"How…how did that happen?" Ogopogo exclaimed.
"That new attack of Bahamut's…it's beyond power." Odin remarked in shock. "Any of our own attacks would have been vaporized immediately."
"It's much bigger than that." Leviathan continued in awe. "Bahamut didn't use any of his new power at all to use it. All of that power came from the sun. Griever doesn't have a chance now. They aren't even half as powerful."
Odin frowned in response however.
"Somehow…I think this monster won't simply roll over and die."
The things were stunned. They continued to look down at themselves, shocked at both their pain and what form they had taken. They could hardly fathom how weak they had become. Slowly, they looked up and stared at Bahamut in shock. But Bahamut was cold and unyielding, hovering in front of them, and not the slightest bit worse for wear. The terrible energy had died down again. The sky was beginning to clear, and the quake was subsiding. Any rumbling that was still going on, or waves of energy going through the air, all came from the blue esper now.
"W-W-What…what have you…done to us!" The creatures stammered from all of their mouths. "What…what kind of…of…of monster are you…!"
"You're the only monster here, Griever." Bahamut simply replied. "I hesitated before not just because of Palad, but because I still saw something of what you used to be. But now I realize that if that person isn't dead now, then it never existed. The only thing keeping me from destroying you now is the fact that you're one of us, whether you deny it or not."
The things immediately went livid at that. They snarled, grit their teeth, and were enraged again. Still, they wouldn't take that kind of assignment.
"Just end this, Griever." Bahamut went on. "It's pointless to continue. I'm not going to ask you again."
Crusader looked back in anger. Its rage had not subsided in the least. Still, it was willing to kill itself if it could destroy Bahamut and everyone else. But now, it was beginning to feel fear and terror. It was beginning to realize how much stronger Bahamut was. It could not deny that fact no matter what it thought. Yet it still was determined to win…at any and all costs. Yet it knew the plain truth now…Bahamut's new Omniapex was indeed far stronger than it's own. Yet there was something that Bahamut still didn't know. In reality…a single body couldn't hold the power of its true Omniapex. It was only now, that it was broken into three pieces, that it could perform this move. With that in mind…it began to think. Still possessing great wisdom, it did indeed think of a plan. It was risky…but it did have some good aspects to it. Namely, it would ensure that no matter what happened, the victory of Bahamut would be bitter as wormwood.
The monsters hissed at Bahamut, and drew themselves up. "Big, powerful Bahamut… You think you're so strong. But again, your pity makes you weak. We may lack the power to destroy you, but we can still ruin your victory. If we cannot possess the Crystal, then no one shall!"
With that, Crusader's power form abruptly turned around, pointed its palm at the Crystal, still shimmering and hovering on the ground, and fired off a Mort-Kelvin. Bahamut bolted up, and looked up to the attack. He thought of moving to dodge it…but he dared not. For he had grown wise since last time. He was actually in a strategic place at the moment…between his brothers and sisters and Griever. But he still looked upto the Crystal. Fear pervaded him, and he thought of breaking off to go after it anyway. But it was too late. Crusader made its last shot at Palad slow on purpose, so that Bahamut would race to beat it to the human. But this shot was meant to land, and was going too fast. He could do nothing. He could only watch in anxiety and shock as the shot struck the Crystal head on…and immediately erupted into an explosion of powerful, beaming, violet light.
The other espers looked on in surprise, and immediately looked away from the bright blast. Bahamut himself shielded his eyes, and the Crusaders barely were able to look on. Another deal of dust and smoke was thrown into the air as another crater was blasted into the ground. The espers all feared the worse, while Crusader hoped for it. In the end, however, the smoke died down again along with the light. The group all looked back, and slowly uncovered their eyes, looking to the Crystal.
The once unified rock was now split into four pieces of roughly equal size, all laying in a pile on the ground.
The espers were initially shocked at this. Some even looked worried. But not Bahamut, who sighed in relief. He quickly smiled afterward. Meanwhile, Crusader cursed itself for having lost so much power. It hadn't the force to destroy the Crystal completely, as it had intended. That was what had made Bahamut relieved. Now that he had his new knowledge, he realized that the Crystal was an enhancer of the Planet's power and redirected it throughout the Planet. If it had been destroyed any more…then it could have laid the world waste.
"Damn…" The thing cursed.
"You see that your power's fading?" Bahamut responded. "Just give up now."
Crusader hesitated a moment at that. But then, all three monsters looked up to Bahamut…and grinned evilly. The look immediately made Bahamut's blood run cold.
"You misunderstand. True, we wanted to destroy the Crystal, but this will serve the purpose. You see, there is still one thing we have left. Our true power is only revealed when we are in this form. And right now, we're ready to show it to you."
Immediately, the three Crusaders moved in the sky. They arranged themselves around each other while in mid-air, forming a triangle shape. Once there, each one of them quickly shifted into a different position, all looking in some sort of dynamic array. Bahamut was puzzled at this. The Planet hadn't told him anything about this power. However, he soon was gaping in terror…for the undeniable force soon began to arise…
As before, the sky turned dark. Only this time it was much worse. The sun was totally blotted out now, and the clouds turned black. The sky had seemed to turn into night. The ground began to shake again, but much worse than before. Pillars of earth began to be thrown up. The fragments of the Crystal were scattered as a huge piece of land threw up and scattered them. The espers were thrown about violently. Starlet held onto Palad more protectively than before. Odin arched up and prepared to call out to Slepnir. A nearby mountainside shook and totally collapsed. Fragments of what seemed to be burning light were thrown up with the pieces of the world. The winds returned, and this time…they did form funnel clouds. They shot all the way down to the world around the area, and began to tear up the mountains. Tornados were soon surrounding them. Bahamut looked around in shock, marveling at this new power. Thunder and lightning crashed all around, the only illumination now.
Slowly, however, something began to form. A great triangle seemed to appear in mid-air between the three Crusaders, one point to each creature. It built rapidly. The energy that made it up was burning red, deep and swirling with power. Even from where Bahamut was, he could feel the power. He felt the ripples of it nearly pushing him back, and the heat soon began to grow uncomfortable that came from it. It continued to burn and build, making the same searing sound that Bahamut's Sol-Pyrin had. But it didn't quit. It just kept growing stronger and stronger, blazing like a fire of darkness in the midst of the darkness around them. The tremors and lightning only grew worse as it built. Bahamut was shocked. He thought of taking the blow before, because Crusader's current form was too weak to destroy him…but now he realized it was far too strong. He needed to counter it…except the sun had been blotted out. He couldn't perform his Sol-Pyrin without it. What more…the power just continued to build and grow…and it soon surpassed first Griever's Shockwave Pulsar…then Bahamut's Sol-Pyrin. It only grew stronger and stronger as time went on, casting up more vapor and power. The force was so strong that rocks were obliterated around it, and it only grew more.
As time wore on, Bahamut realized the mistake he had made. He had waited too long. If he was going to stop Crusader now, he had to kill them this second. Right now…the newest attack was far stronger than him. But just as he was about to shoot forward…it was too late. The monsters bellowed their attack.
"PURIFIER!"
Immediately, the triangle shot forward a triangle-shaped beam of burning light. The fire was like a maelstrom as it blasted forward in the beam. It burned with horrible energy strong enough to wipe out a portion of the Planet itself. Bahamut froze immediately. There was only one thing he could do now. Quickly, he used all his power to shove himself to the side. Even so, he barely missed the massive, deadly beam as it went shooting by. He felt its horrible heat burning his arm and wing as he went. The huge beam was sustained, and it continued to burn and shoot for a quite a while. Bahamut, growing fearful, thought that the beam could still hit the Planet and do terrible damage. But as he turned around and looked at it, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that the beam was merely going into the sky. It soon vanished into the clouds. The force still ripped the clouds into nothingness, atomizing the vapor and making them recede from the blast, but it hit nothing else.
Finally, the horrible blast died down. As it did, the sky only slowly returned to its normal color. The quakes only slowly receded. Everything took a while to die down. But the Crusaders relaxed and panted, having used a tremendous amount of their remaining strength to produce that. Bahamut looked in the sky and followed after the blast. The hole was still in the cloud cover, and it didn't close. What intrigued him, however, was that he could still see the burning light beyond it, that had come from the Purifier. Even after everything had died down, the sky still rumbled a little. The clouds remained a little dark too. That unnerved Bahamut… What sort of attack could leave this long of a lasting impression? But he turned back to Crusader at that.
"That's enough." He coldly stated. "Your last attempt to kill me has failed. You've lost. Next time you try that, I'll be ready to answer back with a Sol-pyrin."
The things panted a bit longer. But then…to everyone's surprise, they grinned evilly. They began to darkly chuckle at Bahamut. As they did so, and regained their breath, they soon laughed a lot harder. Their wicked voices continued to rise and cheer in merriment, all the while they looked at Bahamut with sadistic glee. On the ground, Wyvern sneered at Crusader for being a fool. But Bahamut did not. That voice was the most insidious yet. It made his blood run cold. He hated to hear it, and realized that it meant something very, very terrible.
"You little fool!" The things blasted in triumph at last. "I haven't lost, you have! I wasn't aiming for you, you little pest…I was aiming for Ultima Nexus!"
The espers turned white.
"What!" Bahamut shot back. His tone was laced with disbelief and shock. That blast had been so strong it could have blown up any island in the world… But it had aimed for their home? It had been struggling to destroy that? The shock gripped Bahamut almost as much as any other death would, and he was frozen in horror.
Crusader laughed darkly. "Yes, Bahamut. My attack just blew a hole through the magnetic core that kept your precious land in the sky. Soon it will be nothing but a fiery cinder at the bottom of the ocean of this world. You and your friends will never be able to eat the food there again, and you'll certainly never be able to share it with any damnable humans." The thing paused a moment, then grinned more wickedly. "Of course…that won't matter in a few minutes either."
The sound of the thing's voice made Bahamut's blood run cold. He clenched his teeth in anger and demanded an answer. "What?"
"When Ultima Nexus crashes into the ocean, it will cause every coastline on the Planet to be ravaged by a tidal wave." The monster darkly responded. "Every last human settlement on this Planet will be destroyed instantly. All humans will be wiped out into nothingness. The only one who knew where they all were was us, and the only way for anyone to find them is to use the Crystal. But now that that's broken, it can never be used again for that purpose. In thirty minutes, there won't be a human left on this world."
The news came like a crushing blow. The espers all shared a defeated, overwhelmed appearance. Some of the others might deny it, but Bahamut knew that the fiend was speaking the truth. It wasn't lying about any of this. The words struck him like cold shafts piercing his heart. He could only hover in silence, nearly dropping altogether from the shock of the news. The others, below, were much the same. Crusader laughed hard at all of them.
"All of you are wretched, stupid fools!" They bellowed. "You honestly think I would let you have this world? You all tried so hard…but in the end you all failed the humans that you love. They'll all die because of your failure…but especially because of you, Bahamut. Your pitiful mercy is what killed them all. You could have finished me, but like a brainless oaf you waited until I had fully charged my attack and sealed the doom of this world. You've all failed, and forever you'll have that on your conscience."
Bahamut didn't know what to say. He looked to the ground in horror at the words of Crusader. In truth…it was right. It had been his fault. He had persisted in thinking there was something worth saving in the evil being, and now it had cost him. Even with all his power, he knew he couldn't outdo what had just been done. He had failed. Everything had failed. They had won the battle…only to lose the war.
Crusader grinned wickedly, then turned their backs to Bahamut. "Have fun scrambling to think of what you can do before the end, my dear family. We'll be headed to Ultima Nexus ourselves…to watch the carnage destroy all you struggled to make. You have about twenty-eight minutes now." With that, the monster immediately turned and shot away, flying as fast and as hard as it could. Weakened as it was, it was still faster than all of them, and soon had vanished on the horizon.
Bahamut was left to stand in stunned silence.
"This…this has to be…some nightmare…" Ogopogo lamented.
But it wasn't. The espers looked to the sky, and saw that the red light had actually grown in the opening of the clouds. They were growing darker again, and the sky was beginning to rumble more than before. The espers were frozen in horror. Palad himself, having heard the monster's words, began to grow hysterical again, trembling and gaping in fear. Wyvern was the only one who wasn't. His face was angry instead. He glared up at Bahamut furiously, directing all his anger to him. For the first time ever…he spoke to Bahamut in genuine anger.
"Bahamut…you fool!" He snapped, in a voice so strong that it shocked the others into turning and looking at him. "Why didn't you finish it! Why! That monster deserved to die and you knew it! If you had only just destroyed it none of this would have happened! Now our home is gone and everything else is going to be gone too! Why didn't you give me any of your power! Then I would have finished it for you!" It spun around to the others at this. "And why didn't you guys!" It accused. "I would have killed it without hesitation!" It turned back to Bahamut in rage. "I didn't give you my strength to have you waste it!"
All were silent after that. Wyvern's biting insults rang in their ears for a moment. But Bahamut still was slumped in mid-air, and soon the others thought of the situation again. Starlet's eyes began to fill with tears. Odin bowed his head in defeat. Leviathan and Ogopogo quivered and looked down. Wyvern fumed at Bahamut further, but soon bowed his own head and began to look angry more at the situation than anything.
"It's actually over…" Leviathan moaned.
At last, one did change. Abruptly, Bahamut spun around to face the others, and immediately held out his palms to them. They saw this, and quickly snapped up and looked at him. The look of boldness had returned. His face was dark and focused once again, and his expression was unyielding. Yet as they stared at him…the espers felt different. In a flash, all of their power began to flow back into them again. Their previous drained state vanished, and each one of them was suddenly back at maximum strength. They all appeared amazed at this, but Bahamut simply lowered his hands and spoke quickly. His voice had urgency in it, and he commanded.
"Guys, there's no time. Do what I say right now." He turned to Odin first. "Call Slepnir, and everyone get on it and get out of here. But take Phoenix's magicite with you and the pieces of the Crystal." He turned to the serpents next. "Leviathan, Ogopogo, both of you look for them right now." He turned back to Palad after that. "Palad, you know where villages are, don't you?"
Palad blinked in surprise, shocked to see that Bahamut had spoken to him. He stammered a moment, but Bahamut hard look filled him with bravery and the urge to respond. He managed a nod. "Yeah…yes, I know some."
"Lead the others to them." Bahamut responded. "Find as many people as you all can…save as many people as you all can. Move them to where we're keeping the others and bring them all uphill and away from the ocean. Odin, Wyvern…you two can fly so you should do most of the finding and gathering. The rest of you take the people farther uphill or go the coast and look for more people."
"What about you?" Leviathan asked.
Bahamut narrowed his gaze darkly.
"I'm going to try and save the plants from Ultima Nexus…and I will kill Crusader."
Without another word, Bahamut turned and took off at full speed.
The dark world was soon undergoing a change.
The fiery glow that had begun over the sky was just the start. Soon, all of the clouds were turning a slight tint of red. And as they did, the thunder picked up again. But there was no rain this time. Instead, there was only the charging force of the lightning. It was all over the world now. The sky continued to turn black as well, an unnatural dark shade. The clouds began to swirl and twist over themselves in the sky. Now, all over the world, funnel clouds began to form. It was as if the world really was ending.
And that is exactly what the group of people the espers had gathered thought as they looked into the sky. They clutched each other in terror and cried out at the sight. Children buried their heads against their parents. Adults screamed and pointed at each new frightening change. The wind was picking up around them, growing worse than ever. It was in everyone's mind that Griever had come to destroy them all after they had moved. It was some sort of punishment coming down on all of them.
But as they panicked, one of them pointed out something in the sky. They all looked, and soon saw some new shapes arive. As they came closer, it became obvious it was the great monsters from before. They were headed right for the group, and within a few moments they descended and landed right in the midst of them. The people immediately moved back, giving them all the room they desired. But the monsters reacted quickly. They all jumped off the one great horse that they had with them, and the one human that was dressed and in their midst came down and quickly motioned to all of them.
"Everyone! Come here! We've got to move somewhere else!"
An anger was swelling in Bahamut now.
He flew as fast as he could forward, constantly moving higher and higher into the sky. As he did, the skies continued to darken overhead. They rumbled more and more, but this time with something more audible than thunder. It sounded like cracking or breaking, as if the earth was overhead and was quaking apart. Yet it was still a way off, and even at maximum speed Bahamut realized he might be too late. The clouds all had a red tint to them now, showing a fire deeper within them or beyond them. They were swirling more around the Planet, and breaking occassionally. But they showed no sun, only more glowing and trouble overhead.
Bahamut pushed himself onward with renewed vigor. He had a dim hope that the others were saving the humans. But right now, most of his concern was on finding and killing Crusader. He realized the horrible mistake he had made…the mistake he kept making throughout the fight. But no longer. It was clear to him now that Crusader would never be one of them, and would never work with the other espers. It would always try to destroy and conquer, and right now its latest destruction meant almost a genocide for one race on the Planet. Crusader would never do it again. He couldn't risk the fiend reaching the Crystal or humanity and finishing what it started.
But despite all that, Bahamut actually pitied the creature. All of them had learned to love both the humans and the Planet, but Crusader had not. All it had ever seen was their evil. That was all it understood. In that light, Bahamut wondered if the monster was totally to blame. It was born with the knowledge to try and sort out good from bad, and somewhere along the line it could have been confused about humanity. But compassionate as this train of thinking was, Bahamut pushed it out of his head before long. He wouldn't allow himself to focus on mercy again when he found Crusader.
The great esper continued to thunder on toward Ultima Nexus. He was about halfway there now…and had about eighteen minutes left.
"Ok, that's the last of them!"
The sky was starting to look like it was a fire now. The clouds had turned black, but the fire beyond them was growing. It was now glowing orange as well as red and swirling withing them. The clouds went this way and that, and funnel clouds were again forming. The wind whipped around the trees now, and was rather hard at this point. The trees were blown one way and the other, and they seemed to bend under the power. But despite how bad the situation was getting, the last of the first group had been moved to a much higher hill away from the ocean.
Starlet quickly put three people down, two in either arm with one, Palad, having his arms wrapped around her neck. Ogopogo had another five riding on his extra large back, and set them down as well. Both of them immediately turned and looked to the sky afterward, to see what other progress was happening. Moments later, Odin descended on Slepnir, carrying people on his body like Starlet had been, and another three on Slepnir's back. They all quickly came off as well. Wyvern was next, holding a human in each claw, one caught by his tail, and seven on his back. He had been a bit overloaded and almost lost some of them, and as a result they readily got off on landing. After that, they paused for a moment. Ogopogo looked around in puzzlement.
"Where's Leviathan?"
"Right here!"
The four espers turned…and immediately gaped in surprise. Leviathan was there, but he wasn't slithering on the ground. He seemed to be dancing in the sky, shooting around in it and zig-zagging his way toward the others. He had six people on his own back, and looked to be struggling. However, he did descend and reached the others. Immediately, he went down and touched the ground, then let his passengers off. The confused humans turned to run to the other people, and the espers stared at Leviathan dumbfounded. The esper himself looked up to the others. He saw their stares at him, and immediately he blushed a little in embarrassment.
"Heh…heh…"
"How…how did you do that?" Starlet stammered.
"Yeah!" Wyvern added. "You don't have any wings! How are you flying?"
Leviathan looked a little nervous in reply, but then managed a shrug. "Well…uh…after Bahamut reached the level of Omniapex, I saw that he could now fly without using his wings. So I read his mind and saw how he was doing it…I saw it wasn't all that hard…and when we got over here I decided to give it a shot." He smiled innocently.
The others stared silently back for a moment, still amazed that Leviathan so easily learned something it had taken so long for Bahamut to get. No one said a word. But after a few moments, Ogopogo brightened up. "Neat! Can you teach me?"
"Teach him later." Odin darkly answered, not only not caring, but also not wanting a repeat of what happened with Bahamut and Wyvern earlier. "We've got to get moving. Now that you can fly, you can help me and Wyvern get to the farther people. How are we on time?"
"Fourteen minutes." Starlet answered.
Palad, having settled the other people down, now abandoned them and quickly ran up to the other espers once again. "Guys! There's a village just about a mile north of here on the coast!"
"Alright." Odin answered. "Starlet, you and Ogopogo go and start emptying it. I've already spotted three other villages from the sky, and we've already hit them. Leviathan, you, me and Wyvern will start moving from them. Let's get going as fast as we can." The warrior esper hesitated a moment, then darkly added.
"…I don't know if we'll even be able to finish those before time's up…"
Ten minutes left…
The sky had grown very violent now. The skies were filling with fire, and tornados were reaching down and scraping the ocean. The winds were picking up and were alternating between hot and cold. The sky was shaking, and occassionally a burning piece of rock would fall from it. Time was running out, and it grew harder and harder for Bahamut to stay in the sky. Eventually, the esper decided to fly above the clouds and get out of the chaos below.
But as soon as Bahamut got above the clouds, he noticed a surprising change. Not only was the sky clear and blue up here, while all the disaster raged below, he noticed, for the first time, that it was possible to get to Ultima Nexus from other ways. Rather than enter the great tunnel from before, as Bahamut rose above the clouds he saw that world was clear just a bit above the gray cover. The sun beat down and infused the esper with new strength. He enjoyed it a lot…until he finally did reach Ultima Nexus. Once there, he saw a startling revelation.
The great land mass seemed to hover in the sky. It was much higher above the clouds, nearly scraping the sky it seemed. It seemed unnatural, like a great disk of rock just hovering there. However, there was a hole in the center, and from that hole a great tunnel of air and clouds issued. It poured down from the island in this form and then hit the Planet, where it spread into the cloud cover that blotted out the sun. Bahamut understood this now. The Crystal was supposed to be in Ultima Nexus, where it could send down the Planet's energy upon itself to constantly renew it. But since Crusader took it, it now gave nothing but cold wind and dark clouds, plunging the world below into a sunless, frozen void.
And now, it gave even worse.
Ultima Nexus was wavering in the sky. The entire island shifted one way and the other. As it did, pieces of it periodically fell off and went to the ground. Pieces of it were also swept into the vortex, and that in turn scattered them on the world below. What more, the entire island was in flames. Fire was everywhere on it, and more came out as the rocks broke and lava was thrown up around it. It fountained up black smoke and burned and shook like it would shatter at any moment. It appeared to be burning, breaking, and melting all at once. And as Bahamut drew closer, it felt more violent than ever. He saw the source too. A great hole had been made in the island…about an eighth the size of it. As he flew closer, he saw that it was smoking and smoldering. No doubt, Crusader's attack had done this. At any rate, the hole was slowing getting wider as pieces of the island flew apart and fell off. Lava was coming out from the wound in the earth. And all of the fiery destruction was being swept up in the vortex and showered on the Planet below. And through it all…the great island was slowly sinking.
As Bahamut flew forward into the blackness, he felt his heart aching. Crusader had taken much from him, and now it had taken his home as well. Their home. Their gift from their mother. The monster would never be satisfied now. It would continue to hurt until it made others as miserable as it, or killed them. Bahamut knew he couldn't spare it. He forced himself to think merciless thoughts. As he continued getting closer, the smoke began to come around him. It grew thicker and thicker as he drew nearer, and filled with burning embers. He pushed on for a while…but then he felt his eyes begin to burn. He started to cough, his air cut off by the burning. His visibility began to decrease, and his eyes started to water. At last, unable to take anymore, Bahamut dove downward. He only did so for a few seconds, before the sky cleared up…and his feet touched quivering ground. Once there, he stood, and stared silently at the sight around him.
Everything was gone.
Leviathan and Ogopogo's old pool was filling with ash and sizzling like acid. Odin's cave had already collapsed. Starlet's dwelling was in flames. Phoenix…Phoenix's tree…had fallen down and was also burning. The mountains that Wyvern and Bahamut had played on were shaking apart. The fields they had eaten from were filled with fire and ash. Places where Bahamut had ran with Palad were now crumbling from beneath and falling into sinkholes. There was no sunlight anywhere…just the burning red of the fires surrounding him and the thick blackness overhead. There wasn't a sign of life or warmth anywhere. The insects had left or died. The flowers were burning. The old mountain chains were breaking and falling into the ocean or sliding down onto the rest of the island. Finally, the hill where Bahamut had played with Wyvern, where they had all their games…was no more. It had been vaporized by Crusader's blast. Everything was gone. All was lost.
Just like our old selves… Bahamut thought as he looked at this.
Something was strange. He felt incredibly sad to look at it. He felt as if a part of himself was dying as he saw his home turned to a wasteland and die before his eyes. Yet at the same time…he felt a sense that he had always been preparing for this. This meant something more. Since he had left to fight the Four Fiends…no, since the first time he had descended to the world below, he realized he was not the same esper. He had changed, and only now was the change completed. This was not an ending. It was a culmination. Seeing Ultima Nexus die merely brought something clear into Bahamut's mind… They could never go back. They could never return to the days where they lived in blissful ignorance. They could never just exist and play with their lives. No…this was a change for them all. Today, they said goodbye to childhood things. They were embracing adulthood, and moving on into a new life. The old one, now, would never come back.
Bahamut slowly bent his head at this, pausing for the loss of youth and innocence. But as he bowed his head, he saw something…not a cause of sorrow but for hope. Below him, at his feet…there was one dried flower left. It had seemed already dead, and indeed it had been dying. But it had not died in vain. For in dying, the flower had given birth to a fruit, in which contained a seed. It was almost mature as well. Seeing this, Bahamut saw hope…perhaps the seed could grow. Perhaps not all of the plants were dead. Immediately, the esper reached down and scooped it up. He held it in his palm and clenched tight, as if he was betting not only on the hope for its future but for his own. New life had to come out of this destruction, or it would all be for nothing.
"We knew you'd come back."
Bahamut raised his head, but did not turn around right away. When he did, it was only very slowly. His eyes narrowed and grew dark again. His mouth tightened. He realized he was turning to see the crater itself. But he did turn, and at long last he had his back to the destruction and faced the crumbling hole in the island. There, standing/hovering at the edge of it…were the three parts of Crusader. Their faces were dark and menacing now, and their eyes filled with madness. They gleamed at Bahamut with a ravenous look, but also had a sense of triumph on their faces.
Bahamut's fists tightened. "You're psychotic." He told the thing, over the rumbling and destruction around him. "If you have any decency left…if you have anything of the matron who raised us and loved us still in you…you'll use your power to destroy this island before it hits the ground and kills millions."
Crusader merely tilted back their heads and laughed in reply. They seemed to almost be mocking Bahamut, and deriving joy that they could cause him more pain by denying on of his requests. Bahamut fumed in anger. He knew that not even his Sol-pyrin could destroy this piece of land before it touched down. People were going to die, and Crusader's madness had sealed their fate.
At last, Bahamut snorted at the thing. "…You're nothing but a coward, Crusader." He accused, making the creatures pause a moment. "You're the greatest coward of all…and the most immature of all of us. You had so much power and you thought you ruled over everything. But you were ruled by your fear. Your paranoia and fear that someone could be stronger than you drove you mad. It's leading you to kill countless innocents. And all because you can't stand to have anyone stronger than you. The Planet was wrong…you weren't made more mature than us. You were made less. You're throwing a tantrum like an infant, lashing out at anything that makes you cry."
Crusader sneered at this in response. The monsters seemed irritated at that, and Bahamut readied himself for an attack. But after a few moments, the creatures softened, and merely snorted at Bahamut. Then they grinned wickedly.
"And what makes you think, little Bahamut, that you'll be any better than us? What makes you think that you won't share in 'my horrible fate'? You cast me in the perfect role of villain in your little play while you proclaim yourself the noble hero. But you never saw the humans when they had their own civilization. You never felt the evil radiating off this world that came not from I, but from them. Neither you nor our mother ever understood that. This world, and everything on it, deserves to die. You'll rule it with your own iron fist, as I did, mark our words. That, or you will be made their slave."
Bahamut frowned in response, and put himself at the ready. "Regardless of what happens, your future ends now. If you won't help me, then stand down. I'm going to do whatever I can to keep this island from killing so many when it lands."
The Crusaders simply grinned evilly in reply. Their faces beamed in triumph. Immediately, the three of them jumped into the sky as they did before…for the Purifier attack. Bahamut looked up at that, and saw them do this. Immediately, he saw them strike their poses, and they began to generate their energy again. The power began to form in the shape of a triangle once more.
"You wretch!" They laughed evilly. "You're the one who has no future! We never planned to kill ourselves, only you! We knew you'd come back here! But there's no sunlight! You can't generate your Sol-pyrin! They'll be nothing left of you but ash once we've finished our Purifier!" The thing laughed hideously at this, and continued to focus energy. Madness was in all of their eyes. "We win!" They laughed in glee. "Prepare to die!"
Bahamut was surprised for a moment. He stared at the triangle as it grew in power. It became larger and larger, and was burning with even more deadly energy than before. If anything…it looked like it would be even stronger than the last one. The sky grew darker and the ground shook more. But Bahamut, in reply, slowly bowed his head and frowned.
"You fool… I can't do the Sol-pyrin…but my Mega-pyrin only takes seconds now."
Bahamut shot his head up at that. His wings unfurled, he dug his feet into the ground, and he opened his mouth. Red orbs formed immediately in the air and shot into his mouth, and the fire soon blazed in a blinding ball inside his throat. The ground's shaking was immediately overwhelmed by Bahamut's own, and the smoke overhead was pushed back as a crater gathered at Bahamut's feet. The sky thundered and shot down more lightning around him as the esper charged more and more. Crusader's faces went white. And they stared in shock and fear.
"No…it can't be!"
"MEGA-PYRIN!"
Again, the horrible chain of fire erupted from Bahamut's mouth. It formed into a massive, blazing cloud, burning so much more strongly than before. Its power overshadowed Crusader's in an instant. Each orb that sailed to the creatures had more than enough power to kill them. The darkness was blown away in the new pure fire. The monsters glared on in wide-eyed shock, staring in terror as they saw the attack sail straight for their own Purifier. They watched as the first three orbs connected with the growing triangle and exploded, each one weakening it until the energy itself exploded. The purple, searing energy washed over them instead, stretched them out and drowning out their screams as Bahamut's wave hit them. Soon, they were totally enveloped in burning fire, and explosions rocked them left and right. Despite the blinding light, which grew brighter and washed them away, Bahamut looked into it. He watched and saw as their still screaming faces were enveloped and they became shadows in the horrible mixture of the Purifier and Mega-pyrin. One blast obliterated the shadow of the Wisdom form, blowing it into nothingness. Another blast severed the Courage form into two parts, both of which burnt away. Ball after ball hit the Power form, blasting its pieces away one at a time until the shadow too vanished into the light and heat. A new powerful crater was blown into the island. Burning fragments were sent everywhere. Over it all, Crusader's last earth-shaking yell sounded even after their bodies burnt away into nothingness.
At last, the blast ceased. The fires turned down and subsided. The quaking and darkness lifted, and the only destruction still going on was that from Ultima Nexus itself. In front of Bahamut was a new crater now, also smoldering and black. And in the midst of it…was nothing. Nothing but smoke. The aura of Crusader had disappeared. There was none left.
Bahamut alone stood on the island now, glaring at the blackened hole with such a look as if he had become an angel of judgment.
"…Farewell, Crusader."
To be continued...