Rael was getting tired of Zelha's perseverance, as he sent her flying for the fourth time, but this time with her arms destroyed. He quickly parried a strike behind his back, as Calypso, tried to sneak up on him. Then returned a few strikes of his own, catching her in a feint and cutting her arm off.

Finishing the combo by kicking her chest and unloading a blast of magma, through his feet, picking it up off of the ground.

He looked up above him, as Zelha, had gone into first gear, creating a flaming hot purple star.

"Violet Inferno!"

She threw the flaming sphere down, pushing it, with all of her might.

Rael's expression had not changed. He looked even more annoyed, as he transformed, ascending into fourth gear and leveling his vicinity. Then he crouched down, sheathing his sword, as the miniature star got closer.

Lightning began to strike around him, charging up his sword. Each breath he took, was followed by mist, as the temperature in the air cooled down rapidly.

"Roaring Cold."

He said as he launched himself through the star, freezing it, completely as he passed and sliced down Zelha's core with one swift motion. Her body crashed down, in two with a large thud.

Rael landed, shaking the blood off of his sword, wondering where Calypso had gone, when the Hashin, with Roku in lead, dropped down around him.

Rael laughed.

"All this for me?"

Roku looked around as he and the others went into third gear.

"Where is your brother?"

Rael stared at him for a few seconds, then shrugged.

"Who knows? He's never in one place for too long."

One of the Hashin spoke up.

"I sense both Atlas and Mado, heading for Akio."

Roku nodded.

"We only need half of us to take him out."

The Hashin agreed, as four of them jumped into the sky, and headed off to assist Akio. The remaining four and Roku, still had Rael surrounded.

Rael, spoke up, disliking tense silences.

"So what now?"

On cue, each of the Hashin dropped down to their knees, punching the ground, as Roku jumped up into the sky. Raising a large boulder and combusting it into a molten magma-meteorite.

The Hashin yelled in unison as they poured iko within a domain below.

"Terra Arts, Chamber of Silence."

Rael wondered what they were up to, unsheathing his sword, just as a pitfall appeared below, dropping him dozens of meters, as dirt pushed him further down below, into a small dark chamber, deep ground.

Roku had finished pouring in as much energy as he could into the combination he was making. Once it was finally ready, he dropped it down into the pitfall, half filled, as the Hashin made way for it. Helping it pass through the ground, without losing speed and reinforcing it with their own Iko.

"Terra Arts, Magma Fall!"

Rael heard Roku yell, as the hole reopened once more, this time with a blinding light, as Roku's attack touched down, devastating the world around them.

The Hashin jumped up as the ground below them imploded, rippling earthquakes throughout the continent and raising tides.

A second explosion, made them recoil, as this time, a massive replica of Rael rose out of the ground trying to swallow them whole. It whizzed past, nearly missing them, as they got out of the way, in the nick of time.

Well, they all thought they did, but out of the corner of its teeth, they noticed a hand, sticking out and burning up. One of them screamed losing their cool, and launched volleys, frantically at the giant replica.

The clone responded by, unsheathing its large sword, and slicing the air, that they were standing on, as they pulled away at the last second.

"Don't lose your head! Remember who we are facing. This is Rael, the Ruthless One! Make no mistakes!

His words, fell on dead ears, as the the replica, batted one more Hashin into oblivion.

Rael rose out of the ground, with a sinister smile. His hair had come undone, sprawling all over his face. He spread his arms out wide, yelling out to Roku and the Hashin.

"So you've heard of me, have you? Then you've already made the first mistake. You should have run while you could!."

He unsheathed his sword and assumed a stance as the giant clone copied him.

"That's what I always tell my brother, they have to learn the hard way."

He glanced at his clone, then at the remaining Hashin.

"Kill them."

The clone charged at them, as he went for Roku, teleporting behind him and taking him kilometers away before he could react. The moment he registered what had just happened, he turned around, parrying Rael's stab, and continued an onslaught of strikes to try and overwhelm him.

However, Rael broke each of his combos with ease, being a master swordsman himself. It felt good, to cross swords with another master swordsman again. He was starting to lose himself in it as he sliced deep into Roku's left shoulder.

He grimaced baring the pain and jumped back. Pulling together rocks and magma to cauterize and bandage the wound.

Ash began to cover the sky.

"How long has it been Roku? 70? Maybe 80 years we've known each other and this is the first time, we've crossed swords!"

Rael's eyes glimmered with glee.

"I'm sorry I missed your prime, but this level, is all you are capable of now?"

Roku, grunted as he braced himself ready to continue. Suddenly, he felt an insurgent of iko, as the planet assisted him and replenished his energy. He felt the same for the Hashin.

'This must be Akio's doing.' He smiled, showing teeth.

"That may be so, but my goal here is different and I didn't come, without help. The Elder has our back."

Rael shook his head.

"I'll be heading there myself soon. If Mado can't take care of him... I'll do it myself."

"That's not going to happen."

A Hashin dropped down beside Roku. As Roku looked him over he noticed that the man was trembling.

"What happened?"

The Hashin shook his head.

"He killed her."

Roku nodded, as the Hashin stepped forward.

"Please let me go see her."

Roku tried to say something, anything to stop him, but there was no way of convincing a man with such conviction.

"He will go after Akio if we don't stop him here. I believe in you, General."

Roku found it hard to fight back tears.

"2-!"

Number 2 was his nephew, but since he swore an oath, they no longer had family relations. So the soldier continued acting on his duties.

"Forbidden Art, Rabi's Code."

Pebbles and rocks followed the direction of his hands clasping onto Rael's body, as much as he willed it to stop. Two was using the iko, granted to him by the Akio and Rennaya, eating away at his life force, unnaturally.

In less than a second, the sound of bones breaking and snapping filled the air as Rael teleported out of his chokehold, with his right arm missing.

Two looked back at Roku, as his eyes went bloodshot red. Roku could only watch as his nephew, burst into a blood spot, as a side effect of the technique. He cried out loud, along with Rael, screaming from the pain.

They both looked at each other, with deadly expressions, drawing their swords and lunging at each other with their full might.

At Akio's location...

Akio felt his patience had paid off, seeing Atlas, pop out of thin air before him. However, to his surprise, Mado appeared as well a few seconds behind.

"Akio! What do you think you're doing?!"

Atlas yelled, with veins, nearly popping out of his head.

Akio, smiled, as his eyes shifted between both of his guests.

"Take a guess?"

Mado was a little bit curious about Atlas' anger.

"Atlas, what has you in this mood? The three of us here, this is a battle of a lifetime!"

Atlas turned towards Mado, making him quickly change his gleeful expression.

"I'm sure you can feel a tremendous amount of energy below us moving unnaturally, although you don't have the affinity. Akio has begun halting this world's core, and is planning to cause an implosion from within, using a forbidden art, tied to his heart."

Mado squinted at Akio.

"Ahh, now I get you."

Atlas shook his head.

"No Mado, as a king, I'm sure you're aware yourself of the Star Eaters, the ones that traverse the universe."

Mado paused, glancing back at Akio

"I'm aware... we call them conquerors. What of them?"

Atlas, turned back towards Akio, bracing himself.

"I've forbidden my children or anyone in the empire, from destroying any planets. For one reason, it calls them, like a light beacon. He'll ruin, everything I've been working on."

Mado, understood, the danger they were in, almost immediately, pointing his sword, at Akio.

"Makes sense, we have similar stories and nursery rhymes all mentioning the same thing. 'If you cause an imbalance in the world, the sky eaters will get you.'... I guess they've always meant conquerors."

Atlas nodded.

"We don't stand a chance against them, as we are now. We must stop him before he destroys the planet."

He looked back at Mado once more.

"Truce?"

Mado nodded, warily.

On cue, they both gathered energy, matching, as Mado shifted into fourth and Atlas into second gear.

Akio, stroked his beard, as he accelerated the planet's destruction.

"Hmm, I never thought I would see you two working together, but I guess, at my age, there are still, things that shock me. I appreciate the birthday present though. I only wish I could have shared it with my son, however, he's no longer with us."

He looked up at the sky.

"Ahh, 485 years. I've been blessed."

Atlas and Mado charged him, as two titanium golems rose out of the ground, breaking their swords, with magma fists.

Then knocked them both back.

"You're going to need to put your back into it, otherwise in 5 minutes, you can kiss this planet goodbye."

Akio said, laughing out loud.

Mado was starting to get angry.

"Don't screw with us! Do all of you Azurians have a death wish? I received reports of your ships, crashing into ours on purpose, when they've lost."

He spat out, his next words in disgust.

"What type of king, orders his soldiers to die like that."

Akio frowned, stopping the golems from marching towards them.

"Do not, insult their conviction. I took a ship on my own here, I was surprised to see many others following me."

A tear slid down his cheek, as he thought of all of his people sacrificing themselves in space. Although Commander Ba'jin, had come up with the plan of saving the allies on short notice, he knew the Commander would have it all under control.

"What they are doing, is a testament to their faith & loyalty to Azuria and its people. To show them that we cannot be defeated even in death, we will pass the baton onwards, to those that will one day lead the future."

Akio assumed a stance and crossed his arms over each other in front of him, facing his palms forward, as he spoke.

"Terra Arts, Holy Swords: Gryphon & Calibur."

Two, gem-encrusted swords, one with black obsidian color, the other a light white, both with magma coursing along the edge rapidly. He swung the swords back, carving away his surroundings with sheer force.

"Now, what are you waiting for?"

There was silence, as the two kings, simmered his words, then Atlas instantly remade their swords, with other metal substitutes as they both yelled in unison.

"You're delusional!"

Leaping at him, with frightening speed.
Both of them struck at him and stabbed with ferocity, trying to bring the old man down. However, to their dismay, Akio began pushing them back, separating the two, and knocking them off of their feet, before they could even react.

Mado raised his palm, towards Akio, as he went for Atlas.

"Flames of Darkness, Barrage!"

Multiple bursts of black fire manifested in front of his palms and jetted towards Akio, causing him to jump back, as he sliced back a wave of magma, setting off the rest in the air.

"Weak."

He taunted as he raised his right sword, while Atlas flanked him from behind.

"Stop this, you senile old man! I will forgive you and let you and your people go. I swear it."

Akio shook his head.

"No, your vows mean nothing, to me. You must suffer, for the things you've done in your life."

He, flung him back through, several hills, dazing him, as Mado tried to make a move, teleporting behind him.

With ease, he blocked his surprise attack and disarmed him.

"I have no qualms with you. However, if you choose to stand in my way."

Akio slammed both of his swords down, sticking up in the dirt, then got in a stance and thrust, his right palm, with two fingers up, into his chest. Sending the king flying in Atlas' direction, all while moving faster than Mado, could perceive.

Mado was disoriented. Struggling to get up, as his body weighed a ton. 'What was that?' He thought as he forced himself to sit up, coughing up a course load of blood.

Suddenly an immense outburst of energy, emanated from his left, almost reaching Akio's level. Mado's jaw fell open, as he saw Atlas in third gear, floating out of his crash site, full of anger.

"I've used this form too much today. I'm almost near my reserves."

He heard him say, with ragged breaths.

'How?' Mado thought, as he tried to get up from his knees. 'How am I the weakest one here?'

His legs were trembling, to hold himself up. 'One strike has me like this.' He felt his chest, a little more concave than it used to be.

"But I'm the king! I've triumphed over everyone that has stood before me!"

He yelled to himself, trying to shake off his fear. He began to gather energy, as he watched Akio appear above them, almost in a blur, with a spiraling massive sphere of condensed lava, still increasing by the second.

"None of you will be leaving this planet," Akio said, pointing the sphere at them.

Mado looked up at certain death. He knew not even Atlas, would be able to contain all that was about to be thrown at them. However, at that moment, a realization struck him, as he noticed what he lacked and the others did not.

"No, you're not weak."

He said to himself.

"How can you complain, Mado, when you haven't even put your life on the line!"

He shook off his doubts, shifting back into fourth gear, but reaching further into the darkness, diving himself into it.

"It's time for me to risk it all!"

He yelled out, as a grayish skull with war art, painted in blood, manifested over his head. Then he let out a deafening roar.