Ch 15
Sérno smiled, arm wrapped around his wife's waist as Lloyd, Kratos and the others ran out into the wide expanse that he had dubbed their battlefield. The red-clad swordsman ran to the forefront and threw his arm aside in a dramatic pose.
"Sérno! Your evil schemes end here! I'm taking back Zelos's body!" Lloyd declared, "As we speak, he's opening the lock on your stupid cannon and shutting it down!" The angel narrowed his eyes, flashing a brilliant green fury.
"What?! You actually managed to pull his soul out of the Cruxis Crystal?!" he snapped.
"You will not bring suffering to anyone any longer! Especially to Zelos!" Presea added coldly.
"You used me to bring pain to the man I loved since I first met him! I'm going to put you two in a world of hurt for that!" Sheena fumed, pulling out her best cards, the Divine Judgment, cards that portrayed the images of a trio of angels surrounded by rays of light.
"How can you turn Zelos's emotions and memories against him for your own ends? You don't have any heart!" Genis added angrily.
"My big brother has protected me from danger all his life! It's my turn now to protect him! I'll make you both pay for invoking the angel transformation in him!" Seles snapped, whisking the Mini Meteor wand out of her purse.
"How much longer do we have to listen to this dribble?" Nadilene growled, hand resting delicately on her husband's chest.
"You would destroy a family just to take a body. You are the true embodiment of darkness and sin." Regal growled back, "Evil woman!"
"Hatred breeds revenge, which breeds more hatred. You are merely continuing a cycle that killed the Great Kharlan Tree." Raine pointed out angrily, "Forcing your rule of power over humans, elves and half-elves will undoubtedly kill the Yggdrasill Tree as well. You will have a kingdom of death and destruction as your reward."
"Looking upon you in the body of my son makes me sick." Kratos hissed, "You sired him and forced a life of hardship upon him, all to cultivate him as your vessel. He is my son, now, as much as Lloyd, and I will not tolerate anyone who brings harm to my children!"
"The Goddess of conscience lies deep within us all. Can't you see how wrong you are for doing this?" Colette asked pleadingly, "Please stop this and return Zelos's body."
"What makes you think I'll give up my perfect form for an idiot Chosen?!" Sérno yelled in a rage, "Kratos Aurion, you worthless piece of filth, you sided with half-elves when you knew as well as the rest of humanity how disgusting they are! And you did nothing as that half-breed of a pupil of yours mutilated my beautiful body!" He shook his head, releasing his wife to allow them both freedom of movement for the impending battle. "I will not give this up! I will not let you stop my plans! I have my perfect face back! I am beautiful once more, worthy to be king of all I survey! I won't be held back by inferior beings!"
"You may be handsome now, flaunting about in Zelos's body at its prime." Lloyd shot back, eyes burning with anger at his opponent's utter lack of caring for anyone but himself, "But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and what I am looking at right now is uglier than the most twisted nightmare."
It was with those words that Sérno shrieked in a fury and threw out his hands, summoning up an angelic spell as Nadilene filled in with her Darkness Blade, scattering the team as they spread out to pick a target and attack. Raine stood in the back, focusing her skills on increasing her friends' strength and defense, then waiting for chances to heal in between casting out Photon and Holy Lance. Lloyd glanced aside as he slashed at Nadilene with his Tiger Blade technique, seeing his father glowing with angelic light as feathers swirled around him, his wings spread out behind him.
"Oh Martel, Dad, you know you take forever with that spell...." he thought with a mental groan.
"Bite me, sinners! Judgment!" Kratos suddenly yelled moments after lifting his sword in his spell casting pose. The rain of holy light fell onto the field, slamming into Nadilene and Sérno as the redhead fired back with Death Eater, a shockwave attack that knocked away Presea, Regal and Seles in one blow.
"What the hell?" Lloyd wondered briefly in shock, then cried in pain as Nadilene's rapier flashed and caught him across the chest. "Agh! Raine! Heal! Everyone! Make sure not to hurt Zelos's body too much! We need him to still house a soul!" he yelled.
"Root of all creation, grant us the breath of life! Revitalize!" Raine called out, holding her staff and the unicorn horn up together, the Mystical Rune hanging around her neck aiding the Ex Gems on her bracelet.
"I call upon the envoy of the dark abyss! I summon thee! Come, Shadow!" Sheena cried, sending the Summon Spirit of few words after Nadilene, "Get back here, you witch, and suck it down! I'll teach you to steal my man!"
"...Carry the square root over and divide by the sum of x plus b. Clear. Solve the equation of Naploosa's Mana Solidification Process... the sum of the prime numbers in the mana signature readings of the eight Summon Spirits multiplied by.... Clear." Zelos whispered to himself as he plugged in entry after entry, unaware of the battle of words that had begun in the distance. The puzzle suddenly flashed and opened, revealing the interface for the Magitek Cannon's firing sequence. A few more presses of the keys later and the cannon began to power down. Zelos sighed in relief, resting his forehead against the metal console as he closed his eyes. His body trembled with the effort of solving all of those problems before the countdown had reached its final thirty seconds.
"Martel, if I never lay eyes on another math problem again I swear I'll stop using the word 'hunny' in public." he breathed.
"CHOSEN ONE, ZELOS, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" a voice called softly out to him. Zelos twisted his face in a grimace.
"Only if you don't ever call me 'Chosen' again." he hissed.
"MY APOLOGIES. NOW THAT THE CANNON HAS BEEN DISABLED, I HAVE A REQUEST FOR YOU." the voice went on. "MY NAME IS CALEB, I AM AN AUTOMATIC DOLL BUILT WITH YOUR LIKENESS TO ACT AS A VESSEL FOR YOU SHOULD I BE NEEDED FOR THAT. LLOYD AND THE OTHERS ARE FIGHTING SÉRNO AND NADILENE RIGHT NOW. TO RECLAIM YOUR BODY, JOIN THE BATTLE AND FORCE HIM TO TAKE YOUR PLACE IN MY FORM."
"What?! Why are you willing to give yourself up to that maniac?!" Zelos declared, standing upright again.
"I KNOW THAT HE CAN NOT BE DESTROYED WHILE IN YOUR BODY. LLOYD WILL NEVER ALLOW IT. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO ENSURE HE IS GONE FOREVER. IT WILL BE BEST TO CATCH HIM BY SURPRISE SO HE CAN NOT COUNTER YOUR MOVES." Caleb told him. Zelos thought carefully, then smiled.
"Sérno is a mathematician and a swordsman, just like me. However, I have one skill he doesn't." he murmured and raced out of the room towards a passing Swordian, "You there! I, the great Sérno Whild, command that you bring me mixing bowls, mortars and pestles, every herb and plant in your stores, and a bucket of water! NOW!" The angel nodded fearfully and rushed away. Zelos smiled wider. "My knowledge of medicine and poisons."
"Ugh! Get away from me, you little rats!" Nadilene hissed, blood running down her arms and shoulders as she fought off the attacks from Colette and Sheena. Lloyd had pulled back to rest, watching the battle carefully for a chance to re-enter and allow another team mate to fall out and refresh. Kratos pressed after Sérno, refusing to use his blade and opting for hand to hand combat, clumsy at the attacks but fiercely trying to render the wily angel unconscious.
"Dad! The cannon is shutting down!" Lloyd cried as he saw the monstrous device shudder and fall from its firing position. Sérno glanced aside and became even more infuriated.
"Damn you all! I will rip each one of you asunder for denying me my Age of Empty Souls! I was going to let your wretched world live without hope, ensuring no rebellion against me, but once I'm done with you, I'll tear the planet apart!" he raged and spun, slamming the seraphim across the field, ignoring his mid-air flip to right himself. "Nadilene! Now!"
The two angels darted to each other and clasped hands, casting out a large circle of mana below them that startled Genis in the middle of his Indignation spell. They chanted strange angelic words, then threw their hands out at the group, sending a shock wave of holy light that sent them sprawling to the floor.
"Godly Thunder!" they yelled as several more waves battered the team. Seles cried out and fell limp, blood running from her nose and ears as her body finally gave out on her. Raine held out her staff and put the full brunt of her focus into Cure, pulling the little girl from death with a restored body at the cost of the woman's own strength.
"Lloyd...!" Genis wailed, gripping his hair in a panic, "They're too strong for us! We're gonna die!" The brunet staggered to his feet, held upright by leaning on his dual swords.
"We... we can't let them win! We have... to save Zelos's body!" he puffed.
"The probability of success in completing both objectives, saving Zelos's body and defeating Sérno and Nadilene, is twelve percent." Presea muttered, one eye squeezed shut from pain as she pushed herself up from her facedown position. "We're going to lose to them if we try to spare Zelos from damage." Sérno laughed cruelly as he floated before them, orange and rose wings flapping almost effortlessly to hold him suspended.
"Giving up already? And you call yourselves heroes. You're all pathetic, just like that fool of a son I had." he purred, "Prepare to die here, like the vermin you are." Lloyd looked up at the angel almost helplessly, when a sudden thwip caught their attention. Everyone turned to look at Sérno, who now had his face twisted in pain and a dart embedded in his left arm, just below the shoulder, then at who had fired the dart.
"Listen up, you old bastard." Zelos began coldly, miniature crossbow still aimed at him, "I don't care what you are to me, father, grandfather, great uncle's second wife's best friend's former roommate. What you are NOT is king of anything. Nor are you going to survive that injection. I just pumped you full of belladonna and Liflower extract."
"Zelos?!" Colette exclaimed, "You made it! But, why did you put that poison in your own body?" Zelos flipped a small vial towards Lloyd and watched him catch it, studying the pale silvery liquid in wonder.
"Now, Sérno, comes an important little decision." the former Chosen remarked, walking boldly up to him as Nadilene hissed in a fury, unable to do anything until she knew when she had a chance at the antidote. "You can remain in my body until the poison destroys me, or you can take the body I'm in right now."
"How did you...?!" Sérno growled and winced in pain as the poison burned through his body.
"I'm inside an automatic doll, crafted specifically to be my vessel for this fight. I'm letting you take it in exchange for my original body. I don't like being in this stupid get up." Zelos answered simply, "Tick tock tick tock tick tock. Time's running out. Wanna die young and pretty?"
"I'll kill you first." Sérno hissed as he closed his eyes. The Cruxis Crystal mounted at the base of his neck snapped free and floated towards him. Zelos did the same as his friends and family watched on in shock. The two gems exchanged places and Sérno resumed his violet clothing in a flash upon taking possession of Caleb. "Now die!"
"Not yet!" Zelos cried, flying out of the line of fire as his body returned to its short-haired, mercenary-like clothed self again. "Lloyd!" The boy understood at once and hurled the vial at him.
"You will pay for this treachery!" Nadilene yelled, flying out to intercept the vial only to be met with a blast of Angel Feathers from Colette. Zelos grabbed the antidote and downed it quickly, tossing aside the vial with a smile.
"Because you never cared for life, you were foiled by the skills of a healer. Sérno, you will not live to see your dreams come to fruition!" he declared and zipped to his family's side.
"It matters not to me if I become ruler of that tainted world or not! As long as I kill you and this pathetic lot, I'll be fine with that!" the furious redhead shot back. He and Nadilene teamed up again and cast out Godly Thunder, battering the team once more with waves of holy mana. Zelos braced himself and took the hits. He sighed and gazed heavenward as he thought back to the words spoken to him by a woman's voice when he had lost his soul.
"When all seems lost and hope lies broken, call on the strength of your new family. The Goddess will lend her aid, but you will lose your lives. This is all I can give you, and I'm truly sorry about its price." Zelos trusted the voice the moment it had penetrated the prison that was his Cruxis Crystal. He pulled Kratos and Lloyd up from the floor and smiled at them.
"I have an idea, but it's going to take all of us working together to pull off a spell to finish those two lunatics for good." he told them. Lloyd looked startled.
"Me too? But I don't know magic!" he exclaimed.
"You're a fledgling angel, too, right? Those big wings aren't just a loaner, y'know." Zelos pointed out. He yelled back at the others. "Keep those guys away from us for now, okay?! Seles, take care of yourself! Lloyd, Dad and I are gonna rock Derris-Kharlan in a few short seconds!" Returning to his family, he grinned. "Okay, now, here's the spell we're going to cast. We have to say it as one or it won't work...."
Moments later, the three of them had their wings spread, a huge circle of mana spinning beneath them as they bowed their heads and concentrated, gathering all they could before they unleashed it. The remainder of the team set to battering the two angels as fiercely as they could, coordinating their attacks sometimes to the point of combining them, a phenomenon that Lloyd dubbed a unison attack. The relentless assault only weakened when someone remembered who it was that Sérno was currently possessing, but a glance at the three angels combining their strengths urged them to wipe away tears and press on.
"I call upon thee in the land of the dead to unleash thy fury of thunder! Indignation!" Genis cried and winced as the attack blasted the two mad angels across the open expanse. "I'm sorry, Caleb!"
Zelos felt the change in the combined mana and squeezed the hands of the two other angels he had joined wills with as a signal. They returned the pressure and, in a united voice, began the spell Zelos learned in his final stage of angel transformation.
"Goddess of the heart and soul...."
Colette tumbled across the ground at the first hit of Death Eater, then scrambled to her feet and flew back into the fray, her face set to ignore the pain and focus on distracting the two angels. Gashes opened in her once pristine white garb, staining red as the fight progressed. She refused to allow these two madmen destroy a peaceful world and a loving family, not when it would hurt the one she loved most.
"Lend us the strength of thy purest light...."
Raine was running low on mana, swallowing Pineapple Gels as quickly as she could dig them from her pack and pulling forth a Jade Ring to slip onto her finger to enhance her mana supply. Healing was taking a toll on her, as was boosting the natural strengths and defenses of the team. She couldn't afford to stop, though. Her precious student depended on her to make sure there would be no sacrifices. Resurrection brought Presea back to her feet and into the frontlines. The gel supply was dwindling rapidly.
"Exchange our souls in thine embrace...."
Seles danced around the battlefield, one hand clutching her purse at the ready, the other swinging her wand as she cast Mini Meteor almost continuously at the two angels darting about in a fury. This pair of twisted creatures had dared try to steal her brother from her, right under her nose. She would show them what happened to those who crossed the Wilder Family. Respect, honor, victory, she fought to earn those from the people around her, though she knew she would always have them from her older brother. She would prove herself again this day, not as a fighter, but as a caring sister. Seles would make Zelos proud of her, even if it cost her life to do it!
"For blessings of thy glory's might...."
Sheena summoned Undine to help heal the group as well as soak the two villains before her. She refused to let harm come to her beloved. After all the pain and suffering he had experienced, she refused to be the bringer of any more of it. She had learned her lesson, learned that love was among the most powerful healers in the world. Now, she wished to share that love. Lloyd's heart went to Colette and she had felt the twinge of regret but knew, deep down, her match would be made with the stubborn redhead casting what felt to be a powerful spell. She summoned Shadow once more when she regained enough mana to handle the price of uninterrupted concentration.
"Cleanse all those who hold to heart...."
Regal knew from asking Presea who it was that donated such a huge sum of gald to the renovation projects. Zelos, selfless when no one noticed, had nearly ruined himself handing over the chests of money in secrecy. When money couldn't mend his broken spirit, he gave it away to mend a broken land. In Regal's mind, it was proof that he deserved a great reward for the deed. That reward was the love and guidance of a good family. The other swordsmen, Kratos and Lloyd, fit the bill perfectly. He would make sure that Zelos would be able to enjoy his reward.
"The twisted evils of the dark...."
After learning about what Zelos had been doing for everyone, Genis made inquiries over his tuition costs and supplies for the Imperial Research Academy. His shock to find the staggering amount required for his field of study was compounded at the name of his benefactor. Zelos, he who excelled only in math, made sure that Genis received the best education in anything he wished, further driving him to a penniless state. Yet he didn't care. As he sent Absolute out to weaken the angels further, Genis made a silent vow; to learn all he could so as not to betray the hopes and expectations the redhead had of him, beginning with the healing properties of herbs and plants.
"Abandon all hope in thine corrupt souls...."
Presea could still remember the beautiful statue set in memoriam for her sister, knew the cost of such a creation, yet seeing and knowing that her joy at the gift made Zelos smile and accept her delight as more than enough repayment had made her wonder. Why would he do something like this unless he was after something? Then she learned that sometimes actions were taken out of the pure kindness of one's heart. She watched his sacrifice of his soul to save them all and it moved her so much, she finally was able to understand her emotions. Yes, she felt sorrow at what was happening now, but she felt free. She could feel her emotions, she could be truly human, all because Zelos became an angel. For that, Presea would forever hold the power of an emotion like love very dear to her heart, knowing it was love that set her free, love that drove Zelos to act as he did.
"Those that wish to fulfill thine sinful goals!" the three angels declared at last and the team jumped back from battle, raising their hands defensively as it seemed heaven opened above them and rained holy light upon the field to engulf everything in a storm far more powerful than Judgment. "Divine Judgment!"
The screams of fury and anguish from Sérno and Nadilene drowned out all other sounds and the brightness of the angelic spell blinded the group to the three souls that rose from their ranks and vanished.
Battered and beaten,
But still I hold fast.
I'll fight those two
To my very last.
We rose through this
As a family;
We end it now,
Father, brother, and me....