Chapter 21: Meet Again III: The Re-Coming
In the city, the battle continued to rage endlessly - it would be a great surprise if there was anything left by the time Justice was defeated. At the moment Alex had ripped some chains from the ground and wrapped them around his wrists, using them as flaming whips to scar Justice's chest with hard-hitting lashes. The titan bellowed and opened it's mouth to fire a wide-spreading laser towards Alex.
The boy leaped back and watched as the laser devastated a whole block worth of buildings. Sol then flew right past him and smashed his fist into Justice's snout to force the monster to bite down on it's own energy. Some of it recoiled into it's throat and exploded, bursting holes open in it. Justice took a couple steps back and lurched it's head down while Sol clamped his hands together and after charging fire in them struck a mighty blow into the monster's forehead.
The force of the blow shook the sky with a rippling shockwave of fire, and the monster roared before it's body was forced towards the ground. With a quick slam of it's claws to catch itself, Justice then thrust it's bladed tail at Sol rapidly. The man's speed was enough to keep away from the blade for a little, but then he found himself shocked as his chest was stabbed right through.
Justice hunched up like a gremlin and raised it's claws 'til they were both beside Sol, and then filled the palms with energy from the Backyard. Sol, however, cracked a smirk and placed both his hands on the tail, the fire around him focusing into his palms and started to melt the blade down. While he was doing that, Alex flew in and threw the hardest punch he could at the monster's right wrist, zipping over to the other one for the same attack just in time to divert the orbs' flight skyward.
Then, having detached the tip of the blade from the rest of the tail, Sol ripped it from his body, leaving behind a scar that burned with the luminosity of magma. He put just enough heat into the blade to give it a light glow and then threw it down into Justice's head. Once it was implanted in the skull, Alex dropped down and punched the blade hard enough to stick it between the roof of the monster's mouth and the bottom of it's jaw.
Justice screeched while Chronus let out a great scream of pain and shut the titan's mouth tight, forcing the blade through it's head as a glowing blue ooze secreted from the wounds. "How…dare you!" Chronus groaned in a tone of fitting frustration as he raised Justice's body upright and declared to his foes "You're monsters! Wild and WRETCHED beasts!"
He swung Justice's arms out and smashed the nearby buildings in a frenzy, but Sol just cracked his neck as his wound healed up and then replied "Do you ever shut up? If you have time to bitch, then fight!" Chronus exclaimed while Justice was left lurching forward "Sol Badguy…you don't even care about this world! You have no right…TO LOOK DOWN ON ME!"
Justice's claws lashed out towards Alex and Sol, but the two caught them by the longest one and wrapped it under their arms tightly. Sol grit his teeth and tugged, while Alex let loose fires from his body as he put in the strength to try and rip the claw off. Justice lunged it's palms out and grabbed the two tightly, then leaped forward with great speed, heaving up dozens of buildings in it's wake. Then it threw the two straight at the ground, both of them flying away at high velocities before crashing and tear through hundreds of feet worth of roadway.
Alex, with his fire soul shield protecting him, was able to quickly spin onto his feet and then slide over to grab Sol and carry him behind a nearby alleyway. Justice quickly crash landed a few feet away and a cloud of dust flushed through the alleys. Chronus proclaimed "You think you can hide from me?! The eye of God is all-seeing, all-knowing!" Then he had Justice fire a laser beam down, creating a large explosion that wiped out five blocks worth of buildings.
Alex quickly looked at Sol and remarked "You holding up?" Sol briefly grabbed his right arm and with a swift jerk caused the bones to crack back into alignment. He then stood up and brushed the concerns off bluntly "Bastard's taking too long to die."
"It IS Justice…" Alex found himself sadly bemoaning with a brush of his hand out beside his face. Sol folded his arms and remarked "Take a break, I can handle this for a bit." The man then swiftly leaped out from cover while Alex held his hand out and whispered angrily "Sol…!"
Sol flew right at Justice's backside and punched it right before the monster could fire another laser. The beast whipped the rest of it's bladed tail up towards Sol's chest, with the man flying back and swinging his sword out to repel it. Justice then turned around and swung it's claws at Sol repeatedly. The man used his sword to keep the claws at bay, increasing it's length with blazing fires.
Justice swung both claws down at the same time and Sol gripped his sword horizontally in front of him to block the attack, with the monster using the sharpness of the claws to try and grind down the Junkyard Dog to scrap. As sparks flied furiously through the air, Sol said to Chronus "You're an idiot."
"What?!"
"I don't hate this world. If I did, I sure as hell wouldn't be trying to take you down!" Sol's draconic flames spread out like wings behind him as he charged energy within his sword, splitting it open to reveal the other hotly glowing blade within. Even in his Dragon Install state, it could be seen that he was grinning from the way his jaw moved. Looking Justice in the eyes as the debris on the ground started to be drawn in to him, Sol declared "You think you know what power is…? Lemme redefine your definition of it entirely!"
Before Sol could launch his attack, Alex quickly flew into Justice's face and smashed it with a powerful punch that knock the titan onto it's back. The boy flipped back in front of Sol's path and the man lowered the intensity of his sword while declaring "You outta your frickin' mind?!" Alex swung an arm back and declared "You were about to fire the Saint Ontario! You TRYING to feed that thing more power?!"
"Like that bastard could've taken it!"
"We can't take that risk with that artifact in the picture!" As Alex yelled that out, Justice rose to it's feet again looking no worse for the wear. Sol clamped the Fireseal tightly within the rest of his blade and swung it out, declaring to Alex "Then we need to demolish this thing fast! Not even I can keep this up forever."
Alex waved his hand back and said "Think I don't know that? We just have to keep pounding at it until it breaks." He then drew his sword and flew at Justice, rapidly stabbing the blade into it's chest while flurries of fire shot out from his body. When Justice went to swat him away, Alex turned around and used his might to repel that claw while paying attention to the other, which was charging a laser full of Backyard energy.
The very moment the laser fired, Alex got the hell out of there even as Justice swiped it's claw out to try and get the laser to hit him. The boy then swung around and thrust his hand out to take the very rain around him and throw it at Justice like a spray of hot bullets. The rain turned to steam on contact with Justice's body, but did little beyond briefly obscuring the monster's vision.
Sol lunged ahead and pounded the monster's chest like a hot iron, burying his fist into it's body with every blow until he was deep enough to dip his fingers into the mechanical flesh and tug it right off. While Sol pulled back and heated the metal he ripped off, Alex got close into the wound while charging explosive energy into his palm. Once he threw it into the body as a sphere, Justice opened it's mouth and discharged a massive laser towards Alex.
The boy used another green soul shield to hold the attack back, but the pressure was still keeping him from moving. Then Justice lowered it's claws on both sides of Alex and began to amass a shitton of Backyard energy into two orbs. The shield was swallowed into it, forcing Alex to swing his sword up against the laser before it could damage out, but in doing so he felt his wristbones crack. With a grunt, the boy grabbed his right arm tightly and pushed his body forward, compressing fire hot as the sun in his blade so he could slice right through the laser.
When Justice knew it's efforts were foiled, it twisted it's wrists to fire the spheres in pursuit of Alex, but the boy just grinned and then pulled away from the monster's mouth just seconds before the spheres could touch him. Instead, the spheres ripped right through the sides of Justice's mouth and caused it's lower jaw to slack. Alex then swung the gathered flames at the back of the jaw and sliced it off from the rest of the body. All the while Sol slammed the piece of Justice he ripped off back into place.
Alex snapped his fingers to set the explosive off inside, and the monster's upper body expanded out before a bunch of holes burst open across it's frame. As those holes let out smoldering gases, Justice lurched it's head and glared at the two with it's pale white eyes, with Chronus murmuring "I will not…I will not…"
Then Justice shot upright and let out a roar so loud the rain for miles around just completely vanished from the sky, and all the glass was shattered. Amongst that noise, Chronus yelled "I WILL NOT BE TOPPLED BY YOU DEMONS!" Alex and Sol gripped their swords as the aura flared up around Justice once more. The boy was tense, not because he worried about his fight, but rather cause of his concern towards Shina's situation. He could only take a brief glance back at the castle before focusing on Justice.
Inside the castle, the intensity of the fight had raised quite a bit. The balconies were being ripped apart by Necro and Undine's magic, forcing Shina to spare some aura to keep this part of the building from collapsing. This new Drive of hers gave her an increased supply to work with, but she knew that if she kept this up it would just handicap her more and more.
Dizzy levitated high above the center of the room as Necro draped the side of it's cloak out and fired a spread of lasers down at the enemy. Shina glided around the room and swung her sword out in broad strokes to knock away the lasers she could, while the rest manage to burn through her armor just a little.
"Uuuungh!" Shina moaned with a wince of her eyes before standing her ground and changing her blade to aura. "Gotta see if this works…" She thought in a hopeful tone before taking a swing and firing a large crescent of aura towards Dizzy. The Gear flew to the right but the aura managed to cut through some of it surrounding her left arm. Shina paused with a look of glee before firming her stance and swinging her blade rapidly to send more of those projectiles after her.
Dizzy tucked Necro and Undine into her back and slipped between the crescents as best she could, and the purple aura that was cut away just came back in a matter of seconds. As Dizzy advanced upon Shina, the girl closed her eyes for a moment and focused on the aura within Dizzy, noticing that it seemed to be dwindling.
"It's working…Just have to keep this up."
Shina flipped back as Undine popped out and wrapped her arm in an icicle to try and stab through her chest. Dizzy curved her flight up and then summoned Necro, who grabbed Shina by the neck and hoisted her up. Tentacles wiggled free from Necro's sleeve and started to wrap themselves around Shina's face to suffocate her.
Sin came to the rescue by throwing a shot of red electricity into Dizzy, which stunned her and forced the tentacles to retract. Shina took a second to catch her breath and pull Necro's fingers apart, then thrust herself away and upon landing she spread her legs to skid only a little bit. She quickly looked at Sin and found herself getting another idea. She looked at her blade and covered it in a foggy aura, then threw that straight at Sin like a projectile.
The aura surrounded his body for a moment before pooling into a glow around his flag. Sin then held it up with a confused look on his face. "Uhhh, what?" He muttered before Shina yelled out "You might be able to break that aura off now!"
Sin glanced at Dizzy and then spun his flag around, remarking in a barely understanding tone "If you say so…HRAAH!" With that grunt he stabbed his flag out multiple times with covering the tip in red electricity. Undine swung it's cloak out to guard Dizzy from the brunt of damage, but with the aura around the flag Sin was able to put a decent dent into what was surrounding his mother. Undine widened her eyes and then swung her arm out to force a crystal spike to emerge from under Sin.
The boy flipped back loftily and then slid forward with his flag at his feet, skirting along with the red electricity around him until he hit his mom's feet and knocked her up. As he got up he yelled out to Shina "It's your turn!" She had already sprinted forth, with her leaping up and bringing her aura blade down to cut through Dizzy's aura right after. She made a perfect halfway cut and landed on the ground, turning around and throwing a crescent projectile out.
Dizzy flipped over that projectile and landed behind Shina, who quickly turned to face her opponent. But it her reaction was slow, as Undine had turned her arm into an axe and brought it down instantly, delivering a heavy slash against the back of her armor. Necro drew out his scythe and went for Shina's neck, but Sin ran in and stabbed his flag straight out to repel the reaper's blade. By then the glow of aura disappeared from his weapon.
Necro, at that moment, clapped his hands together and set off a string of explosions starting from below Sin's feet and carrying him ten feet away. Shina changed her blade back to normal and smacked Necro in the face with the blunt edge. While the reaper's red-faced reaction was a moment of levity for Shina, she quickly switched the blade back and cut diagonally through Dizzy's aura.
The aura divide more than it had before, and for a moment Dizzy bit her lower lip and looked ready to cry. Shina widened her eyes and paused, feeling that pity and regret beaming right at her. Then the aura snapped back together along with Dizzy letting out a smirk, and Undine brought her axe hand down towards Shina's chest. The girl leaped out and only got a light cut through her armor, and declared as she landed "That was a dirty trick!"
Enraged, she swung her blade in an upward curve and pushed some aura out in an updraft underneath Dizzy. It rapidly battered her body and broke the aura apart, but Necro fought through it in order to aim a devilish bow ripped from it's own bones at Shina. Gathering demonic energy into the front, Necro fired a volley of blasts through the aura and they sped right at Shina.
The girl leaped away a couple times while swinging her sword out rapidly, but one laser slipped through and hit her directly in the gut. It was a hard-hitting projectile that made her widen her eyes and stumble a bit upon landing. She recovered in time to cut down a piranha Undine threw her way, then turned to Sin and threw him another cloud of aura to enhance his weapon.
But the boy was slow to get to his feet and he gripped his stomach, moaning in a taxed voice "I-I'm really running on empty here…" Shina suggested "Maybe it'd be better to have you guard Ky and Paradigm now," but Sin merely shook his head and with a quick upright stand he declared "I'm not stopping 'til Mom's safe, no matter how much my stomach groans!"
Sin threw his flag out like a javelin and Dizzy swerved to the right to avoid it, followed by Undine throwing a couple piranhas out that spat forth the long blades from it's gullet. Sin was stabbed through in the sides of his gut, but he grit his teeth and said "Hope the old man wasn't bullshitting me…!" He charged electricity in his feet and put some of it into the flag planted behind Dizzy. The two connected to each through magnetism and allowed Sin to go flying towards her and deliver a hard kick to her chest.
Sin bounced off and landed on the ground while Dizzy tripped over his flag and went tumbling across the ground. The boy raised his hand up and grit his teeth at the realization of what he was doing before he fired another shot at his mother. Shina fired a cloud of aura at the projectile, and the two wrapped together to allow some of the aura to be pulled away from the body in the impact.
Dizzy rose to her feet with Necro and Undine's help, then glided straight at Sin and grabbed him by the neck before he could escape. He was once more hoisted off the ground, and Necro wrapped his tentacles around his chest to force blood from the recently made stab wounds. "Ghhh…GAAAAH!" Sin moaned in pain, and his agony forced Shina to action.
She kicked her feet up as frantically as she could and ran towards Sin's flag, picking it up and after a briefly slide she ran straight at Dizzy and with both weapons draped in aura she swung them in an 'X' across her body. The aura around her spread out and Dizzy's head jerked back, her eyes turning back to normal for a moment. She involuntarily let go of Sin and he dropped onto his back, barely able to stand.
Shina dropped the flag and watched as Dizzy slowly creaked her body around. She was gritting her teeth and pleaded "I-I can't stop…" Her body lurched off the ground like a marionette as the purple aura erupted around her body again. After a short and heart wrenching scream, Dizzy was dragged to the center of the room and Necro and Undine whipped their hands out in front of Dizzy's chest, charging a black and purple violent energy within a compressed sphere.
The energy lashed out like lightning across the room, smashing through the walls and floor and threatening the already delicate structure of the building. Shina paused and kept up some aura for protection, but looking at Dizzy worried her as with a brief closing of her eyes she saw that her aura was straining itself at the seams. Her body was being pushed beyond it's limits, and that Gamma Ray she was about to fire would likely kill her.
The building shook and Shina slowly held her blade out beside her body, changing it to aura and looking right up at Dizzy. Her knees shook, and she started to pant slowly. "I-I'm not going to make it in time…!" She thought, the tension screwing with her perception of time. Gritting her teeth, even with hesitation trying so hard to weigh her down, Shina proclaimed "No…! I have to go for it!"
Her feet nudged off the ground slightly right as the Gamma Ray appeared ready to fire. Then, out of the blue, a thick crimson arrow-head of electricity flew into the side of Dizzy's body and electrocuted her. The flow of energy into the Gamma Ray ended and the sphere broke apart in a singular burst. Shina paused and thought it odd that such an attack could appear with Sin down. Just a quick glance to the left revealed Ky barely standing with Sin under his right arm and his back to Paradigm.
Ky had a hand raised to his glowing red left eye and quickly yelled "G-Go…!" with a great deal of pain in his voice. Shina turned towards Dizzy and gripped her sword tightly, saying happily to Ky "Thank you!" before she leaped straight at the Gear. Charging her blade full of aura so it gave off a holy glow, Shina focused all her attention on Dizzy's corrupted aura and declared "I'll save you with this final attack!"
Dropping straight past Dizzy faster than a comet while swinging her sword through her, Shina left behind a series of diagonal slashes that created a three-dimensional multi-pointed star that sliced through the remainder of Dizzy's aura. Shina closed her eyes and planted her blade in the ground, declaring with great vigor "Valkyrie Star!" as the star exploded in a glorious burst of light.
Dizzy, finally freed from the strange aura, hovered in the twinkles of aura and smiled. Shina could hear the Gear mutter with all her remaining strength "Thank…you…" She then fell to the ground, Necro and Undine silently retreating into her wings. Shina clenched the top of the blade's handle tightly and murmured "I promise…I won't let that villain get away with this!"
She slowly turned around and looked down at Dizzy, who rested quietly in place. Closing her eyes, Shina could not see Dizzy's aura until a speck of it flickered near her heart. Letting out a sigh of relief, Shina looked up towards Ky and as her vision started to blur she said "She'll be alright…Her aura will come back in a half-hour…"
Her head throbbed for a moment and her legs gave way, forcing her to plant her sword down to stay balanced. She slowly pushed herself up and thought "H-Huh…? Why am I so…tired?" She closed her eyes and looked down at herself, finding her aura retreating into her body. With a chuckle, she realized "Oh…must've pushed myself too hard…I-I'm not used…to…"
She wanted to let go of the blade and slump to the ground, but a large chunk of the ceiling then fell to the ground and jolted her awake just a little longer. Looking up, she saw that the whole ceiling was starting to collapse. No one was in any state to run out of here, so with a tight grip on her blade Shina raised it upright and muttered "I-I have to push myself just a little more…"
Outside the castle, Alex looked away from the battle as he saw the wing the others were in collapsing upon itself. Widening his eyes, he had to focus for a moment just to make sure that there was any signs of energy in the ruins. Once he caught a flicker of Shina's power, he let out a sigh of relief and then turned back towards Justice.
The titan was grabbing it's head and jerking itself around madly. Chronus proclaimed in abject confusion "What's going on?! Why can't I control that powerful Gear anymore?!" Sol floated beside Alex and remarked "Looks like your friend pulled out a miracle."
Alex raised his brows and could offer only a puzzled "I-I guess?" before focusing on the ranting madman in front of him. "It's impossible! My control is supposed to be absolute…My power is supposed to be absolute!"
"Yeah…absolute-ly outclassed!" Alex bluntly told the man off, but Chronus slammed Justice's hands against the ground and exclaimed "SILENCE! I will not hear your infantile boasts! You devils…you are damning this world to a premature end!"
Alex brushed his hands out in a mocking manner and said "Oh my GOD do you even hear yourself speak?" Sol added onto that "Guess ripping his jaw off wasn't enough to shut him up." He then smashed his fist into his palm and cracked the knuckles. With Alex giving a nod, the two then flew straight at Justice for another punch.
Justice leaped back while Chronus proclaimed "I will not be SILENCED!" As he landed he reared his body up as tall as he could and opened the plates on his shoulders. Piercing the tendrils of it's hair into voids to the Backyard, Justice began to draw in energy from there to the laser cannons on it's shoulders. The city's debris rose off the ground as the whole planet began to quake in fear of the monster's power.
With a bellowing screech, Justice planted itself into the ground and kept charging. Sol and Alex flew at the titan but their punches bounced off an invisible protective barrier and sent them flying far back. Chronus laughed at declared his victory "You shall perish at my hands! Not even you can survive the destruction of an entire continent!"
Sol grit his teeth and exclaimed "I don't think he's talking shit this time!" Alex raised his gloved hand up and quickly said "Then it's time to throw everything we've got into one last attack!" As the boy clenched his fist tightly, Sol cracked a smile and the two of them dropped onto a heaved up patch of road. Alex kept them magnetized to it and then whispered at the glove "Recognize Password: Lumina and Abraham Whiter!"
The metal plates binding the glove down deactivated, and he took it off and quickly stuffed it into his pocket. An eruption of bright rainbow flames shot out of Alex's hand and crawled up his arm, manifesting as a gigantic extension of his Phoenix wings behind his back. Sol glanced at Alex and noticed that his hand looked decayed, with the skin burnt to a flaky dark green and his veins popping out with a grisly black look to them.
With just a quiet sigh, Sol turned his head and then swung his sword back, charging it to maximum power and giving it a pale white glow. Alex swung his burning fist back and gripped his fingers into the platform. Without another word he sent the two of them flying straight at Justice, who stopped gathering energy from the Backyard and with a slight thrust of it's body out Chronus declared "DIE!" and fired an incredibly massive hot crimson laser.
All in it's wake was destroyed entirely, and with the Backyard fueling it a single touch could wipe out any living being with frightening ease. With their rage fueling their attack, Alex and Sol swung their fists out while proclaiming their moves' names.
"BLAZING OVERLORD FIST!"
"TYRANT RAVE OMEGA!"
Their punches connected at the dead center of the laser. There was silence for just a second before an explosion of raw power spread out and blew away the debris all across Illyria. An eruption of rainbow and white flames spread out like a massive, domed wall and split the clouds apart for miles on end. The sunset skies beyond draped the city in a hopeful ray of light.
Consumed in this maelstrom of energy and fire, Alex and Sol kept up a loud, continuous grunt and refused to give in to Chronus' rage. But if they kept this up, then it would only be a matter of time before they would have no choice but to. Sol's body bent down and his knees started to weaken, and Alex felt his knees dragging against the concrete that was just barely holding up underneath him.
Pain ripped through his body, and he slowly forced his other hand up to grab onto the arm the flames spurted forth from. Gripping it tightly, he barely kept his eyes open as he declared "Come on guys…WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER!" As the laser's might roared in his eardrums, Alex saw as his flames started to roar even louder than that and him and Sol started to push through the Gamma Ray.
Chronus stammered "W-What is this?!" but found himself unable to move Justice. He had sealed his own fate, and death was hastily rocketing towards his location. He could only deny what was coming with a rambling string of "NO"s until the two burned through the Gamma Ray and punched straight through Justice's head. All the fire that trailed them poured into the monster's body and it lurched upright, leaning back as the flames burst through it's body like uncontrollable geysers.
Chronus stared towards the sky with the titan's eyes consumed by fire. Painfully, he lamented what has occurred "Such impossible…power! Is this…a power that surpasses even the infinite…? Was I…just a fool in the end…?" Justice's body, unable to contain all that power, glowed bright neon and rays of power shot out from it's body and burned through the ground and clouds. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Chronus let out one final yell as Justice was ripped apart at the seams, it's parts flying every which way thanks to the massive explosion of fire that went skyward in the form of a pillar.
Alex and Sol, far away from the explosion, didn't even turn around to acknowledge the demise of Justice and Chronus. They dropped to their hands and their forms deactivated. As the rainbow flames spurned again on Alex's hand, he quickly pulled his glove out and put it back on, the magnets clamping together and the boy letting out a grunt of pain. Sol lifted his head up and saw the clouds parting even more. Gone was the oppressive storm, and what was left was a sunset for a better tomorrow.
Sol smiled, a rare sight indeed, and for a second Alex could've sworn he heard him whisper "I hope you like the view…Aria." The boy blinked a couple times and wisely chose to ignore that, brushing his hand out to say "We probably should go check up on the others…"
He slowly started to turned the platform they were on around and let out a disgruntled sigh, commenting as he looked at all the damage to Illyria City "Great…going to have to scavenge through all this shit to find the artifact."
Sol sat back as Alex flew them towards the castle, remarking quietly "It's going to take them months to clean this mess up. Least they got a good leader…" Alex leaned back, planting his hands down and telling him honestly "Being real with you here Sol…I really need a fucking spa trip after this." The man let out a slight chuckle and admitted "That doesn't sound half-bad actually…" The two's advance to the castle would be a slow and relaxed one…
Next Time: Motivation Deterioration