Alliance of Traitors

            Zero kept walking forward, his muscles aching, and his utter hatred for Ein kept him going. The walls of the ruins were crumbling, the dust clouding his vision, cutting off his air. He began to feel lightheaded and fell to one knee.

            “Not yet damn it… not yet. I still have to….” Zero pulled himself up using his sword as a crutch. “For the sake of all those people… I have to stop him.” He struggled onward; the exit, he could see it. A silhouette of a man appeared there, his hand reaching out. Flames formed around it. Zero looked at him in shock. “Pride?….”

            The man started to walk towards him. He fired a burst of fire that cleared the dust. He started marching in, firing more flames to incinerate the debris falling towards him and Zero. He offered Zero a helping hand. Zero stared back blankly.

            “Why? Why are you helping me?”  Zero asked, confused.

            “Because, I am Lance Pride, Knight of the Royal Guard. And it is my duty, to protect the innocent regardless of who they may be.”  Lance replied. “I’ll explain the rest later. Our priority is escape.”

            “Says the man who tried to kill me,” Zero stubbornly pulled himself up, refusing to take Lance’s offer.

            “I’ll deal with the consequences later.  Regardless of who you are, as a Knight, and because it is the duty of a Knight to protect the people from wrongdoers and threats, I will help you. Be these threats hellspawn, criminals or even the corrupt scoundrels that run the Empire.” The two started walking towards the exit with Lance clearing the debris. 

            “But you just claimed to be with the Empire. How is that you are still loyal to it. We were both used by it. So why do you still fight for it.”

            “Because I wish to restore our nation to what it was, before this pathetic war,” Lance said as they neared the exit. Waiting for them was Jeremiah Wolfenlied, the Emperor’s personal Knight.

            “Lance Pride and the fugitive Y-00, you are both under subject to termination under the decree of his highness, Emperor Kairos.” Jeremiah looked at his hand and a Zweihaender materialized there.  

            “Word sure gets around quickly.” Lance said as he placed himself between Zero and Jeremiah.

            “It’s not too late for you yet, Lance. Take his head and we could say that your treason was a falsehood.” Jeremiah said.

            “You’re right, it’s not too late; that’s why I opened my eyes! That is why I will return the Empire to what it was, even if I must first destroy it.” Lance fired a shot of fire at Jeremiah who simply looked at it and made it disappear.

            “You speak of opening your eyes, then why do you so foolishly try to kill me. Me, the wielder of eyes of God and Devil! The eye that allows me to create and the one that allows me to destroy. ” Jeremiah raised his blade and charged. Lance shot more flames at him but Jeremiah just vanquished them with his Devil’s eye. He brought the blade down on Lance.

            “Terra!!!” Zero drove his sword into the ground, simultaneously summoning a pillar of earth from the ground beneath them to take the brunt of the attack.

            Jeremiah once again implemented his Devil’s eye to eliminate the pillar. “That won’t save you for long.”

            “It doesn’t need to.” Lance said as he and Zero took defense stances.  “The problem with your power is that it relies on your eyes…. So you can’t use them if you’re blinded.”

            “And how do you plan to injure my eyes? I’ll stop any of your attacks well before they reach me.” Jeremiah said smugly.

“And I know that you can’t use them on anything that is endowed with a soul.” Zero added.

“Burn in hell, after you burn here!” Lance exclaimed as he summoned two streams of flames that converged on Jeremiah at the same time from opposite directions. Jeremiah eliminated one with his Devil’s eye and summoned a wall of steel to block the second.

Jeremiah charged at the two again, his blade prepared to strike. Lance took a step back and fired multiple shots of fire at Jeremiah, who managed to evade them again. Jeremiah kept vanquishing them as he neared Lance. His blade thrust forward to impale the Knight. Zero interjected, stabbing Jeremiah in his sword hand and then slashing him across the leg. Jeremiah feel to his knees immobilized; he stared angrily at the two. He raised his other hand. His teeth clenched he muttered. “Feuer…”  A ball of flame appeared in his palm and was fired towards Zero. Lance interfered and with a swipe of his hand stopped the attack.

There was gunfire, a platoon of soldiers appeared from the distance. They were targeting Zero and Lance.  A smirk crossed Jeremiah’s face.

“Split the earth and rise from its depths, Terra.” Zero summoned another wall of earth. The two started to flee. The barrier blocked the gunfire but Jeremiah tore down the wall using his Devil’s eye.

Lance suddenly turned around, bullets flying past him; a couple rounds hit him in the side and one in his leg. His eyes burning with determination, he spoke “Rise from the ashes of your fallen body, Spread your wings of undying flame; incinerate the foes that stand in my way! Phoenix!!!!”

A giant flame erupted from the palm of his hand and dove down towards his enemies. The smell of burnt earth and flesh filled the air.

“TREASONOUS B*****D!” boomed the voice of Jeremiah, as he, burning as he did, ran towards Lance, armed with his Zweihaender.

Lance pointed his finger at Jeremiah, “I was always stronger than you. You never stood a chance; I just don’t like to use my power to kill others.”  Almost instantaneously a beam of highly concentrated heat fired out of Lance’s finger that hit Jeremiah dead on in the face and exploded, taking out his entire upper torso.

 “What now?” Zero asked, dematerializing his soul shard.

“A friend of mine owns a ship, I want you to take that and go as far away from here as possible for now.”

“And you?”

“I still have a job to do, a nation to save.”