A/N: I'm glad that everyone is enjoying the story thus far. The positive reviews warm my heart to no end.

As for the weapons, heh, to be quite honest, I couldn't quite remember what the names were. I now remember that Divine Judgment is Sheena's strongest (I THINK!) and the… uh… Kasunagi is Lloyd's best weapon. I went with my current two weapons for the reason of ignorance as well as these two reasons:
1. The Valkyrie Sabers look neat-o in my opinion. Plus, if I remember correctly, the Valkyries are the strongest thrusting weapon.
2. Acalantha is a Holy-elemental weapon. It seemed fitting to use it against Abyssion, despite him having no in-game weakness to Holy.
If I got the names/facts wrong, someone let me know in their review.

As for a possible Kratos death? Hmm… next question, please? (Heh. If I told you now, there would be no real point in writing the rest of my story. Gotta read and find out, right?)

I think that covers any and all reviewer questions. As always, please keep reviewing and spreading the word about my story and I shall be eternally grateful to you.

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Chapter 9: Abyssion

Kratos drew his own blade and readied his shield, thus putting it in front of him. "Wait for it Kratos…" he told himself. Without looking at them, he began to bark orders at his fellow party members. "I will hold him off whilst you two prepare your strongest sets of attacks! I doubt that anything less than that will hurt him!"

"Got it dad!" exclaimed Lloyd as he side-stepped around to the right, prepared to strike at Abyssion once he began his attack on his father.

Sheena performed a variety of kata as she whispered to herself in an ancient tongue. Suddenly, she threw one of her cards down in Kratos' direction and yelled, "Light Seal!" A circle of magic surrounded the card and, shortly afterward, Kratos blade began to glow with a holy light. Once this was complete, she began a much longer chant with far more complicated kata as she began a summoning ritual.

Abyssion slammed into Kratos' shield like a freight train and the angel felt as if his arm would break from the impact. Luckily, bones remained intact and in one piece, but Abyssion was trying to force Kratos to the ground by using Soul Eater to pin Kratos' shield against himself. "Heh… is that all angel? Have you no strength?"

Kratos only smirked as delivered a quick swipe to Abyssion's side with his holy blade, causing the archfiend to stumble backward. "Please. I've only just begun! Now!"

Abyssion had regained his senses, but it was too late. "Hey you!" yelled Lloyd, immediately catching the demon's attention. Lloyd dashed towards him at top speed and, upon reaching his target, performed a three-hundred-sixty degree spin with his blades, and performed his powerful "Beast" attack, docking him to the ground about ten feet away from him. (A/N: Can't remember if the spinning "Beast" was "Hunting" or "Raging") "Go Sheena!"

"Right!" she yelled back. "I summon thee! Come, Origin!" She threw another card down in front of her, and from it came a great flash of light. Once the light dimmed, Origin could be seen in all his glory, wielding all four of his large blades. She threw her arm forward and pointed at Abyssion. "Get 'em Origin!"

Origin hovered in the direction of the fallen Abyssion. "With pleasure, pact-maker." He closed his eyes and levitated the demon to the same as his arms. Once satisfied with the altitude Abyssion was levitating at, Origin proceeded to tear into Abyssion with all of his blades. Once finished, Origin disappeared, leaving behind a motionless Abyssion.

Lloyd scratched his head. "Huh… well that was easy." He then noticed his father dashing at the body of Abyssion. "Dad! What ar-"

"There's no way he died from that! I can feel it!" yelled Kratos. "Don't let up, or else we will die!"

Kratos was prepared to strike the demon's body but was blown nearly twenty feet away as Abyssion stood up and performed his own version of the "Beast" attack. Kratos crashed into a wall and put a rather large crack in it. Needless to say, he wasn't feeling very good after this.

"Ha! Not bad, kiddies!" Abyssion said with an evil grin. "But I'm afraid that, if that's your best, you have no chance to defeat me." He dusted himself off. "Sorry, but nice try anyway." He dashed in Kratos' direction once more. For whatever reason, Kratos seemed to be the focus of the demon's attention.

Kratos stuck his sword into the ground in an attempt to prop himself back up after the last painful blow he took. "Damn, he's even more powerful than I thought." Once he was standing half-way up, he finally took notice of the rushing Abyssion. "Damnit!" Letting himself fall back down to his knees, he put his shield in front of himself once more.

It was then that Sheena stepped in front of him. "Stay away from him you savage!" She waited until Abyssion was in striking range and, once he was, she suspended Acalantha in the air in front of her and from it came a bright flash of light that knocked Abyssion to the ground. He howled in pain as his body steamed from the holy energy he had just been burned by. "Ha! How didja like my Demon Seal?"

"Sheena!" yelled Kratos. "Step aside!" She did so and Kratos began a low-toned chant.

Abyssion began to stand up once more. "Impudent little punks! Do you ha-gah!"

He was interrupted by a slash in the back from Lloyd. "I'll show you impudent! Err… if I knew what that meant!" Lloyd continued his assault.

Sheena looked down at Kratos. "Kratos!"

"I know! I know!" he yelled back. "Lloyd! Stand back!"

"Go for it dad!" Lloyd yelled in response as he dove out of the way.

Kratos stood all the way up and looked at Abyssion. "Burn! Eruption!"

Abyssion had no chance to respond, what, with the massive pillar of fire that engulfed him and all. "AHH!!!" he yelled as he crisped within the pillar. Once the pillar subsided, all that was left was the charred body of Abyssion.

Lloyd dashed at the body. "Time to finish this!" He drove his Valkyrie sabers into the ground where Abyssion lay, but it was just that: ground. Abyssion had disappeared into a ball of shadowy light and floated to the other side of the room. His body reformed and it looked as if he had never been attacked at all.

"It seems that you are quite formidable after all," said the demon. "Looks like I won't be able to play with you as much as I wanted to." The Soul Eater vanished and was replaced by the Apocalypse grieves. "Oh well. I still have an entire world up above to torture and do whatever else I please."

Lloyd pulled his swords out of the ground and rushed Abyssion once more. "Not a chance, Abyssion! You're going down!"

Kratos and Sheena ran in the same direction. "No!" yelled Kratos. "Don't-"

Lloyd let the blades fall upon Abyssion but they never found their mark. Remarkably, Abyssion managed to catch both blades with his hands. He looked at Lloyd and smirked. "Wrong move, boy!" He delivered a swift and very powerful blow to Lloyd right side with the spiked grieves, sending Lloyd flying into a nearby wall.

The impact created a crack in the wall even bigger than the one Kratos produced. Lloyd, however, was in far worse shape. The pain was actually enough to make him withdraw his wings from existence, thus shrouding him in darkness. He gripped the small holes in his side and could already feel the pain of a quickly forming and very large bruise. "Ahh! Ahh!" he screamed as he rolled around.

Sheena brought her hands to her mouth in horror. "Lloyd!" she screamed.

Kratos stopped dead in his tracks and closed his eyes as he began to chant again. "Sacred powers, cast thy purifying light upon this corrupt soul! Rest in peace, sinner!" He extended an open palm in Abyssion's direction. "Judgment!"

A massive beam of light streaked towards Abyssion. It was in vain, however, as Abyssion easily side-stepped the beam, causing it to crash into the wall behind him instead. "Kratos! I'm disappointed in you! Is that really all you've got?"

Beads of cold sweat ran down Kratos' face. Could this really be happening? Never before had he faced such an opponent, not even during his journeys with Mithos. Did they have any real chance of victory?

"Shut up Abyssion," he said defiantly. "Let's do this."

The grieves disappeared as the Fafnir knife appeared in his right hand. Abyssion rushed at Kratos once again. "Indeed!"

The two clashed blades together when the two met head-on. Sheena could only watch from afar as the two fought. She wanted to help Kratos, but given their proximity to each other, she was afraid that any attack she initiated might affect Kratos as well. Instead, she ran over to Lloyd and kneeled down next to him. "Lloyd! Can you get up?"

Still gripping his side, he managed to sit up half-way and look at Sheena. "I think so, but, ah geez… man, this hurts so badly."

She put her hands on the small holes in his side and applied as much pressure as possible, causing him to wince in more pain than he was in in the first place. "Hold still, I have to stop the bleeding."

Meanwhile, Kratos looked like he was currently able to hold his own. They had been exchanging blows for well over a minute now and neither of the two had managed to land a single hit.

"Not bad angel!" said Abyssion. "But I'm afraid that I'm going to have to put an end to our little duel!"

With one swift movement, Kratos managed to knock the arm which held Fafnir aside and plunge his own sword into and through Abyssion's chest. The holy energies of the blade began to slowly burn small parts of Abyssion. Kratos smirked. "Ha! Like that?"

Abyssion shot a similar look and drove the blade further into himself, much to Kratos' surprise. "Sure did." He drew back Fafnir and struck it into Kratos' heart area with great force. Blood spurted from his moth as he let go of his blade and stumbled backwards.

"N-no..." whispered Kratos as he took a few more steps backward. He drew the knife out of his chest and threw it aside. Shortly afterward, he fell face-first onto the cold, dimly lit floor. His wings faded, much like the hopes of the party.

"Dad! Kratos!" yelled Lloyd and Sheena respectively.

Not knowing what to think, Lloyd pulled himself together and propped himself up. "You bastard!" His wings flared to life once more as he rushed the heartless demon.

"Lloyd! No!" screamed Sheena as she ran after him. It was too late though. Lloyd swung wildly at the demon but missed by a wide margin. Taking his openness as an opportunity to attack, he did so bringing the Nebilim blades into existence and slashing both of the young swordsman's sides.

"Gah!" screamed Lloyd in extreme pain. He fell to the ground into a small pool of his own blood.

Abyssion smiled evilly and kicked Lloyd aside. He looked to the young summoner. "And all that remained was the little bitch who thought it'd be cute to imprison me. Heh…" The Nebilim blades disappeared and he brought the Evil Eye into existence. A cold calmness came to his voice as he said, "Remember this? Does it still hurt? You were lucky last time. Sadly though, you've got me so pissed right now that I can't stand it. I just can't wait to tear into you."

Sheena backed up slowly as tears welled up in her eyes. She looked from side-to-side, looking at the fallen bodies of both Kratos and Lloyd. "A nightmare… this can't be real." She fell to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably. "Y-you monster!"

Abyssion stopped and smiled. "Is that all you can say? Heh. I was hoping for more from you. How disappointing. Oh well, time to take out the trash I suppose. I'm a busy archfiend, you know. I've got a world to enslave." He continued to walk towards her once more.

As she sobbed, a cutesy voice reverberated in her head. "Sheena…"

Her eyes opened. "Corrine?!" she said. She looked around. "Where are you?"

The voice of Corrine continued. "Sheena, I'm in your heart. I've always been there, but that doesn't matter now. Listen to me. You have to fight Sheena! You have to win!"

She wiped a few tears from her now soaked face. "H-how? We've lost! If Lloyd or Kratos couldn't stop him, how can I?"

"Sheena, you CAN do it!" said Corrine. "You have to! What will happen to your friends if you don't?"

She looked over at a barely stirring Kratos. Despite his treacherous crimes in what seemed like such a distant past, he had become very close to her, much like a father. She then turned to Lloyd. "Lloyd… I…" He could be seen trying to get up but with no success. It was more likely than not that his desire to protect her was what was driving him to keep trying.

"See Sheena?" said Corrine. "Everyone's counting on you! It's up to you to beat this guy! Use the power of your heart and soul! It's the only way!"

Sheena looked up as the demon continued his march towards her. "How Corrine? What do I have to do?"

Corrine could be heard giggling. "You already know how, Sheena! Good luck! Show Lloyd what you're made of!" The voice then vanished.

Sheena shed a few more tears but managed to smile. "Corrine… thank you." She stood back up and drew Acalantha once more.

Abyssion stopped in his tracks more and flashed that familiar smirk of his at her. "Well now, are you done talking to yourself? Funny what raw fear can do to someone."

She smiled sweetly at him, intending it as a show of confidence. She wasn't sure how she was going to do it, but… somewhere, deep within her, she knew that she could defeat Abyssion. "My name is Sheena Fujibayashi! Grand Summoner of Symphonia!" She pointed defiantly at him. "And that would make you "Toast!"

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It's down to the lovely summoner now! Will the pep talk from Corrine's spirit be enough to pull her through this? Tune in next time and find out! Don't forget the reviews! Oh, I'm not sure what the two joined worlds are called, so uh…I'm calling it Symphonia. If anyone knows the actual name of the joined world, lemme know.