[Weak]

"Let us go."

That was the first time words were spoken on the next day.

Lightning simply nodded, and the unlikely pair made their way out of the cave, beginning their trek back to the Order's Sanctuary.

The silent journey passed on for several hours, until they reached a forest clearing. Sensing no imminent danger, the Warrior of Light decided that it is a good time as any to catch a short break.

"Why do we have to stop? We can just wing it." Came Lightning's exasperated reply.

The warrior shook his head in response, "We cannot take any chances." His abrupt response confused Lightning. Instantly, yesterday's events came back to her like a wave, as she inwardly sighed and simply obliged with the leader's commands. Taking a moment to look at the warrior, Lightning noticed that he was not as composed as usual. Inside those pair of aquamarine orbs lies an inexplicable swirl of emotion, which shifted and stared back at Lightning. Caught off-guard by the Warrior of Light's stare, Lightning quickly composed herself and continued staring, as if nothing was wrong ('and damn the gods, I don't want him knowing that I stared at him for half the the trip', she inwardly muttered).

She hated it. Steeling herself for the inevitable, Lightning finally broke the silence.

"Look. About yesterday..."

She did not even had the time to finish, the Warrior quickly cutting over her. "I do not wish to bring that up again. Just leave it be."

Lightning couldn't accept this. "Don't kid me. You're so disturbed I could practically see it." His stare turned into a glare. "I said enough, Lightning." Almost sounding like a low growl, the knight bitterly cut Lightning once again.

'What the hell? I was only going to apologize and he just had to act like a stuck-up-!' As Lightning began to retort her voice left her, noticing that something was wrong in the air; a sickening, malevolent aura emanating around the entire area.

A similar reaction was found on her fellow Cosmos warrior. His glare disappeared without a trace, replaced with a hardened stare. Wordlessly, Lightning nodded, stood up and positioned her hands on her Blazefire Saber.

"Do you think we do not notice you? Show yourself!" The hero's call was replied with an ominous laughter that reverberated through the silent forest.

"As expected." The large stature of the Chaos Knight was slowly revealed as Garland made his way towards the duo.


"I suppose the fates have predestined this." The dim light emanating from the two holes in the Nemesis' visor glimmered with an unknown spirit. The Warrior silently unsheathed his weapon, maintaining his expressionless mask. Strangely enough, what started as a deep chuckle turned into a bellowing laughter as Garland dragged his titanic blade to the front of his armor.

"How laughable. To think that you, of all people, would lose your composure over something as trivial as this. Is this an insult to me?" Garland shouted, pointedly staring at the Warrior of Light.

No reaction was given. The Chaos Knight inwardly grinned.

"Very well. Then a fight we shall have!"

Lightning quickly jumped in, Blazefire Saber at the ready. "Then have at you!"

Garland swiftly dodged, a feat that Lightning found impossible given his bulk, and swung his blade horizontally. Ducking over the line of fire, Lightning jumped back and changed her Saber into the gun form, firing several bullets that ricochet uselessly from Garland's blade.

The Warrior quickly stepped in as Lightning switched places with him, blade at the ready and thrusting it towards the False Stalwart. Garland, expecting the attack, pulled his blade into two and using it as a makeshift cross halted the Warrior's charge. "Pitiful! Is this the limit of what you're able to do?" Garland spat. The Hero expressionlessly bore his eyes upon the Fell Knight and swung his left arm, with shield in hand, towards the unprotected part of Garland's face. A clang and an 'oomph!' resounded as Garland was hit squarely on the face, staggering back only for the Warrior to manipulate his shield with the power of light to swiftly deal consecutive bashes at Garland, ending with a sharp thrust of his hand. The shield, empowered by the light shot forward and dealt a blow that flung the Chaos Knight away, slamming into several trees and breaking them with a loud crack.

Shakily standing up, Garland laughed. "Now this is more like it! Come, let us fight more!" No sooner than the words left his mouth Garland leapt into the air, holding his weapon overhead as it shifted onto a bizarre form resembling an axe.

"Tremble!"

Both the Warrior and Lightning quickly leapt to the sides as the impact of Garland's hit caused a miniature earthquake around them, several protrusions of the earth jutting out as spikes narrowly hitting the Cosmos Warriors.

"Face me, weakling! Or is your resolve that weak?! You do not fight for nothing, do you?!"

Garland's taunt reverberated through the forest. For the slightest of moments, the Warrior flinched.

'You have nothing to go back to. Nothing. Why do you even fight?' A mocking voice echoed within the hero. He quickly shook his head, and refocused himself. 'I do not need such a reason. I still am able to retain my identity - limited as it may be, and I still have a purpose to fight. Just to protect Cosmos, and my comrades, that is enough.' The voice seemed to have a life of its own, and laughed.

'Really?'


Meanwhile, Lightning recovered from the roll and quickly put her left hand forward, where a white, glowing aura enveloped it.

"Ruinga!" Lightning shouted, as her magic shot out from her hand, swirling white balls of energy directed towards the Nemesis. Garland did not even bother to pull his hammer-like weapon, rather dragging it along the ground in a rotating motion. Gaining considerable momentum the weapon was swung like a bat, hitting the balls of ruin and eradicating it. "Foolish! You cannot hope to touch me with such weak magic! Now break before my strength!" Garland retaliated by splitting his hammer into two blades and infusing them with energy, the blades glowing ominously red and rotating, as if having a life of its own. "Unleash the fury, and crumble!" As soon as the words left Garland's mouth, his blades glowed brightly, firing a multitude of flaming lances towards Lightning. Cursing under her breath she tried to dodge away, to no avail; the flaming lances were too fast for her. Lightning grunted as she positioned her Blazefire Saber in front of her, trying to block the flames. The impact however, never came.

"Lightning!"

Swords of light pierced through the flame lances, erasing both of them in an explosion. The Warrior of Light soon came to the side of Lightning, his face an unreadable mask as always aside from the slightly increased breathing rate he has. Even so, Garland was once again shooting the lances, this time aimed for the duo. "Burn together then, Cosmos warriors!"

Without sparing a glance to her comrade Lightning voiced a quick 'thanks', and she once again thrust her hand forward, this time glowing a gentle blue.

"I'll return the favor. Waterga!" Pillars of water jutted out from her palm and collided with the flaming lances head-on, blasting steam and hot air throughout the area.

Sensing a small opening Lightning quickly turned to the Warrior. "This is not looking good. We need to retreat!" Again, the mocking voice returned to the Warrior of Light's head.

'Retreat? She made you weak. It's her fault you are weak like this. Show her you're better than this! Garland is nothing, he is weak! Finish him off! Show her that you are not to be trifled with!'

The hero found himself gritting his teeth, and with a dark undertone Lightning never heard from the Warrior, he spoke. "You retreat. I will not."

Bewildered, Lightning glared at him. "What the hell are you going on about? We're clearly at a disadvantage here! Screw your 'knight's pride' and let's go!" Her words were futile, only serving to somehow infuriate the Warrior. "I am not-"

"YOU DARE MUCK AROUND?!" Garland blasted through the fog, his weapon now a formed into lance threatening to skewer both the Cosmos warriors.

"Shit!" Lightning loudly cursed, and she dodged the incoming thrust, followed by the Warrior. Quickly readjusting themselves, Lightning and the Warrior of Light retaliated back, as Lightning leapt to the air. Angling herself, she split her Blazefire Saber into two swords and dashed towards Garland. "Eat this!" Lightning charged, only to be blocked by the Stalwart's blade single-handedly. "Foolish. Now, die." Caught off-guard, Lightning was unprepared as Garland swung his blade downwards with a vicious overhead swing, repelling and pushing the Guardian Corps sergeant with the momentum of the overhead motion to slam her onto the ground.

A sickening crack resounded. The impact was too much and Lightning found herself bounced back to the air like a rag doll from the sheer force the Chaos Knight now exuded. She could only brace herself, weakly positioning her blade towards Garland. Without missing a beat, Garland followed up with a vicious horizontal strike, swatting Lightning away like a baseball batter striking a home run. Lightning flew towards a tree, yet the momentum of the blow proved too strong as the tree cracked under the strain of an object slamming into it. The force of the hit knocked the air out of Lightning's lungs, followed with another crack as Lightning spat out blood. She fell to the ground, unmoving.


The events, too quick to react to, left the Warrior speechless. Dashing towards his fallen ally, he stood in front of Lightning, a deadly glare pointed towards his nemesis. "Hmph. She was too weak." Garland nonchalantly stepped forward once again, only to face swords of light flying towards him. "How foolish." Swatting them like it was nothing, he moved on. "You have grown weaker. Your hesitation..." Garland paused, before seeming to comprehend the situation, and continued. "I see. Because of this wench, you have grown soft! Because of these so-called comrades...no, you cannot even protect your 'comrades'! How weak!"

"I am not weak!" A sharp, vicious reply came out of the Warrior to the Chaos Knight's surprise. His calm mask shattered, with a face twisted with anger he rushed forward. The hero launched a vicious blade dance, combining his swordplay alongside his shield to duel Garland's now twin blades. "I-" a diagonal slash was parried. "-will-" another slash deflected. "-not-" his shield thrust repelled. "-stand for this! Come, light!" Blade glowing with an otherworldly light, the Warrior thrust forward. Steel kissed steel as Garland returned the blow with his blades locked together. "You are blinded by anger, too? This is too pitiful. Far too pitiful! Admit it, you fool! You are weak! You are nothing!" Garland venomously spat as he swung his blade upwards, deflecting the Warrior's thrust and forcing him to step backwards. The light dims softly, before it dissipated entirely from the Warrior's blade.

'You are weak, and because of that Lightning will die. You are pitifully weak, so you will die. You're just a manikin, and you are nothing, worthless, a nobody; so you will die.' As if to echo Garland's sentiments, the mocking voice only grew louder, tormenting the Warrior.

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" The Warrior roared, causing Garland to step back, staring at the hero.

"I am not a manikin! I am not weak! I do not fight for nothing! I fight for the light! For Cosmos, and for my comrades! I am not NOTHING!"

'But you ARE!' Both the voice and Garland roared, as the Chaos Knight let loose a devastating string of blows with his twin blades. Bracing himself for the impact, the Warrior raised his shield, and chanted. "Shine!" His shield glowed and shot out several beams of light, only to flicker uselessly upon Garland's strike. The hit was too powerful, the light's otherworldly glow faded as the Warrior was forced to slide back, who can only stare in shock. 'The light...'

Not giving the hero a chance to retaliate, Garland moved on, and began a flurry of brutal strikes towards the Warrior. Barely able to repel the vicious onslaught of the enemy eventually the Hero was caught off-guard and a severe horizontal blow was dealt to his side as the blade of the False Stalwart flung him onto the ground.

"Is that it?" Garland spat. "You…are you even fighting properly? Are you mocking me? Where is your usual mettle? Have you resigned your pitiful self onto defeat, and gave up?" The Warrior surprisingly retorted viciously, "I do not need to hear those words from one such as you!" Forcing himself to leap back up even with the severe injury that was dealt, he ran towards the Fell Knight. Shield dropped, both hands gripping his sword tightly, the hero attempted to deal an overhead slash with all his remaining strength towards his foe, only to be easily deflected by Garland. In return, the Nemesis swiftly slammed his fist right into the Warrior's gut.

A pitiful creak reverberated through the forest as his armor was bent inwards, the sheer force of Garland's punch being too much for his armor to bear. Feeling the air being expelled from his lungs, the Warrior was thrown back once again. Coughing out blood, he only managed to turn his head towards Garland, barely even able to stand, all the strength leaving his body. He opted to glaring towards the Nemesis instead, aquamarine blue eyes glowing with a blazing fury as it clashed with yellowy orbs.

However, Garland saw something else in those blue orbs of his sworn enemy.

Anguish. Regret. Pain.

Weakness.


Inside the Warrior, a hollow emptiness began to crush his heart.

Powerless, he can only despair in his thoughts as realization dawned unto him.

'Did the light...leave me? Am I just...that weak?'

"I expected more of you. To think that the leader of the forces of Cosmos was broken this easily, and we have not yet fought for long in this cycle…you disgust me." Barely trying to contain the venomous undertone, Garland spoke towards the fallen Warrior of Light, as he lifted his sword up.

"You do not even deserve to fight."

'Now you will die.'

That was the last thing the Warrior heard before the world went white, and he surrendered himself to sleep's deep embrace.


AN: Dun dun dun! Cliffhanger? I hope so.

HT here. Here's chapter 4 of Duty. To be honest, this is my first time writing up an action fight scene, and I have no clue on what to do. Well, at least until I took my PSP and replayed Duodecim, observing the moves and such (No, Garland can't do a FALCON PAWNCH in-game, that's what I did, and no, I never met a case where WoL's Radiant Sword cancels out Garland's fire lances and something), while also trying to be more...'creative'? I don't know if this miniscule amount of new ideas would affect the story somehow, but I feel that you could get more innovative in creating the attacks, like, say, vaporizing the flames with Waterga and so. By the way, Garland's overhead slash is reminiscent of Megaman Zero (the GBA game series)'s third slash. As for Lightning's 'ragdoll' effect, imagine you throw a tennis ball down until it bounces up to you then you quickly forehand it, like a baseball batter. Ouch(?).

Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter (by being tense and going all 'she's dead! He's dead! So fast!' thingy), and as always, reviews are greatly appreciated.