Chapter 26 – Defeat of the Thing….

    A/N: I would like to apologize to everyone who has been following this fics (and the ones before this) with a most admirable patience so far, for I have failed to deliver to my promise (s). I shouldn't have bragged about doing the mushiest scene I've ever attempted, when the end result didn't even qualify for mush! I'm terribly sorry if I let anyone down… I deserve a kick in the butt for making those empty statements! (Attempts to kick herself, but failed miserably by tripping all over her legs.) But I am most grateful that you people still gave me reviews, even after such a blooper! Thank you thank you… I will be eternally appreciative of your angelic kindness!

    Immense thanks to the following:

    CelesteSpring: Oh, you mustn't put yourself down about your writing, even if it's just to cheer me on! I do appreciate your review though. (Psst psst… I write fast because I want the story to end soon… it is draining all my HP away just trying to think up ideas on how to write, and this fuels my inherent desire to write.)

    Quistis88: Sigh…. What more can I say? You're the best reviewer I've ever seen. In retrospection… I always seem to leave cliffhangers, don't I? It wasn't intentional, believe me… but sometimes it's hard to think up of another ending for the chapter.

    Quisty Almasy: You needn't thank me for reviewing your fic! It's too good, and if I do not review, I will suffer from a guilty conscience! Thank YOU for your reviews!

    Alright, I have blubbered on long enough… let's resume.

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     "RELEASE HER IMMEDIATELY, YOU HIDEOUS EXCUSE OF A THING!" A melodious voice shouted at it.

    It recognized her as the one who had been the owner of the shell.

    But what's there to say that she remains as the owner now? I can easily defeat both of them, and claim it for myself. The Lord will truly be proud of me, I'm sure.

     "Celestine… you're here at last…" As Celestine landed lightly into position beside her, Waterlily smiled at her with a choked relief. She had never been so glad to see the Angel, for now she no longer needed to battle alone with the thing… a rather frightening notion to say the least.

     "If you do not release her, you will be a sitting duck for my attacks. For you can neither move around easily with your talons stuck inside her body, nor can you use them to attack me. Think it over carefully… and you will realize that I'm undeniably right."

   The thing merely stared at her, making no move to detach itself from Waterlily.

     "Fine… I can see that you do not fully comprehend the extent of damage my attack will yield. Allow me to demonstrate."

     Closing her eyes to focus upon her attack, she clasped her hands together into that of a praying position, and started murmuring a mantra of some sort.

    As the murmurs increased in volume, her palms started glowing with a whitish light, which twisted and turned into many directions, its shape indiscernible.

   The chanting reached a feverish pitch, her mouth moving faster than they could follow what was being spoken. For sure they could not understand the words even if she spoke in a normal speed, as it was in the Anglish language, which was foreign to them.

    Her eyes flipped open with in a rapid, abrupt movement. Staring at her enemy, she yelled out the last word, spread her palms outwards to face directly its body mass, and transmitted the light towards its direction.

    Needles of the light started shooting at the thing, none of them exiting from the other side, and lodged themselves into it. No matter how hard it tried to avoid their path, or shook itself to get them out, the needles refused to budge, continuing their ceaseless attack… as if they had a will of their own and were determined to hit the target.

    Its body started to bulge in a most unnatural manner as the needles of light amassed and expanded in their saturation… it felt almost ready to burst from within.

    Due to the underground nature of the thing, it could not withstand light in great quantities, for its dark attributes directly clashed with the properties of the attack – a theory similar to the use of healing magic on undead monsters frequently taught by the Instructors in the Garden Academies.

    "Celestine, try to force it out of this place with your attacks… don't bother about me… for it cannot hurt me much anymore since I no longer have a tangible body. It doesn't matter if you have to repel me out together with it… for neither it nor me are allowed to stay in here! I can take it. You only have to concentrate on beating the thing!"

    Celestine simply nodded to indicate that she had understood and accepted Waterlily's suggestion.

    She could not trust herself to speak, for fear that her sorrow would overflow into her words.

    She started increasing her pressure, such that the needles finally became a blur with their speed and intensity.

    Finally, it exploded with a deafening howl.

    Taking advantage of its damaged state, Celestine started pushing it out of her system, a little unsure at first for fear of its retaliation, then completely shoving it out with brutal force.

    With only its behind and misshapen tail left dangling in front of her, Celestine placed a foot on its butt and gave it a resounding yet satisfying kick, which sent it flying out of her in no time at all.

    It landed onto the floor with a groan, bringing Waterlily along with it. However, due to the impact of the landing, she was no longer impaled onto the sharp claws… a definite improvement from her previous situation.

     "What do we do with you now…" Celestine bared her teeth at it threateningly, while Waterlily advanced towards it as well, intent on getting her revenge.

    Without the protection and aid of its Lord Redrumiel, who seemed to have abandoned it altogether in the last few hours, the thing seemed nothing more than a screaming nuisance that was shrinking by the minute…. until it finally reduced to the size of an ant.

    Celestine exchanged a bemused look with Waterlily.

      "It's all yours." Waterlily said, letting Celestine do the "honors" of grinding it under her boot. "Make sure to reduce it to nothing more than fertilizer for the plants… or who knows what kind of disaster it will invoke again should it survive another day."

     "You needn't remind me…." Celestine replied, as she gleefully stamped and trampled on the still screaming thing. "You know, this is better than retail therapy…"

    "Hahaahahahhahaha!"

    "Wahahahahahahahaha!"

   The place was very soon filled with their laughing voices, mingled with relief… especially for Celestine.

    She had gotten herself free from the clutches of Redrumiel... a cause of celebration as worthy as any other, for sure…

    She needn't worry that she would hurt her closed ones anymore……….

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     "Caraway." A deep voice sounded next to his ear.

     "Lord Redrumiel. How may I be of service to you?" Caraway turned towards the source of the voice, to find that only himself was in the room… which meantthat the Lord was projecting his voice into his mind, and not whispering into his ear as he had thought a moment ago.

     "Tomorrow, you shall prepare for a full-blown attack on our enemies… starting from Balamb Garden and the town near it. Following that, you will attack Esthar with the aid of the dark forces in Timber, Dollet and Deling… all of which are under our control now."

     "Y…. yes, Lord Redrumiel."

     "Do you resist to the idea of attacking your own race?" With a single change of tone, Redrumiel had managed to instill fear in him that almost had him quaking in his military boots.

     "N…no, my Lord. I am merely in complete awe of you." Caraway attempted to worm his way out of a sticky situation.

     "Caraway… there is nothing I hate more than deceit from my subordinates. You are the future ruler of SEI, but as far as I can see, you do not possess the ability to handle such an important task and role. If you want me to change that impression, you had better make sure nothing goes wrong in tomorrow's attack."

     "Yes, my Lord. I would not dream of failing you." Caraway bowed him before as a show of acquiescence. Even if the Lord was not in the room with him, Caraway had a nagging suspicion that he might be spying on him through a crystal ball of some sort…. And let's just say that he was not being paranoid.

     "Very well… I shall be watching you. Keep that in mind."

    His presence disappeared from Caraway's mind.

    What can I do now? I do not wish to kill unnecessarily… but if I do not act according to his wishes, I will be the one who is slaughtered like a wild boar by the hunter's axe! And yet… can I betray my fellowmen by leading an attack against them, under the rule of someone who is clearly not of kind nature? What about my daughter? Am I to send her straight into the arms of the Grim Reaper by obeying this Lord of Darkness?

    I need strength… courage… but most importantly… I need a miracle…

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      "Damien… I thought you were going to take us to your Lord? Why are we heading back for Balamb Garden now?" Zell asked the Angel, who sat beside him in the Ragnorak.

      "Because… something tells me that two other persons will be very interested in what he has to say."

     "Two?" Zell raised his eyebrow at the number, for he had no idea who Damien was talking about.

      "You'll see when you get back."  Was all Damien would reveal, preferring instead to smile mysteriously as he kept the delicious secret to himself……

     "How are we going to meet your Great Lord anyway? The last time I saw him was through a distorted reflection of a mirror… but this time's totally different… we are meeting him face-to-face! Surely you have some kind of special arrangements, don't you?"
     "As I said, you have to wait. I am sure that your friends are just as anxious to know as you… but we have to get those other two, before I can take you to him. Do not be impatient…"

     "Alright…." Zell replied reluctantly, trying his darndest to guess the identities of the missing people in the picture.

     Surely… a rather simple question to the reader by now……

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    Another short, short chapter.

    These very short ones are just attempts to hold the story together, not terribly meaningful, but important enough so that the story doesn't fall apart.

    If they seem rather unsatisfying to you, please treat it as something to whet your appetite before the main course. Hehehe.

---- Added on May 08 2003, Thursday, 1:16 AM (GMT +08:00hrs)

    I just realized I made a really contradictory statement in my initial posting of the chapter… luckily I discovered it before much time had passed.

    Well, obviously I'm not going to update a new chapter today cos I just got home from work… so you can imagine me yawning as I type this….*yawn* oopsie…. Sorry…. I will try to post the next chapter soon. Look out for it.