(Part Twenty-Three - No Need for War: Part Three) I pushed hard at the door... I took hold of my anxiety, and stuffed it down a dark crevasse of my soul... I only allowed conviction... I then strode through the door... and the had the doors slam shut behind me... I looked, seeing the groves of Trees set upon their pedestals... feeling out my prey... I needn't have bothered.... The Trees were completely with my side... and I noted the Trees sending light beams into a particular direction... then I saw the form of the great evil kneeling in a gesturing of clearing ones head... Tsunami had knocked him up rather rough... the deflection I mean... drawing my blade as I summoned the courage a mortal shouldn't ever have to use... Then Mulhorand noted my presence.... with one retched sneer... no words exchanged between us... I then started to a teleport pad... using it as an excuse to egg Mulhorand into attacking... Yet... faster than I anticipated; my blade was thundered upon by his... and I had to use much of my strength to fight off the first blows... I became upon the realization... that I never had drawn anger with lethal intent... not to this extent... and it was with that anger that I struck back upon Mulhorand with every fiber of my destined being.... Trading blow after skillful blow upon Mulhorand's.... Then the shadow started speaking... it told of my mistakes in judgment... in allowing myself to be brainwashed by Tsunami... into falling in love... into becoming a pawn in a struggle I couldn't possibly understand... His words assaulted along with repeated strikes of the blade.... The intent of breaking my will... of showing me that he saw me as Tsunami's slave... My answer was a powerful Needle attack, knocking off the topmost platform, and I followed; continuing my assault in kind... With all the skill bestowed from the teachings of both Yosho and Azusa... I pounded at Mulhorand, crushing at his attempts to gain space to recover... Alternating with slashes, parries, kicks, blocks, and energy shots; I slowly began to tell a pattern in the style of his fighting... I could see how Mulhorand fought... at least I was becoming certain such... And with continuing fury, I traded more blows... knocking him from one platform after another... All the time with Mulhorand continuously reaching at my vulnerabilities... grasping at some way to cause me to falter... It almost happened... he mentioned my father and mother... catching me at a half-way slash; stopping above Mulhorand's blade... What he said was true... the reason Terrai and Jeain left me... to protect me from attack; to keep this monster from getting to me on Earth... Mulhorand had been on EARTH!?!?! And as a result of that... father and mother were forced to chase after Mulhorand... to keep him from slaying me in my childhood.... This happened.... when I was five... a childhood stolen... by this same demented wretch... As Mulhorand insinuated.. that my existence was the reason my father and mother left... I saw better... the shallowness of that statement was overshone by a truth.... One... with all that I had learned from the Misaki clan... from the Royal Family... from Kagato and Maymay... from Fenganis and his comrades and lover... from my own father and mother... and most certainly from the goddesses, and my one true love... I existed because my honor was more important than love, and therefore... a selfless person was power a selfish one could never hope to contain... My next act, as I clenched... a phased power move; slamming home Mulhorand off one wall, off the side of a platform; and onto another platform... I then phased to that platform... and I strided over to his inert form... and scolded him to his feet... not being fooled by appearances... He did so... wiping blood from his smirking face... black blood even... Then he held up a hand... and fired... Right past me... at the Tree behind me!!!!!!! Before I could react, the beam shot struck home.... and a pillar of black smolder rose from the blast point... where the Tree was... whose I wasn't certain... Then the monster fired three more shots in succession... striking random Trees... similar smoke... I slammed home a murderous blade shot; slamming him into the side wall as viciously as I could... and began slamming blade after angry blade upon his... I felt tears come out... and my rage became almost uncontrollable; I was about to let my fury take over the battle..... when Tsui's voice struck my ears... or my head... whichever.... I was warned not to let my fury consume me... as Mulhorand could use it; as he had used Kagato and Ryoko.... to such near tragic effect... The I was turned to the attention of the first Tree Mulhorand had struck... It was.... still there.... behind a Lighthawk shield... ...it's own... I understood immediately... the Trees.... had learned to defend themselves... The tragedy of old Jurai was not lost upon the Trees... The other three were as well intact... and then I felt it... I felt in my soul... the existence of ALL the linked members of the Royal Family... I felt each and every detailed soul of each Tree... it was just there... I could know each one by name... by character... and by the unified conviction... that all of Jurai stood behind my destiny... then I felt in turn... Azusa's, Tenchi's, Yosho's, Ayeka's, Bruinuae's, Sasami's... and finally Father... and Mother... The light of the Trees struck my Key... and a new surge of Jurai power flowed... It had me turn my normal Key... into a single, majestic, gleaming samurai sword... easily five meters long... The Mulhorand finally regained footing... and tried to strike at several of the Trees again... with no success.... Then a collective and intense anger filled me... not of hatred... but of finishing the job... I felt the will of Jurai in it's entirety... and I answered that call.... and with the leveling of my blade... I told Mulhorand... that he had no future with the living... The look of growing anxiety from his eyes told me the words nailed home.... My next attack was unblockable...and I began to press my advantage... pressing with every fiber of Jurai energy inside of me... to free the Juraian's from this awful curse... What blade slashes that I missed landing, caused Mulhorand to retreat further.. the tide had turned... and I would not yield.... I chased him continuously; leaping from platform to platform; chasing the tyrant with extreme resolve... sparking slashes off of my blade upon the platforms became more common, as Mulhorand became less interested with dueling, and more with flight... But he put up a couple more counterattacks, the last nearly catching me in the left leg, as I slipped upon the side of one of the platforms; but I caught him with an extremely skillful air leap, and vicious slash to Mulhorand's back, shoulder to shoulder; not deep enough for a true wound.. but one with most certain pain.... I then caught him with a parry, and then threw the both of us onto another platform below... landing us both near a Tree... Mulhorand the made a stabbing motion... one I was not able to block... but was blocked by a Lighthawk wing from the Tree I was leaning upon... I made good the chance, and stabbed in turn to Mulhorand's left shoulder, straight through.... Mulhorand retreated again... staggering from the knowledge of being badly wounded... a new sensation for the creature it seemed...seeing it's literally black blood flow heavily. And he made a mad attack at me... dashing with desperation... I met the attack in kind... slamming home a devastating parry... crushing him back off the platform, nearly missing the next platform... He dodged my next overslash, but took a full force backkick to his chest... crashing him into the wall... leaving a disjointed Mulhorand, in the head that is... to decide his own fate... With this, I pressed home the full might of my destiny upon Mulhorand's quickly shortening time of existence... I then let my skill take over... and let the Jurai energy flow with my every action... I let the power of the Link flow my blade.... Parry, thrust, dodge, block, block, parry, thrust, thrust, slam, bolt flare, parry, parry, parry, block, thrust, double slash... on and on I went... I felt on anger anymore... just resolve and conviction... and the Link... With punishing attack after righteous punishing attack... I made Mulhorand pay for every soul he had murdered... enslaved.... and corrupted... And many of those attacks drew tremendous wounds... Mulhorand was faltering.... One heavy slash sent Mulhorand off another platform... missing all the rest of the platforms... The I heard a splash.... I looked around.... and finally took note of my location... DEEP inside the Alcove of Generations.... the last four levels apparently... and Tsunami's Tree was below... I phased down as fast as I could... knowing the core was reached... everything was on the line now... And as I splashed upon the water in front of Mulhorand... I held my blade with the strength of defending the treasure of my existence... Mulhorand then stood... leveling his current blade... noting that he knew as well... that only one of us would survive... I made a rather archaic comment about his mental state, along with his lack of manhood... driving home how hopeless Mulhorand truly was... He tried a quip; lacking any drive in it... he then answered with the blade... and I forcefully struck him back... then made a devastating uppercut slash, catching Mulhorand HARD lengthwise... only his backward movement keeping him from being cleaved outright... He attacked back, with us trading another series of devastating shots and parries... The Mulhorand launched a full powered dark beam, one that would have done extreme harm to the Tsunami Tree... and I used my full force of the Avatarhawk Wings to take to full brunt of the attack... The searing of the cold/hot, flooding/choking, black, viscous energy nearly overcame my breath... It went on forever it seemed... and I nearly fainted... The Tsunami's breath entered my lungs... a strange sensation to say the least... air entered me from somewhere; and kept me alive... And even before the attack ceased; I unleashed a similar sized Jurai force beam; using the titanic beam to drive Mulhorand's back... The Mulhorand faltered... and I doubled my energy strain, slamming the hapless demon into the wall again... and I poured gargantuan amounts of Jurai/Gem energy into the beam... this time nearly using up my vast reserves... I was forced to cease the attack, noting that I couldn't risk dying now... But then two things happened.... The first... Mulhorand staggered to his feet... blade leveled... and had the look of finishing this ordeal... I took a final samurai like stance... my Key held to the palm of my right hand, left held; positioned behind my head.... and I awaited the attack... And I felt the rush of hope from the Link... all the Trees... all Juraian's holding their breath... We broke at the same time... screaming our respective battle cries... we charged as two spent warriors with only death as the reward... Then we clashed... exactly fifteen blade strikes, and three kicks lunged... and as I blocked off one last parry from Mulhorand, I sidestepped a stabbing motion... and locked my blade with his... the fountain of power being extruded unfathomable... then I played my ante... I phased into my Avatarhawk form, and within a split second, combined my Avatar sword with the Key; and shot through Mulhorand's blade; piercing him clean through... The action suddenly stopped... quiet... I regained my wits... and then turning... faced my opponent... He didn't turn... and fell to his knees... I felt I had won... but... a cruel fate nearly played out... Instead of acknowledged defeat... came the demented laughing of a madman... The I felt it... without words again... I felt a surge of dark energy overloading his body... HE WAS GOING TO DESTROY JURAI PRIME WITH HIM!!!!! His insistent laughing struck my head... assaulting my mind... I acted instinctively... I phased right in front of Mulhorand... And gave him a smirk... Mulhorand eyes turned blank... Tsunami screamed into my head... Then with a simple turn of my head... I.... smiled.... for the last time.... I believed... Mulhorand's anguished scream accompanied me all the way to old Jurai.... We appeared in front of the Sai`Hon Tree... And it ended there... I said my goodbye to my love... all the while simply smiling, and having one of those flashbacks... of all the crazy and loving adventures I had shared with Tsunami.... the last image... that first time... that beautiful, beautiful smile..... It had all been worth it.. All of it.. And everything exploded.... I could feel it... first the air, then the planet's surface... running to the mantle... then the core... and then racing back up to the Tree itself... the veins of the great Tree cried in pain. and in relief. Everything around the Tree turned a dark red, the leaves burned a massive light from them, the Trees inside, the last to feel the destructive surge.. And I felt nothing from them. they just. were gone. Then the surface boiled away.. Cracking and splitting with the cataclysm. My last image... seeing the planet explode.... goodbye Sentai... thank you.. And then simply darkness... (End Part Twenty-Three)