Chapter Sixteen

"All right, get him with that eight person tech before he has the chance to do anything!" Crono shouted as Kelke's hands began to flash yellow.             Ayla could not use magic but they somehow managed to use her in the attack, drawing also on Magus' magic, denied to the wizard himself yet somehow still able to be used by the others. This attack would have weakened Kelke greatly but for one small flaw; Magus' shadow magic. Focusing on it, Kelke simply used it to increase his health, then knelt to submerge both hands in the black pool to regain the rest of it.

            "Lucca?" Crono called, glancing over at his friend.

            Lucca had one of her inventions out. She looked back at him and shook her head. "I'm not registering any damage."

            "Of course you aren't," Kelke laughed and, from his kneeling position, returned his hands to that initial position – crossed at the wrist with his palms turned towards them. It seemed to be the position from which all of his attacks originated. This time his hands flashed red and he drew them apart to Flare the whole group.

            Of them all, Ayla had taken the most damage. Knowing that there was something strange about the girl but not realising that it was that she had no magic, Kelke concentrated on her. Keeping his left hand in the black pool, he aimed his right at Ayla and trapped her in a steady stream of pure shadow-magic until she collapsed, unconscious.

            Marle used Life on her and the primitive woman bounced up quite happily, ready to rejoin the battle.

            Kelke's eyes narrowed. "Oh, I see." He stood quickly, returned his hands to that crossed-at-the-wrist position, then dropped his left hand.

            "Crono, stop him!" Schala yelled.

            "How?" Crono asked desperately, infected by her panic, as Kelke's right hand began to flash grey.

            Schala rolled her eyes with exasperation and, concentrating, shielded the whole group. Cataclysm, Kelke's most powerful attack as far as she knew, simply bounced off.

            "You're not allowed to get involved, Schala," Kelke told her quite calmly. "The next time you do that…"

            "All of those here have something else yet to do," she responded. "It's vital that they get back to their own universe to complete their tasks."

            "Then you should never have allowed them to come here!"

            "Magus needs his magic," Schala shrugged. "That's what it comes down to."

            "Really?" Kelke held his hands up level with his chest, his palms facing him and his fingers laced together. "I've learned some new tricks since last we met. Shield this!"

            In one quick movement, he turned his palms to them and drew his hands apart. Marle cried out and fell to her knees. Frog dropped the Masamune (although he instantly picked it up again), Ayla doubled over, Robo was stopped in his tracks and even Crono felt a dull pain gnawing at his belly.

            "A little spell I like to call Malady," Kelke told Schala, confident in the face of her shock. "It will continuously drain the life force of those with the power to heal – apart from you, of course. They'll become unconscious eventually, depending on their healing skill. You never know. They might even die, and there's nothing you can do about it."

            Meanwhile, Crono had run (or staggered, at least) to Marle's side, everything else ceasing to exist. "Marle! Speak to me! Fight it. You're strong. Don't let him defeat you like this!"

            "I'm so tired…" the young princess whispered. "So tired. Just make it stop."

            "Crono!"

            Crono looked up at Lucca's cry. "What is it? Wait. Lucca, where's Magus?"

            Wordlessly, Lucca pointed. While everyone had been stressing over the healers of the group, Kelke had simply taken Magus by the cloak and had dragged him over to the black pool, plunging the wizard's hands into the strange liquid.

            "Feel it, Magus!" Kelke hissed, his black eyes intent on the currently powerless wizard's. "Can you feel the shadow calling to you? It wants you back. And it would be so easy for you to just let go. Let go and return to the darkness."

            Magus closed his eyes to avoid Kelke's penetrating gaze. He could, indeed, hear the black pool singing to him. If he had had use of his magic at that point he would without a doubt have answered.

            "One word is all it takes, Magus," Kelke whispered. "One word, and you'll be home."

            Magus opened his eyes again and smiled. "No. I am home."

            Kelke cried out and let go, clutching one hand to his chest. He glared at Lucca. "You shot me!"

            "No," said Magus again, rising to his feet. "I don't need darkness."

            "Then die with the others," Kelke hissed and, ignoring Magus for the moment, stalked towards the others. He rather neatly knocked Schala unconscious, which Crono thought rather indignantly was quite unfair.

            "What will you do now, without your unfair advantage?" Kelke queried almost cheerfully and crossed his hands at the wrist again, raising them in front of his chest.

            "I think it be time to retreat!" Frog called loudly.

            Crono glanced at him, startled for a second. It wasn't like Frog to run away. It was then that he recalled the advice of Tarreiz – 'Get him away from the black pool'. "Yes, everybody, come quickly. Retreat!"

            The others – then again, the only ones left were Crono, Frog, Magus and Lucca – understood and darted out of the door. "Too easy for me," Kelke laughed to himself, following. Too late he realised that they had trapped him away from the black pool.

            "Tell me, Kelke, what will you do without your advantage?" Magus asked him scornfully.

            "This," Kelke responded and returned his hands to the usual position. He dropped his left hand. His right hand flashed grey once or twice or maybe thrice, then he made a beckoning gesture. This time there was no Schala to protect them from Cataclysm. Almost instantly he put his hands up again. They flashed black and he drew them down by his sides – MidNight. The attack after that was Luminaire, but it wasn't really worth it – it didn't do a whole lot. Crono and Frog had fallen after the MidNight attack, and Lucca was on her last legs.

            "He's falling back on his weaker attacks," she rasped. "Magus, if we're going to get him, it has to be now! Grab your scythe!"

            Kelke, realising that they had something planned and that he wasn't going to like it, made a break for the door. He made it through but Lucca grabbed him. Although he had been near the black pool, he hadn't actually touched it himself since the Malady attack but she was still surprised by how weak he seemed now. Perhaps he wasn't that strong after all. Perhaps he had been doing something else before that had weakened him. Perhaps he was holding something in reserve for some awful attack with which he was planning to get them later.

            "Magus, that fire thing. I'm going to have to do it!"

            "Lucca, we can't," Magus protested, readying his scythe nonetheless. "We're hopeless at it!"

            "Nevertheless, it's all we've got. Are you ready?"

            "No!"

            "Neither am I! One… two… three!"

            Lucca set the blade of Magus' scythe on fire. It actually worked, although part of the shaft caught fire too. He swung this at Kelke, who said, "Ow!"

            "Ow?" Lucca demanded. "We're not after a mere ow here! Magus, we're doing it again! Why won't you just die?"

            Three attempts later, Lucca had run out of magic and the staff of the scythe had disintegrated in Magus' hands. He was casting a desperate glance in Lucca's direction when Kelke stepped back, holding his hands up.

            "I give in! Magus, you can have your magic back. It doesn't matter. Get out of my Citadel. You win."