And here we are, the final scene to the final battle. Let's see what happens, then, shall we?

Chapter 36:

Jerome had lost the desire for vengeance. He only wished now to bring the Destroyer to justice. The Destroyer had disrupted the balance of the Grand Design in such an extreme, drastic way. He must suffer the consequences. The Destroyer stole the Tablet and changed it. The right to change the Tablet remained with the Grand Architect, and the Architect alone. Excisio must be punished for such blasphemy. He killed the Charmed Ones and... okay, that one was for vengeance. But it was mostly for justice, just with a little vengeance mixed in.

Jerome, however, had no idea how he had gained such power, or why. He turned to Medeis and Electus. Medeis was staring at him, eyes wide and mouth open. Electus was smiling. "What's happened to me?" he asked.

"You have met the necessary requirements for the Grand Architect to choose you as a champion. You are now the Avatar of Might," Electus said.

"No," Jerome said. "I had more power than an Avatar as a Defender. I now have power that even an Ascended One can never possess."

"The Avatars call themselves that because they believe that they are representatives of a new world. You are the Avatar of Might because you are the now the physical manifestation of the powers of the Grand Architect, second only to the Grand Architect himself," Electus said.

"Why me?" Jerome asked.

"I don't know," Electus said. "Only the Grand Architect can know why, but you were chosen. You know what needs to be done; now go!"

Jerome nodded and turned to the Destroyer, who had the Tablet in His hands. He was trying to remove Jerome's name and add His own, but the Tablet wasn't responding to His power. Eventually, the Destroyer threw the Tablet aside, in disgust, and said "This thing must be broken! There is no way that a pathetic Defender like you has as much power as me!"

"You're right," Jerome said. "I have far more."

The Destroyer roared and blasted Jerome with His black lightning. Jerome took the attack. It did nothing, nothing at all. Excisio stepped back and attacked again, throwing more power into this attack. Again, Jerome was completely unaffected. "My turn," Jerome said. Jerome blasted the Destroyer with his own, now green, lightning. The attack, though far less intense than what Jerome could have done, still had enough power to knock the Destroyer on His back. The Destroyer jumped up and shattered several places in the air around Him.

He leapt through one of the holes, which quickly sealed themselves back up. Jerome tried to Flicker, but rather than actual Flickering, Jerome was engulfed in a pillar of brilliant emerald light. The light dropped him off in the Himalayas. The Destroyer was standing in front of him, farther up the mountain they stood on. "You fool!" Excisio yelled. "Behold the power that you face!"

Excisio threw a sphere of dark energy at one of the mountains. As soon as the sphere touched the mountain, the entire mountain exploded, leaving behind nothing where the mountain once had been. Several parts of the nearby mountains had lost pieces in the explosion. Jerome raised an eyebrow. "Here's the power you face," Jerome said. Jerome then created a ball of green energy and threw it at Excisio. The attack hit the Destroyer square in the chest, exploding and knocking Him into the mountain. Literally, into the mountain. Jerome flew off the mountain and caused the entire mountain to collapse on Excisio.

All that was left from Jerome's attack was a pile of rubble. Soon, a beam of dark energy shot from the rubble and completely destroyed all of it. Excisio jumped up and flew up to Jerome. He snarled at Jerome and said "You may have power now, but you cannot defeat me!" Excisio blasted Jerome with black lightning.

Jerome deflected the attack with a flick of his wrist, causing the lightning to hit a nearby mountain. The mountain cracked and collapsed into a pile of rubble. Excisio snarled and tackled Jerome. Jerome was sent to the ground, creating a massive crater on impact. Jerome released a blast of green lightning, sending Excisio flying out of the crater. Jerome flew out of the crater and flew towards the Destroyer. As soon as he got close enough, Jerome kicked the Destroyer in the face, in turn knocking Him to the ground, creating another crater. A burst of dark light came from the crater. When the light faded, the crater was even bigger and lava was quickly rising up into it. The lava shot out of the crater and straight towards Jerome. Jerome quickly moved out of the way and began looking for the Destroyer.

Jerome saw the land shake. Jerome looked towards the crater and saw, through the lava, some dark light. Jerome flew into the crater and through the massive hole. The lava and magma he flew through were scorching hot, but Jerome felt nothing. He continued flying through the magma, and he knew he was well into the Earth's mantle by now. He continued flying, following the occasional flashes of dark light through the mantle and into the outer core. He came to the solid metal inner core and saw a hole going through it.

Jerome went into the hole and saw the Destroyer, throwing black balls of energy farther down the hole. The Destroyer was trying to create a massive tunnel through the center of the Earth. And He was succeeding. Jerome swam in front of Excisio, who looked shocked to see him down there, and alive. Jerome blasted the Destroyer with green lightning, sending Him and a large amount of magma flying through the inner core, through the mantle, and back out of the original crater the Destroyer had made. Jerome quickly shot through the magma and surfaced through that crater. Jerome looked around and saw a ton of lava covering the mountains around him. As he watched, the lava cooled and hardened into stone. Jerome looked around for the Destroyer, but couldn't see Him anywhere.

Jerome felt a blow strike him from behind. He was sent flying into the ground, creating yet another crater. Jerome looked up and saw the Destroyer shooting a beam of dark energy at the ground. Everything the beam touched was instantly destroyed. The beam connected with the crater Jerome was in, and the crater quickly began to fill with lava. The lava quickly cooled, leaving Jerome trapped in a stone tomb. Jerome closed his eyes and focused. He felt his power building, and when it reached a high enough point he released it.

Excisio laughed as the lava cooled over Jerome, trapping him in the stone. The ground where the crater had been began to glow green. Excisio stopped laughing and watched as the ground shattered in a burst of emerald light. Jerome rose out of the ground and, as the light faded, threw a green ball of energy at the Destroyer. The Destroyer blasted His black lightning at the ball. The lightning hit the ball and stopped in from moving. Excisio put more power behind His attack and pushed His lightning, and the ball, towards Jerome. The ball began darkening.

Jerome shot his own green lightning at the incoming attack. The two attacks collided and released a shock wave. The shock wave traveled and it the surrounding mountains and rock, destroying pieces of them. The two lightning attacks were pushing against each other, fighting for dominance, similar to before when Jerome had been Ascended. This time, however, the attack was slowly making its way towards Excisio.

The Destroyer put more power into His attack, but only succeeded in slowly it down slightly. The attack was still making its way towards Excisio. Jerome added more power into his attack and successfully shoved the attack into Excisio. The Destroyer was sent flying back. When He stopped, He waved His hand around, destroying space so He could quickly travel to another location. He flew through the portal, which quickly closed behind Him.

Jerome knew where He had gone. He teleported to where he knew Excisio was, disappearing in a flash of emerald light. Jerome reappeared in Antarctica, right outside of Claustrum. Excisio was floating right above Claustrum, and waved His hand over it. Jerome heard several roars of the monstrous creatures that were trapped in Claustrum. Only now, Jerome had a feeling they were no longer trapped.

Jerome's suspicions proved to be correct when all sorts of monsters flew out of Claustrum. Dragons, chimaeras, hydras, and other hideous monster too horrible to describe flew out of the ancient prison. The creatures all began fighting with each other, until a loud, horrible screeching roar came from the prison. The creatures all fled the area, flying off in every direction. A muscular, scaly arm with razor sharp claws on the end of each finger came out of the prison, quickly followed by another. Jerome saw scaly wings come from the pit. The wings flapped once, aiding the arms in pulling out a head that looked like that of a massive dragon, followed by a massive scaly torso. Massive scaly legs then followed. Lastly came a long, serpentine tail. The monster roared and fixed its wicked red eyes on Jerome.

The monster raised a clawed hand and swiped at Jerome. Jerome flew out of the way, and straight into a ball of dark energy the Destroyer had thrown. The attack sent Jerome flying, into the reach of the monster. The monster grabbed Jerome and threw him to the ground. The monster then stomped on Jerome. Jerome felt the weight of the massive creature crush him into the ground. The pressure suddenly was released and Jerome shot up into the sky. Excisio blasted some black lightning at him. Jerome quickly got out of the way. Jerome then shot his own green lightning at the Destroyer, who dodged it. Jerome was suddenly knocked out of the sky and into the ground. Jerome looked up to see the massive monster looming over him.

The monster opened its mouth and released a stream of intense purple fire. Jerome quickly rolled out of the way and shot green lightning at the monster. The attack made the massive creature reel back, but it quickly regained its balance. Jerome flew up to the creature and blasted it in the face with his green lightning. The creature reeled back again, but again regained its balance fairly quickly. Excisio blasted Jerome with a beam of dark energy, knocking Jerome away. Jerome quickly flew up and over the monster. He floated with the monster to his back and the Destroyer in front of him. Jerome shot a blast of emerald energy at the Destroyer. He dodged the attack, and threw a dark ball of energy at Jerome. Jerome flew out of the way and shot the energy ball with his own emerald lightning. The force of the lightning sped up the energy ball and both it and the lightning hit the monster in the back, hard. The monster roared in pain and fell to the ground. Excisio snarled and tackled Jerome into the monster.

The monster tried to stand back up. It began flapping its wings as it tried to push itself off the ground. Jerome leapt on one of the wings and, as it was going up, used the force of the wing to shoot towards the Destroyer. Jerome tackled the Destroyer, hard, and sent Him flying. Jerome then turned to the monster, ready to end it.

Electus was dying. Medeis tried before the heal him, but when Excisio's name was on the Tablet, there was nothing she could do. However, she had seen the Tablet, and she saw the Jerome's name had replaced Excisio's. She was willing to try again.

Medeis poured all of her power into healing Electus, into fixing the horrid wound the Destroyer had left. At first, her magic did nothing. However, as time passed and she kept pouring all her might into fixing her love, Electus began to heal. The wound began to seal itself, and the slow destruction of Electus' body was halted and reversed. Medeis, out of power, collapsed. She had done it! She had saved Electus!

Electus sat up and lifted Medeis' chin. "Thank you," he said.

Medeis threw her arms around Electus and pulled him into a tight embrace. There were tears in her eyes. "Oh, Electus! You're okay, you're okay!" she said.

Electus hugged her back and said "Yes, I am. Thanks to you, and thanks to Jerome."

Medeis pulled back, tears of joy streaming down her face. "We owe him our lives," she said. "If you had gone, I don't think I would have survived."

Electus smiled. "Well, I'm alive and healthy, now. Let's not dwell on what could have been," Electus said.

Medeis giggled and kissed Electus. They were both alive, and they were both together.

Jerome tackled the giant monster, trying to knock it off balance. The monster, however, had learned. It knew not to fall over, and it was going to stay upright. Jerome quickly gave up trying to knock the thing down. He blasted it with intense emerald green lightning. The attack hit the monster in the chest, causing it to stagger, but it still stood, and it was still alive.

Jerome sensed Excisio returning, and he had an idea. Excisio was still the Destroyer, and he could still destroy anything save the Sealing Obelisk. And, now, Jerome. Jerome turned to face Excisio. "Your power is weak," Jerome taunted. "I doubt you have any destruction left in you."

Excisio was oblivious to Jerome's plan, only his taunting. He roared "I am the Destroyer! I am destruction!" He built up a massive ball of dark, destructive energy. The mere radiation of the attack destroyed some of the snow that had begun falling. He threw it at Jerome, putting as much power as He could into it.

Jerome turned around and quickly blasted the monster once more, to get its attention. The monster roared and snapped at Jerome. Jerome quickly flew out of the way, and the monster's head was exactly where Jerome had been. The dark ball of destruction energy hit the monster in the head, completely destroying the head. The blast destroyed several parts of the rest of the monster's body in the resulting shock wave. What remained of the monster fell to the ground, completely lifeless.

Excisio snarled. "You tricked me!" he roared.

"It wasn't particularly difficult," Jerome said.

Excisio roared and blasted Jerome with a beam of dark energy. The attack hit Jerome, but it had no effect. Jerome raised his eyebrow at the Destroyer and said "I'm done playing games."

Jerome attacked the Destroyer with a beam of his own, this one emerald green in color. The attack hit Excisio and sent Him flying back. Excisio, after He stopped moving, snarled and blasted Jerome with another beam of dark energy. Jerome countered this attack with his emerald green energy beam. Jerome's beam tore through the Destroyer's like it was wet tissue paper. The attack knocked the Destroyer down.

The Destroyer looked up at the ex-Defender and realized that He had no chance of victory. Jerome raised his arms and brought them down. Emerald green meteors of energy began falling from the sky. Excisio quickly rose up and started flying, trying to avoid those meteors. He swerved, weaved, and flew around the meteors as they fell. However, despite His efforts, one meteor still struck Him, sending Him spiraling to the ground. Excisio stood up and clutched His side, feeling the pains of true injury for the first time in all of His existence. Jerome landed in front of Him, hands glowing green, and Excisio felt, for the first time in His entire existence, fear.

Jerome threw a ball of emerald energy at the Destroyer. The attack struck, and Excisio was knocking on His back. Pain erupted from where the attack had struck. Excisio sat up, panting, and said "Mercy!"

Jerome, about to strike again, stopped. He frowned and snarled "Mercy? You destroy my people, unleash an force created to destroy the balance of the Grand Design, and completely ruin the balance by killing an Ancient. And you expect mercy?"

"Please," Excisio begged. He had never begged before, never needed to. Not even against the boy's father, or the other Ancients when they sealed Him away. But now here He was, begging for mercy. "Please, have mercy."

Jerome bristled. "Did you show Paige any mercy? Or how about Piper? Phoebe?" Jerome yelled. "No! You didn't! You just killed them!"

"It's in my nature," Excisio argued. "I can do nothing but destroy."

Jerome growled. He turned his back and said "Fine. You want mercy? I'll give you mercy. But know this: you were completely and utterly defeated by my hands, and if the need arises, I will kill you. You are nothing to me."

Excisio, despite the fact that Jerome was willing to let Him live, felt anger rising in Him. He was nothing? He'll show this pathetic Defender nothing! Excisio blasted Jerome with every ounce of power He possessed. All His anger, rage, and hatred fueled His attack. The attack was more intense than any attack Excisio had ever seen, and He had fought in a war of Ancients!

Excisio held the attack for as long as He could. When He was out of power, He collapsed. There was no way that Defender could have survived such an attack, he thought. But, after the smoke cleared, Jerome was standing, emerald green and angry. "I show you mercy and this is how you act?" Jerome shouted. "Then so be it! You have made your choice, and now, you will die!"

Jerome blasted Excisio with every ounce of power he possessed. Jerome kept pouring might and strength into the attack and, when he thought he couldn't add any more, he kept pushing. The blast of emerald energy that Jerome shot out consumed all of the Destroyer. Jerome held the attack until absolutely couldn't hold it any longer. He collapsed. Jerome lifted his head and looked at his arms. They had returned to normal. He felt his power dropping, all the way back to when he was a Defender. Jerome looked at Excisio. The area was still covered in emerald light.

When the light faded Excisio was still there, standing. However, even as Jerome watched, the red in Excisio's eyes faded, and He fell over. The Destroyer was dead.

Author's Note:

So, I'm thinking I'll probably only write one epilogue chapter, and wrap up all the loose ends. So, how was this chapter? I think this was the longest chapter I have ever written. Please, tell me what you thought. I was hoping for epic, but I want to hear it from someone other than myself. I'm not the best person to judge my own work. So, please leave me a review telling me what you thought of this chapter.