Episode I: The Open, Blood-Spattered Canvas (Open)

The darkness was pitch black, snow was pure white, little disturbed this tiny village. It was quiet, silence was beyond deafening. No wind would whirl, no activity heard. Yes, the night brought a strange kind of beauty to the Mist Continent. Intruding upon the imperturbable serenity, the trudging of footsteps through abysmally white snow reverberated as if vociferating for cognition through the silence. A young man, probably no older than 20, was trekking through the village. A door quietly clicked to a close behind him as he ventured forward into the calm snow. To listen to these clumping noises as he walked along was almost more deafening than the silence that preceded it, but it was joined by another, more quiet stepping. A thick fog quickly rolled in masking the two sources of footsteps as silhouettes in contrast to the light grey murk. A glimmer of steel shone through still, and a glorious blade was revealed, clenched in the grip of the newer silhouette, and without further noise, the blade segmented the elder in twain, leaving a bloody corpse to freeze in the middle of this village. The blade was sheathed and the still-standing silhouette turned and walked away. The corpse remaining.

-----------------

The following morning, all the village was gathered around a single coffin, closed. The cemetery was mournfully quiet as nobody even had words for this, not a tear. The frigid quietness was interrupted by a rip in the space-time continuum, AKA: An Interdimensional Portal. I gathered all of my best swords in one place and then I stepped out through the vortex. I was immediately greeted by spearheads of the guards, as it was a common misconception for people to think that I am a monster or a fiend of some sort. I waved by hands frantically and shook my head, "No, no, no! I'm not a monster! See? I speak!" A couple of gasps and grumblings later, I was allowed to move freely again. It was funny how I, a Legendary Swordsman, was lesser known. I looked around this village, seeing the morbid sights of emptiness except around a coffin. I bowed my head in respect. "I guess I happened by at the wrong time? What happened?" I asked one nearby guard, quietly, of course. The man looked at me with cold, unforgiving eyes, and said, "Geoffery, the son of our mayor, was brutally murdered last night. He was a good boy, sliced right in half as if someone just popped out of the blue and cleaved him with a blade."

I looked at the man with surprise, such an attack could only be pulled off by the Zantetsuken! But such a blade was destined to be mine! "You mean a swipe of a blade just cleaved him in half?" The guard nodded morbidly, "Or so the rumors say. It happened so soon and without notice, he was found under a layer of snow in a frozen puddle of his own blood. I have to say, it was pretty brutal." I shook my head, "I can hardly believe it... such a horrible death by such a glorious blade. It is unfair to the weapon!"

It began with subtle streams of mist ebbing from the soil, snaking up through the air in transparent swirls of energy that grew in substance the higher they climbed. They surfaced in waves, much like twisting serpent vines that began to entwine with one another and soon, a luminous glow followed as the streams began to flow within a vertical circular motion above the fixed location they sprouted from. Their pace increased with each passing moment as the mysterious energy grew in force and began whipping violent wind currents against anything nearby, yet no sound came at all from their blowing strength. Finally, when the spinning streams of mist were no more than a radiant glow in size of an average doorway, a single foot slowly emerged and stepped upon the ground. The second followed just as slowly, revealing the individual as a whole stepping through the portal. Once she was completely through, the winds, the streaming mist, all of it was gone behind her within a blink of an eye. Shade had arrived on Gaia, and in her usual skeptical silence.


Countless reports of worldly events or stressing issues always came across Shade's attention on a daily basis, if only to keep informed rather than getting involved. Normally, a random death upon a planet would never even reach her ears, but this particular death beheld a mystery she simply wanted to look into out of assurance that it was of no great threat to the surrounding realms.


It wasn't difficult to locate the source. Funerals were rather easy to locate. As Shade's boots lightly walked across the rough road through the small town, her sharp hues scanned over her surroundings to then find a cluster of townsfolk gathered together at the cemetery. What set her brows with scowling confusion was one certain body in attendance.... not even human at that.... which was what quickened Shade's steps as she struggled to hear any hint of the conversation as she approached. By the time her smaller form stood directly behind the eight armed warrior, Shade heard the last of the conversation and slowly shook her head with a roll of her eyes. "Gilgamesh.... although you're mysterious absence from afar has been duely noted upon every world, must you return with such a callous tongue?"

As I stared this guard down, I blinked slightly as a dark yet feminine voice hit my ears from nowhere, much like a train hitting a glass vase. I cringed a little at the sudden voice, and I almost got stabbed by a guard for my sudden movement. Grumpily, I turned my body to face the much smaller figure of a girl, nay, a woman. She had this dark air about her, what with her dark, tangled hair, her military punk outfit, and most darkly of all, her piercing steel grey eyes. They were the color of only the finest quality steel, that fit for blades of legend! Yet they pierced me to look into, as if already refined and sharpened. This lady had some experience. I immediately deducted that I should probably not take her words as a challenge.

"Oh? I don't know you..." I spoke as I examined her closely, thinking that I've seen her kind around before. Thinking about it now, her words seemed as though she had some familiarity with me. More than what most would have. I'm not one to brag, but I AM a legend after all. But she spoke to me like she knew me, and as if it was wrong of me to speak like I did, said that I had 'returned' with a callous tongue. Now I'm not too sure what 'callous' means, but I think she was telling me that I was insulting someone. I knelt down beside her, and started asking her a bit, "How do you know me? Wait, before you answer that, who are you?"

I was being a little bit too impatient with how I spoke, something about her made me want to know stuff now. That wasn't really the kind of person I would normally hang out with, but then again, having lived in a void for a few months or so, I really needed the social connections. Half the reason I haven't turned completely into a fiend yet is because of the social contact I get once in a while. I waited for her answer, and as if her response to my question didn't actually matter to me, I immediately changed the subject on her, just to see how she would react to my sudden topic jump.

"Why are you here, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked her. The last part of that question didn't quite matter, as I now had this gnawing need to know. My eyes filled with curiosity of this person, it was actually starting to be a little bit of a bother to me how curious I was. Perhaps I had ADHD or something, come to think of it, I always get like this around swords. Primarily well-crafted swords. Something about this woman screamed that there was a well-crafted or even a legendary sword attached to her. The more I thought about this, the more I wanted to know... It's rough being a giant who is obsessed with swords.

The moment his immense form turned around and his mysterious hues bore down upon her, Shade felt no intimidation at all. In truth, she was rather relieved to see the legendary Gilgamesh once again among the living. Her head tilted slightly as her hues studied him intently to see he looked physically well enough. Still the over sized giant of a being with the very same overabundant arrogance Shade always knew him to have. It brought a very faint twitch to the corner of her lips, even if his first words put a damper on the moment. Of course there was a high chance Gilgamesh wouldn't remember..... there was no telling the effects of the void after one such as him had passed on from the living, only to return out of the blue as creatures such as him often do throughout the realms.


When his massive form slowly knelt down beside her, Shade's steady gaze remained fixed upon his own, as warriors do amongst each other. To Shade, it was a sign of respect, even if Gilgamesh chose to believe otherwise. She relaxed her stance, now with her arms uncrossed with one gloved hand hung lax at her side and the other casually resting upon the hilt of her sword just as she parted her lips to answer him. Yet she paused with a lift of amusement to her left brow when the mighty swordsman changed his question abruptly. " I am Shade Leonhart. I come from the neighboring planet to Gaia. And I knew you from long ago by simple acquaintance when our paths crossed, yet we fought side by side once...."


Surely those few memories were far too vague for him to recall, so it was her words Gilgamesh had to choose to believe or not. She kept her knowledge of his demise to herself for now, unless he would ask. It was most certainly not something for a discussion of greetings, but still, Shade's curiosity was nagging. Surely there was a purpose for Gilgamesh to be among the living again, or had he alone found some way to bring himself back alone? Although her stance was at ease, her instincts remained alert as the surrounding crowd remained either still gawking at eight armed monstrosity intruding upon their ceremony, or at the outworlder who appeared so calm and collected in his company as if they were old friends.


She gave a slight nod to his next question as she answered with carefully chosen words. She knew Gilgamesh from the past was one who did not mince words, and much preferred getting to the point of the matter. "I tend to keep a sharp eye out over the oddities throughout the realms, Gilgamesh. As a great warrior yourself, I'm sure you also value the need to keep informed of any possible threats. This particular death struck me as odd, therefore I came here to learn of the details and then decide if I should follow up on the situation"


Her head tilted again with a knowing look within her hues as they narrowed slightly. "I would presume the weapon that caused this death is what struck your interest in being here?"

I looked upon the woman with further curiosity, she was spouting out nonsense which began to make me wonder. I felt as though she was some kind of familiar, but at the same time, I was rather torn. She could be using some sort of spell to give me familiarity, but then, she didn't look like the type. Her words sounded legitimate too, because she hadn't much trouble saying them, none at all actually. I was actually becoming more curious than I wanted to be, and so was the crowd. This Shade character also had the name Leonhart... which sounded extra familiar to me. I knew that there was something that I was missing out of this, and I had the strange sensation I would have a facepalm in the future. Perhaps not near, but I knew that when I figured out where I heard her name from, I'd just get it.

"So we've met? I guess I've never been one for names or faces... Although I'm certain that I would remember fighting skill to anatomical proportions..." I replied beginning to ponder my own abilities of perception, analysis, and memory. She then broke that train of thought with explaining herself, why she was here, the works. I understood, she did understand me, although my arrival here was rather accidental, but she really had this knowledge about my minor habits. I found it scary, to be honest, yet still intriguing. She then asked me if it was the weapon that was my main interest, which I immediately answered, "Yes."

I then pondered a bit into it aloud, "By the description of how they were slain, I have come to a hypothesis. Since he was slain by being completely sliced in half, I believe that he was attacked by someone wielding a Legendary Sword of some sort. It can be one of two weapons, and I believe that this was the work of the Zantetsuken." My words were about as advanced as my intellect, which was rare to hear out of me. I got this way almost all the time when a sword was in question, but especially when said sword had to be of no less than legendary quality. "I figure that getting myself involved here accidentally was fate. It is my destiny to collect all of the legendary swords, after all," I added. I then realized that the crowd was more or less listening in on this conversations, it was making me self conscious. "I have to say, people, if this conversation is more important than you're Mayor's son's funeral, then you are all really low-quality citizens," I said to all of them.

With that they all realized that I was correct, and went about their funeral mourning. I started walking away from the funeral as I figured that I should follow the fog to see where it would take me, "I'm gonna venture out to find some clues. If my hypothesis is correct, that murder was random, and quite possibly for a test of a weapon. If that is what they were after from that, then it is my duty to relieve them of their blade, and for their crimes, their life."

Shade expected the skepticism in his eyes as Gilgamesh continued to study her closely while pondering over her words. Trust did not come easily to this particular creature who had so often served as an aid to another when summoned, or one to confront and defeat during a trying journey that served a greater purpose, so she expected his skepticism and inquiring curiosity. Yet when Gilgamesh went into explaining the description of murder, her own eyes narrowed slightly to every detail. Knowing of his past and specialty, Shade didn't doubt his assumptions to whatever weapon may have been used and simply nodded solemnly when hearing Gilgamesh narrow his suspicions to one legendary blade in particular.


The mention of Zantetsuken sent a slight chill down Shade's spine as her sharp hues drifted away with a scowling brow and her own thoughts muttered aloud through her lips. "Zantetsuken..... but no human, or race for that matter, can possibly wield such a sword.... Far too powerful..." Upon hearing Gilgamesh acknowledge the surrounding crowd with his bluntness, Shade naturally felt relieved that he was able to dissuade the unwanted attention. Rumors spread like wildfire, and this was one rumor Shade wanted extinguished as soon as possible.


Seeing Gilgamesh move off, Shade silently did the same, following closely behind as the massive swordsman revealed his plans to her. His stride was by far longer than Shade's, and with an annoying growl within her throat, she found she had to trot at times in between her swift walking pace in order to keep up with him. "I would hope you wouldn't mind me joining along, Gilgamesh. You know as well as I that whatever, or whoever, is wielding the possible Zantetsuken would have to be a rather challenging foe. I'd much rather see such a powerful blade in one of your capable.... multiple... hands rather than some murderer."


She kept her own plans for this individual's fate to herself, having the same scheme of fate that Gilgamesh spoke aloud.

I found that she was unsure if my assumption was correct, and she was saying something like no human could use such a weapon. Now I knew this was untrue, but I also knew that it was hard to swallow. I held my tongue so as to not inform anyone in the village who may take interest in my venture, but then Shade decided to come along. I was glad to have an ally, but I was now beginning to worry for her safety. Experience didn't mean much when you were split in half, ya know? Whatever the case with her, I felt the need to describe how this could be in full.

"Back when Seifer slayed Odin, and I collected the Zantetsuken, it became a token of my contract with Leon, as condolences for Odin's fall. When he finished off the big baddy, who I wasn't there for, I got to keep the blade. However something seems to have happened with that, as my memories were lost for a while. When I came to full knowledge, I was in this form and was missing the grand majority of my collection. And as if there was some sort of paradox, I was stuck with a set of two weapons. The Excalipoor and the Zodiac spear. From there I've been collecting my weapons back. With this in mind, it is quite possible another person happened across my Zantetsuken. The scary part is that anybody can wield it, but the good thing is, it was designed for Gods and Masters, so its full potential is probably locked to whoever has it. Still, it can cleave anything in half, if my hypothesis holds. But the wielder is still powerful, so they are obviously going to have something going for them."

With that out of my mind, I wondered how she would act, and I would give her some time to respond before I continued. The fog continued to thicken in the air, and I was wondering what was a head. Fog is a symbol in most stories, and the thicker it is, the more obscure the mystery. This kind of thing was never good for me, I didn't like mystery. I figured I was right already, but finding such a person was hard.

A sudden rat-like screech was heard through the fog, and I looked at Shade and shouted, "Look out!" This was primarily due to the fact that something that smelled of death, was hurtling in at a rapid rate. I figured that Shade would make it out of the range of the small bullet. Given she did, it would hit the ground where she stood and the snow would start melting immediately. If she didn't... umm... I don't much want to think about that... She'd probably look like the result of a fatality from Reptile in the new 'Mortal Kombat'. I hoped she would make it, seeing how I dodged just fine, jumping back out of the way. I summoned through my weapons and gripped what I was relatively certain was my Masamune, and I charged at the direction where the attack came from... Then there was a clearing in the fog, and what I saw was a horrid sight, I saw a huge freaking spider-looking thing.

I Think We'll Need a Little More Than A Rolled Up News Paper...:

Shade kept silent when Gilgamesh recited his summoning alliance with Squall, having known about it in great detail already. Every SeeD knew of Gilgamesh and how he came to assist her father and all the others during the last throws of the Sorceress war, yet Zell Dincht would often tell them of Gilgamesh's more humorous appearances in battles when Shade and the others were just young children. Apparently, the legendary Guardian Force would appear when HE chose to, by his own time and by his own bidding, yet often at times as Zell loved to point out, when the group stood against the weakest of fiends to simply guarantee the legendary swordsman a successful victory so Gilgamesh could dismiss himself in his all dramatic glorified departure. Whatever the truth of it, Gilgamesh still assisted in whatever way he chose, which, Rinoa would always point out, was better than nothing at all.


A brief sigh escaped Shade's lips as she continued following Gilgamesh and took his warning about whomever had possession of the Zantetsuken. If it was one thing her trained mind always remembered, it was to expect the unexpected, so therefore, Shade expected the worst. "Whatever it takes to get that weapon back into the right hands, Gilgamesh..... then that's what we do." She spared him a lethal glance to show she meant business, yet before she could say more, a piercing screech raged into her ears, bringing Shade's instincts to immediate attention. Her first thought was to the cursed fog impaling her line of sight just as Gilgamesh shouted his warning. When it came to something that couldn't be seen, it was best to take to the sky. So with a sudden blast of energy, Shade's wings erupted from her back to snap down toward the ground to immediately lift her body up and avoid the oncoming attack. She sneered with irritation and tilted her body while within the air so each swinging heave of her stark white wings would send the gusts of winds against the annoying fog until the surrounding ground cover was cleared for them to get a better view of their opponent.


Shade expected something lethal, but nothing like this had ever come across her path. The creature beheld a spider like appearance, yet the exterior of it's body reminded her of some monstrous lobster, meaning it was going to be nearly impossible to penetrate easily or swiftly. Shade always found it to be the wiser course to test an unknown opponent before wasting precious energy, so with another swoop of her wings to guarantee she was temporarily out of range, her hand swiftly glowed with a teal colored mist as she reached for the hilt of her Wolf's Bane sword strapped to her hip. Once unsheathed, she gave the blade a swipe through the air for the winds to suddenly encase around her body until her form was completely invisible. What Gilgamesh may not have expected was that those very same winds now encircled his own massive body, encasing him within a small cyclone that now left him unseen by their common enemy as well.


There was never a guarantee to how intelligent fiends were based upon their looks either. She would have suggested her next attack to Gilgamesh as well, but didn't want to risk this creature possibly understanding her words. But Gilgamesh was a warrior none the less, and so Shade counted on his experience in battle to be observant of her actions and possibly follow suit. The cursed thing may be enormous..... it may have an exoskeleton that looked as thick as a steel wall, but Shade's skills always honed for whatever weakness was obvious, and thus she aimed for such. This thing had eyes.... and a lot of them.... and they were the most vulnerable. If they could blind the thing, that alone could possibly give her and her ally a great advantage.


With a raise of her arm, her crossbow weapon was summoned to her arm as her wings shifted her position in case the creature chose to attack in the very same direction he last saw her before she disappeared. It was then she aimed the prod of her Gryphon at the fiend's head and fired a massive rain of thirty steel arrows directly for its eyes and swiftly flew away from where she fired from, knowing that alone would give away her position. Even though Gilgamesh wouldn't be able to see her location, he would still see her arrows and know exactly what means Shade was aiming for.


Evanesce: 50 MP ((Vanish for 5 posts))
Awakening Form: 150MP ((10 post duration))
200MP total - 500MP remaining

Examining the battlefield now that the area was cleared from the fog, I saw that this area was almost entirely devoid of snow, an silken webs were strung out everywhere. These webs glinted as if they were made of some kind of steel, and as much as it intrigued me, I couldn't help but notice the similar lack of living plant life. I saw dead trees, with some cocoons dangling from them, no struggling from any of them, so I could only assume the worst, which was that whatever this thing caught was dead. I hoped it was just some stray monsters. Looking at the monster, I noticed its particular exoskeleton, which meant I would need some really heavy damage to crack it's shell. Suddenly Shade Vanished, from something like magic. I was growing worried as I also felt gust of wind around me. Suddenly the monster looked like it hadn't anyone to fight, and it flailed around angrily. I clenched the sword I held, which was actually the Chicken Knife. Suddenly a rain of arrows impeded down from the sky, and I immediately cycled until I had the Masamune in my hand. I saw that the arrows were almost blindly fired down upon the monster, and I realized immediately that I was invisible to her as well! She cast some kind of party vanish spell! Wonderful!

I leapt upwards leaving footprints where I was, and clapped two of my hands together, summoning one of my special Gilgamesh Missiles, which was an actual ballistic missile, like the ones they launch from silos in fictional war movies. I would land, leaving further imprints of my feet on the ground. I would snicker a bit as it would home in on its target, which I set to be that giant spider thing. While it was fending off the crossbow bolts from the sky, it didn't pay much mind to the missile, which promptly exploded gloriously, harming it a bit around the shell. It wasn't even cracking! This was getting to be one of the most inconveniencing enemies ever!

With that in mind I began plotting, as I took to the air again, avoiding all possibility of this thing hitting me. I skidded slightly in the snow, and wondered where Shade was. Invisibility was inconvenient as well. I figured it was better that nobody could see me at all than that creature being able to see us both. I accidentally bumped one of the cocoons that dangled, and my skin actually attained scratches from it! I almost yelped in surprise, but I held it in as I hopped aside. I covered my cut shoulder to hide the blood from this massive spider. It was to little avail, as the thing had the scent and was charging at me. "Damn, Damn, DAMN!" I cursed as I ran around the field trying to plan out my next move. I began worrying to the point where I could even cry a little. I ran to the middle of the field and shouted to Shade, "Stay away from the webs!" Even if she was no longer there, I would feel better that I could give a fair warning to someone I couldn't see or detect.

---

Gilgamesh Missile: 30 MP
370/400 Remains

After releasing her solid rounds of arrows, many of them were deflected by the beast's enormous clamp like claws he used to shield its hideous face, but 30 piercing arrows at a lightning pace speed could not all be blocked away. As it swung its massive arms wildly about, doing so left its left side open for several of the arrows to strike into its multiple eyes and hear the fiend release a thunderous roar of pain. When turning its head instinctively from being injured, one of its eyes on the right side was struck as well.


Seeing that some of her arsenal hit its mark, Shade changed her location in the air again when seeing Gilgamesh's missile spell join in the attack and explode against the beast's body. When the smoke cleared, it was as if the beast's body were never touched. This was definitely going to be an aggravating battle, yet Shade's mind was swiftly sorting through her next course of action, looking for any opportunities to hopefully work to their advantage. But what the hell was Gilgamesh doing?!?! Even though she couldn't see the giant of a Summons, from her height in the air, Shade could still hear him clearly shouting his curses over and over. Her eyes frantically tried to find any sign of his location, and then she caught the faint dust cloud from his feet against the wasted ground. His warning rang loud and clear in her ears, and at first, Shade simply assumed it was due to the webbing being abnormally sticky, or having a burning effect as some she had come across in the past.


But then her sharp gaze caught sight of blood upon the ground, and noticed the monstrous beast was now focused on a particular direction, even though it could no longer see. So it was apparent the creature could also focus on sense of smell as well. To be sure, Shade closed in on the webbing, and sure enough, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw blood dripping from the web itself. So it could cut.... like metal.... metal had a disadvantage.... Now she could only hope the same disadvantage would work upon this beast. With a great swoop of her wings, Shade rose up again as she activated her Gryphon to use electrified arrows while shouting down at her running companion. "Get him into his web, Gilgamesh! But don't touch it! Just get him in there and I can electrocute the damn thing! "


She had to time this just right, but she couldn't see Gilgamesh at all to know if she might strike him by accident. Shit.... She could only watch the massive fiend's movements, and then assess Gilgamesh's location by which way the fiend was facing. He would just have to prove he could get out of the way safely on his own..... because the very second the beast would come into contact with the metallic thread, Shade would unleash the same flurry of arrows infused with lightning in hopes to jolt the living hell out of it.

Now if there was any moment in my entire life that I may have regretted having happen, it was probably accidentally running into the razor web. It hurt quite a bit, and now it made a spider chase me, despite me being invisible! It was getting to the point where it was absolutely ridiculous! I was running for almost a full thirty seconds before the ever observant Shade came up with one of those ideas. It was that which could pose a direct threat to me! I mean, I'm not greedy or anything, but I don't like being hit by Lightning either! I doubt anyone does, but I mean, as a Swordsman, that stuff can stiffen my muscles, cause unwanted spasms, and possibly even harm one of my Legendary Swords!

But it was either that, or get into a close combat match with this beast, and it was bigger than I was! I can deal with it being like... Behemoth big, but when it's so big that I'm actually afraid of it's size... lets just say I'm pretty sure this is beyond an average fiend or monster. It continued chasing me, blind to its own folly as I charged towards the webs. This was going to require a quick movement, and I knew it. It was like... almost ephemeral to think about what was going to happen to this thing here in a moment. I glanced back at it and huffed as I released by open wound, splattering blood into a web, and I quickly covered the wound as I quickly stepped away from the web and hopped aside. It then suddenly managed to turn towards me, and everything started going red for me. I was about done with this! I noted that one of its pincers were touching the web and I forced my hands in front of me. "HASTEBREAKER!" I shouted, and everything within a 50 foot diameter hemisphere in front of me gained a spontaneously red atmosphere and everything froze immediately, as the red faded. "I've got him now..." I said as I gave it a gender. I walked into the area and grabbed the webs from the end of the trees and wrapped them around it, slamming a hole in the top of its thorax armor with the double impact from the Masamune, and grabbed a cocoon and put it in the hole I made.

With a snicker I started dusting off my hands, ignoring the pain that still came from my hands hurting quite a bit, though they were relatively okay still from the years and years of sword training leaving callouses. And shouted, "He's all yours Shade! Have a blast~" With that it was stuck there, unable to move, unable to make another screech. I grinned as it was totally unable to avoid whatever Shade had in store for it. As soon as the lightning arrows came in, the wire webs would be lit up with lightning, channeling it through the wire and literally frying the lobster spider. Once it hit the cocoon there was a large explosion resulting, which pretty much destroyed it. As it turned out all the webs in the area were a network, so every tree within the area was also burnt to the ground as a result. I walked along without even looking at the explosion. When the smoke cleared, the large spider lobster was not even moving, but it was dead, as it began to turn clear and pyreflies flew towards the nearest route to Spira... a Dimension Hole that was hidden by a pile of trees that were burnt down along with the rest of the small plot of woodland. I laughed a bit, and said, "That was EPIC!!! You must have some kind of crazy training to be such a badass!"

---

Gilgamesh Hastebreaker: 160 MP
210/400 MP remaining.

How Gilgamesh came about trapping the enormous creature was indeed an impressive feat. She thought for sure when she saw the blood fly into the web, the creature would naturally go for it, but it would seem the massive fiend had also memorized Gilgamesh's own distinct scent to know to follow it instead of just the scent of blood alone. But just as Shade witnessed the webbing being torn and used to snare the beast, she flinched her arm back from firing her arrows just yet. It was a wild stunt Shade never expected from Gilgamesh, yet she had to admit, it came as no surprise that the legendary summons would pull something so daring simply because hardly any creature in existence could do such a trick. And it was obvious the scorpion looking spider didn't expect such from a potential meal.


It wasn't until Shade heard Gilgamesh's thundering voice that she released a storm of electrified arrows upon the trapped creature to witness the successful effect she had hoped for. What she didn't expect was the explosion by the cocoon Gilgamesh shoved into the monster's body, but it was sound assurance that the demon was done for. Now coming to a slow landing upon the ground beside her towering companion, the vanishing spell over their forms began to dissipate. Shade's face pinched into a confused expression as she looked up to the eight armed swordsman when hearing his celebrated words. "Forgive me if I do not share the same opinion of myself, Gilgamesh. I couldn't have destroyed that thing on my own had you not trapped it like you did."


Then she muddled over his comment in regards to her training, as well as a name he mentioned earlier when talking about himself only to give her head a very slow shake as a faint twitch tugged against the corner of her lips. "Has the coincidence of my last name not struck you yet, my friend? You once fought along side the one you call Leon....." With a huffed chuckle, Shade carefully slid her sword back into its sheath at her hip and deactivated the elemental properties to her crossbow while beginning to pace around the burnt ground in eagerness to be on their way. Whether this beast was sent upon them by whomever she and Gilgamesh were trying to track down, or be it simply coincidence, at least the two of them knew now that they could fully rely on each other for whatever they had to face next. And by the unusual dramatics he already displayed, Shade had to assume she was bound for the same comical antics Zell Dincht often preached about the great Gilgamesh to be entirely true, as well as expecting more of them along their journey.


She paused in step and turned to face Gilgamesh again, and only revealed who she truely was for the simple fact she wanted him to feel better assured that she could be trusted. After all, he fought along side her father. Surely that alone would give Gilgamesh a boost of trust through his failed memories of her. "And I've had no more badass training in SeeD than my father had." With that said, Shade turned again and walked, knowing that Gilgamesh could catch up with only a step or two.

Her words struck a confusion in my mind, something that was actually more of a befuddlement than a confusion. I looked at her and tried to imagine Squall's image over her as I did so, and I was surprised to find the striking resemblance. "Oh my..." I muttered, contemplating what I would say. Since coming back I hadn't really had much contact with the Balamb Garten. I had many questions I wanted to ask her but the big one that kept on coming to mind, but it was so typical sounding of me! If she was actually related to Leon, I'd probably be expected to ask such a question.

I was actually extremely curious so I simply had to ask, "So... you have access to blueprints to a Gunblade?" I may regret asking such a thing, so I tried to play it off with a little factoid bit that she probably knew, "I haven't seen it personally, but I hear that it's ammo drum is endless." I knew that I was getting nowhere. I was trying to figure out how to save myself from sounding typical. Squall was never a sunshiny person, so obviously his daughter wouldn't be much better in the end. I decided to give up. If she answered me, great! If not, I was about ready to move on with this little venture.

"Well, asides that, I'm starting to feel as though we're going to have a long trip ahead of us. I'd suggest we get moving so that we don't lose his trail. That was an Aeon... I could tell by how it died. If this is true, this man either is a summoner, or has a summoner with him. And if that is the case, we'll have hell to deal with. I haven't seen such Aeons used by summoners I've fought, which means..." I stopped, "Oh god, what could I be thinking? It was probably just a powerful fiend that found its way here totally by coincidence." I laughed a bit and said, "No worries, there's no way in hell that a mortal nowadays would know that art." With that, I looked at the remaining pyreflies which flew towards the portal that was now openly accessable. They had found a path to Spira, so this trip would at minimum take us to Spira... I had my doubts that they would make it so blatantly obvious like that.

With that, I decided to follow them, saying to Shade, "If we follow them, we should have a relatively easy trip to Spira at minimum." I grinned under my armor, and walked towards the portal, waiting for the last to make it through, I took a step into the portal myself, and felt my body being pulled through. "Oh crap! There will be a harsh landing. You'd best brace yourself!" I forewarned as the vacuous portal sucked me through. I have to say, I felt that my portals were better for transporting. Come to think now, I wondered why they didn't close the portals and simply blocked them off. Was it to contain the monsters without losing them? Could they just not? It was all going through my head as the rather tedious Interdimensional transport engaged.

-Exit-

Her step paused when he asked about the Gunblade schematics. Really now.... that was all he cared to ask about once he realized who she was? With a drifting sigh to herself, Shade gave her head a slight shake and resumed walking again. Had it been anyone else, she most likely would have given them a deathly warning, but this was Gilgamesh after all. So naturally the first thing to pique his interest would be whatever sword was connected to who, or what world someone was from. So she simply gave her shoulders a casual shrug and replied, "Maybe..." and continued walking... "Maybe not..." Surely her Wolf's Bane sword would be of no interest to him. It was only infused with broken shards of the Gunblade from her own time dimension. But she did take in a breath of relief that the Tempest blade was never visually at her hip. Being a rather unique Gunblade by its own right, Shade's summoning enchantment over the weapon always kept it hidden from the unwanted eye when it wasn't in use.


Now, she wound up coming to a halt again, this time turning about to face the mighty swordsman during his self explanatory theory about the fiend they just fought. A mortal not knowing the art of summoning? Just how far gone had his mind actually suffered from being in the Void? Still, Shade kept her lips firmly pressed shut from correcting her companion. He would soon learn his mistake should Shade have to rely upon one of her own summons later down the road. So with a dismissive sniff, she watched the pyreflies, knowing exactly where their origin lied having fought several fiends within the world of Spira in the past. Be it a summons or a fiend, if memory served her correctly, either or always disintegrated into pyreflies. For now, it didn't matter. Both fiends, or another's summoned creaturse, they both would have to battle whatever was thrown their way. And no doubt, the scorpion spider creature was just a taste of what they were in for. Yet Shade never thought to follow the spirit flies for a quick short cut to their home planet, and nodded in approval and agreement to Gilgamesh's suggestion to follow them.


How could she not smirk by the legendary swordsman's antics again. Harsh landing? With a humorous snort huffed through her lips, Shade's wings spread out wide to help retain control of the portal's current as she was drawn in. Once within, she directed her course straight for Gilgamesh and took a firm hold of his cape so his massive body wasn't spiraling out of control. There was no gravity within the teleportation, but once they came through into Spira, Gilgamesh was on his own being far too heavy for Shade to hold. "Be ready when we break through, Gilgamesh.... I'm not able to save your bulky ass once this portal spits us out...." With that said, Shade kept her massive wings shifted to whatever current the portal chose until a faint light began to appear and grow off in the distance....

~Exit~