Chapter 11
WITHIN THE LIFESTREAM
Cloud stares with disbelief look after Tifa told him what have happened when he was not around. He looks again at Tifa and the others to make sure that they told the truth. However, he receives no answer except everyone's nodding. That is enough for him. Cloud sweeps his spiky hair and locks his jaw as a sign that he is thinking hard.
"Now what ? Sephiroth &#$&#% can attack us at anytime, and still we have no $@#$ clue what to do", Cid finally exclaims.
"And how about you, Cloud ? Are you all right ?", Cait Sith asks Cloud. The person being asked glances at the creature and replies, "I am all right. Actually, I had hard times to find what we're looking for, but fortunately, with Underwater Materia, I had no problem on lack of air".
Underwater Materia ! That's why he is all right, I couldn't even think about that… Tifa thinks. She had a worried feeling when Cloud dove to the lake, but now she is relieved to see his Cloud back again, now as real Cloud.
"And…?", Red XIII inquiries Cloud with hopeful tone. The beast seems impatient. Cloud then pulls out something from his pocket and shows it to the others. It is a green and glowing small orb.
"I guess…this is what we are looking for", Cloud finishes his words. Yuffie is the first who reacts with 'wow' sound. That thing is very tempting to her.
"White Materia !! It turned to green again !", Aeris cries out suddenly as her eyes meet the familiar thing on Cloud's palm. "You are the best, Cloud !! ", she continues her words and tries to take White Materia from Cloud. "Take it, Aeris, now we all depend on you", Cloud hands out White Materia to Aeris. Aeris takes the Materia and nods to him.
"So, that's White Materia ? Now what are we going to do ? What will you do, Aeris ?" Tifa comes with concerned tone. She considers that they are still in danger since Sephiroth can appear anytime, anywhere, and in any form.
"I think you must pray to Planet again, Aeris", Vincent's cold voice pops up. He has been healed by Aeris and back to normal again.
"Yes, I will try to pray to Planet, from the altar", finally Aeris speaks out. Hearing the word 'altar' makes Cloud startled. "Aeris ! I will accompany you !!", Cloud says in rather worried tone. Aeris turns to Cloud and looks at him. She says nothing, but her emerald green eyes tell Cloud that she will be all right. Cloud cannot resist her look. However, he still tries to bargain,
"But…but…I failed you there, Aeris. Now, Sephiroth may come up anytime, what if…what if he…tries to do that…same thing…again ?". Cloud gulps after finishing his words. He looks nervous. Surely, the image of Aeris being stabbed by Sephiroth still haunts him until now. With a caring look, Aeris smiles at him.
"Cloud…", she speaks gently, "What is to be scared from death ? From being killed ? I would do that again if it could save my friends, this planet, and you, Cloud. Everything has its price. This is price I have to pay, but that's my duty as the last Cetra, to protect Planet and the others. I promise you, I will not die easily this time, is that okay, Cloud ? Please, understand me….". Aeris pleads to Cloud, and this makes Cloud let out a sigh. He knows even though Aeris is weak at physical fight, she has stronger will amongst the others. Finally, Cloud says, "Okay, but please be careful". He then lets Aeris walk to the altar to pray to Planet. Cloud and the others only watch Aeris steps carefully on platforms to reach altar. Nobody except Red XIII notices a slight change on Tifa's face, and Red knows why.
This time, you must understand him, Tifa…Red XIII thinks to himself.
On the altar, Aeris kneels down and holds White Materia inside her clasped hands. She starts to pray solemnly. Her friends are watching her. Everything becomes so quiet and peaceful. However, The Avalanche, especially Cloud, has learned from the past that bad things came from anyplace. Cloud watches altar's ceiling as if he would see Sephiroth falls down from above, points his masamune sword to Aeris again. However, he finds nothing out of ordinary. Tifa glances at him, notices that he is very serious now. Yuffie prepares her shuriken, she will throw it in case their foe is out of reach.
I don't think Sephiroth will do the same thing again like he did, Vincent speaks in his own mind.
"Hmmm…hmm…mmuahhahaahaaahh…". An evil laugh is echoing inside the temple. The Avalanche, although not very surprised, they are quite shocked. They know it. He comes again. Sephiroth. The Avalanche cannot trace where his laugh came from. Cloud is the first who reacts. He draws his Ultima sword and quickly steps on platforms to approach Aeris on the altar. After arrives at the altar, he finds that Aeris is still concentrating on her pray. Cloud then lifts up his head and looks at above. No one. No Sephiroth after all. However, he is still on guard.
"Mega flare !!". Suddenly, Sephiroth's voice is echoing again. He summons Bahamut from his hiding place. Knowing this, Barret quickly orders his friends, "Everyone ! Spread out !!". As they do Barret's order, the surrounding is getting dark. Short time after that, Bahamut, the dragon, appears from darkness and prepares his attack. Cloud glances at Aeris, and finds that she is still praying. He touches Aeris' shoulder to warn her. Aeris' shoulder is shaking, not strong enough, but Cloud can still feel it. He wants to ask Aeris about it, but this time is absolutely not for such question.
"Aeris ! Take cover ! Bahamut is going to blast us !", Cloud orders Aeris. He has to make it quick, otherwise, Bahamut will proudly blast them, a perfect target. Aeris does not response to Cloud. She is still on her pray. Meanwhile, Bahamut starts to attack them. He blasts fireballs to The Avalanche. Barret, Cid, Tifa, Yuffie, Red XIII, Vincent, Cait Sith tries their best to avoid Bahamut's attack.
"Aeris ! Cloud ! Go #$%#*&( away !!", Cid shouts to them. He knows that he himself is not safe yet, but knowing that two of his companies are still on the altar makes him curse and worry.
"Aeris ! Quick !", this time Cloud shouts to Aeris. He shakes her shoulder.
"Cloud…go…away…" , Aeris finally responses with whispering voice. Cloud's eyes go wide to know her reply. What the hell happened here ? He thinks. Suddenly he hears Tifa shouts to him, "Cloud !!! Look out !!!".
Cloud lifts his head and he sees a big fireball approaches him and Aeris with high speed. Bahamut is now attacking them. Biting his lower lip, Cloud pushes Aeris as hard as he can to get rid of her from this dangerous spot and at the same time, he casts Ice 3 magic. A loud sound is rumbling the ground when Bahamut's fireball meets the big ice block. The ice block is shattered into pieces, but it successfully stopped the fireball. Looked like Cloud wanted to freeze the fireball with opposite element, but since the fireball moved too fast, he turned Ice 3 to freeze empty space in front of him to block fireball from hitting him directly. However, because of two opposite forces meet, en energy explosion was created and makes Cloud thrown for some feet away as the explosion impact. Fortunately, after that, Bahamut disappears.
"Cloud !!", Aeris cries out and quickly approaches Cloud. The others do the same thing. Cloud is trying to stand up from the ground, and he finds that he is bleeding because of ice fragments that hit him. "I'm all right…it's just a little wound", Cloud tries to ease his friends. Actually, he feels pain on his body.
"Is everybody all right ? Tifa ? Aeris ? Others ? ", Cloud tries to inquiry his friends about their condition. He worries about the others more than himself.
"We are all right, Cloud", Tifa replies as representative of the others. "Me too…", Aeris adds. Guilty expression paints her face. She then continues with weak voice, "I took you on danger, but you saved me again…thank you, Cloud…".
"Never mind", Cloud replies shortly. He tries to hide his pain.
"It's been long time, puppet…", a cold, yet famous voice suddenly comes from behind. Cloud and his gang turns back. Finally they meet the person they are looking for so far. Sephiroth. Truly himself. He is now standing in front of The Avalanche. They are just several feet distance.
"You are not changed much…", Cloud replies with colder tone. He holds his sword tighter. Sephiroth only grins. "Really ?", he says, sarcastically. He then laughs again, still in devilish way. He then says, "Physically, I am still the one you faced before. But in another matter, I am different now…much different ! Watch this !!". After finishes his words, Sephiroth's body gradually changes to another form, Cloud's form. Tifa, Yuffie, and Aeris gasp almost together to see this. Sephiroth, now in Cloud's form, grins again.
"It was really you we fought before", Red XIII gives comment. Barret is the most impatient one. "What are we waiting for ? Let's attack dat guy, spikey !!", he advises Cloud. To his surprise, Cloud is still not moving. He only stares at Sephiroth with hatred and anger on his eyes. With low voice, he replies, "We are on close distance to him, Barret. We, and he as well, may attack each other anytime. Save your moves.".
Cloud is right. Even Sephiroth is close to us, he is actually well guarded, Yuffie thinks. Any aggressive action to him is futile. Cloud seems to know that for sure.
"Mmmuahahahahaa…wise words from such a puppet !", Sephiroth laughs again. His body then changes gradually into another form, now in Barret's form. This time, Barret is really running out of his patience. "Ya wanna make funny of me, #*$&@! Sicko ?", Barret shouts to Sephiroth. His gunarm is raised, ready to open an attack.
"Hold on, Barret !!", Cloud cuts off Barret's action. Sephiroth now talks with Barret's accent, "So dis friend is not humorous enough…yet yer body is heavy and sluggish !". He then laughs again, and changes his form into Cid, Vincent, and even Aeris.
"Enough !!!", Cloud shouts to Sephiroth with top of his voice. Sephiroth now changes into himself again, still gives his enemies an evil smile. However, The Avalanche finds no fun of Sephiroth tried to mimic their form.
"Just tell us what the hell do you want, Sephiroth ? Revenge ?", Cloud asks him in cold tone. Sephiroth replies, "So you want a story, eh ? You want it, you get it. I am not in hurry, I'll sweep all of you after my story…easily". He sweeps his silver hair backward and starts his story,
"Revenge is not my final destination. I have been defeated in past, by this puppet, and you watched it with your eyes that I was dissipated into Lifestream, eh ? I could not believe that at that time and thought that everything was over. Did you know that I saw you with hatred at my last time ? It was a painful moment, I felt every inches of my body torn apart by Lifestream, but no blood at all. Looked like Lifestream had its own way to swallow someone. Every cell of mine was dissolved slowly, but when it reached to my speciall cells, my Jenova cells…", Sephiroth laughs a little, " Lifestream choked on them, as my Jenova cells gave resistance. They refused to be dissipated. I must thank to Hojo for this. With heavy struggle, my Jenova cells fought Lifestream while tried to recover some of their previous lost cells. It lasted for quite some times. At that state, I was in state of unknown. I had no physical form, but somehow I felt that I was alive, although only in spirit form. After some nasty moments, finally, my Jenova cells won the fight. Some parts of my body were recovered again, and finally, I was thrown out from Lifestream, back into this world. Although I was back, my body was heavily wounded. I took some rest to regain my health, and I found another ability of mine. You saw it. I could transform into other's physical form. Beside that, I started to know that at some particular times, I had a stronger capability to control one's mind from farther distance, especially you, puppet. But that's not over yet, I still have some capabilities. Did you know how could I move to another place in no time ? That's because of this". As Sephiroth finishes his words, he disappears from his spot and suddenly pops up at another place. Finally, he disappears and appears again at his previous place, in front of The Avalanche.
"Teleportation skill…", Vincent whispers. He cannot believe his eyes, and the others can't either. They all look at Sephiroth with disbelief. Their foe is growing stronger, beyond their knowledge. Even Red starts to think whether they can defeat Sephiroth this time. Fear and uncertainty are slowly crawling their spines. Sephiroth is too powerful this time.
Sephiroth grins again, now even broader. He then continues his story, "With capabilities like these, I should have no difficult to defeat you all, but I wanted to make it slowly, so you will feel what I felt in the past. Actually, I have been close to all of you on several places. Remember the night at Cosmo Canyon ? Also when I reached Rocket Town, Ancient lady ? ". Sephiroth glances at Aeris for a moment and adds, "Fortunately enough for them, that Ancient and her friends had disembarked with that weird airship."
Hearing the word 'weird' for his Highwind makes Cid's face turns red. He wants to shove his spear into Sephiroth's ass badly, but he knows he will fail if he does it, at least right now.
"This time, who else could stop me ? No one. Nothing. Even Lifestream cannot banish me as long as I had Jenova cells inside my body. How about that ? That is still theory of course, but I will soon prove it.". He pauses for a moment, "Hmm…I sense a little fear starts to spread among you". He laughs in sinister, then gradually fades out. Cloud and the others look at him sharply. Sephiroth continues,"Talking about 'sense', I don't know how, but it looked like this Ancient could sense my existence. No wonder you could save your friends from me several times, but I still wonder how could you come back to this world again after I plunged my masamune into your stomach before….". Sephiroth takes a look at Aeris again and smiles to her. Aeris only looks back at him.
"You haven't answered my question, Sephiroth ! What do you want now ?", Cloud asks Sephiroth, still in cold voice. Sephiroth laughs hysterically, and replies, "Fool idiot ! What do I want ? What if you were me, puppet ? You had plan, but you had a bunch of nasty guys on your way that had defeated you before, but then you survived and found out that you were a super-being now, not even Planet could defeat you. Of course I will continue my plan ! To be the most superior one in this world ! Long live Sephiroth !".
"You will not do that ! Black Materia has gone ! You won't be able to summon Meteor again !", Aeris suddenly speaks out.
"I have no more business with Black Materia nor Meteor !", Sephiroth cuts off abruptly. "I will do things my way, but first things first. Now, first thing to do is finishing our unfinished business !". With that, Sephiroth disappears from The Avalanche's sight. He uses his teleportation skill again, but this time is different. He really means to open attack. Cloud and his friends try to find Sephiroth, but they do not seem to spot Sephiroth. Suddenly, their surrounding goes dark again, and Sephiroth's voice echoes,
"Hellfire ! Diamond dust ! Tera flare !".
The Avalanche members look at each other with shocked look. Sephiroth really wants to eliminate them.
"What da hell $#*$& happened !!?? " Barret curses nervously.
"Things ain't freakin' ##%@^ good, pal !", Cid replies with cursing too.
"Sephiroth summons three creatures at once ! He must be insane !!", Cait Sith exclaims. "What are we supposed to do now ? Cloud ? ". Cait Sith glances at Cloud, asking for his advise. Cloud is thinking to overcome this situation without bringing too much harm on them. From darkness, a firelight appears. Ifrit has come. Cloud has to think and react quickly. Suddenly, a voice comes from behind,
"Leave it to me".
Everyone now takes a look at Aeris. It was her who spoke those words.
"Aeris ? What are you going to do ?", Tifa asks her. Aeris turns her face to Tifa and replies, "Trust me, Tifa. Everyone ! Keep close to each other !".
At the distance, a snow rain appears. Shiva has come.
"Okay, now what ?", Cait Sith asks Aeris. He holds on his moogle robot firmly. Aeris does not reply, instead, she closes her eyes and tries to concentrate on something. Her hand is clasped.
A loud roar is shaking the ground. It is Zero Bahamut. The mighty creature has come finally.
"Aeris…whatever you do…just make it quick !", Yuffie nervously speaks to Aeris. Seeing those three creatures make her afraid. Aeris is still concentrating. Suddenly, a white light shines from her clasped hand. Slowly, the white light turns into sparkling green one and continues shining out from Aeris' hand.
"Planet's Vein !", Aeris mutters these words and opens her clasped hand. White Materia is on her hand, emitting green light that goes brighter every seconds. From a green light, it turns to green strands that grows bigger and bigger. Quickly, those green strands crawls around them and their surrounding, turning the darkness into sparkling green light. Cloud and the others cannot say anything. They look at their surrounding with awe. This is the first time they see something like this. They have no idea on what happened, but they trust Aeris. Somehow, Aeris has gained something, and it relates to The Planet. Eventually, those huge green strands emit a very bright green light that everyone must protect their eyes. This event lasts for some seconds. The Avalanche members feel some smaller green strands wrap around their body. After that, they cannot remember anything.
"Unhh…wh…where am I ?", Vincent rubs his eyes and opens them slowly. He is very shocked to see that his friends are lying on the ground. He tries to recognize his surrounding after everything happened. He cannot tell other things except glowing and moving green strands that surround them, and he fails to recognize some items on Ancient Temple he saw before. There is simply no wall, altar, platforms, stairs, crystals, and other things he noticed when they were inside Ancient Temple. He feels that he is like inside a big dome of green strands. Although finds no answer, Vincent concludes that they are not on Ancient Temple.
"Merciful heaven, where is this ? What happened ?", he turns his head left and right with confused motion. He approaches his friends to wake them up. One by one, the others start to gain consciousness and they have the same reaction as Vincent did : confused. Everyone, except Aeris.
"Where are we now ? What happened ?", Yuffie asks for explanation, but no one answers her until Aeris speaks out, "We are inside Lifestream". Her response makes the others surprised for sure.
"Inside…what ???", Cloud cannot believe his own ears. He gives Aeris a sign that he needs more explanation. "Aeris, please explain this situation in most simple words", he says to Aeris. Aeris nods to him, and starts to explain in hurry,
"All right, Cloud. Everyone, listen to me ! We don't have much time ! When I was praying, Planet told me that I had to summon Lifestream with White Materia, but this time with different way; I must direct it to us. That's how we are here, inside Lifestream. Planet said this is the only way to defeat Sephiroth. I guess we should fight him here, but…Planet said we don't have much time. We have to settle this matter as quick as possible. If we run out of time, …we…Planet didn't tell me, but I could sense it would be something terrible….". Aeris takes a breath after telling the situation to others. Surely she is the one who knows the situation at most, still, she does not understand Planet's response to her pray completely. She just told what she knows to her friends.
Cloud is the first who comments, "Right, so here we are, to fight Sephiroth once again, and hopefully, for the last time !".
Tifa feels that she loses a point, she then asks Aeris, "Aeris, if we have to fight Sephiroth here, he must be swallowed here too, but where is he now ?".
Suddenly, a mad cry comes to everyone's ears and Sephiroth appears in front of them. He looks at The Avalanche with anger, and confused look as well. Without saying any words, he jumps to front and slashes many times. He points his sword to Cloud. The Avalanche quickly spreads out to avoid Sephiroth's raging attack. With his reflex, Cloud swings his Ultima sword to block Sephiroth and forces him back. The sound of clashing steel is heard along with fire sparks that come from those swords. With all of his skills, Cloud tries his best to block or avoid every Sephiroth's attack. From his expression, it is obvious that he is in trouble. Sephiroth really leaves no room for counter attack. Some of Sephiroth's attack even successfully slashes Cloud's flesh and make him bleeding more. Seeing this, Cait Sith enters the fight with his moogle fist points to Sephiroth. Before the fist reaches its target, Sephiroth turns his body to Cait Sith and thrusts his masamune to the robot's chest. Caith Sith gasps and orders his robot to stop at once. Aeris sees this chance to hit Sephiroth. She swings her Princess Guard powerfully to Sephiroth's head, but Sephiroth has learned from the past. He has anticipated this attack. He successfully avoids Aeris' attack, but then he finds Vincent's claw is going to rip him. Sephiroth lets out his battle cry and swings his sword brutally to break Vincent's attack. Vincent is forced to step back. He feels his pain on his arm. Not only that, Sephiroth slashed him on the chest, and now leaves a fresh wound. Now Sephiroth performs a spinning move while slashes fiercely.
"Step back !!", Cloud orders the others. The Avalanche member jumps back to make some distance with their enemy. Sephiroth now is standing against them.
"Ancient !! What did you do !!!??? Where are Ifrit, Shiva, and Bahamut !!!??? And why did you bring me here ???!!", Sephiroth shouts to Aeris with anger tone. Aeris only smiles faintly and replies,
"They are gone ! Materia's energy is fully absorbed inside Lifestream. You can no longer summon creatures or use Materia ! Never underestimate Ancient's knowledge, murderer !!".
One of Sephiroth's eyebrows is raised, and then he smiles. He gets the point, as well as the others. He and his enemies are trapped inside Lifestream, and they cannot use Materia. It means that they cannot depend on magic or summoning. Although he has been inside Lifestream before, he still has strange feeling about the surrounding.
"No Materia huh ? It doesn't matter…", Sephiroth speaks sarcastically, "As long as I have my Jenova cells, Lifestream cannot banish me !". He then laughs again and disappears from sight. Looks like Sephiroth uses his teleportation skill again. Suddenly, he appears in front of Cloud and sends him a powerful chop to Cloud's head. Although Cloud has prepared for everything, he is still very surprised. Relying only on his quick reflex, Cloud lifts his sword to block Sephiroth's attack. When those swords meet, Cloud feels a heavy force is directed toward him and pushes him backward. Seeing Cloud is troubled, Sephiroth quickly dashes to him and slashes three times. One of his attacks is blocked by Ultima sword, and the other two are wounding Cloud on his chest. At the same time, Barret comes to help Cloud. He swings his gunarm to Sephiroth's head and it directly hits its target. Barret thinks that he has hit hard, but to his surprise, he finds Sephiroth grins to him. Barret's attack did not seem to hurt Sephiroth after all. Not being amazed too long, Barret suddenly realizes that he must step back to avoid counter attack. Unlucky for him, Sephiroth swings his free arm and it lands very hard on Barret's face. Barret cries out with his gruff voice as a sign of pain. Although Barret's body is bigger than his enemy, Sephiroth can make Barret thrown away with his single fist. Tifa, Aeris, Yuffie, and Red then attack Sephiroth together. Tifa attacks Sephiroth's upper body, Aeris tries to sweep Sephiroth's leg, Yuffie throws her shuriken, while Red XIII dashes Sephiroth's head with his paw. With very well coordinated move, Sephiroth kicks Aeris on her stomach, punches Red on his head, avoids Yuffie's shuriken, and successfully blocks Tifa's elbow attack and sends a quick punch on her face that makes her cry in pain. That happened very quickly and no one can notice Sephiroth's move clearly. They only know that their attacks are totally failed, instead, they feel pain on their body. Before Sephiroth gives another blow, he feels a strong wind comes from his back, so he quickly spins his body while swinging his masamune to block any attack from behind. The attacker is Cid with his spear. Sephiroth's sword almost meets Cid's spear when suddenly Cid pulls back his spear. He only wants to lure Sephiroth so his comrades can be saved. Cait Sith and Vincent see this chance. They jump almost together to Sephiroth's back. Caith Sith's moogle fist is going to hit Sephiroth this time, but Sephiroth only blocks his attack with his palm. However, this time Vincent seems to be missed from Sephiroth's attention. He adds more power on his attack, hoping that he will succeed this time, but Sephiroth quickly pushes Cait Sith away and he swings his sword to Vincent. It is too late for Vincent to cancel his attack. Sephiroth's sword will hit him for sure, but if he insists on his attack, he may delivers a powerful claw blow to Sephiroth. So be it. Sephiroth's sword adds another wound on Vincent's body, but Vincent is also success on hitting Sephiroth right on his chest. Realizing that he was being hit makes Sephiroth go mad. He then jumps back and prepares his offensive stance again.
Soon, The Avalanche gathers again and surrounds Sephiroth. Most of them have some bruise or wound on their body.
He is stronger than before…Deep inside his mind, Cloud must admit that Sephiroth is different now. He then thinks, trying to find some alternatives to expose Sephiroth's weakness.
"Fool ! Pathetic wretches !!", Sephiroth says in anger tone, "I told you, it will be easy to kill you all although I cannot use Materia here ! You took me wrong, Ancient ! I am still mighty Sephiroth without Materia, and I promise you, I will do the same thing to you like I did before !". After finishing his words, Sephiroth screams. Cloud and the others step back. They do not know what trick or move Sephiroth will do this time. Some seconds after his scream, a strange haze comes from Sephiroth's body and wraps around him. His body is shaking. Seeing this as a chance, Cid jumps to Sephiroth, pointing his spear tip to Sephiroth's chest.
"Cid !! No !!", Cloud shouts to Cid. He does not understand how Cid saw this as a chance to attack Sephiroth. He guesses that Cid is too cocky, as he usually does. Ignoring his leader, Cid continues his attack. He cannot tell Cloud that he attacks Sephiroth in order to prevent Sephiroth gathers his power more. Cid cannot imagine how Sephiroth will be if he is given chance to sum up his strength against them, so he risks himself attacking Sephiroth.
Sephiroth, while letting the strange haze wraps around him, takes a glance at the attacker, Cid. Sephiroth feels his patience is running out and it needs to be satisfied. Without any sound, he swings his sword toward Cid. It looks like a usual swing, but Cid finds it different. To his consciousness, this attack is not easy to overcome. He decides to block Sephiroth's attack, but he is very surprised to find that although Sephiroth's masamune does not touch him physically, he feels a sharp, unseen blade pierces his body. Although feels pain, with remain of his strength, Cid tries to avoid his head from being slashed by mysterious sharp blade that attacked him before. After lands and stands steady, Cid finds that he is bleeding, and to his surprise, he finds his spear is cut, split into two parts. With mixed expression he stares at his broken spear.
"What happened !? Your freakin' @&)(#$% sword didn't touch me, but now…aw..what the $#@! You didn't just hurt me, you cut my spear !!", Cid curses madly to Sephiroth. Sephiroth only laughs, he then says, "You've seen it with your very own eyes ! I have gathered my energy and slashed that mouthful moron with unseen energy ! I have acquired an infinite power from my Jenova cells ! I am undefeatable !!! Now, prepare to die !!!".
Cloud narrows his eyes. He concludes that the best defense is to attack. Surely, Sephiroth is outnumbered, and he hopes that it does matter. With a loud voice, Cloud orders his friends,
"Everyone !! Engage him !! Open attack !!!". Together, The Avalanche attacks Sephiroth who is ready to meet them. Shortly after that, melee battle begins. Screams, shouts, sounds of clashing weapons are heating up the battle. Cloud and his friends attack with their might to defeat Sephiroth. However, most of their attacks cannot give serious harm to their foe. Sephiroth is way too powerful. Although he is outnumbered, he can handle incoming attacks efficiently. He almost leaves no room for mistake. Whenever he attacks, his sword is absolutely fast and dangerous, and while he blocks an attack, he does not seem being affected at all. From The Avalanche side, Cloud is the most aggressive one. He controls his attack carefully so he can almost continuously strike Sephiroth with his Ultima sword. Together with his comrades, they cover each other's weakness point. If Sephiroth they face now is the old one, surely he will be defeated, but now is different. Even though The Avalanche members have given their best, they do not seem to make Sephiroth in serious trouble.
After some lengthy minutes of battle, eventually they break up and take a breath for a while. Aeris, while on her state of running out of breath, is still thinking another way to land a deadly blow on Sephiroth. She must agree with the fact that it is very hard for them to fight Sephiroth without Materia. Things do not go nicely.
