After Presea disappeared into the small orb, Lloyd picked it up and brought it into the garden. He placed it on the ground next to her sister's grave. Before he destroyed it, he cut through the bonds holding Colette and Raine. He didn't try to rouse them, not yet. They had been through enough. Lloyd then pulled his sword out of its scabbard and lifted it above the Cruxis Crystal.
"Goodbye…Presea." He brought the sword down, shattering the crystal. He stood up, tears streaming down his face. I've lost so many friends on this journey. I didn't think it would continue after the journey was done. He silently went over every memory of Presea he had. From meeting her in Meltokio to defeating Vharley, and even squaring off against the incredibly strong Abyssion. Lloyd cried until he couldn't anymore, and even then, he stared at where he had just destroyed her crystal. He didn't look up until he heard his name.
"Lloyd? Lloyd, it's you!" He was suddenly squeezed from behind and lifted into the air in a great big hug. When the strong arms put him back down he turned and found Colette beaming at him. The Professor was waking up behind her. Lloyd managed a weak smile in answer to Colette's. Raine was looking around skeptically. Then she saw Lloyd and calm came over her face again. Then it moved to sorrow. She came up to Lloyd and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Lloyd." Lloyd nodded. Of course she would know. She would have put it together as soon as she realized she had been freed. Colette looked at Raine and then at Lloyd and then back at Raine.
"What does she mean, Lloyd?" Lloyd was about to answer when he noticed something. The fog was disappearing. As he stared at it, Colette and Raine noticed it as well. Finally the fog was in its last throes and Lloyd realized what would be unveiled as it completely disintegrated. Colette's shriek was all he needed to know she had seen it. Colette rushed past him to the fallen body. Again Raine placed a hand on his shoulder and slowly walked to where Colette was. She motioned for the young woman to rise and when Colette did she wrapped her arms around the youth.
Lloyd could tell Colette was crying, and he wished he could let her, but his mind reminded him that their other friends were still wounded.
"Professor, when I came up here, I saw your staff on the second floor. We need to retrieve it." She understood, as she usually did. She led Colette to the elevator where Lloyd was waiting. When they stood inside of it, Lloyd pressed the button to take them to the second floor. They arrived and Raine quickly gathered her staff and what medical supplies she could find. When she returned to the lift she took stock of what she had found.
"Two Panacea bottles, a lemon gel, and a few bandages. It's not much, but it'll have to do. I hope my healing arts will be enough." Lloyd merely nodded and started the lift up to take them back to the lobby. As the lift stopped, Lloyd suddenly remembered the exspheres in the back of the lift. He looked down at them but quickly decided that they would be safe for the moment. He followed Professor Sage who was still supporting Colette out of the elevator. They moved for the exit to find the others.
Now that the fog had lifted, Lloyd could see he must have wandered around in circles for a long time. Sheena was not far from where he had left Zelos and Genis. Raine moved quickly to Sheena and looked at her wounds. Shaking her head, she turned back to Lloyd.
"Her wounds are pretty bad. She'll live, but she won't be able to move or do anything for a long time." Tears filled his eyes. I should have been there. I told her I'd always be there for her, and I let her down. When he opened his eyes Raine was casting an elaborate spell to heal the Summoner. Colette was off administering aid to Genis and Zelos. Tears still spilled from his eyes and as he watched, two tears that had just fallen from his face stopped above the ground. In wonder, he watched as they floated back up and moved toward Sheena. The tears seemed to merge with Raine's healing arts and a bright flash occurred. Lloyd threw up his arm to block the fierce light, but before he had lifted it to his chin the light disappeared.
In it's stead was Sheena. She was still unconscious, but all the wounds she had received in the torture device were gone. Lloyd slowly approached, wanting to believe it but finding it hard to do so. As he knelt, Sheena slowly opened her eyes. Lloyd just stared. Raine stood back in astonishment. Sheena turned her head and her eyes focused on Lloyd. At first, it was in confusion, but her face quickly turned to excitement. She threw her arms around him, knocking him over.
As he lay there, holding tight the woman he loved, he heard Raine exclaim, "I've never seen anything like it. I've heard of such things, but they were always the stuff of fairy tales. I wonder…" But he didn't hear anymore. He just smiled and kissed the woman who had been so key in their journey to reunite the worlds. The joy didn't last long though.
A bolt of pain ripped through Lloyd's back, and he screamed. Sheena quickly pulled herself off him; afraid she'd hurt him. But he continued to scream and he began to twitch. Two dark shapes formed on his chest. Sheena and Raine watched in horror as the shapes rose out of his body and reformed into the cursed double swords Nebilim. They floated above the screaming swordsmen, and suddenly everyone else there began screaming.
Sheena watched through the pain as the remaining Devil's Arms emerged and floated above their previous owners. She could only count seven though. Diablos and Soul Eater were not there. Motion on top of the Lezerano Company drew her eyes, and she saw the cursed axe floating down to join the other weapons. A few moments later, the Soul Eater joined them. The pain disappeared, and everyone stopped screaming, but everyone was left short of breath.
Lloyd and Sheena were the first to pick themselves up. What they saw made them wish they hadn't. Eight of the weapons were circling around the Heart of Chaos staff. The Gates of Hell card exploded, forming a torso. The Evil Eye chakrams created the upper arms, while Fafnir and Soul Eater developed into the forearms. The Diablos and Disaster connected at the end of the arms to make hands. The Apocalypse greaves stretched and mutated into full legs and feet to connect to the torso. Finally, the Nebilim swords melted together, bringing two eyes into view. They fused onto the neck of the torso and Lloyd and Sheena beheld a terrible form. If they weren't shocked enough by this transformation, they recoiled even further when the hideous thing spoke.
"Lloyd Irving…I have heard a lot about you. My minions…bring much information back of your…progress." Lloyd glanced at Sheena and then tried to stand.
"Progress? What do you mean?" He managed to rise to a full standing position, and then helped Sheena up. The thing chuckled. The eyes blinked at different times, making them feel queasy.
"Every demonic creature that you destroyed told me of how strong you had become. Abyssion was the last of them. His death was very instrumental in bringing me back to life."
"What? Back to…life?" Sheena's voice was full of skepticism. The thing continued talking as though she had never spoken.
"Once Abyssion was destroyed, my power was transferred to that little, pathetic girl. There was no way she could hold off my strength. Even with the support of her friends, she couldn't fight me. Not with her attitude anyway."
"What do you mean? What attitude?"
"Didn't she tell you before you killed her? She wanted to be possessed." Lloyd shook his head.
"No…no, there's no way Presea would give up that easily. She fought you!" The creature laughed maniacally.
"You'd like to think so, wouldn't you? You'd like to think she was taken over against her will. But she wasn't." The creature grew somber, and the eyes narrowed at them. "And now, you will all die at the hands of the demon lord." Before Lloyd and Sheena could even prepare themselves, the dark creature had launched itself at them. They watched as death came, and suddenly, time froze again. The creature was inches from them, and they let loose a breath they didn't know they had been holding. Then the creature jerked and they both jumped back.
"Lloyd…Sheena…get out of here. Take everyone. Leave now! I can't hold him back for long. He's strength is too much." Verius stood behind them, and the couple could see the sweat beginning to bead on the Spirit's brow.
"But…Verius, we can't just…"
"I said GO!" Lloyd and Sheena hauled the others to their feet. Quickly they ran to the cart that brought them to the island. Nothing got in their way, and when they started it up it moved much too slowly for any of their comfort. When they were nearly half way back to Altamira, the waves around the car started splashing again, and Sheena fell to the floor as a scream rent the air. Lloyd bent down to wrap his arms around her to find her whispering. What is she saying? He leaned closer to hear her.
"Envoy from the dark abyss, I summon thee, Shadow!" The last she yelled, bringing the dark Summon Spirit into existence. Sheena stood up suddenly, knocking Lloyd over.
"Shadow, get us away from here. Hide us from that thing!" A dark orb appeared before the spirit and the next thing Lloyd knew, he was staring up at the inside of some temple. He sat up to find he was the first one other than Sheena to rouse from unconsciousness. He stood up and went to her.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"In the Martel Temple near Iselia. It was the only holy place strong enough to hold that thing off that Shadow knew." She turned quiet. She turned to the pedestal in the middle of the room. She looked reminiscently at it, and Lloyd noticed she was holding something tightly in one of her hands. He looked closer and found it to be Corrine's bell.
"Sheena…"
"Losing Corrine the first time was hard enough. I had you then to help through it. Without you, I would never have gotten Volt to cooperate." She paused, and Lloyd was about to speak when she continued.
"Now I think I've lost him forever. And the only way I can get through this time is with you there again." She turned to him. "Lloyd, I need your help to defeat this thing. But we can't let anyone else come with us. If we fail, this will be the only place strong enough to protect them." She looked up at him with those brown eyes that he loved, and he knew he couldn't say no to her.
"Alright, what do we do?" She gave him a small smile, but it didn't last long.
"I'm not entirely sure yet. I was hoping to have Verius's guidance on this one, but then I remembered…" She fell silent and Lloyd brought her into his embrace. She cried herself asleep in his arms. Lloyd sighed as he held her while she slept. I guess we'll be making this up as we go. Like we always did.
Sheena awoke before the others had awoken. Lloyd had checked their pulses, and all of them were alright.
"They must have been exhausted from being prisoners for so long." said Lloyd. Sheena nodded and took his hand. Slowly she led him outside to the stairs that led away from the temple. She sighed.
"Lloyd, I honestly have no idea what we're supposed to do now. I mean, this thing is bigger than anything we've ever faced. Mithos and Abyssion were nothing compared to the pure power of the Demon Lord. What are we going to do?" Lloyd came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
"We'll find a way. We always do. C'mon, let's get moving. We have a long walk since we won't be able to fly any more, and I don't feel like taking Shadow's path again." The attempted jest did little if anything to put Sheena at ease. She started walking and Lloyd followed. They stopped in Iselia to pick up supplies. They said goodbye to the people they knew and left the village in the direction of Altamira.
Meanwhile, creatures of demonic descent prepared for an assault on the newly reunited world. When the Demon Lord had restored all of its power it would open a gate through the Book of the Underworld to unleash the horde. The Demon Lord waited patiently. The collected exspheres that had been left behind by the boy would make a wonderful gift to its troops. After he equipped himself first, of course.