A/N: I know this update was due yesterday, but internet issues delayed it until now. Though this is the final chapter, there is an epilogue that I'll be posting at the same time since its not a stand alone chapter.
Chapter XXVI
As the final clutching ounce of Mortis's life passed onto the Lifestream, the maniacal machination that was pressed along the far wall of the chamber began to stir with life. Buzzers and lights turned on and off as the machine started to function on its programmed path. Sephiroth ran over to the control station and frantically looked for an abort button, but found none.
The machine released a long stream of hydraulic steam with a hiss as a large circular ring began to lower over the purple Huge Materia. Sephiroth sneered as he again searched the control board for a solution, all the while the ring continued to descend. Once the ring reached the bottom, it began to emit a loud high pitched squeal as a thousand small lasers began to power up. Sephiroth did not know what the Weapon was capable of, but he would rather not find out. In frustration, he smashed the control panel with his fist, sending broken buttons flying in all directions, but the machine continued on performing its duty.
With a bright flash of light, the lasers began to fire into the Huge Materia, creating a deep green fog to be formed inside the chamber. Sephiroth had to shield his eyes as the inside of the cylindrical chamber glowed like a Mako reactor. The fog was then pumped out of the chamber through a large conduit at the top of the cylinder and was then passed through a machine that was connected by thousands of wires to the large stone form of the Dragon. The ring of lasers began to rise, consuming the Materia as it went, leaving nothing in its wake. Before Sephiroth could think of doing anything else, the crystal was totally gone. The form of the sleeping Dragon began to pulse with shocks of color, revealing its many colored scales that before were just designs in the stone.
Sephiroth sneered and then saw that the second ring in the remaining cylinder was beginning to descend. Throwing all caution towards the wind, Sephiroth prepared the Masamune and swung with all of his might against the remaining cylinder. The glass shattered and pelted the machine with a million shards and the now broken laser ring fell to the ground, but was still powering up its lasers. Sephiroth grabbed the remaining yellow Huge Materia and ran towards the others just as the lasers became active and fired into the massive machine, creating sparks and soon a massive fire broke out.
Sephiroth handed the Huge Materia to Bakusa and then looked back at the Weapon that was now being covered with more and more pulses of energy that followed one another with a quickening pace.
"Locke, get Loran and Bakusa out of here now," Sephiroth said as he focused on the Ryuujin that was now beginning to stir slowly.
"What are you going to do?" Loran asked as Locke helped her up. Sephiroth took a step towards the awakening Dragon and briefly looked back with a smirk.
"See what this thing's made of."
Just then the massive hulking form of the Ryuujin pushed itself up onto its four legs, and stretched, sending the thousands of wire that were around it falling to the ground. The Ryuujin was nearly twenty meters tall with a large obsidian scale covered abdomen and four thick appendages, each covered in razor sharp talons. Its head was shaped like that of a dragon, with deep yellow piercing eyes. Sephiroth turned to the Dragon and readied his Masamune in his left hand and looked over it before he charged forward. Locke quickly supported Loran's weight and hurried the three of them out of the chamber and back towards the surface. No matter how much they might have wanted to see the fight, they knew that it was no place to be, nor did they want to defy an order from their General.
Sephiroth charged forward, his Masamune ready to pierce the flesh of the Weapon, but the massive hulking form of the Dragon focused on the incoming attacker, and quickly swiped at him with it's right clawed paw, striking Sephiroth in his side. Sephiroth caught himself in midair and again projected himself towards the Dragon. The Ryuujin was ready for this assault, and again swiped with its right. Sephiroth easily leaped over the attack and then dodged the left paw as it came flying from the other direction. Sephiroth swung the Masamune at the torso of the Dragon, but the blade only made a deep cut into the Dragon's armor scales.
The Weapon reeled back after his attack and then swung its massive spiked tail at Sephiroth. He was not able to avoid the tail as it came crashing towards him, so the tail hit him hard and carried him all the way to the far wall, crashing him against the rocks. The Ryuujin pulled its tail away and then lunged forward to tear Sephiroth apart with it's sharp dagger like fangs. Sephiroth was ready to plunge the Masamune into the throat of the Dragon, but the massive machine in the corner of the chamber ignited into a searing fireball. The explosion struck the Ryuujin on its flank pushing it off balance.
Sephiroth used the moment to get away from the wall that he had his back pinned to and readied to attack the monster again. The Ryuujin righted itself and roared at Sephiroth before it built up a fire blast from its throat. The Dragon launched the fireball at Sephiroth, but he merely cut it away with the blade of the Masamune and continued to charge towards the massive hulking best.
The Dragon then quickly slashed Sephiroth with both of its forearms, flicking the deadly talons at the silver haired attacker. Sephiroth blocked each of the talons with quick swings and parries from the Masamune. In an instant that the Dragon left itself open for an attack, Sephiroth quickly swung down on its right paw, severing it at the wrist and spewing green blood out onto the rock floor.
The Dragon roared in anguish and swung its tail at Sephiroth with blinding speed. Sephiroth saw it coming this time, and jumped just as it was about to connect. Quickly Sephiroth twirled his blade and caught the tip of the Dragon's tail, removing the spear like tip and spilling green blood onto the floor. The Ryuujin tried to kick out with its hind legs at Sephiroth, but he merely jumped back and readied himself for another attack.
With the injuries that the Ryuujin had sustained, it then reared back onto its hind legs and began to charge it's most powerful attack, an energy blast that contained the very power of the Planet. Sephiroth knew that he could not let the Dragon unleash this attack; otherwise the inferno unleashed would surely kill him. He charged forward but the Ryuujin knocked him back when a massive wing came away from it's tight hold on the Dragon's abdomen and hit him squarely, sending him flying away. Sephiroth hit the ground, but quickly got back onto his feet and watched the two massive wings of the Dragon billow out. The inside of the wings was a strange green-purple hybrid that shimmered in the burning light of the torches and remnants of the machinery. Sephiroth could now see the massive form of energy that was culminating in the Dragon's wide open jaws; the bright green embers were quickly concentrating and forming a massive ball inside its gaping maw.
Sephiroth quickly formed a fireball and launched it at the Dragon, but the blast only absorbed into the armor of the Dragon. Sephiroth let out a curse as he firmed his grip on the Masamune and charged in again. The Dragon saw him coming, and knew that the Mega-Blast was not ready. Before Sephiroth could reach the Dragon, it launched itself upwards and blasted its way straight through the mountain. Sephiroth acted quickly, and grabbed onto one of the spikes of the tail and held on with all of his strength as the Ryuujin continued to break through the mountain and then burst into the open air.
On the ground surrounding the Hitoyama Mountain, the two armies continued to fight, but they both paused when the massive form of the Ryuujin with it's wings spread wide erupted out of the mountain. Locke, Loran, and Bakusa had just emerged from the mountain's entrance when the Dragon burst forward, sending large chunks of the mountain raining down on them. Through the dust, they could see Sephiroth hanging onto the Dragon's tail, still clutching the Masamune in his left hand. Both sides of the conflict erupted in cheers, each for their own reasons.
Sephiroth grunted as he tried to pull himself up with his right hand, but the speed at which the Ryuujin was flying made it difficult. Through the blistering wind, Sephiroth could see that the massive ball of earth-rendering energy was growing larger and larger by the moment. Suddenly, as quickly as it had started, the Ryuujin stopped in mid air, and now aimed the Mega-Blast down at the surface.
Down below, the cheering from both sides stopped as the massive form of the green energy blast became so bright that it lit the ground with a green hue. Several of the Brotherhood ninjas gulped in fear, and dropped their weapons and ran to get as far away as they could; several of the SOLDIERs joined them.
When the Ryuujin stopped in mid air, Sephiroth had enough time to catch his breath and knew what he had to do. As he watched the massive Mega-Blast being prepared for launch, he reached deep into himself to find the strength he needed to end this here and now. At first, it seemed as if his entire reserve of strength had been depleted, but in that singular moment, everything around him went to black, only leaving himself and the Ryuujin. He could not hear anything except for the rhythmic beating of his own heart. Suddenly his body was rejuvenated with a level of strength that he had not known that he possessed, and in a sudden move of action, he launched himself at the massive Mega-Blast.
From the foot of the Hitoyama Mountain, Loran, Locke, and Bakusa looked up and shielded their eyes from the bright light as they tried to focus on their leader. In a blinding instant, they saw their leader hurl himself towards the head of the Dragon just as the Ryuujin released the Mega-Blast. Suddenly the sky was filled with a terrific blinding light that washed out everything. They all had to close their eyes tightly to keep the flash from rendering them blind for the rest of their days. The blast gave off a tremendous level of heat that washed over them, making them cry out in pain from the searing explosion. Soon the devastatingly loud rumble from the blast reached their ears, shaking the very earth to the core. Slowly, the blazing light and the heat began to dissipate, and they opened their eyes to see the aftermath.
The ground was covered in a layer of soot, and then trees were all bent away from the epicenter of the blast. Loran looked up into the sky and saw a large remnant of smoldering embers where the Ryuujin had been. Ashes and larger flaming debris from the Dragon began to fall towards the ground in a silent display of acrid black rain. Loran scanned the skies looking for Sephiroth, but she could hardly make anything out in the dense haze. Bakusa pointed up with his good hand and shouted out loud when he spotted something gracefully falling from the sky.
"Look! I think it's him!" The three all looked at the falling figure, and could see that it was Sephiroth. In the air, he was falling with his arms loosely held at his sides, feeling the air caress his battle weary body. When he hit the ground, he instantly fell into a crouch, but lifted himself up and rubbed the soot from his face with his right hand. His three squad mates ran up to him and marveled at what he had just accomplished. Sephiroth lightly smirked, and then looked up into the sky as the burning debris began to rain down all over the continent of Wutai. When Sephiroth looked back down and scanned the battlefield, those remaining Brotherhood ninjas all dropped the fight and ran into the woods.
Colonel Garson ran up to Sephiroth and gave him a salute. "General, sir, the Brotherhood is in retreat." Sephiroth lightly nodded and then looked around at all of the faces of the surviving SOLDIERs as they all looked on him with a sense of awe and wonder. Sephiroth focused on Garson and gave his orders.
"Have your men round up the remaining Brotherhood members and then report back to the beachhead." Garson saluted and then went about issuing the orders to the men, who then hurried along to get their jobs done. Sephiroth then looked to his squad and lightly nodded.
"Come on. We need to get back to the beach and prepare for the drive north." Bakusa let out a sarcastic sigh and shook his head.
"Oh man, can't we take a break for once?" Sephiroth let out a humph as he continued to walk in the direction of the beach.
"Just because I destroyed a giant dragon doesn't mean that Wutai will give up in this war. And besides, where would the fun be in waiting?" Bakusa let his shoulders fall in surrender and shook his head. Locke patted Bakusa on the back and shrugged his shoulders as they started to follow their leader.
"Look on the bright side, you'll get to meet plenty of babes from Wutai. I'm sure one of them might find you appealing." Bakusa glared at Locke, who then could no longer hold back his laughter and soon Loran joined in, though her laughter was restrained due to the lingering effects of her injury. Even Sephiroth lightly laughed, though he was too far ahead of the others for them to notice.
As they walked along the path towards the beach, they passed MPs carrying medical gurneys with the wounded back to the field hospital that was set up on the beach; Loran refused to take one since she was able to walk, though rather slowly and with a noticeable limp. Bakusa placed his hands behind his head, and looked up into the sky as the debris was still falling. It was then that he saw something strange drifting down from the sky. He caught it in his hand and looked at it quizzically. It was a long black feather that seemed to be unharmed from the explosion. Bakusa looked up again and saw that there were hundreds of them falling down from the sky. He scratched his head, and dropped the feather as he wondered out loud: "I don't remember that dragon having feathers…"