Succession: Heir to the Empire

Brighe/Kegan

"Aye, they are out there. But we only need one of you for it to be considered a win." Kegan informed Syrien.

"And I don't think waiting here is a good idea. Unless any of you disagree?" Brighe asked as she looked between Syrien and Epiphany.
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Carlisle

"Ok, sounds good." Carlisle replied as he turned around and began heading south. But then the Doctor stopped in place for a second before speaking, "Just be careful, ok?"
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Rhys/Susanna

"So you really...want to fight to the death then?" Rhys asked, pausing as he pushed Susanna back.

Susanna gritted her teeth as she realized that Rhys was toying with her, treating her like a stupid child.

"What about-""Don't you dare say her name!" Susanna cut Rhys off as she jumped back for a second, pulling a small dagger out of her belt and throwing it at Rhys chest. The Captain easily blocked the attack, sighing in disappointment as he began to realize there was no reasoning with this girl.

Maul

"I will." Maul assured. He dashed off to the north, trying to locate Katie as best as he could. As part of his training, Maul had learned the art of training. Hopefully, it would not take him long to find the girl, if she had headed north.

Syrien

"It is fine with me." Syrien said.

C.C.

"Susanna, it doesn't have to end this way. Please. Just let me help you," C.C. pleaded, taking a step toward the girl.

Carlisle

Carlisle ran south, away from the center of town and the square as he headed back towards the entrance they had used to come into the cave.
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Rhys/Susanna

"Gods, will you get off of that already!" Susanna shouted as she pulled the second dagger from her belt, throwing at C.C.'s head. She knew it couldn't kill the Mage, but it might take her a few minutes to heal if it hit the right spot.

Rhys suddenly gripped the sword with both hands, his mind made up. "That was uncalled for." Was all he said before he swung at Susanna, forcing the girl to quickly defend herself. The Captain furiously chopped at the girl, making sure to avoid actually hitting her, but making her defend with his sword instead. There was a crack near the hilt, Rhys knew, and he intended to exploit it.

Susanna began taking steps back as she realized that Rhys truly was a better fighter with all of his experience. But she wouldn't give up, she couldn't. As Susanna saw what she thought was the perfect opening, she swung towards Rhys side, only to have the man quickly spin around and chop the end of her blade off.

C.C.

Caught off guard by the attack, the blade pierced C.C.'s forehead. In an instant, the Mage crumbled to the ground, dead. Blood poured from the gaping wound, quickly surrounding her. After a minute, the blood stopped flowing from the wound, and began to pull back toward C.C. The dagger popped out of her head as the blood was put back into her body, and the wound sealed itself. C.C.'s eyes opened a second later.

"Susanna..." C.C. said softly with a surprised tone. Despite what she had seen of her friend's descent into madness, the Mage had never really thought Susanna would try to kill her...

"Really, Caesar, did you really think you could kill me with such a sloppy opening attack," Nebi mocked and he raised his sword to block Caesar's. For a second he was distracted by C.C. dying, his eyes widening, but he managed to focus on Caesar as soon as time seemed to reverse itself for the beautiful Mage.

He smirked at the humage, knowing the key to victory was to distract the madman. He spoke, "C.C. told me about your mind. You're not even a real person, just an imaginary friend that stole a child's body. You disgust me."

Rhys/Susanna/Katie

"So are you finished?" Rhys asked as Susanna took a step back.

"Not yet." Susanna replied with a smirk on her face and a crazed look in her eye. The girl suddenly ripped a section of her arm, causing it to bleed. "Arcesso D-" She started the summon before being cutoff by shock as she got stabbed in the chest. "I'm sorry." Rhys said before he quickly turned the sword so that Susanna's chest had a gaping hole in it.


"Susanna!" Katie shouted as she ran around the corner to the square, only to watch her Cousin fall to the ground in front of Rhys.

C.C., Maul, Caesar

Maul came to a halt once he saw Katie. He sent a brief burst of light up into the air to alert Carlisle where he was.

"Susanna!" C.C. cried out in shock and despair as Rhys stabbed her in the chest. Immediately, she rushed over to the both of them. "Rhys, what have you done?!"

Caesar would have come back with a retort, but hearing several shouting voices cut his response. The Humage looked over to see Susanna lying on the ground, blood flowing from a chest wound.

Nebi frowned, holding back an attack he had prepared when he saw something big was distracting Caesar. His eyes widened at Susanna's bleeding body.

"Why?" he demanded of Rhys.

Rhys/Katie/Susanna

Rhys saw the look on C.C.'s face and knew what the Mage was thinking. She was going to try and heal Susanna, as would Caesar no doubt. And thus the Captain did the one thing that he knew would make everyone in the area loathe him, for a while at least. He cut Susanna's body in two. seperating her upper chest and lower stomach entirely.

Katie stood in place as she watched the man who had protected her kill Susanna. Katie said nothing as she simply stared in shock.
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Carlisle

Carlisle heard a loud noise before he turned around and noticed a bright light to the north. "Oh thank the Gods." The Doctor muttered as he turned around and began to run towards the light. Hopefully all their troubles would be over, for today's challenge at least.

C.C., Maul

"No!" C.C. shrieked, staring at Rhys in shock. Immediately she knelt next to Susanna. Even with her powers, there was nothing she could do to save her now. Tears started to stream from her eyes, a few of them dropping onto Susanna's face.

"I'm so sorry, Susanna....this is all my fault." C.C. sobbed.

Maul stared at the scene before him with a detatched curiousity. He turned toward Katie and walked over to her.

"You do not need to see this."

"That was uncalled for!" Nebi accused, walking over to Rhys and poking him in the chest, "You could have disabled her just as easily!"

Katie/Rhys/Susanna

Katie grabbed onto Maul and looked away, beginning to cry as she tried to figure out what was going on.

Susanna laid in shock as she died. But surprisingly, she didn't hurt as much anymore. "C.C.?" The Girl thought as she saw the Mage standing over her. The corners of Susanna's mouth slowly upturned as smiled at the Mage, her soul leaving right after.

"I had to do it. It was quite obvious that she was not going to stop until she had killed everyone. C.C. would have just revived her. What if she had killed Katie, what would you be saying then, Heir Nebi? You would be telling me I should have killed her before it had gotten to that point." Rhys replied to Nebi before he handed the boy his sword back, allowing blood to drip on his shoes as he handed it over.

"Good day." Rhys said before turning around and walking away, prepared to leave the city now.

Maul, C.C., Caesar

Maul covered the girl with his cloak, to shield her from the sight of Susanna.

Before she died, C.C. grabbed Susanna's hand and imparted in her mind, the memories she had of rescuing Katie, and healing her. She did not know if Susanna had gotten to see it all in time, but she deserved some sort of peace before she died. After awhile C.C. let go of her hand and slowly stood up.

She was about to berate Rhys when Caesar unleashed a demonic and vicious scream. The cavarn around them started to shake violently as the ground shook and powerful winds surrounded the Humage. Pieces of earth began to fall from the ceiling as it started to collapse.

Rhys/Katie

Rhys stopped as Caesar began to scream, weaponless but knowing that the Humage was going to try his best to kill him. "Very well then....I have no other choice." Rhys decided as he turned around and rushed towards Katie and Maul, pursing his lips together and blowing right as he touched the both of them. A loud cracking noise followed by a flash of clear light spread around them, and then, they were gone.
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Carlisle

Carlisle stopped in the street as he heard a loud screaming noise. "Maul?!" Carlisle shouted as he began to run double speed towards the square, arriving only to find that Maul wasn't even there.
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Kegan/Brighe

"What the-" Kegan began to say before being cut off by Brighe. "Time to go, sounds like Baruti found a way to summon that Dragon after all."
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Rhys/Katie

Rhys and Katie reappeared just a few hundred yards away from the gate, luckily in one piece.

Nebi frowned as he watched Caesar explode with power before being knocked back. He grabbed onto C.C.'s hand to steady himself and asked, "What do we do now?"

Maul

Maul appeared not too far away from Katie and Rhys, also unharmed.

C.C.

"He's going to bring the entire cavern down!" C.C. cried as Caesar's violent screams became louder, and the ground shook even more. Bigger pieces of rock began to descend from the ceiling, hitting many buildings.

"We have to leave. But, Susanna..." C.C. trailed off, and looked back over at her corpse.

Rein, Syrien

"We must hurry before the cave collapses!" Syrien shouted. Rein almost lost her balance from the shaking, but Syrien caught her.

"I can teleport us to the gates! Make sure to grab me or someone touching me!" Syrien quickly instructed. Rein quickly latched onto her guardian.

Nebi nodded and quickly picked up her corpse, grimacing a little as he made sure to pick up both halves. He touched C.C.'s shoulder.

"Get us out of here," he told her.

Brighe/Kegan

Kegan grabbed onto Rein, helping her stay up while using her to keep himself steady at the same time. Meanwhile Brighe looked up at the ceiling of the cavern one more time before finally grabbing onto Epiphany and Kegan.
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Katie/Rhys

"Let go of me!" Katie screamed as she pushed Rhys away. "You lied Rhys! You...Y-" Katie cut herself off as she began to cough on her own tears.

"It would be foolish to wait here when the entire cavern could fall any second." Rhys replied before turning around and walking towards the exit of the Cavern.
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Carlisle

Carlisle ran towards C.C. as he realized that someone was lying there on the ground with blood around them. But as the Doctor got closer to the body, he realized that the girl was already dead. Carlisle stopped in place as he saw C.C. and Nebi get closer together, not realizing that they were going to teleport.

Syrien, Rein

Syrien hurriedly teleported all of them out of the cavern, and back toward the gate.

"We must get back up to the Observatory, quickly!"

C.C.

C.C. looked over at Carlisle, and gave a frustrated growl. She quickly marched over to the foolish boy, grabbed his hand, and dragged him over to Nebi. SHe grabbed hold of Nebi as well, and teleported them back to the gate.

Maul

"We must go." Maul told Katie, dragging her toward the cavern's exit.

Katie/Rhys

Rhys walked out of the cavern broken. Without a weapon, a shirt, or a stable human connection.

"Let go of me!" Katie shouted at Maul as she began to get belligerent. "We have to go back, Susanna's body can't just stay there."
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Carlisle

Carlisle was blushing in embarrassment as C.C. teleported him and Nebi out of the city. But the Doctor quickly forgot that as he saw Maul and Katie headed for the exit. "Thank you!" Carlisle shouted to C.C. before he began to run towards Maul.
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Brighe/Kegan

"Well then, is everyone ok?" Brighe asked as she studied everyone carefully. Her Nephew was injured, and he had foolishly one nothing to seal the wound. Rein seemed to have a few scratches and scrapes, but was otherwise fine. And Epiphany and Syrien seemed to be well, Brighe decided. "Lets leave then."

C.C.

"Katie, we have her." C.C. said, gesturing back over to Nebi. "Now, we need to leave."

Rein, Syrien

"Yes, let's." Syrien agreed before dragging Rein over to the exit, making sure to be quick about it. The cavern behind them shook more as the ground started to split. A slab of rock landed near the gate, blocking any further entry into the city.

Carlisle/Kegan/Rhys/Brighe/Katie

Katie ran up to C.C. and Nebi, relieved that they had brought Susanna's body. Though she was still reluctant to see it.

Carlisle turned around as the slab of rock fell, trapping everyone out of the city. "So that's everyone except for Caesar and Tsuba....." The Doctor stated after counting everyone.

"Congratulations then, you all passed the challenge." Rhys said, sounding almost bored, before walking away back towards where Baruti would be waiting for everyone.

C.C., Maul, Rein, Syrien

"We'd better go." C.C. said to Katie. "We...need to give Susanna a proper burial. She deserves that."

"So it seems. But I doubt this is the last we see of Caesar. He is a hard one to kill." Maul said to Carlisle.

"I'm glad this is all over." Rein said, giving a sigh of relief.

Carlisle/Katie/Rhys/Brighe/Kegan

"Maybe, but with Susanna dead... He's all alone again. No, worse then that, he had a connection that is now gone. It's hard to keep going on after something like that." Carlisle stated grimly, speaking from personal experience as he walked with Maul into the light.

Kegan released Rein as they walked into the sunlight, now feeling very light-headed. "Mmm, yeah. This challenge wasn't so bad." The Half-Elf stated, not knowing what the other Heirs had gone through.

Rhys blinked a few times as he adjusted to the light difference. The Captain knew that he was no longer welcome with C.C. and Katie. But surely they would understand after they were finished mourning.....right?

Katie stopped and looked up at C.C. . "There's a nice hill with an apple tree about half a kilometer from the Observatory. I think Susanna would like that...."

C.C., Maul, Rein

"Right." C.C. said, nodding. She averted her eyes from the girl, frowning. "Katie, I...I'm sorry. For everything. This is all my fault."

"He will survive, though. It is in his nature to keep on going. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Or, in his case, 'stranger'. No doubt he'll be worse than before. He's been holding back this entire time. I could tell. Susanna was the one restraint he had. Now that she's gone..." Maul trailed off, leaving the rest to Carlisle's imagination. No doubt their next encounter with the crazied Humage would not be a pleasent one, to say the least.

"I guess. I'm just glad we're rid of Caesar and Tsuba for good." Rein said cheerily.