Art was quickly pushed back, his planned attack had been foreseen and Bahamut was much to smart to fall for it, that is why he felt confident closing so much distance between them. Meekle and Tophuu rushed in, but they were quickly pushed back, not getting within four feet of him, just then three arrows shot past them all, exploding just before they got to Bahamut. Vixen and the others were standing strong next to Astaria who was on one knee, a teleport circle was fading away, she had found the strength to get the rest of the party there just in time for Vixen to see the range and set her explosions to go off early.
It made little difference as Bahamut came walking out with a laugh. Razah and Fenix wasting no time as they opened up their attacks on him, trying to get the Art, Meekle and Tophuu refocused on the fight. Razah opened up with her medium attacks, seeing what would work best but it seemed as though he had no weakness at the moment and Fenix rushed in, his long wolf claws swinging up at Bahamut who easily dodged away from every attack as Fenix claws unpredictably slashed at him.
"Glad to see that you could all make it, now the fun can begin." His voice was overly calm for the battle that was about to happen. Vixen didn't let up on him as she shot him full of holy arrows, though they did damage it wasn't like before, it wasn't a lot, his health seemed endless as little slivers fell from it after all of the attacks the put up. Art finally got to his feet, along with the other two and they refocused, quickly dashing in to help Fenix with the close combat.
"Full Summon." Tophuu brought out every one of his pets, all of them rushing in and pelting Bahamut with attacks, that simply made him laugh and quickly slashed one after another, leaving only Slimey and Cerberus standing. Tophuu was taken back by this but he didn't stop, he jumped onto Cerberus's back and gave him orders, his three mouths opened up and the rest of the group jumped away and a black flame took over the floor and meteors fell from the sky, though mostly dodged they were able to make some headway in taking some health from him.
His laughter finally stopped as wings burst forth from his shoulder-blades, a gust coming forth with sparks on each slice of wind. He pushed them back but Meekle took the opening and full formed into his armored demon and did a massive back attack on Bahamut who quickly turned and smacked him away. Vixen came next, explosions filling the air, seeing how cocky he was she took a chance and used her ultimate trap, sealing him in it and watching his health take a chunk.
They started gaining confidence, seeing that they were able to do damage to him, that he was not unstoppable. They continued forward, attacking with all they had, Art summoned forth every blade he could and did massive swing attacks, keeping them all in perfect order to play off one another, all together it looked like peddles dancing on the wind as he used each blade to drop his health more and more. Razah joined in quickly with her Goddess Dweller and a beam blasted Bahamut into the ground, followed by explosions from her feathers and Vixens arrows.
As the smoke cleared and they waited to see the damage they had done to him they saw his eyes glowing, peering at them through the smoke. A shiver went down each one of their spines, his body started growing, he now stood as tall as Ifrit and his skin was starting to grow scales and turn a charcoal color. Sadly this did not slow him down as he darted towards them, in a moments time they were all blown away by a shock wave that left electricity surging all around them. They suddenly felt their bodies going numb, he had somehow been able to use an attack and effect all at once, Meekle was still able to talk, letting out words of one of his newly learned curses.
The curse weakened Bahamut to nothing, though he had his size and speed, each attack he landed only did minor damage, like a slime. The harder he tried to hit them the weaker it got, this was somewhat like the single damage curse that was placed on them by Alexandra, but not quite as effective. This gave a few of them the chance to have the paralyzing effects wear off of them, they then quickly healed the others so that they were all free to move.
"All he did was get bigger, don't let that scare you." Vixen was trying to reassure the group, but she now understood why Art, Meekle and Tophuu seemed so shocked when they had arrived, his power was bottomless. He laughed at her words before he grabbed her and started to squeeze her between his large hands.
"How about I show you my power." He looked into her eyes and as his glowed hers started to as well, a bright light shining before she started screaming, he had put a fear effect on her so easily. But the others were quick to get her free, Art and Fenix slicing at his hands while Meekle and Razah caught her, she was gripping at her head, scratching at it as if she was seeing the worst thing possible and tears started to fall from her face. Tophuu quickly healed her fear status but the tears didn't stop, she couldn't forget what she had seen as she looked over to Art and shook her head, trying to get her mind back in the fight.
"Come now, share with the rest of us, what did you see that made you squeal so loud." He taunted her but Art was having no part of it as he rushed in, doing combo after combo, they continued to trade blows and Vixen just watched on in horror, as if this was part of what she saw.
"Come on Vixen, pull yourself together. We need you." Meekle got her to her feet and she turned looking at him, she had felt so powerless in that moment, it was like nothing she had felt before but she tried her hardest to shake it off, shooting arrows at Bahamut, but all of them flying past him, her hands were shaking so bad she couldn't aim.
"Was that a whiff." Another taunt falling from Bahamut's lips while still finding a way to keep up with Art. Vixen watched on at how hard he fought, she remembered how she told him to get back in it when she showed up, how could she let him down. The others rushed in to help him, while she took some deep breaths, trying to find her fighting spirit once more, such a simple spell had pushed her so far down, it reminded her of their first fight with the bandit, she was so scared, but it had been so long sense she felt that way.
"Now, Claw combo." Art's voice calling out to them all, Meekle and Fenix clawed as Art did his dragon claw attack and Cerberus had just enough left to join in and slash at him before Tophuu called him back to make sure he could heal up before he needed him again.
Vixen whipped her tears away, her scared and saddened face replaced with pure anger as her arrows landed this time, sinking into Bahamut's back he turned and roared, angered that she was already getting her footing back. Razah did her Anubis wraps quickly, while all his attention was focused on Vixen and as they wrapped over him for only a moment, it was enough time for all of them to get the strongest skill they could still do and use it.
Bahamut ripped through the wraps, his fists busting up the floor as he let out a scream that echoed through the land and made waves of the ocean push backwards and the sky cracked with red lightning. They all took this chance to heal up so they would be ready for what ever was coming next.
"You foolish humans never learn." Scales started covering over his body that seemed to just keep growing, his body stretching out and started wrapping around the palace, till he was a full sized dragon, his head blocked out the sky as they looked up at him, his black scales shimmering from the lightning strikes, his teeth shown, each one dwarfing the group like they were nothing more than ants. Drool dripped from him as he roared and chomped at them.
His larger size made his attacks much easier to see coming, but with a quick look they realized that his health had not only gone all the way back up but it was much larger than before. All of them took a big gulp as they looked at what they were in for, their hands shook but they clenched their weapons tight, not letting this scare them away. Art was the first to move in, he started running and then jumped into the air as light sprang forth and every sword he had ever had, every sword in the area, from every warrior that had come with them and every Legion knight that was now taken down came forth to him, hundreds of blades that he road a top of like a wave on the ocean.
He made his way to Bahamut's face that let a fireball go into the sky, that burst and fire started raining down on them from the sky. Art smashed into the side of his face and started wrapping the swords around his large body, riding them down and having them grind against him, his scales cracking and some falling off. Art was a force to be reckoned with at this moment, he didn't let up, the swords wrapping back around like water and he continued back up and down Bahamut.
The others smiled, seeing what Art had become, they wanted to follow him as they rushed in, not letting the size of the King get to them. A breath of electricity blasted out of Bahamut's mouth, but even with that they didn't let it stop them. Razah taking a new form, one she hadn't tried before.
"God Dweller, Amunhotep." Her robes fell long as she rose into the air and she was dawned with a beautiful pschent, her eyes shined in a bright light as a glow came over all of them and their health went back to full. This took a lot of her magic but it allowed them to continue their path of attack, a rage brewed in each of them as they unleashed each of their strongest attacks on him once again.
Bahamut thrashed around as his tail came up and started to swat them like flies, one of his claws coming up and finally stopping the onslaught of Art and throwing him to the other side of the palace. His health took a big hit but then he heard chanting, the two mages were back up and were boosting them now. He got into his attack position, his leading foot forward and his back one long and ready to push off, his sword held at his hip and the blade held tightly forward as his eyes locked on to Bahamut and he burst forth with intense speed like Bahamut had in his smaller form. Both of them casting made the speed boost extremely powerful, so much so that Art created a sonic boom, blasting Bahamut's tail away and held it for stabbing it into him, making him let out a roar that made lightning strike the ground. Art then positioned himself, leaping and dragging the blade across the belly of Bahamut, a large black scare left from his sword as one of the symbols lit up.
"Abyss Grip." The abyss broke forth from the darkness of the slash and wrapped around Bahamut, in his anger he smashed Art with his horn that slammed him down into the ground. But he was not done, he got up, a bit staggered and the other rushed passed him, attacking with anything and everything they could, putting out their mana till it was gone, but his health still hadn't fallen more than twenty percent, he was a beast and he was only getting started.
He started swallowing up the abyss and his eyes turned a bitch black, with a roar monsters came forth from him, ones of the abyss itself. Small Dragons that moved through the air like they were fish and abyss golems that they now had to deal with on top of Bahamut but Art had his eyes set, leaving the smaller monsters to his group he rushed in and started attacking with everything he had, getting knocked around quickly by all the monsters he found himself out numbered and had to back off, they had to deal with the smaller ones before they were going to be able to get to Bahamut again.
Bahamut took a deep breath in, his scales stood up and as he released the breath air came through his skin and shot his scales out at them, damaging them and his own monsters. Still they could not stop him as his scales started to grow back and he met them with a fire, lightning breath that cleared the roof and left them desperate to heal. Art did as he always does and rushed in, trying to give everyone time to heal, but he had a real battle on his hand as he tried to dodge each attack thrown at him, Bahamuts claws slashing at him and his tail coming down with full force. It was to much for one person to take on by themselves but still he refused to fall, using the speed boost to get around the attacks as much as he could.
All of them getting their health back up, but they were running low on potions, it was starting to look dangerous to them but that wasn't on their mind as they rushed to help Art. With a thunderous sound Art was finally hit, again and again as he fell into the clutches of Bahamut who squeezed at him. Art let out a echoing scream that they all felt deep in their souls as he fell to the floor, his health dropping and showing no sign of stopping as he they tried to get to him, potion in hand but his life points hit zero and a sickening darkness filled the air for all of them. Razah dropped the potion she was holding, the glass crashed and it spilled out everywhere as their eyes filled with tears.
They all fell to their knees around them as Bahamut took this time to gloat, he was in no rush to finish them off and loved seeing them all whimper over their lost friend. The one who tried so hard to act like the most honorable leader he possibly could, in the time they had been in this world he had grown so much, his childish streak having faded and only showing up in the times of calm for them. Their hearts beat against them as it sank into their stomachs, some feeling it in their throats and the pulsing rush running through to their bones as they looked on, shaking him and telling him to get up.
No matter what they tried he wasn't moving, they wanted so badly to give up, but he had done all this to save them, he lost his life to keep them alive, they stood and wiped their faces before they turned and looked at Bahamut who was chuckling. They let their sadness turn to anger, to a raging inferno that would not be stopped, that is when his laughter stopped and he looked at them, a hideous grin over his reptilian face.
"I see you aren't done yet." He spoke to them, surprised any of them had the will to stand. It was true, they had felt like giving up, deep down, under the fire that now burned they all wanted to lay down and give up. But they didn't they stood and rushed in to fight with the beast, they had their weapons drawn, low on mana and potions but they were ready to fight to the bitter end.
They rushed in attacking with all they had, but it wasn't enough, their magic attacks bounced off of him and the damage they had done so far wasn't even half, they were facing an off against a titan of power that made it seem as though their was no end in site. Even the mages at the far and were drained, finding it hard to even cast the simplest spell for them. Meekle made it into his demon form but it wasn't going to last long, still he attacked, though his attacks seemed withheld, his spirit was broke, no matter how much anger, the person he had seen as a little brother sense they were little was now gone and he partly blamed himself for bringing him to this world. No it was more that hurt him, something that he hoped but just didn't work, a charm curse he had placed had not worked.
The others were feeling the same, all their attacks felt weak and they could be blown back by the wind at this point, even Bahamut was getting bored. He easily flung them away from him.
"Come on, fight me." He roared at them, angered that they had fallen so far from a single loss, "You are nothing like the heroes of the past, you are weak." None of them argued this. They all felt weak, they felt like they failed, their whole goal was to get through this together and now one of them was gone, they felt like there was such a big hole in all of them, they had all been together for years now and they huddled together wanting to make one last stand, but none of them having anything left in them as Bahamut's claw came crashing down on them.
A crushing noise sounded over them, was it over? Had they finally met the same fate as Art. Their eyes opened and their heads raised up to see the floor in front of them caved in, leaving a crater where Art stood, his sword over his head and his other hand pressing on the blade as Bahamut's hand tried to crush them.
Art pushed the hand off of them with what little strength he had left, the sword that was gifted to him broke and shattered, the pieces flying into the air as his hands fell to his side. His shoulders rose and fell and it seemed like it took everything he had to lift his head. His armer was broken apart and his legs were shaking as a card fell out from the cracked and broken armor. The curse card that Meekle had hid the night before the raid, it showed a resurrection depiction on it, the curse of second life, forcing the fallen to rise once more with twenty-five percent health and continue to fight.
Now Arts health was only at twenty percent after taking on the impact of Bahamuts fist, but as much as it looked like he was going to, Art refused to fall down. Meekle only wondered why it seemed to take so long to go into effect, all of the curses he has used worked immediately at touch.
"Stand up and fight." He shouted out, angry at what he came to and saw, angry that they were going to give up, but even more so furious with himself that he put them through that. That he let himself fall, even if it was to save them, he knew he should have never put them through that pain.