[JOHNY BOMB!]

Vash stares at Dark Magnus in disbelief for a moment, not paying a attention of losing some footing by the push received from the dark assassin. A sneaky Exodus creature turn to brittle ashes in front of his eyes, Vash gives a slight nod to D. Magnus, "Thanks for the save" he replied shallowly.

Later Vash too begin to notice that these insectoids weren't coming in swarms anymore, so he backed up a little out of caution. Then another one popped in front, he takes a quick step forward and thrusts the Agni at his attacker. The tip of the blade pierces the minion as it screeches in pain, then punt kicks it out of the way. He hops back to the group to reform their position, then turns to D. Magnus while still facing the battle "Get your head in the game" he says, noticing that D. Magnus is having some inner conflict with himself.

Then leans his stance near his bigger ally, "Now we got some info on what they are, how do we stop them. Permanently?" he asks Xeyon as he continues to slash at the oncoming insectoids.

[Magnus Blade]

Once he snapped out of his own self-thoughts after Vash walked pass him, he simply decided to once again ignore it. He wouldn't gain an answer on the battlefield. He drew his sword again, getting in proper formation again as the Exodus began their individual attacks once more.

Xeyon, who heard Vash ask a question, didn't know what to say. All he was focused on was the fight itself. He blasted an Exodus point blank in it's head when it decided to strike him with another pouncing attack, blowing it's mechanical head clean off.

Dark Magnus figured it was finally time to do an experiment to foil the Exodus's plans.

"...They're trying to push us on edge by fear." the assassin stated. "We need to remain close, but we need to go on the offensive and smash through their ranks to inflict as much damage as possible before the lead pest shows it's ugly face. We bail and think of another strategy if things get nasty. Any objections?"

"Nah. That's what I've been wanting to hear ever since this whole messed started!" Xeyon exclaimed.

Both tyrants kept their focus up, watching as the creatures still seemed to attempt small grouped attacks judging from their movements. All they waited for was Vash's say on the matter.

[JOHNY BOMB!]

Vash then drew Rudra the wind sword, swiftly stamp the pommel between the Agni blade's and spins the weapons maliciously. "Dragon Roar!" he shouts. A whirlwind of arching fire blast forth with a long monstrous drop echoing as it attacks; decimating the incoming Exodus beast in Vash's path. He then shaves the two blades together, finishing off the technique while causing sparks to fly. "Lead the way Captain" Vash answered as he clears a temporary path for the two tyrants.

[Magnus Blade]

"Hmph...I'll admit. Not bad." Dark Magnus decided to compliment his temporary ally.

As soon as the Exodus were decimated, Dark Magnus and Xeyon charged on into the center of their large group within the new path carved for them. Now that they have breached the enemies' ranks, they all began to swarm the two again. With the creatures' ability to learn, they attempted to cover the opening Vash made to trap the two villains to limit their chance to regroup.

"Damn...I knew it." Dark Magnus gritted his teeth.

With the Exodus thinking as smart as they are, he had no choice but to get serious with this fight. He slid the Black Katana out of it's sheath, dual wielding it with the Caladbolg. He swung his swords beside him after forming a cross with the blades in front of himself, having the "Flame Imbue" technique performed with black flames surrounding the blades. He released a wave of flame so strong that it obliterated several of them in front and on the sides of him.

Xeyon changed his left hand back to normal and focused all of his brute strength into his enormous Burning Blade. The buster would prove useless in such close range with so many enemies around them. His fiery strikes were wide of range and devastatingly destructive to their enemies, chopping waves of them to bits and pieces. When he slammed his blade down in front of him, the Exodus took their chance and found an opening within the tyrant's attacks. One pounced on his back again, giving the others an opportunity to gang up on him.

Noticing this, Dark Magnus slid right in and destroyed the incoming Exodus that intended to team up on his partner with several fiery barrages of dual strikes consisting of his two blades at a very fast pace. Xeyon repeated the same process he did minutes ago to another Exodus and jumped up in the air high enough to crash down on his back, smashing and crushing the Exodus into nothing but scrap with his weight alone. With them defeated, they still have waves of them coming at the two, but they at least managed to create another opening for Vash to get into the middle of the chaos along with them both.

[JOHNY BOMB!]

"They just keep coming!" Vash shouts at the next horde of Exodus. He then dashes his way to the opening, thanks to Dark Magnus and Xeyon earlier and acrobatically flips over the duo with Agni 'n Rudra swords spread across like a bird. The next wave of monsters sprawled at their leaping combatant; the Exodus arms now within reach of Vash. Closing in on the creatures just above, Vash adjusted his weight and stomps at one of the insectoids cranium; using it as a stepping stone.

Vash then bounces off the creature as it's head now left with a deep crushing footprint, drops. The mercenary pulls Agni and Rudra far to his backside and slams them into the ground while calling, "Phoenix Flash!" a short-range burst of thin fire and sharp air spread over a wide radius like multiple shotguns bundled into one. The attack knocked back several of incoming Exodus creatures with ease, causing most of them to fling to the air like feathers. Others with burning embers on their armor, crying in agony as they toss themselves over to the floor, hoping to rid of the fires and their pain.

The mercenary then shakes his head, feeling quite drained from that last attack. His vision begins to blur, but blinks a few times to snap back into reality, "What's. . . next?" Vash ask as if losing his breath. Though a reploid doesn't need to breathe, the Xenothium energy core was raising his body temperature causing Vash's body to ventilate some air around him. "I can only do two more special attacks . . . If there IS a real emergency out there, now's the time to tell me."

A few more Exodus rushes forth but Vash easily dispatches them with a few simple slashes of his blades. He turns to the duo, "Well? Is there?" he then turns back to the fight and cuts a few more down.

[Magnus Blade]

"...Conserve your remaining energy. There's a enormous one posing as their current 'leader' on it's way here." Dark Magnus answered.

Though he spoke too soon. The Magnus copy heard a large thump that sounded like it came from the north, though nothing was in sight at the moment. But he knew it was the leading vermin, as the Magna Core reading was at it's strongest peak.

"Speak of the devil..." Dark Magnus muttered before cutting down another lowly scout Exodus that rushed him.

He saw the next wave coming, but some of them decided to spread out, seemingly trying to make room for their approaching leader, who still seemed to be taking it's sweet time getting in deeper to where they all are. After a few more seconds passed, a very loud and echoing screech was heard form the distant leader. Then suddenly, the remaining Exodus that were around other parts of the city began to appear from their attacking spots and straight to where all three fighters are.

"What's going on?!" Xeyon shouted.

"That bastard...! It summoned all the Exodus in this city to try and attack us all at once. Look around us!"

"...So what do we do? We can't take all of those little punks, plus it's leader all at once!"

"Just stay calm, fool..." Dark Magnus stood there, taking the time to formulate a strategy while they aren't being attacked at the moment.

This was quite a daring spot to be placed in. With hundreds and more Exodus closing in on them, there wasn't much time to think of a fully planned battle strategy. This had be quick, yet effective. Though judging from Vash's current limit to unleashing about two more special attacks, that also placed their chances at a slight disadvantage, as he can't waste his strength to fend off on the swarms before the leader even arrives in front of them. There weren't really many options to choose from. Anything the assassin tried to conjure, it lead to their demise. One plan did hit him, but it was another daring one, having Vash in mind.

"Maybe I can depend this fool after all. We may be enemies, but he seems tough enough..." he thought to himself before looking to his large companion.

"...Xeyon. I'm about to put you to some serious work." said the dark assassin as he faced the enemies again.

"What?!"

Dark Magnus merely sighed. "Just shut up and listen. Can you act as a decoy? You have the strongest brute strength out of all of us. Vash and I can take on the leader, if he's up for it. You just have to stall for time so the others won't try to catch us."

"Ha! These little punks can't kill me even if there were a million of them. I'd be better than some 'decoy'. Just do whatever you want! I'll smash them all to pieces!" Xeyon confidently states, setting his sword ablaze and getting ready to draw their attention.

"Whatever...just stay with us before getting their attention on you until we are out of the scouts' range, then fend them off long enough for us to kill the leader."

Dark Magnus then looked to Vash before having Flame Imbue gather around both of his swords. He gave the mercenary a quick stare before turning back around.

"...It's up to you to follow this plan or not. But choose quickly, as we have to get to the leader while he's still alone." Dark Magnus finally began to pick his feet up and began a slow sprint facing to the north, preparing to cut down the Exodus with Xeyon that blocks their path. "Whether you come with me or stay with this idiot here. Your call."

[JOHNY BOMB!]

Vash sheathes the Agni sword away as Dark Magnus spoke to him, and silently nodded in agreement; sparing himself the energy. The mercenary, now leaving only the Rudra blade by his side means only half of his current attack strength but willing to play a support role as well. Vash shows D. Magnus his weapon and pointed out the air element the sword possess, at the same time nods further towards the dark assassin's fire based weapon.

"Lead the way " Vash replied.

[Magnus Blade]

"...Hmph." Dark Magnus jetted off as soon as he had seen Vash agreed to go along with him. He figured his temporary comrade could keep up with him.

Dark Magnus and Xeyon smashed their way through the Exodus who blocked the way to the leader, though not intentionally killing them. Just to make a path for Dark Magnus and Vash for the plan to work properly. The path itself wasn't too secure in the first place, so getting through was a piece of cake.

With Dark Magnus through first, Xeyon blocked the path, but didn't do any big attacks to stop them completely until Vash passes beside him to meet with Dark Magnus. While waiting, he already grabs the attention of most of them by lifting one of the critters off the ground with his strength and tossing it into a crowd of others, followed by a charged buster shot.

With the free and clear path created, Dark Magnus stormed off towards the other side of town, but slows down and looks back, expecting Vash to arrive soon after.

--

Near the entrance of the city, it was nearly desolate. Everyone was smart and spread out completely ahead of time when the huge Exodus arrived. It was a bit different looking that it's infant allies. It was taller than some buildings and it's legs were long like street poles and were medium-sized in width. It's body was enormous and ebon black, having it's appearance look more like a mix of a spider and it's original design.

For some reason, it finally decided to speed up, as it wanted to finish it's task quickly now.

[JOHNY BOMB!]

The mercenary races along the cleared path, swiftly catching up to the dark assassin in mere seconds. Suddenly a small Exodus ambushes Vash from the destroyed pile left by Xeyon but Vash delivers a backhand in a blink of an eye, sending the creature through a stop sign causing the pole to snap like a wooden twig. "Those buggers are pretty persistent" Vash commented on the insectoids abilities to recover in haste.

Finally reaching up to Dark Magnus, Vash slid to a halt next to him. Soon Vash's audio tracker began to pick up sound signals from afar. "Its pretty loud and clear from where we're standing. Could that be our target?" Vash said nervously as he tightly grip the Rudra's handle, feeling the presences of the Exodus Leader with the tremendous sound waves that was giving off from Vash's visor.

[Magnus Blade]

"Yeah...those sounds it's emitting are both the Exodus's way of communication between each other and can be used to disrupt any kind of communication transmissions. That's why those little creeps showed up so fast a few moments ago..." the assassin explained, then sprinted forth with full speed after saying "But it's time...let's get this over with."

The street down their path was clear, but it wasn't going to be in the green light anymore in a few more seconds...

The large incectoid finally locked on two targets as they were getting closer towards it: Vash and Dark Magnus. It smashed it's large arm in the street, then raising it back up with a loud screech that echoed all over town.

Dark Magnus finally arrived within a certain distant range, but was still locked onto and charged by the large leading Exodus, who finally decided to pick up the pace on walking. It was still quite slow, but it became violent all of a sudden. The assassin wasn't going to attack until the Exodus came within his and Vash's fighting range, unless his temporary partner decides to be the first attacker.

[JOHNY BOMB!]

"Communication on the friz's from them? That why the Mosquito was jammed" Vash thought from hearing the dark assassin's statement about the Exodus.

Seeing the that leader Exodus was drawing near, Vash takes it to the defensive. "I won't be able to attack head on, not with my energy level running at below 50% capacity" Vash said to D. Magnus. The mercenary then leap to a parked car and readies the Rudra sword as the large Exodus was closing in. "I'll try and distract it" he shouts while observing some cracked building windows from above.

Vash takes aim, twists his body and takes full swing of the Rudra blade; like a street brawler throwing a haymaker. A arching gust of wind burst from the weapon while making a hurricane like roar. Out of reaction, he jerked 'n lands on his back, surprise by the amount of power he unleashed from that sword swing. The mass of air easily smashes through the glass windows, shattering them to hundred pieces, causing to fall on the Exodus leader.

[Magnus Blade]

The shattered pieces of the window fell on top of the Exodus leader, as well as actually feeling some of the wind energy from Vash's weapon, despite it not being directly aimed at him. The pieces pierced the large creature's metallic body slightly, but nothing too serious due to it's body being stronger than the scouts. Regardless, this angered the Exodus to look for the one responsible. He locked onto Vash after hissing silently, but enough to be heard. It's crimson red eyes illuminated brighter upon it's anger, picking up it's long arms and legs, charging at the mercenary in hot pursuit.

Taking his chance, Dark Magnus used 'Flame Imbue' again to set his blades ablaze. After getting in close range behind the rampaging leader, he leaped high in the air, then slashed out several flaming 'Azure waves' directed at the Exodus's head. The beast took the attacks head on, then turned around instantly to do a quick backlash. It rose up one of it's giant arms as fast as the wind, smacking Dark Magnus from airborne before going after Vash again and causing him to fall back down, but luckily the assassin caught his balance upon flipping over and quickly sheathing one of his swords to land his hand down first.

"What the hell...?! That attack was rather fast for a big oaf like him!"

The attack of course hurt quite a lot, as Dark Magnus still felt the after burn of the attack in his chest. Absorbing his pain for now, he charged back towards the leader, stay in high alert for any of it's sneaky attacks.

--

Over at Xeyon, he slid his Burning Blade on the ground and released a large wall of flame behind him so none of the Exodus could interfere with Dark Magnus and Vash's battle with the Exodus leader. The wall stretched from one building to another, as he didn't necessarily care for them catching on fire. Luckily for citizens, this part of the city was long abandoned from everyone's escape.

There were so many of them...many to the point where it was impossible to estimate. To Xeyon, he felt he could take them all on...but in reality, there was no possible way for anyone to take on this many scouts on their own, regardless of how strong they are. But he was only fighting to stall for time until the leader is killed. But given Xeyon's nature to fight and kill, he'd nearly forgot about the original intention of the fight. The Exodus closed in slowly, yet bloodthirsty as they locked their urge to kill solely on the big brute before them.

"All right, you little creeps...Let's rumble!" said the confident, yet overly cocky fighter.

[JOHNY BOMB!]

Surprised by the sheer physical strength the Exodus leader possess and seeing how Dark Magnus was easily tossed aside, Vash took the initiative. He side flips off the vehicle, ending it with a sturdy landing then flanks around the beast to cover more ground as the mercenary observes from a distance. "No way, a creature that large could spot D. Magnus that easily. That was definitely a blind spot he went after! . . . Unless?" Vash thought. The Rudra sword, steadily aiming, Vash quickly flicks the blade at the monster. A weak force of air blew with a weary wail. Vash keeps dashing around the creature, hoping this minor distraction could buy both of them some time.

"Get him again Dark Magnus!" Vash ordered, even though it was a unwise choice to attack again but the mercenary must see this monster strike speed once more.

[Magnus Blade]

Dar Magnus noticed what Vash was up to and merely stood by until he finds a great opportunity to strike again.

The leader took the next hit from the small force of wind. It didn't hurt him much, but being very sensitive to attacks, this still angered the creature. Finally resorting to one of it's signature attacks, the Exodus opened it's large mouth and spewed large globs of it's deadly acid at Vash.

Seeing the creature busy with shooting it's acid, the assassin took his chance and went in for one of his own deadly blows. The attack he had in mind was one of the few things that separated him from his original combat-wise.

He quickly rushed in and used a nearby building to his advantage. He kept jumping and climbing up the building until he had good range on the creature's exposed back. Afterward, he kicked the wall to give him a head start on the leap, then successfully landing on the creature's back, who was done spewing it's acid. It knew that it's enemy was standing on it's back, but with it unable to accurately aim it's attacks with it's long arms, Dark Magnus had discovered one of it's weak points. As such, he was about to do what assassins did best: striking the weak point with a killing blow.

He spun both swords viciously while leaping up slightly, then crashing back down on the creature's back and slicing it's back with both swords to make a deep cross on it's back.

The Exodus leader screeched loudly out of reaction to the pain. However, it still seemed as though it wasn't totally damaged. In it's rage, it shook it's body to the point where Dark Magnus slipped off. By the time the assassin turned his eyes, one of the creature's arms had already smacked him hard with the same reaction speed as it did earlier, resulting in Dark Magnus crashing into the building he used to get up.

He fortunately crashed into a window and was able to quickly recover when he slid on the floor of what appeared to be an office. He limped for only a few seconds before being able to rush to the window and call out to Vash. On his way, he felt as though the attack he just suffered was slightly weaker than the first, meaning that attack on his back must be weakening him in the process.

"...Hey! Aim for it's back...that's a strong weak point! The more you damage it, the weaker it gets..."

[JOHNY BOMB!]

Vash dive to a nearby car as goblets of acid sprayed forth at him. He curled for cover as the blob splashed all over the vehicle; rapidly chewing every piece of metal as the car quickly turn to a brittle brown with nothing left but its tires. Vash looks over from his recently destroyed cover, "I could of been reploid stew!" he says.

Then hearing Dark Magnus's words, Vash leaps over the acid infested vehicle with Rudra sword drawn. "Great, now if only I can fly" he says sarcastically to the dark assassin from afar, seeing how it would be impossible for Vash to have the jump on the Exodus head on. He takes step back to recess the situation. "I need something to break it's defenses" devising a plan of attack.

He swiftly unsheathes Raijin the lighting sword, aims at the pavement and darts it beneath the beast's thorax. Vash then snaps his fingers, triggering the weapon. A large blanket of electricity danced back 'n forth as thousands of bolts swarms the legs of the Exodus monster. The mercenary takes this opportunity with the Rudra by his side and dashes towards the beast.

[Magnus Blade]

The leader felt the roaring bolts clash with body and legs. It lost it's balance and slouched over from it's weakened legs. Every time it tried to move them, the aftershock prevented it from rising.

As Dark Magnus made his way out the building, he witnessed what had unfolded. It was then that he realized Vash discovered another weak point: it's legs. He took note of it struggling to get up...as it did make perfect sense. With legs as tall as a tower and a body heavy and tough like that, the legs would naturally become fragile due to the weight of the top. He also figured that's why it's attacking speed with it's arms were as fast as they were. Though this one looked different from the other adult breed he saw before. But he had not the time to think back on the past.

With both weak points discovered, this made their chances of victory quite easy now. As he specialized in hitting weak points, he needed to sit this beast down permanently. If he could do that, that'd give them the chance to hit it's main weak point (it's back) with all they've got.

He closed in on one of the legs, then used another one of his assassinating techniques with both swords. He struck one of the back legs fast and hard with two dark fiery slashes. The creature's leg then split and it further lost it's balance when it was finally getting back up from Vash's attack. It leaned over on it's severed leg's side and tried it's best to hold on with it's other leg and it's arms. It screeched out of frustration, but it couldn't counterattack due to being overwhelmed and on the defensive by the tactics of it's two enemies.

[JOHNY BOMB!]

OOC: Sorry for the wait, they changed my work schedule to night shift

-----

As Vash witness Dark Magnus relentlessly strike the limbs of the beast, Vash hurry's on in while the Exodus leader was severely wounded. The mercenary leaps and stomps on the creatures head, though losing some balance as the monster struggled to get up again, Vash takes another leap to prevent himself from falling. He quickly lands on the Exodus's back with one hand planted firmly on it's armored hide, Vash then squint one eye to adjust his aim where the dark assassin has left his mark. Confirming the targeted area, the mercenary points Rudra high at the full moon and plunges the blade deep into leader's core.

Soon a surge of electricity jolted within the Rudra blade as Vash's grip begin to loosen from the sudden shock, causing the mercenary to jerk widly. He pulled himself away with great force out of reaction, falling from a great distance from the monster. He gets up to observe his results of attack, "That better do it" said Vash.

[Magnus Blade]

OOC: I'm going to be a lot more active now. Sorry about that. Gonna make up for it with this big post.

-----

After finishing his previous attack, Dark Magnus backed off the pained beast, having seen it's entire body electrify from Vash's attack. With it's core severely damaged, the Exodus's movement halted completely and it's screeches became weaker. But it was amazing to see that the creature was still alive after an attack like that. With Vash still being limited to his power, the tyrant decided he'd take the next shot at defeating it completely. But he wanted to make sure it was dead for a fact. With it's huge stature, none of his normal and even advance techniques could destroy it completely....except for the Magma Smash. But generating energy would take too long...until he remembered how Vash's attack seemed to strengthen when it was plunged into the core. That meant only one thing: A low level Magma Smash should do the trick, since the beast gets weaker after every attack on it's weak point. After sheathing his blades, he clenched his right fist, gathering both dark energy and black flames to charge for the smash. With it being a level one charge, it would only take a few seconds to charge. Since the beast was unable to move, the timing was perfect.

After the small charge was complete, he leaped high in the air, then landed on the top. With it being laid down on the street face down, it was that much easier to get on this time. He charged just a tiny bit more just to make sure the job was done right. Only by about an extra 5% power, giving it's maximum in the level one charge: 25%. Since there is now a hole where the core is visible, he could smash clean on it and the flames would cause it's entire body to detonate. He'd have to recover fast, otherwise the blast would damage kill him too. But not giving it anymore thought, he leaped up like a soaring Phoenix then crashed back down like a boulder with his flaming dark fist, smashing upon the core as planned as he easily pieced through it's weakened body...but then something unexpected happened: his whole arm got stuck within the beast's back. The Exodus leader screeched as loud as it could for one final time until it's head exploded from the power of the Magma Smash surging through it's body. The rest of it's body turned burning red, as it was ready to explode.

"Damn...! How could I get so careless?!" the dark assassin growled as he tried his best to yank himself out. At this rate, he would get caught in the final blast before he could free himself.

He refused to die like this...not before what all he worked so hard on would end upon his death. He also had a score to settle with his original and plenty others he had faced. He simply didn't want to allow it. In a desperate course of action, Dark Magnus charged up all of his energy at once, resulting in him being forced into his Hyper Mode; Dark Flare Mode. His dark cloak flew off him in the process, revealing his entire body as it turned completely dark purple, just like when Magnus's body turns golden when he activates his. To say he hadn't activated his Hyper Mode in ages, he didn't forget about it's limitations. But Flare Mode alone was not going to save him from complete destruction...until he remembered how his body is toughened in Flare Mode's alternate form...the Crimson Form. Or his version of it, Shadow Crimson. But taking in the blast would be just as worse as dying, as activating Crimson Form takes an enormous about of stamina and energy...as well as life energy. He made up his mind though, as the only person who can save him from the blast is himself. If Vash tried to step in, he'd end up get caught in the explosion as well, so he couldn't rely on him.

"Shadow Crimson, huh...never thought I'd release all my power just to save my ass from a blast. Oh well...as long as it can allow me to live to see the next day...!"

Pushing his power beyond it's natural limit, his body began to change, having the same red aura around him just like Magnus's did in Burning Crater. With the power of the black flames burning stronger than ever, the fiend was feeling pain from his own power than the pain of the heated up Exodus corpse. With successfully transforming into Shadow Crimson, the beast exploded completely...and just in time too. Crimson Form absorbed half of the fiery blast, while the rest of it was directed completely at the assassin. This resulted in him still being rocketed into a barely standing building after the Exodus was blown to pieces. Once he crashed into it, it crumbled and broke apart since he was also covered in fire and made a mini explosion upon impact, falling with it. Luckily, he crashed on it from the very top floor, hence being saved from being crushed by the rubble.

When he and the what remained of the building crashed down, he used all the remaining power he had to revert to his normal form. But with the strain from Crimson Form and power of the blast, it left his armor covered in gashes and his body was burned badly. He couldn't even stand, as he was also semi-buried under a few pieces of the building. He did a slight chuckle before gritting his teeth in pain.

"Ahhhh...hahahaha!...well, looks like...I'm still in one...piece...ugh...!"

[JOHNY BOMB!]

OOC: Whoa that's a boat load of text lol, btw left a comment on your profile bud

-----

With the fatal flash emerge from the explosion, Vash was swept away from the furious blast; smashing into a nearby wall. A loud thud between steel bodies and brick, Vash quickly regain control over himself as soon as he witness Dark Magnus had been buried under some large rubble. The elemental-reploid gathers his thoughts and dashes his way to the dark assassin.

"Dark Magnus, DARK MAGNUS!!" Vash bellowed with his words as he attempts to move the pile that crashed upon the dark assassin. Vash quickly flips and throws every pieces of stone that was in his way, but his fingers; trembled with pain and fear feels that the world was slowing down around him. As if he couldn't to get D. Magnus fast enough if he tried. "Come on!!! ... Get up! You're gonna die there" Vash pleading for his enemy sake.

As the amount of rubble declined with Vash's efforts, a large piece, almost completely crushing the dark assassin caused Vash to hesitate for a split second; unsure if he can lift the stone alone. But dives in anyways to save an enemy. He lifts the structure with all his might, only to have it a few centimeters off Dark Magnus. "I, I can't. It won't budge!" Vash struggled as he gaze upon the area for help.

[Magnus Blade]

"Easy...for you to say. Try being crushed while...almost completely...drained." the assassin struggled, but to no avail. He just didn't have the strength left due to exhausting his energy from taking in all that damage with Shadow Crimson. He began to think that it would have been better if he was just incinerated with the blast. It would have been better than this misery of being trapped under a giant stone, slowly dying. It was crushing his body with every passing second. He didn't know how long he would last until he would eventually burn out.

During this, Xeyon appeared out of nowhere with his sword still on fire. It was a sign that he was still fighting. He looked around and spotted Vash trying to pull up on something. He wondered what was going on, so he ran over...but had his own questions before actually looking down.

"Hey! What went down over here to cause that explosion? All the Exodus fled because of it..." It was then that he noticed it was Dark Magnus trapped under the large stone, then lowered his voice. "Huh...what a sight. How the mighty have fallen."

He walked closer until he got beside the stone and looked down to the assassin with his arms crossed after putting his sword away. "Went and did something crazy, huh? Well, at least that giant bug is dead from the looks of it..."

"Yeah, yeah....just get this stupid thing off me!!" Dark Magnus yelled, but was still limited to how high he could raise his voice.

"Hmm...well, you do call me an idiot a lot, boss. That hurts." the brute says with a hint of sarcasm. "Maybe a little apology would do the trick."

"...Like hell!" he got weaker with each second, coughing up some blood right after.

Xeyon merely sighed to himself as he let his arms fall. "Stubborn 'til he's actually dead...what a moron. Guess he has a bit more human in him than I thought...probably gets it from the original. What a waste."

He stretched his legs a bit wide from each other and got a firm grip on both sides of the stone, then gave Vash a movement with his head, a sign to stand back. With strength being his main attribute, a stone of this size should be a piece of cake from the looks of it. Though it could be heavier than it appeared.