Episode 38: Markus, The Phantom Blade

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

"Aerial Torture!!!" Belial yells loudly that all the glass objects in the near exploded under this unbearable tone. His wings become extended and he rushes like a bullet grabbing Apollonir and sinking claws into Apollonir's flesh.
He then soars through the sky with trapped Apollonir in his claws.

He then suddenly stops and tosses Apollonir towards Vais, Lars's copy.
Vais rises her hammer. "Hammer of Demon's Blessing!" Quite a disturbing name to give to an ability; demonic and blessing in the same card, but it is not to be wondered about considering who uses it. As Apollonir heads towards Vais she hits him with empowered cursed hammer and sends him flying towards Gram, copy of Clayf.
Gram slams his fists together and charges his gauntlets. "Gigaton Crush!" Apollonir is now close to Gram. Gram punches him in the face with the gauntlet and removes buffs.
First ability played applied another venomous attack, second decreased defense and third removed all buffs entirely leaving Apollonir to get attacked by others.

Other three copies start charging their own attacks to attack Apollonir.

[Vince Hardy]

"Ah, we're starting to get aggressive now, aren't we? Interesting. You're too late though." Vince didn't seem taken aback by Apollonir getting trapped in a combo. The fake Soldiers were strong, but were they really that strong? To him, they were way below the standard that the actual Soldiers have already set.

Apollonir was laid out on his stomach after being hit by the Clayf impostor. He could hear more than one copy getting ready to bombard him with something else. He just preferred to play dead for a while, just to see what they come up with.

"Ability activate! Saiam Low! Bring them down!" A scarlet-red energy was excreted from Apollonir's downed body. It quickly seized the six fake Soldiers and merged with their being. The powers they were amassing began to drop. Their bodies dropped along with their power levels, forcing them down to the pavement and to the brink of destruction.

"You were a good distraction, but you'll be one no more. We're done with you." Vince's body was engulfed in darkness. Apollonir's body also had this change. As he rose to his feet - unsurprisingly unharmed - his scales turned black. His ability then suddenly turned into a soul-stealing technique where the attribute energies inside of these mimics were drawn out like flames and extinguished in Apollonir's mouth.

The primary reason for resorting to a Hex Code maneuver was to have a surefire way of removing these Bakugan from the fray as quickly as possible.

Apollonir then looked to this masked person who brought these six here to die, just like they were destined to. Vince looked at this person as well. He slid his hand into his right pocket and slightly revealed a card with a skull on it: the Doom Card.

"Will that be all, Kyuki?" Vince wondered with a fierce darkness burning in his pupils.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

Cultist in the mask looks and smiles behind the mask.
He sees that their enemy prepares to start wrecking it for real and it is obvious what the result of this will be for six fakes.
From the very beginning masked person knew what this would be; death of the six. Actually it has been planned from the very beginning of their creation; their death for higher purpose. However, not even six fakes know it has been their fate.
And cultists needed Kyuki for this.
He was asked by Chrono Elite to create these fakes, but did not expect them to have any other purpose than being weapons.

And finally, these guys are brought to their end. They were destroyed much faster than originally anticipated, but it does not matter in the slightest. In the state they were they could not defeat Zero Hydranoid at 25% power of her base form, so what would happen when Apollonir used his power? Well, this happens. "Thank you very much, kind sir." Cultist says in a dark sarcastic tone as he watches deaths of Bakugans Kyuki created.
He smiles behind the mask and then takes out a gray card with a dark-purple gemstone in the middle of it. "Testamentum!" Cultist says.

Bodies of six fakes or, at least, their remaining parts rise into the air and start glowing. Dark thunders bind their bodies and parts. Every part and body starts to lose its color turning completely gray as if all energy has been sucked out.
Large red Pyrus emblem emerges from Belial and other emblems emerge from their respective fake soldier. Six emblems float above dead bodies that now fall down on the ground.
Six emblems flash and transform into card-like talismans.
All talismans charge towards the cultist who quickly grabs them.

"Hahahaha.... Finally, you're ours..." Cultist says laughing madly. "We have been waiting for so long and we finally have the Six Keys... And God's Tear is also within our graps... Hahaha!!!" Cultists says as he continues to laugh madly.

As he said that a flash of light appeared behind him. Silhouette of Kyuki appears again, but then another flash removes transparency. It IS Kyuki right now, not a mere image of him.
Cultist is so drunk in his 'happiness' that he can't realize that Kyuki is behind him. Just as he is about to turn around he feels sudden horrible pain in his chest.
He takes a look down and notices...
There is a hand coming out of his chest. Literally.
Stream of blood blows out of cultist's chest, mouth and nose. "N-No... how... How did he... know? Our plans..." Cultist mumbles helplessly. He is on the brink of death and he knows what is going on. Kyuki impaled him in the back and through the chest.

"Who do you take me for, believer in fairy tales?" Kyuki says with satisfaction that he did what he did to the cultist. "Where are your gods now? They depend on power of six fake Bakugans and some piece of stone to live? Heh, fools..." Kyuki laughs and he pulls out his hand out of cultist's chest.
Cultist's mind goes blank and he falls down drowning in his own blood.
Kyuki takes six talismans out of cultist's hand by force and gazes at them.

"I knew from the start, fool. These are to summon the god of eternal destruction? Heh, fairy tales..." Kyuki smiles in his sarcastic feeling.

He and Cult of the Triad have been enemies for a long time. Both are evil, but still enemies. They attempted to gain power, but their organization does not prevail against Kyuki who will never allow them to win as he truly despises them. "Now that I have these I bet the rest of you will come like vermin wanting to kill me and take them? Go on, expand my collection of bodies as much as you wish." Kyuki says to the cultist.
As he says that cultist draws his final breath and stops breathing.
He then takes a look at Vince and casually replies: "That would be all. I got what I came for. Enjoy your trip." Kyuki says, turns around and jumps off the building and goes among the remaining buildings that have not yet been damaged and disappears among shadows.

[Vince Hardy]

Vince heard and saw what just went down in front of him, and, quite frankly, he didn't give a single centimeter of care that killing the fake Legendary Soldiers sped up their plans. He didn't have much of a choice. Having those six running around could cause trouble for someone who can't handle them. It was for the best that they met their end by Apollonir's hand.

All Vince really did was laugh at Kyuki; although, the laugh sounded like an evil one thanks to the Hex Code's influence.

"Doc's a good villain. He always has you thinking one thing and then talks about another," Vince grudgingly complimented. He concealed his Doom Card since he didn't plan on using it anymore; however, one would have to think why Vince would even have one.

"He certainly has his plans," Apollonir sighed. He canceled his Hex Code transformation. He really despised that power, but he'd suppress that disdain anytime when its use must be considered. "Shall we be off now?"

"Yeah. Go ahead." It didn't take long for Vince and Apollonir to get back on course. The path they were taking was riddled with burn marks and rubble like a fight took place there. Markus had to have come in this direction. There was also some interference with communication as if an EMP had gone off. This looked very bad.

"Comm's are choppy. I can't get a read on Markus and Gargulion. How does it look, Apollonir?"

"Hm...well...he's..."

[Markus Hederick]

Markus and Gargulion continued to abuse their shadow morphing capabilities by phasing through the structures that dotted the entire city. It made reaching the supposed area where Roxy was being held way easier. At the rate they were going, this was going to be a cinch.

That was the case until they heard a very distinct clanking sound on the streets that permeated through the quiet prelude to mass chaos.

"Gargulion, do you hear that? What is that?" Markus asked in bewilderment. He was constantly looking around to see what was making that noise.

"I hear it. It sounds metallic, definitely very high in tempo. It sounds like it's getting closer too..."

[Vengeance]

Gargulion hit the nail on the head when he noticed the sound being more audible as something was closing in on him. That something was definitely not a living Bakugan; it was a mechanical Bakugan. The one that would soon be responsible for desecrating the relics Gargulion inhabits was going to be Dryoid, the humanoid Bakugan fortified in an advanced power suit.

It was using its super speed - with the aid of its thruster pack - to chase Gargulion. Its scanners told it exactly where he was going and how he was going to get there. This enabled it to cut him off of his intended path, creating a disturbance fitting for a Bakugan with Gladion's battle data embedded into it.

Dryoid jumped onto a building so he could leap off of it to intercept Gargulion. As Gargulion was crossing, Dryoid aimed his wrist blaster at his shadowy form and shot a white saber, aiming specifically for his center mass.

[Markus Hederick]

To Markus' shock, it was one of those mechanical Bakugan again. What was even more shocking was the projectile Dryoid launched. It didn't look like much, but that's where the Hurranians' deception plays its part. This attack was much stronger than one might expect, so strong that it actually IGNORES the victim's defensive options regardless of what kind of sorcery is being applied to their body.

Needless to say, neither Markus or Gargulion were very thrilled to see Dryoid's attack stick to the Ventus Frame.

"N-no.. B-but how did that-"

"Stay calm." Gargulion used a weak gust of wind to propel Markus over a building. This action was too fast for Markus to even give a reaction. A split second went by, and he was just soaring over a building, a tall one at that. Then a green flash appeared behind him, grabbed onto him, and started traversing the rooftops.

"That thing is full of Hurranians. The bastard infected my shell with that attack just now," Gargulion clarified. It explains why he was jumping around in his spirit form now. If he had kept the Ventus Frame active, both him and Markus would have been goners.

"Tsk...I don't believe this..." Markus looked down at the streets and saw Dryoid still keeping up with them on the ground. It was going to follow them all the way to the edge of Vestal if it had to. Markus was sure of it. "Gargulion...that's one opponent we can't ignore. It might kill us before we make it there if we let it have its way."

"Are you sure going this far will be worth it?"

"I'll go to any extreme to save her," Markus promised Gargulion with a very serious tone.

"Good to hear that your confidence hasn't wavered. If you believe, I believe." Gargulion reconstructed his base body again. Putting Markus back on his back, Gargulion took flight to hover over Dryoid as their battle ensued. "Let's get this over with, tin-can."

(Boss Theme: 2nd Stage)

[Vengeance]

Dryoid's visor glowed red in response to Gargulion calling it out of its name. This showed that it had a degree of self-awareness, separate from the Hurranian's influence over it. It was determined to kill Gargulion and/or infect him, whichever made the most sense at the time.

The cannon on its back moved to line up with Gargulion's positioning in the air. Leading its shots ahead of Gargulion, Dryoid used this mechanism to fire anti-air pulses of energy into the sky that split into multiple bursts upon detonation. Being hit by this attack would render the victim's flight capabilities useless in addition to having enough force to send them deep into the ground where they belong.

In anticipation of Gargulion either dodging it or falling prey to this tactic, Dryoid activated its gauntlet swords. They were medium-sized energy blades that performed the role of daggers most of the time. The damage-per-second Dryoid could achieve with these weapons was staggering and not to be underestimated, especially with the Hurranian infection being on the horizon.

[Markus Hederick]

Gargulion was not stupid enough to let himself get swatted out of the sky by anti-air cannons. He did a barrel roll to the right to dodge the initial pulse Dryoid fired. Dodging the remaining ones proved to be more difficult. That darned machine was shooting that cannon faster than Gargulion could move. He was going to be hit eventually.

"Ability activate! Frame Pulse!" That would be the case if Markus had nothing to say about it.

Gargulion swung his right arm forward to give Dryoid the powerful - somewhat invisible - blast of force it deserved. It struck its back, causing it to abruptly lean forward and trip itself up.

"Not too hard, but stay focused," Markus warned Gargulion. "Ability activate! Photon Spear!"

Gargulion hovered above Dryoid as several blade constructs revolved around him. With the bringing down of his left hands, the multitude were let out into the wild, hoping to find themselves lodged into the inner workings of Dryoid's armor.

[Vengeance]

Dryoid's momentum was shot by Markus' quick thinking. The machine was forced to turn around to address the threats Gargulion just spawned. While the projectiles themselves were not detrimental to Dryoid's overall function, they had to be dealt with quickly.

Using its acquired athleticism from Gladion, Dryoid was able to maneuver itself around the blades by performing side-steps, side-flips, and even cancelling them out with his gauntlet swords.

Dryoid used these special swords to slice a good portion of a tall building off. Once it fell, it kicked this broken portion towards Gargulion to inflict substantial damage. It was unfortunate for Markus that he was not able to see Dryoid's position because of the huge mass blocking their view. Little did they know, he would see it again, somehow boosting towards the mass to hitch a ride where it would lunge at Gargulion if he somehow managed to stop it, or if Dryoid gets off to chase a dodging gargoyle.

[Markus Hederick]

Gargulion looked at how easily Dryoid countered their attack. It immediately gave him a thought. "Markus, you're going to have to try really hard to make me think that this thing doesn't draw inspiration from Gladion," Gargulion guessed. He didn't know he was right though.

"You might be right," Markus accepted. While he was taking this situation very seriously, he didn't let his cocky side go away entirely. "You'll trash Gladion right now anyway, so if that's all it relies on, it's going down."

Then the building throwing came into the mix. There was clearly another Bakugan at work here.

"Watch that! Ability activate! Gargoyle's Beam!" Gargulino generated a green energy beam from his mouth that he swiped horizontally across the structure, splitting it in half and causing explosions to color the background. Dryoid hitching a ride made it a bit more complicated though.

"Seriously?" Gargulion decided that the safest option for defense was to make sure that a defense was up, especially if Dryoid fights like Gladion. What Dryoid could be doing could be a facade to something more dangerous.

"Sturdy Battlement!" The markings along Gargulion's body were lit up as a form of activation for an even higher power. With this, Gargulion was improved on all fronts. When it came to defense, Dryoid would be lucky to leave a scratch on him, much less pierce his shell altogether.

Fortunately for him, he was right to do that. Dryoid actually went in for a ground slam that forced Markus off of Gargulion. Markus had jumped off prematurely to avoid being hurt and landed a fair distance behind Gargulion.

[Vengeance]

Dryoid's ground slam produced a quake that trembled throughout the area. If Vestal had not taken good care of their architecture, those buildings would have collapsed from the force.

Gargulion was now on the ground - surprisingly unharmed - and Dryoid had a foothold over him, a literal foothold. Dryoid pressed on with his advantage by attempting to slit Gargulion's throat with his gauntlet swords. It preferred to make the proceedings a bit more interesting in case Gargulion had any tricks up his sleeve to stop Dryoid from executing him.

Withdrawing the blade from the right gauntlet temporarily, Dryoid pointed his wrist blaster at Markus and shot several concussive rounds that would easily cause blunt force trauma on impact on a regular Bakugan. The results on a human being would be too disgusting to show.

[Markus Hederick]

"You piece of sh-" Gargulion cut himself off right when Dryoid was prepared to fire. He slammed his right palm on the ground to stop this attempted murder from happening. "Solid Wall!"

A wall rose in front of Markus to shield him from Dryoid's blaster. The pressure from the blasts could not be blocked by this ability though. Markus was lucky that he thought ahead enough to step back from the wall as soon as it started rising. The energy trails for Dryoid's blasts were seen going around the walls instead of through it.

Gargulion kicked Dryoid in the visor to stun it long enough for the former to get back on his feet. Gargulion's arms were covered in a dense energy to shape them into blades. He attacked Dryoid immediately.

[Vengeance]

Gargulion engaging Dryoid in close quarters was a bad idea. Dryoid's sensors were warmed up and active. They made Dryoid able to sense where Gargulion would strike. In conjunction with Gargulion not being a master swordsman, Dryoid should be able to repel Gargulion very easily.

Dryoid countered Gargulion's sword swings without having to perform any insane movements. It then attempted to stab Gargulion, but intentionally missed, knowing that it would be dodged. This was clever counterplay to Gargulion's earlier attack since the force of this attack was also invisible. The physical strength of the machine sometimes allowed an extension of its blows to surface. This translated to Gargulion actually being hit by a powerful force and into the risen wall, greatly cracking it.

Dryoid then ran after Gargulion, not wanting to let him get away.

[Markus Hederick]

Markus heard a loud bang from over the wall. He didn't know what was going on, but it didn't seem to look good from Gargulion's point of view.

"Markus! Call out!" Gargulion ordered.

Not being fully aware of what Gargulion was planning with this, Markus complied with the command. "Gargulion!" he responded with equal intensity.

Gargulion phased through the cracked wall as Dryoid was coming towards them. Once behind it, Gargulion grabbed Markus and placed him by his side. He quickly built some of his body onto Markus to give him a good portion of his strength to use. With this act, Gargulion communicated the next course of action to Markus without having to say it out loud.