[Chapter 6: Showdown]
"Morgan, talk to me, what the hell is going on down there?!" David called out to his partner, watching the situation intently with his telescope. "My god...They're all gone..." Morgan shakenly uttered out. "It wiped them all out?!...W-What about the civilians, how many did we lose?" David asked reluctantly. "It looks like most of them scattered the moment that thing started firing, Praetor Hume's down there now trying to coordinate an evacuation. The beast doesn't seem to be interested in the civilians right now, thank god." Morgan replied. David surged with relief. "Then what's it doing now? Is it going for the palace?" David inquired. "No. It's still hovering around the square. It's firing on something!" Morgan's attention turned to a woman with long, black hair ducking and dodging out of cover, occasionally firing what he recognized were the infamous flamestone-tipped bolts from an odd looking crossbow at the unidentified machine. "It's a woman! She's taking the beast head on!" Morgan called out. "One of ours? Is there another squad?" David continued to inquire. "No, that's definitely not our uniform, and it looks like she's alone!" Morgan continued to report. "You're telling me that just one girl's taking on that monster?...No way...What kind of dumbass would be brave enough to take on something like that alone?" David replied in shock.
Bullets chunked off the ground and walls surrounding Velvet as she slid down a narrow alley into hard cover, missiles slammed into the nearby buildings as the beast tried to fire a barrage of missiles down the narrow alley. The entire block filled with a cloud of smoke as buildings collapsed and fires raged out of control. Velvet knew this wasn't going to be easy, but even so this was more trouble than she was expecting. While the flamestone bolts would temporarily knock the hovering monster off balance, it didn't seem to be doing any real damage. The only part of the machine monster she could hit was its underbelly, and she reasoned that would be the strongest part of it, it's what she'd do if she made something designed to strike enemies from above. She needed to get above it somehow. "IT IS HOPELESS, VELVET. THIS FORM IS MORE POWERFUL THAN YOUR INFERIOR INTELLECT CAN COMPREHEND. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT FLESH AND BLOOD, FRAGILE, FINITE. YOU ARE A SLAVE TO YOUR OWN WEAKNESS. WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE? YOUR CITY BURNS. YOUR PEOPLE SUFFER, ALL BECAUSE YOU STRUGGLE AGAINST THE INEVITIBLE. YOU, SOLELY, ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS."
Velvet winced, she tried her best not to let this thing get inside her head, but part of her couldn't help but believe that this was her fault. She sacrificed herself 4 years ago, she was ready to die, she did it gladly, and yet when told to kill a stranger in some Arena for a second chance, she did. She didn't even know if those strange men would have made good on their word or not, but deep down she wanted to see Phi again. Even though she wanted her days as the Lord of Calamity to be over, there she still was, willing to do anything to satisfy her own selfish desires. Now she's learned that she can't see Phi again, no matter what, and even if she could, she could never live the life that she wanted with him. This thing had come back for her now, hell-bent on revenge, willing to raze an entire city just to exterminate her, which made it more like her than she cared to admit. Eleanor was caught in this mess too, and she may end up paying the ultimate price for her second chance. Velvet did her best to push these thoughts out. That thing tried to kill her in the Arena too, it seemed to relish in the bloodshed, she just did what anybody else would have. That thing didn't have to follow her here, it didn't have to come after her, it killed those people, it destroyed the town, she just wanted to be left alone...But how could she say she had any ground over it given her past? No, she made Eleanor a promise, and she knew Phi had to be watching over her somehow, she couldn't let them down now, she had to stay alive for their sake, to see the world that Phi was guarding over, just like he would have wanted her to.
The beast reduced its altitude and closely examined the destroyed block Velvet had been hiding in. "YOU CAN'T RUN VELVET. YOU CAN'T HIDE." The beast's voice boomed out "YOU MADE THIS DECISION IN THE ARENA, IT IS TOO LATE TO REGRET IT." "On that, we agree!" Velvet burst from the plume of smoke concealing her position and fired a bolt into its underbelly and sprinted to reposition. The beast fired its cannon wildly as it stabilized itself, it's shots flying into the sky above. Velvet sprinted to the staircase leading to the Balcony that the Abbey sometimes used as a Podium when it massed troops in the square, and used the railing as a springboard as she jumped onto an adjacent rooftop. The beast regained its balance and sprayed the houses with its cannon, the bullets impacted hot on Velvet's trail, caving in the sections of roof behind her as she jumped from roof to roof. Finally she reached the end and leaped onto the city wall as the beast unleashed a salvo of missiles onto the rooftops behind her. The houses exploded into bits, the ground shook as Velvet dove behind a section of wall on top of the arch overlooking the road leading to the villa. The beast hadn't yet increased its altitude, nor had it acquired her new position, this was her chance. Velvet quickly took aim and fired a flamestone bolt directly at the red light shining behind the transparent tube. The bolt impacted square on the tube, the explosion destroying the material surrounding the light, but apart from being briefly knocked off balance, the beast still appeared unfazed. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, INSOLENT WENCH." The voice boomed out. That was it, that red light had to be it's weakness. The material surrounding it was gone, Velvet could end this with just one more well-placed shot...
But the beast retaliated with another salvo of missiles, Velvet dove out of their path, but came up just a little short. The rockets slammed dead center into the arch, collapsing the top of it onto the street. The bridge crumbled underneath Velvet, and she just barely managed to grab onto the edge as it the stone beneath her crumbled, her crossbow clattered onto the street below. Velvet cursed under her breath as she quickly pulled herself up and bolted along the wall. "YOU'RE NOT ESCAPING ALIVE VELVET. I WILL BURN YOU TO ASHES EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO. I WILL DESTROY YOU SO COMPLETELY THAT THERE WILL NOT BE ANY BONES LEFT TO BURY." The beast boomed out as it unleashes another burst of cannon fire, the ground behind Velvet chunking and blistering as the large bullets slammed into it. Velvet sprinted as fast as her legs would carry her to her destination: One of the guard towers along the wall. She knew this was crazy, but this was her only chance.
Velvet burst through the door of the tower and rapidly began ascending the staircase to the highest floor. A barrage of bullets and missiles slammed into the floors beneath her, Velvet barely managing to stay above the hailstorm of gunfire erupting through the walls below her. The tower's support began to fail and it started to tilt forward as Velvet reached the highest floor, this was it. "Never waver once your sword is drawn!" She yelled to herself as she threw herself forward. The world went into slow motion as she crashed through the window of the tower, directly on a crash course with the winged beast. Velvet cried out in determination as she extended her gauntlet's blade, and slammed onto the nose of the beast. Velvet immediately began slashing and stabbing at anything that looked remotely important, and severed several small wires and tubes connected to the red dome, which caused the lights on the dome to flicker and a very unpleasant noise began resounding from the beast. The beast lurched to the slide and rolled over, Velvet tried her best to hold on but the monster's smooth, sloped surface offered little to grip, and she plunged into the smoky depths below.
An awning had managed to break Velvet's fall slightly and stop it from being lethal, but not by much. Velvet's head rang from the concussion, she grasped her broken ribcage as she gnashed her teeth and cried out in pain. The fires had spread considerably by now, and a black cloud of smoke drowned out the early afternoon sun. The orange haze of the flames and the muted sun shaded the area in a red hue that made Velvet flash back to the Scarlet Nights where her most traumatic memories occurred. The beast hovered above, sputtering and swaying, the lights on the strange dome flickered and dimmed. "Did I do it?..." Velvet quietly uttered. "NO...NO NOT YET!" The beast boomed out, its voice even more distorted than normal as Velvet noticed a familiar purple energy emanating from the dome. "Malevolence?!" Velvet's voice shook. The beast began to pulse purple as the lights on the dome changed to the same sickly shade of purple as the malevolent energy. This was bad. The alloyed monster let out an ear piercing buzzing noise as a distorted, maniacal laugh resounded from it. Velvet picked up her wounded body, she needed to run. She couldn't fight Daemons anymore, being human again seemed to be more of a curse than a blessing at this point. "V̷̱͂Ȅ̵̢̖Ḽ̴̦̀V̴̮̓E̸̝͉͛T̷̗̈̒.̶͖́.̸̠͙̽.̷̪̽Ṿ̸͓̈́̕Ẹ̵͘L̷̦̿V̸̦̋̅E̸̹͆̉T̶͒ͅ.̵͙͐̔.̵̯͒̽.̶̨̈́" The voice cried out as it unleashed an indiscriminate barrage of missiles, permeating and decimating the town square. Velvet had escaped the worst of the blast, but the shockwave still tossed her like a ragdoll towards the destroyed arch, scraping her exposed arms and legs on the stone street.
"I can't die here...I've got to get up..." Velvet grunted in pain as she tried to get back on her feet. The smoke from the fires filled her lungs, her dizziness and disorientation grew more intense. The winged beast let out a distorted, menacing scream that was unsettling even to Velvet as it unleashed another salvo, one of the rockets struck close to Velvet, the shockwave launched her to the other side of the destroyed arch and she landed awkwardly on her injured ribs. Velvet whimpered in pain as she tried to gather the strength to get back up, but her arms gave out from under her as the Jet repositioned over the wall and faced her head on. Velvet spotted where her crossbow landed out of the corner of her eye, but there was no use thinking about it. It was a Daemon now, her weapons wouldn't be able to hurt it. For the first time in a long while, she felt completely helpless. "I'm sorry...Eleanor...Phi...I'm...sorry..." Velvet weakly whispered to herself.
Velvet was about to resign herself to death when suddenly, a bright blue flame shot over her head and slammed into the jet. The sickly purple energy that had previously engulfed it began to dissipate, the lights on the dome shut off before returning to a dimly flickering red. The Jet began sputtering and erratically swaying again, trying to regain control of itself. Velvet had recognized that kind of power. "The Silver Flame...Phi!" Velvet cried out, her strength returning to her. Phi was still watching her, and he was protecting her. She couldn't lose here. Velvet pulled herself over to where her crossbow had fallen, readied another flamestone bolt, her last, and turned over on her back, taking aim at the Jet, just as it regained control and began to take aim at her. Velvet pulled the trigger, and the bolt snapped forward, slamming directly into the Jet's brain cage. The Jet spiraled out of control before crashing to the ground, skidding along the street and slamming into the stone wall. Velvet picked herself up and limped over to the crash site, grabbed the now unlit dome, and ripped it out of the cockpit. She slammed the dome to the ground, causing it to break open, a human brain spilled out of it onto the street. "This time, stay dead!" Velvet growled out as she dropped her heel down onto the lump of grey-matter, crushing it under her sabaton. It was over. Velvet dragged herself to a nearby wall and sank against it. Her head was ringing, her body ached, just about everything hurt, and as the adrenaline from the fight wore off, a crushing exhaustion washed over her. Velvet's eyes began to feel heavy, and she slowly closed them as she drifted unconscious.
Velvet opened her eyes, she was laying in bed, she was in a small wooden house that it only took a second for her to recognize. "Aball? I'm...Home...?" Velvet said to herself as she slowly got out of bed. She slowly emerged into the living room area when her eyes widened. Celica and Laphicet were sitting at the table. "Velvet, nice of you to join us." Celica said warmly. "Celica?! L-Laphi?!" Velvet's voice trembled. "Am I dead?..." Celica shook her head. "No Velvet. I just wanted to thank you one last time, for doing what I couldn't...You've endured so much, for so long, and all alone...It must have been so hard for you." Velvet quietly sat down at the table, her breathing growing irregular. "It's my fault, Celica...I couldn't protect Laphi...I failed you...I failed him." Velvet's voice began to break as she clasped her face in her hands. Celica shook her head again. "Laphicet had the twelve year sickness, Velvet. He volunteered himself thinking he was helping you. You know this now. It wasn't your fault." "Yeah...And now I've done so many horrible things...I've hurt so many people...And for what?" Velvet's breathing began to tremble. "If Artorius summoned Innominat, all of humanity would have been enslaved under the Abbey. You fought to stop that." Celica replied softly. "No...That wasn't the reason Celica...I killed Artorius for my own sake. I wanted revenge, for everything he did to me...but it didn't change anything..." Velvet began to break down, tears streamed down her face. "I'm still so messed up...I don't deserve to live, Celica...I don't..." "And what would change if you died, Velvet? It wouldn't undo anything you have done. You know that better than anybody now." Celica softly interjected. "You still have plenty of time, Velvet. You can use your life to atone for what you've done, instead of throwing it away. You can still do more good for the world than you have harm, you have that chance now." Velvet sat silently, continuing to sob quietly into her hands. Laphicet, who had been sitting silently up to that point, finally began to speak. "Velvet...Do you remember the day I bought you that comb?" "Yes...You had been saving up for that compass for so long...And then you went and bought that comb for me, all because I had to go and break my old one..." Velvet whispered out between sobs. Laphicet shook his head. "I knew I wasn't going to be able to go on that adventure Velvet, and I accepted that. I settled for doing the one thing I knew I could do - make my sister happy." "Laphi..." Velvet softly trembled out. Laphicet continued to speak. "All I wanted was a world where my sister could be happy, that's why I went to the shrine, Velvet. You have that world now. You need to stop torturing yourself, this isn't what I wanted for you." "None of that mattered to me as long as you were okay...I would have done anything for you..." Velvet softly whispered out in a broken voice. "Then, can you do one last thing for your little brother, Velvet?" Laphicet asked. "Sure Laphi...Anything you want." Velvet replied, her sobbing beginning to subside. "Go on with your life, Velvet. Learn to forgive yourself, go on new adventures, see the world that I couldn't."
"Hey! I think I found her!" Velvet heard a muffled, but familiar voice sound from the other side of the front door. "Oh no...Velvet! Come on! Wake up!" Another familiar voice cried out. Celica turned to Velvet and smiled. "It looks like you're needed elsewhere Velvet. You'd better not keep them waiting." "Come on Velvet!...Please don't do this...You promised!" The voice continued to cry out. Velvet slowly stood up and walked to the door, turning to face Celica and Laphicet one last time, tears continuing to stream down her face. "I love you both so much...I'll never forget either of you..." Velvet said softly. "We love you too, Velvet. No matter how hard it gets out there, don't ever forget that. We'll all be together again when the time is right, but that time is a long way off for you." Celica replied warmly. Velvet turned to face the door, took a deep breath, and began to open it...
Velvet's eyes jerked open to see Eleanor shaking her by the shoulders. "Velvet!" Eleanor cried out in relief. "Oh thank goodness! I'm so glad you're okay!" "I promised I'd make it, didn't I?" Velvet replied weakly. "Yeah...You did..." Eleanor smiled as her eyes began to water, still the crybaby after all this time. A familiar blonde, pointy eared witch stepped into Velvet's view.
"Velvet, Velvet, Velvet. I leave you alone for a couple of days and look what happens. Come on, let's get you fixed up."