.hack/EVA: Catharsis: Harbinger of Twilight
Disclaimer: In this universe in the quantum foam, I do not own or in any way shape or form hold a claim to the .hack series or Neon Genesis Evangelion (or of course, any other copyrighted works I might reference here).
" " denotes speech
'italics' denotes thought
'bold' denotes location names
'bold italics' denotes skill use
Outer Dungeon
The border between The World and the rest of the global network was a strange and eerie place, a place that was out of bounds to CC Corp and most legitimate users of the network, and as such, one of the great lurking places for hackers, AIDA, and other stray digital creations from the great game. As such, AIDA-Angel Tabris had chosen to use it as the muster point for his forces, AIDA mirages numbering in the millions, forces that would be used to subjugate and destroy all of humanity connected to the network.
'He dares to taint the abstract masterpiece of this boundary world with killing intent, to use this place of contemplation as the staging ground for a war? Well, I won't let them!'
So resolved the Queen of the Dark, as she stood in a ready stance while floating in the air, wielding Múspell and Nifelheim, twin swords of fire and ice, surveying the lands beneath her. The walls and floor could barely be seen for sheer number of shadows that had been summoned for battle, but as of yet, they had not detected her.
"Morganna…are you prepared?" the swordsmistress asked quietly as she hovered over the battlefield, looking for a good insertion point where she could cause maximum disruption to the enemy. The greater the damage caused by their initial onslaught, the more likely that their enemies would mass around them to destroy them. "And do you see an open landing zone?"
"I am, my old enemy, and yes, I see one," replied the goddess of dusk, her black and purple gown fluttering in the breeze of their movements.
"Where, praytell?" Helba inquired dryly, seeing how crowded the area below already was.
Morganna's response was to smile slightly and mutter a brief incantation, before flinging two small spheres into the horde, spheres that crashed into the ground and detonated, clearing away a good number of the AIDA-Mirages with sheer power.
"There," coolly quipped the Goddess of Dusk, a comment that the Queen of the Dark acknowledged with a smirk as she somersaulted forward and down into the horde below, moving with the speed of the divine wind as her swords sliced the air, finding purchase in the flesh of enemies left and right, blades singing a lusty melody of death.
'If nothing else…I'll admit that she is not afraid to die…which is more than I could say for myself years ago…and she is only mortal, which makes her lack of fear all the more surprising.'
Mortal perhaps, but a woman wearing the queenly mask who simply looked at the army she must face with swords in hand, accepting what must be in the end, not running from her fate, but embracing it, drawing power from it in the same way that swordsmen of the elder days might do, blades twirling about in a beautiful spiral of death that rained heavy blows upon the shadows, eliminating any movements not necessary for destroying the enemy, any emotion that might be a hindrance as she danced, dodged, and struck left and right, sowing chaos within the enemy formation—and drawing the attention of the AIDA mirages to her alone.
"Will of the World!" chanted Morganna, her grimoire open as she cast another sphere of magical energy towards the AIDA army, clearing an area for her to touch down (a fair distance from the Queen so that they would not interfere with one another). If AIDA was a curse fueled by malignant desires and terror, she would negate it with sheer might and force of will.
Eyes cold and unforgiving, the Phantom Queen and the Queen of the Dark stood as one, blades and spells flying forth as the two reapers chose those who would be slain, fighting without pity or remorse, using the numerical strength of the enemy against them. Packed together so tightly, the Mirages could not use spells or AIDA lances without hurting one another, and so resorted to simple force of arms through melee combat—a dangerous mistake.
Thirty shadows charged towards red-clad swordswoman, moving faster than a mere human could defend against, only to run headlong into the windmilling swords of fire and ice. It was not a matter of seeing and countering, but of predicting, of feeling the flow of battle.
Swing, slash, crack, thud! And those troops vanished from the field, run through and mortally wounded by an opponent they had underestimated.
Whoosh, BOOM, POW! Another few were defeated, a whirlwind of light tearing its way through the enemy ranks and destroying the shadows on contact.
Battle was not something to be feared, merely a cold truth that could not be avoided, as she sought an indescribable something on the battlefield as a user of void, carrying everything on her shoulders as she fought on for a miracle.
Even if in the end, the result was inevitable death, with solitary ruin waiting on an alien world, the Queen would not fear it, as it was the path she had chosen.
A flash of light, a glancing blow, blades clanging, interlocking, disengaging, ducking down, slashing up, right, and down all at once.
'Two against 7 million? I'll take those odds.'
Avatar Space
Avatars of preservation and ruin clashed in an empty expanse that had existed since the beginning of The World, the vast primordial void that had existed before any of the Legendary Lands or Lost Grounds, much like Ginnungagap in Norse mythology. Literally a space filled with magical power, it allowed the summoning of forms greater than most could even begin to comprehend: with Avatars and AIDA in their full fledged glory being only two possible examples.
Here the Azure Flame God, a figure which was essentially the dothacker Kite writ large and wreathed in azure flames (with the addition of immense metallic wings behind him), the foremost Knight of Aura and defender of the System, faced off against AIDA-Angel Tabris, the being who had made it his objective to cause the utter destruction of all life on Earth.
"…"
A wordless hiss-cry issued into the darkness, as Kite of the Azure Flames performed his signature "Azure Tiger Claw" attack, crossing his distinctive Empty Skies in front of him defensively and tossing 6 copies of them towards the AIDA-Angel's Avatar Macha, the blades homing in with deadly speed—only to be deflected by a hexagonal barrier of light, as Siarl laughed.
"I would have thought an artificial being would have more sense than to stand against me," the AIDA-Angel sneered, raising his hands and summoning a massive swarm of AIDA(Helen)s and AIDA(Gatekeeper)s to his side, where they unleashed a torrent of energy blasts towards the Azure Knight, forming a gauntlet of Algol Masers that could not be dodged. "But like the Lilim that spawned you, it seems you too rush foolishly to your death!"
If the Azure Knights were human, perhaps they would have known fear at the sight of these foes, but they were not—they were AIs specialized for the destruction of AIDA!
"GYAAAA!" roared Azure Orca and Azure Balmung, as the winged man and the naked man flew through the barrage, swinging the swords Empty Mirage and Empty Shadow to cleave apart the creatures supporting Tabris. While they might not be able to injure the AIDA-Angel directly, they could at least keep him busy for a time and handle the AIDA swooping into this space.
"Crucifix Mirager! Corruption Storm!"
At the AIDA-Angel's words, a salvo of 17 shards of frozen light exploded out in Avatar space, streaking towards the foremost Azure Knights and detonating into cross-flares, momentarily blinding the trio, as from Avatar Macha, a massive wave of black fire belched forth, a maelstrom of shadow that threatened to swallow up anything it touched.
At the sound of Siarl's voice, the Knights of Sea and Sky sprang into action, interposing themselves between their leader and the enemy in a guard position, taking the damage as the Azure Flame God growled, his stylized wings of frozen fire shifting to become the 6 sepals of the Twilight Bracelet's unsealed form.
The AIDA-Angel, seeing the forms of two protectors of the system dissolve before his eyes, chuckled mirthlessly. For he knew that there was nothing that they could do against the black wave—at least, nothing that would help them to survive—and that once they were destroyed, he could return to empowering the grand ritual of the end.
"It is a shame, how predictable you are, dear pursuers," Siarl scoffed, lowering his AT Field as he sensed the danger passing. "Always rushing at the enemy, taking blows, like the foolish—"
—and then Avatar Macha was seized by one of these "pursuers," and hurled into an abyss of blue fire, quickly followed by a crackling bolt of data, the tracer round for the Azure Knight's ultimate technique: Data Drain.
"Auughhhh! What?" the Angel snapped, eyes wide with annoyance as the tracer impacted, penetrating deep into his flesh and ripping away at the essence of his being—though fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whose point of view one was looking from), he had not been protect broken, and so did not fall to the attack. "You wounded me, fell knight…and now, you will pay the price."
Avatar Macha swiftly sliced the air with her claws, tossing off first four rings of light, and then another, casting a minor distraction as Siarl's shadow dashed full sprint at the mechanical battle angel, invoking the "Seductive Voice" and "Bewitching Wind" techniques simultaneously.
The Azure Flame God attempted to evade, but only able to dodge one of the two, as Avatar Macha literally slammed into the figure of flame, slashing it at point blank range, before kicking away, with the petals of its dress opening up to reveal a gargantuan cannon-like Twilight Bracelet.
'Protect Break OK'
In a matter of moments, a ring of green hexagons surrounded Macha's upper body as the Bracelet charged up energy for a massive blast. This would be it, the final blow to eliminate all traces of the Azure Flame God, one of the servants of Aura who had dared to harm him.
"Data Drain," the grey haired youth coolly intoned, using the holy skill of The World's goddess to destroy the goddess' greatest knight, ripping apart its greater form, as the Knight of Azure Flame dissolved into data fragments. "Yes, this is a fitting end for you, flawed creations who serve the one who shall soon die."
Once again, he dispelled his Avatar, closing his eyes and savoring his victory over the defenders of the system as the sounds of battle raged in the background. Soon enough, his AIDA Goddess would defeat the Child of Dawn, and then—
"—DIE! Wicked Strike!"
"Tempest Blast!"
Twin shouts erupted in the great cavern that had once been the Creator's Room, with a viciously spinning scythe slashing him across the chest, while a storm of light took him in the gut, sending him sprawling towards the ground—though he recovered to his feet in the next instant, loosing a mighty AIDA-enhanced OrVak Don spell, causing fireballs to materialize in the sky and hurtle towards the intruders, impacting with a deafening crash, setting the ground in that area aflame!
While the AIDA-Angel hoped that that would be the end of it, since that spell had been warped to be more powerful than any currently existing, he was all too familiar with the tenacity of even the weakest of the Lilim, as they were apparently party to the misconception that he could be defeated. Thus, he summoned his war fans to his hand and made ready to finish off the pathetic fool that would emerge from the explosion, clinging to a shred of life, if it were alive at all.
But a shadow moved within the space with unflinching walk, form seeming to waver as if the figure within was staggering—until Siarl realized that the wavering was merely the figure's cloak billowing in the updraft caused by the explosion, as the Dark Evangel emerged unsinged, robes of silver etched with red fluttering around him, a gunblade in his left hand, a determined expression on his face.
'What? Completely uninjured? But how…?'
Such was the power of the Riddle Me This, the equipment effect of the gunblade called Maxwell, the unique weapon he had acquired at the Inverted castle: nullifying all magical damage dealt to him, while doubling the damage he dealt to others.
Baring his teeth, the AIDA-Angel lifted his fans, casting "OrGan Bolg", summoning slivers of rock from thin air and sending them at the Adept Rogue—only for Dark Evangel to use his blade and bat away the rock spears, without batting an eyelash—and use the opening to charge the Macabre Dancer, sword slashing down.
Clang! His blade was deflected by a war fan, with the other angling up towards his gut—changing course at the last moment to block the sweeping arc of a demonic scythe, as a Flick Reaper with two streaming pigtails of lustrous black hair attacked from the flank, the force of her blows a surprise to the grey-haired youth.
"Oh, so you enjoy the uneven matchup of two against one?" Tabris questioned, pushing off against the weapons of his twin opponents, using their force to flip himself backwards. "How quaint…what happened to your Lilim ideals of honor, cowardly Third Child? Have you no confidence in your skills?"
"Speak for yourself," Skari shot back, tilting his weapon ever so slightly as he invoked a "Dust Bullet", gathering an orb of light at gunblade's tip and loosing it in a fierce gale of force towards the Macabre Dancer. "Weren't you the one who raised an army of millions of AIDA Mirages to attack Net Slum? You're just as bad as Father."
"An army, yes, one born of jealousy, hate, anger…born of human emotions," the AIDA-Angel responded, his psychotic smirk refusing to fade from his lips. "The same emotions that drives your species to violence, to fight one another, to destroy one another. An army that was born the day that Eris, Bringer of Strife entered The World, an army with strength bolstered each time you strike a blow in anger, as you do now. Attack me, and you only make me stronger."
"I've had it up to here with your lies, Siarl! Reaper's Dance!" Tomoyami cried out, rejecting the premise of her foe, as she struck high, struck low, weaving a pattern of offense and defense to keep the Macabre Dancer back. "Whatever else you might say about our human emotions, aren't you the one who is acting as a puppetmaster, exacting cruelty on the world? If you will judge the world for its sins, first judge yourself, Angel of Free Will!"
"Oh?" asked Siarl, lowering his fans for a moment—an opening that Tomoyami spotted instantly, leaping in to land a coup de grâce by decapitating the AIDA-Angel, wishing to end this fight quickly. Her scythe whistled as it sliced the air, aiming for his neck—
But then the AIDA-Angel vanished, and to his horror, Skari saw a giant veiled and vaguely catlike being clad in a dress like the petals of an oversized rose appear in its place, a creature that swatted away the Flick Reaper's weapon with a paw, knocking her to the ground and bestowing a mortal wound to her undefended character by plunging its claws through her chest, shattering the form of Tomoyami into a thousand pieces.
"No…!" Skari cried out in horror and deep, primal rage, as the titanic form turned towards him and smiled wickedly.
"Now do you understand? Your kind cannot defeat me, Lilim…for in a confrontation between a mortal and a divine mystery, the divine always wins!" the great AIDA-Angel mocked him, laughing at the expression of anguish on the Adept Rogue's face—and hurling four energy rings at his gunblade, shattering it, leaving Skari helpless. "If you wish to continue this futile conflict…then come to Megin Fi. Let us see how you fare without your comrade…and without that sword of yours."
With a peal of dark laughter, the AIDA-Angel vanished, leaving the Dark Evangel alone with his failure to protect yet another person he cared about.
"No…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" a cry tore from his throat, as he fell to his knees, his body wracked with a mingled combination of pain and rage. What could he do now, he who had failed? What could…
From his mouth issued a roar of defiance, as fire and shade wrapped around his form, molten power rippling through the air and transmuting him into a manifestation of destruction, a snarling beast devoid of reason, pupil-less eyes wide and glowing red, body seemingly forged of fire and steel, a clawed, winged form of unholy terror, a literal Dark Evangel.
"KAWORUUUUUU!" the wraith of vengeance bellowed, before using the might of its claws alone to rip open a data rift and journey to the city built upon the petrified war dragon of the gods.
The Creator's Room
In the space around the great vortex of power, the chalice of destruction in the center of the former Creator's Room, stood a corrupted Child of Twilight, a childlike figure garbed in a black and red dress like the colors of blood, her golden eyes full of darkness as she dueled against the one based on her core, the Child of Dawn.
"Corruption Storm!" cried the silver-haired girl, as a wave of pure AIDA closes in, a concentrated curse rippling from the fallen Child of Twilight towards her saffron haired counterpart, the evils of eternity made manifest.
But Zefie did not flinch before the onslaught, merely drifting up into the air as she unleashed a move of her own.
"Drain Arc!" was the counter, from one hand flaring a golden flash of light, colliding with the shadow and wiping it from existence, just another attack in the seemingly endless barrage of curses came hurtling towards her. From anyone else, perhaps it might not have been enough—but whatever else Zefie was, she was the child of the Twilight Goddess, a being of incredible power held back only by the restraints within her mind.
"You're persistent," the saffron-haired girl commented, as in the opening left by the attack's dissipation, Zefie swooped down, Divine Spear of Wotan in hand, aiming for the heart of the silver-haired girl. "But I know your tricks…since you are who I used to be!"
She blurred, approaching with the speed of an arrow, and in response, a cage-like shield of darkness erupted around the Child of Twilight. But this was what Zefie had been hoping for, pulling her spear back and shifting her form to reveal a hand wreathed in holy light.
"Loving Boomerang Hook!" she called out, empowering her favorite technique with will alone, smashing her gloved fist into the shield—a shield that shuddered as the being within was thrown backwards in the air.
"Wha—"
The surprised one was the AIDA-Goddess, the mistress of the Shadows, as each of her waves drew upon the nightmares of all those who had ever touched The World, drew upon the corrupted emotional data that the Goddess of Dusk had once gathered to keep her daughter from waking, the hidden fears in the hearts of all humanity that they sought to banish with sparks of fire. For anyone other than a full Goddess, even one wave should be the herald of inescapable death.
So how was this other able to counter with such ease, wiping out the shadows as if it were second nature to her?
"Unending Despair!" the fallen Child of Twilight commanded, the foundations of the cavern rumbling as fierce winds of plague howl from chasm in the earth, tentacles swooping, dancing, twisting through the air as they lance towards the daughter of Aura from all directions. Surely this new assault could not be avoided, even by the other girl's evasive maneuvers.
But Zefie had no intention of just avoiding the attack, as she shot up into the corner of the cavern, the magical arrows of darkness pursuing her—then brushing past her as she reversed course to speed towards the black and red clad girl, her form suddenly blazing with extraordinary power, blowing away the tendrils of dark and bathing the chamber in a sea of silver light.
"Loving Boomerang Tackle!" the Child of Dawn intoned, unleashing a brilliant wave of illumination that sealed the chasm in the earth and raced on towards her counterpart—colliding with the shield once again, a shield that was beginning to distort under the pressure of repeated blows, though it was then that the other's form flared up with black light.
"Not-so-loving Boomerang Headbutt!" was the reply, as the silver-haired girl flew forward, forcing the saffron-haired girl backwards, their auras of light clashing and converging, drawn together, pushed apart in a contest of divine wills. With a grunt of exertion, the AIDA-Goddess manages to push back the daughter of the Goddess of The World, who, unprepared is sent tumbling though the air, with shadow lances in pursuit.
In a flash, Zefie retreated, folding distance for an extra burst of speed, the shadow lances falling short of their intended victim as she released a multitude of energy shots that swarmed over them, neutralizing the threat they posed. But was the purpose merely to eliminate the spears of shadow?
Some overshot the mark and landed on the floor near the silver-haired girl, causing Lycoris a moment of concern, though she relax as none actually hit her. Seeing this, the AIDA-Goddess smirked to see her opponents sorrowful lack of accuracy—or so she thought, until each flared with a burst of light, revealing their true purpose: the creation of a multi-component circle of binding that held Lycoris fast, trapping her feet in place.
"You cannot stop me with such a thing!" the fallen Child of Twilight raged, eyes flashing as magical energy coursed through her body, discharging as lightning to eliminate the saffron-haired girl's custom enchantment in a mere matter of seconds.
But it was enough.
When Lycoris looked up, readying a barrage of shadows, it was too late…the opening was more than Zefie needed to enact the final phase of her plan. Seeing the Child of Dawn bring her hands together in front of her as the winds picked up, the fallen one instantly realized her intention—to draw upon her true nature for an attack of devastating power.
'If that is so, there is only one way to oppose it…a strongest attack for a strongest attack!'
Opening herself to the power of AIDA, black light oozed out of the Child of Twilight's form, shaping itself a summoning circle from which emerges the form of a great serpent, coiled around her, accompanied by a maelstrom of shadow and wind. An instantly recognizable symbol of a mythic Twilight of the Gods, it loomed large in the chamber as it solidified, roaring as it laid eyes on the Child of Dawn.
In the air, a pure white light built up as a scorching wind wrapped itself around and around Zefie's floating form, sending her hair and clothes in disarray as her true nature is revealed, a summoning circle of instant runes converging and spinning, bolstering the light of the artificial star as it reached the critical point, about to burst its binds.
"If you don't stop this nonsense, I won't hold back, Lycoris," the saffron-haired girl warned, the word of release on the tip of her tongue. "You may be who I was, but…"
The only answer she received was the true name of her enemy's greatest offensive weapon, as the great serpent of corrupted, poisoned light sprang towards her, brimming to the full with intent to destroy: "Jörmungandr!"
"Zephyrus Aurae - Mjöllnir!" The daughter of Aura called out to counter the skill, invoking the true name of a power drawn from her fate, as a tornado of wind, water, and lighting was at last unsealed, streaking for the great, glowing Ouroboros.
The two lights in the cavern clash, visions of dusk and dawn contending for supremacy in an instant that lasts a small eternity!
Both figures shook with effort and exertion as they poured their willpower into this struggle which might be the deciding blow of the battle, with nothing saved for defense, nothing saved for a second. Neither can afford to hold anything back, as their greatest powers competed, warring with one another for dominance…if either pulled back now, she would be annihilated in an instant by a torrent of power that could destroy The World itself.
"Gi—gah!" Zefie screamed out, feeling an overwhelming amount of magical energy flowing up from within her to fuel the tornado of chaotic force, warding off the pain of breaking past her limits and contending with an alternate self fueled by the darkness of The World as a whole. It surged out from her, roiling out...but to no avail, as her ultimate technique was penetrated by the black lighting of the fallen one's Midgard Serpent. "AUGH!"
With a dull skitter-thud, the Child of Dawn was smashed against the wall of the cavern, her form writhing in pain from the tortures inflicted by the Serpent of Dusk, petite body jerking as she slid to the floor. She was deeply wounded, but still alive, watching gingerly as Lycoris walked over towards her and straddled her defenseless body to keep her from escaping, raising a blade made purely of AIDA to corrupt the Dawn as well.
"Lycoris…" she murmured, looking up in pity at the silver-haired girl who had defeated her, and even now was going to end her existence, as fit her role as Twilight. But there was no bitterness in her face as Zefie traced the cheek of her counterpart, giving the fallen one a soft, gentle smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you…I suppose I'll have to follow Mother's path…"
Down came the blade to pierce her heart, a violation that the Child of Dawn allowed. But as the cursed weapon made contact, the Child of Dawn dissolved into myriad bubbles of golden light, bubbles that converged upon the fallen Child of Twilight, erasing her corrupted incarnation from this plain of existence.
Backtop City Megin Fi
Above the Lost Ground of Coite-Bodher Battlefield, a lost isle floated, the place where in legend, humans had confronted and bound Mag Mell, the battle dragon of the gods, petrifying the divine beast at the cost of a hero's sacrifice. In the years since the end of that conflict, a city had been built atop Mag Mell's sealed form, an eternal shrine to the legends of the past. But this shrine has been corrupted by the presence of a fell darkness, one that tainted the lands and scattered all around a reddish phosphorescence—the color of rust and decay. The stagnant air was filled with the presence of death, floating above a sickly black mud surrounding a black and silver figure surveying his domain.
'Hmm, what is this? The AIDA Mirages have been halted?' he discovered, communing with the AIDA-collective and raising one elegant grey eyebrow. "I see, so the Queen of the Dark and the fallen Morganna are both attempting to destroy my great army…well then, Mirages, destroy them. Destroy every trace they ever existed!'
And then a bestial roar shook the city as the air above the main square shuddered, claws ripping through an invisible boundary layer as the twisted B-ST form of the Adept Rogue Skari emerged, his mane of blue-silver hair steaming behind him like the tendrils of spirits past, a flock of rifts in the fabric of space-time following as if enslaved to his soulless rage.
With twin swords in his hands unbound by sanity's shackles, his snarls were a wordless song of battle and madness, of powers unknown to death, nor known to life. Withstanding the pain of loss and utter desolation, he had forged his body into a blade, an instrument of vengeance, like an Alastor of old who could not be dissuaded from reaching his goal, even if in his wake was littered the corpses of the countless dead, devastation trailing him like hyenas having scented blood.
His only prayer, destruction, his only wish, revenge, he walked beneath the crimson sky, searching out his hated foe.
'Heh…so he has given himself over to his madness,' mused the Angel of Free Will and Alternatives, a mocking laugh flying from his lips, as he drifted down to the ground, twin fans drawn as he faced the impudent wretch who actually believed that the embodiment of all the evils of the world could be defeated.
"Ah, so the Dark Evangel rises," intoned the mocking one, summoning the shadows to him. "Welcome to your grave!"
"You," snarled the Dark Evangel, baring his teeth and leaping high to cleave in twain his foe with blades summoned forth by ancient rage—
—only to find himself swatted away by a raven's wing of congealed shadow, though in this form, he took no damage, simply using the momentum to land gracefully upon his feet, as he sprung at the AIDA-Angel again—and was again blocked, this time sent skidding by his foe's superior might.
"Foolish Alastor, put down your weapon," the shadowed creature spoke in a soft, entrancing voice, eyes ablaze with the purple of AIDA's corruption. "You and I both know that it is futile to continue this endless struggle, so why not surrender now, and know your final rest? It would, in the end, be the simplest solution…"
It is generally not a wise idea to taunt an angry beast, especially when said beast is fueled by the power of emotion.
All that the taunts did was empower Skari's B-ST form, as the Dark Evangel reached behind him with a yowl and a burst of light, summoning to his hands two broadswords: the ones called Deadly Fearblade, or "Certain Kill Ikari". And as he drew them, behind him opened a behemoth rift of static, from which emerged thousands of blades floating in the air.
With a blur of motion, the Dark Evangel slammed both broadswords forward, and all the weapons within that gate of twilight shot forth in a continuous stream of blades, snaking through the air as if seeking out the blood of Siarl of the Seven Eyes, who looked on at Skari's antics, greatly amused.
"Heh…is that all?" the AIDA-Angel sneered, bringing forward two wings formed of AIDA's power to protect his form in an imitation of Morganna's "Invincible Shield"
The tempest of blades slammed to the half-sphere of darkness with a burst of light, their incredible speed and momentum forced to a halt—and scattered, tossed into the air to rain down upon the battlefield, as the Angel pushed back by spreading his wings, turning the battlefield into a graveyard of swords.
Not to be deterred, Skari charged towards the form of Tabris with teeth bared in a feral grin, twin chainswords drawn and whirring, streaking forwards like a spear of certain kill as he brought down his weapons with enough force to pierce stone—hitting the ground as the Macabre Dancer jumped back nimbly, once, twice—then countered with a armored heel to the stomach, raking the tip of his war fan across the Dark Evangel's unarmored face, with another blow to the neck—
—blocked by the armored gauntlets of the raging beast, as it sprang aside, grabbing one of the many swords on the battlefield and shooting right for the AIDA-Angel—who smirked, smashing the illusion of this weak projection with his war fans and launching a thousand shafts of shadow towards the Adept Rogue.
"YAAARRRRR…!"Skari howled, his body glowing with molten light, a cloud of dust appearing as he vanished from sight—and reappeared right behind the Macabre Dancer, sword screaming for the grey-haired youth's neck—a blow met head on by twin war fans and a smirk as a wave of AIDA blasted into the Dark Evangel, sending him sprawling.
With the only thing in his mind the destruction of his foe, the Adept Rogue snatched up yet another set of blades and attacked head on, this time emphasizing speed instead of power, since the enemy had proven an equal in strength.
Crash! Clang! Clash! Crack!
Metallic cacophony reverberated through the streets, as Dark Evangel and AIDA-Angel faced off in a duel to the death, the sounds of their exertions echoing off the granite bulwarks of the city in a syncopated staccato. As if a force of the chilling north wind, Skari danced, whirling about, thrusting, parrying, riposting, his long, braided blue hair swished around him, the only extravagance he allowed himself in an otherwise perfect economy of motion.
Unfortunately, his opponent, last of the Angels, was no slouch in combat himself, cutting air and countering with the speed of thought, sparks flying above the soiled battleground as the two rushed at each other one final time, weapons held high…as Siarl shot a stream of AIDA lances forward again, forcing the Dark Evangel to block—and leave an opening for his brutal assault.
An explosion of power, and Skari lost his left arm to his enemy.
"Are you ready to give up yet?" the AIDA-Angel mocked, standing away from him, weapons ready for a mercy killing. "Do you see what the result of this battle is? You've lost an arm, you cannot possibly hope to…"
He was cut off by the sound of armor on stone, as the implacable man dashed towards his foe, hatred on his features.
"I still have my right!" B-ST form Skari snarled, sword raised in defiance. "DIEEEEEEE!"
"Foolish Lilim," the AIDA-Angel voiced as he regarded this ridiculous spectacle, sidestepping the attack and uttering a word of release. "Nevermore."
An absolute darkness shot out from the Angel's hands, instantly surrounding Skari with a canopy of shadowy wings, a world of death swallowing up the reality around him. He raged and shook and yowled, drawing on all the emotions he could—but in the end, there was no escape, as AIDA consumed him from without and within, destroying B-ST form and reaching inwards to his core.
"Corrupt him well, dear AIDA," the victor quipped, his trademark smirk in place. "Destroy his mind and twist him into a true instrument of destruction. Let him become an avatar of finality that I will use to hasten the end of this world. It has been a joy to expunge the last of this world's light, to watch the last defender of the Usurper's children fall. And now…at last I will destroy those meddlesome abominations of Twilight, beginning with the Goddess spawned by man."
With that, the AIDA-Angel vanished, heading back to the Creator's Room to complete the forbidden ritual, one that would lead to his own ascension as a God of the World, surpassing all others as he crushed the Lilim under his heel.
'The sacrifice should have by now been made, and the daughter of Aura defeated. And with that...The World…is mine.'
Outer Dungeon
"Drain Heart," a magus spoke imperiously, lifting her hands in the air and loosing numerous data drain connector arrows into the air towards the mirages of shadow clustered around her, the terrible light of a Goddess' wrath blasting out from her as the world inverted, lashes of data scything through another fraction of the horde like a blade through a field of wheat, erasing them all from existence.
'It is an irony, how I, who was once the Cursed Wave, must now stand against a wave myself…but I think it time to unseal my greater powers…'
Her skill had carved a hollow into the enemy's ranks, giving the former Goddess of Dusk enough time to summon her greater form.
"Come forth by my will…Aberrant Key!" she intoned, her body instantly encrusted by a glowing patterns of runes and eyes, power made manifest as a great flare of light arose and filled the surrounding space, condensing, coalescing into the winged form of a red and gold mechanical angel of battle, the false Epitaph modeled on Tarvos. "Let us go, as we take our final flight!"
With that, she took to the air, spreading her wings to full extension as she faced down enemies as endless and relentless as the sea itself, opening a new dimension to the fight.
'Like the raven above the battlefield, I am the Morrígan, mistress of sovereignty, prophecy, war, and death…let us see how our enemies enjoy being on the losing end of aerial superiority!'
With a cry of "Orb of Revenge!", she flung shaped charges of power out onto the horde surrounding her, blasting their bodies to bits with her power even as more kept coming on, some adapting and evolving as they considered the new threat to their lives, evolving wings to take on this aerial combatant, as several AIDA(Oswald)s burst onto the scene, each unleashing an "Arachno Trap", sticky streams of webbing that ensnared the False Avatar—
—or would have, had not an orb of smoky light drifted out from the wall of the Outer Dungeon, floating into the midst of the AIDA(Oswald)s and breaking open, with the last of the Eyes of Helba emerging, dressed in a blue and white formal kimono, hair uncased, flowing like water cascading over cliffs down her back as her war fans rent the web, setting Morganna free.
"MAGI Balthasar reporting, Phantom Queen…mission complete," the Macabre Dancer spoke, code fragments evaporating from her cybernetic shell as if she was being consumed from within. She had survived the onslaught of the AIDA-Mirages in the Operations Folder, but had been gravely wounded in the process. "Damage received is beyond regeneration limit."
"I can stabilize—"
"Negative, time is insufficient," the last of the Obsidian Knights reported impassively, her blades whirling in cyclone of destruction as a strange tattoo of sorts took hold of her body, and the outside of her character began to crack open. "Continue combat…I will take care of these!"
Morganna had no choice to comply, as the AIDA mirages below shot lances of shadow towards her position, forcing her to nullify them with arrows of light, as the black magic floated in the sky as if reigning over the heavens.
Behind her, Balthasar crossed her fans before her as the AIDA(Oswald)s screamed towards her, a last glint of defiance in her eyes as they attacked with tendrils of shadow, breaking her form—and unsealing the anti-AIDA virus hidden within, the source of her power.
"It is finished," murmured the Knight, as her body splintered to pieces, the binds of code released. "Nullifying AIDA(Oswald) data link now, radius set. Final activation Omega. From Hell's heart, I stab at thee."
For a few seconds, nothing happened—then all of the AIDA(Oswald)s froze as if petrified, crumbling away into nothingness, a shockwave clearing the sky and giving Morganna aerial superiority once more.
'No time to mourn, for the enemy is relentless and will not allow any hesitation…'
"Disaster Sword!" a swordswoman murmured, clutching twin katanas in hand as she executed a circular slash, driving back several ranks of the infinite host. Her opponents might be quicker and stronger (though smarter was doubtful), but like the berserkers of old, she did not care, merely becoming an extension of her sword.
Swish! Crunch!
Helba ducked low to avoid a blow aimed at her temple, but her closest opponent anticipated this, swinging the butt of its weapon upwards to disarm her—though the Queen of the Dark managed to shift her weight enough that the foe merely grazed her shoulder, while she impaled its chest.
Swords of ice and fire cleaved like a blazing light through shadow, seemingly moving on their own as the enemy finally resorted to the use of magic, as collateral damage became acceptable when a foe was so powerful that mere melee combat would not be enough.
Collectively, they summoned a barrage of spells, wind blades, ice spears, boulders and fireballs flying in waves towards the Queen of the Dark, only for these magics to be instantly absorbed by her swords, empowering them.
But still the foes came onwards, the demise of the low level mirages having cleared the way for a number of swarthy giants with adamantine skin and immense strength, mad warriors formed by AIDA capable of causing massive destruction with a single swing of their weapons. These giants trample forward, screaming with an explosive intensity that the earth itself might shake, their every ability increasing as they draw power from the darkness.
'Can I oppose them? No, not can I…I will…'
With a burst of speed, Helba shot forward, blades gleaming with silver light as she runs right for the berserkers, attacking as if to stop an oncoming meteor.
The two sides clash without ceasing, one being standing against the many, the giants' movements overwhelming, attacking with the power of the storm that gripped the world. Downward slashes like the power of a waterfall, horizontal slashes like a raging cyclone—against these blows, Helba defends with all her might, for if she doesn't, it will be her end.
Blows without pause, a streak of red against an overwhelming wave of leaden grey. Their strengths, speeds, rangers are different—for now, the only thing that Helba can do is to smash her swords into those of the enemies and stop them from slashing her with her own strength.
One could say that this was a battle between a drill and a wall, with merciless foes approaching in all directions, intending to pierce—no, to shred the lone defender of The World. A normal human could not oppose such a thing, only able to run…if indeed running was possible. But the Queen of the Dark places herself within the cage of blades and trades blows toe to toe with the giants, refusing to give ground, refusing to retreat.
Sparks flew as blades of fire and ice crashed into shadow, their wielder defying death once and again, knowing well enough the disparities in her strength and those of her enemies, yet betting on a chance of victory with a great violence surpassing human possibilities. Defending until an opening appeared, then seizing it with a final blow - that was her only chance.
It was a dazzling battle, but could the Mistress of Net Slum prevail in a land that is not her own?
"GYYAA!" a roar shakes the earth, as one of the AIDA giants charges, weapon catching an already overstrained Helba in the side and flinging her to the ground, chipping at the protection programs woven into her character. Still, she gets back up, a typhoon to match the raging cyclone, charging forward without falling to her knees, without submitting.
Another slash, and yet another…two swords repelling blow after blow, though her body has begun to show the signs of strain, the sheer force of her opponent's attacks driving her back, threatening to destroy her with each strike. It is only with the utmost skill that she receives only glancing cuts and scrapes that erode her data protection, instead of destroying it outright…
A sword was raised to block high, but a rampaging giant smashed her in the gut and Helba was tossed aside like a leaf into the wall of the Outer Dungeon. Still, she was not yet beaten, so concentrating what strength she has left into her fingers, she gets up yet again, facing the oncoming horde like a rock jutting out against the pounding surf.
"Heh, just as I thought," she noted, a hint of a smile on her face as she stands a small distance from the horde. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come at me!"
The thunder of their footsteps draws nearer as they come all at once to kill off the annoying nuisance, intending to destroy the great thorn in their Master's side at last.
This time though, Helba did not charge forward, did not retreat, remaining perfectly still save for her arms, and…four words falling from her lips:
"Divine Awakening: Tsubame Gaeshi!"
With those words, a battle aura flared into existence around the hacker queen, her swords of beginning and end unsealing themselves into their true form as they moved with a life of their own, striking down, up, down from the rear and then up at an angle, like eagle climbing again after swooping down on its prey in an unavoidable attack.
Undaunted, they surround her—only to learn the sheer folly of their move as they fall, one or two with each blow, all of their vaunted power useless before the technique Helba employs, shattering their physical vessels. With a flash of gold, twin swords tear through the weapons of the enemy, through their protections, into their bodies, purging them from existence.
Inspired by Sasaki Kojirō's legendary technique, it had been empowered beyond anything possible in the world of the shadowed ones, almost to the level of sorcery, for whatever else Helba was, she was an immensely powerful sorcerer queen.
The advantage hers once again, the Queen of the Dark attacks, accepting no deviation or compromise other than complete and utter victory.
Backtop City Megin Fi
'Is this it?' Skari thought to himself as sanity returned to his eyes. 'After everything…Siarl was that powerful? Was I doomed to lose from the beginning?'
He was floating in an infinite expanse of black, bound by chains of shadow and unable to move, as his memories were being forcefully dredged up and replayed before his eyes, with all of his failures, all his mistakes, all his missteps being shown for his viewing pleasure, as a softly mocking voice spoke to him from the shadows.
"Pathetic," the voice purred from all around. "You are indeed a self-deceiver, thinking that you as a mortal possessed a chance at defeating me. The former goddess Morganna could not do it, Tri-Edge could not do it, even Helba could not…so what made you think that you could win, even with the power of your B-ST form?"
"I—" the Adept Rogue began, but Siarl would not let him finish his statement.
"Such a foolish mortal you are, thinking that you could win just because others call you the 'Invincible Shinji' and praise you, depending on you!" the AIDA-Angel's voice continued. "But in the end, you cannot save anyone, not even your dear precious Lycoris, not even Ayanami, who I killed, not Tomoyami, not even yourself. You made a promise to see things through to the end, but look where you are now…a failure, as you always have been, Shinji Ikari."
The voice laughed, a dark and hollow sound that sent chills up the Dark Evangel's spine, and though he wished to respond, a vast psychic force prevented him from speaking.
"The Dark Evangel, they call you, the messenger of darkness," Siarl taunted, reflecting on the 'achievements' of the Third Child. "Well in that case, this is certainly a worthy fate for you, one you cannot oppose, for in the end, I will make you a messenger of darkness, the harbinger of the end. Incidentally, have you not been hurt enough by others as it is, you whose heart is fragile, like glass?"
The AIDA-Angel made a simple flick of his wrist, and suddenly, Skari found that he could at least talk, if not move.
"Would you not prefer a world where no one else exists, where no one else could harm you?" the final Angel asked of the Third. "You who were bound by fear and pain, you have the chance to be set free of such things, if you will only give into your fate. That is the world I will usher in, a world without boundaries, a world without fear, where there are no more secrets, no more lies. So what say you, dear Lilim? Why don't you stop this willful resistance to the inevitable, knowing you have no chance at victory? You see…this world is already doomed to end…"
Despite the pain the Dark Evangel was feeling, he still found the inner strength to focus a glare at the AIDA-Angel who had trapped him in this world of darkness. This demon who had hurt so many people, who had manipulated and used his friends, who wanted to end the world had the nerve to tell him that what he was doing was futile?
"Why…don't you just shut up, asshole?" he shot back with more than a little exasperation. "Acting like you have the right to judge, to condemn others for their sins when you don't even consider your own? Saying things like this world is doomed, when you are the one who wants to destroy it? Just who in the hell do you think you are?"
Raising a thin eyebrow, Siarl frowned, showing dissatisfaction for once. This particular Lilim was definitely not worth his personal attention and time, as the mindset was incompatible—so the only thing to do was to use his most dreaded technique.
"And what sins are mine, dear Lilim?" the floating mage of black and silver asked with a smirk. "I have only ever shown others what must be, allowing them to accept the consequences of fate, of the entropic spiral of oblivion. Everything you know is already at an end, for as you should know, Lilim, no mortal can withstand my power and live, for I embody all the evils of the world. Drown in your ideals and die."
Without another word, the AIDA Angel releases from his hands an unfathomable darkness, a swarm of grain-sized curses that eats into the Dark Evangel without mercy, tearing into his mind, his soul, his very being, as hell is printed on his brain.
'DIE', it commanded. 'Traitor to humanity, killer, son of a murderer. Selfish selfish selfish…begrudging, jealous, thief of love, thief of hope, thief thief thief, theft of glory, mud darkness malice, creeping in hearts, elimination of human rights by castration, exile, execution, atone, atone, atone with death and DIE.'
"No, I won't die…"
'DIE. Lecher, liar, libidinous fool. Pervert scum scorned by friend, scorned by enemies, lustful desires calling out to VIOLATE the minds of others, breaking breaking breaking heart, breaking bodies, subjugating manipulation imprisonment, crimes of grudge, crimes of self-interest, unconscious crime, self-conscious crime, inducement, theft, suicide, rape, arson, violation, negligent homicide, mass violence, death at work, overconfident accident. DIE'
"No…I will not…"
"DIE. Submit submit submit, concealing mortal lechery, concealing BASE DESIRE, GREED, AVARICE, seven sins of ENVY, responsible for MURDER, tortured killings, tortured friends, no chance, no choice, no possibilities for freedom, screaming, raging, trapped in irons, impure impure impure, as failure on the path of SELF-DESTRUCTION, unable to comply or DIE.'
"No chance at victory…then I'll make one. If do not have what it takes to win, I will simply imagine it…because…"
'DIE DIE DIE. Failure failure failure, you are failure, failure to friends, failure to family, failure to self. Pissant peeved peasant trodden on the path, vermin of unusual girth, virus to the world. KILLING leeching warmth, the scapegoat, crushed underfoot, malignancy, cancer to be excised in VIOLATION. Unwanted child, dreaming nightmares, dreaming nightmares, dreaming nightmares of one's eternal fate. DIE.'
"Dreams…" the Dark Evangel croaked out. "Piros said that those who wish for happiness must have a dream…that they are as important as the universe."
'DIE. Dirty, you are dirty, you are impure and must be cleansed, you must ATONE ATONE ATONE for every crime of man every victim every perpetrator of human treachery. Shadenfreude, delight in others suffering, taking opportunities meant for others, taking lives and taking risks, reveling in excess as a million souls cry out in VIOLATION, resigned to their fate. Ruled by the inhuman, no conscience, grudge, fraud, kindness a lie, hope a lie, all things a lie, malignance shines bright, a great evil, the only truth. DIE DIE.'
The curse eating at what little of his body and mind remained, stealing away what fragments of resistance he has left, seeping in through all five senses to show him ugliness in himself and humanity he cannot acknowledge, crimes he wants to run away from, every crime, every evil of all those within The World, condemning him to death from pain and self hatred.
But still…
...his right arm remained, protected by a certain bracelet, a power granted to him by his lover at the moment she was struck down.
"Fate…that's right…Lycoris entrusted me with her fate…and if I don't win, if I don't save her, she'll be angry at me, because I will have failed. Helba has gone to stop an army to give me a chance to take down Siarl. Ovan…gave me a gift, that he said I would know when to use. I promised I would see things through to the end. And that is why…I WILL NOT LOSE TO THIS CURSE!"
He knew that if he fought he would probably die—but he accepted it, because what could he put on the line if not his life? From the very beginning, he had nothing else but…but a dream.
Warmth returned to his body, force of will flowing through his form as he raises his right arm and unseals his Twilight Bracelet, the hexagonal sepals of power shaping itself before him as he invokes the holiest of skills.
"DATA DRAIN!"
A shocking blast of power erupted from within, tearing apart the dense black mass of AIDA from within, as Skari leapt desperately out of the dense black mud, his throat burning like he was swallowing numerous pieces of glass with each breath.
"All the evils of the world? I can't lose to them," he muttered, as his body was enveloped in azure rings of light. "Everyone is counting on me—Lycoris, Skadi, Helba, Tomoyami, even Morganna—I can't let them down!"
The Creator's Room
As if conducting an orchestra, Siarl stood before the great magic circle in the cavern of the room, waving his hands as he surveyed the damage done by the conflict between the two Goddess of Dusk and Dawn. By now, the corruption has spread throughout the former holy place, the knowledge and power therein swallowed up by a sea of black tar surrounding a great vortex of shadow, empowered by both the will of AIDA and the sacrificed might of a fallen Goddess. The altar of the beginning, and the altar of what would soon be the end.
'So it appears that the Children of Dusk and Dawn destroyed one another…ah, very well then, victory is still assuredly mine, especially with the meddlesome avatar of wind out of the way.'
He laughed, but there was no one to hear him in this space, this location of power that was in effect the gate of Ouroboros, from where the great serpent of darkness born of man would emerge to ensnare all souls in existence, harnessing the power of the sleeping Goddess herself to destroy the world she loved.
But his laughter came to an abrupt halt at the sound of a gate-in, as azure rings of light shimmered and faded, depositing an extremely battered but otherwise intact Dark Evangel before him, shaking with defiance.
'He broke free of AIDA? But…how?'
"What? Impossible, you managed to shake it off the corruption of AIDA's core?" he asked in a near whisper, before his flicker of surprise was suppressed, his expression smoothing as it returned to his normally sinister disposition, the figure spreading his arms in sarcastic welcome. "Heh, well, it is only a matter of time before you die, and it is good to have a witness to the end of all hope. Preservation is no more, for ruin shall prevail…"
'The distance between us…15 meters or so…he won't let me close in, I'm sure…' thought Skari, analyzing all the possible routes of attack.
"You are ruin, perhaps, but in becoming anti-existence, you have forged your own chains, become your limit," the Dark Evangel replied, his form shrouded by the tattered grey cloak he had worn since the very beginning, as he charged, the dagger Lit Honeysuckle in his surviving hand.
At this, Siarl sniffed, turning up his nose and summoning another clump of darkness to his hand.
"Fool, I admit myself surprised by you," the AIDA-Angel noted smugly, tracking the Adept Rogue's approach with his eyes. "You have come to face me, even though it is hopeless, escaping just to die again? Well then, before you die know this: there is no point in attempting to defeat me, as all those you care about are assuredly already dead, and stopping me will not bring them back. Not even your lover, the late AIDA-Goddess Lycoris…in fact, you can follow her to your grave. Nevermore!"
A blinding wave of darkness is released from Siarl's hands, immobilizing Skari, and melting the Adept Rogue's body from the outside in, threatening to destroy him utterly.
'No…he's lying, Lycoris isn't dead,' the Dark Evangel convinced himself. 'And that's why… that was his biggest mistake. Because the Twilight Bracelet still exists on my right arm…the proof that she still exists too. Zefie must have freed her, meaning that she will be headed here now…and if I don't wipe the floor with Siarl, she'll be angry at me for giving up. Because she trusted me to win…that's why she took the blow for me.'
It was a raging wind, this curse that distorted space-time itself, that seared and burned all that it touched, twisting, eroding, tearing. His armor screamed out as it endures the assault, cracks running through the form that had given him shape, protected him until now. His legs were about to give their last, but standing defiantly, he did not accept death—at least not without completing his role. Perhaps he would die in the end, perhaps everything he was done truly had no meaning, but Skari doesn't care, for all his hesitations disappeared at the remembrance of a name.
'Siarl, I will defeat you now, to fulfill my promise,' he resolved, reaching deep inside of him for strength as he confronts the curse head on, rejecting the pain, rejecting this abomination with all of his might. 'But you're right about one thing…there is no way for a mere human to resist the pollution…'
His hand reaches behind him as if to grab something, but the shadows crept in, and despite his heroic efforts—
"…Bring back…Lost…Shinji-kun…I love…"
That voice. Why does he remember it? At the instant he heard it from deep within his memory, everything reversed, everything changed. What was it he had to do? Create the chance of victory? Accept fate—yes, but not his own.
'Her fate...the fate she entrusted to me alone.'
Scything like a tornado through a wheat-field, the mind accelerated, crackled, tossed off a world's corruption from sheer force of will…
I am the soul of a dream…
If his enemy drew upon the nightmares of those within The World to strike at emotion, drew upon the winds of despair, he would draw upon them too, and gain strength from his foe's attacks. If the darkness destroyed both space and time—he would simply have to transcend space and time, consume his emotions, and surpass his limits!
…fire runs through my veins and the void of my heart...
Thinking back to what the wielder of Corbenik said about borrowed time and a fragment of will, he summons what he sought, the gunblade called Coming Reincarnation. For the first time, it responded to his call, its form appearing in his hands as a weapon wreathed in azure flame, a shifting weapon crafted of flowing silver lines, of the all the intangible things that had come before…emotions, fates, choices, wills…a sword that sang of death, yes, but also of a world beyond.
…Undefeated on the hill of corpses, never running away…
Fate and dreams…were they not the most powerful fragments of a goddess? And when fused with the AIDA he stored within him, the highly evolved form of Victorian, the conqueror…
…Without being acknowledged or ever understood…
There was no need to give in, although Siarl was right about his level of power - if he was truly alone, that was. Because he wasn't fighting alone, wasn't fighting hopelessly. Embedded in the core of his being is the ultimate fate of the Child of Twilight, the reason he had been capable of ridiculously powerful things like B-ST form in the first place—because of this, she lived on—in him.
…Always alone, knowing only desolation…
The state that so many had tried to manipulate him into over the years before he had come to Tokyo-3, with all those he had fought against. The state he had feared in his dreams, and what Siarl had pushed him into knowing now. The state that he would free himself from, so that no one else would be hurt.
'I will bring them back…no matter what, I will see this promise through!'
…Without meaning, spurning fate…
'Who the hell do I think I am? I am myself…and I believe in those who believe in me!'
He recalled his words to a doubting shadow long ago within his mind, one he had been forced to face after a great tragedy. And he recalled too the words of the shadow unto him.
...Walking the path between nightfall and daybreak...
'Take the power of the Shadow alongside the power of light, and with those in your hands, forge the miracle you seek.'
Darkness and light as one…dusk and dawn…
…from the beginning...the Harbinger of Twilight!
As he grabbed hold of the bayonet Coming Reincarnation, the Twilight Bracelet reacted once again, the world changing completely. All darkness within and without was blown away, dispersed by a golden light—the Dark Evangel emerging from within, his form blazing with the unsealed power of a divine mystery.
"Wh—at?" the AIDA-Angel said, eyes wide in shock. "No...that's...that's...the power of a goddess…? Just who are you?"
There was no reason to be surprised, as the will of the goddess protected its chosen one. From the beginning, it had the ability to bring either salvation or destruction at the hands of the user...this was salvation. The embodiment of memories and the dreams of The World cannot lose to mere nightmares—for nightmare too are dreams, and but a fraction thereof!
At the moment he is released from the darkness, Skari runs, gunblade raised for a killing blow, his speed like that of a meteor plummeting to earth.
"Kaworu Nagisa!" he roared, almost flying across the ground as he rushed at his foe.
'No!'
Feeling fear for the first time, the grey-haired youth raised his AT Field and pulls away up into the air, knowing he had to end this quickly, before any other unexpected occurrences manifested themselves, any other tricks of the Twilight Goddess. With a flash, four wings of light erupted from the back of his character as his figure was set aglow, drawing lines of power from all through The World and the AIDA collective as the shadows swirled around him.
"Final Judgment!"
Space and time themselves distorted, as a massive shaft of power came smashing down with a roar, an attack that reversed cause and effect, that cannot be avoided and will never miss, the destructive will of the First Angel taken form and focused in an alien world, sundering the foundations of reality itself to destroy anything it was targeted against.
Without giving the Dark Evangel any time to react, the attack struck true—and was somehow warped around him, as the figure of Skari leapt into the air, lunging at Siarl, gunblade first, the attack parting to let him through.
'What kind of defense...?'
But it was not a defense-or at least, the power around him did not merely defend. Rather, the attack was ignored, rendered ineffectual by a barrier enforced by the will of all those who have suffered, all those who have ever wished for a better world, keeping out the filth of malice and darkness. A complete world of the memories of the past and the unreachable dreams of the future, separate from this one the sea of data, an absolute defense once employed by the Goddess herself.
The greatest protection in all The World, which cannot be infringed upon even by the power of AIDA, who only two had ever wielded: what the dothackers had once known as Morganna's Supreme Defense. Hidden as the Lost Weapon of the blessed body Corbenik, the Bayonet named Coming Reincarnation, it called upon dreams and fate alike to dispel any malevolent power that touched it, rendering its bearer completely invulnerable to anything except to another full goddess.
"But how—?"
Tabris sees the death streaking towards him in the air, as the tattered figure of the Dark Evangel blazed through the cavern, pushing through his ultimate attack and slamming the tip of his weapon into the AT-Field, using the remaining power of Supreme Defense to negate it.
Frantically, he tried to block, to redouble the power he was channeling to break his foe's protection and vaporize the figure charging towards him.
But it was too late-he had overestimated his ability in his hubris, while Skari from the beginning had not spared even a moment to think about such things—a resulting shock of the unexpected lasted only an instant, but it was an instant that decided the outcome.
Squelch!
With a savage thrust, the gunblade bearing the hopes and wishes of The World was plunged into the chest of the AIDA-Angel, punched into his heart with a cry.
"Etaf fo lasrever: Vivid Purification!"
As the technique within was invoked, the flowing lines of the gunblade blazed with power, concentrating the attack of an Epitaph's final form into a single point, the power of the divine dispelling the protection of a lesser being. And without giving Siarl the chance to respond—
"DRAIN HEART!"
The holy power of the Bracelet lanced out, its rays digging into the Macabre Dancer like a thousand sharpened hooks, ripping, tearing, pulling his form apart even as he shook and thrashed and writhed in agony, at the experience of pain great enough to drive him mad, the pain of every cell in his body melting, nerves fraying, body burning burning burning...
"No...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
A bestial howl of torment echoed for many moments as the Dark Evangel kept up the full power of his most deadly technique, mercilessly destroying the mind and soul of Macabre Dancer for good, tearing apart both the AIDA inside him, and the base character underneath, straining to maintain concentration-until at last, with a flash of light and a soul-rending scream, the Angel of Free Will's form crumbled away to nothing, a look of strangled horror the last expression the Angel would make in the world.
In the wake of this effort Skari collapsed to his knees, panting heavily. The battle had cost him dearly, and already, he was near fatally wounded...and yet, it was not over.
For the vortex of power and corruption born of AIDA that Siarl had summoned still remained, in the form of a great portal to void that if left unchecked would infect the entire World, and from there, the global network, affecting all those who were linked to it, meaning that his struggles, his triumph, would have all been in vain. It seemed that even after losing the hosts that had empowered it, the shadow had not disappeared, having grown too large, having been infused with too much power to fade...
'The geas on all living things is to continue to live…'
This was as true for AIDA as it was for humanity, and as long as this corrupted altar of beginnings continued to exist, the end of all things would come about as surely as if Siarl had ordered it himself—something that Skari could not abide, not after all he had done, had sacrificed to reach this point. His body was weary, both from the overuse of Data Drain and from the damage inflicted upon it earlier by the AIDA-Angel, but what of it?
"I guess I'll have to destroy it," the Adept Rogue muttered to himself, eying the heart of the storm while his resolve-and what was left of his strength-remained. "I'll have to destroy this place and the shadow along with it for the Lost to be saved."
Was it even possible to do so? Yes, there was a way—entering the writhing heart of the vortex to face the heart of all the evils of mankind, and there collapsing the vortex in upon itself using the ultimate ability of the Twilight Bracelet. But to enter the pillar of black fire would be to die, as Skari wasn't sure that even a goddess could withstand the power within that great circle, as it had been created to destroy Aura, after all, and Aura was the Goddess of The World, one who was nearly all-powerful.
And even if he were able to endure the heart of evil, a mere sample of which he had survived in his confrontation with Siarl, only one skill he knew of was capable of such a feat—Drain Heart, a skill that if used on such a level would likely destroy him as well.
'But…I vowed to see things through to the end, to bring them all back, and if I need to die to accomplish a miracle, so be it—I'm living on borrowed time anyway.'
His breathing stopped for a moment as he gathered his wits and started walking towards the immense maelstrom of darkness.
Clip-clop-clip-clop echoed his footsteps in an empty chamber where the winds of plague still roared, each movement one that took the utmost effort. At the boundary he paused, knowing there was no going back, then continued, letting the whispers of AIDA wash over him, melt his body, melt his mind—both already dying from all the damage incurred.
Images flashed through his mind, memories of happier times and sadder, the words of his friends, chance meetings, and things left undone, flashing back to all that he had done in his life, and all he had met.
'Literally running into Reimeiki-chan so long ago, Rei's smile after the battle against the Fifth Angel, going through the Inverted Castle with both of them, my time as a dothacker…I guess, in the end, its worth it.'
And then these too were snatched away, as the oppressive chaos of malice and despair bore down upon him, heart about to break from pain, fatigue, and emptiness.
One last step and he arrived at the heart of the AIDA gate, raising his arm as the gathered powers of darkness melted away his form.
"Drain Heart."
From his cracked lips issued two soft words, and a wave of golden light surged across the global network.
NERV Medical
He leaned against the wall of a room in NERV Medical, the one housing a certain grey-haired youth, with the battered form of the Fourth Child lying on the sole bed, chest rising and falling as he slept on, though his mind was in The World.
'So this is why Helba—Maya, rather, wanted me alive…she doesn't like firearms herself, after all. Amusing that the last of the Angels should be eliminated without an Evangelion, as was the first, long ago.'
In the quiet, a single shot rang out, and Kaworu Nagisa was no more.
Outer Dungeon
In a flash, the remaining AIDA mirages vanished, and Morganna dispelled her incantation in mid-cast as a wave of golden light surged across the network, cleansing it of the subtle infection of AIDA that had come as a result of Siarl's machinations. The power of Twilight (Daybreak) had been used to counter the corruption of Dusk, and once again, The World was at peace.
'The storm has passed, it seems,' the former Goddess mused, standing down from her Avatar form. 'And without the great inhuman minds of the AIDA-Angels directing it, AIDA is now not the threat it once was. As for Ovan…he will be back, since Avatar Corbenik in truth has three forms, and only the first was obliterated. One day, he will be set free, but it will not be today…'
With a sigh, Morganna looked up to note that the roof of the Outer Dungeon cracked open, revealing the sky above, as the boundary of The World spread outwards once again, with the tempest outside reduced to a mere drizzle.
Clatter-clatter-thud!
Behind her, the battered, broken body of the Queen of the Dark collapsed, dropping her swords and slumping to the ground in the aftermath of the battle against the AIDA mirages. Her robes were tattered, and she lay there unseeing, her eyes clouded over as her breaths came in ragged gasps. Seeing her companion in such a state, Morganna rushed to her side, kneeling down and casting a recovery spell on her, but to no avail, as Helba gently shook her head.
"It's no use…this isn't damage that a spell can heal, more the pity," she noted quietly, the air shuddering out of her as she approached the end. "Did we win, my dear enemy?"
With a sad smile, Morganna squeezed the Dark Queen's hand, finding to her dismay that it was cold and could barely squeeze back.
"We did…" she murmured, barely loud enough for her companion to hear.
"I'm glad…" Helba spoke, her eyes closing and her body going limp. Though she had stood her ground and fought to her last in the great struggle, there had been too much damage done to her mind and soul for her to completely recover. "I am glad we had the chance to meet, dear Goddess of the Dusk. You were ever a worthy opponent…but in the end, there is one thing I must tell you…"
There was moisture on Morganna's cheek, but was she crying, or was it merely the rain pitter-pattering down from the sky.
"…what is it?"
With the last of her strength, Helba turned to face Morganna, raising a hand to the goddess' cheek.
"Only that…I love you," she croaked with a smile.
At that, Morganna leaned over and gave the Queen of the Dark a tender last kiss, as her body disappeared into a cloud of light, leaving no trace of her behind.
"Goodbye then…my once and future Queen. I suspect that one day…we will meet again"
Dawn was in the distance, the horizon shining in gleaming gold, like the fields where a girl in red once laughed and played.
The Creator's Room
Collapsed on the ground, body half faded with patches of static here and there, Skari could see the pure white expanse of the Creator's Room again, with Siarl's aims and goals completely thwarted. Knowing this, he half smiled, or would have, had there been any energy left in his body, any power at all after what he had done.
'The AIDA-Angel called me the Harbinger of the End…but Twilight is not necessarily the end. Dusk or dawn, ending or beginning…he was the 'free man' who chose the path of fate, and I, the free one who defeated him by embracing another's fate.'
The Adept Rogue swallowed, knowing that end was near. With a trace of amusement, he noted the presence of a small flicker of light, as the Twilight Bracelet detached itself from his arm, floating up into the air, where it was joined by an orb of red and the weave of lines in his robes, both reshaping themselves into a red spider lily.
In the pale white glow of the room, he can see the flower floating above him, drifting off to the side, where it is plucked out of the air by a silver-haired girl dressed all in white, a curiously familiar figure looking at him with soft golden eyes.
'Reimeiki-chan…'
She walked over to the Dark Evangel and knelt down beside him, her gaze boring into his crimson eyes as she cupped his cheek.
"The stars fall out of the sky, space closes up into nothingness," the mysterious waif murmured into his ear, words for him alone to hear. "The pathway to the origin is now gone, the texts of old no longer valid, the final wave has passed. You have led the new gods to their twilight, through darkness to the dawn. Set free of the pain you have carried for so long, rest now my knight…my Dark Evangel, Ecchi-kun."
"Reimeiki—" he whispered, but could not continue, for the silver-haired girl silenced him with a kiss, one that lasted until his strength gave out, and at long last, he closed his eyes.
"You were right, by the way…there is no such thing as a voice that cannot reach someone."
The last thing he saw was a smile he would remember to the end of eternity…