Chapter 10: The Berserker of the Sun

Rushing through the remainder of the Ten Sages' Pyramid, Mew and Riku passed through each floor with incredible ease, not running into a single Vortexian along the way. "Can't believe we aren't running into anymore resistance. Solaris wasn't kidding…He likely didn't have enough Vortexians to spare to try and hold us back. Metal Face was his last line of defense." Mew remarked, and Riku just said in turn "If he can summon people from other worlds and timelines, then it's difficult to say whether or not there can be a 'last line of defense'. I don't even think he's the one responsible for those portals in the first place."

"Well…Yeah. That doesn't fit a Sun God's powerset in the slightest. It probably has something to do with that monster that was freed from that cage." Mew was hesitant to comment on, but Riku just nodded his head and said in a worried and puzzled tone "It would explain a lot…But then you wonder what connection the monster has to Solaris and Lunis, and why even High Deities would follow such a creature."

"We'll just keep those questions for Solaris himself. We'll beat the answers out of him if we have to." Mew remarked before punching his palm with his right fist, with Riku looking at him and remarking in a serious manner "If nothing else, Auris should have some answers for us. I know you hate the idea behind it, but she's clearly been hiding a lot of information from you and Kairi." Mew sighed and said "I told you Riku, it's not that simple."

"It should be pretty simple really…She has the ability to see the future, and yet she let this get this far out of control." Riku commented, and right before the two were about to ascend up the last staircase in the building Mew quickly halted in place and held his right hand up while remarking "Riku, Riku…We really need to get this out of the way before we go after Solaris. You need to understand why Auris hasn't said anything."

Riku turns around at the bottom of the staircase and raised an eyebrow as Mew told him "Her thing is that-" Riku raised his right hand up for a moment and bluntly remark "Save it brother. I get that you want to see the good in others, but look around you. Solaris sent an army to attack this city, that guy named Gabriel almost died. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Aurians have perished in the attack! She could've stopped this, and she didn't. And now we have to do the job for her."

Mew folded his arms together and remarked "Maybe you'll understand more when you speak with her directly after this blows over. Riku, please try not to give her too much grief though, I swear she has a good reason for all of this." Riku just scoffed a bit at that and said "There's no justification for not doing everything you can to save your own people when the option is available. You know that we'd both do everything we could to help our race out if we could, right?"

Mew paused for a moment and awkwardly looked to the side, seeing some legitimacy in what Riku said as he murmured out "W-Well, of course…I hate how we're leaving humanity to fend for themselves right now, it really tears me up on the inside. But that's why I'm not hating Auris for all this…She's dealing with the exact same struggles that we're both going through at this very moment." Riku firmly glared at Mew and told him "Maybe, but we wouldn't be having these struggles if she used her clairvoyance to stop Solaris from even being here in the first place."

"Hmmm…I mean…I can't argue with that really. But you know, if there's one thing that I feel good about even during all this…" Mew lifted his head up and with a bright smile he said "It's that I got to see you again after two years." Riku flinched for a moment, caught off-guard by his brother's happiness. He glanced to the side with a bit of a blush on his face and, after feeling some guilt over the circumstances, remarked "I-I wish I could've come back under better circumstances than this, brother."

"Well it probably would've been pretty awkward to be around me when you knew about my lost memories. I guess I can thank Alex for that much at least. Really, I just wish I could've heard some stories about what you've been up to since you left before all this madness happened." Mew remarked, and Riku smiled a bit and said "Well if nothing else, that gives us something to look forward to when we're done. And you can tell me some stories about your adventures on Earth." Mew chuckled nervously and said "Hahaha, I don't really have much to mention. But that's alright, I'll say what I can anyways."

Riku then walked away from the staircase and patted his brother on his left shoulder, telling him calmly "We're never going to get to that if we keep standing around here. Lets go stop Solaris, and then we'll worry about the aftermath when it comes." Mew nodded his head and the two brothers shook hands on that, with Mew proclaiming "Yeah! He'll be sorry he messed with us pretty soon!" With that off their minds for now, the brothers turned for the staircase and ran straight up it without hesitation as the pyramid began to rumble slightly.

Upon reaching the top of the pyramid, where the Neo Drive was once housed in a metallic chamber, the brothers were quick to find Solaris tearing the place apart with explosions of raw flame and powerful swings of his massive broadsword. He was clearly enjoying the destruction of the statues and the Neo Drive chamber, and as he stood in the middle of the explosions he created he swung his arms out and exclaimed "Take that you puppeteering bastards! We're still alive and you're all dead! That's what you get for messing with us!"

Mew and Riku stood at the end of the room and summoned their swords while firming their expressions, and as the explosions died down and gave way to smoke and smoldering flames on the remains of everything in this room Solaris widened his eyes and letting out a confused mumble for a moment before turning himself and hunching forward, swinging his broadsword behind him before he remarked "So you two stubborn weaklings actually managed to beat that guy. Should've figured, he seemed like too much of an overhyped deadweight in the end. Probably would've been better off forcing someone higher-up in his world to take the Anti-Genesis Theorem."

With a grin Solaris then asked "So are you two finally ready to start listening to me?" Riku glared at the Sun God and remarked "If you want to fight the Phoenix of Destruction so badly, you can have your duel once we've sent you both to hell. This ends now. No more distractions, no more running away." Mew follows suit by swinging his sword in front of him and pointing the dull side of his blade at Solaris, telling him bluntly "You'll pay for endangering this planet and the Aurians!"

Solaris stood upright for a moment and remarked in a puzzled tone "Running? Do I look like some chicken-shit coward? I've just been going about my business this whole time, I haven't been running away from a couple of weaklings like you. You two really just can't seem to take a hint though. You must really not care about your planet at all." Mew thrust his sword forward at Solaris and with an irritated expression he exclaims "We do! I love this planet and everything about it with all my heart, and that's why I'm going to fight you to save it!"

"Oh don't give me that bullshit. Whatever, you don't seem to want to listen, so it's time to fry this planet alive!" Solaris exclaims, and Mew and Riku immediately leaped off the ground and flew straight at him. Solaris widened his eyes before swinging his sword in front of him, summoning forth a mighty flaming tornado that rips through the glass ceiling and carries him straight out of the pyramid, providing also a good enough means of defense to hold the brothers back, with both of them leaping back a good number of feet to avoid getting swept up.

Solaris then swings his sword at the roof of the pyramid and creates a wall of flames to overpower the glass and cover his escape, remarking as he held his sword behind himself "Hahahaha! You idiots can't keep up with me! I'll just have to hope the Phoenix of Destruction shows up later, like father said he would. For now, say goodbye to your planet for daring to not listen to me!" Solaris swings his sword above his head and grins brightly, while Riku and Mew panicked below Solaris' flames.

"What do we do?!" Mew remarked, realizing that the time it would take to get around the flames would be too long. Riku grits his teeth and says "I-I don't know…!" But deep down he was thinking to himself "S-Should I use the Genesis Form? It should be powerful enough to overwhelm even a Sun God's might, but it could risk the destruction of Sancturia anyways…" Riku sweated a little from the stress he put upon himself with these thoughts, but as he began to raise his sword up to consider using his ultimate form a voice suddenly spoke from beyond the flames.

"As tempting as it would be to let you burn this world to cinders, I'm afraid only I have the right to put an end to this bastard race of Aurians, you childish deity." Solaris, Mew and Riku all reacted in natural shock as all of a sudden Alex Whiter appeared behind Solaris with his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face, his eyes hidden behind the shadow of his hair. Solaris stopped what he was doing and turned around, holding his sword behind his back as he hunched forward slightly and remarked "Hahahaha…! So you finally showed up after all! I was beginning to think you were afraid of me, Phoenix of Destruction!"

Alex began laughing and said "You're mistaking me for those two weaklings down there, who keep quivering and hesitating…Me, on the other hand?" Alex lifted his head up to reveal the devilish fiery glow in his irises and remarked with the utmost calm in his voice "I have no fear, I have no hesitation. After all, why should I, who exist above all beings, including even you highest deities, have a need for such things?"

Solaris remarked with a chuckle "Ha…! So you're just as arrogant as father said you were! But I know you have the power to back up your words, and that is exactly what is making my blood boil in ecstasy! You better not disappoint, I haven't had a great fight for over two-thousand years now!" Alex hung his head slightly and then remarked "How pathetic…You came for a fight, but instead you're just going to be part of a slaughter."

Solaris increased the flames around his body and brightened his sword, looking Alex straight in the eyes before exclaiming across Sancturia "If anyone interferes with this battle, everything will be roasted alive!" Solaris then glares at Alex some more and tells him "There, now it's just you and me. I'm sure this is to your liking." Alex remarked a moment later "Hehehe…I suppose it's nice to not have to worry about those goodie two-shoes getting in my way again. They won't let their precious sinful planet die, after all."

Down in the pyramid, Mew and Riku could only stand there and watch as the battle between Solaris and Alex was about to begin, with Mew rubbing the back of his head and remarking "This puts in a bit of a predicament, doesn't it?" Riku glares angrily at Alex and remarks bluntly "Great, at least Solaris isn't going to be burning the planet down, but now we're having to hope Alex actually manages to stop him."

"Which should be easy enough considering what the Gaia Temporis is capable of…But then again, if it was that simple…" Riku stared suspiciously at Alex before continuing to think to himself "Why didn't he use that power on us when he had the chance? …I wonder…" Riku kept his thoughts to himself for now and just chose to be an observer, but not before Mew remarked "You know…Why is Solaris suddenly mentioning a father?"

This snapped Riku out of his train of thought and made him say "Huh? What are you talking about?" Mew folded his arms together and looked up at Solaris, mentioning in a bothered tone "He mentioned being told something by his father twice now…Doesn't that sound a bit weird to you?" Riku looked away from his brother for a moment and remarked "Yeah, you're right…Tsk, just another mystery to add to all this madness. Maybe we'll find out more about this father while this battle commences…"

The brothers thus agreed to stay silent from here on out while Solaris and Alex fought. At the moment though, those two floated in the same spot as they did before, with Solaris in the same pose while Alex raised an eyebrow and remarked "Aren't you going to attack?" Solaris grinned and said "I'm waiting for you to draw your sword and fight. Gekimetsu, the Sun-Rending Crimson Fang, right? I'm wanting to see if it's name actually lives up to the legend!" Alex chuckled a bit at that and remarked "Oh yes, that's the name of my sword…But I have no intention of using it against you. I will beat you with my own body, no weapons required."

Solaris widened his eyes and set his sword ablaze with bright orange flames before exclaiming "Have it your way then!" He then finally charged forward and swung his sword out from behind his back while grasping it in both hands, but in an instant Alex raised his right foot up and pressed it against the jagged edge of Solaris' blade without even flinching as he stopped the swing of the sword entirely, a few waves of flame erupting out from the center of the impact zone a moment later as the air becomes swallowed up in the pressure of the two's power.

Solaris is only able to finish his swing once Alex gives him an arrogant smirk and then pulls back on his foot, flying back ten feet to get out of the way of Solaris' wide-sweeping wave of flames. Solaris held his sword out for a moment and looked a little surprise at how quickly Alex reacted from behind the view of his gauntlet, but then he chuckled a little and swung his sword out beside himself and remarked "Not bad! I'm getting so excited already!"

"Hmmm…" Alex murmured without really a care on his mind, and then Solaris attacked him again by swinging his arms out beside himself and summoning forth five meteors from out of nowhere right above him. These meteors were launched right at Alex, but he just reacted with a forced yawn and then leaped from his spot in the air. With a swift kick from his right foot along with a particularly curved and heavy gale, Alex made one of the meteors collide through the other four, and by the time it was done destroying it's brethren the last was weakened enough to crumble apart immediately.

Solaris then stabbed his sword forward and shot out a thick beam of fire with two thin wisp serpents spiraling around it, attempting to strike Alex right on the left side of his body after his kick was through. Alex just glanced out the side of his eyes at Solaris and flew back in a moment to avoid the beam as it continued to travel forward and melt through the side of the barrier with ease. Alex then flew at Solaris and spun his body around, kicking him twice in the face by bypassing his sword and then zipping backwards before the sun god could retaliate with a swift swing of his blade.

Solaris held his sword out beside his head after his swing and then charged up flames within the blade via a cascading vortex of bright fire, followed by him stabbing the air in front of him and launching out a gigantic plume of fire that Alex counters by leaping up and swinging his right foot forward to send out an equally strong wave of thick flames. Alex then dives down with both of his feet forward to try and kick Solaris in the face again, but the Sun God raises his sword up and blocks with the blunt side of his blade.

Solaris then spins himself around and unleashes a gigantic sweeping circle of fire around himself twice right after Alex kicks off of Solaris' blade and performs a couple flips through the air until he was past the flames. Alex then skids back a little bit and remarks while holding his head up slightly "You're never going to even scratch me at this rate. Come now, surely the great Berserker Knight of the Sun has more power than this?" Alex's taunts were met by Solaris grinning and saying "I haven't even gotten into this fight yet! I'll burn that arrogance down in no time!"

Sarcastically Alex remarks "Oh I soooo look forward to seeing you try" before standing himself upright and pulling both of his hands from his pockets finally, surrounding both of them with electricity before he quickly thrusts them forward and sends out gigantic lightning bolts that target Solaris from both sides. The Sun God swings his sword left and then right in quick succession while floating forward slightly, deflecting the lightning bolts while using their energy to build up friction on his blade and ignite even brighter flames on it.

Solaris then grabs his sword in both hands and swings it behind his head as the flames tower into the behind him, but Alex just curves his hands to cross in front of his face to guide the lightning bolts back through the air until they merged into a large sphere of electricity on the ceiling of the barrier. The sphere fires off a gigantic lightning bolt straight down as Alex swipes his snapping fingers across the front of his face, and Solaris is struck right as he was in the middle of swinging his sword. The lightning bolt consumes him entirely and strikes the flames on the ceiling of the pyramid, making them ripple from the impact while the very sky quakes from the raw power of electricity.

Alex just stands there until he's buried Solaris in the lightning bolt's might for ten seconds, and immediately he dispels the attack. Solaris just stood there with electricity surging around his body for a moment before he was able to break free from it with a burst of flaming aura from his body, allowing him to swing his sword downward the rest of the way and sending a tower wave of fire at Alex. Instead of dodging it, Alex increased the intensity of the fire around his body and swung his arms out in front of him, crossing them together and covering them in diamond.

Alex then swiped both of his arms out through the air to cut into the wave of fire, cutting off part of it from the rest and preventing himself from taking any damage thanks also in part to the protective coating around his arms. Solaris then flew forward before his wave of fire passed Alex by and swung his sword in a broad swipe to the left, with Alex swerving in the opposite direction to dodge the attack, returning to his original position when Solaris tries to swing his sword at him again.

Alex then dodges a few more attacks in rapid succession, even with Solaris bathing the sky in waves of fire to cover more distance. Solaris was clearly a little peeved that Alex wasn't taking a hit so far, and to try and fix that he coated his sword in flames and swung it out as hard as he could to bathe the area in front of him in a lasting wave of fire for ten constant seconds, thinking that Alex would be swept up into the fire as well. But then Alex suddenly warped behind Solaris with one hand in his right pocket and proceeded to lay his other hand on the back of Solaris' armor.

With a light yellow glow coming from his palm, Alex unleashed an explosion upon Solaris' armor meant to break through it, but as Alex jerks his hand back the Sun God only was launch forward with maybe some minimal cracks formed onto his armor. These glowing cracks were sealed back up quickly and Solaris turned around while Alex cracked the knuckles in his right hand and remarked "Figures that an armor crafted from the hottest sun wouldn't be broken from a mere act of combustion…"

As Alex grinned and clenched his fingers tightly into a fist, Solaris was more focused on another matter and remarked "How the hell did you avo-" Alex suddenly shut him up by thrusting his fist forward along with the rest of his body, punching the Sun God right across his right cheek with enough force to send a shockwave through the air, and after grinding his knuckles against Solaris' cheek bones Alex sends him flying off through the air at high speeds, his body tumbling until he slams back first against the barrier, which presses back a little bit and lightens in color to show that it was nearly broken through.

Solaris quickly pulled himself away from the barrier and cracked his neck around without the assistance of one of his hands, but then Alex warped in rather close behind him and whispered into his ear in a rather eerie manner "I'll just have to start hitting harder then." Solaris flinched slightly and turned himself around only for Alex to throw a hard hitting left hook into Solaris' right armpit, which wasn't as armored as the rest of his body, and used seismic force in the punch to target Solaris' bones.

Solaris' arm vibrated as his bones cracked a tiny bit from the punch, but he kept himself stable enough to try and swing his sword upward to cut through Alex, who just warped out of the way again before the blade even got close to him. But as Alex reappeared behind Solaris, the Sun God got wise to Alex's tricks and turned himself around to counter his attempt to punch the back of his head by swinging his sword out. Alex coated his fist in diamond to prevent himself from being harmed, and as the flames spit off from Solaris' sword Alex pushes himself right back with a gust of wind and remarks with his eyes widened slightly "I guess you aren't entirely worthless."

Solaris swings his sword out and lets go of it, having it spinning around rapidly with flames erupting from the sides, turning his weapon into a large burning buzz saw. He guided his sword after Alex, who flies up to avoid the sword only for Solaris to charge at him with both of his gauntlets covered in bright and pure magma. Solaris tries to swipe at Alex with the pointed fingers of his gauntlet, scarring the sky briefly with his violent swings but never once hitting his target due to how quickly he swung his body around to dodge the attacks.

Once Alex saw a gap between both of Solaris' arms, he flipped backwards and used his feet to kick Solaris right in the chin, also simultaneously dodging Solaris' sword as it rose up from below his last position. Solaris recovered from the kicks and swung his right hand up to grab his sword out from the sky, crossing the blunt side of the blade in front of his chest before making it glow bright red, letting go of it again as he made it spin around rapidly, unleashing a towering dragon of pure heat from the blade that thrust itself right at Alex.

"Oh please…" Alex dully remarked before flying straight back through the air, crossing over the pyramid before he grinded to a halt away from the dragon, who straightened itself out and charged at Alex at a much higher speed than before. Alex then widened his eyes and increased the intensity of his flaming aura even further than before, with it enveloping the entirety of his body and looking as bright as the sun in the sky. And just by floating there, Alex's aura is able to swallow up the flaming dragon effortlessly.

But Solaris took the time to leap across the sky and prepare more flames in his sword, swinging it diagonally at Alex with all of his might, carving a glowing scar into the sky so long that it sliced through the pyramid, but once more he failed to hit his target, who warped behind him and struck the back of his armor with a brutal left hook. Cracks once again formed in the armor deeper than before, but Solaris put everything back together and turned out to swing his sword at Alex a few times.

Alex grinned and matched Solaris' attacks with quick forward punches from both of his hands, using enough strength to make sparks fly out from the impacts and avoiding any damage every time he struck. He cracks Solaris' blade in a couple of spots from hitting them multiple times, but then Solaris suddenly backs off, leaving Alex to limply hold his hands in front of his chest while remarking "You're moving rather well considering I cracked the bones in your arm." "I've faced greater pain than this…Your pansy little blows aren't going to break me!" Solaris exclaimed in response.

"Oh child…I haven't even BEGUN to break you." Alex said callously, widening his eyes and flaring his aura up again after a moment of dispelling it, and he then charged right at Solaris and swung his left hand out to grab the man by his right arm before he could swing his sword in retaliation. Alex tugged on the man's arm to take advantage of his weakened shoulder bones send a sharp jolt of paralyzing pain through the nerves in that limb. A loud snap from Solaris' arm could be heard, but the Sun God just grunts slightly in response.

Solaris then tries to grab Alex's head with his left gauntlet while covering it in magma, but Alex just swings his left hand out and grabbed the man by the wrist while coating his arm constantly in the purest form of ice to hold back the heat Solaris was exuding. Then with a twist of the hand, Alex managed to crack some of the bones in Solaris' wrist. Alex then pulled himself closer to Solaris' face and remarked with a grin "You can take a lot of punishment…Good. It's never satisfying to break a god unless they last a while."

Solaris suddenly responded to Alex's words by opening his mouth and unleashing a blast of fire and burning ashes from within, all of which hit Alex on the face and forced him to let go of Solaris' arms and fly back while bringing the back of his right hand to his face to rub it with his spread fingers. Solaris brushes some of the loose ashes from his chin and remarks "I hate having to do that…It's such an immature technique, but it looks like you've been proven wrong Phoenix of Destruction!" Alex, after a brief pause, pulled his hand away from his face and grinned, looking to be entirely unharmed as he explained "What are you even talking about? That felt like a cold breeze, maybe you threw a little dust in my eyes, but otherwise you still haven't hurt me."

Instead of looking frightened by Alex still not being harmed, Solaris instead grabbed his sword in both hands, some clanking being heard from him tightening his grip around his gauntlets as he then laughed a little and remarked "Now this is what I'm talking about! You actually live up to your reputation!" He then lifts his sword above his head and turns it so the blunt side was the most prominent part shown, and the molten cracks expanded outward with glowing heat before a spiral of flames erupt from the blade, with Solaris widening his eyes as pillars of flames erupt out from the sides of the pyramid.

His armor brightened up with a majestic glow, and his hair began glowing bright gold and red at the same time. "Now I can start using a little more of my power against you!" Solaris exclaimed with all of his might, with his voice echoing slightly across the air. The sudden increase in power was felt by Riku and Mew, who were shocked beyond belief at how powerful he was. Though Alex did not share the same feeling, as he only widened his burning eyes and remarked "Hahahah…! I'm impressed, truly I am!"

"Good!" Solaris exclaimed before he swung his sword out beside him, creating a shockwave of raw power that burst out from around his body. But Alex reveals that his earlier comment was nothing more than a mockery of Solaris' efforts as he exclaimed "I'm impressed at how you think this will make even a shred of difference!" Alex then put his hands in his pocket and warped right in front of Solaris while being in the middle of an upward kick, striking him directly in the chin to knock him higher up.

Alex then warps into Solaris' flight path and rapidly thrusts both of his feet straight at Solaris' body, suspending him in place while he rapidly chips away at the shield of fire Solaris summons to protect himself. Alex then warps above Solaris and drops both of his feet down atop his fire shield to send him hurtling towards the roof of the pyramid, and once Solaris bounds off of it his fire shield cracks from the amount of damage he took. Alex warped behind Solaris to try and hit him with a sneak attack, but the Sun God turned around and swung his sword out to counter his attack with a great deal of force.

Alex immediately warped behind Solaris again after the shockwave of flames erupted from the attacks, but Solaris turned around ready to attack him again. Alex warped around him a few times and the two clashed blows for a few seconds, shaking the area with their attacks and cutting through the pyramid with the flames that erupted out from the shockwaves. With how hard they were striking each other, the sounds of their attacks could be heard even at the edge of the city.

After Solaris grew tired of this clash of blows he swung his body around with his sword extended, creating a mile round whirlpool of flames around his body to prevent Alex from attacking him from either side. Alex reappears in the air above the whirlpool and swings his arms out from his pockets, repeatedly throwing his hands forward so quickly that they were blurs in the sky as he sent fireballs down at Solaris. The attacks just served as a distraction as they hit Solaris' body head on and did nothing.

Alex flew down in front of Solaris and bombarded him with a series of rapid hard-hitting punches to the chest, cracking into the armor enough to nearly reach his skin behind it all until Solaris pulls back, his body becoming a streak of pure flames that ignite the air below his feet as he moves. Solaris swings his sword out rapidly to send a multitude of flame waves across the air towards Alex, bathing miles of the sky in front of him and slicing through both the pyramid and the barrier simultaneously.

Solaris then swings his sword behind himself as he sees Alex flying around all the attacks he sent his way, and after causing the area to tremble some more Solaris grits his teeth and swings his sword outward to send a gigantic wave of flame at Alex, who just flipped right over it in mid-air. Solaris then grins and causes the wave of flame to explode right behind Alex, who was actually struck with the attack right as he put his hands in his pocket and warped out of sight. Alex reappeared behind Solaris with smoke coming off the back of his body, and he tried to deliver a swift roundhouse kick to Solaris' face.

Solaris turned around in the opposite direction to swing his sword and counter Alex's kick, noticing the slightly annoyed look on Alex's face and remarking happily "Ha…! Got you at last!" Alex then widened his eyes and said in a blunt and growling tone of voice "And that will BE your last!" Before he suddenly warped behind Solaris and punched him hard across the back twice in rapid succession with mighty electrical punches, choosing not to hold anything back as he sends the electricity through Solaris' nerves to paralyze him slightly after breaking through his armor.

Alex then warped in front of Solaris before he could break out of the paralysis and grabbed him by the face while laughing insanely, and he created an explosion powerful enough to send Solaris crashing down through the side of the pyramid and then through the floor of Sancturia itself. Solaris quickly flies out of the hole his body made while creating an eruption of magma in the process, propelling himself right at Alex at the top of the pyramid without hesitation.

Alex zips to the right to get out of the way of Solaris' charge and then swings both of his hands out to send electric whips at Solaris' neck, wrapping them both around it tightly and with a quick jerking of his hands downward Alex drags Solaris out of the air and slams him against the side of the pyramid, doing this three times in quickly succession before Solaris erupts flames around his body to break the electric whips. He then turned around and wrapped himself in flames, firing himself like a tornado at Alex.

Alex just floats in place and continues to laugh with his widened eyes before he swung his right fist forward with all of his might, caring nothing about taking a little damage from the tip of the tornado as he dug his fist through the flames and punched Solaris right on the top of his head with all of his might, adding in a great deal of seismic force until his blow, which breaks Solaris' concentration on his attack and shakes the entire city down below. At this point it was clear that if he wasn't before, Alex cared nothing about collateral damage in his battle with Solaris.

Alex floats back a little as Solaris lifts himself upright and his body trembles against it's will, and his head throbs slightly in pain, leading to him grabbing the front of his head while hunched over. After Solaris has laid his fingers across his face for a few seconds he remarks with a pissed off scowl "Y-You dirty little shit…! Trying to kill me by pureeing my brain?!" Alex leaned his head back as he laid his hands in his pockets, remarking with a bit of a grin on his face "If I wanted you dead it'd be easy to do that. Unfortunately for me, I'm forced to keep you alive."

Solaris lifts his head up slightly and remarks with a puzzled expression on his face "W-What are you talking about?" Alex grinned and after a slight chuckle he tilted his head slightly to the right and remarked "Oh please, even a hot-head like you isn't STUPID enough to not know what I want from you. Fine, you want me to spell it out?" Alex leans forward a couple inches and remarks with a look of pure anticipation on his face "I worked hard to break the original Elemental Overlord's stupid seals. Now…You're going to be a good little boy and reward my efforts by taking me to your father, Justek Arcavira, aren't you?"

Next Time: Auris' Judgment