Chapter 21: Dusk of the World
Time was running out for the Lyoko Warriors. Xana let out an evil laugh, relishing in his final moments on Lyoko. Ulrich and Odd rushed down to Shawn's location to back him up against his polar opposite. Odd let loose a few laser arrows and Ulrich dashed forward and slashed out with his blades but Dyfar deflected them all. Shawn vaulted over Odd's back and flailed his feet out knocking Dyfar back a bit.
"Annoying children," Dyfar muttered. He brandished his flaming blade and rushed for the boys, striking out with fury. Ulrich clashed with him, allowing Shawn and Odd to move on for Xana. Ulrich kept up to Dyfar's speed thanks to his dual blades, though they served little protection against the flames from sapping his life points little by little.
Dyfar lashed out and clashed with Ulrich again, this time breaking it and jumping to his backside, but Ulrich saw it in time and flung his arms back, blocking Dyfar's own blade and spinning around to resume their fight.
Up on the above platforms, Nicole and Valerie were at each other. A few Ninjas jumped into the fray to aid Nicole, but Valerie cut them all down with ease, ensuring the battle stayed one-on-one. Nicole swung her mighty scythe all around, barring Valerie from coming near her.
"You seem to have some skill with a scythe, don't you?" Valerie smirked.
Nicole halted her scythe behind her back with both hands. "It helps to have some knowledge in baton twirling. It's sorta the same thing. I will defeat you, you know why? A program can only perform so many moves and strategies before running out. A human is always thinking, always deciding, and can find the openings and flaws in the programming." Nicole let stretch a smug grin, which only infuriated Valerie.
Valerie ran forward and uppercutted Nicole, shredding twenty life points from her, and another would have followed had she not reacted in time and blocked with her scythe shaft. Nicole broke the clash and followed with more strikes which ended in blocks. Nicole backflipped a bit and spun her scythe in a circular motion, forcing Valerie to try to find an opening in her stance. Valerie stuck her scythe in, halting Nicole's movement and locking her scythe in place, opening her for an attack. "You're finished!" Valerie yelled and spun her blade around, striking at thin air. She looked up in shock to find Nicole in the air, heading straight towards her readying an overhead strike. Valerie jumped back in time as Nicole's scythe dug into the floor, sealing itself in place. Valerie dashed forward and swung once more, connecting with air again; Nicole leapt onto her scythe's shaft to dodge the strike and flailed her legs out, knocking Valerie back allowing her time to recover her scythe.
"Didn't expect that, did'cha?" mocked Nicole. "Wanna try again?"
"Don't you dare mock me little girl," hissed Valerie. "You may be my base model, but I am far superior than you! I have been perfected!" She rested her scythe upon her shoulder to catch her breath. Nicole held her scythe outward with one hand, closed her eyes, and exhaled a breathe of air. She opened her eyes and stared straight at Valerie, and that is when she vanished in a scattering of rose petals.
Valerie's eyes widen when she spotted the red girl for a split second barreling straight for her. Nicole sliced through her foe and doubled back, striking her again. She vanished again and uppercutted Valerie, sending her into the air with Nicole following from underneath. Raising her scythe high, she struck her polar self back into the floor, defeating her. Valerie raised an arm weakly before she disappeared in an outline of data, her arm vanishing last. "You couldn't perfect those moves, couldn't you?" Nicole said aloud and ran off for the others.
Dyfar punched Ulrich a few times to knock him off balance, but it made no difference thanks to Ulrich's lightning speed and reflexes and that only drove the evil kid steaming mad. From the higher platforms above, Aelita and William spotted Ulrich's battle below. "Aelita," said William. "Get me to Ulrich!" She nodded and lifted him in her arms and sped down while weaving in and out of gunfire coming from the surrounding Ghosts. When they neared their target, Aelita released William allowing him to shutter the ground with a devastating earthquake upon impact, sending the boys and any Ninjas and Ghosts nearby off balance. Dyfar huffed at the new challenger and resumed battle with the two boys.
"Thanks for saving my bacon there," complimented Ulrich. It was true; Dyfar had just snatched one of Ulrich's swords before the earthquake happened and allowing him to retrieve it back. William took his place alongside Ulrich while Aelita flew off to aid Nicole in reaching them.
"Ready to take this son of a bitch down?" said William, crossing swords with Ulrich.
"As brothers now? Sure." Ulrich lowered his sword to ready.
"Sworn brothers." With that said, the two brothers rushed at Dyfar.
-In Tyron's Lab-
Anthea peeked out through a crack in the closet door then quickly retracted when she spied a Krankelat pass by. 'Breathe Anthea breathe,' she told herself. She peered out again and noticed only one Krankelat was in the room. She flung her arm behind her at the shelves and grabbed hold of a large wrench, which she thought was better than nothing. 'I have to make a run for it,' she thought. 'Tyron might still be alive...'
Summoning her courage, Anthea burst from the closet with her wrench raised. The Krankelat saw her but had no time to attack when it was thrown against the wall and fell dazed and near-malfunction. Anthea finished it off with a few strikes of her new weapon and made her way to the supercomputer, taking care not to raise the attention of any of Xana's minions.
In the lab, she took care of the three Krankelats She gasped when she found Tyron's still body lying on the floor. She snatched up the pistol and checked for his pulse. "He's...dead." Anthea glanced at the supercomputer screen then to the door. She quickly barracked it shut and went to the supercomputer.
-Inside the Core-
"X-Strike!" yelled Ulrich and swung his blades from their cross formation, shooting an X-shaped ray of beam energy but Dyfar dodged it. William vaulted over Ulrich and struck the ground with his sword, sending out a long shockwave which did little in stopping the evil kid.
"We need a strategy to take this jerk down!" said William.
"Heads up!" From above came Nicole, falling downward in a spiraling ball with her scythe brandished. She shredded through Dyfar but did not kill him with her strike and took her place alongside the boys. "What's new boys?"
"Where's Aelita?" asked Ulrich.
"She got devirtualized helping me out. No time to dwell on it, let's wipe this ass from existence!" They nodded and charged for Dyfar.
Dyfar spun a wide wave of black flames and fired it upon them, which they deflected and dodged. Nicole leapt over the flames and slashed out with her scythe only to be blocked by Dyfar's blade before being shoved away by a palm strike. Ulrich and William rushed in together and swung wildly. Ulrich sliced Dyfar's chest and William lost ten life points from one strike.
Elsewhere, Shawn and Odd were facing Xana. Odd kept at a distance to pelt Xana with laser arrows while Shawn went in close with his sword to divert attention from Odd. Shawn avoided Xana's claw swipes and followed with a slash across his chest. Xana roared, shattering Shawn's eardrums briefly and draining five life points in the process before snatching him up in his hand. Shawn switched to his revolver and fired two shots into Xana's eye, dropping him and allowing him to escape.
"You okay, Shawn?" Odd called, strafe-shooting a couple Ghosts.
Shawn sliced the gun arm off a Ghost and stole its assault rifle to use. "Doing fine! Go help the others, I
I'm fine here!" Odd took one more look at his friend before running off the platform onto the others. Free falling, Odd unleashed a volley of laser arrows onto Dyfar, catching him off guard.
"You children are so irritating!" shrieked Dyfar. He cloaked his sword in black flames and charged the children. Everything was going according to plan; Dyfar was getting furious. Ulrich rushed forward and clashed blades with Dyfar, locking him in place. "Now!" he shouted. William and Nicole leapt from the sides; William attacked with a Power Strike and Nicole unleashed a flurry of scythe strikes onto the defenseless Dyfar and he went down on one knee, near death. Not giving him a moment to speak, Ulrich lifted his head up and slit his neck, devirtualizing him instantly. They moved on to assist Shawn against Xana now.
Xana swiped at Shawn, but some of Shawn's quick wits prevailed and he sliced one of Xana's clawed hands off, sending it spiraling down the Core chamber. Xana roared and his hand slowly grew back in place in the manner of a chameleon's. "Shawn Davidson, I will give you one last chance," he growled. "Join me and you will have everything you ever wanted in your life. Just turn around and devirtualize your friends right now."
Shawn gripped his sword with both hands and raised it at eye level. "I won't fall for your tricks again Xana! I would rather die than conspire with you!"
"You foolish child! Very well, I will ensure you have a slow and painful death when I am free from my prison!" With a blinding flash, Xana appeared before Shawn and snatched him in his claws and began stretching him. In a flash, Nicole, Odd, Ulrich, and William appeared; Nicole sliced Xana's arm off for Ulrich to retrieve Shawn while Odd and William held him back. Shawn regained himself and drew his sword and a revolver.
"Aelita, are you there?" Anthea came onto the Core's screen. "Aelita? Aelita?"
"She has been devirtualized," said Jeremy. "What is it?"
"I need you to send me the virus program so I can convert it into a weapon to use for you kids." Jeremy did not question her words, instead sending the program over straight away at lightning speed. As soon as it dinged, she set to work, her fingers dancing along her keyboard and finally finishing. "Here it comes, who wants it?"
Shawn raised it hand. "I volunteer." With that, a green-glowing dagger appeared at his waist.
"You need to stab this dagger into Xana. When done so, the virus will be uploaded into him and destroy him for good." Everyone nodded and took offensive positions against their foe. Nothing stood between them for the Ninjas focused all efforts onto the Ghosts still swarming the Core. Xana drew his long sword and licked his lips with his long, sharp tongue.
Xana moved with lightning speed and pierced Odd with his sword, devirtualizing him instantly. Wasting no time now, the remaining Lyoko warriors moved forward to strike, but bearing in mind to protect Shawn so he can finish Xana off.
William lashed out, swinging his huge buster sword and striking Xana with it meeting some blocks as well. Nicole jumped over Xana and struck his backside but he knocked her down a distance away. Shawn drew his revolvers and emptied them twice into Xana, dwindling his life points with little effect. Ulrich triplicated and rushed in, striking Xana at all ends before jumping away.
"It's not enough," said Ulrich. "Xana is too powerful and full of life."
Nicole regained her compose and joined the others. "If we can't get close enough to stab the dagger in, then we need to pin him to the floor." She whispered a plan into their ears. "Ready boys?" With that, she disappeared in a flash of red and struck Xana at multiple angles while Ulrich and William rushed in behind, Shawn staying back. Nicole latched her scythe onto Xana's right arm and pinned it to the floor, sealing the crescent blade into the floor as a sort of lock. William took the left side and slammed his buster sword into Xana's right arm and into the floor in the same manner. Ulrich charged up energy into his blades and pierced Xana's feet down. It was up to Shawn now. Drawing his sword and the dagger, he ran forward to attack.
Suddenly, Xana's right arm broke free and hit Shawn, separating him from his sword and the dagger. William dove out of the way while Nicole and Ulrich saw to try to restrain Xana further. William helped Shawn to his feet and handed him the dagger. "Just stab him with the dagger," William ordered. "We will hold Xana back." He snatched up Shawn's sword and ran back, just to see Xana free his other arm and knock back the Lyoko children. Shawn dove aside as Xana's huge blade came down and his left arm came around before falling to the floor alone, Nicole standing by with her scythe held low. Shawn dodged another swing while Ulrich sliced Xana's chest area. He could not get close enough to strike, then he saw it. Xana's giant sword came in a wide arc and Shawn jumped upon it, riding atop a short moment before leaping in the air, the dagger pointed downward. Xana realized what had happened only when the dagger plunged into his skull.
Green computer data lines flowed out onto Xana's entire body, a sign the virus was downloading into him. Shawn leapt down and everyone watched as Xana stood motionless as the virus took over, destroying every tiny bit of Xana's existence before the evil program disappeared from their sight, both in person and online.
The final battle is over; Xana has been destroyed.
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