A/N- Yeah, I know, this one took a while. Some chapters are easier to make than others.
Recursion Error
Episode 78- The king of blocking
Every single step further into the cave became harder and harder. Like the weight of Sorun's feet was increasing every time he made a bit of progress forwards. Breathing was becoming a bit of an issue, too. Not to a point it was detrimental to him, but it was hard not to notice how uneven the breaths had gone.
When he saw the faint, green light up ahead, it only got worse. The weight of his steps and his breathing. Anxiety that had Sorun second-guessing himself and wondering if this was really the right course of action. He only needed to divert his thoughts to the others and what had happened with the word to find the will to keep moving forwards, but it was a reminder he was having to rely on more and more with each passing second. He honestly had to wonder if he'd even make it into the chamber.
By some miracle, he had. He was somewhat wishing he hadn't, but he'd made it. It was the exact same as he remembered it: large, circular rock cavern with an open ceiling that revealed the darkened sky. Completely empty, save for steps in the back leading up a large, stone altar, atop which sat the Master Emerald. And there, sitting right on top of it, one leg over the other, head resting on his fist, and looking bored of all things, was him. Enerjak. Knuckles' body, adorning that regal, golden helmet with the white eye lenses that only revealed his mouth. More elegant-looking golden armor that draped his whole form. The blue bits of clothing he remembered him having was gone, bits of black and red cloth replacing whatever was exposed that the golden armor didn't cover.
Somehow, despite the fact he looked so casual sitting up there on top of the giant Chaos Emerald, Sorun felt threatened by merely being in his presence. Like it was suffocating just being in the same room as him. He soldiered on, though, somehow managing to continue his even stroll right into the room as he continued looking up at the god.
"Hey, Enerjak," Sorun glibly called out, sounding about as casual as Enerjak looked despite how frightened he felt, "your soul-sucking days are... over..." His footsteps slowed to a complete halt when Sorun made it to the center of the room. "Wha... what the...?"
It was only from here that he saw the bodies. Almost everybody in this world that he knew. Everybody in the Freedom Fighters, the Chaotix, he even saw Shadow and Rouge up there. All strung up on the walls around the Master Emerald, arms outstretched and bound to the cave wall along with their feet with what looked like stone shackles that grew right out of the wall. They all had the same expression Cream had. White, vacant eyes. Gaunt expressions, mouths hanging open.
All of his friends, reduced to nothing but lifeless husks. Like corpses strung up all around the single person responsible for all of this, who was looking on without a care in the world.
Sorun, in response to seeing this sight, had made a choking sound and gripped his face with his right hand. A single laugh, devoid of all joy and sounding like he was on the verge of breaking down, left him. He didn't know if there was some proper emotion to convey at such a horrifying sight. What he did feel was an incomprehensible torrent of emotions whirling through him. He didn't even know what to think, other than to hold his face and let out that quiet laughing that sounded like it was bordering on crying.
When his hand dropped away and he looked up at Enerjak, Sorun's mouth was formed into a shaking, broken smile. In contrast to this was a single tear rolling down his face. That incomprehensible torrent of so many emotions mixed together, of shock and horror and grief, just wouldn't cease and only worsened the longer he looked at those bodies. It was all he could do to make that face and keep himself standing straight. "You... really need to work on your interior designing, you know..."
A moment passed as Enerjak regarded him. In the second moment, his form straightened up a bit, and his head left his closed fist, as if he was suddenly intrigued by something. "Sorun...?" he confusedly called out, in a voice that somehow was Knuckles' but sounded nothing like him. Like the way he said the words were wrong. "You remained on Mobius...?"
It was Sorun's turn to look confused. "Sonic or the rest really never told you guys what happened?" He reached up to wipe the errant tear away from his face. The longer he looked at all his friends' bodies strung up on the wall, the more that intense, ineffable horror he felt faded, quickly being replaced by growing anger. "Well, whatever," he grunted out, harshly flicking the tear onto the ground. "Yeah. I stuck around."
"Really now..." The tone Enerjak used was one mixed with intrigue and amusement. Like all that Sorun amounted to for him was an interesting thing to pass the time and nothing more. Even the way he tilted his head and gave him that lopsided smirk he wore did nothing but aggravate Sorun. "I have to wonder why your soul wasn't collected with the rest when I willed it. Well, it's no matter."
The moment that final syllable left his mouth he was in front of Sorun. There'd been no movement on his part, not even a flash or any other visual cue to indicate he'd teleported. He'd just gone from sitting on the Emerald to standing right in front of Sorun in that brief of an instant. In response, Sorun's breath choked in his throat, and his grip on the Yamato, his only comfort in this nightmare, tightened. A very heavy sense of dread and fear swam through his whole body at seeing the golden-garbed echidna in front of him, and he found he wasn't able to move his feet.
"It was good seeing you again, Sorun, but I don't really want you around." His grin widened as Enerjak extended his open right hand onto Sorun's chest. "Just give it over and I'll put you up on the wall with the others. There's an open spot next to Sally that you'd be perfect for."
Sorun stared down at the hand resting on his chest, breathing heavily and trembling slightly as he watched, too afraid to do anything. He expected his whole world to go dark any moment now, for him to lose all sensation or to collapse, but, surprisingly, nothing happened. As the seconds ticked by he found his breathing began to normalize, and when he saw Enerjak give a small frown all the confidence he'd immediately lost when Enerjak appeared in front of him began to slowly return.
"... Where is it?" Enerjak asked, sounding less intrigued and more confused now. "Your soul, I can't... why can't I find it?" he muttered, more to himself than Sorun. His frown tightened and his fingers seemed to strain, but nothing happened. "I can't... it's so faint I'm not even sure if it's you I'm feeling or the energy of those I already have within me. It's like trying to grasp a single molecule..." His helmeted eyes turned to Sorun. "Do you even have a soul?"
"Th-that's... the big question, ain't it...?" Sorun hadn't meant to stutter when he said that. What should have been a cheeky remark came out more as a frightened question. He was sure he looked equally as foolish as he sounded with the cold sweat he'd broken out in and the way he was still trembling. He mentally cursed himself in shame when Enerjak made an amused "hmph" sound, smirking at him in contempt.
"Well, you always were an odd one. Somehow I'm not surprised." He pulled his hand away from Sorun's chest, letting the human take in the breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. "Well, whether you truly are soulless or it's just that pathetic I can't even see it, it doesn't matter too much. Maybe it's fortunate you happened by after all." He turned around and began to walk towards the altar's steps. "Maybe you could give me some feedback? The only other person I can think to ask is Finitevus, and I still haven't caught that rat yet."
"Feedback...?" Sorun repeated in a quiet, disbelieving voice. "You-you want to know what I think about all this...?"
"But of course. An outside perspective would be refreshing." Enerjak's foot touched down on the altar's first step. "I mean, you were always such a card, so I figured you'd have something memorable to say."
"What exactly am I supposed to say?" As he watched Enerjak ascend the steps, Sorun found that his voice returned to him as his anger began resurfacing. "You stole the souls of every single living thing on this planet! What, were you expecting praise from me!?"
A sigh left Enerjak, and he stopped ascending the steps halfway up. "Don't you think it's so interesting I was able to do all this with a mere thought and wave of my hand? Not even that insane man Eggman could do all this. Oh, he wanted to, and he certainly put the effort in. Even came close a few times. But I just find it... well, comical, really, how easy it was for me to do it." He turned around, lowering himself and sitting down on the steps as he looked down at Sorun. "But what else could one expect from the great Enerjak?" He leaned forwards a bit, resting his chin on the back of his hand. "But really, I genuinely am curious. I haven't had anybody else to talk to in days, after all."
"There aren't words for what I'm feeling about all this," Sorun said. "What do you even want me to say? Something creative? What, you think I have some deep, provocative thought over the fact you stole every soul in the whole world!?" he yelled at him. "What kind of messed up logic are you even using that made you think this was such a good idea!?"
Enerjak frowned a bit. "You know, if I really wanted to just explain the 'why' of it, I could just bring one of the others back and tell them. Seeing as your existence is hindering on how amusing this conversation is I'd switch up the subject."
"Well, that's just too bad. I'm not giving you what you want."
The frown lessened. "What cheek. From an amoeba like you of all things. Fine. I suppose you've earned an answer for getting this far." His head tilted up towards the open ceiling that revealed the darkened sky. "The fact of the matter is this world suffers a shortage of capable leaders."
"Oh, don't you dare start on this path..." Sorun angrily ground out. "Let me guess, 'cause I already see where this is going. 'I'm all-powerful, I'm all-knowing, I'm the only person in the whole world who's qualified to lead civilization into a golden age because I'm some random narcissist with godly power.'"
"It's not narcissism. It's fact," Enerjak snapped, looking back down at Sorun. "This world is in ruin because of the decisions everybody who had any amount of control made."
"It's not even that apocalyptic of a world!" Sorun yelled out. "It's post-post-apocalyptic if anything! It isn't... I mean it's not great out there, but it's pretty far from bad!"
"Is that really how you see it? My entire species-"
"Oh my god, shut up about the echidna," Sorun said in an exasperated tone. "I get it. You guys had the whole civil war because half of you want to be insane evil cyborgs. A lot of your kind died because of that and a whole lot of other reasons. Have you ever thought and stopped to think that there's other people on the planet with their own problems?"
"Fine, then why don't we talk about other people?" Enerjak challenged. "An insane madman that brought the entire world to heel using machinery, killing who knows how many along the way? A violent species dependent on technology that waged brutal war against Mobians, who only managed to survive because one of their own helped the Mobians before betraying them. An entire republic of complacent Mobians relegated to a single, technology-fueled-"
"This is the technology thing all over again!" Sorun interrupted. "Just because you don't like it-"
Golden bolts of electricity arced out of Enerjak's body and struck the stairs around him. A deep grimace settled over the echidna's features at the same time, causing Sorun to go completely silent as Enerjak rose up into a standing position.
"Technology... is a sin," he plainly stated as the golden arcs settled. "Every unfortunate circumstance that has ever plagued this world has been a result of an abuse of technology and inept leaders. Weapons of mass destruction. Tools of conflict. Machines of war. Metal that corrupts flesh. I simply wish to create a world devoid of these problems." He turned around and began to ascend the steps leading up to the Master Emerald. "A world rid of technology's corruptive influence. A unified world without war. A peaceful world rid of unnecessary deaths. It will be a perfect world. A utopia." He stopped right in front of the Master Emerald, and then turned around to look back down at Sorun. "I'm the only one capable of turning this world into a paradise."
The look Sorun gave him was beyond skeptical. "You? Make a paradise? Out of all this?" A thrust his open hand out to the bodies hung up on the wall. "How does hanging up all our friends' soulless bodies up on the wall like you're some kind of sick trophy collector fix anything!? What were you even thinking!?"
"It's their fault to begin with. All of them." Enerjak's features thinned as he turned to the motionless Mobians hung on the wall. "I gave them, all of them, everything I had before I was Enerjak, and when I finally presented a solution to fixing it all what did they do? Oppose me? Try to take away my power?" He made a sneer in contempt at them. "Some 'friends'. What 'loved ones' they all turned out to be. Because of a mere disagreement they tried to strip me of my power and deprive the world of its one and only savior." He turned his head back to Sorun. "They betrayed me. They all did. It's only out of respect for what they used to mean to me that I allow them to be reminders to me for why I do this. And I have plans for them regardless."
The anger inside of Sorun became scalding the longer he listened. It was all he could do to maintain enough control not to rip Yamato out from its scabbard and try cutting Enerjak right now, but through it all he managed to stay his hand. "And just what exactly do you plan on doing?" Sorun asked. "You really think you're the one to fix this whole world? How?"
"Because I'm Enerjak. What other reason could there possibly be?" he scoffed out. "I can provide everything needed without the use of technology. I can tend to the needs of those that require healing with a mere thought. Modern 'conveniences' will be unnecessary in a completely peaceful world under my watch. Information and history can all be dictated by me. What use is there of history in a never-changing utopia, and what is there to know outside of what is needed to exist in my world? And on the off chance any seditious ideas or persons arise it can simply be stomped out and eliminated with my power."
"You would honestly set this world back in the dark ages?" Sorun asked, voice in a mixture of disbelief and anger. "You'd abolish all technology and keep the world in ignorance just to keep everyone under your thumb?"
"A peaceful world. One where nobody has to needlessly die. It's for their own good in the end," Enerjak claimed. "And I'm eternal, Sorun. Immortal, thanks to my power. I'll watch over this world until the end of time if need-be if only to ensure this peaceful world I'll have created will remain for all time."
"He's nothing but an insane luddite that thinks he's better than everyone because of his power," Sorun heatedly thought. That's all he could see when he looked at Enerjak. A tyrant that wanted to dictate the entire world. Somebody who wanted to control everyone's ways of life because he considered himself to know better. Somebody who hated technology enough and saw it as such a genuine threat he'd completely destroy it all for his new world order.
An abolishment of all technological and cultural progress. Intellectual suffocation. An entire world kept in ignorance all for an idea of "peace" that came from the same person that stole the souls of every person on the planet. Sorun absolutely refused to let someone like that have any iota of influence in the world. He didn't even want him to exist anymore.
"You would do nothing but stagnate all of civilization. That's all you would accomplish," Sorun claimed, voice having gone quiet. His body posture had gone more relaxed, though his blue eyes were still smoldering as he looked up at Enerjak. "You'd keep the entire world in a state of limbo where nothing would ever change just because it's 'for the best'? Because you said so? You're not even giving anybody any say or choice in this; it's all nothing but slavery you're trying to pretty up with noble intentions. You're no better than Robotnik."
"I am nothing like him," Enerjak hotly claimed. "He sought to rob everyone of free will just for his own benefit! I'm doing this for the benefit of everyone in the world!"
"They can't even decide of themselves if it's good or not! You're taking that choice away from them! None of your plans factor in their consent!"
"What use is there for free will if I make a world where everyone is content to begin with!? They've clearly abused it with all the suffering this world has seen!"
Sorun's teeth clamped down in both anger and revulsion, with a low hiss breezing past his teeth as he breathed out. "And just how," he asked, "do you plain on maintaining such a world? Omnipotent or not, you're just one person."
Enerjak's head picked up, like he'd just realized something. His mouth was set back in a neutral expression, and he'd made a small "ah" noise, almost in remembrance. "Yes, I knew I was forgetting to mention the crucial point in my vision. I'm so glad you reminded me." He lifted his right hand up. "Perhaps once you see what I have in mind you'll shift your position on the matter."
His fingers snapped. At the exact same moment, numerous golden circles had instantly appeared all around the tall altar Enerjak stood on. Portals, Sorun had realized when he saw figures begin to step out of them. The same bipedal monsters made from golden energy weaved like threads he'd seen before, with the colored spheres in their chests. Dozens of the things, all of which stepped out of the new portals Enerjak had created. They closed soon after, leaving all the creatures standing motionless around Enerjak as gestured out to them.
"These are my answers to your question. It's admittedly a problem I anticipated ahead of time," he told Sorun. "Even with all my power, I'm unable to make lifeforms capable of independent thought and actions on my own. It's how it should be. Only life should create life. Another taboo technology breaches." His face soured at the mere mention of technology. Sorun felt even more anger spike in him. "Making vessels that can be inhabited by already-formed souls is another matter entirely, however. Though these creatures you see before you are all... well, prototypes, I suppose you could say. Rudimentary proofs of concept, but nothing close to actual completion. Until now, at least."
Once again, he snapped his fingers. In front of Sorun's eyes all the golden thread monsters began to unravel, like balls of yarn being pulled apart. The golden threads of energy all snaked through the air and towards Enerjak, dissolving and reabsorbing into his being. The colored spheres acting as their cores all likewise flowed towards him, seemingly melting through his body and disappearing within him. By the end all that was left was one single creature. One that had a bright blue sphere as its core.
"It's actually fortunate you happened by at this time now that I realize it," Enerjak claimed as he pointed his hand out towards the last monster. "I finally created something I'm satisfied with that meets my vision just last night. I've reabsorbed every single one of the inferior versions I've ever made with the exception of this one before you, just so you can see."
Enerjak's hand began to glow. The golden threads making up the creature began to glow brightly, brightly enough that its entire form was concealed by the corona of energy it began emitting. Sorun was actually forced to close his eyes due to the brightness, and even then he was able to make out a silhouette due to the intenseness of the light shining through his eyelids. Fortunately, it died down after only a few seconds. But when Sorun opened his eyes to see just what had happened, he found himself wishing he'd never opened them back up to begin with.
The golden creature that had been standing near Enerjak was no more. In its place was something whose shape resembled a Mobian. And as far as Sorun saw, that was all it resembled. The size and shape was there, but there was no fur. Its skin was nothing but a smooth, silvery surface, more like a robot than an organism, but there were no visible seams as far as Sorun saw. Just a creature of completely smooth, silver skin and absolutely no features on its face save for the eyes. No nose or even a mouth. Just eyes colored in a solid, glowing blue that looked down at Sorun with what he perceived as malicious intent.
That wasn't what horrified Sorun, though. What horrified him was that he recognized this thing. There was something familiar about the blue of its eyes, the pair of glowing lines going down its torso, and the rings around its ankles. And atop its head was a silvery growth perfectly blended into its head that looked like the exact same haircut of someone he knew very well. Even the way it was standing, that stance, seemed familiar to Sorun.
"S... Sally...?" Sorun mumbled out in shock, taking a step back as he looked up at the thing above him.
"SSSZ-Z-Zallll..." The thing that looked like Sally spoke with a voice that barely even sounded like hers despite the lack of a mouth. It was so high-pitched and distorted it sounded less like a person and more like a dying speakerphone. "Z-Z-Zal- ZZ- Sal-Szal..."
Its distorted speaking and the small amount of twitching it was displaying caused a small, dissatisfied frown to go over Enerjak's lips. "Well, perhaps there are still some flaws I've yet to iron out. As close to perfection as I am, even I am not perfect." His gaze shifted to Sorun. "But isn't it beautiful? A faithful servant, dominated completely to my will and sustained with my power? Requiring neither rest nor food, able to carry out its responsibilities for the rest of eternity?"
He flicked his hand towards Sorun. As if it were obeying some invisible order, the silver monstrosity that looked like Sally let out a high-pitched, stuttering noise and leapt through the air and towards Sorun. Sorun, snapped out of his shock from the silver creature falling towards him with its hands extended, automatically reached for the handle of the sword he was holding with his left hand. Yamato was torn out of its sheath and swung right in front of him, cutting completely and cleanly through the thing in a single swipe.
It hadn't even crashed into Sorun after he cut through it with the katana. It'd dissolved into a cloud of evaporating blue and silver particles, leaving behind a floating, light blue sphere in the wake of its disappearing body. It floated off from Sorun, who watched it depart as he slowly settled the katana back into its scabbard. Enerjak, likewise, turned his head to follow the sphere as it floated towards where Sally's body hung on the wall.
The sphere melted through Sally's chest and disappeared into her body. There was a moment where all was quiet and motionless, and then she gasped out loud. Life returned to her face and her pupils and blue irises appeared back in her white eyes as she looked around wildly, panting heavily as her arms and legs unconsciously struggled against the stone restraints holding her against the wall.
"Wha-what's going, I, I can't- what's going on-?" She was cut off when Enerjak teleported right in front of her, floating off the ground. Her face morphed into one of terror and panic as her limbs began to wildly twist and turn in the restraints as Enerjak's hand reached out towards her chest. "No, no don't, please don't- no, NO DON'T-!"
Sally's terror-filled screams were completely and abruptly cut off when the light blue sphere phased right through her chest and flew into Enerjak's hand. She went completely limp, like a puppet with its strings cut, and the lifeless look and white-filled eyes returned to her face.
"Hmph. I shouldn't be surprised that thing you carry around is so efficient at dispatching my Prelates," Enerjak scoffed out as Sally's soul shrunk down in his hand before disappearing completely, having been reabsorbed into his body. "Admittedly they're a bit more fragile than I'd like, but it's not as if I can't continue to reuse the souls. That's the remarkable thing about them: all the skills and abilities of the originals without any pesky memories or egos getting in the way. An army that's veritably endless, much like myself."
Sorun stared. His arms had gone completely limp, though Yamato was still held in his left hand. His irises had shrunk to pinpricks as he stared up at Enerjak, with his expression having gone eerily blank. Despite his calm exterior there was a rage inside of him that he could scarcely comprehend, let alone define. A wrath so boiling hot that he heard a dull ringing in his ears as he continued to stare with that empty expression.
"But really, they should all be honored to have the positions I've chosen for them," Enerjak continued, seemingly ignorant and uncaring towards the human teen standing nearby. "My supposed 'friends' deserve nothing less than oblivion for their betrayal, but in this way they get to serve a greater purpose. They get to ensure peace for this world for the rest of time. What better fate could these so-called Freedom Fighters ask for?"
The backpack was shrugged off Sorun's shoulders and into his grasp.
"Though I think there will have to be some changes in my new world. For how violent they've been with Mobiankind I think I'll just do away with the entire Overlander species in its entirety. Perhaps the humans at Station Square as well, just to ensure that meddlesome weed is stomped out for good." Enerjak's turned towards Sorun. "But you need not fear such a fate, Sorun. Soul or no, I'm positive I can do something to convert you into a Pre-"
Sorun's hand slammed down into the opened backpack.
There was a bright flash of light where Sorun had been standing. His entire body alit with a golden corona of energy so intense that Enerjak had grunted out and held a hand up to shield his eyes from the light. As for Sorun himself, he felt surprisingly very little as he was engulfed in the golden energy. There'd been a rush of energy and heat, enough that it had even been painful, even, but soon after a coolness washed over him that oddly left a warm sensation sitting inside of him. An odd paradox that'd put him a bit off at first.
But there was no denying what he felt beneath that. Power. Familiar power.
Bolts of golden energy arced out of the golden corona surrounding Sorun, striking the ground around him in violent torrents as more gold energy rushed around him. Enerjak, for his part, slowly lowered himself back down until he was standing in the middle of the altar's stairs, looking straight towards Sorun with a heavy frown on his face. The golden aura eventually began to rapidly dim down, and then disappeared entirely, revealing Sorun to the empowered echidna. His frown deepened even further when he saw Sorun.
There had been a change. What had once been a head full of free-flowing black hair was now a head of hair that shone a bright yellow color with a golden sheen. There'd been a change with his clothes as well, with the blue, tri-tailed coat he wore having converted into a gold color. Even the Yamato had changed; the normally dark-blue ribbon tied to the sword's scabbard was now a solid golden color.
Completely disregarding the smoldering glare Enerjak was sending him, Sorun looked down, towards a small divot in the stone floor of the cavern where he saw a small pool of water. He saw eyes that were supposed to be blue, now colored a light teal, looking back at him from his reflection, and then noticed the rest of his changes. With all the emotions he currently felt, he didn't so much as scoff at his appearance.
"Christ, it really is just goddamn Super Saiyan." He looked up from the reflection and at Enerjak. "All this and still no Devil Trigger. The hell."
"What have you done?" Enerjak demanded. The confident drawl he'd been using earlier was completely gone. Now his tone was clipped, almost angered. He appeared completely affronted by the being standing before him. "What have you done to yourself?" he repeated, sounding marginally angrier.
"Something profoundly stupid," Sorun answered, tossing the empty backpack away to the edge of the cavern. "I'm so sick of people trying to change this world 'for the better'. People that act like they're better than everyone around them, people who think they know better." His right hand re-grasped Yamato's handle. "All of you people hurting so many others just because you think you're right. You think this world is so messed up it's okay to hurt so many people just to get it your way." Golden sparks were emitted as the sword was slowly pulled out of its scabbard. "Why can't you just give this world a chance like I did?" Sorun asked, sounding genuinely sorrowful past the frustration and anger in his voice as he fully pulled the sword free.
"I did give it a chance. My entire species almost went extinct as a result," Enerjak plainly answered. "Monsters like Robotnik exist because we 'gave the world a chance.' No more. I know what's best for this world. I am doing what's needed because I am the only one who can!"
"That's not for you to decide!" Sorun yelled at him. "You think you know what's best because you're so all-powerful!? No, you don't! You're just some old scientist possessing my friend that doesn't even remember who he is anymore! Nobody even remembers who you originally were!" The golden ribbon on Yamato's scabbard, seemingly moving of its own free will, wrapped around Sorun's waist. The black scabbard hung off his waist as a result, with Sorun grasping the katana with both hands. "You're just a loser with way too much power. That's all we are, Enerjak. Losers with power. And the world has enough losers without us making things worse. It's time for both of us to go."
"You stand there, judging me without seeing the fruits of my work as if you know any better than I do, and you dare have the gall to compare me to you?" Enerjak slowly began to descend the steps as his voice grew more heated. "You? Some commoner from a foreign world? How could you possibly know better than I for what this world deserves, Sorun? You don't even belong here."
Enerjak extended his right hand. From a plume of golden light shining from his palm, an item appeared. What looked like a khopesh sword fashioned from pure gold appeared in his hand, which Enerjak grasped and swung in front of him.
"You could have been glorified for all eternity as a Prelate along with the others. Now you'll go down in the annals of history as a childish upstart who truly thought a bit of Chaos energy would be enough to topple the god of this world. No, not even that. I'll ensure you're erased from this world's memory entirely after you die today." He stopped at the second-to-bottom step, still glaring at Sorun past the white slits in his golden helmet. "You could have finally had a place in this world. A purpose. Now you'll be less than nothing."
In a bright, golden flash, Enerjak teleported right in front of Sorun, khopesh fully extended with his arm and ready to strike. Though the golden hair hid it, Devil's Body along with the rest of Sorun's old abilities were in full effect from having absorbed all the Emeralds and the rings, so when the strike came Sorun was actually able to perceive it. The curved, sickle-shaped blade rushed towards him quicker than he would have expected even with the enhanced reflexes afforded by Devil's Body, but it was still slow enough that Sorun was able to Trick away, leaving behind a cloud of black and golden vapors that instantly disappeared when the khopesh's blade sliced through it.
Enerjak started in surprise, and then instinctively whirled around. He dodged to the side just as Sorun sliced downwards with the Yamato where he'd been standing, with the human taking a step forwards as a result. He immediately whirled around when he saw the strike missed and, seeing Enerjak charge him with the khopesh raised, rose the sword back up and sliced it back down again.
The silver and golden blades clashes against each other, neither giving way due to the equal strength both of the blades' users wielded. They both stared at each other past the locked blades, Enerjak's face alight with fury and Sorun wearing a passive, yet nervous expression. Golden sparks seemed to pour out from the point their blades met as the two continued to struggle against one another.
Enerjak
The Deific Malefactor
"I'm taking their souls back," Sorun grunted past the sound of the struggling blades. "Everyone whose futures you've stolen. I'm taking it all back."
"You'll take nothing!"
The struggle had become too great, and the two managed to push each other away. Violently. Sorun's body flew backwards and crashed into the altar's steps. Enerjak had slid all the way to the center of the cavern on his feet, holding his weapon in front of him with his teeth grit.
No sooner had Enerjak stopped did Sorun teleport right behind him with Yamato at the ready. Enerjak had smirked, and then teleported before Sorun had even swung, appearing behind the golden-haired human. Before he could strike Sorun Tricked again and appeared behind the echidna, katana still at the ready. The smirk disappeared from Enerjak, though he did, once again, teleport behind Sorun. For a third time Sorun Tricked behind Enerjak, though this time the self-proclaimed god shouted out in frustration and swung his khopesh behind him.
His swing had hit nothing but air, as, once more, Sorun teleported away. Enerjak gasped out at this and, sensing a presence above, looked up. He saw Sorun right above him, body twisted in the air and both hands on his sheathed katana as he stared down at Enerjak. The echidna jumped away just as Sorun's body zoomed straight down at the ground with unnatural speed, leaving behind black and golden speed lines in his wake. Yamato had quickly been drawn out in a downward cleave right as Sorun had made contact with the ground, forming a long, straight groove in the stone due to the attack missing its target. Enerjak laughed at the kneeling human, and then extended his open left hand towards him.
"To think you'd assume such an attack would land on me!" he boasted as golden energy gathered in his hand. "Take this! Thunder Arr- agh!"
Enerjak was cut off when three golden spectral swords suddenly found themselves impaling his torso. Sorun stared on, completely silent while Enerjak looked at him with his mouth drawn in a snarl, the energy fading from his hand.
"That's what you get for callin' your shit out," Sorun thought as he re-sheathed Yamato and stood up to his full height. "Fucker's an amateur. All power, no skill. Like I'd expect anything more from some egghead, and Knuckles always preferred punching his problems away." His mouth creased in worry. "He always was a great fighter, though. Quick on his feet, too..."
Glaring hatefully at Sorun past his helmet, Enerjak reached up and grasped at the hilt of one of the swords impaling him. He squeezed down, causing the sword to shatter into crystalline shards that rapidly evaporated in the air. Before he could move to remove the other two they detonated, hitting him with enough force that Enerjak stumbled back on his feet. As the gaping holes in his torso closed Enerjak managed to catch his footing, looking forwards just in time to see Sorun appear in front of him while swinging his sheathed katana at him.
He ducked his head to avoid getting hit in the head by the sword's handle. Without uttering a sound Sorun swung the sword the other way, aiming for the tip of the scabbard to hit Enerjak. Like the first strike he'd dodged the second, making Sorun's brow furrow. He grabbed the sword's handle and tore it out in an effort to slash at Enerjak, though his blade was blocked once again by the echidna's khopesh.
"These moves of yours... they lack a certain weight to them," Enerjak noted as their blades locked again. "As if they're borrowed. You don't truly own them." He grit his teeth in exertion at the force pushing him back. "Where did you learn this style? I know Antoine never taught it to you."
"At least I've practiced with a sword. Have you ever even held one before now?"
"For beings such as I, practical skill is unneeded. Chaos energy provides all that is necessary." Once again, the two pushed each other away, though this time they only slid back a marginal distance from one another. "Though... your words have merit," Enerjak admitted with a contemplative hum. "I know what happens if that abomination strikes me. We won't have a repeat of that." He rose his left hand in the air, the appendage roiling with golden energy. "Let me show you... why I stand above all others."
His fingers snapped. Golden circles began to appear all around Sorun, golden lightning striking out of them at random intervals as they began to brighten in intensity. Feeling worry at being surrounded, Sorun flexed at one of his powers and breathed out in relief as the silver wave that inverted the colors of the world around him spread out, making time itself come to a halt.
And then his breath hitched when a golden wave originating from Enerjak spread out, impacting his own wave and causing both to vanish. Sorun was shocked to find colors returned to the world as things began speeding back up to a normal pace.
"Surprised?" Enerjak asked. "You honestly thought something as banal as time itself is beyond my grasp? You won't be performing that again, either."
"He can negate Quicksilver? That's bullshit!" The golden, glowing circles floating around Sorun began to glow with such intensity he couldn't see their actual shapes. Beams of pure white light fired out of them - beams Sorun was able to avoid easily enough by simply Tricking out of the way of where the circles were aiming. He found no respite, though, as an arrow-shaped bolt of energy impacted him in the shoulder after he reappeared at the other side of the room. He frowned, glancing towards Enerjak who was holding his hand out to Sorun, with more of the yellow bolts sailing towards him.
He continually kept Tricking back and forth, doing his best to avoid the myriad of projectiles that kept being fired at him. And it was becoming too much. Too many lasers firing at him from golden circles that kept appearing everywhere. Too many of the energy arrows Enerjak kept conjuring and firing at him. And the echidna himself was teleporting all over the place in the same way Sorun was, sometimes appearing on the other end of the room, other times appearing next to Sorun in a split second just to swipe at him with his khopesh and teleport away before Sorun could swing back. It was all he could do to simply just avoid the onslaught, and even then he wasn't always successful.
"He's doing nothing but spamming attacks at me, and I just can't keep up." A large gash on Sorun's cheek sealed itself and healed completely before it even had time to bleed. "What was the point of even going into this stupid golden form? I don't feel any different. It's the exact same speed and strength I had with just Devil's Body - there's been no change. I'm not noticing any difference in my abilities other than the color." He Tricked away just as a dozen electric arrows touched down where he'd been standing, creating a deep crater. "So why? What did it do? What changed?"
A large part of him was concerned that he wasn't compatible with a Super form after all, and all mixing those rings did really was just turn his hair, coat, and powers golden. He'd be incredibly annoyed if that really was the case, and worried, too. He couldn't do anything with his powers as-is if he kept being overwhelmed like this.
"I'm honestly disappointed in you, Sorun. Truly," Enerjak drawled out, sounding about as uninterested as possible. He stood off on the other end of the cavern, near the altar's steps, while he watched Sorun continually avoiding more and more energy projectiles that kept racing towards him. "I honestly thought you'd see sense in what I'm trying to do, but like all the rest you're little more than some short-sighted fool who can't see what's right for the world. I'd hoped you'd at least put up a decent struggle, unlike all the rest, but it seems you're failing all my expectations today."
Sorun hopped away just as a white laser cut through where he'd been standing momentarily. "Yeah, well... I've disappointed every single person I've ever met, so you're not special in that regard."
Just as he finished speaking, more golden circles appeared. This time they were resting flat against the ground at Sorun's feet, and the only reason he was able to know they were there to begin with was because he caught their glow just on the bottom of his vision. His teal eyes shot down, and then widened when he saw spears made from raw, electrical golden energy shoot out from the circles. He'd managed to raise his sword just in time to catch the spear tips with the flat end of the blade, gold sparks falling all around him as his entire body was thrust backwards from the force of the block. He'd tumbled over and over three times, still sliding back even after righting himself on his feet while looking ahead. To his panic, he saw Enerjak was gone.
He'd heard it before even turning around. The crackling of electrical energy, just behind him. An alarmed Sorun had whirled around before he'd even come to a full stop, just in time to see that Enerjak had teleported behind him. A victorious smirk on his face and a large, golden bolt of lightning held in his hand, twice the length of the echidna's own body. And the instant Sorun's eyes locked onto the crackling spear Enerjak had thrust it towards Sorun's body.
There'd been no time to concentrate on a spot for him to Trick to. The idea of teleporting away from the danger hadn't even crossed Sorun's mind as he saw the electrical spear fly towards him with the intent to skewer him. Baser instincts had taken hold, and, without thinking, he'd dropped Yamato and held his right hand up directly in the path of the spear in a feeble attempt at protecting himself. All this move seemed to do was encourage Enerjak, as he'd seemingly pushed even harder with his arm and rammed the tip of the spear right into Sorun's hand.
There was a sound.
It had been a peculiar sound. A cross between glass being smashed and something heavy crashing against metal. A sound that seemed to come directly from where Enerjak's energy weapon had impacted Sorun's hand.
To Enerjak, the sound was completely foreign, and he'd made a confused hum while turning his head a bit.
For Sorun, it was a sound he was intimately familiar with, and to him it may as well have been the equivalent of angels singing in his ears.
The mild confusion that had been on Enerjak's face turned much more severe when he pulled his crackling spear away and saw, to his shock, there wasn't a single injury on Sorun's hand or person. Not even so much as a scorch mark. He'd teleported away back to the bottom of the altar's steps, frowning greatly as he looked towards Sorun, who was staring down at his hand with a wide-eyed expression.
"..." Blinking, Sorun turned towards Enerjak so that the two faced each other. He had on an owlish, disbelieving look on his face that looked too hopeful for the echidna's liking. He'd made a small growl and threw his energy spear at the human, who only watched as it sailed through the air towards him. Sorun blinked, and then, the instant before the energy lance struck him, close enough that it may as well struck him by the time he made a move, he rose his hand up.
The strange, crashing sound appeared again. The spear impacted Sorun's hand, and, very briefly, a cone of golden energy spread around the point of impact before disappearing entirely, along with the energy spear. Once again, Sorun was left without so much as a scratch. He blinked once more, and then looked down at his hand with a dumbfounded expression.
"Oh. That's what Super gets me. I get Royal Guard," he realized. A small, bemused chuckle left him, and he flexed his hand. "Oh, well, that's it. That's the whole fight right there. I just win."
"What are you babbling about over there?" Enerjak demanded, a displeased scowl forming on his mouth. "You haven't won a thing."
"No, dude, you don't understand. I literally just won the fight. It's over." Looking more confident than he'd felt in months, Sorun looked up at Enerjak with a teasing, coy smile that instantly got on the god's nerves. All it did was make Sorun feel more gleeful. "In fact..." he continued, summoning Yamato back into his hands. He stared down at the weapon for a long moment, and then scoffed, letting it disappear in a shower of golden particles. "I'm not gonna need that until I'm done with you. I'm not gonna need anything but Royal Guard."
Spectral Swords? Unneeded now. Spectral fists? Unnecessary. Teleporting, time-stopping powers, regeneration? All of that was useless now that he had this power. And that information filled Sorun with so much excitement that, if it weren't for that display he'd seen with Sally minutes ago, he'd be feeling almost pitying towards Enerjak right about now. But it had, so he didn't. All he felt was glee. A sadistic sort of elation and anticipation for what was about to happen.
"'Royal Guard?'" Enerjak repeated with a scoff. "You always did have colorful names for your abilities. But really, I'm insulted. You gain a brand-new ability from a temporary form of ascension, and you honestly think it will be enough to beat me? Truly?"
"Mm-hm." Smiling, Sorun pointed his right index finger at Enerjak. "Hey, lemme ask you somethin'. What would you say if I told you I could beat you using nothing but dumb kung-fu poses?"
The scowl Enerjak wore worsened, as if he was greatly offended. "I'd say you've finally gone mad and I'm disappointed you think so little of me."
"Man, if that's what you think, then you're gonna be really disappointed by what happens next."
And then, Sorun began walking. Not teleporting, not even sprinting. Walking, straight towards Enerjak. There wasn't an ounce of worry of concern in neither his gait nor his expression. His steps were confident, and his expression was full of a smugness that did nothing but anger Enerjak further. His golden khopesh shining in his hand, the echidna teleported in a flash of gold light and reappeared right next to Sorun mid-swing.
In an instant, there was a shift. Sorun had spread his feet out, placing his left hand over his waist, his right elbow pointed towards the ground, and his hand in the direction of the khopesh's edge. At the exact moment the sword made contact with him Sorun activated the new power. The crashing sound was heard again, golden energy shimmered over his arm for a brief moment, and the momentum of the blade was completely reduced to zero, leaving no damage on Sorun.
"Royal Guard."
Enerjak slowly brought the blade back, looking almost dumbfounded at what just happened. Gritting his teeth, he swung again. All Sorun had done in response was shift his body into another exaggerated pose, this time blocking with his left hand. Once again he called out "Royal Guard" as the blade hit, and, just like before, there was a sound and a shimmer of golden energy, and a lack of any damage being done to Sorun's form.
Snarling in outrage, Enerjak teleported away from Sorun. At the same time the golden circles appeared again, all around him in the air and on the floor. Sorun, for his part, merely stood his ground, waiting for the attacks to come. Soon enough a barrage of white lasers and crackling, golden energy lances assaulted him, but with his enhanced speed and reflexes he was able to intercept them all, his hands a blur as they whirled all around his body. When an attack neared him, he'd raise his hand to block it. Like all the times before, he'd be completely unharmed, as if the attack itself was negated in its entirely.
"Royal Guard!" He'd call it out every time he successfully defended against an attack. Unnecessary in all honesty, but Sorun saw Enerjak's ire grow whenever he did it, so he took personal pleasure in doing it just to get on the god's nerves. Between that and successfully blocking all the attacks thrown at him, Enerjak's features only began to become more and more enraged. He'd thrusted his hand out at Sorun, summoning all manner of energy-based projectiles to fire at him. Lances, spears, bolts of energy. Laser beams with enough intensity to cut through buildings with perfect precision. Energy spheres with enough destructive potential to level towns.
None of it proved effective. There were no blasts, no explosions, no signs of cuts or singes, nothing. No matter the attack Enerjak would summon, once it reached Sorun, the strange sound was heard and the shimmer was seen as Sorun physically blocked, and the attack was negated. As if any attack that power was used on disappeared entirely, like it never existed. Sorun didn't seem the worse for wear, and grew more and more confident with each attack negated. And he kept calling the name of the power out, over and over, which only served to annoy and enrage Enerjak even further the longer this went on.
"Royal Guard! Royal Guard! Royal Guard! Royal Guard, Royal Guard, Royal Guard Royal Guard Royal Guard Royal Guard Royal-Guard-Royal-Guard-Royal-GuardRoyalGuardRoyalGuardRoyalGuardRoyal-!"
"ENOUGH!" Enerjak roared out. The countless amounts of energy attacks of various shapes and compositions ceased. The bolts, balls, lances and lasers disappeared, leaving Sorun standing across from a now-visibly fuming Enerjak while he stared on with that cocky grin. "Why are all of my attacks ineffective against you!? You should be ash!"
"Royal Guard, son. It blocks anything you throw at me." Sorun un-spread his feet and stood up at a normal height, sighing and running a hand through his hair. "You can't hurt me, Enerjak. Not as long as I have this power."
"Is that how you think it is?" White-gold energy began coalescing around Enerjak's hand as he rose it up towards Sorun. "Well, if I can't attack you, then I'll just fling you up into space. We'll see just how well that insufferable blocking ability of yours-"
Sorun twitched his right hand, and the crashing sound was heard again as well as a faint, golden shimmer momentarily washing over his body. Otherwise, there was no change in him. Enerjak had gasped out in shock, and then made a reaching gesture towards Sorun again. Once more, Sorun twitched his hand and activated Royal Guard, causing him to remain in place.
"Why? Why isn't it working!?" Enerjak continued making the grasping motion, though no matter how many times he tried it seemed to be in vain. Nothing happed after Sorun used Royal Guard. "Why can't I grasp you!? This shouldn't-!"
"You don't seem to get how this works." The cocky grin fell off of Sorun's face entirely. His expression had gone back into a cold, apathetic glare. "Royal Guard completely negates any action I construe as an offensive action against me. Everything from physical to energy to mental attacks, to even trying to telekinetically grasp me. Royal Guard blocks everything. There's not a single ability in your arsenal that can get past it. Royal Guard overrides your omnipotence." He glanced down at his right hand. "It comes with its caveats, of course, but for someone like me it's a non-issue."
Enerjak's breathing grew heavier. His arms began shaking in fury, and his teeth were gritting down hard. "I won't hear another word of this," he growled out. The white-gold energy roiling over his hand turned into a green color. "Just disappear already."
There was a small, tingling sensation Sorun felt on his hand. One that almost felt like it was burning if he really concentrated on it. When he looked back at his hand, he saw a green spot on the back of it. Green energy that was trying to eat away at his flesh, like acid eating away at some material. The spot wasn't growing, however. It looked like it was trying to, but the green spot would continuously grow and shrink at a rate that it never expanded beyond a spot on the back of his hand about the size of a coin.
"Why aren't you disintegrating!?" Enerjak roared out at him.
"Ultra high-speed regeneration sure is a fun power, ain't it?" Sorun looked up at Enerjak, and then flicked his hand. There was a gold shimmer, and the green spot disappeared. "Also Royal Guard."
Before Enerjak could vocalize his outrage, Yamato appeared in Sorun's grasp. He Tricked away, disappearing from Enerjak's sight who'd instinctively leapt forwards to avoid the edge of the supernatural katana cutting through his back. He whirled around to face Sorun, who was staring directly at him as he slowly sheathed the blade.
"If it hasn't sunk in yet, you're going to die here," Sorun told him. "No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You're done. Get it?"
"I know that golden form well," Enerjak stated. How sounded unsettled, deeply so, and there was a frantic edge to his voice. "It's similar to the one Sonic bore in the past, and I know it's temporary. I can just simply leave-!"
"What, and leave your precious Master Emerald all alone with me? The source of all your power?" Sorun interrupted, causing Enerjak to freeze. "I wonder how much damage I could do to it? I'm a pretty creative guy." He slowly began to walk forwards towards Enerjak, who had begun shaking. "Just admit it." Eight golden swords began spinning around Sorun. "There's no running from this."
He Tricked in front of Enerjak, who himself had teleported away to avoid the spinning swords around Sorun. He'd frowned as a result, and then willed the eight swords to pause in place and close in on him. As Enerjak charged an attack of his own in his hands the swords shot outwards, one of which impaled Enerjak right through his shoulder, causing him to shout out. Before he could reach up to take it out the sword detonated, and in a gravity-defying act Enerjak's body was lifted up into the air. He let out a cry of surprise at this, and just barely managed to twist his body out of the way when Sorun Tricked right next to him and swung his sword. He teleported again to get away form Sorun, appearing back down in front of the altar's steps.
Panting heavily, more out of worry than exertion, Enerjak thrust his hand out. "Help me!" he bellowed out, his hand flashing as more of the silver constructs he'd devised began to materialize in front of him. A silver hedgehog with red glowing eyes. Another one with blue eyes. A silver fox with yellow eyes and two tails. A silver chameleon with purple eyes. The blue-eyed silver chipmunk from before.
All of them were ingulfed inside spheres of warped space before they could even move. Numerous blue slashes from inside the spheres rent the Prelates apart, leaving behind the glowing cores to float away.
"Relying on numbers isn't gonna save you from me, Enerjak!" Sorun called down from above, Yamato held in his hands. He teleported right next to the growling echidna, who blocked his sword strike with his khopesh.
Snarling out in rage, Enerjak began slashing at him with the khopesh. The movements themselves were frenzied, heavy swings behind large arm extensions as Enerjak swung that blade seemingly as fast as he could manage. No skill or thought put into the attacks themselves. They were swings full of raw desperation that almost matched the raging look he had on the part of his face that was exposed by the helmet. Rage that only increased every time Sorun used Royal Guard to block a strike.
"Why!? What right do you have!?" Enerjak screamed at him. Sorun's response was to continually stare at him, silent and with that cold expression as he almost casually blocked every single strike of his khopesh with the back of his hand. "What right!? That look you're giving me says it all!"
Four golden swords appeared behind Sorun. They each began swinging at Enerjak in slashing patterns that varied between the swords. Random swipes and jabs that forced Enerjak to defend himself with the khopesh as he began backing up.
"You say I've stolen this world's future, but you're the one who's taking it! I'm the only one who can save this world's future! You think you know better!?" The four swords swung around and under towards Enerjak in a vicious, slashing uppercut. Four consecutive upward cuts pushed Enerjak all the way up into the air, who was still pursued by the now-spinning swords. "How could anybody who wields a demon as a weapon be any kind of savior!?" He continued to scream as he did his best to deflect the spinning swords with his khopesh. "The eyes! I see them, Sorun! I SEE THEM!"
One of the spinning swords nailed Enerjak in the back. For a single moment gravity lost all meaning for Enerjak, and he was flung higher up into the air with his back facing the ground. The four swords continued to fly into and cut him, again and again with each hit raising him back into the air when he began to fall. When he moved his arm to try and intercept the swords with his khopesh, their movements shifted, the four swords tilting diagonally so that their tips touched. The four swords spun towards Enerjak in tandem, like a giant, spinning golden drill that rammed right into him. He attempted to blocked with the khopesh, sparks flying out from where the fours swords ground against the flat end of the blade, but it proved to be too much. The sword was flung from his grasp, and Enerjak was sent flying back - right towards Sorun.
Midway towards reaching Sorun's position, a group of twenty spectral, golden swords spawned above Enerjak in his flight path, all pointing downwards. Just before Enerjak passed under the cloud of swords, they all began raining down. He'd tried his best to twist his body to avoid the swords, though, unfortunately for him, he'd been nicked in the arm by one of the swords. That proved enough for the effect of the Heavy Rain Swords to take effect, causing his body to slow down to the point he almost seemed to be paused in the air. His teeth were grit, with his head looked towards Sorun in what was surely a baleful look, his body shaking as his muscles and divine powers attempted to break out from the pausing effect the swords had afflicted on him.
And as Enerjak floated there in the air, completely helpless while in front of the person responsible for his position, Sorun did something unexpected. He didn't attack any further with his swords. He didn't make any sort of large movement. All he did was continue to stare at Enerjak as he remained frozen in the air, with his right arm outstretched towards him. His index and middle finger were pointed out with his thumb raised, making a large finger gun pointed directly at Enerjak's face. And then, his face still eerily blank with his eyes locked onto the white slits in Enerjak's helmet, he uttered one, single word in a dull, quiet tone:
"Jackpot."
It was little more than a taunt delivered with such a serious tone. Even still, the single utterance of that word made Enerjak's expression grow slack for just a moment as he processed the word. And then, he'd grown angry. Furious. His efforts to escape the Heavy Rain Swords' hold seemed to double in their effort from how much his body was quivering in the air. He was practically foaming at the mouth in rage, snarling and keeping his eyes locked right on Sorun and the finger gun he was making as he struggled in the air.
Of course, eventually, the effect wore off. And the second it did Enerjak, in all his rage and anger, channeled so much Chaos energy into his hand that his entire arm was practically glowing a green color, green bolts continually arcing off of it. He'd still been falling straight towards Sorun, and in that moment of undefinable, pure rage of being insulted on top of everything else Sorun had done, he'd aimed that fist charged with so much Chaos energy downwards and punched directly at the finger gun pointing at him.
There was a crashing sound, and a golden flash.
Royal Guard, like all the other powers gifted to Sorun through the Chaos Emeralds, originated from the same games as all the rest. He recalled hoping once upon a time that this power specifically was one of the abilities the Chaos Emeralds would grant him. Alas, they never did, and while he got by just fine without it regardless he still would have preferred to have that over some others. And for good reason.
It wasn't a skill of Vergil's interestingly enough, unlike most of the other abilities Sorun had been given. It was a skill of his twin brother. Essentially it was a blocking ability, but in the hands of the right player, it was, without question, the most powerful skill in the entire game series, bar none.
While true that Royal Guard could block all damage, depending on which game it was featured in there were penalties for blocking damage, such as chip damage or an expenditure of a variable amount of energy resources depending on the frequency and power of the attacks. If one were to block perfectly using Royal Guard, however, meaning that the attacks were blocked at the same moment they connected, the attacks were negated entirely with no penalties whatsoever.
But that was only half of what Royal Guard was capable of. Energy from attacks blocked using Royal Guard was stored, and could thereby by released back onto the attacker. Using the same perfect timing for perfect blocks it was possible to expend the entirety of this stored energy in an single attack as opposed to using it piecemeal, which ultimately resulted in a staggering amount of damage.
In the hands of a skilled player, it was the ultimate offense and defense. The entirety of the games could be finished by users of Royal Guard without so much as using a single weapon due to its ability to block all damage with no exception and release attacks that caused grievous damage even to the most heartiest of boss health bars. The cost, of course, was perfect mastery of the skill, and needing to learn the perfect timing required to consistently pull the skill off. For a majority of those who played the 'DMC' games this proved too high a skill ceiling to break through, so they sought other means of beating the game.
For Sorun, who'd grown in enough skill in the past to be able to beat the games solely using Royal Guard just for fun, mastery of the skill had been a cinch. And the supernatural reflexes given to him by Devil's Body certainly helped matters.
The plan had been simple enough: use Royal Guard to keep Sorun alive from all of Enerjak's attacks, all the while storing enough energy to disable him in a single hit of Royal Release. Once enough energy was stored, get him in a position so that, when Sorun did use Royal Release, it wasn't in the direction of all the bodies hanging up on the wall so they weren't caught in any potential blast. He'd managed to do that by successfully stalling Enerjak in the air with the Heavy Rain Swords, so all that had been left was the small taunt.
It was long ago that Shadow taught Sorun against using taunts in a serious fight. Generally he followed the advice, but in Sorun's eyes this particular foe was a special case mainly due to one reason: Enerjak had an ego larger than Sorun could imagine. That much was plain to see to the human throughout the duration of the fight, and in the words he chose to use when they conversed. His demeanor, his goals, it all screamed of him being full of himself. It was a point only proven when Sorun showed off being able to negate all of his abilities regardless of what he tried. The taunt had mainly just served to goad Enerjak into attacking Sorun while he was in the perfect position. An act he likely would have committed regardless if there was a taunt of not, he certainly looked angry enough to try, but there was a sense of personal victory Sorun felt when he managed to say that one word aloud to Enerjak's face. As far as he was concerned that made it more than worth it.
So Enerjak had broken free of the Heavy Rain Swords' hold once the effect wore off, and then struck Sorun. The exact same moment the strike struck was the moment Sorun activated Royal Release, and was subsequently blinded by the light it caused. A golden beam of light so intense he wasn't able to see shot out from his arm, engulfing Enerjak who'd let out a pained scream that was quickly drowned out by the roar of the beam. It'd only lasted for a few seconds, after which the beam dimmed down at such a rate that, if one weren't paying attention, it would have seemed to have disappeared all at once.
At the end of it Sorun was left standing there, panting lightly not from the exertion of the attack he'd just unleashed, but from the intense rush of having felt all that energy channeled through him and expunged. Like a monetary adrenaline rush, magnified tenfold and only lasting for a brief moment before his senses were returned to normal. He immediately saw the damage the attack had sustained on the cavern: the entrance leading into the spacious chamber was gone. Melted away completely, with light from the outside bleeding through to the inside the cave from the widened opening. The sides of the new entrance were still glowing red-hot, smooth and, if one were to look closely, almost running due to the molten surfaces that were quickly cooling. Even some of the ground leading up to the entrance of the cavern had been scorched by the Royal Release, leaving a long groove of molten glass in its wake.
And then, there was Enerjak himself. He was left stumbling back a bit, mouth gaping in a silent, gasping scream, unable to do anything but stand there. His left side was entirely gone, from his whole arm to the left side of his torso and hip. In fact, there was so little flesh and bone connecting the upper half of the body to the lower half now that it was honestly a miracle the two halves didn't snap away altogether. And the flesh exposed from the intense blast of Royal Release was less burnt flesh and more charcoal now; the exposed side wasn't bleeding at all, and instead was a large, black mass that was crumbling apart in flakes the more Enerjak moved.
Unflinching at the sight, Sorun willed a golden, spectral arm to appear over his right shoulder. The feathered Bringer Claw struck forwards, down towards Enerjak's legs. It struck with brutal savagery, delivering enough force that both legs were completely severed at the knee due to the single punch. The discarded limbs flew away, blood streaming out from what was left of Enerjak's legs as the force tossed him up in the air. His strangled scream was interrupted when the left Bringer Claw lashed out and clamped onto his helmet, hard enough that the golden material began to crack. The spectral limb slammed his head into the ground, smashing away the helmet completely to reveal a head now slightly deformed from having its skull shattered against the ground. The golden Bringer Claw lifted the body up by the head, and then threw it far enough that it rolled against the ground at the landing and stopped at the center of the room.
A small exhale left Sorun as the Bringer Claws disappeared. He heard a commotion from behind him, confused murmurs and shuffling sounds, and quickly realized the vessels for the souls from the Prelates he'd killed a minute before were coming to. Ignoring them for now, he opted to look out towards the mutilated body, slightly quavering as it attempted to move, and began walking towards it. He saw Enerjak had tried to raise himself up, but lacking an arm and legs he kept falling back down onto the ground with every attempt. The sheathed katana in Sorun's left hand was only gripped tighter the closer he got to the unmasked echidna, and he felt something inside of him give an uneasy stir when he saw Knuckles' pained face attached to that mutilated body in that pathetic state.
"How disappointing this must be, hm?" Sorun murmured out quietly, stopping in front of Enerjak. He was lying flat on his stomach, just barely held up by his remaining arm as he glared up at Sorun. Green energy was completely enveloping the half of his body that had been vaporized and what remained of his legs, and Sorun could see the bones in his anguished face moving around as they righted themselves in their proper positions and healed. "How long is it going to take for you to regenerate your body? Six seconds? Eight?" Sorun wondered, pulling Yamato out of its scabbard. "When you're finished healing Knuckles' body I'm separating you right out of it and killing you."
Enerjak's breathing became heavier. Rage, pain, and quite possibly fear was all mixed into an expression of pure hate that was glaring right through Enerjak's eyes. But when Sorun looked closer he saw, strangely, that he wasn't looking at Sorun's face. He was looking down a bit, off to the side. And when Sorun traced the direction his violet eyes were looking with his own he realized he was staring right at Yamato's blade.
"Those eyes..." he whispered out, "they keep staring at me..."
"... Right..." Unsettled slightly, Sorun brushed off Enerjak's words and looked back towards his body. The half of his torso that had been blown away had already been regenerated, along with his arm and legs. He looked to be almost fully healed. "Looks like you're all healed up," he said, gripping Yamato's handle with both hands.
It wasn't clear what Enerjak's plan was from there. If he'd been trying to somehow feign still being injured despite his appearance or if it was just some frenzied, desperate reaction on his part. Whatever the case, he'd lunged towards Sorun, hands balled into fists with green energy arcing between the two spikes on each hand. A howl that almost sounded deranged left his mouth after he sprang up and tried to rush Sorun with those fists, but, before he'd gotten close enough to strike, something struck him from behind.
Slckht!
Enerjak stopped dead in his tracks, the energy fading from his sharpened knuckles as he looked down. The golden blade of a spectral katana was piercing his shoulder from behind, coming out through the other end. Releasing a shaking breath, he looked away from the Sorun in front of him, spark of golden electricity occasionally arcing over his whole form, and looked over his shoulder to see the golden, spectral clone of Sorun standing right behind him, piercing his shoulder with a spectral Yamato. He attempted to raise a hand up to attempt to dislodge it, but before he could he'd made an involuntary grunt when Sorun, using the real Yamato, pierced the opposite shoulder.
"That's game, Enerjak," Sorun muttered, golden energy flowing down the length of the silver blade. "Now get out of my friend."
Green lightning sparked around Enerjak's form. There was an attempt at struggling against Sorun, but by then it was too late, as he'd gripped the echidna's face with a golden Bringer Claw. The blades were pulled out from his shoulders after a small flash resulting from the movement, after which Knuckles' body was tossed far away as Sorun looked at what was leftover.
It was the same, ghostly golden phantom Enerjak had left the last time Sorun had separated the two. A golden phantom with shimmering skin that closely resembled the armor and helmet he wore, hollowed and empty but still staring up at Sorun. Before it could move he stabbed it through the chest with the Yamato, eyebrows furrowing in concentration as he channeled Yamato's power through the blade.
There was, however, an issue, which Sorun felt through his blade which caused his eyes to widen a small amount. At the same time there was a roar - loud, and so distorted it barely sounded like the voice of a person screaming. There was an explosion of light that originated from Enerjak's ghostly form that was sufficient in knocking Sorun back far enough that he'd smashed right into the altar's steps, causing that small section to crumble as his body bounced up onto the stairs above.
Grimacing a bit, Sorun sat upwards and began lifting himself up to his feet, his minor wounds from the crash regenerating. "Well... that didn't work," he thought to himself, stabbing Yamato into the stairs to use it as a crutch. "I'd hoped to sever his Chaos Force link to make him disappear entirely, but it seems Yamato can't affect that. Too much Chaos energy for it to work..." He began stepping down the stairs. "Fine. We'll do it the hard way. Yamato can still hurt him. And if I kill his spirit, he's still gone forever. It's fine either way..."
He heard more of the distorted screaming as he came to the bottom of the steps. Enerjak's spirit was still at the center of the room, on its knees and screaming that distorted wail. Bolts of golden energy were snaking out of its body with such intensity it was leaving grooves and cracks in the stone walls and floor were the branches of energy touched. His hold on Yamato tightening, Sorun sprinted ahead straight to Enerjak, his golden Doppelganger appearing next to him and running right alongside him.
The wild, arcing energy whipping around Enerjak attempted to strike Sorun and the Doppelganger as they neared. There were dodges and teleports from both of them as they avoided the arcing tendrils, still approaching closer to the kneeling form at the center of the room. Pillars of golden energy that completely tore the cave ground up raced towards the two, but those were dodged even easier than the energy bolts.
As the two neared, the ground underneath their feet began to rumble. Golden cracks of glowing energy appeared, Sorun and the Doppelganger looking down in unison and jumping upwards just as planes of roaring, wild golden energy ejected from the ground in long, flat geysers. By now Enerjak was close enough that the pair were right on top of it, though the near-lack of distance made the wildly arcing energy around the phantom harder to dodge. Sorun had been forced to swipe at one stream of energy to disperse it before it'd struck him, and then another as he began falling. The Doppelganger had been struck behind by one of the bolts, causing it to dissolve away in a cloud of energy and electric sparks as its spectral Yamato flew from its grasp.
His eye darting back, Sorun saw the spectral sword spinning in the air and snatched it with his left hand. Armed with both the spectral and solid Yamato in his hands, he began slashing back and forth madly at the energy tendrils as he continued descending towards Enerjak. The ghost was still screaming, its empty helmet with those white eyes that somehow seemed to be staring at Sorun so hatefully staring right up at him as he descended.
All the screaming had served to do was make Sorun grit his teeth harder and harder the louder it became. The density of the electric tendrils was sufficient that, even with two weapons, he wasn't able to fully defend himself and continued getting struck by bolts. He still fell, right towards the wailing phantom, his body spinning around with the swords outstretched to form a deadly, golden wheel that shredded through everything between himself and Enerjak. But, finally, Sorun had dropped within range. The spinning had ceased, momentum cutting out as Sorun straightened his body with the two swords held above his head. With Enerjak still screaming at him in defiance, Sorun himself had shouted outwards as he cleaved the two katanas downwards just as his feet touched the ground.
Brightly-glowing, golden ichor sprayed away at both sides as two golden, ghostly limbs flew away from Enerjak's torso. The armless body screeched, causing another explosion of light to manifest and blast Sorun back. This one, however, had been significantly weaker, only serving to throw Sorun away by a few meters. The teen had bounced and rolled over the ground, the spectral Yamato shattering and evaporating away while the real one had impaled its blade in the ground in front of him after he came to a stop.
A short huff left Sorun. The pain had almost-instantaneously been offset by the regeneration, but exhaustion was beginning to plague his senses, and the edges of his vision were growing slightly darker. Thankfully, at least, his ears weren't being assaulted by the screaming anymore, and when he looked up, he saw Enerjak was still there. The arms he'd removed, interestingly, weren't regenerating. The disarmed shoulders just continued to bleed that golden fluid as their owner kneeled there, still and staring towards Sorun.
"You..." His breathing becoming heavier, Sorun, with some difficulty, planted his knee on the ground. "You're not going back. You're not going anywhere." He pushed himself up off the ground, dragging his feet towards Enerjak while also tearing Yamato out of the ground as he passed it.
If Enerjak even had the capacity to respond, it didn't use it. That ghostly, armless visage just continued to sit on its knees as it watched Sorun slowly approach it.
"I'm going to use Yamato and its power of separation to kill you," Sorun rasped out. "You're not going back to the Chaos Force. Not there, not the afterlife, not even that void I wound up in when I died. There's nothing for you after this."
There was, surprisingly, little malice in Sorun's voice as he continued to approach Enerjak. There was exhaustion, of course, bitterness even, but seeing Enerjak in the sorry state that he was in, Sorun couldn't muster up the energy to feel complete hatred towards the sad thing he was limping towards. Enough that he was able to keep moving forwards with the intent on erasing the phantom from existence, but it didn't belay the pity he felt in addition. Feelings that increased the nearer he got to Enerjak.
"You'll cease to exist. You're never coming back to hurt another soul ever again..."
He stopped right in front of Enerjak. Two hands gripped around the sword's handle as Sorun's breathing increased. Something - some garbled, distorted speech that was almost too quiet for Sorun to hear - left the empty helmet staring up at him, but Sorun wasn't even able to make out if those sounds were words or just random noises. He rose the blade over his head; golden energy began to flow over the sword, enough that the silver blade was completely bathed in golden light with energy crackling up and down its length.
More incoherent, distorted sounds came from Enerjak's spirit. The white eye slits in the helmet were looking up at the katana raised above its head, though without any expressions it was impossible to tell what it was feeling. Eventually, the thing slumped forwards, with its head bowing down as if it was giving up entirely.
"A̴͓̱̗̲͎̫̒͐̔͜ü̸̦̿͝rǫ̷̡̘̠̠̬̹̥͌͛̑́r̸̙̫̰̃̍̀̆͋͝-"
Sorun sliced the Yamato downwards. A thin, clean white line that bisected Enerjak's entire body appeared, instantly cutting off the warbling sound coming from the phantom. It'd frozen completely as small, white bolts of energy sparked out from the seam separating its body in half. The phantom began shaking as the lightning slowly increased in its density and intensity, while at the same time its entire body began to glow brighter and brighter.
Before anything else could be done, there was an explosion of light.
He hadn't been knocked completely unconscious from the blast - Sorun was certain of that much. There wasn't the telltale loss of cognition between losing consciousness and regaining it upon awakening that he was familiar with from having been knocked unconscious in the past. It had been less of that and more, quite simply, that he was getting extremely tired and it took him a few minutes to muster up the energy to open his eyes after the blast of light knocked him down.
When he did open his eyes, Sorun found that his vision was blurry, though blinking was serving to quickly straighten it out. He looked down and, to his surprise, found he was still standing, though rather worryingly it was hard to tell he was standing. The actual sensation of gravity weighing down on him was faint enough he had to search to feel the feeling. Looking beyond his feet he saw the spot Enerjak had been kneeling in before he landed the final blow. There was nothing there now. Just a small crater and splatters of a dull, dark yellow fluid that once held a shining luster, which was slowly disappearing.
It was when Sorun looked up at the sky he saw it, or more accurately them. More souls. Enough of the colored, glowing spheres to completely and utterly cover the entire sky, enough that it was impossible to see the sky itself or the clouds covering it. A massive corona of color that covered as much of the sky that the cavern allowed, all floating along the sky, some falling down while others moved on in various directions.
Hundreds of millions of them. Billions, probably. It was hard to count with the limited sight Sorun had, and he mentally wasn't fit enough at the moment to make an honest effort at counting them all. He did note that, under normal circumstances, it must have been a sight to behold. But, as it was, he just wasn't in a state to appreciate it fully.
"Huh. I did it." Sorun looked down, towards his own body. He found it noteworthy that his coat was flashing between a blue and golden coloring, quicker and quicker. And then the gold seemed to dissolve away entirely, solid blue coloring bleeding back into his clothes as he felt his power begin to fade away. Wisps of energy particles were leaving his body and gathering around at seven points around his body, until finally they solidified into the seven Chaos Emeralds. They glowed brightly, and then shot up into the air. "So that's how it works," Sorun thought to himself, watching past the now-black locks of hair blowing in his face as the Emeralds reached the sky, and then blast off in seven different direction. It was just after he saw the Emeralds leave that a sudden bout of weakness overtook him, causing Sorun to fall down to his knees. And then he'd seen his hand. "Oh dear."
He only needed a glance at his hand to confirm something was gravely wrong. The flesh had taken on an ashen gray pallor, and the hand itself was littered with cracks along its surface. He even saw small pieces of skin slowly flaking off of the hand in the breeze, and from the corner of his vision he saw more of the flakes near his head, likely from his face. Like his body was crumbling apart. "So that's how it is." The arm went slack at his side. "Kinda... funny how it came full circle there in the end..."
With that thought, he completely collapsed onto the ground on his front side. He heard a commotion from somewhere behind him, shouts of alarm and stone breaking. The others, Sorun assumed, finally breaking out of the restraints. He was at least glad to hear the souls were returning to their rightful vessels, so he'd at least succeeded in doing that much. The knowledge brought him more peace than he figured it would have.
He heard a single pair of rapid footsteps near him, and then stop right next to his head. His blue eyes glanced up, and met with a pair of panicked, alarmed green eyes. He didn't have the energy to scoff when he saw the Mobian's face. Of all the faces he wanted to die seeing, Sonic's wasn't anywhere close to the top of the list. He'd rather it be hers more than anyone else.
"Hi, Sonic." Sorun's voice came out as weak and scratchy, and he found it a struggle just to speak. "It seems I've made a bad habit of doing this."
"S-Sorun...?" It was almost odd, hearing the hedgehog's voice after so long. And the way he sounded, too. So... disheartened and sad. Sorun wasn't used to hearing him sound like this. "What-what did you do to yourself?"
"I would think it's fairly obvious," Sorun tiredly mumbled out. He pressed his palms against the ground and pushed himself up. He tried standing up, but failed and only managed to roll over on his back so that he faced the brightly-colored sky, his arms outstretched at his sides. "Nicole's going to be upset at me again," he said. "That's all I ever seem to accomplish with her. Make her upset."
"Th-that isn't- you can't- Sorun, what did you do?" Sonic stammered out. He kneeled down at Sorun's side, looking him up and down and ending on his face. "Y-your skin, it's- why are you falling apart!?"
"You... know I can't withstand Chaos energy. And I needed a lot to... to beat Enerjak." Sorun made a sigh, his head lolling to the side. "I don't need to explain it to you, do I?"
He wasn't able to place the expression on Sonic's face. It honestly looked like he was torn between breaking down and shouting at Sorun, and his hands, hovering over the Earthling's form, were shaking in indecision. He eventually seemed to reach an internal decision, and then reached down towards Sorun's body.
"Alright, come on," Sonic muttered out. He pulled Sorun's right arm up and slung it over his shoulders, and then supported the other teen with his own arms as he helped him up to his feet. "W-we're gonna fix this, okay?"
If he had the energy, Sorun would have scoffed. "There's no fixing this," he rasped out, voice dry and barely above a whisper. Sonic began walking towards the altar, where Sorun saw everyone else was, and due to being supported by his body he had no choice but to be dragged along by Sonic. "Sonic-"
"I don't want to hear it," he said. "I just- I can't believe you- what, Enerjak did whatever he did and you decided it'd be such a great idea to go and do this to yourself again!?"
He sounded angry. And hurt, and frustrated, and above all that scared. Sorun supposed that was natural. He doubted they all even knew what happened with the world if they didn't have their memories past when Enerjak stole their souls from their bodies. Thinking on that note it probably wasn't any wonder why Sonic was reacting like this. The poor guy must have been so confused waking up to what he had, probably everyone else, too, and Sorun honestly doubted he had the time to explain it all to them. Nor did he want to, really. He barely had the energy to stand.
"There wasn't anyone else," Sorun informed Sonic in a quiet voice.
"What do you mean 'there wasn't anyone else?'"
"Just... ask Nicole. When you get back," Sorun told him. "I don't think I have the time to tell you."
"Don't say stuff like- ahh..." Sonic cut himself off with a worried whine when Sorun grew more limp while leaning against him. His features tightened, and he shifted his arms so they provided more support for Sorun's body. "Okay okay okay, just, just chill out here for a minute while we figure this out, alright?"
Practically carrying him at this point, Sonic dragged Sorun off to the cavern wall, nearby and to the left of the altar stairs. He sat the human down against the wall, taking one last worried look at him before retreating to go back to the others nearby.
"What is he trying to do?" Sorun silently wondered. He saw the others looking his way, all with their own reactions. Mostly shock, confusion, horror and realization. Mixtures of all those emotions spread out towards everybody when they realized what was happening with him. "Why do I have to die seeing them look at me like this?"
The first time he'd died he'd wished he wasn't alone during it. It was terrifying enough dying as it was, and having to do it alone had been woeful enough. But now he was here, dying again, and now that he was surrounded by people he considered friends he was beginning to wish he was alone the second time around, because it was almost too much to handle the looks they were all giving him. The human propped up against the wall that looked like he was crumbling apart. He even caught a few individuals like Tails and Antoine shedding some tears his way.
It was touching knowing he had people that cared this much about him, but he just couldn't handle seeing those expression. Having those faced in his mind as he sat there slowly dying didn't conjure good memories. And Sorun couldn't even do anything about it but stare blankly at all of them because he didn't even have the energy to make his face make any kind of emote. If he could he'd just crawl away to get away from them all, but he couldn't move. He wasn't sure what to make of all of it. The looks, how sudden and jarring this must have been for all of them. Too much happening at once. It was all strange and disorienting, and it made his head hurt.
He heard arguing nearby. His blue eyes just barely managed to look over in the direction, where a blue hedgehog was arguing with a black and red hedgehog. Interestingly Shadow looked even more confused and conflicted than anyone else there. Angrier, too. Sorun wasn't sure what to make of that.
"Explain to me right now-!"
"Does it look like we have time to explain everything!?" Sonic shouted at Shadow. "Look at him! If we don't do something he's gonna-!"
"Why is he still here!?"
"It's a long story, okay!?"
Darkness briefly washing over his vision and a wave of exhaustion assaulted Sorun. It came on and off, vision continually darkening and clearing back up. He was fairly certain he was fading between consciousness and unconsciousness, because every time he lost sight and regained it people's feet were in different positions. Or it could be he was just mistaken. Sorun wasn't sure enough to tell for certain.
He couldn't think much past how tired he was getting. How it was getting harder to stay awake, how breathing was becoming more exhausting, how he was losing more and more feeling in his body by the second. How his skin was crumbling away quicker and how the cracks were growing in length and number. The thoughts were significant enough that they overrode any worries he had about dying, the people around him or everything else going on. He was tired enough that he just wanted to close his eyed and go to sleep. And he nearly did until he felt someone shake his shoulder.
"Sorun? Sorun, hey, come on, stay with us."
He cracked his eyes open. Sonic was kneeling in front of him, hand on his shoulder. Less panicked, but still very worried and solemn-looking.
"..." Sorun's eyes slowly trailed to the hand on his left shoulder. "Go away." He tried to brush the hand off of him, but he only managed to raise the hand halfway before it dropped back down to the ground.
Sonic made a sad sort of frown. "Sorun, seriously, come on. We have an idea."
"What?" Sorun looked back to Sonic's face. He shook his head. "No, I'm not-"
"Would you just listen!?" His raised voice seemed to surprise Sonic himself, as he'd looked momentarily stunned before calming down. "Look, I know you might not be wild about this, but just hear it out." He glanced past his shoulder. Near them and ahead of the crowd, Sorun saw Knuckles. He still seemed to be nursing the two stab wounds in his shoulders, and there was still some blood crusted in the fur around the wounds, but he seemed fine otherwise. His face, on the other hand, told a different story. There was a heavy amount of guilt mixed into the sorrow that everyone else around possessed, and he wouldn't stop staring at Sorun. His father was nearby with a similar expression. "Alright," Sonic continued, looking back at Sorun, "w-we can't... we don't know how to stop this-" he gestured down to the crumbling flesh on Sorun's hand, "- but we might be able to stall it."
"Sonic-"
"A long while back that Mogul guy, you remember him, the whole prison thing, he got, err, he got frozen in the Master Emerald, right?" Sonic explained in a quick pace. "We talked it over with Knux and his dad and they think they can do the same thing with you-"
"Sonic, I don't-"
"It'll just be 'til we figure something out, you won't even-"
"Would you stop it?" Sorun had tried to sound as loud as possible, but in his state, he'd barely raised his voice above a whisper. Sonic still seemed taken back by it, and closed his mouth while allowing Sorun to speak. "I... no, Sonic." He shook his head. "I'm done. Alright? Look at me." He glanced his grayed, crumbling hand. "I-I can't..."
He slumped forwards before he could finish speaking. The energy to do so just wasn't in Sorun, as by now all his effort was completely just focused on staying awake. Sonic seemed startled by this, scared, even, and after a moment's deliberation he pulled himself back together and reached for Sorun.
"No, come on, you're not leaving us now," the hedgehog said as he grabbed at Sorun's body. He pulled him upwards, dragging - more carrying - Sorun towards the altar steps as he continued speaking. "You just pulled your life back together! Y-you were finally... egh, it's not happening. Not again. We're not letting you die again."
As he was carried up the steps, Sorun found himself thinking about all the ways he could be protesting against this. About how stuffing him inside of a giant Chaos Emerald to put him in stasis sounded like an insane idea he wanted no part of. How he was too tired to try and do anything and just wanted to sleep. How he wanted to struggle in Sonic's grasp to escape, but he didn't even have the strength to speak, let alone move, so he was helpless to do anything.
But the way Sonic sounded made him think, at least using what little thought Sorun was capable of gathering now. How... resolute he sounded. How serious, like he was sure he was going to save Sorun's life. Half of him wanted to laugh, but the other half found itself being cautiously hopeful. Living past this point wasn't the plan. Managing to do so would be... it would be nice, wouldn't it? And Sonic sounded so sure, but Sorun... he was too tired. Too tired to even notice when they reached the top of the altar.
Gently, Sonic set Sorun down next to the Master Emerald. He knelt down in front of Sorun again, putting a hand on the Earthling's shoulder even though he didn't have the strength to look up at him. "Sorun, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Sonic said to him, voice wavering. "Th-this wasn't supposed to happen, you weren't supposed to be doing this anymore, you... you were finally getting happy." He made a choked sound and stood up. "We're not leaving you in there forever, alright? It's just until we find a way to fix you. We'll get you better and things can go back to normal. You can go back home and see Nicole and everyone else, j-just don't di-"
Sorun couldn't listen to Sonic anymore. Words were blurring together as his weakness worsened. He couldn't even remember most of what he had said, and what little he did remember he couldn't make sense of. It was all just garbled nonsense that Sorun had no choice but to cling to with the last vestiges of consciousness he possessed.
The sporadic blackout that kept playing over Sorun's vision were reappearing again. It was bad enough that he didn't even notice when Knuckles and his father appeared. Standing there, in front of Sorun. Greenish energy was wafting around their hands, and their mouths were moving in sync as the pair of echidna were chanting something. Sorun couldn't hear what. All his hearing was at this point was a low drone.
There was a small jerk on Sorun's arm. He looked towards it, and saw that Sonic had moved his hand so that it was touching the Master Emerald. And that it was... sinking into the large gem. Phasing through, almost, though the actual rock's surface wasn't being disturbed and he could make out his hand on the inside through its green, translucent surface. The green energy from the echidnas' hands was spreading around them, waving through the air and flowing towards the Emerald, which was beginning to glow more brightly.
He was getting pulled further into the Emerald. First his entire arm, and then his shoulder. He wasn't nearly cognizant enough at this point to even feel what was happening to him at this point, other than recognize the darkness encroaching on his vision and mind. The last thing Sorun managed to see before his head was phased inside the Emerald was Sonic looking after him as he was subsumed into the Emerald.
Consciousness had long faded from Sorun by the time his entire body was placed inside the Master Emerald.
A/N- If you really wanna bead on how picky about the swearing thing Sorun is then there's a small detail that he refuses to swear in front of Enerjak. He does this because Sorun's worried that Knuckles would be left with the memory of Sorun swearing, and he's so neurotic about who hears him talk like that that he's borderline obsessive about choosing who to swear in front of. It's not all that important but I thought it was a cool detail.
But anyways, yeah, I gave Sorun Royal Guard because I literally couldn't think up of any other way he could have possibly beat Enerjak. I'll admit it right now, he only won because of that one power. It carried him through the whole fight. And in my defense they never even really figured out how to beat him in the comics. The first time Locke had to kamikaze himself just to stop him and when Silver had to go fight the alternate universe version he basically did the same thing Sorun did but instead of Royal Guard he had telekinesis to fall back on. That's the problem with writing near-omnipotent characters that are so absurdly broken compared to the rest of the cast - you gotta jump through these kinds of hoops just to find ways to beat them.
And to be fair Sonic gets a flat invincibility buff when he goes Super, along with a lot of other plot-convenient powers, so I don't think by that point Royal Guard is that big a stretch.
So that whole ending scene needed a lot of rework on my part. During the whole planning phase of this story Sorun, from the point he found out Earth was gone to now, was supposed to be borderline suicidally depressed throughout the entire duration, and this whole arc was really just supposed to be an excuse for him to finally die while saving everyone in the process. Due to a combination of me wussing out on going that hard on the depression and the story flowing against that concept, the whole idea kind of went on the wayside since the story portrayed him to be getting better to a point he wasn't nearly that bad anymore. I mean Sorun flat-out stating to Finitevus he didn't wanna die but was gonna kill himself to save everyone anyway because there was no other choice pretty much blows it out of the water. What I wrote was an ending sequence three times longer than what was there, where Sorun was arguing about Sonic that he didn't want to be saved and just wanted to die, and Sonic was basically yelling at Sorun the whole time. I go over it, and then realize that it's so out of place it's almost narrative-breaking, so I end up re-writing it three whole times before eventually deciding it just doesn't work so I redid it entirely. So we got this instead of Sorun arguing he wanted to die because, with all the context the story gave us prior, it doesn't actually make sense he'd act like this. It's not that big a problem, might make things a bit awkward later since I kinda planned around that, but in the end everything should work out.
