Ultimate End

Titan didn't want to take any more shit from these little ants. He howled in anger and foamed at the mouth as a giant fist came crashing down on Alaric, blowing away 36 damage from his HP, leaving him Critical at only 14% of his life.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh" screamed Alaric. "I've been gravely wounded by this brutal beast! Its time for me to finish this disgusting monster!"

Heedless of his injuries, Alaric hopped behind the monster between its legs and gathered his energy, hoping to use the new knowledge he had of his weapon's two handed use to launch a spinning whirlwind of an attack at the beast's exposed legs to sever its tendons and bring it crashing down like a mighty tree from a fierce gale.

Combat Phase:
This time, Alaric learned from his mistakes. A flash crashed through the air and the bardiche took out a chunk of Titan's knee. He lost 92 HP and howled in pain.

The blow Alaric gave the titan seemed to finally cause it pain. Perhaps it was nearing death.

Priest cracked his knuckles, staring up at the bleeding horror. He readied his blade, once more an impish smirk split his features.

"You've been a waste of my time, get out of my sight," he muttered. focusing his strength, he gripped Gram like a baseball bat, letting out two hay-maker sized swings into it's flabby exterior.

Conflict Resolved:
Priest must not have noticed what happened because it was all so quick. The Titan locked blank eyes with him when he swung, and Gram took the legs off of the summon at the knee, making it scream in pain and topple off onto stumps bleeding out the last of its HP to the tune of 956 damage; but Priest kept going, his sword swung again where Titan would've been had that mass of meat not came tumbling down, and missed.

It was all over. The chain went limp and Titan howled as he was dragged back into a small red orb, his fingers clutching the ground to stay in the real world; but thick trenches of dirt were merely scraped away as he was pulled backward. At the end, a glow of orange, and the red orb fell quiet.

Bending down, Priest noticed that it had lost its armor, a Titan Armlet . He felt a lot stronger now, he could feel energy coursing through him. So much that his energy spilled over and increased the potency of his Fire materia, granting it Fire 2. In a stroke of unbelievable enlightenment, Priest now understood that if you hit something hard enough, it always breaks. And now he knows how hard; a new ability would be available.

When it was all over, the Judge up on the mountain scoffed and threw something at Priest, shouting "Don't get cocky." It was a Chocobo Feather.

The thundering cry from Titan's demise awoke Solomon in the encampment below. He struggled to get his gear on just in case they were under attack. After tripping over his own feet pulling on his faded boots he grabbed Amalger and rushed from the tent. The air was cool as it rushed into his lungs and everything seemed so dull and gray from the sun behind snow filled clouds. He gazed around at the abandoned camp and slowly extinguishing fires casting billows of smoke into the air. The smell of burning wood filled his nostrils as he started a slow but confident trudge towards the commotion he had heard from his tent.

As he approached the top of a hill a good distance from the battle that he had heard he gazed at the blood soaked snow and bits and pieces of flesh littering the ground. He had a perfect view of the playing field and its players. He sat on a nearby fallen tree and drank from a large bottle of ale as he waited to see what would happen next, after all if all the black mages are killed he would be free again and that he couldn't pass up.

Darian sheathed his sword as the Olympian summon was mercilessly pulled back in to the summon stone. He wiped snow off of his jacket and out of his hair, "Well that was entertaining for the moment." As Priest picked up his new found armor, the booming voice of the Judge on top of the mountain filled the canyon, taunting Priest. "But we have the big guy's attention. I think this is just the beginning. For them to use a summon, they must mean business. Who knows what else they have hidden up their sleeve."

Darian knelt down beside Gavin and lifted him up, leaning Gavin's body weight on his own broad shoulders "This one either needs to be revived or taken to an infirmary."

Priest stared up the mountain side at the judge, the magician, and Jacken. He pointed at Darian with the blade of his sword, not taking his eyes off the trio in the forest.

"You seem pretty competent," he said, "a judge, correct? Teach me the ways of the judge."

He finally took his eyes off of Jacken, whatever he was doing, and wheeled them over to the man hoisting the beaten child onto his back. He watched expectantly.

Solomon grasped his ale bottle and thrust himself from the log, pretending to be quite intoxicated, he slowly swayed as he stumbled towards the small group of assailants. Halfway there he fell face first into the snow and slid caking the soft snow to his face and spilling quite a bit of liquor. He stood up and held the bottle towards the sky and gave it a very confused look, as if wondering where it came from, then he reached up and shoved a cork into the mouth so he wouldn't spill anymore. He made a cheesy grin, as if corking a bottle was a tremendous accomplishment, as he approached the crowd.

"Wh-whi-ich one of um... you is in ch-charge... hik... of this here... op-op-er-ation?!? I demand to hik... know "

Darian chuckled. Someone who wants to learn from me. How sweet. "You picked a strange time to learn what it takes to be a Judge," He shifted the body on to his back, "Alright. I'll teach you, but you owe me one alright?

Darian reached his hand out and offered Priest a handshake.

Activating Mentorship Phase
The two of them paused only briefly before Darian set into the long explanation of what it takes to be a Judge. The life one must lead is that of absolute end and always looking for the closure to any and all conflicts. A Judge must see things through to its finality and he himself is the decider of what that means. No one is allowed to touch him or his ideals and a Judge guards them closely, with the sharp point of his blade. Priest now understands what it will take from him to be such a thing.

Alaric glared at the pompous Judge on the mountaintop, still fired up from that fantastic battle with the Titan. He waved Banquo above his head in a rage and shouted with the force of a trillion tons of pyroclastic ash thundering down the side of a volcano.

"Where is the girl, you sack of pigshit? What have you done with her? I swear by the piercing gaze of One-eye Odin that if you've harmed a hair on her head, I'll cut your head off and shove it straight up your arse!"

He then turned to Priest and Darian with a smile.

"Well fought, gentlemen."

He turned back to the judge.

"I'LL BATHE MY BEARD IN YOUR BASTARD'S BLOOD ERE THE DAY IS THROUGH, YOU SNOTTY FALSE ARBITER!"

The Judge knew not the words this insane bearded man spoke, but he kept his cool. The fur cloak he wore fluttered heavily when he turned and left the area silently. The one wearing white, he couldn't have taken him in unarmed combat at the moment and his other summons were in Bone Village. He'd need to return there for now. At least their mayor would be in a coma for days.

Rashad eyed Jacken contemptuously, "What are you still standing here for, plebe?"

"Aye, are y-yal def or som-mmthin? haha hik... yal keep sh-shouting and piddle footin around, yellin at hik... mountain tops. I can take you to hik... Bone Village if you hik... want, but it'll cost ya! Plus you would have an extra hand in this here um... quest, mission, um thingy yal are doin."

Solomon plopped backward into the snow with a cunning smile on his face, staring at the group of people standing around him, and flicked the cork from his bottle and continued to drink.

"Hik..."

"THAT IS THE WORST IMPRESSION OF BEING DRUNK-WHAT KIND OF INSANE HORSE SHIT-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH[

Alaric waved his fists at the hapless Solomon as his rage rendered him inchereant, then turned in disgust and marched up the mountain, grumbling, hoping that the other members of the expedition weren't as retarded as that fellow.

Darian shook his head at the apparent drunk, then approached him. He pulled his blade on the drunk, coming inches from his face, "To have a drunk man come stumbling down from the mountains saying he knows how to get to Bone Village is a little suspicious. so congratulations! you are now considered an enemy!"

Darian spun his blade, the wind whistling as his sword cut the air. With one hard swing, the sound of cracking glass filled the air, followed by the drunk's bottle falling in to two pieces. The blade came inches from the drunk's face again, "You are in no place to negotiate any type of reward or payment out of this. the only payment you will receive, after you take us to Bone Village, will be your life if you don't betray us."

He leaned in close, staring hard into the drunk' eyes, "Do I make myself clear?"

Solomon remained seated in the snow and lifted his now broken bottle neck to the air as if confused as to why it broke.

"Ya know threatening me won't intimidate me sir...You do know he will kill her before you get close enough to even attempt to save her. Trust me sir I know. You will not make it far without help so I suggest you start respecting the help offered."

Solomon stood now staring directly into his aggressors eyes making sure not to blink or waver.

"And if I am correct I overheard you teaching that man over there how to be a judge sir. And I would think you, being one, would look at all aspects of a situation before jumping to a conclusion.

He stood back, crossed his arms and gave an even more stern stair towards the judge.

"Before you cast suspicions let me give you a secret. I have been forced to work for the leader of Bone Village to pay for some petty crime's. I know the area and I know your enemy. I was faking drunkenness to see how you would react to the situation and quite frankly... you failed. You do not posses the intuition a judge should have. Take this as free advise witch I don't offer often. My payment will be the freedom I gain from Bone Villages fall, so do we have a deal?"

He then stuck his hand out for a handshake to the judge that had previously threatened him and gave a small smile.

Darian lowered his blade. This man was no threat, "You came down stumbling from the enemy encampments. If you were in my position, you would be just as cautious as I am right now."

He sighed and sheathed his blade,"My haste to act was strictly for the safety of this group. This is still a fight and if you aren't with us to begin with, you must be considered an enemy unless proven otherwise." His face cracked in to a smile. He reached for the man's hand and gave it a hearty handshake, "I'll admit though, you got balls to say I lack a judge's intuition. What's your name?"

Darius, the Berserker, had pushed himself to his knees and raised to a half-hunch as he hobbled back to the camp. This man looked truly indestructible, an aegis of the entire village. The enemy Judge had long-since started walking away, but now he was jogging much faster. The mage standing next to Jacken punched him in the face--much to Jacken's surprise-- and turned tail at the sight of the arisen Darius. Angry though he was, Darius' pride could be swallowed now. The encampment was protected and everyone had a hand in it. He was near passing out but the endorphins in his body pushed him toward the group.

"Alright. Alright...alright, alright" Darius said, each word trailing off a little more due to tiredness. "You all...win. Okay, alright. Hnnng, " he grasped his chest in pain and winced. "Let's settle down for the night. My mansion can accommodate you all. Tomorrow we start campaign two: get back my daughter." Darius motioned for everyone (and Jacken in the distance) to come to him.

===============================

The next morning, earlier than even the sun, Darius had started kicking them all awake in their various sleeping places around his mansion. He neglected to tell them that while he had enough room, he didn't have enough beds. Darius' gaunt face bore the years of scars but the rest of him seemed stronger than ever. Everyone else noticed that a good night's rest did the trick too. But now it was time to talk strategy.

"Alright, let's have a pow-wow," Darius boomed. "It's four in the morning, the sun hasn't even awakened yet, and that's when we're going to strike. Bone Village suffered a loss from their encampment last night. No doubt the Black Mage and Judge did a report on the damage assessment and troops will be rallying bright and early today. So we're going to hit them before they can hit us." Seeing Darius speak was like watching some epic leader motivate an entire army.

"We'll take a chocobo caravan to this point here, " Darius pointed at a board which had a blank spot to the left of Bone village. "Team B from last night, Priest, Gaven, Jacken; all of you will take that rally point. According to our scouts, there's a heavy defense there." Darius drew his finger directly above Bone Village and winked at Team B.

"You know where you all will be. Solomon, I want you to accompany Team B in this mission. You said your payment was freedom? Earn it. Kill the slimy bastard who took my daughter yourself. Team B's official mission is extraction, but Team A will have to back them up by clearing the escape route. That's right, the West side of Bone Village is the escape route."

As if that long wall of speech made perfect sense to everyone, Darius picked up a hefty axe and hauled ass out the door. Slowly, everyone began to see chocobos arrive in the front snowy yard. Everyone having mounted up, they rode to their designated areas.

Oddly, each team could see each other which spoke testament to how small Bone Village was. Team B stood ready to invade and Team A stood ready to defend. On the West side were swarms of Bone Village mages and on the North was a set of defensive lines mounted by only a few footsoldiers.

As Alaric strolled to his team's destination, humming "The Flight of the Valkyries" under his breath, a stubby man with beetle-bright eyes under massive gray eyebrows in a bright orange trench-coat and a purple kilt tapped his shoulder.

"BUY SOMETHIN' WILL YA!" he shouted, gesturing to a nearby cart laden with various oddments.
".....okay." Alaric mumbled, feeling vaguely nauseous from the powerful clashing colors the man wore.
Alaric stepped up to the cart quickly, hoping to find a deadly new instrument of physical obliteration at a bargain-hunter price.

The shopkeeper gave you a scribbled list of his wares and their prices.

• Invasion materia - 600 gil
  
• Oil Bottle (2) - 49 gil
  
• Restore materia - 372 gil
  
• Steal materia - 229 gil
  
• Sword weapon - 58 gil
  
• Iron bangle (3) - 27 gil

Darian followed close behind Alaric, yawning long and loud. Although he slept well, he felt like he never got much rest. Darian watched as the shopkeeper motioned for Alaric's attention and decided to wander over to the shop himself,"Find anything Alaric?"

Darian picked up a Restore Materia and an Iron Bangle, examining it to make sure they were in good condition, "Hey shopkeeper, I'll take a Restore Materia and this Iron Bangle for 399 gil."

Darian dug in to his pockets and pulled out the proper change for his purchase, handing the gil over to the shopkeeper.

Priest clapped Gaven on back as their caravan neared the attack zone. He smiled at the kid and winked. "So, were you scared when you saw that monstrosity attack us last night?"

Gaven swallowed hard and looked at his feet. Of course he was scared. He had never fought anything more intimidating than a normal human before. "You were in the fray for what, a whole ten seconds? You froze up and got crushed. What were your last thoughts before you got your ass hammered?" He made a sound like a pig squealing and clapped his hands together, silencing the 'pig'.

"I thought of a girl, back home in Wu-Tai" he answered slowly.

"A girl, huh? You probably loved her didn't you?" he paused for a second "You're a cliche little fucker. I can't stand your type. Maybe you'll learn a few things being around me an' Jacken."

With that he turned to Jacken, still grinning stupidly "Alright, so what's the plan then? I saw you talking to those old badgers on the hill yesterday while I beat the shit out of their pet... what do you got for me?

"This, " Jacken pulled out a handful of gil. "Hundred and twenty gil if you'll throw that iron junk my way." His eyes darted a bit and he whispered in Priest's ear what the mage and he had talked about. Then, whispering a little too loud for the proximity of Gaven, "So as I said, Darius didn't tell us everything. He made it out like he was a victim and they were the bad guys." Jacken's eyes darted quickly away from Gaven, his face saying 'I hope you didn't just hear that'.

In any case, they still had almost twenty fucking mages to deal with. Either through chat, stealth, or battle.

"Modulation Phase"
Jacken danced a treacherous tango with Priest by shutting out Gaven. Realizing this, Jacken remembered that he actually did know how to Tango. A new ability is learned.

Priest's stupid grin wavered and finally dropped as Jacken offered to purchase his old iron bangle. He looked into the man's eyes, studying him for any sign of ulterior motive. He heald his breath, darkened his brow and finally exhaled a sigh, once satisfied.

"It's yours, I don't need the fucking thing anyway," he gurgled as he reached into his pocket and passed the armlet over to Jacken.

The news Jacken passed along to him was quite interesting. He tapped his chin as he thought.

"Alright, let's givum the ol' reecharoo. Sneaking about might be kinda fun. Besides, if we get caught we could just hack everyone to pieces anyway. Not like we have anything to lose."

He turned to Gaven. "Get your fuckin' ass in gear," and with that he climbed out of the carriage and crept into the treeline, heading west.

Gaven shivered and grabbed his nodachi, turning it invisible with the power of Ashura. He looked at Jacken helplessly before following after Priest.

Modulation Phase
Gaven hurries along but stops short to find a Seal materia that one of the mages had dropped.

The giant skull dome towered over Jacken as he approached the west wall. He was shocked to find that it really was made out of bone! The door would be right behind the seal Rashad taught him...and there it was, the symbol for Exit. Tracing it with his fingers, Jacken paused thinking nothing would happen. But his breath need be held no longer when part of the wall disappeared into inky darkness. Stepping inside on a leap of faith, Jacken saw that there was very little light--most of the inside was lit with torches. But it was the room of Rashad alright. The damsel in distress was tied up on the bed.

"Your father sent us to rescue you!" Jacken cried jovially. He rushed over in a melodramatic way and untied her ropes. "Uh, actually. Wait here." Jacken posed awkwardly and put his finger to his mouth. He motioned as though enemies were outside and went over to the entrance again.

"Alrighty Priest. Let's fucking rape them." Jacken said as he slipped on an iron bangle and set in a Lightning materia.

"I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER FUCKING ASK!" screamed Priest as he wheeled around on one heel, ripping Gram out of it's scabbard. He gripped it with one hand and pointed at a group of stunned mages. A wild glaze of blood lust soaked his body. His eyes gaped wide, pupils spinning, and is lips furled into and evil sneer.

"You're going to EAT YOUR FUCKING TEETH!"

Gripping the blade now with two hands, he swung in a huge, targetless arc. A massive charge of blue energy exploded from the blade.

Conflict Resolved
The enraged battle berserker Priest's blue energy blade crashed into four mages at the same time. They all took 1560 of their 240 HP as damage. But Priest didn't stop, he let fly another wide blue energy blade, screaming with laughter, and the melted pieces of mages took another 1566 damage. All-in-all a brutal fleshmelting festival of 3126 damage. Seeing a bottle tinkle out of one of the piles of goo, Priest picked up and quickly pocketed a Potion.

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

Gaven was stunned. Priest became a monster when he fought. The only thing he seemed to want was blood. He wanted to bathe in the viscera of his enemies...

Fear gripped the boy. An electric shock shot up his spine as a realization dawned on him. He had heard of this man before: the Satanic Priest. A berzerker of a man who could take on legions without batting an eye.

A huge bolt of energy split the ground, ripping by Gaven and knocking him down. It flooded straight for a group of horrified black mages. There was little they could do but gaze pitifully into their personal apocalypse.

Modulation Phase
Gaven realized, by watching the beastly Priest, he realized that when he swung wildly, there was no reverse on his blade--being dual-bladed as a gladius is. Gaven thought to himself, "I bet I could cause more critical hits if I hit with the Reverse sometimes." And gained a new ability Reverse.

Jacken's hand slipped a little on Dalch as he watched Priest devastate the enemy forces with relative ease. He wiped out a fifth of them like they were blades of grass. He supposed it was time he pulled his own weight a little. Calling forth the mighty powers of Thor, Jacken reached out and let loose a Bolt on the nearest enemy.

Activating Combat Mode
A giant lightning bolt careened down from the sky, striking a mage with the might of Thor's hammer and vaporizing him into glass on the spot by way of 640 damage of his 400 HP. That mage was a water mage. Jacken felt stronger now.

=====================

Alice browsed the wares, feeling cheap, she only bought an Iron Bangle. After handing over 27 gil to the shopkeep and taking her purchase, Alice stuck it on and shrugged as she fitted the Ice materia inside. "Why not" she mumbled. Motioning to the rest of Team B, she set off to the entrance of Bone Village.