Fall of a Graceful Darkness *Malice's Battle*

[Maliciferum]

Malice appeared in a whirlwind of black leaves on the head of Trucido's newest weapon, Quaytvol. The giant beast swayed as it walked, crushing buildings and most likely people on the ground below.

Malice touched the sigil on the back of his neck, peering down at Nachtundtag. No heroes could be seen....yet.

[vincent]

((LOL k I'm trying to make this work for both of us XD;;; I hope you don't mind a bunch of nameless NPCs))

Vincent and a wave of men charged forward and through Nachtundtag, taking out Sumata soldiers left and right. He had to get in here to destroy his enemy, return peace to the kingdom and ultimately protect his family.
You know, as was his line of thinking.

As keen as his eyesight was, he failed to notice Malice from up above. Vincent was quite focused on what was going on around him. It was rather a weakness of his, he was used to commanding sailors and being involved in sea battles instead; being in charge of ground troops was an entirely different situation for him.

[lana]

Coming from the opposite direction (the east) came Lana...and her own army. She halted the moment she saw Vincent approach with his own and she stepped forward, signalling for her army to stay put.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" she spat, her longsword drawn and ready.

[vincent]

Vincent kept marching along even after he'd spotted Lana. As she prepared to engage with him he halted his own troops and approached her.

"I'm doing my job, what the hell are you doing out here?" he demanded. He was surprised she was still in command of anything after he'd defeated her what, three times before?

[Zelos Shinigami-Mezmillion]

"It appears..."

A burst of black and Zelos appeared right next to them, acting as if he was standing there the whole time. "We both have intentions of assisting Nachtundtag. Well, us and our armies."

For a second it appeared Zelos was alone...then the air shimmered and thousands of green ghostly like warriors appeared, all armed and ready for battle.

"Mr. Loque," he addressed Vincent, "Ms. Princel," he turned to Lana, "Shall my men take point?"

[Maliciferum]

Malice gazed down at the heroes. "My dear Quaytvol, it seems we have some guests. Let us entertain them!"

Quaytvol roared, shaking the ground with its booming cry. "Destroy the armies," Malice commanded Quaytvol, "those three are mine!" he said pointing to the heroes.

[lana]

Lana opened her mouth to argue with Vincent again but that was when Zelos stepped in. She turned in his direction and blinked, jaw dropping even a little as his army showed up by him.

"D-dammit, Zelos. You and your stupid..." she trailed off, shaking her head before turning her gaze back to Vincent, "alright, then. This seems like a very unlikely team but it appears we all do seem to have a common goal in this. I'm not in the mood to argue, let's just kick some ass."

She threw her army a quick signal which beckoned them forward. The Nerezzan soldiers readied themselves and awaited further orders.

[vincent]

Vincent eyed Zelos and looked back to Lana. The only way this could possibly go wrong would be if someone didn't know what they were doing.

...And really, he questioned Lana's skills.

"Your majesty, that sounds like a great plan. I'd say the more the merrier for our side, anyway," Vincent nodded proudly, smiling before he turned his attention back to his own army, finger pointed at the giant beast and barking loudly, "GET OUT THERE AND GET THAT THING, ALL OF YOU!"

Multiple enthusiastic cries came from the soldiers, forming a great unified roar as they charged ahead at Quaytvol. Vincent gave his sword a twirl, intending to follow along with his own army.

"I'm clearly taking lead!!"

[Zelos Shinigami-Mezmillion]

Zelos merely nodded and lifted his hand...then swooshed it down, his army took that as a signal and flew around the field. When it arrived at parts of Quaytvol it kind of did some ghostly damage to the monster. Zelos stared at Malice as he was giving out orders...and a smirk crept on his usually stoic face. It was a message saying: Come and get it.

[Maliciferum]

Malice watched as the various armies moved around the battlefield like swarms of ants. He held out an arm over the side of Quaytvol's massive cranium, and dropped a single seed. As the tiny seed fell, it gained momentum, and crashed into the earth with enough force to send chunks of rock into the air. Moments later, a wave of dense vegetation sprang from the impact site, covering the field and leaving only a large open grove around the heroes.

Malice's laughter could be heard among the new trees and vines. From the shadows of the canopy Malice stepped out, staring into the eyes of his opponents. "Mammals, a day of reckoning is coming. That's right, the same plants and flowers that saw you crawl from the primordial soup will reclaim the planet. And there will be no-one to protect you."

[Zelos Shinigami-Mezmillion]

Zelos watched Malice's attack before giving a hefty sigh, walking forward to the vegetation as all plant life around him slowly began to wither and die.

"It seems our adversary wants us to be killed by plants, imagine, a daisy destroying the Lord of Death." he said as stoic as always, "Foolish Malice."

He drew his sword and began to float in the air, floating so that he rose above the monster and was at Malice's eye level.

"Tell me Malice...what will you do when your plants wither and die, when the unrelenting force of death scoops in and saps all your ambitions dry?" he gestured to the perfect large circle of dead plants he made when walking. "What will you do when death visits upon you?"

[milicia]

It had felt like hours had passed as Queen Milicia had remained in the center of her city's defensive spell, her mind almost numbed by the constant concentration she had evoked into the elemental wall. Yet like falling in the middle of a dream, it was a sound that stirred her from the daze; a deep and primal roar from Quatyvol. Unable to withstand the suspense she broke her focus on the spell and dared to peek out through the tower's window.

"What in the gods?" The surprised comment slipped from her lips, and she knew that her barrier would not sustain against a creature of such size. "It appears I am needed on the battlefield once more." Shedding her regal gown for her duelist's coat Milicia leapt from the window, conjuring a magical wind to let her float to the ground with ease. "Hold fast my people, your queen is on her way."

[Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion]

The roar washed over the battlefield. To some, it would be a rather familiar roar - to Lana especially. It wasn't the roar of an army's pounding feet; it wasn't the roar of a thousand battle cries. It was but a single voice, belonging to but a single creature....

....but when a giant black lion wearing black-and-gold armor charges through you at the enemy, you'd better get out of it's way.

[vincent]

Vincent blinked as the army he'd lead in started getting trampled and beaten. He sighed then just before he started yelling again.

"Come on, now! Don't be stupid about this, go for its legs or something! Just knock it down first!"

They looked at him, then at the plants. Some charged forward anyway and began to hack at them while others hesitated, not really wanting to show that they were cowering but still not wanting to get near the mess.

An immense burst of fire tore through the plants easily, coming from Vincent's sword. He glared as he ordered the men through and headed back at the monster.

[Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion]

A few of the soldiers seemed to think that Vincent meant the rampaging beast charging through theri lines. Kouichi growled, spinning around to meet his attacker...

...then growled again.

{I'm not the enemy here!} he told them, then tossed his head back toward Quaytvol and Malice. {They are. We're on the same side!}