Chapter 9

A Course that will Change Fate

*At Crystine base*

     Scarlet was still stuck in her cell still very ticked off about being captured and her conversation with the Crystal warriors about her mother. She overheard Shadow and the others conversation about Nite Devil and truth be told, she hopes he doesn’t save her. First off, she hated him, and second if he saves her, he’ll definitely bring her back to her brother and he would definitely scold her and she would never leave the kingdom or even her own room. However, after cooling off she did remember what Shadow said, though she still didn’t believe him it did sink into thought in her head, however that was for another time, right now she had to find a way out of her cell.

“There has to be a way to get out of this cell.” Scarlet looked everywhere but there wasn’t a way to escape and her blades couldn’t cut the bars either.

Her eyes suddenly caught glimpse of something shiny on the wall. On the hook was a pair of keys which she could only guess that it was the keys for her cell and other cell doors. She leaned her arm out through the bars and used her blade to reach the key “C’mon just a little bit closer.” She was starting to get impatient and frustrated again but remembered to keep calm and relax as realizing getting angry got her nowhere. She finally managed to get the keys and brought them back to her cell and unlocked the door “*sigh* finally I’m free.* She then raced up the stairs and zoomed towards the teleporter to seek her vengeance until she caught glimpse of a certain door that was open.

Curious, she decided to investigate and opened the door and found herself in what looks like a war room that was like the war room in her castle. She went over and tapped the monitor and some holograms popped up with some information of the Crystine Force “Well, well, well what do we have here?” Scarlet had a smirk on her face as this information could be very useful for herself.

*back in the forest*

“Torrent Heat Blast!” Inferno blasted another blazing torrent of dark red fire at Mystacis, but he just went intangible again which now started to get on his nerves “quit going intangible Mystacis and fight like a real warrior!!”.

“I am fighting Inferno, it’s called planning out a strategy and looking for weak spots.” Mystacis said as he reappeared behind Inferno “Hieroglyphic Missile Barrage!!” Mystacis summoned five purple orbs above him and each orb fired a barrage of magical energy blasts at Inferno.

Inferno didn’t have enough time to counteract it with a move and just used his shield to block the barrage of energy attacks but was blasted a few feet back. Inferno soon got up and narrowed his eyes at his opponent.

“I will admit Inferno you have power and durability, but that alone won’t be of aid to you in this battle, Chain Reaction!” from the palm of his hand a chain of mystical energy came out and headed straight towards Inferno.

This time, Inferno saw the attack coming and sidestepped out of the way grabbing the chain which shocked Mystacis “We’ll see about that Mystacis, you forget that my reflexes are on point as well.” He then used the chain and pulled Mystacis towards him. “Golden Lion Claws!” using his free hand, his hand was encased in a fiery aura that turned into sharp fire claws. With no time to go intangible, Inferno slashed his attack across his chest and Inferno swung him around and slammed him into the ground leaving a little crater.

Mystacis soon arose from the ground and floated in the air with four burnt slash marks across his chest. Mystacis lost his smirk as he knew it was time to get serious “I will admit that you surprised me with that move you just made but make no mistake for now it’s time for you to feel my full power.” Mystacis had a purple aura around him and Inferno sensed the power he was absorbing and now knew it was time to not hold anything back now.

Hydra meanwhile was jumping from branch to branch avoiding each magma rocket that was coming his way.

“You’ve gotten faster since our last encounter Hydra, buts there’s nowhere for you to run or hide.” Magnartus shouted as he kept blasting rockets of magma at Hydra.

“Who said I was running or hiding.” Hydra then jumped up above Magnartus and pulled out his lance sword “Aquatic Lash!” his lance sword was encoated in steaming water which formed to look like a whip. He slammed the steaming water whip on Magnartus but he used his bazooka and blocked the attack which surpised Hydra “What, but how?”.

“I may not be as strong as Inferno, but strength and powers have increased since the last time we met.” He said as Hydras attack subsided. “Lava Scorcher!” Suddenly, Magnartus bazooka was covered in lava and started to change shape and soon transformed into a flamethrower with the same color scheme as his bazooka and fired a huge wave of fire at Hydra.

“Mist Blade!” Hydra’s lance sword had an ice blue aura around it and was covered in a hard case of ice. With quick enough reflexes, Hydra spun is lance sword in front of him which formed an ice shield and the fire soon turned to mist and frost when it met the sub-zero shield. After the attack subsided, the sub-zero shield dissipated as Hydra stopped spinning his lance sword as the aura faded and switched his lance sword for his bow and pulled out a couple of ice arrows “Icicle Rain Crash!” Hydra shot the arrows in the air and a bright blue flash appeared in the sky as a barrage of icicle arrows started to rain down on Magnartus but he only smirked.

“Magmus Tornado!” he aimed is flamethrower up into the air and fired a spiral of fire and molten lava into the air. The fire molten lava tornado headed straight towards the icicle arrow barrage and melted all the arrows when both attacks made contact. “Your moves are predictable Hydra. You just go on an all-out attack and don’t have any plan or strategy.” He said as his flamethrower changed back into his bazooka and aimed at Hydra “This is why you will lose.” He then fired a couple more magma rockets at Hydra.

Hydra glared at Magnartus as he jumped over the first two rockets “Well then, I guess it’s time for me to switch up my strategy then.” He then backflipped over the other magma racket as he pulled out a couple more arrows and fired them at Magnartus.

Meanwhile, Metallic was at a standoff with Terraton as they both narrowed their eyes at each other waiting for one of them to make the first move.

Terraton had little patience and was starting to get irritated as he decided to make the first move and slammed his hammer down into the ground causing a ripple in the ground to head straight for Metallic.

Unlike Terraton, Metallic had a lot of patience and waited for the right moment to strike and as soon as the ripple was about to strike, he jumped into the air avoiding the ground ripple.

Terrraton looked upat Metallic and smirked seeing his opportunity to strike “Try avoiding this, Crystal Eruption!” Terraton slammed his hammer down on the ground again, but this time pillars of crystals emerged from the ground.

Metallic saw the pillars of crystals coming his way, ready to strike him but with great balance and reflexes, he jumped on each pillar of crystals using them like platforms and avoiding a devastating blow.

Terratons eyes widened and was shocked to not only see his attack had no effect but also using his attack as platforms “W-what, that’s impossible!”.

Metallic saw Terratons shocked face and smirked at that “Actions speak louder than words.” He said before he lost his smirked and was replaced with a serious face. He used the next pillar crystal to jump up high in the air for a counterattack “Duel Thunder Blast!” He summoned his two electric cannons again and fired powerful bolts of lightning at Terraton.

Terraton saw the bolts of lightning coming his way and lifted his weapons to block the attack. Metallic saw a cloud of smoke arise from his attack as he landed on another crystal pillar. When the cloud of smoke dispersed, Terraton stood there unharmed as he lowered his weapons. This was a shock for Metallic even though it was very well hidden “Are you really that dumb?” Terraton shouted “Electrokinetic energy has little effect on an earth elemental user like me.” He said as he sent another barrage of crystal pillars at Metallic.

As much as he hates to admit it, Terraton was right and he needed to switch up his strategy fast as he kept jumping from the barrage of crystal pillars coming his way. He switched his thunder cannons for his lightning rifle “Flash Scope!” Metallic fired a bright light of lightning at Terraton as he avoided another crystal pillar. Terraton saw the bright lightning bolt coming towards him and smirked as he brought up his weapons to block the attack again, but instead the attack and landed in front of him as it caused a bright light and blinded Terraton not expecting it to happen. Metallic saw his opportunity and jumped up high until he was above Terraton “Electric Knuckle Duster!” He switched his electric rifle for a pair of hard iron gauntlets flowing with electric energy. Terraton soon regained his sight and looked up only to get sucker punched by Metallic causing another cloud of smoke to appear and the ground to shake a little.

Soon Metallic went soaring out of the cloud of dust and skid across the ground until coming to a stop. He glared at the cloud of smoke as he saw Terraton walk out of the cloud of smoke with a few cracks on his armor but looked fine “Hmph, I’ll admit, that attack had some power to it, but it will take more than electrokinetic energy to defeat me.” He said as he clanged his hammer and battle axe together ready for round two.

Metallics glare hardened “Well then, looks like its time for me to stop holding back then.” He soon switched out on of his gauntlets for an electric sword with spikes on the sides of the sword and started rotating like a chainsaw “Make no mistake Terraton, you’ll get no mercy from me.” He said as they both charged at each other again.

Shadow meanwhile was battling with Nite Devil and over the past two years, he’s gotten a lot faster as Nite tried to land an attack on Shadow, but Shadow blocked every attack using his sharp reflexes. Nite jumped up and tried to slash Shadow but his katanas only clanged with Shadows spectrum sword. He jumped back a few feet and glared at Shadow “Your skills and reflexes have improved Shadow, im surprised you can keep up with me.” He said in a sarcastic tone.

Shadow narrowed his eye at him knowing he was being sarcastic “I don’t need any praises from you Nite, it’s time we finished this.” He said as he had his spectrum sword ready for any attack.

“I couldn’t agree more, Dark Nova Eraser!” Nite crossed his twin katanas and fired a beam of dark energy again at Shadow.

Instead of blocking or jumping over the attack, Shadow extended his right fist out “Spectrum Flare!” his arm was encased in a dark purple aura as he fired a beam of spectrum energy towards Nites attack.

Soon both beams of energy collided and a giant cloud of spectrum and dark energy formed. As soon as the cloud of energy dispersed, Nite charged towards Shadow.

“Night Dazed Blades!” his twin katanas were encased in dark matter aura as he was about to strike.

Shadow saw Nite charging towards him and had his sword ready “Eclipse Blade!” His spectrum sword was then encased in an undead spectrum aura and blocked Nites attack and soon both opponents were locked in a deadly battle as blades clashed together.

Meanwhile, through the woods Scarlet was skating through the woods looking for Shadow and his friends. Knowing them she would’ve expected to find them easily, but soon realized she was wrong “Ugh, where are they? Knowing those guys there would be a giant explosion since their facing Night Devil and his team.” She said in slight frustration. She then heard the giant explosion she was looking for and raced towards the noise. She came to a stop and hid behind some bushes as she observed the giant battle that was taking place as she avoided one the icicle arrows that came her way. She then caught sight of Shadow clashing blades with Nite and decided to wait to strike until he’s vulnerable.
The Crystine Force soon regrouped and looked at their opponents ready to attack as the Shard Strikers were about to do the same “I commend you Crystine Force, you’ve been able to keep on even grounds with us even after two years” Nite said but soon glared at them “But like all crystals, you will shatter.” He said as the four crystal warriors readied themselves but Nite only smirked from underneath his mask and snapped his fingers.

Mystacis hovered over his team as his hands started glowing purple charging up an attack as the Crystine Force prepared themselves for whatever attack might come their way.

Scarlet soon saw her chance and decided to strike as she came out of her hiding spot with her blades ready to strike its mark, but instead clanged against Shadows sword as he saw her coming towards him out of the corner of his eye.

Nite was shocked to see Scarlet here out of all times and saw Mystacis about to fire his charged up attack “Wait, Mystacis don’t-“ but it was to late as Mystacis fired a bright beam of magical energy at the Crystine Force and Scarlet with the formers having no time to questioned how she got here forcing the Shard Strikers to cover their eyes. When the bright beam died down, they opened their eyes to reveal the Crystine Force and Scarlet gone as the ground where they once stood was now burnt.

“Alright, looks like we won, and the Crystine Force has been destroyed” Terraton said as he raised his weapons up in pride.

Magnartus then came up to Teraton and slammed a fist right on top of his head which caused him to wince in pain as he held his head “You idiot, do you know how screwed we all are now?!?” he yelled as Terraton gave him a confused look.

Mystacis ascended down towards the ground as he used a lot of magical energy in that attack and was now low of magical energy. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Nite grabbed him by the shirt glaring at him “Mystacis you fool! Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?!? Drake will have all of our heads when he finds out his sister was vaporized!!” Nite yelled as he was furious with Mystacis.

With whatever magic power he had, Mystacis sent out a blast wave that forced Nite Devil to release his hold on him and skid back a few feet. Mystacis slammed the bottom part of his staff on the ground which caught everyone’s attention and Nite could feel the uneasy aura around the magical sorcerer “I didn’t vaporize Shadow, Scarlet, or any of the others. Like I said before Scarlet wants nothing more than to kill Shadow and I knew she would be around here, so I just teleported them instead.” He explained.

Although Nite was a little ticked that Mystacis didn’t follow orders and destroy them, he was relieved that Scarlet wasn’t destroyed if Mystacis did follow orders “alright then, do you know where you teleported them Mystacis?”.

Mystacis only shook his head “Unfortunatly not, my teleportation magic is at random, so they could be anywhere in the world by now, but I highly doubt Shadow and his friends would kill her.” He explained.

“Yeah but were still going to get it from Drake when he hears about this.” Terraton said as he was rubbing his head still when Magnartus slammed a fist on his head.

Nite was stressed out from the situation and was doing his best to calm himself down “Look, we’ll explain everything to Drake when we get back and hopefully try to reason with him.” He said to his team as they started heading back.

*back at the Dark Kingdom*

“You did what!!!” Drake yelled as he was furious. The Shard Strikers returned to the Dark Kingdom and explained everything to Drake and he was not happy at all “I give you the one job, the one job to protect my sister and you have those fools capture her and teleport them and her somewhere in the world?!?” he yelled as he rose from his throne and a dark aura surrounded him as his blood red eyes started glowing “I should just kill you and your teams lives right here and now.” He said in a dark voice.

Nite was in front of Drake with his team in the back keeping a calm composure except for Terraton who feared the situation they were in and Nite got down on one knee bowing to him “My lord, please let me explain.” He asked and despite his anger Drake calmed down and let him speak as he sat down back in his throne as his dark aura and glowing eyes disappeared “We understand your rage, but Shadow Dawn and his friends would never kill princess Scarlet and in addition, we are the only ones who are strong enough to complete your plans, so if you kill us your plans won’t succeed.” He said as he finished his explanation.

Drake thought about Nite Devils explanation and truth be told he was right “You’ve convinced me not to kill you or your team, but make no mistake Nite Devil I won’t be as lenient as I was today” Drake said as he now glared at them “You will continue your mission for my plan and you will bring Scarlet back to the kingdom, are we clear?”.

“We understand Lord Drake.” Nite said as Drake soon dismissed him and his team. They soon walked out of the throne room and soon Nite dismissed his team for the day. Mystacis started floating back towards his room to recover from using up most of his energy.

“Looks like you guys have had a rough day.”

Mystacis turned his head around to see Krystal Minzarene behind him. She had dark brown hair in an ober style with light brown highlights near the ends of her hair and brown eyes. She wore a blue sleeveless shirt, purple high boots, and jeans with a black belt and the Shard Striker symbol as the belt buckle. Around her neck was a silver necklace with a purple gem as the pendant “You don’t know the half of it. Where were you by the way Krystal, Nite will be furious not helping us in battle.” He asked.

“Well, he’ll have to get over it because I’ve been busy with other important business to take care of” She said not giving a care in the world of what Nites rage will be like “I also heard you guys with Drake, how are you guys going to fix this?” she asked curiously with a hand on her hip and a smirk on her face.

Mystacis only smirked from underneath his cloak and Krystal saw the smirk on his face and she only saw him smirk like that a couple of times “Trust me Krystal, there is a way to fix this because everything is falling into place.” He said with a slight chuckle and floated away towards his room.


Krystal lost her smirked and only raised an eyebrow as she saw the magical sorcerer float away. She had no idea what Mystacis meant but just decided not to ask and just walked back to her room to continue working on her project.