Persistence of the Soul:
The floor of light and shadow covering Heavenly Hall bubbled and oozed as Gabriel Soul prepared its next offensive. While the other Kruna Yura also readied themselves, Ramona ran to Daisy and tried to help her off of her hands and knees. It seemed as though the movement alone was too much for the ailing Nova Form earth wielder following the critical hit Gabriel Soul had punished her with, so Ramona held her there and gave her a Mushroom. Seeing as how that one Mushroom alone did not help, Ramona gave Daisy a second and a third.
We have to end this fast, before that monster can hurt anyone else, thought Ramona, staring at Daisy now gingerly rising. She then glanced at the almost empty pouch used to hold their recovery items. We're really running low on these...
"I can't believe the amount of power that it's generating," said Athelstan, mouth agape as he gazed at Gabriel Soul.
"Someone think of something, quick!" Bowser demanded.
Daisy grimaced as she hunched over and gripped her drill staff in front of her, breathing with excruciating difficulty. "I don't think...any of you guys...want to get hit with that kind of punch..."
"It looks like we won't, at least," said Neva. "It's doing something else now..."
Its Diamond Fist and Shadow Ripper gone, Gabriel Soul now swirled tendrils of fire, water, earth, stone, air, and ice in six individual loops around its body. Each partition of elemental power continued to grow in size and intensity with each passing moment. Meanwhile, the other Kruna – aside from Daisy and Ramona – reached a peak in elemental charge in their Volt Fusion tools.
"Look at that," murmured Athelstan. "It's like staring at a carbon atom."
"A demented, creepy, nightmare atom, sure," muttered Ramona.
Gabriel Soul turned its body to line up with Daisy and Ramona, then began spinning in place. It flew towards the Heavenly Hall ceiling with its six-element barrier funneling around its body as it spiraled into a dive towards the two Kruna. No doubt it had sensed Daisy's weakened state and aimed to take her out quickly. Ramona stood in front of Daisy with both swords up and her shoulder-mounted Sun Shield ready to try and defend against Gabriel Soul the best she could.
"Ramona, no!" Daisy snapped, moving up to push her out of the way.
Ramona shrugged Daisy off. "I will protect you, I swear!"
Instead, Bowser skidded in front of the two and smacked his flaming, electromagnetically-charged Flare Sword up into Gabriel Soul. Bowser's power exploded with aggression on contact, but only succeeded in stalling the Ankh-controlled undead creature. Gabriel Soul and its elements continued rapidly revolving in an attempt to overpower Bowser, who clenched both hands around his sword and tried to match each uptick in force Gabriel Soul emitted. Soon, Bowser's power began teetering and crumbling under Gabriel Soul's increasing might.
But as Bowser faded, Warra ran next to him and smashed his charged trident into Gabriel Soul too. Elementals sprayed off in all directions from the contact points between the two Kruna and the spinning morphed corpse. Marut then swung down in an agile aerial arc and bashed his saber into Gabriel Soul as well, bringing the resistance against Gabriel Soul up to three Kruna. And yet still, Gabriel Soul's spinning did not slow, nor did the elemental barrier around its body weaken.
The three Kruna engaged found themselves trying to muscle through and overpower a force that seemed like something way too immense to handle. Athelstan entered the struggle next, an Odina-doubled, rocky hammer swing not only buffing the combined strength the three Kruna held against Gabriel Soul but also completely blowing it all up. Athelstan's attack added an incredible amount of instability to the clash, resulting in an explosion that blasted away everyone aside from Neva but including Gabriel Soul.
While all the other six Kruna hit the floor, Gabriel Soul merely ricocheted off the ceiling and wall and reestablished a controlled, smooth hover. Power leapt from the corpse's form out of every cavity and indentation, circulating around into a multi-elemental aura this time composed of everything except fire. The many waves, bands, and sections of Gabriel Soul's combined aura escalated in intensity and received a boost from the Alkemei Ankh's influence. Just as the six Kruna that were knocked over started to get up, Gabriel Soul emitted a shockwave out of its aura that struck them all back down once more.
As she watched her friends hit the deck again from the other side of Heavenly Hall, Neva tried to hold back the terrified feelings swelling up in her and the throbbing painful sensations pulsing within her to come up with a retaliation. But the longer she watched, the more aware she grew that she was running empty on power herself. And with inadequate power and a heavily-injured ankle slowing her down, Neva felt unsure of how effective she could be even if she tried. She had to come up with something quick however, for the other Kruna were taking far too long to recover. Gabriel Soul's power continued expanding at an astounding rate, which, this deep into a fight after all that it had expended already, showed a depth comparable to only an elite few whom the Kruna Yura had faced before.
C'mon, Neva, thought Neva herself. Think of something, fast! The way things are now, I can't do anything to slow that monster down. But if I don't do something, then this'll get really ugly! It's already gotten way out of hand. How can the Ankh combine with a computer and some super nerd to do this?!
None of the six downed Kruna could manage even getting to a knee by the time Gabriel Soul's accumulated power had grown into a luminous cage of elements around its body. Before long, Heavenly Hall looked as though it had a miniature star hovering within it, for the light shining through its elemental cage brought the hidden Command Center sector brightness reminiscent of a sunny afternoon. As far as what Gabriel Soul specifically had in mind of doing with its power, no one could tell.
"Crap, am I even gonna make that guy budge with this?" Neva wondered aloud, aiming her rifle's laser sight on Gabriel Soul.
Considering the elements now in flux around Gabriel Soul, an attack from her might not even reach the undead creature. Still, she aimed and charged her rifle with ice bullets that then received the Volt Fusion enhancement. While Neva targeted Gabriel Soul, Daisy whipped to her feet and turned to face their enemy. The Nova Form earth wielder's body shook under the pressure of internal pain aching throughout her abdomen and up into her chest, every breath taking its toll on her. Once she saw Neva's laser sight trying to reach through the elemental chaos surrounding Gabriel Soul, Daisy hastily turned her attention to her ice teammate.
"No way any of your shots are getting through to him, Neva," Daisy said.
"Oh yeah?" Neva said, frowning. "Watch me. I see gaps I can exploit."
"No, Neva," Daisy said. "Turn that sight off and look at what's going on. What's actually going on."
Neva turned off her sniper's laser and watched Gabriel Soul. Its elements now condensed and compressed, Gabriel Soul's dark yet shining body drew its cage of elements inward to encase itself. Interestingly, Gabriel Soul also sucked in every last bit of discarded debris throughout Heavenly Hall as well. Fire soon finally ignited, completing the eight-pronged assortment of elements. Gabriel Soul even drew in all of the light and shadow power making up the floor portal it had spread all across Heavenly Hall.
One after another, the other Kruna stood. Bowser and Athelstan first, then Warra, Ramona, and Marut; all seven of the Kruna Yura had recovered and got to their feet, at least for the time being. None of them appeared to be in good shape. And now, Warra felt something wrong in his hip. The Kruna Yura of Water leaned his weight onto his right side as he stood and awaited the next move from Gabriel Soul. From what the Kruna could tell, none of them could pull off an effective attack with the current elemental wall encircling Gabriel Soul. Not only did Gabriel Soul's power keep growing as time passed, but the conglomeration of elements around it continued compressing and compacting. The elemental mass also gained a spherical shape as well, as it encased every part of Gabriel Soul within it. What once loosely resembled an astral star now appeared locked inside of a scaled-down planet, a planet rumbling, jostling, morphing, and thriving with life.
"Whoa, what's going on?" murmured Marut.
Now floating before the Kruna was an active mass of matter and energy, glowing golden with light and fire as shadows revolved around the surface in a wave, covered in vast regions of earth and stone, split with multiple sections of water and ice, trees and plant life even sprouting up on much of the land; and all of this a part of a singular, circular three-dimensional mass no larger than four times Bowser's size. It hovered and rotated there in Heavenly Hall as if it had been there for eons.
"I don't believe it," said Athelstan. "It's like, looking at Earth from space. A different Earth..."
"But why?" asked Bowser.
"Man, what I wouldn't give to copy that right about now," grumbled Neva.
"For what?" asked Marut.
"To fling it right back at it," said Neva. "What else? For decoration?"
Daisy gasped, her expression wide awake with realization. "I get it! It's telling us something!"
"Yeah, I think I'm starting to get it to," said Bowser.
Warra nodded. "I as well."
"Get what?" asked Marut.
"The elements, the Ankh..." Bowser replied. "They're all linked together somehow..."
"I can feel something," said Daisy. "Something not from this world. Not from the present day..."
"I feel as though we're looking at something out of the past," said Warra. "But how far back, I don't know..."
"Way before Osiris or the Shadow Queen," said Daisy. "How is this happening?..."
"I'm willing to bet this is only possible because of the Ankh," said Bowser. "Whatever this is and whatever this all means, I can't tell if it's good or bad."
"Maybe it's neither," said Ramona.
"But what's the point of this?!" grunted Bowser.
As the planet-like mass revolved in its spot in space, its surface continued morphing. Landmasses ripped apart and drifted across the waters, fire and frost clashed in its atmosphere, and light and darkness spun around the spheroid in perfect unison to one another across opposite sides of the surface. Much of its land grew more lush and green. Several climates and landscapes developed on Gabriel Soul's floating creation.
"It looks...so beautiful," murmured Ramona.
"I can still sense its energy increasing," said Marut.
"Is this an attack?" mumbled Warra.
"It...seems overly elaborate for one," said Bowser. "And yet, this is the most power it has generated all night. Easily."
Hey, wait, now here's an idea, thought Neva, grasping her Null Alkemei Hien. My Hien can't seem to copy attacks anymore, and it certainly couldn't copy any coming from any machines... But, as some kind of mechanical-organic mishmash hybrid, if this monster's just natural enough, just organic enough, then maybe I can at least copy its energy! Like I did earlier with that Blackguard freak! I should certainly have enough to blast through that shell it built around itself.
"Should we attack?" asked Athelstan. "We could be making a mistake just standing around and watching this."
Neva's Null Alkemei Hien flashed and lit up as she focused on Gabriel Soul. Energy surged into her body and multiplied at an exponential rate. Though Gabriel Soul's power continued rising, so did Neva's – at a much higher rate. A dense fog of frost and haze hissed around Neva, soon expanding into an icy aura of greater depth and magnitude than any prior power-up she had executed in the past. The other Kruna turned their attention to Neva, astonished at the sudden uptick in power from her. The immediate space around Neva transformed into a scaled-down blizzard, even freezing some of the ground she stood on in the process.
"That answers that question, bro," Marut said to Athelstan.
Ramona shuddered. "She's making the temperature in here plummet fast..."
Marut glanced at Daisy. "Hey! Why don't we ask Chrissy what's going on? That's her computer thing that's stuck in that guy."
"I doubt she knows about this, considering how much was already unfamiliar to her," said Bowser. His expression suddenly lit up in shock. "WAIT..."
"Uh...where is she?" said Athelstan, looking all through the distorted Heavenly Hall. The other Kruna scouted out the area as well, none of them spotting the head MAE Learner.
"Gone..." Bowser said, alarmed. "I can't see her anywhere here... She escaped!"
"When?!" asked Daisy.
"I don't know!" Bowser said. "I couldn't focus on my three-sixty sight! I was too worried about this monstrosity!"
"That last part goes for all of us," said Warra.
"Figures she'd try to dip," said Marut.
"We can't worry about her right now," said Warra. "We have to outlast what's in front of us...whatever it's doing..."
"Let's hope Neva has an answer to it," said Bowser.
Gabriel Soul's planetary shell developed further, all while Neva's icy build-up amplified at rates never before seen. Frost and snow cover expanded outward from Neva as she raised her rifle high and did her best to keep her accumulating power as dense and close to her as she could. She wanted all that she could generate focused together into one single attack. From what the other Kruna could sense, Neva's power started catching up to Gabriel Soul's. But more than once, Neva's body violently jolted and twitched.
"That doesn't look good," said Marut.
"I've seen that before," said Bowser. "That's the look of someone receiving a sudden boost in power that's more than their body can handle all at once. She better be careful, or else she'll hurt herself."
"And that's the Hien doing that..." said Athelstan. "Wow...and we were certain Kokoro had trashed it."
Daisy nodded, solemn in the face. "That may be the Hien's work, but it's up to Neva to control that power and make sure it doesn't tear her body apart."
Warra made a slight grimace. "And if she keeps gaining power like this, that outcome's probability will keep going up as well."
Gabriel Soul's power finally slowed its steady increase; but that was only a precursor to something else. The scaled-down planet containing Gabriel Soul expanded and cracked with an audible series of pops and rips. Fire and lava soon oozed out of all the fissures. Streaks of light and shadow flickered out erratically from new cracks that developed in the surface. Sounds of destruction filled Heavenly Hall, noises akin to a cataclysmic geological event. All the order once established on Gabriel Soul's planetary shell devolved and broke down into discord, for the shell's surface gave way and split apart into unstable chunks. Everything within poured out and smothered the surface, eradicating all the life it harbored.
The Null Alkemei Hien's ability had brought Neva's energy signature to a staggering new height, not too far off from the energy signature Gabriel Soul radiated. She took aim with her rifle and got set to unleash it all at Gabriel Soul, but the strain proved to be too much. Her trembling body could not steady her tool, and the pain and pressure now taking over messed with her focus. The ambient lightning in Heavenly Hall dimmed and warmed to a dark red hue as the planet surrounding Gabriel Soul turned into a popping, crackling, exploding, rupturing glowing ball of elementals in conflict with one another. The more chaos that broke loose on the planet-like barrier's surface, the more the Kruna could hear fiendish, ghoulish moaning and hissing.
"Neva, if you're going to attack, you need to do it soon!" Bowser yelled. "Like, in the next ten seconds!"
Neva had audible strain in her voice when she responded. "Why so quick?!"
"I'd hate to find out what happens if you take too long!" Bowser replied.
"I can't...get my gun centered," Neva groaned. "I'm trying! But I can't!"
Daisy dashed at Neva and got behind her. She felt the residual icy chill from Neva's built-up power surround her as she hugged and braced Neva against her own body. Getting a sturdy grasp on Neva's arms, Daisy held the Kruna of Ice's aim steady and kept much of the jitters and convulsions in her body suppressed.
"Daisy, wait, to the right!" grunted Neva. "More right!"
As Daisy helped Neva adjust, Gabriel Soul's planetary shell tremored with shockwaves. Several sections of the floor ripped loose and rose, though more as a secondary effect than through any direct elemental manipulation on Gabriel Soul's part. The crust of the planet-like object surrounding Gabriel Soul crunched and snapped apart even more, random pieces either floating outward or imploding. At no point did Gabriel Soul's body become visible when a substantial amount of its planetary barrier's surface broke down. Instead, everything drew inwards and condensed at accelerating speeds. Elemental wrath and fury ripped around the hovering mass that now sucked in the loose debris floating about; and as the last of its surface dismantled and quaked off, sections of the walls and ceiling tore free into the suction as well. The Kruna nearest to the event backpedaled as far from the event as the space in the hall would allow.
"Neva, blast it already!" yelled Daisy. "GO!"
A slight bout of hesitation transpired before Neva let out a bellowing cry and pumped a gargantuan white cannon out of her rifle, all the energy and force discharging pushing back the two Kruna. Daisy used all her strength to keep her and Neva stable and upright against the vicious recoil the Null Hien-amplified ice beam generated. As Daisy slowed their backwards skid to a stop, the colossal column of electromagnetically-intertwined ice rushed its way at the melting down planet-esque barrier surrounding Gabriel Soul. Moments before Neva's attack struck home, the entire remainder of the barrier crumbled away and gave way to a pulsating, red-hot revelation. With Gabriel Soul itself now visible again, the Kruna could now see the new mass making up over half of its body. So when Neva's mighty ice blast hit, it sizzled and sublimated against the gurgling ruby star turning Heavenly Hall crimson.
The Kruna saw a head, an eye, a pair of wings, a pair of hands, and the Alkemei Ankh, all dismembered and hovering around the compact red dwarf Neva tried to overpower. Neva's efforts prevented Gabriel Soul from expanding its red dwarf body, but she needed to do more than that. As the situation stood then and there, only she and her great cannon of ice could counter the star's power. The more Neva pumped out, the less she felt overwhelming her body. Maintaining her attack became easier – to an extent – as time passed, the excessive pressure and strain of holding the magnitude of power that her Null Hien had copied lessening. Cosmic sounds previously unheard of bounced around Heavenly Hall as Neva ground away at Gabriel Soul's red dwarf, a mass still achieving modest increases in power despite her attack holding it in check.
With the figurative and literal support Daisy gave her, Neva pressed onward as more of Heavenly Hall crumbled and drew into Gabriel Soul's red dwarf. All hope of survival, let alone winning, rested in Neva's hands; for the amount of power Gabriel Soul had demonstrated in manufacturing its red dwarf dwarfed that of each of the Kruna. And yet, Neva's Null Hien brought her up – at least, temporarily – to a level close to Gabriel Soul's. The dimming of the undead creature's red dwarf body proved to be a good sign, for Neva found herself with some leverage on it as her attack gradually cooled the star's temperature. Gabriel Soul made multiple attempts to expand its red dwarf, but Neva had gained too much momentum for it to hold up for much longer. The Alkemei Ankh appeared to flash in response, as if it recognized that the vessel it controlled could not resist the continuous assault it faced anymore.
"Wait, is she actually overpowering that?!" said Athelstan.
"C'mon, Neva!" cheered Ramona. "More! Just a little more!"
"Do it!" shouted Bowser.
Portions of Gabriel Soul's red dwarf began spewing off in outward halos, each interval coinciding with a noticeable drop in the gravitational suction the star produced. As Neva blasted away more of Gabriel Soul's star, its structure grew more unstable and hemorrhaged. Gabriel Soul was locked into place and could not divert its body away from the charged ice boring into it. The extra energy Neva's Null Hien had granted her now faded at a swift pace, but the power Gabriel Soul had channeled into its red dwarf dropped just as fast. In fact, the decrease on Gabriel Soul's end accelerated as its star sustained more damage.
"Go, Neva!" Warra yelled.
"Waste him!" hollered Marut.
"Let whatever's left out now!" Daisy shouted. "All of it, all at once! I've got you!"
Neva gave a nod and siphoned all that the Null Hien had replicated for her through her rifle and out its nozzle at the diminishing red dwarf, a mammoth second surge stabbing through the air her cannon ravaged along. The loudest glassy echo of smashing ice any of the Kruna Yura had ever heard reverberated once Neva's full frosty fury obliterated Gabriel Soul's weakened red dwarf, which then left Gabriel Soul itself defenseless against the sizable portion of the ice that was still left over and on its way. As now just a collection of pieces without a torso, Gabriel Soul could do little to protect itself – it also could not muster anything to resist the last of Neva's blast either.
Gabriel Soul, and the Ankh along with it, succumbed to the final rush of ice, electricity, and magnetics Neva unleashed. Her great cannon launched all of Gabriel Soul back into the walls behind it and carved extensive chunks of the walls and ceiling out in frosty explosions laced with magnetic and electric charge that scattered polarized ice throughout Heavenly Hall. Hidden in the chilled chaos, horrific, demonic moans rattled the snow and ice shards that fluttered to the floor. And as the sounds of icy upheaval and further structural damage to Heavenly Hall silenced, so too did the moans.