I do not own Legend of Dragoon or any of the characters.
Final Obstacle
Cade sighed as they sat down to rest outside a teleporter. They were in a room with two paths winding around the outside, one leading up and one leading down, and a massive tower in the middle with the teleporter they'd be taking after they'd rested a few minutes. As he sat there, Cade pulled the scarf he'd neglected to put back on after switching his armor out of his pants' back pocket and wrapped it around his neck, then wrapped his book in the front alongside his magic sword's hilt, forming a sling, which he then twisted the next section around to hold it closed.
"Well, at least your shitty fashion statement has a purpose this time," Rose said, kneeling beside him. "Are you feeling any better?"
"A bit," Cade said. "This armor helps my magic regenerate faster, so I've been able to recover a little bit."
"That's good," Rose nodded, lowering her voice. "If I remember this place's layout correctly, this tower should be directly below the two chambers where the Dragon Block Staff and Dragon Buster where kept."
Cade nodded. "I can sense it at the top. That's why I suggested a break here. I can sense something guarding it."
"Lovely," Rose sighed.
"What are you two scheming?" Miranda asked suddenly.
"The best way to sacrifice you appease the Divine Dragon," Cade said sarcastically.
"Is that supposed to be funny!?" Miranda snapped.
"I thought it was funny," Rose shrugged.
Miranda opened her mouth to yell, only for Albert to set a hand on her shoulder.
"That's enough," he said authoritatively. "Leave them be, Miranda. They're not doing anything wrong, they'd just talking about something that isn't our business."
Miranda huffed, but turned away from them. Cade rolled his eyes, then stood, reaching into the back of his armor and pulled his spare poncho out, unfolding it.
"That's where you've been keeping that thing?" Rose asked.
Cade shrugged. "Had to carry it somewhere."
He glanced at his right pauldron before using his sword to split the right side of the poncho open until just before the neck's opening, then cut a strip off the bottom, larger at the ends, and tossed it aside before pulling his scarf up over his head and set it down. He pulled his poncho on, the alterations making it sit at a slight angle to the left, exposing his right arm, then pulled the scarf back on, careful not to let the book and hilt fall out. Once he had it all on, Rose sighed, resting her face in her hand.
"You've got to be kidding me," Rose said. "A poncho was bad enough, but a half-cape?"
"Hey, I look much better like this," Cade said.
"You look kind of like a knight who got banished and became a mercenary," Meru said.
"I'll take that," Cade nodded.
Rose shook her head. "You're lucky you managed to break me."
He smiled, kissing her. "Just admit you like it."
Rose rolled her eyes. "Not even if the only other option was you running around wearing a pink dress."
"I could probably look good in that too, if you asked me too," Cade smirked.
Rose snorted, then shook her head. "Sure you could."
"We should get going," Dart said. "We can't have much longer."
"Agreed," Albert nodded.
They all walked into the teleporter and headed up to the top of the tower. Once they were at the top, they walked out into a room with a circular platform with an intricate design bearing a triangle inside of several squares and circles on the floor, the floor around the platform, if ever there was one, having crumbled leaving the room open to the outside world, and the Dragon Block Staff, a green gemstone set into a shaft made of roots twisted loosely together, then tightly as they wrapped into a circle around the jewel, hanging upside down from the ceiling, which was a rough, black stone. Miranda walked toward the staff as the others all spread out around the platform.
"Is this it?" Dart asked.
"Yes," Cade said. "That's the Dragon Block Staff."
"It doesn't look very impressive," Miranda said. "Can we really constrain the Divine Dragon with this?"
"You can never tell the size of the magical power from the size of the object," Rose said. "The power of this staff alone has been sealing the Divine Dragon for more than eleven thousand years."
"I see," Miranda said. "Then when we take this back and deploy our defense of the royal capital, the Divine Dragon will be no match for us."
"Keep dreaming," Cade said. "The Divine Dragon isn't weak enough to be brought down by petty tricks like this staff alone."
"Petty tricks?" Miranda asked.
"Cade's right," Rose said. "Even with this staff and us Dragoons, we will have reason for thanks if we can seal him away again."
"And don't forget, the staff will affect all of your Dragoon Spirits too," Cade said. "You'll all be weakened in your Dragoon Forms just like the Divine Dragon will."
"What a lovely thought," Albert said.
"Is Lloyd really able to tame something as powerful as the Divine Dragon?" Dart asked.
"I don't believe that's possible," Rose said. "The Divine Dragon would never give in. They couldn't kill him before, either. That was why he was sealed away. It's beyond Lloyd's ability to deal with."
"Then, does that mean Lloyd hasn't taken any action yet?" Dart asked.
"Maybe he cannot act," Rose said.
"There is no sign he is going after the next Divine Moon Object yet," Albert said.
"The moon...object!?" Miranda asked, eyes wide with surprise.
"You must have it in Mille Seseau, don't you?" Albert asked. "A Divine Object with a name starting with Moon?"
"It was given to Mille Seseau by the Winglies after the Dragon Campaign," Cade supplied.
Miranda turned, walking away from them, stopping at the edge of the platform and looking down. "I don't want to talk about it."
"How come?" Dart asked.
"It's not your business," Miranda said curtly. "Just focus on how to get the staff now."
After a moment of hesitation, Dart nodded. "Okay."
"I'll get it," Meru volunteered.
"Don't," Cade said, staring up at the black stone. "There's a guardian."
Everyone looked at him and he picked up a pebble from the ground and flicked it up into the stone. Instantly, the stone began to sink, the ground trembling as it broke free of the ceiling. Then, as it freed itself the rest of the way, it began to flip, stopping so that the staff was on top of its body.
"What is this!?" Dart asked.
"The final obstacle for acquiring the staff," Cade said, drawing his sword, the others doing the same.
The guardian was a mass of floating black stone with spikes jutting downward from the bottom, a massive gap in one side, and a gigantic, gold crystal in the gap like an eye, a second, smaller one on the bottom off to one side, and another about the same size as the second on the opposite side , just above the gap. It shone as it got right side up, and a small sphere of green light exited the Dragon Block Staff's jewel, beginning to spiral around the staff for a moment before disappearing. A moment later, wind began to shriek through the room, spiraling in four rings which rushed toward them.
Cade held his arms out to the sides and when the spells slammed into them and began to through them around and around the room, the gashes that the Wind Magic tore into their bodies were only shallow scratches, rather than what the spell should be. Finally, they all crashed down hard, only to shove themselves up. Cade charged instantly, gripping his sword tightly before slashing the guardian along its stone underside, his sword barely cutting it, as he had expected. As soon as he had, he jumped backward before the guardian dropped, crashing to the ground and nearly crushing him. Then, it rose again as another sphere of light began to spiral around it. Everyone took off running instantly as pitch black spheres appeared around the room, glowing red lines over them, and each fired a blast of Darkness Magic into the air, the darkness beginning to rain back down as a liquid. It was the same spell Lenus had used on them, except that this time, they were all hit before Cade could shield them. They all shouted in pain, but the spell was short. As soon as it ended, Dart and Rose both slashed the guardian several times, forcing it backward, before Meru jumped, slamming her hammer down on top of it. It crashed to the ground and Albert shouted effort, slamming the tip of his spear into the largest jewel. The guardian rocked backward, then began to rise just as Kongol's axe smashed down into it, breaking chunks of stone off and cracking more. Then, the guardian was in the air, just in time for Haschel to reach it, jumping and slamming a reverse spinning kick into the jewel Albert had hit. The guardian slammed backward into the wall, a tiny crack now decorating the jewel.
"This thing's insanely solid," Dart said.
"It's stone and a jewel," Miranda said, firing an arrow, which shattered against the stone. "What were you expecting?"
"Well, we fought crystal monsters once that our blades cut through only slightly harder than a body, so not this," Cade said as the Dragon Block Staff began to glow again, gold this time.
Suddenly, a beam of golden light shot down from a hole in the ceiling, hitting the staff and splitting into four arcs, which fell to the ground before spreading into a circle of light on the ground. The light shot upward in a pillar for a moment, obscuring the guardian before fading, leaving it completely restored, both the part of the stone Kongol had broken, and the crack in the jewel.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Cade groaned.
"Jewel heals faster than we can break," Kongol said.
"We'll just have to break it faster, then," Rose said. "Everyone try to focus your attacks on the central jewel."
"Sounds like a plan," Cade nodded.
They all began to charge, only for two separate spheres of light to spiral around the staff. As they did, an explosion of light erupted against Cade's chest, rocking him back a step before more and more began to go off all around him, growing larger and more powerful rapidly. At the same time, he could head electricity shrieking from off to his right, accompanied by Miranda's voice screaming. Finally, the explosions stopped just as a lightning bolt struck Miranda from above, blasting her into the ground. Cade fell to his knees, panting and burned badly. He blinked several times before his sight returned and he looked up, seeing a crack spread across the jewel now, but everyone else was suddenly dodging tiny stone projectiles launched by chunks of stone floating around the room, controlled by the guardian. Cade groaned, pushing himself up, then extended his wings and shot forward, his armor deflecting half a dozen projectiles before he stabbed his sword halfway into the crystal. Then, he twisted sharply and yanked his sword to the side. The stone to his right of the jewel shattered and fell away as the jewel split in two, then began to shine. Cade hurled himself off of the guardian just before the magical energy inside of the jewel exploded, blasting it apart.
Cade crashed down hard, rolling to a stop and groaning, then looked up at the intact Dragon Block Staff as it floated down toward the ground, Dart stepping up to catch it.
"The ancestor should have warned us about the guardian," Albert said.
"I didn't know either," Meru said.
"Then how did he know?" Miranda asked, wincing as she pushed herself up and drank a healing potion before glaring at Cade.
Cade held up one finger, partway through drinking his own. Once he had finished, and his burns had healed, he sighed. "I could sense the magical energy from the jewel. I wasn't sure what it was, but I could tell there was something guarding the staff."
"Why didn't Meru sense it?" Miranda asked suspiciously.
"Meru both wasn't looking for it, and also doesn't have as acute senses as I do," Cade said. "Unlike me, Meru didn't spend her entire childhood and teen years training her magic to strengthen it."
"How do we know you're being honest?" Miranda asked. "How do we know you're not working with this Lloyd person you all are searching for?"
"How do we know you're not?" Cade asked. "In Tiberoa, the princess was actually a bandit in disguise who had an attitude only slightly worse than yours. It's not out of the question that you be an imposter as well."
"How dare you!?" Miranda spat.
"I dare very well, thanks for asking," Cade said, standing and picking up his sword. "If you're going to try and question me without knowing anything about me, I can play that game too. The difference is that the others know me, not you, so they know I'm not a traitor. You, on the other hand..."
Miranda snarled angrily, but Albert stepped between them.
"We don't have time for this!" Albert snapped. "We have to get back to Deningrad so that we can prepare for the Divine Dragon!"
Miranda turned, kicking a rock off the platform. "As soon as this Dragon's dead, I want you gone, Wingly."
"As soon as this Dragon's dead, I'll do as I damn well please," Cade said flatly. "Now let's go. We need to find a faster way out than the way we came."
He turned, walking to a teleporter opposite the one they arrived using and the others all joined him, Miranda waiting until they were all gone before using it.
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