many we take, instruct the golems to capture any of the avians that the undead miss or leave for dead. They may prove somewhat useful later."
"Right away, my lord," Tio grasped a control stone in his hand and concentrated, organizing his thoughts into simple, functional commands for the golems. Ordinarily the constructs didn't comprehend much more than "smash this" and "don't smash this", but Karl's golems were of quality stock, and could carry out more sophisticated tasks.
"I really was surprised that the human did so well. I find myself wondering if he would have found some way to win, had Rayden not interfered. He's obviously an alpha, in any case." He nodded to himself at the declaration, rubbing his chin with his top-left hand. "This has been a positively wonderful trip! I've found a new alpha to observe, my old pet project, I'll have a new stronghold once I wash the blood from the walls, and I even completed the task I originally came here for!"
The veirheelu chuckled to himself. "Saffron, you arrogant fool. Never thinking, never compromising or manipulating. It's no wonder your kind perished from the realms so long ago."
Slowly, he opened his two lower hands, which had been clasped together. The Phoenix stone laid in his palms, glowing brightly with its supernatural light.
"All you ever sought was power. But your power... is now mine."

*****************************************************************************************

End Chapter 4