The city of Otonoa.. otherwise known as the Lakeview City. Well, now more widely known as the city of flame and embers as the once proud cerulean pearl was now just an inferno of carnage and screams. The small band of mages were doing their best to quell the blaze but it was now more of a salvage operations rather than that of a rescue operation. However, one of the merry band had a different agenda. Despite his best intentions, Shiki Tohno had only one target in mind.. and it was the masked assailant of this entire operation. The dark enigma known as 'Shadow'.

[Town Square - Otonoa]

The sound of metal upon metal rang through the center of town as the Lady of the Lake and the masked man known as Shadow swung their respective weapons at one another. In one hand you had the Lady of the Lake, wielding a shining cerulean longsword with enigmatic energy flowing through it. On the other hand you had Shadow, wielding a black and crimson metal pole deflecting blow after blow as the Lady of the Lake seemed to be gaining the upper hand on him.

"Hmph. If I had known you were going to be such a nuisance, I would've prepared a bit more." The man behind the mask stated as he deflected an overhead blow to the side.

Landing atop a building and losing his footing slightly as the flames had started to deteriorate the durability of the roof, the Lady of the Lake took her chance and impaled the man with her longsword. Stabbing him directly in the chest, the man was shocked as he felt his body start to stiffen as if he were being frozen. As he looked down he noticed that was exactly it as the outward portions of his body started to freeze over, slowly encasing him as the Lady of the Lake stared into his crimson eyes.

"Heh. You fell for something so simple?" The man asked as his body started to dissipate.

Shocked at the events that started to transpire before her, the Lade of the Lake quickly turned around to reacquire the target of her aggression. This didn't benefit her in any way though as she was quickly dealt with as a piece of paper was planted directly on her forehead, causing an intense surge of energy to flow straight into her head. Screaming at the top of her lungs, the water spirit reeling in pain as she tore his hand off her head. However, the effects of the attack had already taken hold. Shackling her to the ground and restraining her movements, the Lady of the Lake was bound and was unable to move.

"I have to admit... I didn't expect that you would have something like this up your sleeve..." Shadow said to his opponent as he held onto his arm, noticing that his right hand and forearm had already turned to ice. It didn't stop there though. As it turned out, any wound inflicted by the Lady of the Lake would freeze and whatever was connected would soon follow in tow as the creeping ice slowly inched up his arm.

Deciding to do the only rational thing in his mind, the masked man quickly delivered a decisive blow to his joint as he cut off the first half of his arm, doing it almost effortlessly as he was now just a 1-handed man. This would be crippling to most but it didn't seem to make him flinch as he watched the remaining ligament turn into a preserved crystal.

"... Yes, very much a dirty trick you just pulled." The man sighed as he turned to face his prisoner. "However.. I have a few tricks of my own you see." he stated simply as he took out another piece of paper.

A look of terror slowly filled the spirit's eyes as she recognized the symbols on the piece of paper. Trying her best to struggle free, the maiden could only fruitlessly watch as the man approached her. As he was about to place the paper down though, the man stopped as he looked to his left to see someone he didn't quite expect to see. It was Shiki Tohno.

"Well, this is quite unexpected." The man simply stated as he turned to face the young assassin. "Shiki Tohno, no, I guess it would be Shiki Nanaya now?" He questioned himself as he tried to recall what the young man identified himself as now.

"I would much rather you not call me by name at all 'Shadow'. Especially since you won't tell me your real name either." Shiki protested, feeling an urge of uneasiness as he faced off once again against this apparition of a man.

"Oh but on the contrary my dear Shiki, you see we all have identities that we must go by and it would most ungentlemanly of me to abstain from calling you as such." His silver tongue spoke to the boy as if it were a philosophy.

"I'll just get to the point then." Shiki started to get irritated as he felt he would get nowhere through small talk with someone like this. "Why are you here?"

"Oh that is the question isn't it? Well, it's not exactly 'Why' I'm here... but more of 'What' I'm here for." He clarified the boy's question, a small grin forming beneath his mask.

"Stop trying to mince words with me. Either tell me what you're here for or refuse like a regular conversation is supposed to go." Shiki started to get agitated with his counterpart.

"Oh but what would be the fun in that Shiki? There's so much more that I wish I could tell you but... I'm afraid I'll have to cut our conversation here." He simply stated as he slammed his hand into the skull of the chained maiden.

Sending her into an uncontrollable fit of pain and rage as the seal was placed upon her forehead, the Lady of the Lake wailed in agony as electrical current started to form at the area of contact. The sky started to darken as the moon slowly started to hide itself behind the clouds. Actually, to be more precise, the moon started to shift to a darker shade of color as the maiden soon started to shift. Her once wondrous, sparkling white armor had melted and reformed into something a little more sinister. With blackened skulls and crimson threads slowly overlapping the white and pure, the maiden swiftly turned from a frozen beauty to a contorted black knight of malicious force.

"Now... My dear maiden of frost, I ask you to rise now and to do my bidding." He commanded the elemental as she rose from her shackles, no longer hindered by the force.

Shiki could only stare in disbelief at what he saw happen before his eyes. With little to no time to react, the maiden swiftly turned her attention to the young assassin who in turn readied himself to fight.

"Try to not kill him, would you my dear?" He asked his minion as he ordered her to attack.

Leaping forth with her black and crimson blade in hand, the Lady of the Lake sent down a thunderous blow as Shiki brought up his dagger to block the attack. Thankfully the dagger didn't break in one hit but it was more due to the fact that Shiki had taken a small step backwards to lessen the blow. With no time to counter attack though, he could only retreat as the maiden followed up with a upwards slash, barely cutting into the boy's flesh as he bent himself backwards and back-flipped atop a building.

Seeing the frenzied armored enemy before him, Shiki quickly dashed to the side as the large blade came crashing down into the roof, breaking the building in two as Shiki fell inside. Trying to regain his bearings inside the dilapidated building, Shiki barely ducked down before feeling the wind shear flow across the tips of his hair as the blade nearly cleaved his head off.

"I thought he told you to NOT kill me!" Shiki protested as he dodged yet another horizontal slice at his gut.

"Ah ah ah. I said 'try' Shiki. Please don't misunderstand I couldn't care less whether you lived or died. You're just a simple amusement to keep myself preoccupied." The man simply stated as he could be seen atop the destroyed roof. "Now, while I would love to see how this turns out, I really must be going now. I have other things to attend to." The man simply waved his hand dismissively as Shiki once again was battered with another flurry of blows.

"D-Damn you!" Shiki yelled at the masked man as he went out of sight. "Come on snap out of it spirit!" Shiki tried to negotiate with the brainwashed elemental as yet another ferocious swing nearly cleaved him in two. "I don't want to fight you! You're not my enemy!" Shiki protested, jumping atop the blade as it swung down into the ground.

Running up the blade and implanting his knee into her skull, Shiki felt an odd sensation as it felt like his knee had sunken into the maiden's helmet... in fact, it felt like he had just gone through a sludge-like water as he went through her head completely and wound up on the ground behind her.

"W-What? So she can change the composition of her body?!" Shiki deduced as he had been reading a bit on celestial spirits and their compositions in one of the many books that Colbert had lent him.

Seeing the blade a bit too late this time, Shiki could only block with his paltry dagger as the blade came around at his side. Shattering almost instantly from the blow, Shiki felt a burning hot sensation as the blade impacted him against his ribcage. He probably shattered two ribs. Maybe four depending on where it struck. It was definitely apparent though that his side was in a great deal of pain as he was sent into the adjacent wall which in turn broke from the sheer force of the impact.

Splattering across the ground as his open wound turned the once subtle brown to a deep crimson red, Shiki couldn't maintain his balance as he tried his best to get back to his feet. His vision slowly started to fail him as he could see from the corner of his eye the maiden slowly make her way towards the wounded young man. Picking up a nearby jagged stick and using it as a crutch, Shiki propped himself up as he prepared for the worst. Strangely enough though, he could see the lines of death so very vividly. All over the Lady of the Lake the young man could see the blackened etched lines. He could see the small swirling balls of energy along the lines of death which indicated the "Points of Origin".

Devising up a plan of attack, the maiden slowly raised her blade as she knew the next one would do it. Such a weak and frail body would surely be sliced to bits. With almost no hesitation in her mind, the elemental brought down her blade only to be met with something that she didn't expect. A slender figure made out of an amalgamation of granite and stone stood in her way as the blade was deflected away. Following up with another two similar figures directly behind her, the Maiden quickly jumped up and out of the way to avoid the two-pronged attack.

Shiki recognized these golems... in fact, it wouldn't be so much of a longshot to say these were the only golems he knew as he could soon hear the panted breath of a familiar blonde noble running up to him.

"Haa... Haa... as to be... expected... from one such as I... of the Gramont family." Guiche stated, slightly out of breath as it seemed he had sprinted to the town square to assist Shiki. "Looks like... you owe me one." The noble stated, doing his best to regain his composure.

"G-Guiche...?" Shiki replied, almost a little shocked to see the noble this close to danger. "I thought for sure you'd be out of here in a jiffy the second things turned south." Shiki chuckled to himself, only to have a bit of blood spew forth from his mouth as he was having a terribly hard time keeping his internals from becoming his externals.

"Shows how much you know about nobles." Guiche retorted with a 'holier-than-thou' grin as he pointed towards the sky. "I'm not the only one who decided to come." He stated as Shiki looked up to see what the idiot was pointing at.

As it turned out, he was actually right about something. Tabitha had decided to show her assistance as well despite her previous demeanor. Calling forth a concentrated bolt of lighting at the water elemental, the maiden brought up her sword to absorb the impact as she was being pushed back by both opposing forces. As one would leave an opening for the other, the holes in her defenses were slowly becoming wider as she couldn't keep up with them both. However, those weren't the only opposing forces the maiden would need to take on.

Standing atop a lone tower at the far end of town, Kirche had been gathering up enough magical energy to cast a spell. Casting intricate signs and utilizing everything she knew about fire magic, Kirche quickly began to speak faster as she came closer to finishing her spell.

"Inverta... Kurtis... Fulcar... Igni... Meteo... Lunac!" The spell weaved together to form a complex rune in front of her.

"Homing Meteor Swarm!" She roared atop her tower as the clouds above started to twist together.

Spewing forth molten hot lava rocks from the skies these meteors, although small in size, quickly found their target as they all fixated themselves onto the maiden in the center of town. Colliding in a suicide-bomber type attack, the molten debris quickly cooled as the meteors made impact against their target. This in turn made a makeshift smokescreen though as the wind had picked up just enough to scatter the cooled rock and the pigments of dust quickly covered up the presence of the maiden. Using her better judgment, Kirche began to cast another follow-up spell just in case that wasn't enough. Tabitha in turn did the same as she knew that things wouldn't have been this easy. Guiche on the other hand had the exact opposite idea and decided to voice his opinion.

"D-Did we get her?" He asked obliviously as Shiki sighed.

Fissuring forth with a torrent of energy, the Lady of the Lake sent forth a large arc of ice, splitting the cloud covering her and aiming the arc directly at Tabitha. Narrowly dodging the blow by taking off to the skies on her dragon, Tabitha readied another spell before having to disengage completely as her dragon nearly got cleaved in half from the crimson blade.

"You just had to jinx it, didn't you Guiche?" Shiki sighed as he couldn't do much to help. The large gash in his side didn't seem to be healing despite his best efforts to bind the wound. He would only be a hindrance at this point and while it pained him to think this way, he had to remove himself from the conflict so as not to get in the their way.

"Guiche, help me get over to that far building. We're sitting ducks out here." Shiki said in a strained voice as he could feel the blood flowing forth from his torso.

Now normally Guiche would have something to say about this since a mere commoner was telling him what to do... again... however even he knew the dire circumstances they were in and he quietly complied as he dragged his injured counterpart into the building. Using what little he knew about water magic, Guiche tried his best to stop the bleeding as he wasn't very well suited for these kinds of things. Just outside though, his main magical forte was keeping Shiki quite impressed as he watched the coordinated effort of the three golems attacking and defending as the maiden tried to fend them off. In the skies, Tabitha was sending down lightning bolts as if she were acting as Zeus from Greek Mythology and far across the city, still charging up another onslaught of meteors, Kirche was atop her tower ready for just about anything to come her way.

As another volley of meteors rained down from the sky, The Maiden brought up her wings in a defensive pose as the particles of water in the air hardened around her, creating a makeshift shield as the meteors helplessly impacted against the impenetrable wall. Dispersing the liquid into a heated vapor, The Lady of the Lake made a makeshift fog in her immediate area, keeping her obscured from vision as the three mages continued their best to keep her pinned. Sending a concentrated blast of wind, Tabitha dissipated the fog only to realize that their target had vanished from their sights, almost as if she was never there to begin with.

"Where did she...?" Tabitha questioned her vision as the hair on her neck stood up straight. Feeling a murderous intent creep up behind her, Tabitha turned around to face the Maiden, only to be met with a concentrated blast of ice magic.

Defending her owner, the drake she was riding reared upwards taking the blow straight to the torso. This sent the duo spiraling to the ground as they impacted a crumbling building caving in the entire foundation of the structure, burying them beneath the rubble. Turning to face her next opponent Kirche couldn't help but flinch as the Maiden flew at her, closing the gap in just mere seconds.

"Oh Shi-" The fire mage couldn't even speak as the water elemental sliced through the building as if it wasn't there to begin with. Beginning her swift descent to the bottom, Kirche jumped off the piece of debris, rolling across the roof of a nearby house before landing in the adjacent alleyway.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Kirche stated in a disgusted tone as she tried to wipe away the dirt on her skirt. "Things are starting to get out of hand. We need to get out of here, and soon." Kirche grimaced, slowly making her way out of the darkened alley.

As she moved out from her reclusive spot, Kirche was met face to face with the Maiden as she hadn't lost track of her location. With widened eyes, the fire mage dashed backwards as the elemental lunged at her, destroying the ground where she once stood.

"Uh... Guiche? A little help?" The troubled mage asked, trying her best to not be impaled.

"Have no fear! I'm here for you as always mademoiselle!" Guiche replied, almost as if he were waiting for the woman to ask.

The proud earth mage wasted no time in assisting the damsel in distress as he sent his remaining golems at the Maiden. While they were no match in a 1v1 match-up, the remaining five golems made up for their own weaknesses by covering for one another. When one went in to attack, the others would flank and defend to disperse the Maiden's focus.

"Come on, we have to get out of here before she finishes them off." Guiche warned, hurrying over to his compatriot.

"What about Shiki and Tabitha?" Kirche asked, a little worried of the state they were in.

"Last I saw, Tabitha was healing her drake... as for Shiki he's right over there-" Guiche pointed to where he had left Shiki only to realize that the man was now missing. "Uhh... Well, he was there..." Guiche sighed as he wondered where Shiki had run off to.

[Temple - Otonoa City]

Elsewhere, far away from all the conflict and fighting, the robed figure known only as 'Shadow' had been searching inside the Holy Temple of the city. Digging through the large bookshelves and looking through just about every single nook and cranny, the masked man started to become annoyed as he couldn't seem to find the item he was looking for. Through all the dusty tomes to the rotted floor boards and even inspecting the central fountain in the large structure, 'Shadow' couldn't help but think that he had been tricked.

"Hm.." The man noted, placing his mask on a nearby table to rub his face and think things through one last time. "The Sphere of Water is my final keepsake. I shall keep it protected with the Maiden of the Lake. My time has come and it is you who shall see, this is my tale... my one true Legacy." The man said aloud, recalling what he had read about the artifact.

Standing up from his thinking pose the man walked over towards the fountain, placing his hands on the edges. Seeing his reflection in the water he couldn't help but feel a powerful surge of anger course through his veins as he clenched his hands, slowly cracking the marble as his strength started to show through his rage. Feeling it bubble within him, the man let out a powerful roar before smashing the masterpiece in the center of the fountain. Turning to walk away, the man could see the moonlit glow from the window above, shining in towards the center of the temple.

"I guess... this was just a waste of time." The man sighed, turning to face the rubble he had made.

Peering at the rubble, the man couldn't help but stare as he thought he had seen some sort of reflection of light coming from the destroyed masterpiece. Walking over, ever so slowly, the man loomed over the destroyed structure before moving bits and pieces of debris that blocked his view. With widened eyes and jaw thoroughly dropped to the floor, the man started to chuckle to himself as he picked up a small sphere that was hidden within the fountain.

"Hehe... Hahahahaha!" The man started to laugh with excitement as he couldn't believe what had just transpired. "Oh... Oh yes, I really needed that." The man said with a renewed vigor, placing the sphere within his robe. "Now to move onto-" He was interrupted in his speech as he heard the staggered footsteps of a wounded person.

Looking towards the doorway in the darkened temple only slightly lit up by the moonlight glow, the man known as 'Shadow' was yet again face to face with the one and only Shiki Nanaya.

"Well... this was... unexpected." The man shrugged slightly, not realizing he was followed. "However, not exactly the best decision you've made there Shiki my boy." Shadow stated the obvious as he had noticed the large gaping wound in Shiki's stomach. "I take it you learned just how lethal the Lady of the Lake was, correct?" Shadow ask, a little concerned about his health.

"White hair... Red Eyes... White skin." Shiki replied.

"I'm sorry, what was that? Shadow retorted, confused if the boy had just lost too much blood and started to go insane.

"Your face..." Shiki started to grin, still holding his side. "I've memorized it."