Chapter 11

Confrontation with the Enemy

"This is a Giant. A race thought to have become extinct eons ago. This is what our forefathers locked away." Emperor Sorean explained, letting everyone know about the man, Zanza, who was shackled before them.

Luz stared at the Giant curiously. Eda had forced her, King, and Amity to stand aside, arguing that their involvement here was over, and allowed Shulk and the others to do whatever it was they came here to do. Not that it would have mattered though as Zanza's eyes had been solely focused on Shulk since they arrived. Regardless, Luz was still beyond excited to learn more about this Giant. An ancient being who's the last of his kind and apparently possesses some great power, assuming she's been following everything right. Her in-depth knowledge of fantastical stories told her that he is some great sage-like figure that would unlock some special chosen one power for Shulk. She already had her phone out and ready to record the whole thing.

"Zanza, who are you exactly? Why did my visions lead me here?" Shulk asked, coming to stand right before the Giant.

"I am the creator of the Monado. All who wield the sword are made known to me."

"You made the Monado?!" Shulk's whole party was taken aback from this news, and understandably so. The creator of the chosen one's legendary weapon! That's got to be a big deal. Luz leaned in, on the edge of her metaphorical seat.

"Yes, millennia ago, in order to oppose the Mechonis."

"You're telling us you fought the Mechonis with that tiny thing?" Reyn said, sounding unconvinced.

"Its appearance is merely an illusion. Its form morphs to conform to the will of its master. The power comes from within."

"Zanza, wasn't it our forefathers that imprisoned you here? How could you have waited for Shulk?" Melia asked.

"Yes. I was imprisoned here centuries ago, and for centuries I've waited. As you know, the Monado grants its wielder the power of foresight. With this power, I saw this meeting transpiring and waited for your arrival."

"But why are you imprisoned?" Shulk asked.

"The Monado controls the principle upon which life is based, the source of your existence – ether. Master the principle of life and all things will bow to you. Your power would be infinite. But its power was feared by some. That is why the High Entia imprisoned me here long ago."

"That can't be true! Our forefathers would have had better reason!" Melia said.

"Believe what you will, new ruler of the High Entia. Know this however, the Monado's full power is the only force that can oppose the Mechonis. It is the blade of the Bionis itself. I myself once used the sword in order to defeat the Mechonis, as well as all other titans that wished it harm." Zanza's head slowly turned. For the first time, he took his eyes off Shulk as he looked directly in Luz's direction. "Including yours."

Luz jumped back, caught off guard at being addressed so suddenly. Amity and King looked just as shocked by Zanza's words. Eda though, looked the most worried. She took several steps away from the Giant's menacing gaze, while making sure that the kids were all behind her.

"What are you talking about? You can't mean… you killed the titan of the Boiling Isles? That's impossible."

Zanza pulled hard on his restraints, attempting to make his way towards where Luz and her friends were standing. The shackles that bound his arms stopped him in his tracks, but the scowl he gave them made his intentions clear.

Shulk rushed to stand before him, his hands raised. "Zanza, what are you doing?"

"These four are outsiders. They're presence here was not foretold by the passage of fate. How did-" Zanza's tone was growing more hostile as he spoke, until he abruptly cut himself off. His eyes fell on Luz, burning red eyes burrowed into her with each passing second. She couldn't help but slink back under his gaze.

"What do you want with Luz!" Eda shouted, shielding her from Zanza's glare.

"You, girl. I sense no ether from you. You share no blood from any titan. How can this be? What are you!" Zanza demanded, his booming voice reverberating through Luz's body.

"I'm… um, a human." Luz hesitantly said. She was still worried about Zanza's complete change in demeanor to them compared to Shulk.

"Hu – man." Zanza's eyes widened. "That word. It feels familiar." His mind seemed to drift.

"Zanza," Shulk spoke, returning the Giant's attention back on him, "I know these people aren't from the Bionis, but they mean us no harm. They've helped us get here as quickly as we did."

"Your early arrival here is not fortuitous when it breaks the pre-established harmony. Surely you've realized by now how that girl's presence affects your powers of foresight. Why do you allow her to stay?"

"What? Shulk, what's he talking about?" Luz asked nervously.

Shulk avoided eye contact for several seconds. He let out an uneasy breath before turning to face her. "What he means is… because you lack ether, I can't see you in my visions, and any visions I do see can be changed just by your presence. That's the disruption he's talking about."

"Wha-what?" Luz asked. She's messing up his oracle powers just by being around them?

Melia, Sharla, and Riki look surprised too.

"Shulk, when did you discover this?" Melia asked.

"Just this morning. Alvis informed me of it during our meeting."

"And what about you two? This is clearly not news to you guys." Sharla asked Reyn and Dunban.

"We just found out a little after we landed here." Reyn said. "I just didn't want to say anything because…"

He looked towards Luz with concern. She saw the others softening as they looked at her, but that only made her feel worse.

"So when you didn't know what that skyray was going to do earlier. That was because of me?" Luz asked meekly.

"Hey now. This ain't your fault. That's why I didn't want to say nothing." Reyn said, trying to reassure her. "Remember, we only got here so soon because you insisted on giving us a ride. You made that happen."

"Reyn's right. As far as I'm concerned, this just makes you that much more special." Eda said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Amity and King also drew closer to her, attempting to reassure her with their warmth. She leaned into their embrace, wanting to believe them.

"Regardless, so long as she is around, you will be unable to utilize the Monado's full potential." Zanza said. Luz felt her spirits draining at his words.

"Hey! You need to stop talking now!" Eda shouted at the giant.

"Zanza, even with my visions I'm still unable to harm faced mechon. The Monado can't cut through their armor. Why is that?" Shulk said.

"The Monado, in its current state, is in shackles. Its true power is still trapped within the sword."

"Shackled?"

Zanza nodded. "It is suppressed. With its current power, it is unable to damage other sapient beings."

"Yes. I'm aware of that. It's because of these shackles that the Monado can't hurt people? But what does that have to do with the faced mechon?"

"That you will have to discover on your own. I can release these shackles. But you must take the Monado and free me from this prison. Free me, and the Monado will cut down anything you wish. Nothing but a god can stand in your way!"

Shulk hesitated for only a moment. Luz was surprised as he stepped forward, his hand reaching for the sword on his back.

"Are you crazy?" Eda shouted.

"Eda?" Shulk stopped, puzzled by the interruption. "I don't have a choice. I need this power. Our titan depends on it."

"And what about us? This guy was about ready to lunge at us earlier. He claimed he killed our titan. I'm worried about our own safety here."

"Your titan was a threat to the Bionis. I did what I had to in order to survive." Zanza said.

"What? You saying it was all self defense? Two different titans just attacked you for no reason? I don't buy it. This guy is clearly unhinged."

"I agree with Eda." Melia said, causing Shulk further shock. "There's something not right about all this. I believe our forefathers imprisoned Zanza for more reasons than he's let on."

"Melia, I thought you would understand. You're own city is at risk too." Shulk said.

"I do understand, but something just feels wrong about this."

"Hold on a minute! I know this guy's a bit of an arse, but he only said he'd release this new power. Sounds like a good idea to me." Reyn stepped in, his hands raised hoping to diffuse the situation.

"Why are we even trusting what he's saying anyway?" Eda said.

"Because I've seen it already. This power is real." Shulk said.

"And unfortunately, he has a point about the mechon. Without this power, I'm not sure how well we'd fair against them." Dunban said. Sharla nodded as well, sharing his sentiment.

Riki looked down with a sad frown. "Riki not know who to trust."

"While I'm hesitant to go against the wisdom of the forefathers, it is true that Zanza's power and knowledge is the only thing keeping the mechon at bay." The emperor chimed in, his words a surprise to Melia.

"But…" She spoke again, but her conviction was greatly lowered.

"Melia, please understand. The mechon have put us Homs through so much. More than any of you could realize. We've lost friends, loved ones. I have to make them pay."

Luz looked uneasily between the two sides of the argument. She couldn't deny that Zanza scared her a bit. He's been completely antagonistic towards them since learning that they're not from the Bionis, and she could see him turning hostile in a moment.

At the same time, the Bionis is currently under siege by an opposing titan, and she has no context for how strong the mechon are. Is it even their place to object to their decisions? Shulk's words make it clear that the mechon have already caused much suffering to him and his friends.

"Young Shulk." Zanza spoke. "I will not force you. I ask for nothing in return. It is your choice."

"I will." Shulk said with determination. He once again grabbed hold of the Monado and activated the long blade.

Luz glanced back at Eda and noticed her mentor more tense than ever. "Eda, maybe we should just leave? Wait back in the main hall until this is over?" Luz suggested. It would also mean that Luz wouldn't be able to mess anything else up.

Eda didn't answer. Her eyes remained on Zanza with a heavy glare.

"No." Eda transformed, a yellow light enveloping her for a moment, before she flew out of its glow towards Shulk. When he swung his blade, Eda was already before him, catching the laser blade with her claws.

"We're not done talking about this." She said.

"Eda! Get out of my way!" Shulk roared. He backed up and took another swing at Zanza's prison, but Eda parried that all the same.

"You fool. The mechon will show you no mercy just because you aren't from the Bionis. You're only ensuring your own destruction." Zanza said.

"You can just shut it." Eda said to the Giant.

Shulk's anger was rising. He physically tried shoving his way passed her, but to no avail. Eda was allowing no one through.

"Eda stop!" Luz shouted. She, Amity, and King rushed to Eda's side. Amity formed an abomination between Shulk and Eda, trying to stop the fight, but Shulk quickly cut it in two.

"Shulk, calm down man." Reyn said, coming up to his side.

"Shulk please, we need to discuss this more. There still may be things we haven't considered." Melia said.

"There's nothing more to discuss. I need this power."

"This party's over!"

The entire fight was broken by the new voice that came from above. Shulk let out a worried gasp as they all turned towards the source of the noise to see something strong impact the shield around Prison Island. Luz had barely got her eyes on the object before it pierced through the protective barrier and went rocketing down past her at tremendous speed.

"No!" Zanza shouted. They all turned again to see an enormous spear that had gone right through his chest.

"Zanza!" Shulk cried out. The giant hunched forward, as much as his restrained hands would allow. His face rested motionless on the end of the large spear.

Luz could hear laughter back from the direction that the spear came from. She was aware of Shulk and the others turning around and shouting to whoever it was that had arrived. Everyone drew their weapons ready for battle, but she couldn't turn herself around. Her eyes were glued to Zanza. To his corpse. His eyes were wide-eyed yet lifeless as heavy amounts of blood oozed out of his body and down to the tip of the spear.

Was this her fault too? Would Shulk have seen this coming if she wasn't here?

A large silver-colored robot flew into her field of vision, snapping Luz's attention to the new threat. The mechon ignored her and instead flew right up to Zanza's body. A glowing red line where its eyes would be stared at Zanza's lifeless form for several seconds. She wasn't sure if it was confirming its kill or if it was just gloating over its deceased target.

"Mechon!" Luz turned instantly to Shulk's direction. He let out a bloodcurdling scream, one of vicious anger, as he charged at the silver mechon, out for blood. "You will pay for what you've done!"

"Please wait. I mean you no harm." The silver mechon said in a surprisingly gentle voice. That did nothing to slow down Shulk as he swung the Monado with killing intent, forcing the mechon to back away.

"Give us back Fiora! Give her back!" He shouted with such vitriol. Luz could hardly recognize him as the same soft-spoken, analytical person she'd gotten to know.

She felt the large thump of another robot that had landed just behind her. She turned to see a new mechon, this one pitch black with golden accents across its body. It had a white, almost skull-like face, with its red eyes staring curiously at Luz.

"What do we have here. Another friend of the Monado Boy for me to skewer." It said in a sadistically joyous tone. Sharp claws were on each of its hands, one of which was reared back to strike at Luz. Her breath was caught in her throat, too shocked to move.

"NO!" Eda's shout came only an instant before she rammed herself into the robot. "Don't you touch my kid!"

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" It said.

The force of her charge momentarily pushed the mechon back merely a foot away before it recovered and attempted to use its claws on her. She expertly dodged his claw attacks while throwing in quick scratches from her talons between each of his thrusts, but it became apparent that her attacks were having no effect.

"Damn it! What the hell are you made of?" Eda shouted.

The mechon's attacks grew faster forcing her to go on the defensive. She backed off just before one of his claws got her from the side. Before he could push his advantage, Dunban came rushing in past her and landed several blows near the joints of its legs.

"Eda, together. You attack from above." Dunban commanded.

"Right!" She agreed, resuming her previous assault, hoping that there was a weak point somewhere on this thing.

"Try all you want. You can't beat me!" The mechon exclaimed.

"Luz!" Amity and King had come up to her and helped pull her towards the center of the terrace where the rest of their group was.

Gunshots from Sharla's rifle brought Luz's attention to more fighting around her. Three other mechon, all of similar design had touched down and were closing in on everyone else. They all had much rounder bodies and heads, and all three wielded large hammers.

Sharla's bullets seemed to have no effect on the mechon as they continued to lumber towards them. Reyn stepped before the center one and braced his shield against a swing from its hammer. That single swing nearly sent him buckling, but he managed to hold strong. He then swung his shield overhead and slammed the bladed edge down on the mechon's leg, but the strike just bounced off its armor.

Melia and Riki were focused on another of the mechon. Their magic attacks were doing marginally better, leaving marks all over their target and slowing it down. However, it was clear that the damage wasn't substantial and the mechon continued to advance towards them.

Even Amity had summoned an abomination and attempted to fight the encroaching mechon. She tried glueing its hammer to the floor as the mechon slammed its weapon against the sludge, but the strength of the robot was too much. It easily pulled the hammer back despite the abomination's best effort to keep it in place. The only thing she could do was attach the abomination to the mechon's weaker joint areas, but all that succeeded was slowing it down. It still hadn't suffered any damage.

Luz needed to help. She could feel her glyphs in her pockets just waiting to be cast, but then, in her peripheral vision, she caught sight of Zanza's bloody corpse again. Her legs were shaking, she couldn't will her hands to reach for her glyphs. King clutched to her side, looking just as scared as she felt.

"Everyone! Disengage from the mechon at once!" The emperor's voice shouted throughout the platform. He slammed his staff on a carving on the floor right in front of Zanza's body and the carving began to glow. As it did, several balls of magical energy formed at the top of the platform. Once the magic was fully formed, the energy balls then released powerful trails of the green lightning that was seen before.

The energy trails slammed themselves into the hammer-wielding mechon, greatly damaging their frames and pushing them back away from their group. The energy waves then flew towards the silver and clawed mechon just as Shulk, Eda, and Dunban backed away from their respective opponents.

The silver mechon was forced up into the air, avoiding the powerful waves with its aerial mobility.

The clawed mechon tried its best to avoid the attack from the ground. It dodge two of the blasts but couldn't avoid more than that. Raising its claws in front of itself, it attempted to keep the brunt of the attack off its face.

Smoke quickly started rising from the mechon. Small chunks of metal were falling off, and portions of its body glowed bright red from the heat of the attack. Despite that, once the attack faded and the energy balls began to recharge, the clawed mechon was still standing. The hot glow coming from its burned face gave it a look of pure anger.

"You'll pay for that you bag of bones!" The clawed mechon shouted. He began charging at the emperor, easily shoving aside Eda and Dunban as they attempted to stop him.

The emperor gasped, completely defenseless at the moment.

"Father!" Melia rushed towards the emperor, three elemental orbs already summoned.

"Melia! Don't!" Shulk screamed. Melia looked ready to intercept the mechon, and Shulk was too far to intervene. The hammer mechon were closing in again keeping the rest of their group at bay.

The emperor braced himself in horror as the mechon neared with its claws at the ready. Is this what Shulk had seen? The emperor was destined to die here. Two different Oracles had seen it coming. It was going to happen unless someone could do something to stop it. Right now, Luz realized that she was the only one who can do anything about it. Quicker than ever, Luz reached for her glyphs.

"Die!" The mechon shouted at the emperor once he was in range. It reared its claws back. The emperor dropped its staff and attempted to shield himself, but before the mechon could strike, something else reached the emperor first.

A long thick vine had wrapped itself around the emperor's torso, as well as Melia's. With a strong tug, they were both pulled away and the mechon's claws only managed to pierce the staff in two.

"What?" The mechon turned. Luz stood before it. The two Antiquas had been pulled to her feet by her plant glyphs.

"You both okay?" Luz asked.

"Luz?" Melia looked at Luz bewildered.

"Thank you." The emperor said earnestly.

Luz nodded. She looked back at the clawed mechon, a renewed determination in her eyes. She retrieved multiple fire glyphs from her pockets and combined them all into a large fire blast that hit the mechon dead on. It was pushed back from the impact. Large scorch marks were left on its body when it turned back to face her.

"You dare!" It shouted and began to approach her. Exactly what she wanted. She pulled out her last invisibility glyph, but before she activated it, a powerful sound wave shot from behind her and collided with the mechon.

"WHEH!" Luz turned to see King standing tall, his worried face turning into a look of anger. "Don't touch my sister!"

"King!" Luz said proudly.

Amity walked up next to King and launched an abomination at the mechon to slow it down further. "We're right behind you Luz."

Luz smiled. "Okay. Keep that thing busy. I have a plan." She activated her invisibility and made her way near the mechon.

Melia stood up and turned to the hammer mechon that were attacking behind them. "I'll cover your backs. You focus on distracting that mechon." Melia said to Amity. They shared a nod before Melia summoned more elements. "Father, stay behind me."

"I will." He said.

As Melia attacked the hammer mechon, Amity and King did what Luz had told them and began firing wave after wave of magical attacks at the clawed mechon.

"You meddling insects!" The mechon raged. It thrashed about as more blasts of magic kept hitting its body. Any attempts at moving were greatly hindered by the several abominations that it had to keep tearing off its body.

It was so enraged that it didn't even seem to notice Luz's absence. She made her way behind the mechon, not wanting to get hit by all the magic attacks that were being thrown at it, and dropped several glyphs in a half-circle around it.

"Hey metal head! Behind you." Luz shouted, as she reappeared behind him. With Owlbert in hand she slammed the bottom of the palisman on the floor. All her ice glyphs activated at once and rose around the mechon.

It shouted indignantly as the ice hardened around its body, immobilizing everything except its head.

"Yes!" Luz cheered. Amity and King jumped as well.

"That ether energy. It can't be." The silver mechon's voice was heard from above them, its eyes locked on Amity and King. "So there may still be hope."

Luz looked up with concern on her face. She'd forgotten about that one as it hadn't attacked anyone. Yet. She pulled out more glyphs, preparing to continue fighting.

In an instant, the mechon descended next to the clawed mechon, quicker than Luz could track. With a single strike from its hand it shattered the ice surrounding its mechon comrade.

"Oh no!" Luz shouted, all her hard work for nothing.

"Metal, our mission here is complete. We must report to Egil at once." The silver mechon said. It then turned to speak to the three hammer mechon. "Everyone, return to Galahad Fortress."

The silver mechon and the three hammer mechon all flew straight into the air following that order. The jets behind them all powered up and in an instant they all took off back towards the Mechonis.

"I'm not going anywhere. Not until I've cut everyone here to ribbons!" The clawed mechon roared. It turned to Luz, who was standing only a few feet away. "Starting with you brat!"

"Luz!" Eda crashed into her at the last second knocking them both out of the way. "AH!" Luz heard Eda's cry before she saw the claw marks across her left wing. Blood was quickly dripping down the wound.

"Eda!" Luz shouted.

"I'll live." Eda tried to stand, but dropped down on one knee. Her wing was perpetually dropped, unable to move it anymore.

"Not for long." The mechon shouted.

"WHEH!" Another of King's sound attack knocked him back, followed by several magic strikes from Melia and Riki.

A round of healing magic was released from Sharla's rifle that helped close up part of Eda's wound, though the wound was still far from healed.

Dunban and Shulk ran up to the mechon while it was dazed and focused on slicing through the parts of the armor that had been blown off earlier. The two swung their blades at every opening they could find, but even the thinest parts of its armor held strong against their swords.

The mechon roared and swung its claws wildly around it. A strong backhanded swing slammed into Shulk's sword, sending him rolling back towards the direction of Zanza's prison. The mechon's erratic attacks forced Dunban away to avoid getting sliced.

"That does it. I've had it with you worms!" The mechon flew up high. Its back mounted cannon pointed down towards everyone. A massive ball of energy began charging up from the barrel. Melia, Sharla, and Luz continued pelting it with magic and bullets but the mechon was unfazed. "I'll blow you all away with this."

Their attacks slowed to a stop seeing how ineffective they were. Luz was out of glyphs and out of ideas. She looked wide-eyed as the attack grew to an enormous size, threatening to swallow the entire terrace whole.

"Luz." Eda's panicked voice came through before she felt herself being pulled into her embrace. King and Amity were with her as well. Eda looked to be shielding them with her body, with her one working wing wrapped around them protectively.

Luz looked back at the attack and realized, as Eda must have, how pointless her gesture was. This wouldn't save them. She closed her eyes and pressed herself deeper into the group hug.

"Now die!"


"I'll blow you all away with this."

Shulk looked up at Metal, feeling his hope fading. Is this the end? He looked at the Monado frustrated at how powerless he felt.

"Heir to the Monado." Shulk heard the words echo inside his head. He recognized the voice as Zanza's and turned to the giant's body.

"Zanza! You're alive! Give me the power I need!" Shulk begged, raising the Monado to him.

"I am now a mere shell. The power is already yours." Zanza's mouth did not move, but once again Shulk heard his words regardless.

"What?!"

"The shackles have been broken. Wield the sword. It bends to your will. Think of your enemy, and the power to defeat them is yours!"

Zanza let out one last groan before his body burst into multiple green ether particles. The particles scattered across the air, some remnants of them slowly raining down on Shulk and the Monado.

"Zanza." Shulk whispered. He looked down at the Monado. Flashes of the attack on Colony 9 went through his head. Of Fiora. And of all the monsters that caused that suffering. "Mechon."

The Monado began to morph. The red blade grew longer. Its edges grew sharper. The ether blade, already massively long before, grew to an obscene height, dwarfing Shulk's own height many times over.

"Now die!" Metal Face shouted. He released the power of his cannon. The ether energy flew at the terrace but the shot never reached anyone. With a single swing of his sword, Shulk cleaved the energy in two, both sides dissipating in mid-air long before they reached the surface.

"What?" Metal Face looked bewildered.

All eyes were on Shulk as he stepped before his friends. "It's not over. The people of Bionis will never let you triumph!" The Monado glowed a bright purple and Shulk gave a soft swing around himself. "Monado Enchant!"

The purple glow quickly enveloped the entire party, leaving them with a soft aura around them.

"Alright Shulk!" Reyn cheered.

Realizing what this meant, Sharla took aim and fired a thunder bullet directly at Metal Face's thruster. The Monado-enchanted shots were able to tear through the weaker armor of the thrusters leaving Metal no choice but to land back on the terrace.

"What the heck happened?" Luz asked. She, Amity, King, and Eda looked astounded.

"Shulk's powered us up. We can smash that tin man's head in now." Reyn let them know. He rushed to Metal and his shield easily stopped a strong swipe that would have sent him reeling before.

"Woah!" Luz was awe-struck for another moment before her eyes intensified. "Amity let's go. King, stay with Eda."

"Hey, I can still- ow." Eda's protests were shut-down by another wave of pain from her wing. King placed a comforting paw on her knee and she begrudgingly stayed seated.

Amity formed an abomination, happy to see that it had the same purple glow around it as everyone else. She also formed a small abomination puddle in front of Luz, allowing her to quickly draw a plant glyph. The couple launched their attacks at once, the plant-abomination hybrid flying straight at Metal Face and wrapping around its body tightly.

With its hands immobilized, Dunban was able to safely close the distance and attacked its legs. His sword cut through the thin metal like butter, causing Metal to tumble forward onto its knees.

Metal's back-mounted cannon was brought down, ready to fire, but before it could begin to gather energy, several blasts of elemental ether slammed right into the weapon. Melia and Riki stood strong as their combined attacks disabled the cannon.

Metal was trapped, helpless, defenseless. Shulk found it fitting for it to meet its end in this way as he stalked up to his prey.

"Good. Now you feel it. Swing the blade to your heart's content!" Zanza's voice echoed.

Yes. Shulk agreed. It's what this monster deserved. He raised his sword and proceeded to hack off limb after limb of Metal's body.

"All the pain," Metal's right arm came clean off.

"All the suffering you've caused," Its left leg was lost.

"To our people." Its left leg went flying.

"To FIORA!" The right leg followed.

"You will know it all!" With a final swing, Shulk sent the Monado right down the middle of Metal, from its face to the bottom of its chassis. Its armor gave way like paper as its impervious body was split open. Finally, the glow of its eyes faded.

It was over. Shulk expected to let out a sigh of relief, yet this victory left him hollow. There was no comfort here. This had been his goal since he left Colony 9, and yet he felt nothing.

"Shulk." Dunban placed a hand on his shoulder.

Metal's body began to shake, sending everyone back into an attack position. The rustling grew louder until soon, someone managed to pull themselves out of the hole in Metal's center. The figure climbed out of the wreckage and stood tall on top of its destroyed frame.

"Is that a Homs?!" Shulk exclaimed in disbelief.

The person who'd come looked to have a completely mechanical body, yet the body looked to be Homs both in shape and size. A long set of hair was flowing out of a large helmet that blocked their eyes, leaving only their mouth visible.

"Well done Monado Boy. Didn't think you had it in you. But tell me-" He pressed a button on the side of his helmet, lifting the visor away from his face. "Are you willing to kill a Homs?"

"It can't be." Shulk looked at the man he had believed to be dead.

"Mumkhar? You're alive?" Dunban said, sound the most in disbelief.

"What the- how?" Reyn said.

"Surprised? Honestly, I would have thought you'd figure it out sooner. Now you get why the Monado didn't work before?" He said with a vile grin.

"You mean… are all faced-mechon…" Shulk questioned. Is this what the mechon do to the people it eats?

"Why?" Dunban asked. "You attacked the colony. You… killed Fiora. Why did you do it!?" His voice rose to an angry demand.

"Why?" Mumkhar let out a chuckle. "Because she was important to you." His laughter grew louder and crueler.

"You…" Shulk vision turned red. His blood was boiling as Mumkhar's laughter grew. "You'll pay for that!" He shouted, charging at Mumkhar. He was ending this now.

"Sorry kids. Maybe some other time!" Both his claws began to glow a fiery red. With great speed, he crossed his arms together in an X-shape which sent a wave of burning energy in a straight line ahead of him. Shulk and Dunban were forced to avoid the attack before it collided with Reyn's shield, knocking him over in the processes.

With everyone near him temporarily distracted, Mumkhar turned around and ran towards the edge of the terrace.

"Wait!" Shulk called out but it was no use. Mumkhar leapt over the railing of Prison Island without hesitating. Everyone quickly ran to look over the railing, but there was no sight of Mumkhar anywhere.

"AH!" Slamming the Monado's blade to the floor, Shulk screamed to the sky. in rage at his target escaping again.


A/N: So yeah, a lot of major changes have occurred compared to the original version of this encounter in XC, thanks to Luz's presence here. Biggest of all is of course no Seven reveal (yet). I debated a lot about the direction I was taking this, but I believe that there's still more story that can be squeezed out of Fiora's supposed death, especially since TOH gang still don't know about her before this point.

Hope you enjoyed!