Chapter 37 – Dual
WL: (Lip trembles)…………….
Celestine: Are you alright?
WL: (eye twitches)……………..
Celestine: Oh no……
WL: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Celestine: Are you out of your mind? What are you laughing at?
WL: Nothing, I just find it hilarious that someone would take all the trouble to read up to thirty-nine chappies of the fic, and then tell me it sucks. Don't tell me you don't find it funny… you do don't you? Altogether now. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Celestine (mutters): She's going nuts.
WL: Me strong (And thick-skinned). Me not going to be stopped by one little flame because me already know fic sucks… no big deal. Shall we proceed?
Celestine: As you wish.
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She opened the door, and found herself amongst a deep forest surrounded by towering trees of various kinds, obstructing the rays of the sun from filtering through.
She did not know which way to go; it all looked the same no matter where she turned.
Just as she was fretting about getting lost in the wilderness, someone pushed through the dense foliage and stepped up to her with a grin that could have easily lit up the whole place, dispelling its forbidding look.
"Zell!" She cried happily. "Have you come to find me?"
"Yes… and I am sorry I was not able to help you inside." He grabbed her hand and squeezed it affectionately, letting the warmth of his palm travel to her icy fingers.
"You did help me… I heard your voice calling for me, and at the most crucial time." She said, enjoying the warmth with an almost guilty pleasure, when she knew that more urgent matters were on hand.
"I did? I'm so glad to hear that… or else I would have thought of myself as useless… cos it has always been you who saved me countless times, and not the other way round…
I honestly do not like that kind of feeling." His head drooped a little on his neck, while a hand scratched the hair in awkwardness.
"Oh Zell… you're so silly to think in that way! You shouldn't care about who saves whom… only that we are together now, and that's the most important thing. Now if I were in danger, you would risk your life to save mine, right? The same goes for me! I just happen to have the knack of appearing at the right time and the right place! Don't lose any sleep over that!"
"I guess you're right…"
"I'm ALWAYS right." Celestine declared with a huff. "Besides, I'm much older than you. You should listen to me…"
"Yes, Ma'am." Zell gave her a mock salute, to be rewarded by a playful punch on the shoulder.
"Celestine… when was that most appropriate time that you mentioned? I am really curious…"
Celestine gazed at him soundlessly for a while, contemplating if she should tell him the truth.
The time when your impersonator tried to seduce me with the promise of everlasting happiness with you…
She had to admit that she had been sorely tempted for a split second, but it was disrupted by a faint calling voice which she recognized as his.
"Celestine….? Are you still there?"
She snapped out of her memory trip, and returned his question with a tiny smile playing on her lips.
"Yes, you called when a fellow tried to trap me with despicable means…"
I'm not exactly lying here…
"Hyne! Would he have gotten his way if I hadn't interrupted his attempt?"
"Most definitely he would, Zell… so thank you. Now aren't you going to show me the way? I think we have to hurry back to fight with Redrumiel… for the longer we dwell here, the more precarious the situation our friends are going to face."
"Of course… how could I have forgotten?!" He slapped himself on the forehead, and started leading her towards the direction he had come from, still holding on to her hand all the while.
Farewell, this place… I hope I'll never return again.
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"Oh Hyne, Damien…. What are we going to do? Your shield cannot possibly stop that! It will blow us to smithereens if we fail to dodge it!" Waterlily could not do anything to curb the panic rising rapidly in her.
"I'm trying to think of a solution…" Damien furrowed his brow, digging through his entire wealth of knowledge to rectify their impending fate.
"Well… you had better be quick, for it looks like he's starting to aim it at us soon!" Her anxiety had reached a feverish peak… and then she thought of a possibility…
One that she would not tell Damien about, for he would most certainly prevent her from enforcing it.
Oh well… I have nothing much to lose by it.
She waited for the attack, her body tense in preparation of her plan.
Redrumiel flung the ball of negative energy towards the five figures standing before him, intending to wipe them out all at one go.
Now!
She told herself, and rushed to meet that ball head on.
"What are you trying to do?" Too late, Damien realized what she was planning, and was hapless to stop it.
She spread her arms out in a position that appeared as if she was receiving some kind of light from the heavens… when in fact it was a suicidal attempt to stop the attack.
"Take me!" She yelled and readied herself for the agony that would afflict her to the very core if the ball of energy were to come into contact with her.
But then, the agony did not come.
A powerful force shot down from above and shot it away before it could even touch a single hair on her skin.
"Flying Angel Kick!" The figure responsible for the powerful force yelled, and lashed out with her left foot at Redrumiel's head.
He fell to the ground with a thud, and got up and looked around with a dazed expression, then fell back to the ground again.
"Celestine!" Damien and Waterlily cried at the same time, grateful beyond believe that she had made it at the very last second.
"Hey, what about me? I was the one who brought her back!" Zell had opened his eyes by that time, and remarked in mock protest at their deferential treatment.
"Welcome back, Zell…" Waterlily looked at the ground with a sudden flush of bashfulness, the cause of which she could not explain at all.
"Now young lady, that was very foolish of you. You could have gotten your soul dispersed, with no hope of reincarnation. Do you want that to happen? I can't believe you could do something so reckless! Why didn't you stop her, Damien?" Celestine glared accusingly at the both of them.
"That's unfair, Celestine! I had no prior inkling that she was going to try that kind of stunt!" Damien objected indignantly.
"What are you guys arguing about? You're giving me a headache!" A person grumbled behind them.
They turned around, and saw Seifer standing with his arms akimbo with the same haughty manner he liked to adopt.
"What? No welcoming party for the arrival of the hero?"
"You're the last one here, and you still have the gall to expect a welcoming party? You should apologize for your tardiness instead!"
"Hey, hey, hey… watch your mouth, Chicken-wuss! This is called fashionably late! Only the nerds and the morons would always be on time!" Seifer retorted, not knowing that he had just stepped onto a minefield with his taunts, which had been intended for insulting Zell only.
"Nerds and morons… eh?" Quistis' tone was chilling, to the extent that one could have cut a block of ice from it and used it for skating.
"Eh… hehehehe… umm… Quisty… I wasn't talking about you… don't take it to heart okay?" Seifer started dripping cold sweat as Quistis started advancing towards him menacingly.
"Alright." She stopped suddenly, and returned to her original position. They were all perplexed by her sudden change of attitude… except for Seifer, who knew he would be in for it when they returned to Balamb Garden.
Oh no… not the whip again… He thought with a sickening sensation.
"Is he dead?" Celestine peered at the unmoving figure of Redrumiel in front of them… for all the while as they engaged in meaningless banter; it had not stirred for one bit.
"I wouldn't count on it. That is probably a body double or maybe he's just acting. Damien and I have had prior experience." Waterlily pointed to the splatters of blood on the ground as evidence.
A series of claps came from the figure in question.
His body levitated in mid-air, swiveled around, and finally turned upright to face them, all the while without moving a single muscle… as if the body was merely a marionette controlled by an invisible force.
"Very perceptive. I have underestimated you, DEAD MORTAL EARTHLING! I suppose that was a partial reason I had chosen you as the General of SEI, besides your very vulnerable part that I had no trouble making use of."
"Earthling? What is he talking about?" Quistis looked towards Waterlily in puzzlement, expecting nothing short of a full explanation.
"I will tell it all to you in due time, everyone… but meanwhile, can we just concentrate on the battle first?" There was an aching plaintiveness in her words, for she had been dreading the time when she had to confess to them her little secret.
"She's right, you know. We can't just stand here and talk. First off… Damien! Let's do 'that thing'" Celestine threw a meaningful glance at Damien, as only he would understand what that thing meant.
"You mean…?" He left the question trailing, not mentioning what they were talking about.
"Why do you people keep talking in riddles? This is so confounding!" Zell said in a bewildered manner.
"Don't worry, Zell. You do not need to know what it is. The less you know the better it is." Damien patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.
"Yeah, Chicken-wuss. You already have limited brain cells. Don't clutter the precious space up with useless stuff you can't even comprehend… Nyahahahahahha!" Seifer gave out a loud cackle, trying to get a rise out of Zell again with his constant barrage of insults.
"Really, Seifer. I would have thought that you had grown up from the days of not knowing when to stop cracking jokes at other people's expense."
"He's right. Just shut up, Seifer." And I haven't dealt with you yet… just you wait and see…
Quistis' stony gaze seemed to tell him that, causing a lump to form at his throat.
"Twin shields Blue and Violet – Protect us from the enemy's attacks!" Damien and Celestine chorused with melodious voices, and in response to their command, the twin walls of light tinged in the prospective colors sprung up in front of the group.
"Wow… now we have double protection!"
As if trying to test the shield, an immediate ray of black shot out from the enemy's staff.
It bounced off ineffectually, eliciting cheers from the four SeeDs when they witnessed the strength of their shield.
"This is like a hero-war!" Zell commented.
"We're wasting our time." Quistis stated in no uncertain terms, and snapped her whip upon the ground, intending to lash at Redrumiel with it.
"Wait… we cannot attack blindly. We must come up with a strategy, for he is no ordinary foe." Waterlily cautioned, having been an expert studier of Redrumiel by now for vengeance purposes.
"What kind of strategy?" Quistis tapped her foot impatiently, a little irked that she had been interrupted when she was itching to hell to get at Redrumiel.
Before any of them could speak though, multiple black balls started to aim towards them, still repelled by the shields… but they were getting more and more intensive in their frequency.
"The shield will wear off soon if we don't act fast." Damien said worriedly.
"Okay… look… we should not attack individually… instead I propose a team up.
For example, Quistis and Seifer will attack together… followed by Damien and myself, then Zell and Celestine. This way, not only will it be more effective, he will have to spend time trying to heal himself, or maintaining his shield. He can't attack us at every time there is a break in ours. You get what I mean?"
"Not bad… you do have a good head upon your shoulders. How do you know about all this?" Celestine's tone was appreciative.
"Chalk it up to extensive research ehhehehehhehhe…."
"So… we two will start the ball rolling…" Quistis said, exchanging a nod with Seifer.
They waited for Redrumiel's black balls to stop bombarding towards them.
A single glittery arrow pierced through the shield that Redrumiel had set up, leaving him vulnerable to their attacks.
At the same time, the golden-haired couple stood with their backs touching, and they tried to synchronize their breathing so as to make the attack as seamless as possible.
"Queen…"
"…of Hyperion"
In what appeared to be an elaborate dance, Quistis and Seifer descended upon Redrumiel in a flurry of moves, each striking at him simultaneously. A graceful whip here, a clean slash there, building up a wonderful myriad of fluid motions that was too smooth for the rest to believe that this was the first time they had attempted something like this.
When they finally stopped, gasping heavily for breath, Redrumiel had knelt onto the door on one knee, while supporting the other half of his body with his staff. His robe was tattered in many places, showing off the cuts and wounds all over his body, while his breathing came out in difficult spurts.
"Whoa…" Waterlily spoke up first. "I'm in awe… this is so much like the sequences in the anime I like to watch! You were great… Quisty, Seifer!"
"Oh… it was nothing…" Quisty replied in a delighted manner.
"Accursed Human-Mortals… I'll show you what you get for daring to lay a finger upon me…" He could not continue his sentence however, for a continuous series of coughs had snatched away his ability to speak.
"Next… our turn… Of course… we will not be able to live up to that kind of standard, but nevertheless, I assure you that he wouldn't be standing up so soon after taking it. Damien… Are you ready? I need your Angel Beam, or whatever you call that." Waterlily grasped a handful of arrows from behind her back and pulled them back from the bow.
"On the count of three…"
"One… two… three…"
"Flight of Million Pricklies!" Waterlily shouted, aimed at Redrumiel with her bow and several arrows, and shot them towards Redrumiel. Each single arrow started to separate into thousands of tiny needles… tiny but able to penetrate any kind of shield, including the new one Redrumiel had set up (again).
"Beam of Hyne's Angel!" Damien yelled, directing an almost solid ray of purple light towards the same spot where her arrows were headed.
As each needle poked a hole in Redrumiel's body, the light penetrated him through those holes, gathering speed, intensity and mass from within.
His entire shell bulged with the sheer amount of light in it, until it reached the saturation point and could not accept any more of it.
With a crisp snap of his fingers, Damien sent the light exploding from within, causing the bloodstream in Redrumiel's veins to rush against its normal flow and burst out from his seven orifices… the eyes, the nostrils, the ears and the mouth…
"You will pay for this…" He gurgled as the blood in his mouth blurred his speech.
"You have no time for words, Redrumiel. I suggest you start curing yourself." Celestine "advised kindly", while nodding at Zell.
"Since you have set such good examples for us… it would be a shame if we were to let you down, wouldn't it?" Celestine commented with a grin identical to Zell's.
Saying which, she took her position behind Zell, to the surprise of the other four.
"Angel Beam Transmitter…" She muttered, placing both her palms on Zell's back. Just as the name of the move suggested, she started to transmit a bluish light into Zell's body.
Zell started to glow with the light, until he was entirely encompassed in it.
With a final slap on his back, Celestine completed the transmission.
"Invincible Glowing Fist!" He shouted, rushed up to Redrumiel, and pummeled him with his chain of kicks and punches, each emitting with the light that was within him.
It achieved a far stronger effect than his normal moves rendered, due to the addition of the devastating light.
He only stopped when the light had died down, and retreated to join his friends in a line before Redrumiel.
By then, Redrumiel was half slumping against the ground.
They had not expected him to be so easily beaten.
And again, someone had that evil inkling that it was too easy.
"HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Is that ALL that you can do, even after I have allowed you to unleash your best upon me without retaliating? Foolish… you are all so gullible to think that I would be beaten by such weak attacks. What do you think is the reason for my refusal to heal up? Because you were too fast for me to handle? Of course not!" His eyes gleamed with a malevolent light.
"I… allowed you to damage my flawless shell… only to unleash my limit break upon you and see you suffer until you will beg me for the kind act of death! Be prepared for the worst you have ever experienced! Insolent fools!"
He stood erect, and stiff as a sculpture for a moment.
Before their very eyes, he started moving in lightning speed, faster than the naked eye could register… and it seemed to them that there were many Redrumiels gliding in a circle, and surrounding them.
"When will you strike… and which will you strike? Make the wrong choice, and you will leave your defenses open for my attack… Hahahahha!"
Quistis and Seifer began to perform their dual moves again, but could only attack randomly as they did not know which one was the actual Redrumiel.
"WRONG MOVE!" He sang out, searing both of them with his black rays.
The twin shield that Damien and Celestine had set up was not strong enough to deflect the rays… which only pointed to one thing.
Redrumiel had not unleashed his full powers when he attacked them earlier… a threatening thought to say the least.
Neither could the combined attacks of the other two groups deal any harm towards Redrumiel, for he easily avoided them with his ever increasing speed which was making them dizzier and dizzier by the minute.
At the same time, they kept getting hurt by the rays whenever they missed… slowly and surely depleting their energy.
Before long, all of them were in a half crouching position, indicating the deterioration of their condition.
"We've got to do something……" Quistis panted in despair.
"NOTHING YOU DO WILL BE OF ANY USE! PREPARE FOR YOUR VISIT TO THE GATES OF HELL! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Can our heroes and heroines find a way out of their dire predicament? You know they can, but how?
Who will be the key to their survival?
Be patient… it will be revealed in time…
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Phew…… took me one whole day to write this cos I really, really, really cannot think of any new way to battle with Redrumiel anymore… I think the nightmare gets even worse in the next chapter… since I have already used up my entire imagination on this round… argh… someone help me… my muse wouldn't oblige!
The time to offer my profuse thanks has come again!
CelesteSpring – I knew you were talking about 80 words in 4 hours… it was entirely unrelated to the eighty thou words I mentioned… I just happened to chance upon the total word count for this fic, and it astounded me!!! Eighty thou!!! And then it got me thinking about what kind of torture I had subjected you readers to… and still gave reviews… I'm sooooo grateful! Thanks!!! And hmm… creative? Thanks for the compliment! (I like creative hehehehe).
Quistis88 – Philosophical, eh? I never thought of it that way… I mean… my aim was not to be philosophical, but to show everyone what kind of choices Celestine had to face… umm… can you understand what I'm trying to convey… me neither… heh… *embarrassed cough*
Princess of Lundberge: I said before that I was a coward, but that doesn't mean that I will take anything like a placid sheep. You can tell me my fic sucks, by all means, but please try to be polite and spare the other reader's eyes from your shouting! And what I do with my life is my own business, thanks for your concern!
Well then, that settles it for the day…. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I will update soon, I promise. Meanwhile, the old plaintive cry… please read and review!