Yo, I've just recently graduated high school and as a reward for feeling good I'm uploading a new chapter! This time it will feature Lightning's side of this mini-arc as she seeks to destroy the Rift where the Manikins are coming from, while meeting some unexpected people on the way.
"Italic Underline"-Voice Over from Lightning's perspective
Disclaimer: Fan of Fanfics21 does not own Naruto or Final Fantasy XIII
He fell, as Lightning watched her student fall into the abyss with his demonic opponent, she feared for the worse. She brutally cut all the Manikins there with all her might, not caring for the cuts and bruises she gained from them as they all fell to her blade with righteous fury. As they fell to pieces, she ran to the edge and looked into the darkness, seeing a faint glimmer of flames that was slowly fading, but she also noticed sparks of electricity clashing with the flames as they descended deeper into the darkness.
Lightning tried to connect her mind with Naruto's as she was assaulted by images. Scorching wind and savage roars as the sounds of blades cutting molten rock as she saw through Naruto's eyes; he was fighting this…Balrog in midair as they were falling. But her connection with him was consumed in darkness as she realized the sensation of cold water; they had both fallen into a subterranean lake. From a height like this, no human could survive a fall like that. She feared that he had died, but realized something was off; she wasn't sealed into her blade again.
When one of her students was to die, she would instantly be sealed in her own weapon to suffer derangement and loss and a ravenous hunger for blood would consume her until someone inherited her powers. From her own judgment, he was on top of the Balrog as they fell into the lake, he was probably rendered unconscious for the time being and she felt through him a current was moving his body. She will have to go to the lower levels and find him before he drifts off into somewhere even she can't find him. But the main problem right now is…
"These guys are relentless; I have to seal away that door to the Rift to prevent any more unwelcomed guests from entering." She said to herself as she turned and ran off deeper into the mines, determined to hurry and stop the mass production of Manikins and find where Naruto was before he gets himself killed. Then again, Naruto trying to get himself killed was a common thing since day one she met him so he should be fine at the moment. While Lightning traveled through the depths of the mines, Pandora pouted. "Oh poo, now I have to do something." She said childishly as she prepared to summon something…only for Nione to stop her, and he wasn't happy at all.
"Pandora…" he growled at her, clearly showing his displeasure, "Care to explain to me why there is a Balrog here of all places?" he asked angrily as Pandora looked at him sheepishly, "Well you did let me summon a creature for extra protection here right?" she asked as Nione groaned in frustration. "I meant a creature from the Fantasy Universe, not from any other Universe you twit!" he shouted as he whacked Pandora on the back of the head. "Because of you, the Universe will be demanding an explanation why a foreign object is in their territory!" he snapped as Pandora had comical tears in her eyes as she tried to apologize to him.
"Forget it, I'll let your boss know of this and I hope you're ready for Primordial Chaos' awakening then, if you know what I mean." He said pointing to her heart that glowed through her chest ominously. She whimpered at that, fearing the day the Original Chaos would awaken from its ancient slumber. "You know, I wonder why it chose you of all people to become the incarnation of Discord." He spat as Pandora looked at him with angry eyes. "Well I do my best creating chaos without even trying thank you very much!" she replied as Nione rolled his eyes, clearly not caring. "I'm going to take care of Lightning myself with some old acquaintances of hers, YOU just watch the show, oh and don't get your hopes up because I'll be holding back on her." He said when he saw the glee in her face that equally disappeared and replaced with a pout. "You big meanie..." Was all she said, "I know I am, because I have a job to do, remember?" he replied with a smirk as he left.
Something was wrong, Lightning noticed there were few Manikins out here as she explored these once majestic mines as skeletons of samurai and dwarves littered the place. It was a graveyard of bones, ones without proper burials as she felt the souls of the dead screaming for a release to Valhalla that were never answered. "Etro, if you're watching this, please help these souls find peace." She silently prayed to the goddess as she noticed a red glowing gate seal she was all too familiar with. The Gate Seals are used in World B during the conflict between Cosmos and Chaos, they contained enemies within them she was certain. Without a second glance or hesitation, she entered the seal, not knowing an armored figure walking towards the area.
The figure was a young knight in silver armor outlined in gold highlights, resembling the colors of Lightning's armor when she was serving as Etro's Champion. The armor had clawed gauntlets, knee high greaves, armored hooked boots, an armored helmet with a beak shaped faceplate, a shield with Etro's symbol on it, and a white angelic feathered wing was sprouted from its left shoulder blade. "…I shall help these souls for you Éclair, these honorable warriors shall help Her Grace when the true Day of Reckoning has begun." The armored figure spoke out loud to nothingness as a gunblade with a traditional blade that had Etro script on the hilt below the blade appeared in its right hand. Lifting the blade in the air, Etro's Gate appeared as spheres of light escaped from the skeletons surrounding the figure flew through the gate as it closed with a confirmed click.
With that done, the armored figure sighed, dismissing the gunblade, the figure pulled its helmet off to reveal familiar spikey blond hair as blue eyes adjusted to the light as the figure used one of its fingers to scratch its whisker shaped birthmark cheeks. "I wonder how Storm is doing with the Balrog. Since he and I are technically the same person after all since our soul is broken into fragments and scattered through time and space." The Naruto muttered as he looked at the Gate Seal Lightning went in. "Just hang in there Light, because you're about to be given a blast from the past." He said quietly as he placed his helmet back on and walked into the darkness with his wing folded in as a trail of white feathers floated in the air, intending to find the other Naruto and keep him alive.
*With Lightning in the Gate Seal*
When she entered, she sensed the nostalgic essence of battle and death. The Manikins were active in them as usual it seems. Drawing her Blazefire Saber, she began her journey to the source, knowing that Gate Seals are the best bet of telling that she was getting near her target. They were all gathered at once in a massive group, they seemed to be on alert for something, and she then knew what was going on.
"As I observed these replicas of both Warriors of Harmony and Discord, I realized that they had followed a pattern given only when they are being commanded by a powerful entity."
She looked around her surroundings in this place, looking for something that will help her reduce the numbers of her enemies while being cautious of any leader of these creatures.
"These things don't serve the Balrog is one thing. For that creature brought fear to these mindless creatures of death. Maybe someone else is pulling the strings around here."
She looked up, seeing stalagmites over the crystal dolls like spears falling from the sky. She knew what she had to do, but she will have to act fast with these Manikins. She continued to observe her surroundings, noticing a pathway towards a Chaos Sigil that was past the group, and then there seems to be an old cannon on a high cliff she could access by the nearby tunnel. Though it seems to be guarded by a Fleeting Flash and False Hero, she'll have to use her stealth and speed to make this work.
Quietly, she rushed towards the tunnel leading upwards and stopped near the end as she had her back against the wall and she cautiously peered out of the corner waiting for the right move. As soon as the Manikins had their backs turned, she began her assault. She quickly used Blitz and Scourge on the Fleeting Flash as it crashed into the walls as she quickly turned to the False Hero and gave him a Flourish of Steel courtesy of her Zantetsuken as the creature staggered. The Fleeting Flash came at her with its own Zantetsuken as it delivered a Crushing Blow to her.
She quickly recovered from the attack and noticed how weak it was compared to the Manikins she fought in World B and the Nightmare World B. "This is gonna sting!" she shouted as she called down a Lightning Strike that smote the Fleeting Flash's ruin as it fell to pieces. She then turned to the False Hero just in time to be hit by a wave of light as she was launched in the air. The False Hero followed in pursuit of her, trying to deal even more damage to her. She dodged its sword in midair as she slashed at the creature with her Blazefire Saber as it was thrown back from the counterattack.
It was thrown back into the floor as it left a small crater after the impact as Lightning smirked as she summoned her twin Zantetsuken blades, "Enjoy the view!" the legendary heroine shouted as the blades danced around her as streaks of thunder erupted from nowhere as they mercilessly assaulted the False Hero as it screamed in agony before falling to pieces in its defeat. As she landed and dismissed her blades, she looked over the edge of the cliff-like peak of the monstrous cavern; the Manikins were on alert, looking left and right from down below, wondering who was attacking them. She needed to act fast, looking at the cannon, she analyzed its mechanisms and was glad that it still had one shot inside it, but there was no gunpowder nearby. Knowing what she must do, Lightning put a hand into her pouch and pulled out a bag containing her gunpowder, pouring it in the required area; she got behind it and aimed at the ceiling.
With target confirmed she took a good distance back from the cannon and used her Fire spell on the area where the fuse was supposed to be. Then, the cannon roared like thunder as the cannon ball flew into the air and crashed into the ceiling, causing the stalagmites to fall on the horde of Manikins as they were all crushed by tons of rubble. "One thing that still works, when you can't use brute strength alone, use your knowledge and forge a plan instead." Lightning mused as she leapt down with the help of her Grav-Con and observed the results. "Mind over matter people." She said with a small smile as she outsmarted a bunch of mindless creatures that would have been a problem if she'd face them all at once. Without further ado, she left for the tunnel yet explored not noticing a warrior that was not clearly a Manikin as the hulking figure chortled. "Mwahahaha! Without anyone here to help her, this world will surely disappear into the Void." The hulking armored figure spoke as he vanished in a ring of light.
Lightning knew someone was where she was at, the presence of a Warrior of Chaos never left her memory as she recognized this familiar presence. "Show yourself…Exdeath." She called out into nothingness as she heard the echoed laughter of the evil tree. "Hoho! So the fallen warrior of Cosmos still breathes eh?" the voice asked mockingly to her as she knew he was trying to make her lose her cool, too bad she knew all of his taunts from the 12th cycle beforehand. "Knock it off and show yourself. I don't have time for a moldy old tree like you." She replied coolly with a calm expression on her face as she felt Exdeath's anger aimed at her from the shadows. Clearly he doesn't like being taunted by his origins it seems but it works to Lightning's advantage.
"You dare to insult me? You will be the first one of your world to disappear into the Void!" the voice growled as a ring of light appeared in front of her a few yards away revealing Exdeath. "Go find your stupid Void and stay there!" she shouted, wanting to get this over with already as she had her gunblade at her side. With that, Exdeath was surrounded by a pitch-black sphere that began developing cracks on it as Lightning smirked, "Still uses the most easiest attacks I see…" she thought as the sphere came at her as she slashed inside the sphere, making a direct blow on Exdeath as she Launch him to the ceiling.
She shifted to Ravager and started casting a barrage of Thunder spells at the corrupted tree as it was launched into the air with her chasing after him with her Zantetsuken ready to strike. Exdeath recovered in midair failing to notice Lightning there as she delivered the blow to him as he was thrown right into the walls of the cavern to add even more damage to his injury. "How's that?" she taunted as Exdeath ripped his body out of the crater with an angry growl. "I see you've still retained most of your strength since the 12th cycle it seems." Exdeath commented as Lightning switched her Blazefire with her Omega Weapon. "And I see you're still terrible at offence and defense. No wonder Bartz was easily able to defeat you." She replied as Exdeath growled at the mention of the boy who ruined his plans of absolute nothingness.
Lightning picked up his ire and decided to do what Naruto did best at doing, angering his enemies to the point they can't think straight. "What's wrong, still sore that a mere wanderer beat you even when the Void was at your command?" she taunted as the hulking armor as he let out an angry roar as he began to summon black spheres that circled her as she ducked just in time to avoid the beams that erupted from them as Exdeath teleported in front of her preparing to swing his sword down on her. With the speed of the name she called herself; Lightning blocked it at point-blank range as the tip of the blade was mere centimeters from her face. It was getting closer to her as Exdeath began to add more force into his blade as Lightning decided to do another thing that only Naruto would do.
"Think fast!" she shouted as she quickly used her unoccupied hand to go into her pouch and pull out the Survival Knife that Serah gave her for her birthday and tossed it like a kunai right at the warlock's face. This did the trick as Exdeath quickly shielded himself from the knife as Lightning made her move. "This is gonna sting!" she shouted as she summoned her Zantetsuken swords and called forth a Lightning Strike on the tree. "See ya!" she said as she swung down as a massive bolt of lightning smote Exdeath as Lightning began her finishing combo. "I control my own fate!" she shouted as she flipped in the air and fired a barrage of bullets at Exdeath who couldn't recover in time.
With that, she used her Zantetsuken swords again as she swung her sword at him and swung them with massive force behind them (Stormblade), slashing him and then calling down thunder that rained down on him (Lightning Strike), leaping into the air as the Zantetsuken swords danced around her as even more electricity rained down on Exdeath as she landed and charged right at him, swinging her sword as a blade made of magic escaped from her blade (Razor Gale). She then did the grand finale, leaping into the air one more time with her arms crossed, she twirled in the air as the two massive blades danced along with her as rose petals followed in an elegant twirl as the blades' true nature cut through the dimensions around their target, dealing critical blows to their victim as she landed right behind him a few yards away. "Bulls-eye!" She finished as the aftershock of the blades kicked in as Exdeath screamed in agony as he cursed the warrior of Cosmos.
"Urgh…It seems you've developed a few more tricks…" Exdeath muttered as he knelt to the ground as parts of his body started to fade away. "But it will not…stop the inevitable demise of the multiverse…with Storm's death…all shall be swallowed…by the…Void…" he rasped as he let out one final laugh as he faded away into oblivion. But what he said about Naruto unnerved her, was his death a key component in the destruction of multiple dimensions?
"As I looked at where my enemy vanished, I had a dark sense of dread that some dangerous force wanted Naruto dead. If he is the key to the destruction of multiple dimensions with the following of his death, then everyone and everything is in grave danger. I must hurry, these rumblings must be something, either more Manikins are coming from the Rift or Naruto continuing his fight with the Balrog are neither good signs. I must find that doorway quick."
With that, she picked up her Survival Knife and pocketed it as she ran towards the end of the tunnel and touched the Chaos Sigil, sending her to another location entirely. Upon realization that she was now at a different location in the mines, Lightning looked around and noticed a spiral pathway leading downwards, revealing a few more gate seals within them as the one at the bottom was releasing Manikins that were instantly teleported somewhere else. "I've found the source, but now I'm in enemy territory. I've used a few rounds from my gunblade; still have a good amount of ammunition in my pouch and from the change in temperature and my sense of time, its nightfall on the surface. I'll have to find a place of shelter and rest for the night. I need to be in top shape if I need to take on an army's worth of Manikins." She thought.
She found a broken doorway as she looked around the top of the area and went in, discovering an old office with a bed with a skeleton in it with a journal. Being respectful for the dead, she gently moved the skeleton against the wall as she took the journal from its hands. She opened it up and blew away the many years of dust it had collected and began to read it. It told great detail of what the dwarves were mining, a fiery metal of unknown existence that was rumored to be that of divine origin. With that detail, Lightning came to one conclusion: Scarletite. The component she used to upgrade her Lionheart gunblade into the Ultima Weapon as it soon became the Omega Weapon she wielded now. She read as how they dug in with much greed as they realized how the warriors purchased it in piles to forge their blades.
They discovered something else there too; it was a rare ore, shining like a combination of gold, silver, copper, and even platinum. She read as the sales for these types of ores were bought by the pound by blacksmiths as she recognized its description anywhere. Electrum, a metal that symbolized unity and harmony that the Moogles of World B sold for a high price, it helped her gain her lost equipment during the conflict between Cosmos and Chaos and knew that it was worth a pretty Gil if sold properly. She skipped a few pages as she found what she was looking for, the Manikins' appearances.
According to what this was saying, this area she was in was the mines for Scarletite and the bottom of this pit was where they encountered the Manikins. Since the bottom is where the mining of Scarletite was the richest, the dwarves and even samurai hired to protect them fought them. They had been fighting for nearly 3 years with no changes as they discovered a "black thing staining the earth" summoning more Manikins. That was then it appeared. A creature of shadow and flame with powers beyond comprehension slayed many of them as it rampaged through the mines. It seems to have experience with fighting dwarves as it became known as the Bane of Dwarfs as even the samurai had fallen to the creature. After that, nothing, only the owner of the journal's prayer for someone to destroy the mines, making sure that the Balrog and the Manikins never escapes to the surface.
Something she agreed on, but as soon as she closed the book, exhaustion consumed her. She placed the journal in her pouch for safe keeping when she noticed something falling out. It was a map to the mines. One was the Scarletite Mines which she was in and she looked at the location where Naruto and the Balrog fell, it would lead them into the bottom of the mines where the subterranean lake was used to supply fresh water from an underground spring. That area is the Electrum Mines, and it lead to the top of the mountains on the surface where a once great castle of the dwarfs stood which she guessed is now in ruins. If the Balrog got to the surface, then the world will be dealing with something probably just as bad as a Biju it rampages across the Elemental Nations. She sighed, folding the map and placed it in her pouch with the journal as she turned to the bed and then looked at the broken door.
She decided that sleep sounded good as she went up the doorway and closed it, moving the desk as a barricade which was quite pretty heavy for a wooden desk when something fell out of one of its drawers. It was a metallic cylinder-like object decorated in jewels as she picked it up and examined it. She noticed there was a button on top of it and pressed it, causing the cylinder to open up and reveal nothing in it. Deciding it was useless she placed it back in the drawer she found it in and noticed a small manual with blueprints written in it. Her curiosity took over her tiredness as she picked it up and opened it up and had a surprised expression on her face.
"I'm not sure how these dwarfs did it, but they had somehow stumbled on lost technology of my era. This was a prototype inventory device used to store various items in it. I recalled having one to store all of my gunblades, equipment, and even components to upgrade them inside. While mine is currently broken at the moment, this inventory device was designed for mining, and it is able to hold up to 10 mine carts worth of ores. This might be useful if I ever comeback alive."
With that, she pocketed the blueprints and the device in her pouch and went to the bed, finally giving into her exhaustion as she was consumed by darkness the minute she landed on the bed. That time she slept, she dreamt of swords and battles. She saw piles of bodies lying on the ground, with various blade type weapons of all kinds littering the field with their respective owners. When she saw the faces of them her face paled in shock and horror. They were all multiple Naruto's; their eyes were lifeless, gazing to the sky with sad smiles on their faces as she looked to see a hill with swords acting like grave markers as two figures were standing on it. One was Storm she was certain, because the aura he had was similar to the Naruto she knows of. And then there was a girl with red hair, she was a spitting image of Kushina as she realized something; it was Storm's twin sister.
Storm was wielding two swords in his hands and his sister was wielding a bow, but their outfits were different. They were both clothed in rags as they looked like they were starved as there were multiple cuts and gashes on their bodies. "That's odd, where's the regeneration at?" she thought as she noticed none of the wounds had healed like Storm was able to. Was the influence of the Kyuubi blocked?
"This is the last of them sis, we've survived another round of his selections again." Storm said to his twin who nodded her head weakly. "Yeah, but I can't help but feel sorry for these other Narutos. They all had no souls in them as they were pitted against each other to see which one is the strongest." The girl replied as Storm looked at the dead lookalikes with sadness. "Yeah, but this will be the last time we'll be killing another "me" so to speak, right?" Storm asked with a tired smile as her sister nodded her head with agreement as they both slouched down, back to back with exhaustion written on their faces.
Lightning was confused with this, what was she seeing? Was this some sort of dark past or an ominous future that is yet to pass? That was when the dream realm shook violently as she woke from her slumber. Holding her head in pain from what she saw, it was something she did not want to go through again anytime soon that's for sure.
"While I can ponder about this mysterious dream I had, I must go and eliminate the doorway to the Rift. If my training back in the military is correct, I have been sleeping up till dawn. I'm very grateful my biological clock is still the same after all of these years."
And with that, she removed the barricade and broke the already broken door down and started to descend down into the spiral pathway into the first Gate Seal. When she entered, she recognized this powerful presence anywhere, especially that lone black feather lying on the ground. "So, the One-Winged Angel is back huh? I wonder what he's got in store. Maybe he'll have answers on how he and Exdeath were able to get into my world." Lightning said to herself as she drew her gunblade just in time to block a sword strike from an Imaginary Champion. "My blade'll fix this." She said as Imaginary Soldiers and Imaginary Brawlers also came out of the woodworks and surrounded her. "This is going to be interesting…" she thought as she prepared to take on a dozen Manikins at once.
She quickly avoided a Chimhazzard from an Imaginary Soldier as its attack instead hit the Imaginary Champion, creating a friendly fire. Lightning then rolled out of the way of one of the Imaginary Brawler's Meteor Strike as it missed and hit another Imaginary Soldier. This resulted in the said Manikin to retaliate as it slashed at the one who did it to it. "Hmph, bunch of idiots if they had any brains…That's it! Make them turn against each other!" Lightning thought as she leapt in the air where an Imaginary Champion and Imaginary Brawler leapt after her.
She timed it right as the two Manikins began to use one of their attacks at the same time as she flipped backwards in midair as the two attacks collided against each other. She landed on the head of another Manikin as another Imaginary Soldier leapt in the air as it tried to perform Braver on her which she replied by jumping onto another head of a different Manikin as the previous one she was on top of was crushed. If these things looked confused, now would have been a good time as their confusion of friendly fire caused a battle royal. The Manikins started attack each other, thinking that they were the enemy as Lightning leapt away from the mob of fighting imitations and took a quick glance at them before smirking and dashing off.
"Now that was kind of fun, I wonder what I should do to the next group? Gah! I'm starting to sound like Naruto!" she thought as she ran into an all too familiar area with swirling green energy and floating rocks. She was in, the Planet's Core. "Now, time to find our infamous crow boy." She muttered as she face-palmed herself as she realized she called Sephiroth something only Naruto would call him. Maybe he was rubbing off on her. "So, the cursed warrior returns." A smooth voice rang from nowhere, this instantly put Lightning on edge. She recognized that voice anywhere as she instantly turned around and brought her sword up just in time to avoid being impaled by an extremely long katana. "Good to see you, Lightning." The owner of said sword, Sephiroth spoke as his cat silted green eyes gazed into her own.
"Nice to see you too." She replied sarcastically as she gritted her teeth at the force the man was putting into his blade. He wasn't even trying and she's already working up a sweat with him. "I see you've haven't changed since the last time we've meet." Lightning said with edge in her voice as she had to add force into her feet to keep herself from being pushed back from their deadlock. "Indeed, but I see you have taken on an apprentice." The fallen hero mused as Lightning narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, what's it to you?" she asked, not liking where this is going. Sephiroth's lips slowly turned into a smirk as his eyes danced with insanity. "I too, have taken on an apprentice, another fragment of your student's own soul I believe." He replied as Lightning's eyes widen in shock as her sixth sense kicked in as she broke the deadlock and jumped back to avoid being impaled from above by another long katana.
She looked at the one responsible and couldn't help but look at the figure in shock. It was Naruto, or more precise, a Sephiroth-Naruto. This Naruto was dressed similar to the One-Winged Angel and had that cold, calculation expression his master had as well and recalled what the man said. "How is this possible? I thought his soul fragments were in my world…" Lightning muttered in shocked awe at what she was seeing. "No, after my branding as a L'Cie, my soul was broken into fragments." The Sephiroth-Naruto replied as he continued explaining, "But it didn't stop with the heroes and villains of your world, other fragments were sent through the other ones, choosing a path of another hero or villain in their respective worlds. Cloud has already has his apprentice as we have both clashed a few times already. But I've noticed that there were a few more fragments in my master's world that have yet to be awoken to their potential." He finished as he held his blade over his head in a stance. "Though, enough talk…I want you to be on your knees and beg for forgiveness." The miniature Sephiroth spoke in a monotone voice as Sephiroth himself took a step back, watching the potential of his pupil and legacy.
"Show me your strength." Naruto muttered quietly as Lightning got into her stance. His eyes betraying no emotion as Lightning realized that she was facing a mindless, killing machine right now. "Ready?" he asked as Lightning instinctively blocked the sudden attack as the boy appeared a good distance behind her as she deflected all of the delayed attacks. "Great, he's just as good as Sephiroth, but in movements, but not the skill nor experience." She thought as she noticed the difference between the two warriors. She noticed the delaying time in the attack and decided to take things up a notch. "I am no one's slave!" she shouted as she showed the young boy why she's an Army of One as he didn't have enough time to recover from his attack as she ruthlessly assaulted him with slashes, bullets from her Gunblade, and a barrage of kicks as she sent him into the air as she gave pursuit.
Naruto recovered and elegantly twisted himself in midair as he defied gravity by sticking to a platform upside down as Lightning swung her blade at him. He quickly drew his blade and swung, generating blade slashes that she had to block as he swung his blade one more time, but with more force in it as she was thrown back and crashed to the bottom floor of the arena. When she crashed, she looked up to see the edge of his blade. "If its despair you want-"he started as she looked up the blade to the handle then to his face, "…then I shall provide." He finished with a cruel smile on his face. "What I want," she replied as she got up, "Is something I decide!" she shouted as she got into her stance as Naruto did in his. "You're nothing but a puppet." He replied coolly as the two had a stare down as the swirling Lifestream spiraled into a flux of a chaotic tempest, as a battle between warriors was about to be carved into the world itself.
The two warriors were silent as they locked eyes; the imaginary sparks of electricity dancing in them as Lightning tighten her grip on her Gunblade as the Sephiroth-Naruto was calm and focused, waiting for the first move. A piece of rock crumbled and fell, when it landed, the two opponents charged at each other, blades clashing as they parried, deflected, and blocked each other's swords as they locked themselves in a deadlock as their strength were on equal levels. "Not bad." Lightning muttered as Naruto just smirked as he broke the deadlock with a kick to the stomach. "You should know by now not to talk with an opponent like me." He replied as he swung horizontally as Lightning blocked it with her blade.
"Point taken." She replied as she went on the offence and charged right at him, battering his sword aside as she landed a blow to him. He responded with a right hook to the face as a result as Lightning was knocked back and she could tell from the look in his eyes that he was angry. "That's enough Naruto." Sephiroth spoke as his pupil froze, as the anger died from his eyes as his sword faded away. "Yes master." He replied to his teacher as the man walked towards him and looked at Lightning. "Go on ahead; I came here only to see my student's growth. You did well for a first time battle…son." Sephiroth said in a…fatherly tone? "Thank you…father." Naruto replied as he turned to Lightning and tossed something at her. "A gift to my former self, it would help to have another blade forged right?" he asked and Lightning could have sworn she saw a phantom smile that Naruto usually had when he was carefree as he vanished in a golden light.
"I would like to see whose student is the strongest when the time comes. But like all gemstones, they first start out rough. But smooth them out and polish them correctly; they will become a sparkling crystal worth having. Farwell, cursed warrior of Cosmos." Sephiroth spoke out loud as he too, vanished in a golden light with a smirk and a chuckle. Lightning looked down at what the Sephiroth-Naruto gave her and it was a black crystal feather radiating some sort of power within. She cautiously pocketed it wondering what was going on.
"Although I didn't get any answers, I seem to be discovering that something big is going on here and I am willing to bet all of my gunblades that Nione is behind this mess. For now, I'll have to travel deeper into the mines and seal away the doorway to the Rift and prevent more Manikins from coming up."
With that, Lightning searched for the Chaos Sigil and destroyed it, completely destroying the Gate Seal as she returned to her previous position in the mines and continued downward, intending to stop the Manikins as she felt the atmosphere slightly becoming more ominous. As she neared the next Gate Seal, there was another Naruto in front of it, dressed similar to Exdeath, she witness him destroy the Gate Seal as another Naruto jumped out and snapped at him. This one made Lightning pale in terror, this one looked like a mad clown and even had the intense insanity in his eyes. It was a Kefka-Naruto, one she prayed to never exist. It was okay for Naruto to play a practical joke every once in a while, but for someone like this Naruto she was witnessing that was fighting the Exdeath-Naruto would be absolute chaos! Plus, he would infuriate and annoy her to no end and she would either kill him or kill herself just to escape from his annoying antics.
The two were fighting each other over something, but she could care less as Kefka himself appeared in a face fault that made her wonder if the guy was bright at all. "Now, now kiddies! Uncle Kefka has to take you guys back~! I hear there's a massive prank contest in a nearby country here!" he shouted with twisted glee as the Kefka-Naruto and Exdeath-Naruto developed the infamous Mad Genius Prankster expression she had seen on Naruto's face so many times before when he was working on blueprints on his biggest prank in history. But in a different country that's not Naruto-proof…she couldn't help but pity the poor place as there are TWO Narutos going to wreak havoc there. Oh…the untold terror yet to be unleashed.
The three teleported somewhere else as she walked to the ruined Gate Seal area, while it was broken, she could still get through. She passed right through it without being sent anywhere and preceded downward; sensing a foreboding aura of death within the final Gate Seal and concluded only one person could be there. "Nione…"she growled with unsuppressed hatred in her voice as she walked into the Gate Seal, not caring what happened to her once she was inside. There were no Manikins in this area, the whole place looked like some sort of massive Cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows featuring some sort of story that caught Lightning's attention.
"When I saw these windows, there was a story depicted in them. It was the same one from my dream of Naruto and his twin sister. There, a hill of blades was where the two stood back to back against an onslaught of multiple Narutos. A great battle as the copies were slain as there was some sort of rebellion Naruto and his sister lead. Another battle was waged, one with Naruto and his sister against a robed skeleton with a scythe and a legion of the undead. As I looked at the image, I noticed that Naruto and his sister bore wings. An feathered angelic one white as newly fallen snow sprouting from their left shoulder blade, and a pitch black demonic bat wing from their right shoulder blade. What could these images mean?"
"Lovely aren't they?" a voice rang out from the staircase leading to the bell towers, revealing Nione walking down them with a hand on the rails. Lightning was on edge as she instantly had her hand on the handle of Blazefire, waiting for him to try anything. "Whoa there Lightning, this is a sacred building and I do not want to explain to my boss why the place is in ruins if we fought here." He said with a glare as a response from Lightning. "What's going on here Nione? What do these images on the windows have to do with my dream?" she demanded as Nione looked at her surprised. "Impossible, you actually went through a Dream Cycle? But the Holy Grail Wars in your world were over aeons ago…" he muttered as Lightning felt something was off when she heard him say something about a war. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I don't like it one bit. Explain!" she demanded as Nione sighed.
"What you were dreaming was from Storm's forgotten "past", only Heroic Spirits and their Masters can make that kind of connection unless…" he trailed off looking at Lightning straight in the eye. "What?" she asked as she slowly drew her blade, not liking the way he was looking at her. "Maybe you or Serah were involved in it once…yeah, that would explain the paradox and the appearance of the Holy Grail there…" he continued muttering as Lightning was getting to her boiling point with the guy. "Are you going to answer me or not?" she demanded as Nione glared at her as the entire area was crushed by a powerful pressure that was weighing down on Lightning. "Be. Patient." he growled in anger as a book appeared in his hands as he started looking through it muttering something.
"Let's see here, he first escaped…Appeared in the near-side and far-sides of the Moon…Ended up in Camelot…Entered Fuyuki City during the 4th Heaven's Feel as a Servant…Disappeared sometime after the Fifth Feel? Maybe that's where he came up in…" Nione grumbled as he went through pages not knowing Lightning had her blade out, intending to strike a blow to him. With a quick swing of her sword, she dealt a blow that would behead any human…well any human of course. The moment the blade was closing in on his neck, Nione stopped it with his index finger and thumb, as if holding a fly. "Now, now Lightning, its considered rude to attack someone with their back turned." Nione replied like he was chiding a small child before frowning. "You must be in a rush if you were trying to kill me. Then again I can't truly die because I'm Death ya know?" he asked mockingly as Lightning gritted her teeth in anger.
"I see that you want to close the Rift door so I'll let you go and close it, but after that, it'll be my turn to fight…"he spoke ominously as he and the Cathedral vanished, leaving Lightning alone as she had a sense of dread at the thought of fighting him again. One fight with him left a lifetime of despair and agony due to being sealed into her blade by this guy, right after he brutally crushed her bones and ruptured all non-vital innards and stripped her of her powers given to her by Etro. She was forced to recover very slowly inside her Gunblade for the last 9000 years and they were excruciatingly painful at the time. Then dealing with derangement and a ravenous hunger until she was freed by a few warriors that took up her blade, she ate until she could eat no more.
A part of her wanted to give that guy a thrashing he will never forget, and the other part of her wanted to live and see another day. Due to the situation right now, she had no choice but to fight him after closing the door to the Rift. She descended into the depths, encountering very few Manikins as they strangely avoided confronting her. She realized these were lesser Manikins and guessed they were ordered not to fight opponents more powerful than them, especially her. The further in she went, the more the pressure and aura began to build up as she reached the doorway. There were no Manikins yet, but she can feel an army's worth of them heading towards the doorway. She looked around, expecting at least someone or something to be guarding the place. Did they leave just to see her fight Nione? That she did not look forward too at all.
Summoning her Zantetsuken, she leapt into the air and twirled it in her hands as she landed and stabbed the very center of the doorway as it immediately vanished. "See, if Fang could do it, so can I, albeit with a different weapon." She thought to herself, recalling how Fang would leap in the air and deal a finishing blow to her unsuspecting victim with her trusty lance. That was when she heard clapping as she turned to see Nione to be the one responsible for it. "You know I must say I have been eager for a rematch with you, but I needed you at your strongest without anyone's interference in it." He admitted as he walked towards her. "That's kind from someone like you. But I have a feeling you're motivated for something else." Lightning replied as Nione laughed and applauded her. "Correct! I wanted to see what new injuries I would inflict upon you before you vanish and return into the boy's mindscape!" he said with a twisted, amused smile on his face as Lightning dismissed her Zantetsuken and exchanged her Blazefire for her Omega Weapon.
"Let's make a bet shall we?" he asked as Lightning clicked her tongue in annoyance, but thought about using this as an advantage. "Fine, name your terms." She replied as Nione smirked. "If you win, I'll answer any questions that I am allowed to tell, plus let you see more of Storm's TRUE memories and past." He said gaining her attention, "And if I lose?" she asked as Nione's smirk turned into a full-blown grin. "You must spend a night of sinful pleasure with both Anko and Kushina." He replied as his grin threatened to split his face in half. Lightning was caught off guard by that, was this something straight from that stupid pervert Jiraiya's mind? She was going to neuter him when she got back. Meanwhile in a hot spring resort, Jiraiya had chills down his spines that made him want to dig a hole, jump in it, and bury himself at the moment. "Deal." She agreed nonchantly much to Nione's surprise. "What? She's not shocked?-! Could it be she's…?" Nione thought in total disbelief at what was running in his head.
Lightning got in her stance as Nione conjured a scythe as he covered himself in a robe with a hood completely shadowing his face as four pitch-black wings sprouted from his back with blue glowing veins on them. "Let's get to it then." He muttered.
"Do you have the resolve to win?" Nione asked as Lightning shifted into Commando. "I always create or find my own." She replied as they charged at each other. As Nione raised his scythe high in the air, her instincts kicked in as she suddenly jumped to the side as he swung down as an arc of energy escaped from his weapon as it went through the tunnels and out of the mountain side before disappearing. Anyone who saw the arc of energy escape would have wondered what was going on in there. "Not bad, I guess you've learned well from our last fight." He mused as Lightning looked at the spot where the energy arc went through. "I could have died if I was there!" she thought, recalling how easily he used it to break Snow's most powerful defenses with one attack.
She switched to Synergist and immediately casted Haste, Vigilance, and Bravery on herself. "So you're deciding to buff yourself eh? That could lead to your downfall!" Nione shouted as he swung his scythe that immediately extended towards her. Lightning shifted to Sentinel and her body felt lighter as she used her speed to avoid the slash as the scythe got stuck in the wall. Nione cursed as he struggled to free his scythe from the wall as Lightning switched to Saboteur and casted Deshell and Deprotect on him as he pulled his blade from the wall. He quickly charged at her, going into close combat as she shifted back into Commando and charged right at him as well.
She struck first, her blade clashing against Nione's scythe as a shockwave of power erupted from the blows. Nione responded with a Blitz that knocked her back as she had a few gashes on her torso that were starting to bleed, they weren't deep much to her relief. Lightning noticed Nione had done a Paradigm Shift and was currently undoing the Deshell and Deprotect ailments she had done to him and shifted to Synergist and casted Vigilance, Haste, Shell, and Protect. Lightning shifted to Ravager and started casting Fire, Thunder, Water, and Aero as Nione was increasing his defenses as he shifted to Ravager as well. Before she could blink, he launched her into the air and unleashed a flurry of blows as he used Smite to slam her into the ground.
She quickly shifted to Medic and started casting Cure on herself before shifting into Sentinel as she dodged Nione's slashes as she took a few chances and made her counterattacks on him. Seeing he wasn't getting anywhere, Nione shifted into Commando as his wings stretched out and fired his black feathers like bullets as they vanished into thin air, entering a different dimension completely. "Damn, using his Space-Time powers already?" Lightning muttered as she cautiously looked around, knowing they can appear anytime, anywhere if she let her guard down. "Not from my side, nor in front or behind, it's not above me so…" she thought as she leapt back as a barrage of feather erupted from the ground as they continued to the top and tore a hole in the ceiling.
"I see you've begun to become more aware of your surroundings eh, Lightning?" Nione asked from under his hood as Lightning clicked her tongue in annoyance at him. "Looks like I'll get to use the big one after all." He continued as his black wings stretched out in an arc as a small sphere of energy was gathering over his head creating a halo of some sort. Lightning instantly knew that attack anywhere, the spell known as Armageddon had the power to slay even Ragnarok at full power. Even a not fully charged one could eliminate an entire civilization in one shot. She had to act fast before he fires it!
As Nione held his scythe in front of him to make sure she doesn't interrupt his spell, he felt some sort of disturbance in this world's reality and his unseen eyes widened in shock as he looked up at the sky through the hole in the ceiling. "Impossible, Storm has actually summoned his Reality Marble?-!" he shouted in shock as he failed to notice Lightning switch her Gunblade into gun mode and fired at the halo of energy, disrupting his spell as it backfired on him due to letting his guard down. "Gah!" he shouted in pain as he was forced into the Staggered state leaving Lightning at an advantage as she decided to give him a piece of payback for what he did all those years ago.
"Paybacks a bitch!" she shouted as she charged at him and began her assault of kicks, bullets, and slashes as she launched him into the air as she shifted to Saboteur and undid his buffs and added Imperil to her Deshell and Deprotect as Nione crashed into the ground. No Lightning wasn't finished with him yet as she shifted to Ravager and began her assault of spells, intent on raising his Chain to increase the damage inflicted upon him as she decided to use her most strongest Thunder spell she had mysteriously acquired. "THUNDAJA!" she shouted as she swung her arm down as a massive, powerful bolt of thunder rained down from the heavens right onto Nione.
Lightning quickly shifted into Commando as she charged at him, not waiting for her Thundaja to die out as she Launched Nione into the air and started launching a barrage of Ruin spells right at him. She then leapt into the air and started slashing at him with her Omega Weapon, black streaks following her blade as she slashed at Nione and decided to give him the perfect payback. "What goes around comes around!" she shouted as she used Smite on him, causing Nione to crash into the ground as a crater was formed from the impact as Lightning fell after him and impaled him through the back. He wasn't moving, uneasing Lightning "I won…I don't like it." She muttered as she pulled her blade from his body and leapt back. "Damn…you sure did a number on me…and I wasn't even going all out…"Nione groaned as he got up and cracked his back.
When he turned to her, she could feel him smiling under the hood already as he sat down and laughed. "Alright, deals a deal. Ask away before I leave soon." he said as Lightning narrowed her eyes. "What is Cipher?" she asked plain and simple as Nione chuckled. "Cipher is the power of unlimited possibilities, a kaleidoscope to be exact, and a Cipher can travel through dimensions at will without creating distortions of the like. Storm is a Cipher, he is the very heart of almost all other Narutos in other parallel dimensions save for two Narutos." He explained as her eyes narrowed even more. "What do you mean by "heart all other Narutos" and what do you mean by the two Narutos?" she demanded as Nione sighed. "Simple, Storm's very existence helps keeps the dimensions both normal and parallel alive with his very breath, and the other Narutos' worlds would instantly be destroyed if his soul was to be destroyed, kind of like how Caius got Noel to stab the Heart of Chaos and kill Etro." He replied as Lightning's eyes widen in horror.
If that were to happen, the destruction of all dimensions will be destroyed! "But the destruction only works on those inhabited by other Narutos. The two Original incarnations of all Narutos are immune to their dimension's destruction and are the only ones who can recreate them if they wanted to. Plus I was ordered to destroy all incarnations of the world of Fantasy and all of the Naruto worlds and Storm fits both bills at once! It's a win-win for me!" he exclaimed as Lightning became very suspicious of him. "What do you mean?" she asked her voice cold as ice. Nione chuckled before it turned into laughter. "There is an ancient entity sleeping inside him that helped create the Original Universe which from certain humans and their imagination, also created the world of Fantasy and Naruto's existence by the after effects as time moved on. Once Storm's soul is destroyed, so is that entity's own existence, creating the most fatal paradox in existence…" he trailed off as Lightning knew what he meant.
"It'll erase all incarnations of the world of Fantasy and Naruto's own world never existed…" she realized with dawning horror as her Eyes of Etro began acting up. She saw it, her universe, Storm's world, Highwind's, and all other versions of the Crystal Legends and all other worlds of other Narutos being reduced to absolute nothingness as countless souls screamed in terror, despair, agony, and pain as they were erased from existence, as if they were never there. And what remained of it, was Storm, sitting upon Etro's throne in crystal, serving as an eternal epitaph as a lance was left impaled in his chest as everything faded into eternal oblivion. She instantly knew that someone was responsible for Storm's death and that the lance was the one responsible for destroying Storm's soul, and also the catalyst for everything's destruction.
"Who was responsible for Storm's death, and how can I stop it?" she demanded as she grabbed Nione and shook him violently. "It was Highwind himself, armed with the Lance of Longinus that ended his life. That is what was responsible for everything, and it is impossible to prevent. When it will happen I cannot say, only a Time-streamer could help you with that. Any more questions?" he asked as Lightning dropped him and fell backwards, taking in the current information right now. "What is Storm's real past?" she asked weakly as Nione sighed. "The dreams will tell you, I'll give you the information on Storm's true past when you sleep. When they come will vary on the bond you have with him." He replied as he stood up. "One more thing, did you split his soul into fragment and scatter them around this universe just to increase the chance of annihilating us all?" she asked. "Yes. And those fragments alone cannot stop the inevitable destruction you will one day see in real life. Farewell, Fallen Champion…" Nione spoke as he faded from existence as Lightning pounded the ground in anger.
With that, the Gate Seal was destroyed as she returned to the mines, feeling despair overwhelm her as she realized that she could not move. Somewhere deep in her heart, a piece of loss was in there, yet at the same time, a small light of hope glowed inside there. She realized that it did not come to pass yet and she made a vow to protect the boy as she tried to help him discover who he truly was. With a burning resolve in her heart, she stood and summoned her Eidolith and slashed it, summoning Odin. "Let's go find Naruto." She spoke to her summon as Odin nodded and entered Gestalt Mode, turning into a majestic white horse as she hopped onto its back and they rode, intending to find the Shinobi L'Cie. They could come back for the Scarletite, but right now, Naruto was the most important thing at the moment.
The horse galloped through the mines knowing where to go by the guidance of Etro as they found numerous destroyed Gateways not from Lightning's adventures making her realize it was Naruto's trail as it leads them to the highest peak of the mountains, where a ruined castle laid as they found who they were looking for. "Naruto!" she called out as she leapt off Odin and ran towards the boy, seeing multiple wounds on his body as he was gasping for breath as he turned to her. "Hey Light, what…took ya so long?" he asked with a weak grin as his eyes closed as he fell forward, right into her arms. She checked his pulse, he was still alive but weak at the moment. Then she realized something, where was the Balrog? Because as she observed her surroundings, the area was scorched with flames as she found the massive creature, but was surprised at what she saw.
"As I saw the Balrog a good distance away from where Naruto was facing before, it was entombed in crystal. Unable to get out as it was forever doomed to become nothing more than a statue, but what was bugging me was how it was possible. Did Naruto somehow awaken the powers of Cipher or was it one of his own natural abilities that had somehow been awoken during their battle? I'll let it go for now, right now he needs medical attention."
With that settled, she carried the boy onto Odin's back as he carried the Master L'Cie and her student towards civilization as they failed to notice Nione and Pandora walking in and looking at the crystalized Balrog. "I still can't believe he created a Reality Marble, after all of his abilities sealed! But it seems he didn't use UBW though." Nione spoke as Pandora looked at him. "By the way Nione, I thought the Lance of Longinus would only suppress Storm, did you have a change in thought?" she asked as Nione shook his head no. "No, when he split his soul again to give his twin life, it weakened his own. Thus, even with the setting set on suppression, the Lance of Longinus will destroy his soul completely, thus herald the end to millions of dimensions as a result. I hope you'll love the chaos that will follow…" he replied with a grin as Pandora's eyes widen with glee at the potential sight of mass destruction on an unimaginable scale.
"I think you gave me a birthday present worth more than all the ones I had before…I think have the perfect reward for you…"she said sultry as she drew herself closer to him with a seductive gaze as he smirked, the two entities vanished as the countdown for destruction began to commence.
Whooh! Man that was a pain to write! At least it was worth writing and explaining a few things to you readers. Be sure to stay tuned for Naruto's side of the battle in the next chapter of Shinobi L'Cie: Storm of the Revolution!