Koda lashed out his arm and with a snap of his wrist, a wave of entwining roots shot from the ground and crashed into squads of Anti-Rogue Operatives. The massive weight of the roots pinned them down with only cries of agony escaping the spell’s clutches. Koda smirked before turning his attention to Elisa and Kyzo rushing toward him.

  With their forms low to the ground, the two assassins picked up speed before unsheathing their short ninjato’s.

  Koda narrowed his eyes. Do they intend to kill me? Surely, they only wish to stop me. Former friends, old allies, familiars. None of it mattered. He was here for a single purpose, to break the seal. Wraslyn expected this of him and he did not plan to let his master down.

  Kyzo brandished his sword as he leapt high into the air. A distraction. Koda’s eyes roved down just in time to catch Elisa thrusting her blade to his gut.

  Months of intensive swordplay with Elucard, Cade, and Arrelion gave him the reflexes sharp enough to counteract such a tactic. He feinted to the side, unsheathed his saber-like ilrune, and clashed blades with Kyzo.

  “I command you both to retreat while you still have a chance at survival!” Koda roared.

  Elisa pulled a respirator from her pouch and equipped it. “Sorry Koda,but you betrayed your throne when you joined Dead of Winter.” Her voice crackled under the muffled echo of the mask, much like a communication crystal used by the announcers at the mage tournament he attended.

  But why a respirator? Did she suffer from an old wound that required assistance with breathing? Koda gripped the hilt of his sword and flared earth magic. He lifted his blade into the air and with it, shifted the very ground into a trail of jutting rocks and jagged boulders.

  Kyzo and Elisa flailed from the impact like ragdolls. Kyzo crashed and rolled over the ground. A long gash split across his forehead.

  Elisa recovered with a somersault and dashed headlong for Koda. She sheathed her blade and with a blur of extra movements, pulled out a set of vials. Each glowed with either a fluorescent green or a vivid rose. With a light toss, the vials left her hands and Elisa slid out her blade once more and shattered the concoctions with a slash.

  Koda’s pupils shrank, Poison!?

  With only moments to spare, he flared wind and fire. Koda’s hand pushed forward and combusted an explosion that vaporized Elisa’s attack and blasted her a hundred feet from his presence.

  A wisp of smoke swayed in his palm. The Mage King observed the battlefield. Scores of the coalition lay underfoot of the Black Rabbits. Blood-soaked snow, and ash-caked stone led Koda to the seal itself. Koda stepped to the crater’s rim and looked below to where his goal lay. A mile of smooth marble stone spanned the base of the crater. Intricate lines carved across the platform, no more than two inches deep. The level of geometric complexity in the Heaven’s Mark would take a lifetime to achieve. A world wonder on its own, nevermind the fact that it was the fourth of its kind and a relic that deserved to be preserved until the end of time.

  Or, at least until now.

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  “Back away, Koda.”

  Arrelion’s familiar voice beckoned from behind him. Koda looked over his shoulder

  “You came alone?”

  “Your yikahti partner is preoccupied with the Silent Ones,” Arrelion sneered. “Perhaps you should go assist him.”

  “It is the Silent Ones that required your assistance, Arrelion,” hissed a third voice.

  The Silver Mage clenched his teeth as the Collector walked to Koda’s side

  Arrelion gripped his hilt with both hands and narrowed his eyes.

  “You were warned of this day, Arrelion,” chided the yikahti. “Now, like your allies, the seal shall be destroyed.”

  “Enough talk!” the Silver Mage roared.

  Arrelion flared wind through his sword and slashed a wide arc, sending Koda and the Collector reeling into the crater.

  Koda also channeled wind and lowered himself safely onto the seal. The boom of two powers exploding through the sky resonated across the crater. Koda’s eyes searched frantically, attempting to catch a glimpse of the battle. A blur here, a shadow there. A crack of thunder, a roar of lightning. Koda could not keep up.

  The clanging of steel echoed around him, only interrupted by the odd grunt or growl.

  I can’t follow them, they’re too fast.

  Koda pulled out a small vial of Plague Reach from his robes. Hopefully the Collector can keep Arrelion busy long enough so that i can do what we came here for.

  He knelt down, popped the cork, but his hand paused. The cry of a dying animal sliced through the air. Koda spun around to find the Collector at his feet. A gruesome laceration cut from his shoulder to his hip. Blood pumped from the wound, squirting and bubbling. The cat’s eyes rolled back as he clawed out for aid.

  “K-Koda…help…”

  Koda’s gaze roamed from the Plague Reach, to Arrelion, and ended on his guildmate.

  “Take him. Take him and tell Mateo that the seal is ours,” commanded Arrelion.

  His former teacher’s stern words were all that Koda needed to hear. He nodded and created a portal to the Shadowverse.

  Koda bent down and shouldered the yikahti. He turned to Arrelion once more. “You know this isn’t over. You may have this victory, but Wraslyn is relentless. He will keep coming for this seal until it's been shattered.”

  “And we will fight against each onslaught that my brother throws at us!”

  “Then you will die and every fool that stands with you will share that fate.”

  Arrelion gestured to the Collector. “If you don’t retreat now, he will too.”

  Koda eyed his partner and shook his head in frustration. “I tried. Ruens knows I tried to protect you—to protect all of you.”

  “You only want to protect yourself. All you wanted was a chance at power, to empower yourself!” spat Arrelion. “You took advantage of everyone you came across and cared for no one that you hurt in the process! Does anyone mean anything to you? Anyone!? Raine? Wildeye? Any of them!? Or were they just stools you could stand on to be a little higher to the heavens?”

  How tears welled up in Koda’s eyes. “You—you never understood the weight that was on my shoulders! None of you did!”

  So pathetic. I’m so pathetic.

  “All that power and you are still just a sniveling child,” Arrelion sneered. “Do the right thing, Koda. Come home and fight Wraslyn with us.”

  “No,” Koda whispered. “No, I am home.”

  “Koda.”

  “Although you are right,” Koda continued. His eyes churned an ebony black and his voice grew rougher—harsher; like a wolf’s. “I am still just a sniveling child, but now I have all this power!”

  Arrelion lowered his head. “Tezhok…”

  “But the question is, what to do with it?” Koda finished. “Until next time, Arrelion. Until next time.”

  Who is the cooler familiar?