This chapter, while not worthy of an 'R' rating, is definitely dark and definitely tragic. Please read at your own discretion.
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She'd waited until they'd reached the plaza. Why, they didn't know. Perhaps they never would, truly. But she now stopped moving, no longer following in the footsteps (or rather, hovering above them) of the leading Venus Adepts. She stopped on a dime, hovering perfectly still in midair. The Adepts behind her stopped curiously, but the two earthen Adepts before her kept going, oblivious to her lack of movement.
"Isaac, wait," Mia called softly. Isaac paused and looked over his shoulder, his dull blue eyes assessing the situation calmly. He caught Felix's eye and nodded toward Divinity. They turned.
"Something the matter?" Felix asked coolly. Divinity's eyes were shut, and a strange aura enveloped her whole body. Ivan and Sheba exchanged looks darkly.
"The first people I judged in this world which you brought me to, I judged here, in this plaza of yours," she stated, scowling though her eyes were closed tightly. "It seemed only fitting that I should use this backdrop to judge you." Isaac flinched visibly. Picard's hand moved ever closer to his sword hilt, the legendary Excalibur itching to be called forth from its scabbard. Garet made a similar motion in regards to his Fire Brand.
"Why must we be judged?" Jenna asked softly, barely able to contain the fear in her voice. Picard noted the seriousness of the situation, that one so bold as Jenna was unable to quell her own fear. They'd seen Divinity's ruthlessness before; she was nothing to take lightly.
"Shouldn't all of humanity be judged?" the avatar replied. "Surely those among you who pass judgment on others should be pure of heart? The foul-hearted shouldn't condemn the evildoers, should they?" Ivan trembled, though he moved his cape before him to disguise it, so he might appear strong.
"Is there even such thing as a perfectly good-hearted being? Could we find one who satisfies that?" he posed, attempting to apply compassion to the archangel's justice. She spread her arms wide.
"I am she whom you seek," she answered. "I am perfectly good-hearted. I am justice, pure and absolute." Her eyes snapped open, and light flickered behind them temporarily, while she glared at him. "Be judged," she said simply, and a beam of white Psynergy extended from her eyes to Ivan's. Unable to stand by doing nothing, Sheba leapt to his side, and the pair, hand in hand, extended a barrier of Juptier Psynergy to defend themselves from the psychic onslaught. A rare grin found itself fleeting over Sheba's face.
"Your powers are derived from our Mind Read abilities," she said. "So as Jupiter Adepts, we have everything it takes to stop you!" With that, she and Ivan extended their powers, channeling more Psynergy into their mystic barrier. Slowly, the wall grew in colour and size, until it was an translucent purple shade, completely blocking off the beam. Ignoring the sounds of legendary swords being unsheathed around her, Divinity's stare toward the Jupiter Adepts increased, if possible, and her eyes seemed to change colour. Ivan blinked. Colour change? Was that possible? It must have been a trick of the light.
No! The beam itself was changing, as well, becoming... yellow! Ivan's heart sunk into his stomach, as he felt it churn unpleasantly. Yellow was the Psynergetical colour of...
"I am all elements!" Divinity cried, increasing the power of her now-earthen assault. "No matter how you defend yourself, I can find my way to you. You shall be judged!"
And suddenly, the barrier shattered, with a sound nearly like that of glass, but almost more ethereal, if sound could be described in such terms accurately. Realizing the danger, and willing to protect him at any cost, Sheba shoved Ivan out of the way, taking the brunt of the attack head-on. As it struck her, the light entered her body, shining through every hole in her head it could enter, as her purple eyes faded to a brilliant golden yellow, and then piercing white. Ivan wheeled around and stared in horror as she sunk to her knees, clutching her own head, screaming horribly, the kind of wail that infiltrates nightmares, making them all the more scarring.
And all the while, Divinity was staring at her with the utmost disgust, the scowl she wore mere minutes before even deeper and more loathsome than any of the Adepts had thought possible. "You sicken me," she rumbled, her voice trembling, the first sign of true emotion any of the Adepts had seen in her. "Die."
That was all it took. No more movements, no more words. One word, one syllable, and Sheba simply... stopped moving. She made no sound, no moan or cry. The sorcerer simply dropped. She didn't move, the light receded, and Ivan felt himself die with her.
Not literally, of course. He just felt that horrible sinking feeling, that crushing agony when someone you love leaves you. He felt that crippling anguish, and could barely force himself to breathe. He wanted to approach her, to cradle her in his arms, to tell her everything would be all right, just like he had last night. Just like he'd believed would be.
But he was wrong.
And it cost him.
He fell to his knees suddenly. He wanted to move to her, to touch her, but his feet were lead. His body, unwilling to move, simply rocked slowly. He could barely see for the mistiness in his eyes.
Divinity's scowl did not decrease. Oblivious to the pain (or perhaps just with total apathy) of the sole remaining Jupiter Adept, she glared at the other Adepts, her face an impenetrable mask of cold fury.
"And you are all as she was?" she growled. Her lips moved to speak, but nary a word had the time to escape before it was interrupted by a sudden snapping.
It wasn't a snapping sound, however. It wasn't anything audible. In fact, it wasn't even something that snapped, it was someone.
Felix. Whatever it was about seeing Sheba lay dead on the ground, her body frozen as though in time, caused whatever patience he had left in him to break. The anger he had shown previously toward Garet and his own sister now burst out of him as though water from a dam. His Levatine was in his hand and swinging toward Divinity's head before he knew what hit him.
"Radiant Fire!" Felix cried, his Levatine glowing a brilliant red, howling to dig into the avatar. Divinity responded by ducking and strafing left, then leading into Felix's attack with a devastatingly powerful right hook under his guard into his gut. Felix spun in midair and collapsed to the dirt, winded. Divinity's eyes glowed again, and that beam, that same horrible beam, shot toward the grounded Adept. Felix didn't have time to move. It enveloped him in a shining white light, and Felix cringed against the ground, squirming and moaning. His hand slowly rose to grasp his head, but he was dead before it made it there. Jenna's lip shook and she fell into Garet, unable to support herself.
A stunned silence fell over the remaining Adepts. Isaac's hands trembled, and Mia wavered on her feet, wondering if it was possible to heal them. Her heart ached to answer yes, but her healer's instincts had already answered no. Grasping Isaac's arm tightly to steady herself, she stared over the field with intense sorrow burning in her eyes.
Divinity turned to the pair, her mind prepared to probe theirs, as well, when a sudden Psynergetical assault dropped her to the ground. A trio of purple swords had knocked her down, though none winded her or harmed her in the slightest. Picard's Excalibur ceased howling, having just completed a Legend attack. The being of Justice turned on him.
"Why do you strike me down?" she exclaimed, throwing herself at him. She turned over and over in midair, gathering speed, until she swatted at him with one of her long wings, hitting a blade prepared to parry. The force of the attack knocked the blade from Picard's capable hands, though the defensive position in which it was held kept him from any harm. Quick as a wink, she shot a hand out to grasp him around the neck, but Picard was older and more experienced than any of the others, and he raised an arm to deflect her attempt, though with some difficulty due to the incarnation's intense speed. "Are you angered that I have slain someone whom you intended for me to kill? Or are you angered that I have slain someone whom you hadn't realized must die?" Picard didn't answer her.
"Help me!" he called to his comrades. Ivan was still too shocked to do anything, being the youngest of them all. Though he was the wisest sometimes, this was too much for him to bear. The Mars Adepts were useless as well. Jenna was leaning into Garet, weeping. Though a horrible time to break down, Picard was certain that the loss of her brother had her wondering why she should go on. He couldn't blame her.
Thankfully, his plea for help didn't fall on deaf ears. Isaac and Mia were both able to leap into the fray, Isaac's Sol Blade at the ready and the legendary healer's staff, Clotho's Distaff, resting in Mia's skillful hands. Mia, as usual, stayed at a distance from the enemy, prepared to jump in and heal at a moment's notice. In the meanwhile, Picard had reclaimed his blade, and he and Isaac were swinging at Divinity, tooth and nail, from opposing sides.
They may as well have been trying to hit lightning with a stick.
Every move the pair made, Divinity was in the exact position to dodge, even though there was always one attack coming that she could not see, being only able to see one Adept at a time. If Isaac slashed laterally and Picard from above, she somehow squeezed herself into a narrow crack that granted solace from sharpened metal. Finally, after an eternity of dodging, she grabbed Isaac's outstretched wrist and used the Sol Blade to parry Picard's Excalibur.
"Why do you try to kill me?" she questioned the ancient Lemurian after a few more unsuccessful attempts. Metal hitting metal, the only answer. "Did you not want me to protect you from those that have done wrong?" Metal hitting metal, again. "Is that not what I have done? Slain the guilty?" Metal hitting metal, more furiously with each blow. "Very well, if you shall not be deterred..." She kicked out at Picard, savagely, sending him sprawling against the ground. Still clutching Isaac's wrist, she swing the Sol Blade around, crying, "Megiddo." No more words were needed. The conjured meteor of the coveted blade smashed Picard into the ground, until a small explosion sounded off, and the man's limp body littered a small crater adorning the plaza ground.
Undeterred, Isaac pulled Divinity behind him, so that he stood between her and Picard's body. "Mia!" he cried to his pain-wracked beloved. In the distance he heard a fresh wail from Jenna, but forced himself to ignore her for the time being. "Revive him! I don't think it's too late!" Mia glanced over Picard's body. The irreversible death brought about by Divinity's judging actions was not seen in her use of physical weapons. He could be revived, but...
"I can't revive him!" Mia cried. "I don't have revival Psynergy, you do! Felix... did..." Her voice broke, but she didn't break down.
"Then use Dew!" Isaac cried. "Use Balm! Use something!" he reasoned. Mia would have slapped her forehead if she'd had the energy. Divinity's calculating eyes took this information in, and she noted Mia swiftly moving over to Picard to work. With one deft motion, she grabbed Isaac by the scarf, nearly choking him, and swung him over her head, sending him crashing into Jenna and Garet. Her eyes glowed and she stared at Mia, the hapless healer not realizing what was going on until it was too late.
The accursed beam of judgment struck her squarely in the chest, enshrouding her. With a final, horrible screech, the gentle healer was dead to the world. Though he still drew breath, so was Isaac. No tears escaped his lips, but his words now became rough, ragged, uncaring. His body moved, but his heart became turned off, as though it were a switch to be toggled.
This was all too much for the Mars Adepts. Finally, Jenna was able to move. Rising from the struggling bodies of her love and Isaac, her hair covered her eyes and her fists were tightly clenched, lending her trembling, slightly crimson-glowing body an eerily frightening visual that would have scared anyone mortal. With her Psynergy prepared to run wild and her heart already in shattered pieces, the Mars Adept was ready to fight.
"Get up," Isaac groaned to his best friend hoarsely. Not a word escaped Garet's lips by way of response, no quip or joke, but he simply rose and prepared to defend Jenna. Isaac's eyes fell over Ivan, who was slowly rising, his fists clenched and jaw set. He was determined as well.
Divinity looked, almost casually, at Jenna, although it was plain to see that despite her calmness the archangel was still inwardly enraged. Divinity opened her mouth to speak, and promptly shut it after a small shooting fireball was projected down it. Jenna's hand cooled.
"...don't..." she mumbled. "I don't want... to hear it..." Divinity frowned.
"Stupid child," she chided her. "You don't have a choi-"
"Pyroclasm!" A great fire exploded around Divinity. Strangely, the archangel reacted, raising a hand to her arm, rubbing it. With tears now openly flowing down her cheeks, Jenna sent everything she could call forth, everything she could muster toward the impartial being.
"Core!" A shining djinni appeared in the sky, covered by a spherical Mars cannonball. It launched at Divinity. Divinity coughed.
"Cannon!" The heat and passion of Mars gathered to a djinni at Jenna's feet. Thrusting itself forward, it buried itself into Divinity's torso and exploded. She took a step back.
"Shine!" A brilliant djinni burst onto the scene, dancing around Divinity, waiting for an opening. The moment she let her guard down, Shine attacked, dealing a powerful blow to the small of Divinity's back. She stretched.
"Char!" A floating djinni over Jenna's head blew burning embers over the embodiment. The embers stung painfully (or at least, they should have) across her body. When the attack subsided, Divinity looked herself over. Some of the feathers on her wings were alight with flame. Jenna had damaged her, but she wasn't ready to stop!
"Meteor!" she cried out, her hands extended to sky. Isaac nodded at Garet, and both attacked in concert to try and optimize their chance for damage.
"Purgatory!" Garet cried, encircling Divinity in flames from his Fire Brand.
"Megiddo!"
With a flurry of fire below and twin meteors from above, such an explosion rocked the earth that even Ivan finally looked up. Dust and debris flew momentarily, but when it subsided, Divinity looked almost normal, save for one thing. Her wings were blazing with fire! She almost looked pained.
"I am..." she replied, looking over the heavily breathing Jenna, eyes cold. "...unimpressed." Taking to the sky, she spread her burning wings wide and then suddenly snapped them forward. Flaming pinpoints of Psynergy shot forward like arrows toward Jenna. The pinpricks cut through whatever they hit, living or otherwise, until they were all embedded in the ground, smouldering. Jenna collapsed, dead, having been run through by hundreds of tiny, flaming needles. Garet let out a war cry and charged, swinging his Fire Brand haphazardly, carelessly, apathetically for whatever might get in his way. What got in his way was not Divinity. In fact, it wasn't anything. Blinded by rage, he ran right past the nimble Divinity, who dodged the charged Mars Adept simply. She cast her beam of judgment, and Garet fell, stunned, to the earth, Isaac ran at Divinity, hoping to interrupt the Psynergy, but the attack was too far underway, and Garet succumbed, his hand, as a dying motion, outstretched to Jenna's limp body as though to touch her one last time. It was never to be.
Ivan's mouth was working wordlessly, mouthing the word "why" over and over again. Isaac shouted at him, trying to tell him something, but Ivan couldn't hear him. Isaac's words were lost on the poor Jupiter Adept.
His Sol Blade swinging again and again, a stoic expression on his unchanging face, Isaac attacked again and again, fighting with everything he had, desperate to avenge his friends, his love! He channeled all his energy into fighting as best as he could. His sadness so strong that he could not bring himself to weep, he emotionlessly pushed on at Divinity, pushing her back. Alternating between Quake attacks, sword swings and other Psynergetical obstacles meant to hinder the Avatar of Justice, his only thought was focused on one objective:
Find the opening, slash, split her in two. Then it ends, at last. After everything, after his friends, after Eoleo... after Mia.
...after the pain...
Find the opening, slash, split her in two.
Find the opening, slash...
...split her in two!
His wish came true. Just not how he'd hoped.
Divinity caught his wrist as he slashed, using her other hand to apply pressure to the wrist at a pressure point. Isaac cringed and dropped the Sol Blade, but grabbed her arm with his free hand so she couldn't get any advantage too quickly. She quickly snatched the sword up with her free hand before it'd even hit the ground. Spinning around to break Isaac's grip, she swing powerfully and laterally, tearing through the poor blonde Venus Adept's body. Isaac swallowed dryly.
"So this is what you felt... Eoleo..." he sighed sadly, finally allowing a single shining tear to escape his eye. "...sorry... Mia..."
His yellow scarf drifted to the ground into two pieces. Call it symbolism.
Ivan stared with wide eyes. All of his friends were now slain around him. As Divinity approached him with cold eyes and Sol Blade in had, he only had the emotional energy to ask, "Why?" He choked. "...we saved the world... I thought saving the world was worth something..."
Divinity looked calm, almost motherly for a moment, as though explaining right from wrong to a little child.
"Saving the world is worth something... only if it is a world worth saving." Ivan choked back tears, staring at Sheba's body, while Divinity looked over him, pressing her point into his mind, every word a dagger to his heart. "How many monsters did you kill to 'save' this world? How many items lying around in barrels or houses did you take, that weren't yours? Did you even try to save that poor girl who was turned into a tree at the riverside by Tret before she drowned? Did you warn the competitors at Colosso that Isaac had Psynergy, an unfair advantage? Did you shun all cursed equipment when you found it, or did you give in and use some because of the power boost they offered? Did you peer into the minds of people you met, ignoring their right to privacy? Did you wait to hear the negative consequences of lighting the lighthouses from the Lemurian elders?
"Did you take every opportunity to save Saturos? Menardi? Karst or Agatio? Do you bear hatred against Alex, if he lives?" Ivan lowered his head shamefully. When she put it like that...
He closed his eyes. "Can't the ends..."
"...justify the means?" she finished. "You tell me."
Ivan would not open his eyes again.
- - - - -
Even now, the Avatar of Justice, Divinity the Archangel, roams the land of Weyard, searching for the pure and slaying those who have committed wrong against another. What are the odds of the world being saved?
The same as those of finding humans who are perfect, good and pure.
Perfection is impossible.