Another update? After two days? Incredible! Due to this wonderful speediness, no one is allowed to read this chapter unless you've already reviewed the last one. Nah, I'm just messing, but I really would appreciate any comments you guys have. This chapter is the climax of the story. I hope I didn't fall short of anybody's expectations.
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Borne Up on Angel Wings
Chapter Nine
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Shion stood in a paralyzed shock, too scared to leave chaos's warm embrace. Kevin...It wasn't possible! She had seen him die on her lap! The gruesome images and sounds of his death—the blood gushing out of his abdomen, his shrieks of pain—they had haunted her dreams, had clawed at her heart for two painful years, and yet...there he was. A Testament! She had been dumbstruck so many times since she discovered KOS-MOS was an Aeon, and had steeled herself accordingly, but nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared her for this. Words could not describe the look of stupefied horror on her face.
"Kevin..." She breathed again, staring at her ex-boyfriend but refusing to believe her eyes, "But...how?..."
"Shion," Kevin smiled, "It's been so long...but, we don't have to suffer anymore! We can finally be together again!"
The words seemed to slap her brain around, mocking her, "Wh-Wh, but–I–I don't understand. You died!" She cried out.
"It's alright Shion. You'll understand soon enough." He gazed at her with all the tenderness in the world. The wait was over. After two long years, she finally stood before him, "With the help of Wilhelm and Testament, I have achieved immortality!"
She grappled mentally with the words, trying to extract some meaning. The incident two years ago flashed before her again. Just before Kevin died, as he lay bleeding in her arms, he had said, "Don't worry. This is what's supposed to happen. This is what we wanted, Shion." She never understood what he had meant, thinking he had been delusional, but now...
"So..." She gasped blinking away the fog of shock that made her reel, "the incident two years ago...You wanted that to happen?"
He smiled warmly at her, "I understand your fears and your incomprehension, Shion. It's normal. Let me try to explain, after my death, I was resurrected with overwhelming power. I paid a small price, but now I am immortal!" He bit his lip, seeing the utterly baffled look on her face. He knew all of this must be impossible for her to digest at once, but still, he had waited so long for this, and was starting to get impatient. He advanced towards the hill she and chaos stood on, holding out his had, "Shion, darling, come on. Come with me. Let's be together again!...Forever!"
She had mourned his loss for two painful years, but at that moment felt no attraction to him at all. She did not move, and gripped chaos's bare chest instead, "But Kevin..." She whispered, "all those people..." He had willed the incident? Why! And how was he immortal? Her mind screamed. She hated being in the dark; she was sick of it! "And...and Wilhelm!" She returned her gaze to her CEO, "Who are—how could—I demand some answers!" She shouted angrily.
Wilhelm held out his hands in acceptance, "As you wish. I suppose a resolve such as yours should be rewarded. You will die shortly anyhow."
She felt chaos's embrace tighten around her, "Who are you?" She asked shakily, "And whose side are you on?"
Wilhelm chuckled, "Side? I don't think I'm on anybody's side. I only wish that the Gnosis to be exterminated, that the path to Lost Jerusalem be revealed, and that a gateway to open to the heart of the Unus Mundus. That Ormus shares my wishes is only coincidental."
"Liar." chaos spat, "You've practically led Ormus. The Patriarch himself is answerable to you! You've spear-headed this entire plot!"
Shion trembled in his arms, "Is that true?" She asked.
"Yes." Wilhelm replied coldly.
She felt a white-hot dagger of betrayal slice through her, "And Harold?" She whimpered.
Wilhelm scoffed, "He was a mistake from the very beginning. A mere inconvenience, who failed miserably at the orders given to him."
"Which were?"
"To awaken KOS-MOS and get you out of the picture. He failed pathetically on both counts."
A tear rolled down her cheek. The dagger twisted in her back. She had trusted Wilhelm, "And the interception during my Dive on the Dammerung? Who interfered with the Encephalon?"
"I did. The Gnosis simulation was my doing. Don't feel as if I set out to deceive you, Shion. I had no intention of hurting you. I wanted to wake Yeshua up to the danger he posed on you. My interception had the desired effect...For a while."
Wilhelm had attacked her! The horror she had gone through in the Encephalon—being trapped in the Dive, losing connection with Myuki, and lying in agony as a venomous Gnosis ripped up her insides—that was Wilhelm's fault? She reeled in confusion but seethed with rage, "But, when Ormus attacked the Dammerung...You saved me!"
Wilhelm smirked, "Of course I did, but I also ordered Ormus to initiate the attack. Do you seriously think Ormus would have been able to infiltrate the Dammerung, which is equipped with the Rhine Maiden, if I hadn't practically given them the firing coordinates and told them where and how to attack my headquarters? The purpose of the infiltration was to dispose of Miss Itsumi, who knew too much for her own well-being. That plan failed. My other motive was to scare you away from the Dammerung—and away from KOS-MOS—once and for all. That also failed, quite miserably. After such a pathetic string of failures, even a simian would have changed his tactics, lest I start to look suspicious. I re-hired and promoted you—which actually worked out nicely in the end, because your are vital to KOS-MOS's awakening—and I hoped to sway you away from Yeshua for good, but once again, my plan backfired. I must say, Shion, I'm impressed with your resilience. I never dreamed I'd find you here."
Her blood boiled with red-hot rage. So Wilhelm was the culprit. He was the deceiving mastermind behind Ormus and U-TIC. He was responsible for the incident fourteen years ago—the death of her parents. He was responsible KOS-MOS's malfunction, for Shion's hell in the Encephalon, for Kevin's death (or so she thought). But what made Shion's frame shake with fury was the Wilhelm had willed more than anyone for chaos to die.
"And Testament?" She growled, breathing slowly to keep herself calm, "Who are they? And how are they immortal?"
"They've been infused with U-DO." chaos answered her, never once slackening his hold on her, "At their deaths they traded their souls to U-DO for immortality. They're just like Albedo...Soulless shells devoid of feeling that perform U-DO's bidding."
She blinked, confusion and unrelenting rage ripping through her. Were they expecting her to believe the impossible? "Traded their souls...for immortality? Is that even possible?"
Kevin approached her. Of course she would be confused! As long as he explained calmly, everything would be alright, "Shion, anything is possible with U-DO and the Zohar! I've waited so long for you...You could join us too! Wouldn't it be wonderful? The two of us together again? Just surrender yourself to U-DO, and the He will pay you back ten-fold!"
She shook her head vigorously, finding the strength to challenge the madness, "No! What you've been doing is terrible, Kevin, Wilhelm, all of you! Old Miltia, my parents, Ariadne, attempting to murder chaos...For what! What end could possibly justify your unspeakably horrible means?"
Wilhelm smiled, "It is difficult to comprehend the infinite power of the Unus Mundus, Shion. The Unus Mundus links all humans' consciousness, pulsating deep within humanity's very thoughts and emotions; It also governs all the laws of our universe, from the tiny tryst of the atoms to the carousel of the planets and stars. Now, just imagine if I gained control of the Unus Mundus—the absolute manifest—I would be able to probe deep into the hearts, minds, desires, thoughts, hopes, dreams, and fears of every individual in the cosmos! I would have the power to mold all of humanity's thoughts to my liking. I would gain total and absolute control of mankind. Indeed, I would become God!"
"That's...that's awful!" Shion exclaimed, almost too shocked to speak. "Probing into peoples' hopes and dreams, controlling them?...But what about their freedom!–"
"It will be surrendered to me. By having complete control of their minds, I will sweep humanity into a higher plane of existence, where their only thought, their only desire," He smirked, a fearful gleam in his eye, "will be to adore me."
"WHAT!" Shion's outburst startled even the most stoic of the Testaments, "You're mad! You're a raving lunatic! Can't you see what U-DO has done to you? You can't enslave humanity, you egocentric, self-centered, asshole! Once our free thoughts die, mankind will collapse!"
"Oh?" Wilhelm eyed her questioningly, "You are far too idealistic and naive, Shion. What universe do we live in?—full of pain, sadness, tragedy, death. What kind of horrors does mankind go through on a daily basis? Wouldn't it be a noble thing to end humanity's suffering, even if it meant taking away their free will? Wouldn't it be the right thing to do?"
"No!" She scowled, "Not if it means the enslavement of mankind, and certainly not if innocent people have been murdered to achieve your means!"
Wilhelm sighed, "I see you are just as naive as your brother."
She gaped at him, "You know Jin?"
He laughed, "Once I gain control of the absolute manifest, I'll know everybody. I'll be inside of everybody once the path to Lost Jerusalem is revealed, but first, Yeshua must die. The two events are connected. It is an unfortunate sacrifice, but in light of the good that it will produce, his loss is acceptable."
"NO!" She screamed, "chaos is not—" She hugged him so tightly she could hear his heartbeat, "chaos is not an acceptable loss!"
"Touching." The black Testament spat.
"Quiet Voyager!" Wilhelm scowled, suddenly losing his patience, "Shion, I am done dealing with you. Yeshua will die whether you accept his fate or not, and if you continue to interfere–"
"Don't be mad at her, Wilhelm!" Kevin interrupted, trying to calm his boss, "You can't expect her to understand our vision of a perfect universe immediately." He brandished his sword and motioned for Shion to come to him, "Come on Shion," he pleaded, "All you have to do is surrender your soul to U-DO. I'll kill you so fast that you won't even feel it! And then...Immortality!"
Shion didn't budge. She stood transfixed, horrified. How deeply had these people been poisoned by U-DO? They were frightfully insane...
"Darling, it's only me." Kevin pleaded, "Your Kevin!"
She shook her head, "No. Your not Kevin," she whispered, "My Kevin died two years ago. You are a monster!"
One of the Testament was about to make a move but a blood-curdling scream reverberated around Proto Omega and petrified all those standing on the metal disk. Vibrations shook the ground beneath Shion's feet which soon turned to quaking tremors. An explosion of light erupted from within the stronghold, pouring out into deep space.
"Patriarch." Wilhelm grunted, shaking his head, "Poor fool. Nothing but a useless, power-hungry figure-head."
"You should talk!" chaos seethed.
Wilhelm prepared a retort, but another explosion rocked the stronghold. Shion peered behind the Testaments down the red carpet that led to the metal disk's entrance. The atrium leading to the metal circle exploded in an eruption of fire and sparks. She spotted five figures burst from the crumbling rumble, hurtling through space towards the center of the circle.
"We're coming Shion!" Jr.'s voice rang out against the wall-less, uncovered disk. He and KOS-MOS sailed through the air and landed with a slam between Shion and Testament. All three Testament, including Wilhelm, appeared to have shamefully wet their pants.
"R-Dragon!"
"Last Symphony!"
Waves of energy and bullets plowed with earth-shattering force into the Testament, sending them hurtling away from Shion and chaos. MOMO, Ziggy, and Jin landed on the circle's hill shortly afterwards, unleashing their own powerful attacks upon the surprised and very disgruntled Testament, who tumbled away from the hill in a battered heap.
Shion gazed in delight at her friends as they ran towards her. All of them looked like they had been dragged through hell and back, but had emerged victorious. "Oh my God!" She cried, "Are you guys alright?"
MOMO grinned proudly, brushing ashes off her skirt "No problem, Shion! My Ether's still strong and as long as I can heal, all of us are fine!"
"Yep," Jr. grinned, putting his arm around her, "with her on our side, there's no way we can lose!"
Ziggy nodded, "The outcome of our engagement with Patriarch was decided even before the battle began."
Jin stared cooly at Shion, "Hey, I changed your diapers when you were a baby. Defeating Patriarch was no harder."
"The enemy has been successfully exterminated. I have overestimated Proto Omega's threat. However, my external mainframe has been damaged, reducing my appearance by 15 percent. Shion, I need to be cleaned." KOS-MOS informed her.
Shion gulped back tears, "Oh, KOS-MOS, when we get out of this mess I'll have you enrolled into a beauty spa!" She and chaos flung themselves into the awaiting arms of their friends, overjoyed that their resolve was crushing the enemy threat.
"chaos!" MOMO gasped, once she spotted chaos half-naked and blood-stained with scars on his wrists and ankles, "what have they done to you?"
Jin followed MOMO's gaze to chaos's scarred wrists, then to the cross behind him, then to the blood stains in his hair. "chaos...Did they...did they crucify you?" His expression was indignant and horrified.
"It's alright." chaos smiled, holding Shion's hand, "I'm fine now, thanks to Shion."
"Well..." She blushed sheepishly, "I kind of owed you a few. Besides," She looked up at him sweetly, "Everybody needs a little help sometimes."
"Shion," KOS-MOS began, as she stared at the pile of Testaments now sprawled on the floor, "My aggressive neural processor has failed to calibrate. Requesting enemy database update."
"Certainly," Shion scowled at Wilhelm, "He's Wilhelm, the President of Vector, but also the mastermind responsible for your malfunction two years ago, the attack on the Dammerung, Febronia's suffering, and the plot to murder chaos." She gazed contemptuously at the monster who looked like Kevin, "That is Kevin Winnicot, your former creator. He wishes to kill me. All the members of the Testament have been infected with U-DO and are hell-bent on crucifying chaos, with the goal of enslaving humanity. They are our prime enemies."
"Understood." KOS-MOS nodded.
"Shion..." Kevin looked deeply hurt, but his expression changed instantly once he got up and gazed at KOS-MOS for the first time since she killed him. "KOS-MOS!" He admired her in awe...There she was...Fully operational! "Oh my gosh...You're more beautiful that I ever could have imagined!" He made to step up to her, but she pointed her R-Cannon at him.
"KOS-MOS..." Kevin looked crestfallen, "What's wrong?"
"You have threatened Shion and have brought about unnecessary and unacceptable physical anguish to her and her companions. Call off your attacks immediately, or I you will leave me no choice but to use all necessary force to stop you."
Kevin looked shocked, "KOS-MOS? Is your Operating System malfunctioning?"
KOS-MOS actually grinned, "Perhaps."
Shion almost laughed out loud. Was the android being sarcastic?
"That is unfortunate, KOS-MOS." Wilhelm scowled menacingly at her. He picked himself off the floor, and with the subtlest motion of his hand, ordered the Testaments to attack. All three cloaked figures lunged for chaos.
KOS-MOS's machine-gun was out in a flash, searing the air with bullets, but the Testaments seemed unfazed and they continued to advance. "Get back!" She shouted.
Voyager lunged for MOMO. She screamed as a glowing black fist knocked her to the floor.
"MOMO!" Jr. shouted and joined KOS-MOS in ripping bullet holes through the Testaments.
"Voyager!" Ziggy screamed with an eerie passion, almost demonically, and broiled the air with a flaming kick, advancing towards Voyager, but Lieutenant Virgil shocked Ziggy with dark energy waves, stopping him in his tracks. Ziggy shrieked and fell to the floor, Virgil's boot crushing his face.
"Ziggy! MOMO!" Shion cried, watching terrorized as her enemies incapacitated two of her friends.
KOS-MOS continued to brandish her heavy artillery, protectively shielding chaos's and Shion's bodies, who had to keep on backing away from the ensuing battle. Shion spotted her brother locked in a sword fight with her former boyfriend.
"I never liked you..." Jin grunted, swinging his sword. Kevin parried the blow, ducked under another sword swipe which almost removed his ear, and unleashed a dark missile that plunged through Jin's chest.
"Arrgh!"Jin staggered, dropped to his knees, and finally collapsed face first onto the hard, metallic floor.
"Jin!" Shion wailed, gripping chaos's shoulder, "What–what was that?"
"Essence of U-DO!" Jr. howled above the roaring sound of his and KOS-MOS's guns, which continued to rip the air with bullets, "It pierces through your very soul!"
"Very good, Rubedo." Wilhelm smirked, walking up to Jr.. Bullets bounced harmlessly off Wilhelm's chest. "It hurts, doesn't it?" He grabbed Jr.'s face and blasted him with a concentrated essence of U-DO, tearing nasty gashes across his face.
"Aaah!" Jr. recoiled back in agony, falling to the floor and screaming in pain.
"Heh, your exhausted friends are dropping like flies." Wilhelm chuckled, leering at Shion.
"Shion, it appears the Testaments are impervious to physical attacks." KOS-MOS shouted, retracting her gun and shielding chaos and Shion protectively with her arm.
"You're right." chaos told her, "They're brimming with the essence of U-DO. Only Aura Ether can hurt them."
"Then I suggest you and Shion heal the others right away while I reconfigure my Weapons Systems to operate under the Aura attribute."
Virgil lunged at her, but she kept them at bay with a wide sweeping arc of her R-Blade, "The situation is dire. If these conditions persist–"
She was cut off. Kevin ambushed her from behind, "Obey me!" He screamed hysterically, swinging his sword furiously as KOS-MOS flipped over him and parried his attacks, "I am your creator, OBEY ME!" His face was red with rage, which blended eerily with his cloak.
Shion brandished her M.W.S., startled. She spun around, not knowing who to attack first. All the Testaments seemed to be locked in combat with her friends, making short work of them.
"Ahh!" She felt a harsh shove and tumbled off the hill, landing in a heap on the floor. chaos had pushed her. Why? She scrambled to her feet and found the answer. Wilhelm had attempted to pounce on her, and was now trading punches with chaos. She stared dumbstruck. Wilhelm's body glowed unnaturally, giving off a dark, frightful aura. Black wings erupted from his back, and his red eyes burned with a fiery hatred. chaos unfurled his own pure, white wings, and the two shot up into the air, whirling and swooping like falcons. Dark blasts from Wilhelm's enraged fists met chaos's silvery waves, and ear-splitting explosions heated the air above Shion's head as an angel and a devil locked themselves in battle, unleashed all the powers of heaven and hell on each other.
She watched terrorized. Ziggy lay unconscious on the floor, as did Jin. MOMO screamed and wailed against Voyager's tight grip, pounding his back with her fists to no avail. Jr. lay sprawled on the floor writhing in agony. KOS-MOS spun, dipped, stabbed, and slashed the air, deflecting Kevin's blows and jabbing at him with her blade, just like she did frightfully two years ago, except this time Shion wasn't horrified. And chaos! He fought viciously, ripping into Wilhelm's defenses with bursts of Ethereal light and angel feathers; however he too cried out in pain as dark energy orbs surged against his frame, as hellfire singed his hair...
"Enough!" She screamed. This was awful! All her friends, clobbered and shrieking, writhing and bleeding; she couldn't take it! No more sacrifices! No more bloody confrontations! Mankind was supposed to be at peace with itself! Wars amongst men were a thing of the ancient past, and watching her brother lie bleeding on the cold floor, it made her stomach turn. Despite Shion's shock and fear, she got a hold of herself and managed to channel her Ether, shakily muttering her incantations.
"Er–Erde–Erde Kais—Ahh!" She failed to summon as the ground rumbled and rippled with a powerful earthquake, knocking her and everybody who wasn't flying into the air. The stronghold shuddered and screeched with the sound of splintering metal, and the atrium which linked the floating disk she now lay sprawled on to the stronghold finally exploded and smoldered. Proto Omega emerged from the smoke, Patriarch cackling evilly on its shoulder.
"Fools!" He bellowed, "You dare think you can defeat me? Watch in horror, and fall before the might of Proto Omega!"
MOMO screamed. "Mystic powers, grant me a miracle...Aura Blast!" She fired a charge of Aura Ether into Voyager's chest, who snarled and tossed her angrily off his shoulder. Shooting a blast from her Ether bow into his face, MOMO wheeled around and bolted towards Shion as Voyager held his bloodied eyes with rage. Her sensors knew what Proto Omega was about to do, and it terrified her...
"Shion!" KOS-MOS yelled, knocking Kevin senseless with a skull-crushing blow from her R-Hammer, sending him hurtling into chaos's cross, "Proto Omega is preparing to fire its U.M.N. Phase Transfer Cannon! There is a 100 percent chance you will all die unless we shield ourselves immediately!"
Above her, Wilhelm cartwheeled through the air, dodged a silvery spear from an Angel Blow, and blasted chaos's chest with dark, sinister waves. chaos staggered back in the air, howled in pain, and teetered downwards as Wilhelm's elbow hit the back of his neck, sending him hurtling to the ground.
"Go ahead Patriarch!" Wilhelm screamed, unleashing more black charges at chaos's already weak frame, tearing gashes across his back, arms, and legs, "Kill them all!"
Proto Omega began glowing menacingly, pulsating with the Zohar's power. The Patriarch laughed coldly, and Proto Omega erupted with a blinding orange light. MOMO knew she had less then five seconds. She ran to chaos, who was sprawled in agony on the ground, fell to her knees, and grabbed his bloodied hand. He understood.
"BLESSED MIRACLE!"
Shion barely had time to realize that chaos and MOMO had preformed a double tech, because a hot, searing, orange beam ripped through her soul like a knife. She screamed, falling to the ground, and met oblivion. Her blood dried up inside her veins, her bones shattered, her skin peeled away and melted into nothingness as her nerves fried mercifully, sparing her the feeling of pain. She felt the horrifying sensation of her brain dissolving; she attempted to cry out in pain but her vocal chords had long since disintegrated. Death pushed at the edges of her soul, and suddenly, she was floating. Her spirit hovered above her body like a ghost, and she saw in disgust as all that was left of her—her skeleton—slowly burning up in the torturous, orange hell of the Phase Transfer Cannon.
Then, all was quiet. The hellish light receded, and a disquieting peace settled over the floating steel disk. Shion spotted Jr.'s and Jin's spirits, floating in a stupefied terror above their incinerated bodies, which were nothing more than ash. Shion noticed that her body too, was a steaming heap of ash. Then, without warning, more light bathed the enormous disk, but a calmer, more Ethereal light, which propagated out of MOMO's and chaos's spirits, and shined into the piles of ashes on the ground, breathing form and life back into them. Shion's body materialized beneath her, and she felt a magnetic pull as her spirit was sucked back into it. The Blessed Miracle. It had saved them all from death, but that was about it.
She moaned groggily in pain, managed to pull herself to her feet, and looked around. Her heart sank. MOMO and chaos, who had saved everybody's life, lay quietly on the ground, in the shadow of his cross. He seemed conscious, but was bleeding badly from open wounds all over his body. His wings were losing feathers, and they stuck sickly to his bloodied frame. MOMO did not move.
"No..." Shion sobbed softly. MOMO had saved them; she had known what was coming. Was she?...
Shion whirled around and stared at Ziggy and Jin, who had absorbed the brunt of the cannon, since they were the closest to Proto Omega. Ziggy was alive, but he lay twitching on the floor. His robotic parts sparked and surged with electricity unnaturally. Her brother breathed, but he was unconscious. She looked to her left, at Jr., who was closest to her. He was alive, hunched forward on all fours...vomiting blood. Shion gazed at her own body and realized that she wasn't in much better condition either. Painful red burns lay in blotches all across the left side of her body. A particularly nasty burn on her left leg had charred her skin black, and left a bloody socket as skin peeled away. She fought the urge to vomit. She knew in her heart that there was no way any of them could recover from this attack...Let alone win the battle.
"Sh–Sh–Shion..."
Shion's head snapped to KOS-MOS, who had called her. KOS-MOS's voice worried her. It was...pained, almost pleading. The android wavered and fell to her knees. Her arms twitched slightly.
"Re-requesting recovery..."
Kevin laughed. None of the Testament had been harmed, "That's right." He scowled, holding KOS-MOS at sword-point, the tip of his blade inches from her nose, "Bow down to me. I am your master."
Shion covered her mouth in shock. Hot tears stung her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. How...how could this happen? All her friends, they had given their lives to fight alongside her because they believed in her mission. They believed t what she was doing was right. Now...She had let them down, led them to this condition: wounded and dying without dignity. This realization pained her more than the hottest burn on her body.
"Shion!" Jr. gasped, sensing her hopelessness, "Don't give up! We must fight, until the bitter end!"
She gazed at Jr. He lifted himself from the ground, coughing up blood, shaking from weakness, but he pointed his guns in front of him none the less. "I don't know about you," He began, a fearful look in his eye as he staggered towards her, "but I didn't come all the way over here just to die. We–we have to make things right. For our sake, for chaos's sake, for humanity's sake! I-I will not let it be said that mankind was enslaved because," he glared at Wilhelm and Patriarch, "because my closest friends were slaughtered by you heartless bastards!"
Shion nodded. He was right, God was he right. Resolve surged through her again, and her blood boiled with rage. Maybe this was the end, but she would not go down without a fight. She had been deceived, betrayed, hurt beyond words. Wilhelm and Kevin and the Patriarch and all those other assholes would have to learn that if they crossed Shion Uzuki, and if they dared harm her friends—her parents, the real Kevin, Myuki, her brother, Ziggy, MOMO, Jr., KOS-MOS, and chaos—they better be prepared to have their asses kicked so bad that they'll be begging for the devil to take them to hell, away from her.
She pointed her M.W.S. at Patriarch, in tune with Jr.'s cross-hairs, "You'll be sorry!" She howled, "Have fun rotting in hell!"
"ARCHANGEL'S REQUIEM!"
Feathery lasers erupted from the stars above them, and showered down on the unsuspecting Testaments below. The double tech was at its maximum power, fueled by Shion's and Jr.'s rage. White hot lasers tore across the Testament, singing their cloaks, burning their skin, setting fire to their hair. And their were millions of them—millions of lasers battered the disk. chaos's cross exploded in a giant fireball, the disk's metal surface rumbled and groaned as white beams of light bored holes into it. Shion's and Jr.'s attack materialized in full force above the Patriarch. Two enormous angelic wings glowed above him. Both Shion and Jr. fired electric charges and bullets at the wings, which brightened, intensified, and finally burst in an eruption of white-hot light, raining oblivion onto the Patriarch. His body shimmered, imploded, and vaporized, his dying screams echoing up into the unforgiving stars.
"Good riddance." Jr. spat, falling to his knees. Shion nodded in agreement, supporting him. She suddenly felt renewed strength blossom within her. Patriarch, the ruthless, sanctimonious heartless creep, was no more.
"Impressive." Wilhelm snorted, swooping down and landing with a frightening thud inches away from Shion. His monstrous face was ripped and scarred by the Requiem's lasers. "But that is quite enough." He grabbed her roughly, holding her in a vice grip with his right arm locked around her neck.
"Shion!" Jr. cried, but Wilhelm silenced him with a black energy wave, and he took off with Shion screaming and kicking in his arms. He landed in front of KOS-MOS. Kevin stepped respectfully away, watching with an excited giddiness as his boss held his ex-girlfriend in a straggling deadlock.
"How about it, Yeshua?" Wilhelm called out mockingly, "Don't you want to save your sweetheart?"
chaos staggered up to his feet, blood running down his sides. He marched towards Wilhelm with a vengeful rage but wavered and fell back to his knees a few feet behind KOS-MOS, too weak to stand.
Wilhelm laughed coldly, "I thought so. This will be very interesting though, I assure you. Before I kill you, Yeshua, I thought I'd treat you to the most horrifying phenomenon this universe has ever seen!" He grabbed Shion's right arm with his free hand and yanked her sleeve up to her shoulder.
She shivered in terror, thinking for a minute that he was about to rape her. If she had known what Wilhelm was really about to do to her, she would have preferred sexual violation.
Whatever he planned to do to her, KOS-MOS did not look pleased, and she bolted to her feet.
"Oh?" Wilhelm asked nonchalantly, "I thought you needed recovery?"
"I am running on emergency power." KOS-MOS stated, almost angrily, "If you harm Shion in any way, I will terminate your existence."
He howled with laughter, "You know, I am very pleased to hear that, because the next moments will be exhilarating!" He grinned evilly, and ran his lips and tongue hungrily down Shion's exposed arm. She stared in a ghastly shock as the skin on her arm that met his lips dissolved, melted, bubbled, and finally mutated into the skin of a monster...the skin of a Gnosis.
"It's amazing," Wilhelm whispered coldly in her ear, "what happens to individuals when thy come into contact with Gnosis. Most people solidify and turn white, later shattering into nonexistence. But others..." He flicked his tongue playfully against her ear; she shook with a terrified horror. "Others react differently. Their bodies start to disfigure and mutate, and eventually...They become Gnosis themselves!"
Shion unleashed a blood-chilling scream, terrified beyond words. She felt the Gnosified skin creep up her arm and spread through her body like a virus. The feeling was petrifying, excruciatingly painful, as if something were killing her slowly from the inside, destroying her soul. A fear like she had never felt before gripped her heart, and she howled in pain, pleading for mercy, begging for the process to stop as most of her upper body was now melting and mutating into the gruesome chest of a Golem.
What pained her the most though, were chaos's loud, screaming sobs, "You bastard!" He cried out as tears racked his frame, "You evil, disgusting bastard! How could you? HOW COULD YOU!"
KOS-MOS stood stark still. She did not move. She did not speak. Her head started to twitch uncontrollably, just like it did two years ago...during the incident.
Wilhelm cackled evilly, "Do you know what's happening to her, Shion? Listen! This is the best part! KOS-MOS has two prime directives: Protect all Vector employees and Exterminate all Gnosis. Her entire Operating System is based on those directives. But what happens when a Vector employee turns into a Gnosis? Does she protect, or exterminate? We have a paradox! Her brain has not been programmed to deal with the situation. She has no idea what to do, so you know what happens?" He laughed evilly as KOS-MOS's movements became more and more erratic, "Her brain goes haywire! Her logical and emotivity drives shut down, and her aggressive neural processor kicks at full power. She begins to slaughter everything in sight. Just like two years ago! Isn't that a fitting end for you, Shion? Watching your friends being murdered by your creation, and then finally being killed yourself by it?" He howled with cold laughter that sent chills down her spine.
"NO!" chaos shrieked, trying to get up, but felt strangely paralyzed.
"U-DO!" Jr. screamed, "He's here! We're all gonna, we're all gonna..."
"Come on KOS-MOS!" Wilhelm shouted with glee, holding the quickly gnosifying Shion in front of her, "preform your prime directive! Exterminate the Gnosis!"
KOS-MOS twitched, convulsed, and suddenly stopped. She eyed Shion with a peculiar expression, and suddenly, she knew what to do.
"Lasey Uotai Etah."
chaos had to shield his eyes. An earth-splitting, air-searing, ethereal blast of the purest, whitest light he had ever seen erupted from KOS-MOS's body. White light engulfed the entire disk, blasting the Testaments and knocking over Proto Omega, who fell to the ground with a deafening crash. KOS-MOS emerged from the light, her hair flowing freely in an unfelt breeze, and chaos noticed a pair of pale blue, shimmering wings, the same color as her hair, erupt from her back.
Shion saw KOS-MOS's transformation too, as she fought the gnosifying poison that clawed at her brain. KOS-MOS glared angrily at Wilhelm, and Shion realized in awe that her once red eyes were now glowing in the most beautiful blue she had ever seen. There was something heavenly about them.
KOS-MOS advanced towards her, "Get your hands off of her, Wilhelm!"
Gone! KOS-MOS's robotic, monotone voice was gone, and was instead replaced with the sweet, human inflection of the purest voice Shion had ever heard.
"Oh my God!" Jr. gasped, awestruck, "KOS-MOS...she's awakened!"
Wilhelm looked deeply troubled but he remained calm, "Well, I certainly didn't expect that to happen."
"R-Blade!" A sword materialized out of thin air into KOS-MOS's hands. Not an extended appendage of her arm, but rather a real sword that she held in what looked like a frightfully human hand. She slammed the sword into the metal ground and sent a roaring fissure towards Wilhelm. The ground split and erupted with white light, burning Wilhelm and causing him such anguish he was forced to release the gnosifying Shion, who hit the ground hard and rolled through a crack in the ground.
"Self-righteous bitch!" Wilhelm screamed, holding his face in agony, nursing the burns caused by KOS-MOS's ethereal light, "You know very well what chaos's fate is! Why are you trying to stop me? I am not evil! What you're doing isn't right, it isn't good!"
"Well, Wilhelm, Shion has taught me well," KOS-MOS smiled, "The most important thing I've learned from her since she has begun caring for me," she said, firing another ethereal blast at Wilhelm, "Is that what's done out of love is beyond good and evil!"
With that, she shot up into the air, spread her wings, and took off after Shion, who was floating away in deep space. KOS-MOS caught her creator and flew her back to the safety of the disk. Once Shion's gnosifyed skin met KOS-MOS's warm touch, it crumbled and melted away, revealing Shion's own, human flesh underneath.
"KOS-MOS..." Shion breathed, as KOS-MOS set her down gently next to Jr., radiating warm light unto both of them, healing their wounds, giving them strength, "You're...you're..."
"I am happy to be of service." KOS-MOS smiled warmly. Shion realized in that instant how beautiful she truly was.
"Stay here," KOS-MOS told Shion, after she set her down, "Jr., protect her. There are friends to be healed, and enemies to be disposed of." Her voice was so different, but so reassuring, like a sweet song of hope. She took off into the air again, and showered the disk with healing light. Jin, Ziggy, and MOMO got up to their feet, their wounds gone, and they stared in awe at KOS-MOS, who had awakened the angel within.
Finally, KOS-MOS alighted near chaos, and touched his face sweetly, smiling warmly at him. chaos gazed up at her in stupefied awe, an expression of love and tenderness written all over his face. He smiled in sheer joy as KOS-MOS took his hand and lifted him gently into the air, her own angel feathers fluttering onto him, healing his wounds, fading the scars around his wrists and ankles, and cleaning the blood stains, leaving chaos in a smiling, radiant glow as he happily hugged KOS-MOS. He looked utterly overjoyed, as if he had never seen her before.
Shion hated herself for it, but an unwanted pang of jealousy ripped through her heart, "chaos and KOS-MOS...Are they...do they?"
Jr. laughed, "KOS-MOS is an Aeon, an angel, in case that hasn't dawned on you yet. She and chaos hail from the same plane of existence. They were born from the same source, so you could say they're our equivalent of siblings."
"Oh..." Shion smiled, suddenly very happy. There was something beautiful about it, chaos waiting for Lord knows how long for his sister to awaken. And now she was here.
The two angels floated high above the disk, holding hands, and unleashed a barrage of white feathery light. All three Testaments were flung yards away from where they stood, and Wilhelm shrieked and howled in agony as heavenly blasts tore through his body. KOS-MOS glared at him in contempt.
"You have endangered the lives of thousands and caused great pain and anguish to the people I've protected!" She shouted, "What you hope to achieve is horrid and perverted, no good will come from the death of humanity's freedom! In light of everything you have done, of all the people that have died at your hands, worlds destroyed, civilizations lost, how can you possibly justify your actions?"
Wilhelm scowled, "I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you. Proto Omega!" He screamed, as the enormous weapon that pulsated with the Zohar's power righted itself and got to its feet, "Destroy them. Fire your U.M.N. Phase Transfer Cannon, full power!"
"I fear," chaos told him, as Proto Omega charged its cannon, "that your reign of cruelty is finally over." He flew gracefully over to Proto Omega, extending his hand towards KOS-MOS, "Ready KOS-MOS?"
She nodded and took his hand. He spun her in the air, and both their wings shot out to their full-fledged wingspan, glowing with heavenly light. Proto Omega emitted a fearful orange glow.
"It's over!" chaos shouted, his wings shining, light radiating out of his body, he winded KOS-MOS like a top:
"GRAND RONDE!"
She spun away from him at a supernatural speed, wings fully extended, feathers whirling about her. Her speed increased and she became a spinning blue-white blur. The ground tore beneath her, air sizzled above her, and angel feathers flew out of her wings and spun around her as she became a vicious feathery cyclone, spinning like a supersonic top towards Proto Omega, infused with angelic power. She ripped through the weapons body like a drill, feathers whirling furiously, light erupting from her frame. A feathery tornado engulfed Proto Omega, and the weapon exploded. Smoldering embers flew everywhere, and the gigantic disk, groaning from one earthquake too many, split in two and began drifting away from the stronghold.
"Inconceivable!" Kevin shouted angrily, watching as KOS-MOS stopped spinning, but her cyclone continued, picking up robot parts, angel feathers, and whipping up fire as it hurtled towards Ormus's last stronghold where it too shuddered and finally exploded under the power of her attack.
"Holy...Crap..." Jr. uttered in awe, staring at KOS-MOS with his mouth hanging open, but a shimmering object above her wrenched his attention away from her. "The Zohar!" He shouted, pointing, "look!"
Indeed, the Zohar, which had been nestled in Proto Omega's heart, now flew away at a frightening speed into the disk's force field, puncturing a hole in the airlock and hurtling out towards deep space.
"No!" Wilhelm shrieked, "don't let it get away!" He channeled his Ether energy, glowing with rage, and summoned a monstrous white E.S., the same one that had saved Shion's life on the Dammerung.
"Shit." She spat, running with the others towards chaos and KOS-MOS, who had alighted on the circle's hill, as the other parts of the disks crumbled and floated away. "Just when you think you've beaten that stupid bastard, he pulls another one of his toys out of his ass!"
"This entire platform is going to crumble!" KOS-MOS shouted, "air is already seeping through holes in the airlock! We don't have much time left, we've got to get out of here!"
"Well, the Elsa should be here soon," Jr. cried, "I mean, Tony's dense but I think he noticed something is up when the stronghold exploded."
Shion was about to formulate a plan, but something grabbed her attention. KOS-MOS began glowing...brightly...very brightly. Soon she shimmered so much Shion had to shield her eyes.
"KOS-MOS?" Shion asked, "Are you alright?–"
"Abel's Arc!" Wilhelm cried, clambering into his E.S., "it's here!"
All heads snapped up as an enormous dark object completely blotched out the starry view of the universe.
"That's a Gnosis!" MOMO shouted terrified, "but it's so huge! Its size is immeasurable!"
Shion knew why, and she was about to tell them, but at that moment searing white flames erupted out of KOS-MOS's abdomen and blazed upwards with white-hot intensity, forming a fiery path into the bowels of Abel's Arc. Flames tore a hole in the Gnosis's chest, rocketing outwards, enlarging the hole and revealing, like a picture slowly coming into focus, a pale blue planet in the distance.
"LOST JERUSALEM!" Shion screamed, "The path! The prophecy! Once KOS-MOS awakens, the path to Lost Jerusalem will open!"
Even the Testaments forgot they were supposed to be fighting and joined the others as they looked up in awe at the cradle of human life, humanity's origin...where it all began. The starry sky became bigger and bigger as KOS-MOS's white flames ripped apart Abel's Arc. She was created to exterminate the Gnosis...Was this her ultimate purpose?
The disk rumbled and it seemed as if they were hurtling through space, speeding closer and closer to Lost Jerusalem. A white moon flashed past them, and became a small sphere in the sky in the blink of an eye. Shion reasoned the disk must be traveling in some airless wind-tunnel on KOS-MOS's fiery path to Lost Jerusalem, nudging the speed of light.
"Earth..." KOS-MOS breathed in wonder as the planet's full majesty appeared in full beneath them.
"Finally!" Wilhelm breathed, his voice now loud and terrifying as it boomed out of his E.S., "The Unus Mundus will be mine! The key lies within Lost Jerusalem!"
"Get down!" chaos shouted and dove for Shion, shielding her with his wings. Wilhelm's E.S. pounded a sword into the disk, which finally uttered one last shriek of splintering steel and disintegrated. Shion, her friends, the Testament, and Wilhelm's E.S. all hurtled uncontrollably into deep space, flung by the force of Wilhelm's attack. They were so close to Lost Jerusalem now that the planet stretched across Shion's entire field of vision. They were no longer traveling on KOS-MOS's path, now they were simply being pulled towards the planet by the force of gravity.
"We're going to be incinerated in the atmosphere!" She screamed, as the sound waves of her voice traveled on the wispy, thin air of Lost Jerusalem's last atmospheric layer.
"You will!" Wilhelm cried from the safety of his E.S., brandishing a sizzling energy cannon, "but I won't!" He fired a searing white blast from his cannon, aiming with demonic accuracy for Shion.
"No!" chaos cried and shielded her. The energy blast ripped across his back and his body sizzled with sinister electricity.
"chaos!" She cried, watching in fear as his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he plummeted, dropping like a dead weight towards the planet, his wings no longer able to hold him aloft.
"Damn it!" She cried, herself cartwheeling helplessly through the air. The world around her turned from black to blue as she, her friends, and her enemies hurtled through Lost Jerusalem's cerulean sky. She felt a painful heat begin to burn her body. How much longer before they all burned up?
"AAHH!" She hit something hard and metallic with bone-shattering force, and for a while lay in a paralyzed daze. Her friends hit the same thing she fell on too, also shouting out in yelps of pain as they slammed into the metal. Unfortunately, her enemies landed on whatever it was too.
"The Elsa!" Jr. cried.
Shion sat up, rubbing the painful bruise on her rear caused by her sudden collision, and looked around. Sure enough, she had landed on the Elsa's hull. Tony had indeed noticed something wasn't right and had managed to steer his ship below them, preventing a long and painful incineration towards the planet's surface. Her mind reeled at how hard it must have been to pilot the Elsa through KOS-MOS's fiery path, but she figured Tony knew what he was talking about when he said he was the best pilot in the universe.
Wilhelm's E.S. interrupted her thoughts as it landed with a sickening crash onto the Elsa's hull, denting the spacecraft's flawless surface.
"You goddamned bastard!" She heard Mathews say, his voice carried out into the air on the Elsa's radio waves, "that hull cost me money! You're gonna pay for that!"
"I have half a mind to incinerate this ship myself!" Wilhelm scowled and once again charged his energy cannon. KOS-MOS swooped up into the air and battered his E.S. in a flash, whirling through the air and unleashing deadly special attacks and angelic firepower upon him. The others attempted to help her, but she shook her head impatiently, "attack the Testament!" She shouted, searing the air with her R-Cannon (once again, a regular cannon, not an appendage of her arm). Soon another bloody battle raged on the Elsa's hull, and Shion realized in shock that chaos was not with them. She bolted for the edge of the ship and peered down into the blue, cloudy sky. She spotted a small, tan, winged figure plummeting downwards, about to disappear behind a cloud barrier.
"chaos!" She shouted, and before she knew what she was doing, she leapt off the Elsa, shooting towards the ground, three miles beneath her.
"Shion! What the hell are..." But Jr.'s voice was lost as she tumbled away from the Elsa, losing herself in an immensely blue sky.
As she rocketed down at an unknown speed, she tried to distract herself with the exhilarating feel of the wind of an ancient world roaring past her ears, whipping at her hair and clothes, so that she didn't realize holy shit, I just jumped off the freaking Elsa! I'm hurtling towards the planet's surface very, very quickly, and if I don't burn up in the atmosphere, I'll splat like a melon on the earth below. What the hell am I supposed to do now? She didn't want the sensation of vertigo to scare the crap out of her. But once she saw chaos again, hurtling headfirst towards the earth, she knew what she had to do. Shion streamlined her body, diving headfirst in the air, and dropped like a rock towards chaos, the wind a deafening roar in her ears. She extended her hands out in front of her as she plummeted towards him, the hands that were covered in chaos's gloves, and she realized they were glowing with the same Ethereal light that shimmered around chaos and KOS-MOS. The wind tore at her clothes, whipped painfully across her face, but she fell closer and closer to chaos. She stretched out her arms as far as she could...just a little closer...
"Gotcha!" She cried, her voice unhearable in the howling wind. She managed to grab his arm and eventually pulled him into a tight embrace. He was still unconscious. Both of them plummeted to the earth at a speed that terrified her.
"Help..." She whispered, her hands glowed more brightly now. Feathers from chaos's wings fluttered up past her face, caught up in the powerful gust created by their spiraling descent towards earth. "No..." She muttered, "We won't die...We can't! But, I need...I need a miracle!..." Suddenly, she felt it. An incredible power reverberating around her soul, filling her with hope...filling her with faith. She felt a bit of the power that surged through chaos, that allowed him to fly, that made him an angel. For a brief moment, she glimpsed the humbling vastness of the Unus Mundus. The key...What Wilhelm wanted so badly—access to the absolute manifest—was now revealing itself to Shion. Responding to her plea. A feeling of renewed hope surged through her, as she plummeted through the air that had given life to her ancestors, tens of thousands of years ago. And despite her sorrow, her pain, her cynicism, her lack of faith, she felt it. For one brief moment she felt the undeniable presence of something she could only call God, something that fueled chaos and KOS-MOS with their power, and whatever It was, whatever Its motives were, It listened to Shion's heartfelt prayer.
"Please..." She prayed, "Grant me a fragment of thy power..."
She cried out softly as a sharp pain ripped through her shoulder blades. She held tightly onto chaos, afraid of what might happen. Without warning, her body shimmered with angelic power and the absolute manifest echoed inside of her. Golden wings erupted from her back, shining with the intensity of the sun. She gasped in awe, watching golden feathers flutter out before her, landing on chaos. They glowed softly on his body, and restored him to consciousness.
Shion...An angel? But how was it possible? She wasn't an Aeon. She didn't even know how to fly! Nonetheless, she flapped her wings once, hard. Their spiraling descent slowed, the wind's roar dying down in her ears. She flapped her wings again, lighting up the clouds in a golden glow, and they slowed some more. She flapped again, and again, and again, and soon they floated aloft amongst the clouds. She gaped stupefied at herself. She had accomplished the impossible. She had conquered gravity...among other things.
"Shion?" chaos muttered. She turned to look at him, his green eyes gazing at her in wonder, shining in the glow of her wings.
"Er...hi." She said, not quite sure what to say. "Guess what, I can fly!"
He smiled, "So I see. I thought there was something special about you." He laughed, "Just when I thought you couldn't be any more amazing."
She giggled and looked down, "Hey, look!" She cried and pointed below her. They spotted the Zohar, a tiny yellow speck below them, hurtling through the sky. She hadn't realized how far they had fallen. The earth was clearly in view now. A dry, deserted landscape stretched out below them, interrupted by a large lake. The Zohar tumbled through the air, a fiery comet trailing behind it, and crashed with a gigantic splash into the lake, sending rather large tidal waves out in all directions.
"What are we looking at?" She asked in wonder, slowly realizing she was staring at Lost Jerusalem. The Lost Jerusalem, mankind had been born here. She was looking at the beginning of everything. Everything!
"Hmm," chaos studied the landscape for a moment, "Africa. I believe we're floating—well, you're floating anyway—somewhere over Kenya. That's Lake Turkana."
Shion looked at him in shock, "Turkana? Isn't that where they excavated the Zohar, many, many years ago?"
He nodded, "Yeah...How fitting that it has returned there. Do you think it's coincidence?"
Shion shrugged, "Maybe, but a pair of golden wings just grew out of my shoulder blades, so at this point I'll believe anything." She paused, "Are you alright?" He was looking at her stangely.
"Actually, I don't think I've ever felt better. Your healing powers, that's no ordinary Ether. Something happened to you..."
"You mean besides the wings?"
"Yeah, I can't place it, but there's this energy about you, you seem...fearfully strong."
"Really? I'm not exactly sure what happened. We were falling, and—of course we were falling—and all of a sudden, I felt this presence, like a deeper part of reality...It's difficult to explain, and it seemed like it was willing to grant me anything, but all I cared or thought about was saving you...so..."
chaos gazed at her, suddenly overtaken with love. He kissed her softly, "The absolute manifest." He murmured softly, "it responds to those pure of heart. Wilhelm was a fool..." He brushed his lips against hers again, "Your resolve saw us through, Shion...again. You saved me. You saved mankind. Wilhelm's plans have been foiled, KOS-MOS will soon eradicate U-DO entirely. And I..." He grinned, "...don't think I'll ever leave your side again!"
She blushed, "Yeah, well. Just you wait..." With a powerful stroke of her wings, they shot up into the air. "Let's see just how foiled that evil bastard's plans can get!"
—
"Shion..." Jin gazed in shock at the edge of the Elsa. Had she gone mad? Most probably, maybe the fighting was too much for her. But still...She was so strong, so brave. Why would she commit suicide?
"Jin, look out!" MOMO shouted.
He whipped around not a moment too soon, and dodged Kevin's whirring blade. Damn it. Even after KOS-MOS's awakening, they weren't gaining the upper hand in battle. Wilhelm's E.S. was vicious, unlike anything they had ever fought before, and KOS-MOS was having serious trouble with it. Plus...with Shion and chaos out of the picture, the tables had turned in Wilhelm's favor.
"Time to die!" Kevin sneered evilly. He knocked Jin to the ground with a horrid blast of the essence of U-DO, and prepared to plunge his sword into Jin's chest.
"Ah!" Kevin staggered back, momentarily blinded. Something shot up into the air and glowed with the dazzling intensity of a white hot sun, shining brightly onto the Elsa. He squinted in the blinding light, and saw a female figure silhouetted against the light of her wings. She had been holding chaos, and now he rocketed towards Kevin on his own wings, unleashing a powerful Lunar Seal that knocked the red Testament off his feet and thirty yards away, almost flinging him off the Elsa.
"Shion?" Jr. gazed stupefied, as his eyes adjusted to the blinding light. She floated above the Elsa...on golden angel wings. What the hell?
"Damn you!" Wilhelm shrieked, spotting Shion, "The absolute manifest, why would it answer to you?"
"Because you," Shion scowled, "Are a power-hungry bastard with a very dirty agenda. Plus you're being controlled by U-DO, who, in this crazy religious metaphor, is Satan. I don't think God likes him much..."
"Bitch." Wilhelm spat, "And who might you be then, Shion?"
"I..." She grinned, showing her full, dazzling wingspan, "am about to kick your ass."
She shot towards him, Ether bursting out of her every pore:
"Erde Kaiser...FURY!"
The robot materialized, tall and menacing, brimming with power, brandishing a sword, which ripped through Wilhelm's E.S. as if it were made of paper. The Erde Kaiser slammed his massive fist into Voyager, sending him hurtling off the Elsa, burning up in the atmosphere. The Erde Kaiser vaporized Virgil, who turned into a steaming pile of ashes, and blew away in the wind. Finally, the Erde Kaiser's sword, charged with lightning, unleashed a devastating attack which sparked and surged and hurtled towards the E.S., it shimmered, buckled, caught fire, and finally...Explosions seared the air above them like fireworks. It was done. Shion had won. Her parents, Old Miltia, Ariadne, all those who had lost their lives to Wilhelm and U-DO had been avenged. She had broken the prophecy and saved chaos's life. Even though there had been a lot of pain and bloodshed, Shion Uzuki had accomplished the impossible.
She toppled out of the sky, exhausted, reeling from Ether drain, her golden wings disappearing. She hit the Elsa's hull in a worn-out heap, hoping that she had indeed won, because there was no way she would be able to fight anymore. All her energies had been spent, all her resources exhausted. But judging by the looks on her friends' awed faces, she figured the nightmare was finally over. Except for one...
"It ends now." Kevin sneered as he lurked behind her. She whipped around, attempting to dodge his sword, but it was too late. His cold, darkened blade shimmering with the essence of U-DO sliced through her abdomen, cold, unflinching, painful. She gaged, staggered, the agony so ferocious she couldn't even scream. Her vision blurred, she fell over on her back. This wound was not like the others. She felt the cold hands of death grip at her heart. She knew, it was unescapable now. No miracle could save her.
"Bastard!"
She saw a blast of Ethereal white light, and Kevin was no more. chaos swooped down beside her, and grabbed her purposefully.
"Release your pain unto me."
She didn't bother to question him. She just wanted the torture to stop. Warm light danced on her abdomen and her wound disappeared, the blood receding back into her. But...how? She had felt it...this wound could not be healed, how had chaos cured her?
And the, she understood why. The light floated off her body and slammed into chaos's, ripping his own stomach open, transferring her wound to him.
"No!" She screamed realizing what he had done, but his body began to glow, and she was bathed in a blinding silver light. The light propagated outwards, removing the Testaments' evil, healing her friends' wounds, purging Wilhelm of U-DO. The sky, the Elsa, chaos's face, everything disappeared in a bright blast of silvery light. Her world blacked out, and she fainted.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I stayed up 'til five writing this, and I have this sickening feeling that I wrote it terribly. Oh well, I guess I'll fix it when I'm not sleep deprived. The next chapter will be the last. R/R...