In Esthar City's 57th District, the members of Squad A were in a constant state of battle as hordes and hordes of monsters continued to rush them. Team leader Taizen was able to keep Kyra and the rest of his troops collected and organized as they fought wave after wave of imps, turtapods, and toramas. Thanks to his knowledge of battle tactics and formations, Taizen was able to form a simple box with each member of Squad A making up one corner. The box formation had been used for centuries and had proven in the past to be tough to break.
In this instance, the box held true as the members of Squad A continued slaughtering monsters with blades, blows, and firepower. Finally, after a full twenty minutes of fighting, the monsters stopped rushing in. This pause in the battle gave Squad A a chance to catch their breath and lick their wounds.
Taizen, after checking and healing his injuries with curative magic, sheathed Griffin's Heart and walked over to Kyra, who had taken the most damage by far due to her preference for close-quarters, unarmed combat. She had received several lacerations from a pair of toramas, and her right arm and leg were broken thanks to an imp's Blizzara spell. In spite of all that, the crimson-haired fighter still stood under her own power and maintained a fiery look in her eyes. Taizen shook his head in disbelief as he conjured up a Cura spell.
"You do know that you're carrying two guns, right?" Taizen simply asked as the Cura spell closed Kyra's wounds and repaired her shattered limbs. "Why are you insisting on using melee combat?"
"Because you and Cyrus don't need guns to fight," Kyra answered with a snarl, "and I can't have you two thinking that I somehow need my guns to keep up."
Taizen stared at his teammate in disbelief. "You are willing to put your life in greater danger than is necessary for something like that? Are you insane?"
"Only a little," Kyra admitted as Taizen finished healing her. She tested her once-broken limbs and was pleased to know that they were as good as new. Kyra then turned to Taizen and explained, "I've been at Garden for six years, and in all that time I've never found anyone who was willing to push me to my limits. But then I met and fought Cyrus…"
"And because of that fight you wish to surpass him?" Taizen asked.
"I think it's the same for him. Heck, he went and fought Ifrit alone just to become stronger! I guess we push each other to become better so that we're tough enough to take on any mission Garden decides to throw our way. At least that's what I think."
"I see," Taizen said as he pondered what Kyra had just told him. His thoughts were interrupted as he saw an annoyed look on Kyra's face. "Is something wrong?"
"It's Shiva. I think she developed a bit of a crush on Cyrus ever since he poured on the charm when he met her. She's asking me if Cyrus is going to be all right."
"Hmm. Well, I haven't known Cyrus for very long, but he seems capable enough. His ability to quickly assess any given situation is his greatest strength in my opinion. Combined with his resourcefulness and his combat abilities, I'm certain he's doing quite well."
"You're probably right," Kyra agreed. "Even with that asshole Rizo, Cyrus is probably cruising through this exam. I'd bet a hundred Gil that he's racked up so many kills that he's just taking it easy, waiting for the extraction team…"
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The behemoth struck first, bringing its powerful tail down hard on Cyrus. It took all of Cyrus's enhanced strength and speed not only to block the behemoth's tail with Tempest but hold it back. Rizo, seeing his opening, dashed towards the behemoth with the intention of slicing its head off with his Gemini Blood Swords. However, he was halted by a swipe of the behemoth's paw. Rizo flew hard into the nearby wall, leaving a dent and knocking him out.
Cyrus swore as the sound of machine-gun fire filled the air. Mari, still frightened, had managed enough courage to pull the trigger on her weapon and riddled the behemoth's left shoulder with lead. The behemoth roared in pain as he swatted Cyrus away with a flick of his tail and started pawing the ground, indicating that it was planning on goring Mari with its massive horns. Before it could build up speed, however, the violet demon again shrieked in pain as it turned around and saw that Cyrus had pinned its tail to the ground with his scythe's blade.
"Hey, prick," Cyrus said menacingly. "Did I say I was finished with you? You killed one of my teammates and were about to kill another, and Rule Number 9 says 'When something threatens your ally, don't get mad. Don't get even. Get ahead.'"
The behemoth apparently wasn't fond of Cyrus's rules as it turned around and lunged at Cyrus with fangs and horns. Cyrus quickly removed his scythe from the behemoth's tail, but was unable to dodge the behemoth's charge. The monster's right horn dug deep into Cyrus's right shoulder as it picked up the scythe warrior and tossed him around like a rag doll. Eventually, the behemoth released Cyrus and sent him flying towards a wall opposite of where it had tossed Rizo.
Unfortunately for Cyrus, his landing place happened to be a window.
As his body met and shattered glass, Cyrus felt the shards tear into his already bloodied body. Before he started to freefall thirty feet to the ground below, Cyrus used every last ounce of his strength and drove Tempest's blade into the side of the research facility, halting his descent. The behemoth, sensing the proverbial blood in the water, leered over the edge and snarled at the dangling SeeD cadet. It raised its claw and was about to send Cyrus plummeting had Rizo not interrupted by regaining consciousness and shouting:
"Yo, freak! Over here!"
The behemoth turned to see Rizo standing on spaghetti legs as dark energy started swirling around him. "A piece of advice, jackass. Next time you hit me…make sure it kills me! DIABLOS! SEND THIS PIECE OF SHIT TO HYNE!"
The dark energy coalesced into a sphere as Diablos oozed out of it. The Dark Messenger then raised his hand and telepathically brought the orb crashing down on the behemoth. The behemoth roared as it tried to escape the gravity sphere, but it was to no avail. The spatial energy twisted and contorted its prey, and as it dissipated the behemoth fell to the ground, seemingly dead. Diablos vanished in a flurry of bats as Rizo staggered over to Mari.
"You all right?" Rizo asked the female cadet. Mari nodded nervously as Rizo continued, "Cool. We better…"
Before Rizo could finish his sentence, the behemoth roared back to life and stood up. Rizo didn't even have time to react as the behemoth lunged at the swordsman and wrapped its jaws around his leg. Rizo yelped in pain as the behemoth started thrashing its new chew toy. Mari tried to shoot, but was knocked down by the behemoth's massive claw. The behemoth continued violently shaking its head, digging its teeth deeper and deeper into Rizo's leg. In a few more seconds, that leg would no longer belong to Rizo…
"No…"
The behemoth dropped Rizo and turned towards the source of the voice. Its owner was none other than Cyrus, who had somehow managed to pull himself back up into the building. Blood still poured out of the hole in his shoulder as he held his scythe tightly with his left hand.
"No more," Cyrus said in an eerie tone. "I'm not letting you hurt my teammates anymore. I don't care if I have to kill myself to do it. One way or another…YOU ARE GOING TO FALL!!!"
The behemoth, now fully enraged, planted itself as its eyes glowed. In mere seconds, the violet demon had conjured a Flare spell and attacked Cyrus with it. The insanely-powerful spell was a series of fiery detonations that continued to explode and intensify until the spell itself extinguished itself in one final burst. Rizo and Mari looked on in fear as the Flare spell seemingly turned their leader into ash. The behemoth seemed to smirk a little as it turned its attention back to its two other victims.
Whatever the behemoth was thinking about doing, it ended up being its last thought as a slash too quick to be seen drove a blade deep into its throat, tearing flesh and arteries and killing the beast instantly. As its body fell hard onto the floor, Rizo and Mari stood in awe as Cyrus stood tall, Tempest dripping in behemoth blood.
"Holy hell," Rizo managed to blurt out as he tried to ignore the pain in his leg. Mari said nothing as she gingerly walked over to Cyrus.
"Think you can patch us up?" Cyrus said weakly as Mari nodded. "Good. Because I think I'm at my limit…"
Cyrus's voice trailed off as he lost consciousness and fell to the floor alongside the behemoth. Mari silently went to work patching Cyrus up as Rizo started to weakly laugh his trademark cackle.
"I'll be damned," Rizo commented as he started using his stocked curative magic to fix his mangled leg. "I don't know how he survived that Flare, but he did. As much as I hate to give the bastard props…"
Rizo stopped himself before saying anything complementary of Squad C's team leader. "What's the point?" he thought with a smile. "Sooner or later, he and I are gonna fight again…and I will beat him and prove I'm the best. So rest up and try not to die, Cy…
"…because you and I have unfinished business."
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The SeeD contract deadline came and went as all SeeD candidate squads were extracted from their respective districts and brought back to the SeeD harbor. Most of the squads suffered light injuries from their battles with the Lunar Cry monsters, and Squad D showed up untouched. It was soon discovered that Squad D had run in fear after encountering their first group of monsters and waited out the entire exam in an abandoned pet store.
Squad A, on the other hand, looked like they had gone through hell. But one look at Kyra's wicked smile told the whole story: Squad A came, they saw, they dominated.
However, everyone's attention was to Squad C as Cyrus, Rizo, and Mari stumbled over to the GMVs, looking like the living dead and short one team member. Cyrus and Rizo, as a matter of necessity, were using one another for support as they shambled over to an Esthar officer. Cyrus handed him the datapad and said with venom in his voice:
"Here. Data from District 44's central research facility. My teammate's death paid for that data, so I hope it was worth it."
The Esthar officer's facial expression was hidden by his uniform's mask, but he was noticeably uneasy as he saluted Cyrus and quickly walked away. Once he was out of sight, Quistis ran over and demanded to know what had happened.
Cyrus sighed and sadly answered, "Where do I start…?"
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Author's Notes:
So that's the behemoth fight. I hope you all enjoyed it. If so, let me know! If not, still let me know!
I've reached a very happy place with this story...the point where the reviews outnumber the chapters! This is great! Special thanks goes to BestInInfluence and Ally Todd for pushing the reviews over the top. You guys made my day and I hope you'll continue reading and reviewing!
I also need to give a shout-out to my man The Duelist of Dawn. He plugged my story "The Rise of the Repentant," and it's only fair that I return the favor! He's got a great self-insert called "Melodies of Life Chronicles" in the FFIX section. Do check it out, it's fan-freaking-tastic!
Guitar Hero? To hell with that! Be a Review Hero!
Thanks,
"The Exile" Cyrus Truth