Avankiri

Duo's senses temporarily regained from the blast to his face, he brought one string up and sliced the bullet to himself clean in half. The two halves flew in different directions, but the combined efforts were just enough.

Inside his mind, the battle raged on, while on the outside, Duo dropped Mat and grabbed his head, squeezing his temples tightly, falling to his knees and crying out. It was hard for him.

All of Duo's life, people had hated him for being a Master. For being better than them. For being able to use his powers to save people, and instead taking lives even since his birth. Duo had hated all people because of that. But people like Mat, and Loki, and Jake, and Sara...They had never shown even a hint of hatred towards him. It was this inner being that Duo attempted to separate himself from. Now there was a three-man battle inside Duo's own head. Duo and Sara vs...

It was over. From Duo's subconcious oozed a dark essence, more evil and full of malice than Atlas could ever be. The mass of essence floated away and took form, its red eyes glowing as it looked upward. "...Free..."

Duo gasped and choked, then turned to face the new being. "Who are you..."

The being looked down upon Duo. "I am like you...All of you..." He lifted his hand and clenched it at the hole in the ceiling. "I HAVE NO NAME!!!!" The being shouted, turning to the Masters.

Atlas smiled. "Very good...It seems my true son has been unleashed at last..."

The being turned and twitched an eye. In an instant, Atlas twitched, looking at his cheek. Blood trickled down it as the being raised his hands. "The puppet has become the puppeteer, father..." He turned back to the group.

Duo slowly sat up, looking the being over and over. Then he realized it. The being was Duo's exact replica. It looked like him, talked like him...it even moved like him, tapping its feet on the ground for a moment before looking the group over again. "What the hell are you..."

"I am you."

"Me? But I am me!"

"I am the you that was born to kill. You are just the shell used to give birth to me...Or more correctly, Sara was the shell, you were just the nourishment."

Sara switched with Duo. "What do you mean, I'm a shell?!"

The dark being shifted a little on his feet. "You were the thing that I was to dwell within until I was ready to live."

Sara also shifted, uneasily. "I don't get it..."

"You don't have to. As for a name...You can refer to me as Dark Art." he smiled and lifted his fingers. The entire group was entwined in strings.

Atlas stood and clapped. "That's enough, boy, they are no threat to us anymore!"

Dark Art turned. Another slash over Atlas' face. "Shut up, old fool. You sent many Masters after these fools and all they did was get in the way. I will kill them when I see fit...For now, I suppose I should torture them." He constricted the strings against the Masters.

Duo's body felt like it was about to fall apart. He sucked in his breath, then waited for the constriction again. When it came, he waved one hand just a tad, barely enough to appear as if it never happened. 5 strings came up and cut right through the strings of Dark Art, releasing the captive Masters. Duo landed in a crumpled heap. His strings became visible, and, slowly but surely, they were melting away.

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Poparteeb

Eyes wide, Loki was, for the first time, paralyzed with fear.

I cannot die just yet, he thought, what has been holding me back all this time was my reluctance to kill. I am over that now.

"Go Die!"

Loki sprang at Dark Art with his twin zweihanders...

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-You better know what you need to do, otherwise, is there a point to living?

Avankiri

Dark Art merely turned, undisturbed in his calm thoughts, and waved his hand. A large cannon aimed directly at Loki from Dark Art's right arm, while an einhander was attached to his left.

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Ceraas

Mat grunted as he felt his body being pulled in every direction. This new Master, Dark Art, was something far worse than Atlas. His presence made Mat want to hurl forth every meal he had ever had.

When Duo managed to cut the strings, Mat fell forward on his hands and knees, wheezing and coughing. He looked up in time to see Loki rush Dark, and to see the evil Master raise a cannon at Loki.

"Oh no you don't!!!" Mat bellowed before throwing out one arm, sending forth a jet of red flames. Mat's eyes widened for a moment before the arm holding him up began to shake and he collapsed to the ground without seeing what affect, if any, his attack on Dark had done.

'Oh no... I'm completely out of energy. No strength left for any fire attacks... No strength...' Mat thought to himself, kicking himself for being so stupid and wasteful in his attacks. He had accomplished nothing. Atlas was still alive, and now they had a new threat to deal with.

Avankiri

Dark turned his eyes and blasted the flames away with a shot of water, then smiled. he dissolved into thin air and was gone.

Atlas smiled and stood. "I suppose I'll take my-"

He stopped. He looked down and blinked, then fell to pieces in a bloody mess. The son had destroyed the father, and now he had disappeared. The journey to save the world had started all over again.

{closed the book and picked up the second in the series. "The True Masters II: We're Only as Good as We are Together"}

((Will make new part tomorrow))

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Ceraas

[So wait, we just RPed something from a book? ]

Avankiri

[Not a real book. But I thought it'd be neat if it was something like the Masters are telling the story of how the world was saved to some people or something.]

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