Shining Justice, Burning Might
Back to the battle between Super Sonic and Arzazel faraway, the two invulnerable beings continued their relentless attempts to gun down the other with barrages after barrages of energy projectiles. However, like before, the released blasts from both parties ultimately cancelled each other out upon impact, engulfing the sky with extravagant explosions and causing the violent waters below to rise even higher.
Super Sonic, swiftly and expertly charging through the god's released spheres, charged at top speed toward his opponent and slammed mightily against Arzazel's body, effectively knocking the powerful deity back a little. However, the fallen angel, showing no sign of pain when hit, quickly recovered from the impact and retaliated by summoning a large black hole to suck Sonic in.
Even with the substantial boost in both speed and power he had received from the Chaos Emeralds, the transformed hedgehog was still unable to resist the black hole's gravity, which could absorb light. Thus, Sonic could only struggle in vain as his body was gradually drawn closer and closer toward Arzazel. Once Sonic was within attack range, the dark angel immediately cancelled his own magical sphere and delivered a thunderous, darkness-augmented roundhouse kick to the hedgehog's stomach, causing him to gasp in pain.
While Super Sonic was still stunned by the kick, Arzazel, in one swift motion, warped and reappeared behind his opponent a second later. Due to his throbbing pain, Sonic was unable to react quickly enough to the god's latest assault. As a consequence, the super-powered hedgehog was once again hit in the face by a scorching sun sphere at range zero.
Had it not been for Sonic's current invulnerable state, he would have been burned out of existence already. Trying his best to recover from his latest injury, Sonic went on to triggering Chaos Control, teleporting himself right in front of his immortal opponent and instantly released multiple Chaos Spears at his sole target. The endless stream of energy shots managed to inflict moderate damage on Arzazel, evidenced when he winced softly the moment the energy projectiles hit.
Seizing his precious chance, Sonic quickly assaulted the angel with a series of lightning-quick punches and jabs, but Arzazel, even when dazed by the Chaos Spears, was able to counter all of them with little effort. After a while, he leaped back to dodge Sonic's punch and instantly teleported himself away from his charging enemy.
"You are persistent, Sonic, I will give you that, but enough is enough. Time to end this!" Arzazel's voice sounded through the deafening explosions as he moved on to casting his gravity magic on Super Sonic, attempting to send him spiraling toward the raging ocean and keep him underwater long enough to drown him.
"No way I'm giving up," Sonic choked on his own words as he labored himself to resist and withstand the immense pressure that was weighing down on him at the moment. However, it was clearly evident that the hedgehog, even with all of his power, was fighting a losing battle, for he was slowly yet steadily pulled toward the raging waters below.
"It all ends here, mortal. Farewell" Arzazel, in an attempt to speed up the process, summoned an extra large sun sphere with his free hand. "Let you be the first of your little group to succumb to the judgment of the mystic of twilight."
Arzazel was about to throw the scorching sphere directly at the trapped Sonic, who was still struggling in vain to break free from the god's powerful gravity spell.
"Your struggling is a waste of your time and strength, and I am certain you are aware of such a fact, Sonic," Arzazel taunted, "Fate decrees that I emerge victorious on this day, and win I shall!" He then shot the sphere at his target.
Sonic, at that moment, silently cursed his whole situation. He was frustrated that the only thing he could do was watch as the instrument of his demise draw nearer and nearer.
…
All of the sudden, a huge fireball flew past Sonic and hit the approaching magical sphere head-on, much to the twelve-winged angel's surprise, and instantly detonated the giant ball of light.
The moment the energy orb exploded, Arzazel was trapped within the blast radius and was consequently blasted backward. That explosion also broke the deity's concentration on his gravity control and on Sonic who, despite not knowing what had just happened, quickly seized the opportunity and charged right at the dazed angel, hitting him squarely on the stomach.
In spite of his pain, Arzazel, slightly annoyed by his opponent's persistence, quickly swung his hands, releasing a multitude of beams made of pure darkness at Sonic, who only managed to dodge most of them, not all.
Arzazel, ignoring his throbbing mid-section, was about to move in for the kill, but he quickly decided against it. Out of the corner of his eye, the deity spotted more fireballs heading toward him and teleported away from the scene in haste, narrowly escaping the wrath of the fiery projectiles.
"Well, well, well" Arzazel began, his mismatched eyes now locked onto the burning figure of his newly-arrived challenger, "Look what the cat dragged in. You, too, are full of surprises, your highness."
"Silence, fiend," commanded Blaze as she generated more fireballs from her palms, "You've caused us enough pain and suffering already. It's high time we ended this madness and put you away once and for all," Arzazel, at this point, simply closed his eyes and chuckled to himself.
"Nice entrance Blaze," Sonic said with a grin and joined his savior's side, "You totally saved my hide back there, thanks a ton."
In return, Blaze smiled and nodded her head slightly, acknowledging her friend's gratitude, before turning her focused gaze back toward the deadly mystic before her, who seemed to be in good, if not perfect, condition despite all the damage he had received from Super Sonic.
"Arzazel, I'm giving you a chance to surrender yourself peacefully. Give up now…or face the consequences" the super-powered feline threatened.
"Amusing!" replied the proud god after another chuckle, "Are you suggesting that the two of you can best me in terms of power? Truly amusing, princess!" He then burst out with laughter, making both Sonic and Blaze frown in slight annoyance.
"Though I have to ask," the fallen angel spoke again a while later with a slightly deeper and more serious tone, "How did you manage to transform, princess? The last of the Sol Emeralds, my personal prison, was dead, so I find it rather strange, inconceivable even, that you could have achieved your super transformation with only six gems in your possession."
"Your emerald is a special case, Arzazel," replied Blaze, "Unlike the other six Sol Emeralds, which were rendered truly powerless when the gods sealed inside broke free, yours was filled with one last portion of the goddess Sol, a tiny speck of pure light, hidden deep inside, waiting for the opportune moment to break free."
Hearing that from his adversary, Arzazel's facial expression changed dramatically, from confidence, to slight shock and ultimately pure anger. The sudden change was easily picked up by both Sonic and Blaze, and both of them were stunned when they actually see the fires burning in the god's mismatched eyes.
"Sol…So, she insists on standing in my way till the bitter end, even after her mortal form has long perished…hahahaha" Arzazel said, with anger lacing his every word, "Though, I suppose that is to be expected from her. I can't really say I'm that surprised by Sol's legendary persistence, which was ever present every time we talked to one another in the past."
"You personally know the great goddess of Light?" Blaze asked as her eyes went wide in surprise, but they soon returned to normal a second later.
"Rather well" replied the deity, who seemed to have calmed down considerably from his unusual exhibition of different emotions. However, there was something in his eyes when he spoke those words, something akin to disappointment. "But enough of that, I'm not here to make small talks about that stubborn individual, I'm here to realize the dream that my comrades and I share, so come."
…
With a single wave of his hands, Arzazel released an omni-directional burst of energy, more specifically his godly aura, which then swept across the sky, igniting the very air it came into contact with. That one technique effectively engulfed the entire heaven of the Sol Dimension in flames and painted the sky in the lonely and disheartening color of sunset.
Sonic and Blaze, in response to the god's attack, instinctively held out their hands and combined their own auras to form a shield to defend against the unknown force. However, they soon learned, much to their dismay, that even their legendary invulnerability was virtually useless in the face of the blood-winged angel's latest technique.
Arzazel's ominous energy discharge easily tore down their durable aura barrier upon impact and subsequently swept them across the sky. In addition, the deadly burst of godly aura then tore through their flesh under the invulnerable protection of the mystic emeralds, causing the currently super mortals to cry out as intense pain circulated their entire beings, almost shutting down the workings of their brains.
Not stopping there just yet, Arzazel, in an instant too quick for the heroes' eyes to catch, teleported himself directly above the stunned warriors and shot two powerful elemental beams from his open palms, one of pure light and the other of potent darkness, at both Sonic and Blaze.
Unable to recover quickly enough from the deity's aura attack, Sonic and Blaze painfully took the full force the god's subsequent attack. Their glowing bodies were instantly and wholly shrouded by the combination of the two contradictory elements a moment later. Even from afar, the spectators could clearly see the sight of the cat and the hedgehog's bodies disappearing in a flash of black and white.
After receiving that powerful attack, the two warriors, still alive thanks to the divine protection of the emeralds, were sent hurling toward the roaring ocean at an incredible speed, their eyes tightly shut from the intense pain which seemed to intensify as time passed.
…
While freefalling, Blaze tried her very best to pry her heavy eyelids open. Through sheer force of will, the feline managed to accomplish that feat.
Painfully turning her head sideway to look at Sonic, whose eyes were still tightly shut, Blaze grunted and forced her body to move into an upright position. Wasting no time at all, she instantly generated a strong burst of flames from her feet, which were now facing the ocean, to slow down and suspend herself in mid-air.
In one swift motion, the burning feline propelled herself toward the falling form of her seemingly knocked out comrade and prevented him from hitting the treacherous waves below.
"Sonic! Sonic, wake up!" said Blaze as she gently slapped the hedgehog's cheek with one hand, with the other wrapped around the hedgehog's shoulder to support his weight.
After a short and almost inaudible groan, Sonic's eyes began to squeeze and open a second later.
"Blaze? What…" started the confused hero as he looked around. He was in for quite a shock when he directed his eyes at the restless waves below.
"We got hit pretty badly. Can you fly on your own?" Blaze continued, her voice filled with concern.
"Y-Yeah…I think so."
With that, Blaze slowly let go of her friend. Fortunately, Sonic spoke the truth, for he started to hover on his own without any trouble.
"Where's Arzazel?" Sonic said, darting his eyes around in search of a certain angel with twelve blood-colored wings.
"Why don't you try looking up?" said a suave voice coming from above them, prompting the duo to turn toward that direction.
The moment they did, their eyes went wide with horror as they saw their immortal opponent surrounded by twelve celestial blades protruding from each of his wings, each of them twice as long as the wings themselves.
"En garde!" Arzazel exclaimed as he shot a large elemental orb directly at his opponents.
Immediately, Sonic and Blaze fanned out and dodged the incoming projectile. After that, the duo immediately gathered together and charged right at the mystic of twilight himself at top speed, fully intent on dishing out as much damage as they could with their combined efforts.
Once they were close enough, Blaze called forth multiple streams of flames from her body, which bore uncanny resemblances to the heads of the mythological Hydra, while Sonic continuously teleported from place to place unleashed a barrage of Chaos Spears of all shapes and sizes from all directions at the lone immortal.
"How predictable!" exclaimed the deity as he waved his hands, commanding the giant celestial swords to slash through all incoming fires, neutralizing the threats in a matter of seconds.
Almost instantly, the god, having destroyed the last of the Chaos Spears, descended and hurled toward Sonic and Blaze.
…
With multiple and consecutive gestures of his hands, Arzazel skillfully manipulated the giant swords with such ease that one would think they were actually parts of his own limbs, not separate entities. The fallen angel then performed various attacks, slashes, thrusts, sweeps, spins and more, all with simple waves.
Fortunately for Sonic and Blaze, they managed to evade most attacks with their greatly enhanced speed coupled with their already sharp instincts in battle. However, they couldn't get lucky all the time, especially not when faced with an assault of this multitude. Even at their best, the two heroes still got hit by the celestial blades every now and then due to the complex and highly unpredictable patterns of swordplay the ancient god was exhibiting.
"You are merely prolonging the inevitable, brave warriors," Arzazel exclaimed as he recalled all of his swords to his side and commanded them to surround him, "Begone!"
With that single command, the celestial weapons began to spin around their master, with their blades pointing outward. He then charged at his opponents head-on in an attempt to allow his weapons to tear them to shreds.
To make matters worse for Sonic and Blaze, multiple rays of light were shot from the tips of the moving blades. Both Sonic and Blaze had to try their best to avoid both the lights rays and the swords, a task that proved to be frustrating and daunting as time passed. Despite their invulnerable status, the light beams could still cause damage to them.
"Look out!" yelled Sonic in alarm as he flew toward Blaze and grabbed her hand, flying out of the way in the nick of time before one sword got dangerously close to her neck. "You okay?"
"Yeah, thanks," replied the feline gratefully, torn between relief and shock.
"No need, I'm just returning the favor" the glowing hedgehog said with a friendly blink and his usual grin. A second later, both Sonic and Blaze turned to look at the approaching menace of a god and narrowed their eyes.
Almost instantaneously, Sonic grabbed Blaze's hand and triggered Chaos Control, warping them away from the dangerous and lethal sword dance Arzazel was performing.
…
The duo reappeared a moment later at a safe distance away from the deadly angel.
"Payback?" Sonic asked, looking at his partner.
"Payback!" Blaze answered.
Sonic then, with Blaze's permission, tossed the cat forward with all his might, effectively boosting her already impressive speed tenfold, and sent her hurling toward the mighty angel.
Thanks to her immense acceleration, Blaze was able to narrowly evade the spinning swords by fitting her small frame between the tiny gap, and landed an explosive head charge to the mystic's midsection, causing his mouth to go agape as pain took over his entire body.
Due to the cat's strong strike, Arzazel's control over his energy swords was shattered shortly afterward, forcing them to dissipate into nothingness. Seizing the rare opportunity, Blaze then went on to delivering a series of combination attacks with her fists and feet, all of which were strengthened by her sacred flames.
Blaze's relentless attacks proved to be effective, for Arzazel's face was contorted in pain as each strike landed, causing him a lot of harm. Furthermore, the flames conjured by the fierce guardian of the Sol Emeralds mercilessly burned away his protective godly aura and further the damage done to the deity's flesh.
"Take this, you fiend," shouted the princess as she subsequently launched an uppercut on Arzazel's now exposed torso, sending the dazed deity heavenward at an incredible speed. From afar, the rising deity looked like a crimson shooting star heading toward the atmosphere.
Out of the blue, Super Sonic emerged right above Arzazel via Chaos Control. Before the injured immortal could do anything, Sonic immediately swooped down and landed a thunderous axe kick on the top of his head, once again sending him toward the direction where Blaze was currently at.
…
Sonic and Blaze, capitalizing the moment, simultaneously unloaded their infinite ammos of energy blasts from both directions and aimed at the single unresponsive falling angel within sight.
Needless to say, Arzazel, still dazed and out of it, was hit squarely by the massive Chaos Spears from above and the searing fire blasts from below. An explosion, which was instantly followed by many other, was instantaneous when the blasts of equivalent power impacted, forcing even the mightiest of the seven gods to roar out in sheer agony as the projectiles broke through his natural defense and scorched his protected flesh underneath.
Trying his best to withstand the almost unbearable pain coming from every fiber of his being, Arzazel forced his eyes open and, with a thunderous roar, unleashed a second wave of his aura burst attack, which immediately spread out much like last time, only this time, it was much wider and stronger. The released godly aura at once did away with all incoming projectiles.
In an instant, Sonic, having realized that his attacks were useless against the god's potent aura explosion, warped next to Blaze and grabbed her. Before the cat could ask, Sonic beat her to it.
"Let's get out of this place before we get hit by that move again.'
Not even waiting for Blaze's response, Sonic activated Chaos Control once again and teleported to somewhere safe, far away from the radius blast of Arzazel's desperate attack.
…
Shortly afterward, the crimson aura burst disappeared and revealed the mystic, now burned and charred from all the attacks that he had endured.
"You…" Arzazel, now without his godly aura, said with a much deeper tone than the one he had been using thus far, wrapping one arm around the other to ease the pain, "How dare you…I will make you pay for that."
Raising one hand up, Arzazel summoned a gigantic orb of light and shot it heavenward. A short while later, the sphere exploded on its own when it had reached its designated altitude and created a large magic circle that covered the entire ashen sky. From it, millions of arrow-shaped light-based projectiles shot out and rained down upon Sonic and Blaze in torrent.
Understandably, the heroes were shocked speechless by Arzazel's latest assault. In spite of all the heavy damage he had received, the fallen angel still possessed this much power left to spend, and who could tell how much he truly had left.
'This guy is truly a monster' both Sonic and Blaze thought bitterly at the same time as they watched the approaching torrent of elemental projectiles.
…
With great difficulty, Sonic and Blaze moved around at their top speed to evade the endless barrage of elemental energy arrows. To make matters worse, Arzazel was not quite finished with his technique just yet, one that would in time prove to be his most devastating move thus far.
The fallen angel, watching his opponents intently, moved on to summoning another enormous sphere of darkness from his remaining hand and shot it toward the ocean below. Like its light counterpart, the sphere of pure darkness exploded shortly afterward and formed a different magic circle below.
From the newly-created circle, countless of dark, cross-shaped pillars emerged and headed toward Sonic and Blaze, much to the heroes' horror.
Blaze and Sonic, in their time of desperation, regrouped and concentrated their power together, forming a protective aura of light and flames in an attempt to shield themselves from Arzazel's tenacious assault.
Even with the combined might of both Chaos and Sol energies, the task proved to be extremely taxing and equally hazardous.
As the pillars of darkness and the arrows of light impacted the Chaos-Sol aura shield, both Sonic and Blaze could feel jolts of immense pain running up and down their bodies, but they still persistently tried their best to maintain their last line of defense, which was pretty much the only thing that was standing between them and instant death.
…
"Blaze…How are you doing over there?" Sonic asked with a pained smile, trying to lighten up the mood of their current predicament.
"I'm doing fine…no sweats" replied the cat between pants as beads of sweats rolled down her forehead.
"This guy is on a league of his own. He's probably more dangerous than the rest of his gang."
"Yes, after all that damage, he still persists…Arazel of the Eternal Twilight…it's no wonder he is revered as the leader of the gods of catastrophe."
"Yeah, but like hell I'm giving up right now," said Sonic with great determination as he concentrated even harder, ignoring the pain and trying to prevent the shield from breaking down from the constant attacks that were damaging it.
Blaze, glancing briefly at her friend, smiled tiredly and tried her best as well. The fate of the worlds was at risk, and she wasn't about to let everyone down. With renewed and strengthened determination, the hedgehog and the feline continued their struggle against the mighty angel of death.
…
On the outside, Arzazel assessed the situation and grinned maliciously.
"Foolish mortals, your efforts are most admirable, but sadly, they are all for naught," the angel stated plainly as he kept the pressure on his trapped enemies. "It has been an honor meeting you Sonic and Blaze, but your journey ends here. Farewell."
Arzazel then raised both hands up and summoned another sphere of mixed property, which was easily twice the size of his opponents' barrier. Just as he was about to hurl the menacing orb toward the heroes' aura shield, however, Arzazel suddenly felt a sting on his back, which caused him to lose his focus for a while, causing the latest sphere to disappear. With a grunt, the angel whipped his head around in order to locate the source of the interference.
The moment he did that, Arzazel was hit squarely on the cheek by a spiked knuckle, which was then followed by a roundhouse kick to the side of his head and a slash to the chest in quick succession.
Not yet able to make out what had happened, the stunned Arzazel was once again assaulted by a barrge of Chaos Spears at range-zero, making him flinch and lost control of his magic.
Summoning a barrier in front of him to defend against the relentless stream of energy projectiles, Arzazel now saw, to his charging, Shadow, Knuckles and Metal Sonic; with the latter keeping the formers afloat by grabbing their wrists tightly.
"You…you dare…" said the irritated deity, his words now filled with venom and malice. Obviously, the battle against Sonic and Blaze had been wearing down his patience substantially.
"We'll do anything to bring you down, creep," Knuckles said, jabbing a finger at the immortal in a challenging manner.
"Besides, I believe we've already achieved our objective," Shadow said calmly, a sly smirk slowly forming on his muzzle.
Arzazel instantly turned around and found that Sonic and Blaze had managed to escape from his grasp during his moment of distraction, and they were currently charging at him at top speed.
Blaze immediately shot a large fireball at the lone god, which turned into a huge tornado of flames the moment it landed on its target. At the same time, Sonic quickly teleported behind the angel and connected another powerful kick to his spine, sending him flying toward Blaze, who easily dodged the approaching body and shot another barrage of fire spheres at her opponent.
"Thanks guys, we owe you big time," Sonic said with a thumb-up directed at his three saviors.
"If you want to thank anyone, thank Tails" Knuckles said, "he was the one who suggested…well, more like ordered Shadow to use the Chaos energy that Metal Sonic had stored up inside his system during their temporary team-up to take us here and help you out."
"I don't think I've ever seen that fox so agitated before," Shadow chimed in, frowning as he recalled the tone with which Tails had used to talk to him.
Sonic had to stifle a laugh when he listened to his friends, much to Shadow's charging. That the proud Ultimate Lifeform was bossed around by his young best friend was a thought he never thought he would ever think of, much less hear of.
"Guys, I think we need to save the chitchat for later," said the newly-arrived Blaze, "He's coming back."
That statement made everyone turn around and direct their attention at the blood-winged immortal far away. True to Blaze's words, Arzazel's body was currently glowing brightly, surrounded once again by his protective aura. Due to the long distance, nobody could make out what kind of expression the god was wearing, but if Sonic had to venture a guess, he would say that Arzazel was furious, and he would later find out that his guess was not far off the mark.
"Enough…ENOUGH…I've had it with your meddling. Time to get vaporized, insolent fools!" shouted the enraged deity as he summoned six spherical objects of crimson shade and made them float around him.
The spheres then turned vertically and connected with each other, creating a complete circle with the twelve-winged angel as the center.
"Guys," Sonic said without diverting his eyes away from the deadly deity, "I suggest you leave this place now. Blaze and I will take care of this."
Knuckles was about to argue, but after a firm look from Blaze, he relented.
"Okay, but you two had better come back alive, you hear!" growled the echidna as he pointed his finger at each of his super-powered friends. From Blaze, he received a slight nod and from Sonic, a familiar thumb-up post.
Satisfied but not quite convinced, Knuckles reluctantly told Shadow to get them back to where Tails and Espio were, leaving Sonic and Blaze behind to deal with the wrath of the monstrous immortal.
Back to Arzazel, the god, after accumulating a sufficient amount of energy, spread his hands and shot countless condensed energy blasts from the six glowing spheres around him.
Despite knowing the danger of getting shot down, both Sonic and Blaze promptly charged forward, rapidly evading the incoming blasts and heading directly toward the mystic himself.
…
After shooting and missing for a while, Arzazel grunted in exasperation and clasped his hands together, summoning another magic circle right in front of him.
"Feel my wrath, mortals. Event Horizon!"
The six orbs instantly connected with the newly-formed magic circle, from which a huge laser beam shot out, heading straight at the charging heroes. A second later, six smaller laser beams shot out from the spheres as well to augment the larger one.
Knowing that it was too late to get out of the way; Sonic and Blaze, after a slight nod of silent agreement, concentrated their power and released a combined burst of energy of both Chaos and Sol kind, all the while still speeding toward the bringer of cataclysm.
Arzazel's attack collided with the heroes' counter head-on a moment later, resulting in another massive explosion in the air that lit up the entire Sol dimension.
…