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Mass Effect 3 will be here soon; expect a resulting delay before the next chapter.
-CHAPTER START-
63 minutes remained.
The teams had been decided. Kū Fei, Ako, Konoka, Chisame, Erohn Kilkar, Kaede Fuyō, and Shion would stay with the disabled Negi, guarding him and making sure the defeated Entelecheia members didn't try anything. Marie and Mai headed back to the ships to guard them, while everyone else would link up with the Infiltration Group and use Natsumi's Artifact to sneak up to the ritual platform and free Asuna and the Great Grand-Master Key.
Now, the Infiltration Group stood on the edge of the Ritual Platform, concealed by Natsumi's artifact. Kaede Nagase, with the others inside her Artifact, appeared. In a blur of movement, she took hold of Kazumi's hand, enveloping herself in Natsumi's artifact's effect. With the other hand, she caught the hand of Makie as she dropped out of the time-space cloak, and the girls spilled out one by one, a chain of held hands, all now concealed.
"We're at the finale now" Kotarō said. "With Negi down, we'll just have to do something by ourselves. We've come this far; you all had better brace yourselves."
"If worse comes to worst," Teana said, "I'm ready to take him on. I should be powerful enough to either overcome or at least stalemate him, and with Ahsoka and Nagase as backup…"
"We've got no need to rush" Kaede N. said. "We still have an hour left."
"We'll walk slowly," Kotarō continued, "and get as close as we can. Once we've reached the limits of Natsumi-chan's stealth, we'll begin. And… It seems they're presently forbidden from killing us, but… be careful, all the same."
Fate Averruncus suddenly came down, landing several feet in front of them. Everyone tightened their grips, hoping Natsumi's artifact would do its part. The silver-haired boy walked right up to the cloaked Natsumi… and the ground began to heave. The group, hands all still clasped, jumped away, just as the walkway fell apart into several humongous, clean-cut chunks. Natsumi opened her eyes to see Fate standing in front of her again, now looking away but with several conjured black steel blades floating around him. As he turned to walk away, Natsumi began to faint, her hat falling free. Ahsoka caught it with the Force, keeping the group's presence hidden, and Fate leapt away.
"It seems he detected my presence for the split-second between my discarding the concealment tag and grasping Asakura-san's hand" Kaede mused.
"Are you alright, Natsumi-chan?" Kotarō knelt down by the redhead, who was on her knees. "You did good – really good. I'm impressed! Can you stand?"
"N-No… I can't… f-feel my legs… I'm… I'm sorry, everyone… I j-just… can't…"
'Now I remember one of the reasons Emile hated working with civilians…' Teana thought to herself.
"It's okay, Natsumi" Kotarō said. "We'll think of something else. You've done more than enough."
"…It's a bit far," Kaede N. said, "but we'll attack from here, I suppose. Makie-san, can you reach the Key from here?"
"Um, well…"
"Wait!"
Everyone looked back to Natsumi.
"It's… not 'all right' at all, is it? If I don't do my best here… It j-just won't work out, will it?"
"…Well, to be honest, our chances won't be as good… But I won't ask that much from you."
"…I understand. I'll do it." She got back to her feet. "I'll finally… have the leading role I've always wanted! L-Let's do this!"
Soon, they were advancing down the narrow walkway, past summoned shadow-demons and nearing Fate. They got past him without incident, and Yue signaled that they'd reached as far as they could go.
"Status report" Fate asked Shirabe.
"We're within the final 30 minutes, milord. Everything is going smoothly."
"Has there been any contact from down below?"
"None"
"I see… It would be… rather boring if it ended like this…"
"Fate-sama! There's an enormous amount of energy converging! It's not magic! It's coming from orbit, directly above!"
Fate looked up, seeing a bright light directly overhead. He pointed his hand up, casting a shield spell that stopped the strike cold… and Kotarō appeared out of nowhere directly in front of him, landing a strike; at the same time, a spell-shot from Yūna came at Shirabe, while Makie's ribbon lashed outward, while Kaede moved as well. In less than two seconds' time, Fate was sent flying, Shirabe was knocked out, Kaede reached & freed Asuna, and Makie's ribbon shot around the altar and grabbed hold of The Key.
Fate conjured a field of black metal darts, only to be sent flying by an "overcharged" Force Push from Ahsoka, Kotarō – now in his Demon-Wolf Form – diving after him. His darts flew, only for Teana, Yue, and Beatrix to conjure several shield-spells, blocking them all. Several darts changed course like guided missiles, going around the shields, only for Teana and Ahsoka to use their energy-blades to cut them out of the air while Yūna shot several more away, and then for the young Jedi to unleash a Force Repulse that knocked the rest away. Kaede returned to the group, the unconscious Asuna in her arms, while The Key came to Makie's hands and was then passed to Nodoka. Kotarō came flying out courtesy of Fate, who stood back up, livid. Teana formed a sequence of hand-seals, rearing back and breathing in, and then released her newest technique:
"Katon: Gōenkyū no Jutsu!"
The humongous sphere of fire – easily three times as big as a Gōkakyū, perhaps more– shot toward Fate like it was fired from a huge cannon. Upon impact with Fate's hastily-conjured shield, it exploded with incredible force; the shield shattered, and Fate, burnt and singed, was sent tumbling backward quite a ways… just in time for another strike from Chachamaru's orbital satellite to engulf him completely, as Nodoka used The Key to teleport everyone out milliseconds before the blast hit. The blast punched clean through the altar section, continuing down to the ground far below, where it went off in a titanic explosion. The group reappeared a considerably distance away, near the top of the floating palace's main section.
"Is it over?" Kazumi asked.
"Somehow I doubt he can be taken out that easily" Yue replied.
"We're too close to the altar!" Kazumi said to Nodoka. "This is a very bad place to be right now!"
"I couldn't transfer us to where Negi-sensei is" the girl replied. "Maybe it's because we're too close to the altar, or because we brought Asuna-san. I'll prepare the next transfer right away."
Back at the Paru-sama, the group began heading inside after having watched as Chachamaru called down the thunder upon Fate Averruncus. Suddenly, everyone turned around in shock as Mai lashed out behind herself with a Tailed-Beast Cloak claw, catching the blow of…
"No way…" Misora muttered, terrified.
"Who and what are you?" Marie growled.
The boy gave a maniacal grin. "I am Averruncus Quartum, of Fire."
Elsewhere, as Nodoka prepared the transfer, Teana suddenly shoved her out of the way, conjuring a multi-layer shield spell that barely withstood a bolt of lightning from on high. The Great Grand-Master Key flew out of Nodoka's grasp and to the hands of a waiting figure, wearing clothes identical to Fate's and with spiked-up hair.
"I am Averruncus Quintum, of Wind & Lightning" he introduced himself.
Back at the site of the earlier battle, Dynamis finished his tale.
"That is why it is our duty to carry out his plan" the bisected man said to the girls, bringing his explanations to a close. "By the way… That was a fairly good strategy your group came up with. Especially with that girl's artifact. It might even take Tertium by surprise. …Assuming that Tertium is the only card we have left to play, that is."
"What are you talking about?" Shion spoke in a low, even tone.
"The puppet that was defeated by the Thousand Master… I am the one who revived it."
Footsteps behind them caused them all to turn… and jaws to drop.
"With the power of The Key, it seems that the remaining three units have activated. Safeguards truly are things to be invested in."
The girl, with upper-back-length silver hair and a boy's uniform, stared the group down.
"I am Averruncus Sextum, of Water" she stated. She flashed over to Dynamis, laying her hand upon him. Before their eyes, his body returned to existence, his missing lower half regenerating. He then stepped back, allowing his creation the space she would need to fight.
Shion and Kaede F. calmly took a few steps forward, saying nothing. Kaede readied a bone-blade in her right hand, while two long, thin bone-spikes came out from her left elbow and left palm. Shion flared with power, a semi-solid green cloak of chakra surrounding her, two tails waving about behind her. Through the Tailed-Beast Cloak on her right arm, a brighter-green blade of energy sprang to life from her armguard.
At the ship, Mai's own Tailed-Beast Cloak flared up to three tails, while Marie readied Charon.
"I've been ordered not to kill any Terrans," Quartum said, "but since you two are extra-dimensional I suppose I can make exceptions."
Up on the main "spire", Teana stood facing Quintum.
"You call yourself the wielder of lightning and wind?" she asked him.
"That is correct" he said in a flat tone.
Teana smirked. "You picked the wrong set of opponents. Ahsoka?"
The Togrutan stood next to her squad leader. Both of them activated their paired energy blades.
(BOSS MUSIC – Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep OST – "Enter the Darkness")
After several seconds of stillness, Quintum fired a barrage of wind bullets… and each & every one of them was cancelled by a Crossfire Shot bolt courtesy of Teana, who'd managed to summon a midair bolt for each projectile and nail each one thanks to the crimson eyes that now glared at the artificial being standing before her. Quintum then formed a blade of lightning magic over his right arm to block a lightsaber strike from Ahsoka, feeling as the construct began to lose cohesion under the other girl's pressing assault. He leapt back several meters, and then unleashed a directed whirlwind at the two. Teana released a Gōkakyū, which overpowered the Wind technique and flew, strengthened, at Quintum, who narrowly dodged. A Shinkū Taigkyoku from Teana almost took his head off, and then a Lightning Hound from Ahsoka began pursuing him. It was now that Quintum realized that, faced against another Lightning user and a Fire & Wind user, he had his work cut out for him.
The fusillade of ice-darts from Sextum flash-vaporized upon contact with Shion's Tailed Beast Cloak, leaving her unharmed; likewise, Kaede's bone-bullets could not break through Sextum's forearm-mounted shield of super-hardened ice. Sextum unleashed a focused torrent of water at Kaede, who responded by summoning a wall of chakra-laced stone up from the floor, blocking the attack. Shion flash-stepped behind the water mage, who spun around and raised her shield to block the ensuing strike from the green-haired girl's Void Blade. The blade of superheated psionic energy quickly began to melt through the ice-shield, and Sextum formed a whip of ultra-hardened/dense water and lashed out at Shion. It was countered by a strike from one of the Host's two chakra tails, which wrapped around the end of the whip and squeezed, reducing it to a harmless splash of water that fell to the ground. Sextum pulled back, and then immediately had to form an ice blade to parry a thrust from Kaede's bone-blade, the two super-hardened weapons clashing like steel against steel, as the two flew into a fast-paced duel.
Outside, the Paru-sama was constantly in motion, the barely-repaired craft zipping about while a pitched three-person aerial battle took place all around it. Marie flitted about, her flight magic in near-overdrive as she fired Charon as much as she safely could, occasionally throwing ninjutsu at Quartum as well. Mai, who couldn't really fly, was instead leaping off of and amongst the plentiful floating boulders in the area, as well as shaping the outer two tails of her Tailed-Beast Cloak into "wings" with which to glide around. A magic cartridge was ejected from Charon as Marie fired an Ice Spreader shot; the condensed burst of Ice-type magic shot through the sky, homing in on Quartum's energy signature. Quartum conjured a shield of fire; the icy projectile impacted, exploding and covering the shield with ultra-low-temperatures and ice. The two techniques consumed each other, fire and ice fading away. Quartum then barely dodged as a huge, burning claw of semi-solid chakra came at him from Mai, who clung to a floating boulder a few dozen meters away. Quartum then focused his energy, calling force a huge spear/sword of solid fire:
"Gladius Divinus Flammae Ardentis!"
He dashed forward and swung, slicing the rock in two, but Mai pushed off of it, soaring through the air straight towards him. As he swung his weapon at her, she extended her "wings", adjusting course and narrowly dodging the attack, her Tailed-Beast Cloak protecting her from the ambient heat. As she went past him, she threw four kunai with exploding tags, only for all of them to detonate harmlessly against his automatic/passive defensive barrier. However, Marie then switched Charon to its arm-mounted energy blade mode, and then three cartridges were ejected. The blade grew to a size matching Quartum's fire-blade. They both swung at each other, the two giant blades locking.
Quintum was the closest he could come to feeling impressed. The bloodline-bearing human and the alien couldn't most as fast as he, but their connection to The Force allowed them to anticipate and react to his attacks (he felt himself slightly fortunate that the human's Force sensitivity extended only to such short-term "combat" precognition and that she was unable to use it telekinetically or to generate lightning; the alien's much stronger and more versatile connection to the Force was proving troublesome). What was more, the redhead's two elemental affinities were the ones that had advantage over his own two, and she was certainly powerful enough to use that advantage to its fullest extent thanks to her impressive magical reserves and tremendous chakra reserves (presently around 55% of maximum). He bent over backwards to avoid Ahsoka's saber-throw, and she in turn managed to dodge his Fulguratio Albicans. He fired another barrage of wind bullets, only for a Katon: Hōsenka from Teana to cancel them out and keep going right toward him, forcing him to flash-step away. He reappeared behind Ahsoka… and a launched stone impacted him, sending him tumbling, skidding to a stop several feet away.
"They are my prey…" Fate Averruncus said in a low, dangerous tone as he walked out of the dust cloud, visibly quite injured but still ready to fight. "I will not allow some just-born upstart to steal my place in the spotlight. This is my plan, and it shall be done my way – not theirs, not Dynamis', and certainly not yours!"
Inside the castle, Shion let loose with a Rasengan, shattering the 12-foot-tall ice golem Sextum had created. Kaede, in Yanagi no Mai form, was doing her best to cut Sextum to ribbons, and had already landed a few blows. Sextum called up a hardened-water barrier, which Kaede's lightning-charged bone spike punched clean through, dealing a surface wound to the artificial human's stomach. Sextum flash-stepped backwards, and barely avoided being decapitated by Shion's Void Blade, kicking the buxom girl in the stomach and using the brief instant that afforded her to flash over to the noncombatants who were standing watch over the comatose Negi, pointing a series of ice daggers at them. Shion and Kaede didn't dare move forward… but they didn't have to.
In a blur of movement, Negi stood up and placed a palm to Sextum's chest. Her barrier shattered, and so did the stone shell that Negi himself had been in. She leapt back, her clothes in tatters… and the little figure that was the Grave-Keeper stuck her hand into Sextum's back, holding her Core in her hand. If Sextum so much as twitched wrong, the GK would crush it, destroying her instantly.
"Why have you betrayed us, Master?" Dynamis shouted.
The Grave-Keeper chuckled. "To betray someone, you have to be on their side to begin with. I was never on anyone's side. I wish to see what the boy has in mind for this world." She turned to Negi. "Go, my descendant."
Negi nodded in gratitude and, taking his Raiten Sōsō form, blitzed out. Seconds later, there were two blurs of movement. Sextum had broken free of the Grave-Keeper during the split second she was distracted, rushing at the noncombatants… and had been impaled through the chest and Core by Shion, who'd Void-Jumped into her path. The artificial human's shocked eyes quickly lost their light, and Shion withdrew her blade, allowing the body to collapse to the floor.
Outside, Quartum's patience was rapidly running out. These two Terrans had fought him every step of the way, working together to match him blow for blow. As he flew out of the way of a two-cartridge beam of magic from Marie, he took a bolt of lightning chakra from Mai, his muscles briefly seizing before he forced the harmful energy out. Deciding enough was enough, he focused his power, and called forth his strongest summon: Entei Shōkan. The huge fire-demon towered over him, and unleashed four large fire-spears that flew at the group. Mai and Marie barely dodged theirs, but the other two neared the Paru-sama… until a blur of white lightning shot by, knocking them both away and then coming around to slam into the summon's head. Everyone stared in awe as Negi made himself known. The fire-demon composed itself and lunged forward with a punch that created an explosion on impact, only to discover that Negi had effortlessly caught and shrugged off the hit. He then raised his free hand, forming a large spear of lightning with a drill tip:
"Bōfū no Rasensō!"
Negi let fly the weapon, which punched straight through the demon, detonating as it was halfway through and annihilating it. What followed next was short and brutal. Negi flashed in, effortlessly shrugging off Quartum's strongest blows, while his own return strikes sent the fire-mage reeling. This culminated in Negi grabbing hold of Quartum's midsection and unleashing a point-blank burst of "bladed lightning" that tore Quartum in half. The bisected being began to plummet to the depths far below, soon fading from sight. Marie and Mai 'landed' on the deck of the Paru-sama, and after he checked up on them Negi set out for the last battleground.
Despite her desire to kill him for all he had done and planned to do, Teana was quick to accept Fate's offer of a temporary alliance against a common foe, as was Ahsoka, who was sort of used to people switching sides at the drop of a hat thanks to her experiences in the Clone Wars. It turned out that Fate wasn't fast enough to dodge Quintum's blows… but he didn't need to be, because he was so absurdly tough that he was able to shrug them off. A fusillade of summoned swords from Fate forced Quintum to take evasive action… straight into the path of a Fūton: Shinkūha from Teana that nearly severed his arm. He leapt back, forming a large spear of lightning – Gungnir – and threw it at Fate… who caught it, and then threw it right back. Quintum barely avoided being skewered, and the thrown lightsaber from Ahsoka was not dodged, cutting deep into his side. He landed, a hand over the glowing-hot slash carved into his midsection, and Fate leapt in, unleashing devastatingly powerful physical blows; blocking one caused Quintum's right arm to snap, and a kick sent him tumbling at considerable speed.
"Why would you betray us?" Quintum hissed.
"I still plan to fulfill the Lifemaker's plan" Fate replied. "However, I refuse to go about it the way you and your master Dynamis plan to. I'm following my own path."
Before Quintum could react, four telekinetically-directed blades of energy stabbed through his chest from various angles. He tried to gasp for air, failed, and keeled over dead. Ahsoka recalled her lightsabers and Teana's Device, tossing the latter to the redhead. Both girls then took combat positions facing Fate.
It was then that a lightning-bolt struck the ground between the three, resolving into Negi. He looked at Fate, who smirked in satisfaction that he'd finally get to fight once more the boy who'd tried to ruin everything. Negi walked forward and got in Fate's face, returning to his Base Form as he did. Their auras clashed and swirled around them.
"I want this to be decided by words rather than combat" Negi stated.
"I do not believe you really mean that" Fate replied.
In a blur of motion, Fate lashed out at Negi's face. When the resulting dust cleared, the boy was completely unharmed. Negi returned fire, a punch to Fate's midsection that sent the other skidding backward.
"…Didn't I say, back in Kyoto," Fate said, "that it would be impossible for you then? …You've come very far, indeed."
"As I recall," Negi said, "back in New Ostia you said I was a child who knew nothing. I've come with an answer in hand – my own answer, as someone who knows everything about what's going on."
"I refuse to accept your answer."
"…Then I'll let my fists to the speaking for me."
After several seconds of still silence, they dashed toward each other, and the carnage commenced.
-CHAPTER END-