Chapter 39: The Final Battle Part 4 - Brother against Brother

The factions of the Tristain army had all managed to make it back to their respective worlds with time becoming shorter with each minute. No one questioned what was going on, most had either believed that the fight was won. But others knew for what was happening. The end of everything. The blast from the chaos nulifier caused significant damage within the Mobius Strip causing it to begin to fall apart.

And now the barriers to it were collapsing everywhere across every dimension, total cosmic chaos. This is why the council was so afraid of it because of its nature. Worlds were seeing rips in the fabric of their reality and it seemed all to be hopeless.

Only one though was brave enough to venture in it and, who was the final piece of the puzzle.

Saito, Louise, and the others made it safely back through the portal and went straight for the palace. Henrietta on the other hand wished to stay behind. "C'mon!", Saito urged her.

"Go! I have to wait in case Kazuko doesn't make it back on his own!", she replied.

Saito and Louise refused to argue with her, they went back without her while Henrietta chose to remain by the portal and waited for Kazuko to return.

Meanwhile...

Shadow and Kazuko were still trying desperately to figure out a plan to fix the multi-verse. Their first attempt was in vain being without two chaos emeralds required to competently restore it. Shadow then thought of an idea, it was risky but deemed it to be the only way, he would sacrifice himself in order to give Kazuko enough energy to fully restore the multi-verse.

"I have a plan. I'll go inside and give everything I have, it might be enough for you to fix all this."

"That's insane I can't do it myself!", Kazuko rejected.

"There isn't any choice, I'm not letting you die over this! You've been through enough. Besides I've survived the impossible before."

"Shadow that's not-" crash, Shadow got hit from behind by someone. Kazuko turned behind wondering who it was who attacked him. He drew out his sword and generated a chaos spear in one hand and prepared to face who it was. But to his shock it was someone he never expected...Itsuki.

"This...this can't be real."

"Wrong Kazuko, I'm still alive. The blast nearly did me in, but I managed to land on an uncharted dimension. Thanks to the catastrophe Nightmare created I'm back." Kazuko held up his sword and chaos spear but Itsuki raised his hands as a sing of peace. "Wait!I'm not your enemy! We both want the same thing, stopping the whole multi-verse from being destroyed! that's it!"

"Why should I believe you? Everything you ever told me was a lie."

"I know that! You have every reason, but listen to me. The last two chaos emeralds, I know where they are."

"You do?"

"Yes, but Kazuko try to understand you may not like what you hear.", a brief pause loomed before Itsuki came with the truth. "Kazuko, were homunculi."

"What?!", Kazuko was in disbelief and shock. How could he make up some ludicrous answer?

"Think about it! Your connection to the chaos force? How did you get it? How have you remained ageless? Easy, both of us have a chaos emerald inside ourselves. I didn't put it together but I found out during my time during in that dimension."

"So quickly? You can't be serious."

"Time exists differently across the multi-verse. I was there for half a year, when the barrier collapsed I learned who we are. But most importantly, I was wrong."

"I don't buy it."

"Kazuko it's true, I admit you were right all along! please for god sake just listen to me! I beg of you.", Itsuki laid on his knees pleading for Kazuko to hear him out. This forced Kazuko to relent but still was cautious.

"I admit everything I did was all for nothing. Just a pointless attempt after another to try and justify my mistake. I could have stopped it at any point, but chose to keep going despite every instinct telling me to stop. But it was all I had left to protect, my legacy, and my duty. Kazuko, I can help you save the mobius strip and thus saving everyone. But...not without cost."

"What cost?"

"I need the emerald, most of it's power is used to keep you alive, and in order to use it's full power...I have to take out of you."

"Killing me? Your out of your damn mind is what I think."

"You don't have to believe me about what we are."

"No...I...I understand that. But what I don't get is how you have an emerald inside you yet you never tapped into it's energy."

"I suppose that is what makes us so polar opposite. I was the first born, my guess mother found a way to make it easier to sustain your life thus the excess energy was at your will. She was a homunculus like us and was part of The Order. Which explains why they sought me out and why she was able to bring us to life at all. Inspired by another worlds practices to create life that she couldn't give."

Kazuko had difficulty processing this, was it really the truth? Was it just another lie? No. Somehow it was plausible, how else could he be able to do so much without a chaos emerald unless it was what he had inside him all along. It was the only logically conclusion, but still.

"You want to use my emerald to save the multi-verse right?"

"Yes. I will save the mobius strip and pay for my mistakes. But in order for me to do that, I must sacrifice you so that I can wield the chaos emerald keeping you alive. You suffered enough. Let me end it for you, I'll live out my punishment. Then one day I'll be able to live a normal life again."

"You can't be fucking serious, tell me you are not serious."

"Kazuko I've fought long and hard to keep this exact thing from happening and it's my responsibility to fix this. I have to atone for what I caused to happen."

"I agree but your version involves living through a life sentence that whatever authority you end up in gets you and after you live it out you get to live happily ever after on some remote dimension you get marooned in. I don't think so. You do not deserve it, you may have had conviction, but you did horrible things. The only way I see you truly wanting to redeem yourself for them is by taking out that emerald in your body and having you save what you swore to protect."

"I refuse to die! I made a promise to come back somewhere one day, and I intend to keep it!"

"You really experienced love after the things you did? Loyalty? Friendship? Whatever sick sense you developed after whatever turned you into another hopeless fool trying to play god, hasn't changed the choices you made."

"You think I don't know that?! I found those things again when I thought they were dead inside me! I don't want to die. I refuse to die. I want that life I am close to having."

"I'd let you, but the truth is I have a life just like that waiting for me too. And I won't lie down and give it up either. Were wasting time if we fight Itsuki, so surrender!"

"NO! This is how it ends! Who is the one more fit to keep this power and live out the reminder of their lives?! We decide it the way it only can be solved!", Itsuki held up his sword.

"You can't beat me Itsuki."

"What, that I don't have any chaos powers? Come and see for yourself how exactly I have grown in the span of half a year! I can beat you now!"

"You can try!"

The Final Battle

Itsuki drew out his twin blades and lit up with green fire. Itsuki held them in reverse position and lunged at Kazuko. Kazuko threw his chaos spear at Itsuki but he dodged it so easily that Itsuki knocked Kazuko back when he hit his sword. They clashed trying to overpower each other in force, but Kazuko was stunned, how could he be of any match for him?

Itsuki wasn't bragging what he said, he had tapped into his power and is using it to the best of his ability. Kazuko leg swiped Itsuki knocking him down but Itsuki got back up almost immediately and flipped in evasion of Kazuko's following strike.

Itsuki raised a fist with a green fire ball coming out landing a direct hit on Kazuko. Itsuki leaped and tried impaling him when he fell on his back. Kazuko rolled out of the way with Kazuko returning a chaos spear. Itsuki got hit and lost both his swords but wasn't without his tricks. Itsuki summoned a flurry of fire, water, and earth attacks at Kazuko. Itsuki revealed to his brother that he indeed could contend with him now.

Kazuko shielded himself with a purple shield while everything Itsuki threw at him bounced off it. Itsuki's eyes then glowed with greenish hue and he smashed the ground forming a landslide directly at Kazuko breaking the shield sending him flying back. Itsuki then grabbed his swords the two engaged in a a sword fight.

Itsuki's faster reflexes made him as fast as Kazuko with his own strikes, Kazuko was barley holding on blocking every attack. Itsuki however deliberately faked a strike and caused Kazuko to block leaving him exposed. Itsuki cut his thigh forcing Kazuko to fall down to his knees.

Itsuki and Kazuko clashed with Kazuko giving it all he had to survive. Itsuki kept driving his swords toward Kazuko meeting with heavy resistance. Kazuko knew now he can't match force with force in this battle, he had little training to hone his chaos powers, but he defiantly could use it to trip him up.

Kazuko was unfamiliar with his attacks, the way he used them and how to counter them. He couldn't match Itsuki in either a battle of chaos power or swords. He developed a strategy against him in every aspect. Kazuko needed to find another way to beat Itsuki in order to beat him.

Kazuko formed a mini chaos blast sending Itsuki back a bit. Itsuki had a grin on his face, he was seeing him beat Kazuko. He was confident with his power, he believed that he was stronger than Kazuko and he thought for certain he would hold on to his longevity.

Kazuko went on the offensive with his sword and used a mixture of various skills mixing them to keep Itsuki from capitalizing on their weaknesses. Then while Kazuko attacked with another strike he canceled and pulled back with a quick snap of his fingers. Out of nowhere an energy ball appeared and exploded directly in front of Itsuki.

Itsuki got knocked back and slid across the area for a bit, but kept getting in close to Kazuko knowing his injury weakened his movement and that getting him at a distance would only stay in a stalemate. Kazuko snapped his fingers a few more times and as he did more energy balls appeared and fired at Itsuki.

Itsuki dodged them almost like they were striking nothing. Itsuki's techniques he learned while he studied in his dimension made him a quicker and nimbler fighter. Kazuko got nervous and quickly used his chaos blast to force Itsuki back. Itsuki saw it coming and managed to escape its blast.

Itsuki saw Kazuko was wide exposed from using such a strong attack. Kazuko tired to get back into a defensive stance when he recovered, just barley he evaded Itsuki's grasp when he tried to grab his chest. Itsuki went right for Kazuko's heart trying to use his power to literally rip it out of Kazuko.

Seeing what Itsuki was about to do, Kazuko doubled back away from Itsuki and tried to fight with only his chaos power, while Itsuki retaliated with his own. They both used their chaos powers each attack either missed or landed against another attack. Yet another stalemate, with neither willing to relent.

"Stop this Itsuki! Just give it up!"

"If we both die trying to survive our battle then so be it!", Itsuki's eyes glowed again this time his body was shrouded in a greenish aura. He returned fire but Kazuko was losing and not being able to counter enough of his attacks. Whatever he was doing Kazuko believed he could do the same.

Kazuko tried to sense the emerald inside him and tried to tap into it's full power. But with Itsuki's trickery he caught Kazuko off guard and encased his body in ice. Frozen, Kazuko couldn't move, but he could think. He knew that when Itsuki would try and reach for his heart and take the emerald.

Itsuki evaporated the ice surrounding Kazuko's chest, and reached for Kazuko's heart. He touched it and immediately out of pure reaction the ice shattered with Kazuko convulsing. he felt the emerald being ripped out of his body. Itsuki slowly was ripping it out with Kazuko's body aging the more it was further from the emerald.

Shadow finally woke up but Itsuki, encased him in rock to be certain he did not interfere. "Grrr! Kazuko! Don't give up! The chaos emeralds are power! Power is enriched by the heart! And you have more of it than him! Don't let him beat you!", Shadow yelled out.

Kazuko heard him and weakly grabbed Itsuki's arm. Itsuki smacked off seeing Kazuko weak and helpless to save his own life. "With you out of the way balance will never again be threatened!", he gloated.

The emerald was almost completely ripped from Kazuko's body and he had nothing left to call on to stop him. Itsuki smiled, finally he was able to do what he couldn't all the those years ago. He had his brothers life in his hands and nobody could stop him.

Kazuko's vision blurred, his life flashing before him. He still tried to rip off Itsuki from him but he was too weak to lift it. It was almost competently out, Itsuki's grin grew in disbelief and awe of his achievement.

SPLASH!

Itsuki was hit with a splash of water out of nowhere when in shock Henrietta had arrived just in time with Zonic. The emerald returned quickly to Kazuko. Kazuko coughed and gasped for air. Zonic ran and hit Itsuki with a flurry of punches none of which he could defend against.

When Zonic landed a clean shot in the jaw and was ready to dish out more, Itsuki used this opportunity to use his trump card. Just as Zonic was about to go ballistic on him again, Itsuki chaos controlled in time and stabbed him in the back with one of his swords.

Henrietta tried using another water spell but he appeared in front of her and was about to join Zonic, but Kazuko was just fast enough to tackle Itsuki and the two dueled in another sword fight while in chaos control. Henrietta rushed to Shadow and used her spell to knock over the rock around him. Shadow managed to break free and rushed to Kazuko's aid.

Now with Shadow and Kazuko this was a problem for Itsuki. Itsuki used everything he got, empowering his swords with his chaos fire while dueling Kazuko and staving off Shadow at ounce. Because of Itsuki's prowess he managed to fend them both off, but only for a short while. Shadow managed to get a homing attack on Itsuki with Kazuko hitting Itsuki square in the face. Itsuki didn't give up yet, he saw the emeralds by the core and drew from their power and was now even faster and stronger before.

Before Shadow or Kazuko could realize it Itsuki stabbed Kazuko with both of his swords and launched a large fire ball at Shadow lightning fast. Shadow was knocked out and Kazuko tried to get up but the pain was too much. Itsuki ounce again grabbed his heart and this time it looked like all was lost.

"You won't be saved by someone this time.", Itsuki gloated.

But then Kazuko had him right where he wanted him. Kazuko shoved Itsuki near the emeralds forcing him to come right in contact with his own emerald and Kazuko tapped into all 7! Before Itsuki realized what was happening he couldn't pull out of Kazuko's body. He felt his own life slipping like Kazuko reversed his draining.

"Noooooo!", he yelled.

"It's over now Itsuki.", Itsuki tried to slice his own arm off to get away but when he did the sword smashed to pieces. The link was bound and Itsuki ravenously tried to regain control but it was to no avail.

"BROTHER! DON'T DO THIS!", Itsuki cried. He reached to Kazuko's face trying to sway him from killing him. Kazuko could feel the emotion and desperation from Itsuki. He saw surprisingly a part of his brother he thought to be dead. Was Itsuki truthful about having changed and having those feelings brought back?

Even still Kazuko had a choice. He shut his eyes and cried, "I didn't think i would care when I finally had the chance to make you pay for what you did. But the fact is, you will always be my brother.", Itsuki smiled believing he got through to him. But then Itsuki felt his emerald being taken away and he felt his body dissolving. "I pity you Itsuki, I honestly pity you. Goodbye.", with that Itsuki's body decayed and dissolved. Itsuki's last expression was that of regret, sadness, and remembering the times of when he and Kazuko were truly happy.

"Kazuko...my brother...I wish I was a better brother to you.", his final thought before all that was left was dust. His body disperse revealing the sixth emerald and with the last one inside him Kazuko took the last one and placed it near the core as all six hovering around him.

"The servers are the seven chaos, chaos is power, power enriched by the heart, the controller is the one that unifies the chaos. Chaos emeralds lend me your power, PLEASE SAVE THE MULTI-VERSE FROM COMPLETE DESTRUCTION!"