Chapter 15: Gluttony and the Chrono Walker
Registrations and physical exams... Noct stared at the papers given to him when he asked about entering the Coliseum. While this was to show a spectacle of battles, the health and safety of the participants come first. "I just... okay, okay." He shakes his head with a sigh as he began filling in the blanks with what he remembers about himself. It was at least the more important information about one's self.
BMI... What is this? Physical Examinations subject? He didn't really know about what a BMI is supposed to be. What was he supposed to do? A weighing scale with a height scale was nearby. He studied some plating on it. Is this it? Seems like it, wanted to measure his... BMI. Noct scratched his head before he proceeded to head over to the weighing scale. He was stopped immediately before he could step on it.
His shoes... Ah, the soles make him slightly taller, and add to his weight. Noct sighs again and he proceeds to take off his shoes, setting them aside. He looked at the scale and stepped onto it, planting his feet there.
'53.1 k.g...' he read for his weight. He went to the height scaling machine. '1.77m...' ... 16.95... Underweight. He scratched his head, it should be fine... right? For some reason, he could hear someone telling him to get some weight. He was a couple of BMI points to reach the normal BMI standard. He sighed, maybe he should consider adding some more meat to add in some weight to his body. That should help. He filled in everything, till he finally reached the alias. This name would appear in the leaderboards, not his own name.
Organiza... No, not that. Bland, very dull. All too simple and... no enthusiasm. He wasn't sure on how the rest of the world would take on him being a Crystallian; most outside of Unita perceived that they are all gone now and it's mainly the Organization that tries much to create tranquillity which they are thankful for.
Outlandish name? Meh. He needed to be true to something.
...Maybe his friends could help?
"Mr. Flash?" Came Vivi's voice.
"King of Fishing!" Came Locke's voice.
"One Anointed by the... No, not that." Al's voice responded.
"How about... Night Sky?" Stella's voice suggests. Night Sky...Yeah, that would work. It sounds really nice.
"Bread Baker!" Fortem's came.
"Umm...Oh, I think Not so Emo Emo is cool! Wait, that's too weird," Ryu's came. Okay, enough with the awkward names. He had decided Stella's suggestion and wrote Night Sky...Night Sky, his name sounded like it.
"Okay, Night Sky." He repeats. "Listen to... Night Sky in the Coliseum..." He finished the form and then looked at the entrance fee. Only a hundred Gil. "Just... Like that?" He pondered at the small fee while taking out a wallet. It was... also similar to, well, how he could call out his sword. He carried that wallet around and it never felt heavier. It was rather... in a cylindrical shape of green and darker lines across the body from the ends. Two circle dot eyes an an... oval black like a mouth. At one end, three small straps hang there.
A Cactuar. The shape of a Cactuar. From what he remembered, it was always incredibly... speedy, somewhat running about while its limbs were constantly posing in... like a person shape in an exit sign. It may be small, but its prickly needles still sting; when they all fire it at their threats at rapid fire speed. It didn't matter the bulkiness; it'd whit by their little hits.
He took some paper out of it and attached it with the form. He went to the counter and submitted both the form and the payment. "Alright, so I should be... waiting around somewhere?" He inquires to the receptionist.
"Over there." the receptionist pointed at a direction to the left. "It should be there, you could watch the ongoing battles in the Waiting Room with the other participants." Noct turned to look and he nodded. What other participants are here, enganging in this form of sport against many to... send the crowd in an uproar, right? He headed to the direction, looking while he followed the instructions to the Waiting Room.
He entered the room, spotting some familiar faces in the Organization. Some acquaintances and strangers of the Organization. Now that he thought about it, his mind thought of a muscular sea lion. If he was here, then...
...Eugh, no-no-no-no... No, no, no. That day was enough to try and make him avoid as much eye contact as possible.
...Thankfully, he wasn't here. He sighed silently in relief. At least he wasn't in this lobby today, he wouldn't know how many times he'd lose focus because of something about a hard sword or something that sounds very... unintentionally repulsive. He took a seat and then gazed at the TV placed inside the room. It was showing the ongoing participant doing a challenge. Noct looked at it. Many creatures called out in periodic waves, the participant moved around nimbly as they unleashed attacks to whit down every group that came to battle, putting them to lie on the ground. A display of experience to know what they can face, adapt quickly to the differing types of foes that come with different resistances and weaknesses respectively...
He turned to look at the rewards, granted for raising the ranks...
...Uh. What is... If reaching there, you'd be gifted with this and... Uh, complete a certain series of challenges in the Coliseum and be rewarded with...
...Actually, how do they... gather these to gift to participants? But these all appear to work down towards a long road ahead of him... 'Maybe, I could go and fight in the Coliseum during some off days to get these gifts...' Noct ponders to himself. He continued to watch and saw the highest rank: Platinum. There he analysed the top 5 fighters there and saw the alias, the Azure Archer, at second.
'Huh?' He looked. Who was that? He didn't know, azure-
He heard something buzz. "Night Sky, please get ready." He quickly looked over to the speaker and nodded to himself silently. He was to go to the arena now... Noct nodded and he looked around the waiting room before he saw directions. He went toward said directions, spotting neon lines at the sides directing him toward the battlefield. He went forward until he could see sunlight.
He breathed in as he stepped towards the light. Noct let his vision adjust to the brightness as he looked around. Uh, walls? Just walls? Weren't there supposed to be spectator seats lined up all around the arena? He looked around, where were the cameras where he saw everything and why was the surface filled with ancient architecture? He walked around, wondering what was around here. So far, nothing else but him... Where he came from... gone, the passageway is already gone. It was there when he came out of it.
"Huh?" He looked up, he thought he heard an echoing voice. "Your challenge has now begun." it said before some ports opened and there...Monsters made from some sort of magic appeared. They faced Noct and roared. "Defeat them before a hundred and twenty seconds has passed."
"Two minutes?!" Noct shouts in surprise. The monsters appearing in one moment was enough, but... fighting and clearing them in a sharp duration was another. He quickly looked over at some and quickly called out his sword. He watched as a digital watch appeared and began counting down. He counted the monsters... 1... 2... 3... 6 of them.
He could handle this. Well, he didn't have anyone with him, but... it should be fine.
Noct turned to one beast and he backstepped to evade a sweeping claw. He blocked another incoming swipe, quickly regaining his balance and studied the creature trying to bring its bladed arms down before he quickly released a point-blank discharge of Thunder onto its head. It screeched, stepping back and Noct quickly responded by throwing his sword upwards and flickering away to avoid a stream of Water.
He reappears above the air, looking down at his descent. The ranged ones need to go first. With that, he continued his fall and brought his hand back, preparing a Dark spell. At the release of that spell, the energy spread downwards in the form of an obscuring veil. This form of manipulation is normally tough to channel outside an user's elemental group, takes more than simply reading and committing the base of the spell to conduct such. The mage construct part of the group was stabbed through behind its back, and the blade left it as fast as it could while it fell forward.
Noct quickly got around and he turned, taking quick steps to another beast and swung at it. He suddenly heard an announcement that he had a minute left. He gasped silently in response, just two down right now. No, that's already flinching. No pauses here...
If he wanted to move up, he needed to finish this.
Noct quickly threw his sword to a direction just as the veil of Dark begin to dissipate and returning the battlefield to a clearer state. He warped over and swung at that monster with a downward spin, moving both his feet to rebalance himself on his landing. After he did so, he moved again with another warp over to close up the distance, bringing the sword down immediately. He turned his body around and fired a spray of Thunder to a side. He got to the center between the remaining two creatures and he spun, his motions directing the blade to slash around him with a firm grip.
He took a quick look at the timer while the monsters fell...
Seventeen... sixteen!? Fifteen!? 'Something is still alive!?' He darted over to look at the monsters until he spotted one move well to know that it was still alive. 'There!' He flung the sword and it sinks into the monster's body, earning a screech before a collapse.
Eight... Seven... It's still ticking!?
Six...
One jumped from behind. Noct turned.
Five...
He brought his sword over.
Four...
He sliced the monster at the side.
Three... two... O-
The monster was sliced in half before disappearing. Noct panted then looked to see the timer stopped at one second left. He...made it just in time.
"Challenge complete. Congratulations, Night Sky!" Noct let out a breath in response, he barely scraped through the time limit. He wasn't sure on what he was supposed to do now; there was between the sudden shocks and all...
But... he made it through in the end, so... a success's... still a success.
Some parts of the wall gave way, revealing a corridor. "Come to think of it..." Noct murmurs to himself. "I never asked about how the fights here progress..." He looks back at the corridor. "...Guess experience will tell me." He headed towards the corridor. He looked at a panel that appeared before him as he was about to head out. A prompt whether he would like to continue or not. However, that R fellow led him to this place but never elaborated why. He couldn't leave now.
"...I'm continuing on." He decided.
"Yup!" Fortem nods to himself, stacking more piles of boxes to the shipment of the shop he was told to look over. "Watching over the store until he gets back. I do wonder what Aniki is doing." The orange dino pondered with light tapping from his feet. This Coliseum, it sounded very... much of an uproar. To be fighting battles against many creatures in various forms as a great test of one's own abilities...
A dance of white fabric was particularly spotted from his vision, and that took his attention.
"Huh?" Fortem turned to the direction, his large form's horn hitting the ceiling that caused him to recoil back. "Ow."
The owner of the white fabric, the form of a cloak, continued on their path through the shop. Come to think of it, Noct was following someone like that sometimes, hasn't he? He never really got much to know of that figure...
"Hey, Mister!" Fortem called, bumping his head again. "Ow!"
The figure continued walking, as if never hearing sounds around them. Fortem wanted to follow him but he couldn't leave the store unattended while the owner wasn't present. Regrettably, he didn't follow the figure and wondered why this figure sent Noct here.
"..." The figure's steps are quite silent, if sounds were made, they are likely drowned out by the noises of the bustling activities through the streets of the various facilities built for business and the like. Their path is simple: towards the Coliseum. A hand shuffles and with a light raise, a book is held resting on the palm, balanced by the fingers resting against the cover.
"I want to ask." a voice called. "I thought I destroyed the Beautiful Grotesque two years ago."
"..." The figure lowered the book slightly. "It's... true, in a sense, Chrono Walker. The physical form is gone, however. Is the mental form?"
It was that azure hooded figure. The entirety of their body was covered by the azure cloak that no one was able to guess what they were and who they were. They stood behind the shadows of an alleyway, both were not noticed by anyone.
"Mental form," they muttered. "Were they able to save their mental form from the cult they led? Or someone else."
"I... don't have such an answer to that question." The first figure replies. "Some things remain a mystery to many."
"...Whatever it is, it made Iggy go somewhere too." the second figure told them. "And...Why did you send him here?"
"..." The figure glanced over at the tome they held. "...A simple answer."
"..." the second figure went away. "Then your book told me to go there too. Typical."
"Hm." The first figure flipped a page. "...I learnt not to... spoil something, that happens here."
"I see..." the second figure confirmed. "He has the answers." Once they said that, the second figure disappeared while the first figure wondered about what they meant and nodded. It seemed they catch up on things quickly than they thought.
"...Well." They looked back at the pages. "Seems the Servant will be reaching that imminent fight soon."
Noct kicked the ball-like monster into the hoops before the timer ran up. It stopped counting down with 30 seconds left. Another challenge completed. "Whew..." He rubbed his neck. "All these challenges are really something, but I can keep up this pace!" He didn't know why but he enjoyed the challenges the Coliseum brought to him. He reminded himself that this was the fifth challenge he completed.
"Wonder what the sixth one is." He comments to himself as he proceeded to agree with the continuation of the Coliseum challenges. He went into the corridor to replenish himself. Noct looked at the time and when his next challenge will be. Thirty minutes of rest before his next match. As he walked along, he didn't noticed anyone watching him.
From the dark corners, an yellow-ish eye fixated onto his walking figure, behind the space of... a portal. That eye peeked over his target. The one he'll take. All he had to do was to take him down with the help of the materials he took.
"This will allow me to use the power I once lost," he muttered. "Scorching Pugilist, you may have turned me to calamari but after dealing with them, you're next."
The rift closed back and he hid back into hiding, finding the right moment...
"...Okay. Here..." Noct looked at a bench and sat on it. He breathed out while looking at a cup filled with some form of liquid that was usually given sometimes to replenish stamina of competitors.
"You sure enjoying yourself here." a familiar voice called. "And here I thought Yuki was too tired to join me."
"Huh?" Noct looked around and he nearly fumbled. "Erik!?" He blinked a few times. "You're here too?"
"Yeah, I do take in some challenges here on my free time," Erik answered. "Be like that, you'll eventually meet the Azure Archer and Kindling Spirit." Azure Archer and Kindling Spirit.. .Now that he mentioned it, those two were among the top five of the rankings.
"They must be more experienced..." Noct murmurs, moving the cup to take a gulp.
"Yeah, they are." Erik agreed. "You know, they're near your age too."
"Really?"
"Yeah, the Kindling Spirit just reached 20 and Azure Archer's 24. I've seen them a bit and they could help us with these tasks but lately, they were sent to do things somewhere." Do things somewhere... "How much did they do?" Noct questions, taking another gulp of medicinal fluids.
"A lot of things." Erik told him while he checked his own rank. "I, on the other hand, only reached Gold."
"Oh... Oh. Oh." The tones in Noct's voice went from surprise, to shock and finally ending at realization.
"Climbing the ranks will be difficult..." he told him. "But you'll do fine like you did when we first met." First met...Right, he impressed him by helping him defeat that Tauricorn. His mind may had forgotten but his body knew how to fight.
"Seven times, you lost seven times to the Prince. Sefirot, aren't you slacking off too much?"
"No, no, not at all: I need to hold back against the Prince!"
"Sophia told me that you forgot my halberd. Look how rusty it is when you left it wet for hours. He needed to know what it is to fight and what he needed to grow stronger. And not to forget where his weapon was."
"He can snap his weapon out of hammerspace!"
"It may possibly happen. The Prince is getting better day by day. I do wonder about clashing with him once the day comes."
"And see him lie on the floor sprawled? No!"
"Which is why you have to make sure he gets the right lessons."
The familiar voice of Zurvan and the other booming voice... Sephirot? That one called... him, that?
"..." He was holding one side of his head. As much as he tried, he couldn't remember.
"You good?" Erik asked. "Don't push yourself too hard, kid."
"...I'm okay." Noct assures Erik. "I'll take that to mind."
Thirty minutes have passed. It was his next challenge. He wondered what it will be as he walked down the corridor. 'I'd better get mentally prepared...' he thought to himself, breathing out as he could see the end that would lead to the battlefield. The previous challenges had certain gimmicks but now, what will it be? As he went onward, he felt some shift in the atmosphere.
"Huh?" He looked around. What was that? He shook his head. Must be imagining things... He went onward, the surroundings shifted again. Then he was in the battlefield. But...
"This... isn't the place, right?" It wasn't the walls commonly seen that appeared like crafted stone. It was more... otherworldly, a current of space-time streaming across this seemingly void. "I'd better..." he turned around. Again, gone as usual. "...I'm pretty sure I made some kind of wrong turn for some reason..."
"...You have come." a voice called out. He turned to look back in front. It was a hooded figure. That hooded figure...They were that figure who passed by the entrance. That aura they had...
"...It seems that you are my target to be destroyed."
'Wh-what?' His first thought arrived in Noct's mind. His second thought came, 'Someone's already after me? Is it because...'
The figure stretched out their left arm and there, a bow materialized. He immediately took a step back, instinctually calling out his sword at the sight of a brown-bodied bow... not having a full physical form. The figure aimed and fired a concentrated arrow made of pure psychic energy made from the force of earth. Noct gasped and swerved to the side. An explosion erupted and Noct felt a portion of it. That was fast and he realized that shot was aimed at his head. He heard a whirl. Another shot this quick?
He quickly turned and deflected the arrow with his sword. Five more arrows homed into him. Noct stepped back, looking at the arrows' flow, quickly swinging to deflect them away as they closed in... His feet stumbled at the last arrow, nearly making him feel the loss of balance. Those arrows were less concentrated but traded the force with quantity and to seek targets. The figure stood at the same spot, firing arrows at him. There were so many and with their aim, it was difficult for him to throw his sword to get close. This relentless assault of projectiles made Noct hazy. He had to get up close or else those arrows will burst his brain out.
He kept on deflecting some arrows and evaded the concentrated blasts for those will take away his focus from the weaker ones to hit him. Earth...That was what Noct thought when he deflected and evaded the arrows. They were Earth Elemental because of the bow the figure used. There wasn't a pattern the figure used in firing the arrows, but they were reading his movement more. Noct wondered, was his movement this predictable? He was facing an opponent skilled in tactics and reading patterns while having a relentless assault in using attacks. Noct deflected some arrows then jumped upward. He twirled in the air, evading some arrows the homed into him. He hope for an opening.
That? No... Maybe? No, no... Not here. He can't just... flash it out here. Find a way to... get through.
He deflected more shots while he swerved in. Wait, he moved closer after he evaded some arrows. That gave him an idea. Getting close was quite risky with how accurate they were shot but it was the only way he could hope of getting close to them. He breathed and watched the next shots come over. He jumped over it and deflected the charged shot, propelling him forward from the energy it contained. He landed and looked at another preparation of arrows. He was getting closer, but he noticed them going back. Some opening he needed to exploit before they fire another volley of arrows.
' What should I... Wait. If I can deflect the shots back over, but how...' Deflecting shots, that would be possible but the stronger ones were too risky to deflect back at the angle and the last time he deflected it, it only sent him flying at an angle. He had to be faster for his opponent would not make the same mistake and use that advantage to put him into a disadvantage. Thinking swiftly, he threw his sword and teleported into the area it landed on. He rolled to the side, an arrow nearly grazing his jacket.
'Don't fail me now!' He thought and he prepared his sword. He had to risk it, he found a spot from behind the figure. What he knew about archers was that while they are dangerous in range, not much could be said when up-close.
He threw his sword in, he tumbled behind the figure and spun around to hit them with his sword.
Clang! He hit something, but it wasn't any from of armor the figure may be hiding from behind their cloak but it was...
...Swords?
'You... serious!?' He exclaimed loudly in his mind. They were swords. Azure swords made entirely of light, four of them protecting the figure and those four blocking were Noct's strike as the figure waved their leg to the side. The cloak revealed their attire, yet their face remained hidden, and Noct was sent flying back. He rolled, grunted when he used an elbow to adjust his momentum to recover back on his feet.
He analysed his opponent while those swords spun around them. Or was it her? Noct could see what they wore underneath, it was a light garb fit for travelling. Knee-high silver pants with some adornment of blue and silver patterned beads. It had a light form of extension at the back of the pants, tied in a ribbon knot. The top consists of a sleeveless pale of blue, azure. It shared distinct qualities to the pants from earlier, a short ribbon tied at the front of it with a pin adorned at the left. She had what appears to be metallic armguards, but the material looks otherwise with nimble movements of the arms. She wore ankle-length shoes... well, should be shoes in that body's case... right? When he thought about it, some of those adornments... felt... thematic.
The figure disappeared, a form of teleportation!? Where, where now!? He heard a whirl, and he moved to the side to evade a shot aimed at his head from above. That was fast, he threw his sword to the side and blinked to that part to evade a downward kick with swords impaling the crater where he was standing on. The figure turned to him and lunged toward him with the swords ready.
He quickly raised his own, looking at his hand. Why isn't it coming over? He still hasn't figured the workings of that greatsword... but Noct roughly guessed that it would be at a dire situation... Any time would do!
The swords swung down and Noct instinctively responded first with an upwards raise to attempt and stop the swords, finding his knees nearly forced down onto the ground. The swords remained there, he saw the figure go to the ground and thrusted a kick upward toward his sternum. He stopped pushing against the swords in response, feeling himself drop backwards with a bend that made the muscles in his knees ache as they slid down. The figure did a flip to recover from the manoeuvre and fired an arrow at Noct. He quickly registered the form of arrow before using a foot to push himself to the side. The figure teleported to where he was and delivered a roundhouse high-kick and he responded with a block using the blunt side of his sword in response, and he used his other limbs to push himself up to a standing position. But when he landed, his feet slipped and he stumbled back. The figure reacted with a stance after the kick and jumped with a front-flip and commanded the swords to swing down at Noct at her motion.
"Crap!" He exclaimed. He unleashed a Thunder, but because of his state of balance, it went off in a completely wild direction, nothing of his intended aim. The figure swerved around the wild shots of lightning before taking her bow and used it to negate the damage dealt to her while the spell took out her swords. Once the blast ended, she slammed the pointed edge down at Noct.
"Ggh!" He fell back when he couldn't recover his balance. The end of the bow landed a few centimeters away from his crotch. His body jolted in response, shock and near-dead horror. The figure seemed to noticed and paused for a brief moment, before she summoned and sent the swords down at him. Noct used this to throw his sword back and teleported away. The swords impaled the ground and disappeared.
Noct recovered as he found himself warped back to be able to recover back on his feet, quite caked in dust everywhere on his entire body. He quickly raised his sword on guard. Five arrows spread around and homed onto him.
Dodge, deflect, deflect, dodge, deflect... he studied. He acted as he went, moving to dodge the first, knocking the following two away, he kicked away again to avoid the fourth. As the fifth one came, he raised and blocked it, quickly spinning around and sending the arrow down just near him to make a blast of dust from around him. He waited, and waited. Having to remember what he knew. The dust, she may use it to her advantage. He had to counteract the attack she would perform. He allowed his instincts act and swung his sword. In doing so, he blocked four swords and a bow being swung. There she was, Noct held his sword with both hands and swung with all his strength to bring her back. The force of the blow blew her hood off.
"Hah?" He blinked as he took in the identity of his opponent. He could see green hair in a curly bowl cut with a single strand sticking out, red eyes, and frills at the side over white skin. When he thought about it, the identity does bear similarity to the Matron he met at the temple... And this one was younger. They stated about the priestess being missing. Could it be...
He quickly stood on guard. "...So you have finally shown yourself." she muttered before summoning the swords and dashing toward Noct at such speed. He prepared his stance, still. He wasn't dropping his guard, even though that had worn him out well... Wait, did that include... some form of... swishing? Swords don't make that form of sound yet.
She was behind him, her arms and swords had waved and he heard some squishy sounds that made that something was cut. His vision spotted some tentacles squirming in the ground in front of him. "!?" He quickly kicked one writhing one flying away, it was pretty heavy for one. "What the..." he murmurs. Something... felt awfully... familiar. His head felt aches.
"You think I, controlled by you?" The figure exclaimed. "Guess again, Manifestation of Gluttony."
'Manifestation... of Gluttony?' Noct slowly turned around and he heard shouts in his head. "Ngh... Unghhh..." he groaned in response. A once-cut tentacle soon regenerated into a full tentacle. The... grotesque human face of a man with a crown and eight violet tentacles whipped about in air. The figure held Noct and both teleported a distance away from the Deadly Sin. The figure eyed Noct holding his head. "Heheh... What's the matter, Prince? Stirring up bad memories?" He speaks tauntingly.
"Making taunts?" The figure wondered. "Is this how you resort to still remain thinking you are a God? A resort just to hide your weakness to keep the image of a God."
"God?" The octopus cackled. "The age of Gods are long gone... Now, all are able to do whatever they want without any 'divine guidance'."
"I wasn't talking about the concept of God," the figure retorted. "About you seeking any power by stealing them." She turned to Noct. "I apologize about that scuffle earlier, it is because this Deadly Sin tried to take you by surprise and the safer way to lure him in is by doing this."
"...Haah..." Noct felt his head slowly trying to relax to at least hear others. "...I just... don't know what to believe right now..." he answers.
"To lead, what you did was unforgiveable," the figure turned to Beelzebub. "Right now, you who became a demon but think of self as a God shall fall!" Beelzebub laughed, towards the point that he coughed midway, hacking out phlegm. He recovered after his mild cough. "I was once revered a God, but no longer... I already threw all there is of divinity. How can you think of making me fall further than I already have?"
"You already had." She aimed her bow and readied a stance. "By destroying an entire race." She turned to Noct. "Get ready."
Noct took in a few breaths of silence before he readied a stance, sword held upright even with some light shaking. "All that's left... is the Prince, and nothing... can save the entire realm!" Beelzebub announces. "Anything else... will just be another meal for me!"
The figure jumped and fired arrows at Beelzebub and Noct threw his sword over to a separate direction and teleported nearby to slash down at Beelzebub's side. The figure looked around, she performed a flip to evade a tentacle thrusted at her and slid on top of it, firing arrows along the way. Beelzebub grunted while he moved his tentacles around to perform a rounded direction of defense, though the puncturing of earthen-imbued projectiles still hurt for him. He glanced at Noct's direction after he began running around to find another spot. He sneered when he was reaching behind him.
'That's right, get a good look at this!' Noct watches that the slits behind Beelzebub's head... opened to reveal eyes that focused on him. He reeled. Those even look fiendishly horrid. He shook his head and quickly looked at a direction to attack Beelzebub, throwing his sword and warping over there, immediately swinging down.
He felt he being dragged by something, then he was slapped by someone on the face. "Dagh!" He blinked. His vision refocused to... uh... wasn't he attacking Beelzebub? "Don't look at those eyes when he does that." she told him. "It will make your senses perceive things randomly."
A tentacle swat down, the figure swung the swords around, slicing them. Noct quickly moved back, noticing he felt increasingly lethargic. Not towards his stamina, but more of... inner works. "Damm, why am I running out quickly on... aether? I hadn't cast anything yet..."
"It is another effect of that ability," the figure told him while she handed an Ether to him. He dodged a tentacle and quickly took in gulps. "Sapping aether too? What else is there?"
The two jumped in different directions before the fired a sphere at Noct. Noct felt something spin, spotting the swords spinning around him, though only two of them. He watched as the swords blocked every blow from a wild slam of tentacles. He always thought those swords were annoying when he fought the figure but having two of them protecting him now, he at least felt grateful for a form of acting defense or offense.
The figure ran and avoided eye contact with the eyes behind while the swords around her protected her from the brutal onslaught. She aimed and fired arrows while she ran. Noct did a roll and watched the swords move to stop the tentacles and he quickly looked around to find a point to dive and strike. He threw his sword upwards, quickly warping overhead of Beelzebub and began to use the momentum to strengthen his diving slash.
Beelzebub quickly made a few snapping sounds with some tentacles and conjured water to burst around the area.
The figure turned, she encased herself with a shield and was blown away from the force of the water while the shield negated the damage dealt to her. She did a flip, stepped on the walls of the battlefield, and propelled herself forward with a kick to one of Beelzebub's tentacles, making sure she didn't step on suckers that would restrain her before doing a backflip and fired three shots at the demon.
Noct side-stepped away from a blast, a light emerged from his palm before unleashing streaks of lightning that dispersed the spells Beelzebub fired at his area. The figure charges a shot and fired it toward Beelzebub's head, she gasped as a tentacle hit her but hit a clone she created while she evaded the attack. "What?" She exclaimed, the shot didn't damage him but instead healed him.
"Hrah!" Noct fired Thundara onto Beelzebub. The bolts made their mark onto the octopus fiend, but those didn't appear to deal damage this time. "It worked earlier! Why not now!?" Noct was stupefied.
Beelzebub laughed. "Can't harm me this time? Especially after going through neck and neck with that hothead, I regained some of my powers back!"
"Iggy... So, that's what he meant..." the figure muttered. The figure evaded a thrust from a tentacle, hitting it with the swords but only healed it. She sneered. "Gluttony, not only food but even with strength."
"He's healing whatever we throw at him now...!" Noct grumbles. He moved to evade a Watera sent towards his direction. They watched as their attacks did nothing but heal him. The kept on evading as they noticed something being formed from his mouth. If he fired that, it would be impossible to defeat him now. Come on, think. He may be absorbing our attacks but there's something we're missing. Wait... The figure channelled something from her bow before firing a powerful sphere toward Beelzebub. He absorbed the attack, but she noticed something. Did he...flinch? He was trying to hide it then remembered a saying.
"...That's it!"
Beelzebub watched the two trying to find a way to stop him as they threw their best attacks at him. Nothing was getting through him, this power, he felt invincible with this power he held. He opened his mouth, ready to end this fight and make them squirm over his power.
"Slow Territory!"
"Gurgh?" He was encased within a sphere, all of his movements slowed, including the ability he held. What was she thinking?
"You! Use all that can! Don't let up!" The figure told Noct as she began charging an arrow from her bow.
Noct nodded, looking at his sword and he focused. It was gone and he imagined the image of that greatsword. He felt a hilt touch his hands and he gripped it, seeing it right there. That sword...
"My prince, don't hold back. Everyone is counting on you." Zurvan...He didn't but...He could feel that Zurvan told him those words. He felt his energy waning while he held the greatsword, he wouldn't last too long if he kept holding onto this...
He had to make this count, a strike was enough. He swung his sword to the side...
"It's over!" the figure called out as she released. "Freedom Seeker!"
"...!" Noct felt the motions come to him with his position and he shouts out, "...Luster Edge Eruption!"
The attacks collided with Beelzebub. They were absorbed, however... Beelzebub felt something within him, ready to burst apart.
"...Guuurk!?" This power, there was enough he could consume but... She found out the limit he could take, no! How could this happen!? He was Beelzebub! How co-
BOOM!
His body...It was torn apart from the very damage that healed him. Unable to contain them any longer, his body gave way for the gathered damage to tear it apart. The bubble disappeared while the figure and Noct stared at the defeated demon.
"..." The figure stood silently and watched Beelzebub squirm on the floor. Only his head remained. He vomited some form of... bile from his head, crown tipped over to the side. "...Urk... I regained it just recently..." Beelzebub hacked.
"It was all you could do by saying you aren't a God, you still had limits." the figure held something. "And you aren't invincible as you thought."
Beelzebub's main eyeballs spun around in a twisted way of rotation. "...Gurk..." His head... it began to disintegrate from around the sides. Even the crown ontop of his head was slowly croming away into dissipating matter. Then, he began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Noct asks.
"You." Beelzebub answers. "You're still nothing. No one... to be by your side... No one around that knows you all so well... They're all no longer here... because you didn't act well..." Noct stared at Beelzebub in silence, registering the words as much as he could make out of it. Beelzebub continued to cackle, his disintegration reaching around his face. Eyeballs gone, then to nose, and finally towards his laughing, repulsive mouth. Silence spun around the air as nothing was left of the Manifestation of Gluttony. The figure turned over to Noct, studying his body.
"All he did was spit out some nonsense." the figure told him. "When they know they are defeated, they try to get to you through words. Words are powerful but don't let them get to you. I've learned that much."
Noct held his head. "...I just... don't remember... most of it." He murmurs. The figure smiled. "Your friends will help," the figure told him. "It will be painful once you recover them but the past will stay in the past. Right now, you can fix them for the future."
"...Future... righ-whoah..." Noct felt his shaking legs give way and he began to fall backwards. The figure caught him. Noct blushed a bit, being saved by a female and he didn't even know her name. Just the alias the Azure Archer based on her cloak and weaponry. But...Her resemblance to Grace...Could it be?
"I forgot to introduce myself, sorry, it was...a lot has happened," she embarrassedly told him. "The name's Esme Earthbound."
"Es..." Noct panted out exhausted. "Priestess... Temple..."
"It seems you've been there," she muttered. "However, I'm apologizing in advance, but I won't be going home for a while. I have unfinished business to attend to."
"Bee... Beelzebub... wasn't?"
"No... Another thing they used. Seems they don't want me to aid the bigger problem. A little problem but I need to take care of it before it could make things worse."
Noct heaves out loudly. "O...Okaaay... Ti... Tired... Can't... continue on..." He tried to raise a finger, but still felt the trembling going through his body. His vision was fading as Esme spoke... "Restore the Crystal Core, Our Prince."
"Aniki? Aniki?"
"...Uuuuuuhhhh..." His voice sounded... perhaps slurred? Maybe? Noct tried to make his eyes oriented to look at the calling towards him.
"Come on, do I need to use a frying pan to wake him? Or a ladle? Both of them?"
"...Don't... I'm... trying to feel... okay."
He turned to see the GeoGreymon watching him inside the infirmary. He looked around, and he could see some of the people in charge of the Coliseum were there as well being treated. He looked at the time, realizing he had been out for nearly an hour after that battle with Beelzebub. He looked at Fortem and around to see if Esme was there. She was nowhere to be found.
"Who are you looking for?" Fortem asked.
"Uh... Did you see... an... uh, Azure Archer?" he asks.
"The one among the top five?" Fortem wondered. "No, you were in the infirmary when I found you."
"No?"
"No, we heard about Beelzebub coming here so I rushed in to help, everyone did. But...I am glad you are alright, but...I'm sorry for not being there."
"It's... okay... Beelzebub... gone." Noct assures.
"...Okay..." Fortem nodded.
"You did work yourself out there, kid," Erik called, approaching the two. "Even with the aid of someone, you managed to defeat a Deadly Sin."
"...Yeah..." Noct nodded lightly, looking at his palm. "It... it was... exhausting."
"One down, we still have six more to go." Erik looked around while Fortem gave some beverage to Noct to recover his strength. "It won't be easy but to save Fidem from destruction, we have to be ready."
Noct took a sip before he immediately expels it out as a spray of liquid in front of him. Fortem jolted from the liquid hitting his thigh.
"Don't spit that!" Erik snapped.
"What is that?" Noct asks, brushing his teeth onto his tongue.
"Skele-Gro, what did you expect? Pumpkin juice!?"
"I... lost bones!?"
"You took some damage at the rib, be careful, and drink it." Erik grabbed the drink and began forcefully dumping gulps down into Noct's throat. "You'll thank me later."
"Guuuk! Puuk, bluguhghkkkk!"
Fortem could only do was watch. It was for the best for Noct to recover but...He wasn't there for his partner. He wanted to be strong. Stronger to protect him.
A village, razed to the ground. A "minimal" damage for Fidem to be saved. There were no survivors, their corpses laid around the roads and houses. Men, women, old, children...Even animals. Over the mountains, a group stood.
"Iggy, we are too late," The azure-cloaked warrior turned to the orange-cloaked warrior.
"They're... all gone, all of them..." The orange-cloaked warrior mutters.
"..." the azure-cloaked warrior held onto something. "A cause for Heavensfall, a necessary sacrifice for the bigger picture? What do they even mean?"
"...I don't know." He answers. "But they were there at that city for a reason... and with it inaccessible to nearly everyone... We don't know just how long the Crystal Core can hold onto the stability before everything is all gone..." He fixed his hood. "Without any governors, the worlds are constructing their own 'governors' in a stability medium attempt..."
"...I don't understand," she held a necklace with a leaf-shaped silver on it. "They were so kind...to help children like us. They never..."
"..." The orange cloaked warrior went silent for a while.
...
"...They need to be put into proper rest, can't stay comfortable looking at them all lying down like that."
"...Yes."
Those were from the past now, Esme knelt down before graves. Kneeling before one as she placed the necklace on it. She wasn't able to save them but...This was the only thing she could do. It was a long way to go, she looked at the gray sky. But to make a clear sky...
"It will take long but...The Prince, shall be our hope."
Chapter 15 Concluded