"Did you really think you would have deceived me for much longer, Dark Knight?" The robbed figure gripped their staff tightly, lighting up their meeting location by the gleam of the gemstones embedded in the carefully crafted artifact.
"No," the Dark Knight confessed flatly, pulling his massive blade out of one of the monsters concocted by his adversary, dispersing it into particles. "Did you think you still wouldn't know who I am by now? You're awfully conceited, after all." He readied his sword again, changing his posture as he sized up his newly minted enemy.
"We could've done so much together, yet you choose to be a petulant child again, Gaius." Her voice shifted, lowering its pitch and morphing to the one who used to be the leader of Crystalism, Nero.
Their staff hit the floor, lighting up a magical circle on the ground, "It's a shame your talents are wasted in simple-minded-heroics disguised as villainy. You're more like your brother than you think...shame you were never as useful as him."
The man underneath the helmet gritted his teeth, the flames of darkness enkindling at his feet. "Move onto the afterlife already, phantom of the past!" The Dark Knight lit his sword with his anger and shadows, leaping onto the air before bearing down on Nero with all his strength.
After the cloud of dust and shadows cleared, there stood a woman, grinning, blocking the attack with a shield weaved of magic, cracked from the strength of the impact. "Your magic is feeble in this world, child," they spoke after spitting out blood, their voices in unison. It was the visage of Akane Midorikawa, but her hair was long and waving in the wind like a green-tinted river of ink.
Magical whips lashed out at the Dark Knight from the top of Akane's staff and at the same time, she cast a rain of magical bolts as she did this, taking advantage that the man sacrificed his defenses for that single killing strike. He groaned in pain, trying to block the strikes the best he could, but some more potent hits left cracks in his armor.
"I know you know I must keep you alive, but that doesn't mean I can't beat you to an inch of it!" Her eyes shone/dimmed with something unnatural, feral, like a beast about to devour her prey. She spun her staff, transforming it into a long spear before charging at the Dark Knight.
Arcane tendrils latched at the Dark Knight's feet before gripping one of his arms. The man struggled and growled, managing to free one of his legs, but it was too late because the magical infused spear was about to pierce him and--
Pure and blinding light spread across the shadowed halls, wings of light spreading wide to form an unpenetrable bulwark that completely and utterly stopped the attack. The strength of the beast's attack sent her flying back, landing on her knee and staff.
"You--how did you--!" Akane was furious, her anger focused solely on the man clad in brilliant platinum armor.
"A hero is always fashionably late," Alejo said with a confident smile, spinning his sword and shield as he dispelled his protection to prepare for combat.
"..." The Dark Knight stood in silence after freeing himself from his trappings. He walked up to the left of the paladin, readying his sword once again.
"We're in this together, brother." Alejo cast a quick smile at the man underneath the deep black armor, and Joaco chuckled in amusement.
---
There we go," he said, a child not much older than maybe seven years old, smiling warmly at another child who sat on the ground, hugging his legs.
"It hurts a lot..." The kid sniffed as his brother's hand cast a soft light over his scuffed knee.
"Just be stronger for a moment, okay? No one is braver than you." The kid now used both of his hands, increasing the potency of the glow as he smiled at his brother, gentle violet eyes looking at him with affection.
"And you're the kindest, Itzal." Erlantz's amber eyes were puffy with crying, but his twin was right; he was strong and would always be the strongest for his brother's sake.
"Let's have some passion berry tarts after this, okay?"
---
"Stop saying that about Gaius, or I'll... bite you and wrestle you until you eat dirt, okay?!" Titus let go of the noble kid's shirt before pushing him away hard before the group of kids ran off, leaving him alone with his brother in the empty hallway.
"Sorry I was late...are you unharmed?" He approached Gaius, who was leaning back against a cold wall, staring at the floor.
"Yes, of course. Please do not worry about m--"
"Cut it out, Gaius; you are my little brother. Of course, I'll always worry about you!" Smiling, he smoothed out Gaius's robes and adjusted his collar.
"I'll always be there for you when you need me, okay? Even when you don't want my help."
Gaius simply nodded, smiled softly, and reached out for his brother's hand.
---
"So this is why you didn't want us to meddle," Alejo panted heavily, leaping back to his brother's side after taking down one of the arcane creatures created by Akane.
"Now you're seeing reason? No complaining allowed." Joaco squeezed his hand tight to rip apart one of the creatures by using long and sharp tendrils of shadows.
"Yeah, yeah... don't nag me when we are busy...!" He smacked what looked like a wolf with his shield with a grunt before slashing into it with his sword. Alejo turned to look at his brother, "There doesn't seem to be an end to this--and I think she is not even here anymore."
Joaco was silent for a moment. "She isn't. She trapped us in a veil between worlds, almost like the time you did during Christmas."
"That wasn't on purpose," Alejo protested with a whine. "And you--"
Joaco shushed his brother. "We can talk about that later; we need to get out of here, fast. Time doesn't quite work the same here."
"...And everyone else is in danger. Got it. Let's make quick work of these grunts before we go save everyone! I can't make Faihan wait for me; he's going to think I'm trying to shirk on my studies again--"
"Alejo, focus; there are hundreds of them," Joaco spoke in his stern voice, and his brother laughed.
"Alright, alright, but stop being so fussy; we've got this, right?"