By the time Max rose from his crouched state, all five of the White SeeD's had surrounded him. As he stood, they readied their weapons. He knew this was not a very good situation, but everyone has something for these types of things. With his head down he chuckled a bit. His voice sounded different…
"You SeeD's are insane if you truly think you can stop me."
Max snapped his head up his eyes now glowing a dark crimson and cackled much like his mother. The White SeeD's stepped back a bit.
"Even now, you are afraid of me. I shall show you why I am to be feared… you pitiful SeeDs!!!!!"
Max stabbed his sword into the earth and front flipped onto it. He brought both hands together in front of him in large sweeping arcs at his side. When they joined the glow from his eyes reflected in a radiant blood-red light. The SeeDs attacked at once, but every blow merely bounced off of Max as his energy rose. Victoria and Sohpia fired directly at him together, but their attack simply ricocheted away. Both Victor and Jonathan too struck at Max with no effect. Rachel's punches, too, did no damage to Max as she unleashed a flurry of blows onto him. They all attacked in unison, connecting one powerful blow after the next, but once again were thwarted by Max's invulnerability. Soon the light passed from him to his sword and into the ground, where it disappeared.
"You all will die."
Max flipped off his sword and, as he came back down, slammed his fist into the end punching it down until only the hilt and handle could be seen. A single shockwave spread from this central point and hit the White SeeDs square on knocking them all back. This only lasted for a second as all but Rachel were drawn in closer to the blade. Somehow she stayed planted to her spot pinned down by some immense force. She tried to push against it with all her might only to find herself back in the dirt gasping for breath. This must be Max's energy, she thought to herself as she continued to fight against the downward thrust. The rest of the SeeD continued to struggle against the pull of the sword. Each one tried their hardest to pull against the sword and fight with everything they had. Both Victor and Jonathan attempted to wrap their weapons around the few large stones and tree stumps near them. Their safe anchors, however, gave out long before it made any difference. Victoria tried using the force of her gun to somehow slow her gravitation towards the sword handle, but that too proved in vain. Sophia had latched onto Victoria and had slammed her Blaster edge into the ground while it was still attached to her arm… it worked for a short while until her arm strength gave out and she relied on Victoria's plan to try and stop their movement. A pushing force of dark energy now joined the pulling force of the sword growing ever closer to each White SeeD. Despite their best efforts, in a matter of moments they were stuck fast to that central point where Max now levitated overhead.
"Deleo totus SeeDs."
He summoned a small glowing sphere in the palm of his hand over his head and with a slow, almost lackadaisical way brought his hand down and released the orb to the center of the White SeeDs. He knew there was no escape for them, yet he continued to watch as they tried to break from their final prison. The instant it made contact with the sword it absorbed into the handle and made its way to the ground.
The moments passed in what felt like ages to the resisting White SeeDs still plastered to the area directly around the sword handle. They too felt the enormous weight of the dark energy surrounding them as Rachel did and tried with all their might to break free of it, but that proved a futile effort. Rachel, only a few yards away, reached out for them, but could not move any farther from where she lay pinned to the earth, helpless. She tried once more to lift herself and, with every bit of her strength, Rachel strained to crouching on her knees. As if it were possible, even more forced came down upon her as she inched her way up to a one kneed kneel. Max hadn't expected her to show such resistance. By now the orb had reached its destination at the tip of the underground sword where it expanded into a brilliant white explosion devouring the four SeeDs near the handle and shooting upwards into the sky like a great fiery tempest. Max cackled once again as he watched them fade away into the sky. He enjoyed every agonizing expression they wore as they did so. He relished the feeling of power that overcame him as he realized the complete embarrassment this would cause Squall and is pathetic SeeDs. Four of his best fighters now turned into nothingness by a single man… Him.
Rachel screamed in terror as she witnessed her dear friends vaporized in an instant before her very eyes. The people she trusted her life with were now nothing but particles in the air, reduced to ash. Max soon floated back over to Rachel after the remaining regular SeeDs retreated back to the safety of the Garden several miles away. He landed in front of her and knelt down to her slightly pale face lifting his now ungloved hand to touch it gently. He savored the smooth touch of her warm flesh as he ran his fingers ever so lightly across her cheek. Max held her chin in his hands and examined the fair woman before him with amazing care to take in every tiny detail. He had never seen such utter perfection in anyone before, long brown hair, such beautifully formed lips, all this Max knew very little of. The glint of light in Rachel's light brown eyes caught him off-guard as he stared deeply into them and smiled.
"I told you I'd save you for later."
I only posted the last chapter a little while ago... but i really didn't want to leave you guys on a limb this time. this is probably one of my favorite chapters so far. I hope you liked reading it as much as i did writing it!!! Vincent Sekod