As Lancar and others were going through their ordeals at the Sealed Cavern and the Shrine of Kaddan, Albel and his group were heading up the Mountain of Barr in order to get through the Ruins of Barr, Urssa Lava Caves then finally to the hidden Urssa Cave Temple. Albel, Raditz, Clair, Maria, Reen, and Jeiuce all had no idea what to expect inside the Urssa Cave Temple, but there was no look of hesistance or uncertainty in their faces; all of them were focused sorely on the task at hand, which was to get through the dungeon in order to get to the Daemoneum again and save Fayt and Nel, as well as the world from the demon threat. It wasn't in their frame of mind for them to worry about anything else at that very moment.
"Jeiuce, may I ask you something?" Clair politely asked Jeiuce as the group walked up the uphill mountain path. "Would you know anything about our two friends that were captured as the invasion began?"
"I did not take part in it personally, so I could not tell you." Jeiuce replied. "Only those who are in the higher-ups of our ranks were directly involved, such as Romero and Saphiro."
"I… I see…" Clair said, as her voice trailed off. "I was just wondering… if they are both still safe, or if they are still even alive..."
"It is highly unlikely that those two have been killed." Jeiuce told her. "Most of the test subjects are usually kept alive for various reasons… for future experiments, uses, and whatnot."
"That's right…" Maria said. "I specifically remember few humans as well as various other organisms being kept alive in tubes at the Time and Space lab… I saw them as I escaped from the place. What Jeiuce said would explain why I wasn't disposed of after they finished conducting their experiment. Either way, I wouldn't worry about Fayt or Nel… they are most likely still alive."
"Yes, I certainly hope so." Clair said, still worried for Fayt and her best friend.
"W… wait a minute… So you Demons capture us, then do experiments on us there?" Reen asked, a little disgusted by the thought. "That's horrible! What for?"
"It is no different from what you mortals do." Jeiuce said. "You mortals perform experiments on various other kinds that live in your dimension for your own benefit, do you not? No matter what the purpose is, what we are doing is no different from what you do."
"But that's…!" Reen yelled back, but she couldn't really reply to that one.
"Hey, where do you get all the equipments and stuff for the experiments, anyway?" Raditz asked, curious as he always is. "Your kind certainly doesn't look like you'd have so much scientific knowledge… I thought demons… you know… just do demonic, evil stuff… like scare and haunt people!"
"Hmph! You insolent fool! It's just like you mortals to be so ignorant." Jeiuce yelled. "We demons are more intelligent than you foolish mortals think. We could possibly be even more advanced."
"But I find it interesting that your technology seem to be exactly the same as ones in our dimension." Maria said. "How is that possible?"
"We demons are born from souls and spirits in this dimension… after your bodies die." Jeiuce explained. "That is why we essentially have the same knowledge."
"W…what?" Raditz yelled, shocked. "You mean after we all die, we're all going to become demons, too?"
"That depends." Jeiuce said, as he continued his explanation. "If the evil component of your soul has a strong attachment to this world, whether or not the reason be grudge, vengeance, or whatever, then you will be reborn as a Demon."
"So that's how it works." Albel said, finding it fascinating. "So how did you come about then, Demon? What was your reason?"
"There is no reason for me to explain that to you mortals." Jeiuce said, annoyed. "Also, I would have all you mortals shut your trap right about now. We are enemies… After we defeat Saphiro, Asmodeus, and whoever that is behind him, we will become enemies once again. Do not forget that."
"Right." Albel sneered back, sarcastically. "I guess I'll ask to you again after I die, then. I'll probably be reborn as a demon, too."
"Albel… don't say that…" Clair objected, with a sad look on her face.
'Hmph. It's just that I probably don't have any choice in the matter.' Albel thought to himself. He had done way too many evil deeds in this world… and he was certainly driven by the sense grudge and vengence.
Or am I, still? Albel asked himself, as he looked at Clair. Perhaps he was driven by grudge and vengence in the past, but the things were slowly changing. Albel definitely recognized that much.
"Sorry to interrupt, but it looks like we have company." Maria said, as she quickly reached back for her pulse gun. "A LOT of them, at that."
Everybody stopped and looked ahead, to see a swarm of little red dragons blocking their path. There was countless number of them, about 40 of them in total.
"WHOA!" Raditz yelled, shocked by the sight. "We're going to have to fight all of these? Damn… this is just WAY too many!"
"We fought these little dragons two years ago as well…" Maria said, getting into her defensive stance. "A few of them wouldn't be a problem, but it's certainly a big group… this could be trouble."
"Hah, they were nothing back then, and I'm sure they are nothing now!" Albel said, as he unsheathed his katana. "We'll just have few more to play with this time, that's all."
Suddenly, the swarm of little dragons all jumped towards the group aggressively, beginning the battle. Albel easily slashed two of the dragons out of the way in front of him, but three more jumped behind him to peck at him rentlessly with their beak like raging chickens. Albel tried to shake them off, but it proved to be more of a trouble than he expected; they quickly jumped back, and then stung like a bee once again. Maria attempted to control the crowd of dragons by using her Scatter Beam attack, but she only managed to get few of them at a time – the dragons were quick to evade the shots.
"Damn, they're everywhere! OW!" Raditz yelled in pain as one of the little dragons jumped and pecked at his arm sharply. "There is no way I can deal with them all at the same time!"
"Ahh, get these dragons OFF OF ME!" Reen yelled, as she was forced to fly up in order to avoid the onslaught of the little dragons. "At first I thought they were a little cute… but they're really like a swarm of insects! AH! OUCH!"
"Ugh… I certainly wish Farleen was here…" Clair said, doing her best to evade the dragon's attacks and fight them off with her twin daggers. "She would be able to deal with all of them at the same time…" Clair knew that she could cast a runology spell herself affecting a large area like Southern Cross, but it was slow enough for these quick dragons to avoid being hit by it.
"Man, this fight will tire us all out even BEFORE we get to the Daemoneum!" Raditz said as he repelled the dragons around him with his Rift Wave, but they kept coming at him. "AACK!"
"Beh, I've had enough of these little vermins." Jeiuce said, slashing the dragons away with his long spear. "Playtime's over… All of you, keep these things away from me for a little bit. I'm going to decimate them all at the same time."
"You got a plan, demon?" Albel asked, as he had to shield himself from the dragons using his Aura Wall. "I do have to admit that this ain't much fun anymore…"
"What? How are you going to do that?" Reen asked, smacking the dragons away with her Raven Orb. "You know a spell or something?"
"Just do it, you foolish mortals!" Jeiuce yelled. "Unless you want to keep getting pecked at by these things!"
"Alright everyone, let's help him out." Maria said, dashing towards Jeiuce to cover him. "Try to make it quick, Jeiuce. I'm not sure how long we can hold out for."
Clair, Albel, Reen, and Raditz all ran towards Jeiuce to cover him from all directions, acting as human shields. Everybody tried their best to repel the dragons away from Jeiuce as he was casting his spell, so that he wouldn't be interrupted. Finally, after about 30 seconds, Jeiuce finished his casting.
"GREMLIN LAIR!" Jeiuce yelled as a group of 10 green gremlins suddenly emerged from under the ground. They all started ferociously attacking the dragons, releasing countless number of sharp energy sickles towards them. The sickles scattered and cut through every single one of the dragons, taking care of all of them almost instantly.
"WOW, that was amazing!" Reen yelled in praise, amazed by Jeiuce's awesome spell.
"That should be all of them." Jeiuce said, as he dusted himself off and walked ahead. "I'm going on ahead. I don't enjoy wasting my time here like all you mortals do… Stop the needless chatting and focus on the task at hand."
"Heh. Not bad." Albel smirked, impressed by Jeiuce's spell.
"…I'm certainly glad he didn't get to use THAT spell on us when we fought him…" Raditz muttered, as he followed behind Albel, Jeiuce and others.
The group made their way through the rest of the Mountains of Barr, Ruins of Barr and the Urssa Lava Caves with relative ease. They faced several demons and monsters along the way, but they were powerless to stop the 6 determined warriors focused on making their way through. Eventually, under Albel's lead, they arrived at the door in front of Crosell's Lair.
"This is it." Albel told everyone. "Past this door is the Dragon's Lair, and the entrance to the Urssa Cave Temple is inside one of the caves. Prepare yourselves… we're entering the enemy's main base."
"Yeah, I'm prepared for all that, but…" Raditz muttered. "Did you say Dragon's Lair? Don't tell me we're going to have to fight MORE of those little dragons? Arrg…"
"Heh, it's certainly not little." Albel joked. "Looks like some of you fools will be in for a surprise."
"The place we're entering is a completely different place. We're entering the Lair of Crosell, the King of all Dragons on this planet." Clair explained. "This is the first time I'm entering this place, myself."
"The King of Dragons?" Reen asked, a little intimidated. "Hmm, that sounds like trouble…"
"Don't worry, Crosell already knows of me and Albel from two years ago." Maria assured them. "It will not be hostile, I can guarantee you that. You don't have be afraid."
Everyone went through the door to see a large, open cave with stairs leading up to ground where Crosell usually dwells. Crosell had its eyes closed, crouched down as if he was asleep.
"T…THAT'S THE DRAGON YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT?" Raditz yelled, surprised as hell. "That's… WAY TOO BIG! And you guys actually fought that thing?"
"A…are you sure he won't be hostile?" Reen asked carefully. "He looks really dangerous..."
"Stop wetting your pants, you cowards. You can rest easy." Albel jeered. "Like Maria said, it's harmless."
"I've heard the legend of the Marquis, but…" Clair said, also astonished by the Dragon's immense size. "But to actually see it in person… it's even more amazing!"
"Alright…" Albel said, walking up to Crosell. "Crosell, we have to enter the Urssa Cave Temple. I know it's forbidden, but we have no choice…"
"…" Crosell did not respond, still crouched down, totally silent.
"Hey!" Albel yelled. "Did you just hear what I said?"
"Wait a minute…" Clair said, walking up to the big dragon. "He's… he's been hurt! I see scars all over his body!"
"Damn… it must be the demons!" Raditz cursed. "Even this dragon probably had trouble dealing with all of them…"
"One second… I will cast a healing spell." Clair said, as she inched closer to Crosell to cast her healing spell.
At that moment, Crosell suddenly opened his eyes in a flash. It quickly got up from the ground and roared out loud, catching everyone by surprise. Then Crosell lifted his back feet, attempting to stamp on Clair.
"CLAIR!" Albel yelled, as he dove in to drag Clair out of the way, just in time. Crosell's feet trampled down hard on the ground, creating a huge crack on the ground and causing a thunderous earthquake throughout the caves. Albel rolled down the stairs with Clair in his arms, successful in pulling her out of the way just in time.
"W… what?" Albel muttered, in shock. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"
"Y… you said this dragon wasn't hostile!" Raditz yelled, unsheathing his sword quickly to get ready for battle. "What's going on here?"
"C… Crosell! Your excellency!" Maria yelled, in shock as well. "It is us! The ones who requested your help two years ago! Surely you remember us!"
"…" Crosell stared down at the group with Zombish eyes, and then spoke. "FOOLISH HUMANS… HUMANS… MUST BE ANNIHILATED!"
"What the hell is going on?" Albel yelled, unsheathing his katana as well. "It's me! Have you forgotten? We've trained together over the last two years!"
"…" Crosell stared down as if he didn't hear anything, and then spoke again in menacing voice. "HUMANS… MUST… DIE!"
"He's been possessed." Jeiuce said, taking out his spear to battle. "I feel the demonic aura within him. There is no doubt."
"Huh?" Albel yelled out, astonished. "Possessed, you say?"
Suddenly, a tall, imposing man with short grey hair and mustache dressed in a black cloak emerged from behind Crosell. He immediately looked towards Albel, recognizing him.
"Well well, if it isn't Albel." The man said, holding a long, huge broadsword in his hand. "I certainly didn't expect to see you here. I figured that you were disposed of long time ago…"
"T…that man…" Clair mumbled, slowly recognizing the man. "T… that can't be! He's…"
"W…what?" Albel looked back at the man, his face suddenly getting pale white. "Y… you're…?"
"Long time no see, Albel the Wicked." The man greeted him, walking up closer to him. "The last time I saw you was when I threw you in jail in the Airyglyph Dungeon, wasn't it? I see that they let you out… those weak fools."
"VOX!" Albel yelled, finally sure of who the man is. "H… how can you be here! Y… you are supposed to be dead!"
"Vox?" Maria asked, remembering the name. "That warmonger who was the former Captain of the Dragon Brigade?"
"Hah… Warmonger… I quite like that title." Vox replied, powerful evil aura surrounding his body. "Not that I should take anything from you lowly mortals as a compliment."
"Us… mortals?" Clair asked, quickly realizing that his aura was not of a human. "Y… you've turned into a demon?"
"I think resurrection is a better word, or reborn…" Vox said. "Either way, yes, I am no longer of your inferior kind. I am now one of the demons, free to fulfill any of my uttermost desires."
"Ah, so you all know each other, that is just great." Raditz said sarcastically. "But we also got that BIG DRAGON OVER THERE TO WORRY ABOUT! Hello!"
"In that case, you might as well worry about us together." Vox said. "Because that dragon is of my possession, now. It obeys only my orders."
"Y… you're the one who possessed Crosell?" Albel asked in rage. "Vox, you scum!"
"I must admit, I found it a great pleasure to finally be able to tame the Marquis. It is something I could not do as a lowly mortal." Vox said proudly. "With my power, I am finally able to subdue any enemies who dare stand in my path. I've already thanked those who took away my mortal life… with their death."
"T… that means…" Maria asked. "You must be the one who lead the invasion and the destruction of the Planet Vendeen!"
"Quite correct. I've killed every single one of those lowly beings." Vox said adamantly, turning to Albel. "Now, you're going to be my next victim. It is going to be a pleasure to finally take your life, Albel. I've been waiting for the opportunity for a very long time."
"Hah! Likewise, you snake!" Albel yelled, with a sly smile. "I'll be more than happy to cut you up into little pieces… It's long overdue… I have never forgotten about that time when you ran out on my father, you coward!"
"Ah, Glou. Yes. Contrary to what you believe, I did not abandon the scene out of fear." Vox said with an evil grin. "That was exactly what I wanted to do… I wanted that scum of your father, dead, so that I could finally become the rightful Captain of the Dragon Brigade myself."
"W…WHAT?" Albel yelled out loud in rage. "You scum… you SPINELESS MAGGOT! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
"Blame not me, but your sorry excuse of a father." Vox said, with a chuckle. "He had gotten way too soft over the years… he was once great, then as the years went by, he turned into a pacifist… a weak coward. Remember, he was the one who originally planned the invasion of Aquaria… I merely carried out the plan myself as it should have been, because that coward could not."
"W… What?" Clair asked, a little shocked by the fact. "A… Albel… is that true?"
"Yes…that's what Woltar said as well…" Albel said with his head hanging down, and then quickly looked back up sharply at Vox. "But you're wrong, Vox! You're the true coward! You're the one who could not stand up to my father, face to face!"
"Hmph, it matters not. In the end, what mattered was that I became the Captain, and that weak fool of your father was dead thanks to Lord Saphiro." Vox said, jumping high up and getting on Crosell's back. "Speaking of weak fools… I could also say the same of you…you couldn't even defeat those pathetic Aquarians yourself, and now you've joined them? You've become soft like rest of these pathetic mortals. Like father, like son, I suppose."
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU BASTARD!" Albel yelled as he furiously charged at Vox and Crosell. "DIE!"
Albel charged from under Crosell to hack away furiously at one of the Dragon's legs. However, although the slashes cut through its legs sharply, Crosell showed no reaction to it. It just dragged its feet back, swung forward and clocked Albel right in his chest, sending him flying back like a bug and crashing down on the ground.
"Damn, the dragon's been possessed for good…" Jeiuce yelled as he swung back his spear and charged it up in flames. He then tossed it high up in the air while yelling "FLAME LANCE!" The flaming spear fell sharply into Crosell's arm, burning through his flesh. However, the big dragon just shook the spear off his arm, unphased.
"PULSE BLAST!" Maria fired repeated shots of pulse blasts towards Crosell's head. Each Pulse Blast burned through its face, but it only phased him for a little bit
"MIRROR SLICE!" Clair yelled as she did series of smooth, fluent slashes onto Crosell's leg. But Crosell was barely affected by it. Raditz jumped up and tried his Twin Slash technique on the Dragon's chest, with similar results. Reen's orb attacks weren't doing any harm, either.
"Heh… futile effort." Vox sneered, as he ordered Crosell to fly up. "Alright, It's time to blow these little bugs away… DOOM RAID!" The dragon flied slightly off the air, then flapped both of its wings with great force towards the party. The resulting gust of wind and shockwave knocked everyone back to the wall, hurting them all badly.
"D…Damn… our attacks can't do anything…" Raditz mumbled in pain, slowly getting up. "This thing's way too big… and so powerful…"
"Crosell's definitely gotten more powerful than before…" Maria said, her eyes still glowing with determination. "But that doesn't mean that we can just give up!"
"Heh… Don't get me wrong… I never said I wanted to give up..." Raditz said, charging towards Vox and Crosell again. "I'm going to keep going until I'm dead! I'm not going just to run from those who stand in my way! HIYAAA!"
"My thoughts exactly." Albel said, also charging at Vox and Crosell once more relentlessly. "Don't think that I'm going to just give up, Vox!"
Raditz and Albel both executed their Twin Slash/Double Slash attack simultaneously to deal sickening slices to Crosell's body, but the big dragon didn't even flinch. It was as if he couldn't even feel any pain anymore.
"Hmm, fools…" Vox muttered, as he raised his long broadsword to mount an attack of his own. He swung back on his sword, and swiped it towards everyone coming at him to create a powerful swirl of energy. The Dragon Brigade Slash attack easily floored everyone again, with the party seemingly helpless against the onslaught of both Vox and Crosell.
"Gwaa… DAMN IT!" Albel muttered clutching his wounds, cursing at his own weakness in not being able to deal any damage to both Vox and Crosell. "That snake Vox… hiding behind Crosell… if he was floored, I would be able to deal with that scum with ease…"
Suddenly, Crosell turned his head towards Clair and opened his mouth wide. A gigantic blast of scorching flames suddenly bursted out of his mouth, as his Supreme Fire Breath homed in on Clair rapidly to engulf her. "Ahhh!…" Clair yelped, with no way of dodging the wide attack. Clair closed her eyes, feeling the red-hot flames rushing closer to her by the split second.
"NO!" Albel yelled, getting a sudden flashback of his father's death. He was about to witness the same scene, and he was once again powerless to do anything just like last time. Albel could only cringe in despair as the fire breath was about to blow Clair away…
"ICE COFFIN!" Jeiuce suddenly yelled out of nowhere, casting his ice-based spell on Clair a split second before the fire breath engulfed her. The Ice Coffin spell encased Clair in a block of ice, protecting her from Crosell's fiery breath. The Ice block eventually melted away against the fire, but succeeded in keeping Clair from receiving any damage.
"Clair!" Albel yelled, rushing over to Clair in concern. "You alright?"
"Y…yes, I'm fine. T…thank you, Jeiuce…" Clair mumbled, surprised but grateful for Jeiuce saving her. "Thank you for saving me…"
"Hmph, don't thank me, I didn't save you because I wanted to." Jeiuce replied coldly. "I only saved you because we're going to need all the help we can get for rest of our quest, and for this enemy."
"We owe you one… but enough talk… our enemy is still standing." Albel commented, as Crosell and Vox flew off the ground again to ready another attack. "Crosell's not feeling any pain… and Vox is attacking while hiding behind him, using him as a shield. Damn, we need to find a way to separate those two… If we take care of Crosell first, then I can take care of that scum Vox."
"Crosell's the main concern… ugh…" Maria said, as she ran back quickly to dodge Vox's Dragon Brigade Slash. "There's got to be a way we can hurt him."
'What can we do? He's not feeling the effects of any attacks we are doing to his body…' Clair thought, dodging Vox's attack. 'Wait a second… that's it… we're not doing any damage from our external attacks. But maybe if we attack him from…'
"Everybody, I got an idea!" Clair suddenly yelled out to everyone. "Please keep him occupied away from me for a moment. I just thought of something that might work…"
"Huh? What's that?" Reen asked, busy avoiding Vox's attacks. "You think you can hurt him with something?"
"Yes. Please keep Crosell and Vox busy while I charge up the spell." Clair said, raising both of her arms high above her head and putting her hands together. "I can't guarantee anything, but it's the best thing I can think of at the moment…"
"Really? Okay then… what the hell…" Raditz said, stepping in front of Clair. "Let's do as she says, everyone. It's not like we have any better ideas… Let's keep them busy while she does her thing!"
"I don't know what your plan is…" Albel said, stepping aside Clair to guard her. "But I have faith in you. So don't worry about those two, just concentrate on your spell… I'll protect you from their attacks no matter what."
"Thank you, Albel." Clair replied, as she started gathering runological force in her hands. This was a spell she had learned from her father, but she had never used it in actual battle yet. Remembering her father's teaching, Clair focused to channel the forces of all four elements together; Fire, Water, Air and Earth. The channeled force of all elements came together to form an energy orb above her hands, gradually getting bigger and bigger.
"Alright, TAKE THIS!" Raditz yelled as he suddenly leaped high up in the ground, covered in powerful blue aura. "DRAGON HOWL!" Raditz dove in towards Crosell covered in dragon-shaped aura, succeeding in knocking Crosell back with a powerful impact. Maria also kept Vox the big dragon busy by shooting repeated pulse blasts from her gun, while Jeiuce used his Shadow Flare spell to nail both of them with rain of fiery shadow bolts.
"Ugh… you pesky mortals…" Vox cursed, now feeling the pressure of attacks mounted on by all the fighters. "That's enough… it's time to demolish you all! STEEL REND!" Vox's attack floored everyone again, except for Clair who had Albel come in front of her to block the attack.
"Ugh… can't… hold on… for much longer…" Raditz muttered, fatigue and pain starting to really catch up to him. "I can… barely move anymore…"
"S… shit…" Albel cursed, struggling to get up. "I can't… lose…"
"Hmph. How stubborn. Looks like I'm going to need to burn you all away for good…" Vox commented, ordering Crosell to mount another Supreme Fire Breath attack to finish everyone off. However, he had totally forgotten about one person who was able to successfully dodge his previous attack; Reen flew up from behind both Vox and Crosell, readying an attack of her own.
"W… what?" Vox yelled, noticing Reen flying behind her. "There's one that can… fly?"
"Geez, why does everyone get SO surprised whenever they see me flying? That's what my wings are for… Seriously, you evil people are all so stupid" Reen teased, before finally unleashing her attack. "HAIL ORB!" Countless number of energy orbs started showering down from the sky like a hailstorm, every single one of them precisely nailing Crosell on top of his head. Reen's powerful Hail Orb attack succeeded in hurting unexpecting Crosell, as it opened its mouth wide and let out a loud howl "GWROOOOARR!"
Right at that moment, Clair took the opportunity to unleash her charged orb attack.
"EMOTION TORRENT!" Clair threw the big ball of energy orb that was held high above her head right into Crosell's mouth, deep inside his body. The energy ball exploded violently from the inside Crosell's body just a few seconds later, causing him to let out a thunderous roar in pain. With dark smoke coming out from his mouth, Crosell's body dropped to the ground heavily, defeated and lifeless.
"We did it!" Maria yelled. "We got him good!"
"W… WHAT?" Vox yelled, thrown off from Crosell from the exploding impact. "H… HOW DARE YOU… DO THAT TO MY MOST PRIZED DRAGON!"
"He ain't your dragon, you maggot. He never was." Albel sneered, jumping in front of him to get ready for a duel. "Now, we'll see how tough you are when you're grounded. It's time for me to finish you off with my own hands!"
"Beh…" Vox charged towards Albel with a rather unconfident look on his face, knowing fully well that Albel had always been a better sword fighter. He now had to depend on his new Demonic powers to fight him off. He slashed furiously at Albel with his gigantic broadsword, which Albel dodged. After dodging Vox's sword attacks with ease, Albel saw an opening, and countered with one of his own techniques.
"ILLUSION!" Albel yelled as he quickly unleashed 4 blurring slashes in a cross-shaped pattern right on to his body. He then executed two more spinning slashes, as Vox dropped his broadsword and started staggering in the spot, stunned and devastated.
"I… I have been… defeated…? The great demon Vox…defeated by the likes… of these lowly… mortals…?" Vox mumbled, as he clutched the fatal wound on his chest. "GWAAAAAA!" Vox dropped to the ground, dead, as Albel simply unsheathed his sword in victory.
"That was long overdue." Albel said, not showing too much emotion. "The scum Vox, is finally dead for good."
"Whoa… that was… amazing…" Raditz said, amazed by Albel's technique. "What an awesome technique… it was so fast that I couldn't even see it!"
"Hmph." Albel grunted, then immediately turned towards fallen Crosell. "Crosell… is he… dead?"
"Clair's energy attack exploded from inside of his body…" Maria said, examining the lifeless body of Crosell. "There was no chance for him to survive from such a devastating attack from within."
"…" Albel fell silent, as his head sank. Crosell had always been a rather obnoxious and overly proud king of the dragons, but Albel had grown fond of him over the last few years as he trained with him. When it all came down to it, he was a honourable creature who was an invaluable comrade and mentor to Albel. Losing him was a great tragedy to Albel, who was now mourning his lost. Yet another one who was close to him had just been sacrificed to this demon invasion…
"I'm sorry…" Clair apologized, sensing Albel's sadness. "I'm sorry that I had to kill him… I know you didn't want any more sacrifices in this war…"
"Don't blame yourself. We had no choice but to kill him." Albel said quietly, as he turned away from Crosell's body. "Or else he would have crushed us all."
"This is why wars are so unfortunate…" Maria said, also mourning for Crosell's lost. "Countless innocent lives, sacrificed to greed and twisted ambitions of few individuals… We can't allow this to continue… We must end this war, at all costs."
"Yeah…" Reen agreed, with a sad look on her face. "This has all got to stop… now."
"I've been living in peace for most of my life… totally oblivious to this cruel reality…" Raditz muttered, with a grim but determined face. "Now I finally understand what my ancestors and other Federation heroes were all truly fighting for. I always wanted to be a hero who saves the world, but for all the wrong reasons. I've found my true reason now... Screw fame, and all that other crap… I just want all the destruction and meaningless sacrifices like this to stop."
"So let us all go on ahead, then." Jeiuce said, focusing everyone back on task at hand. "Let's go defeat Asmodeus and the man behind him, to put an end to this senseless war. I do not want to see any more useless sacrifices of my fellow demon comrades, myself."
"Alright then. Follow me." Albel said, walking towards to the cave located in the Northeast corner of Crosell's Lair. "The Urssa Cave Temple is this way."
Chapter 53: Urssa Cave Temple
After healing their wounds with Clair and Maria's healing spells, Albel's group continued to the Cave located in the Northeast corner of Crosell's Lair, to reach the entrance to the hidden Urssa Cave Temple. As everyone headed inside, Albel turned to Clair, to ask her something.
"You must hate me now, don't you…" Albel asked with a serious face, seeming pretty down on himself.
"Huh? Why would you say that?" Clair asked, having no idea why Albel would ask her such question. "Why would I hate you now? I do not hate you, at all, for any reason."
"Is that really so…" Albel said, turning away from her, overcome with guilt. "Even after what you heard from Vox? It was indeed my father who originally planned the invasion of Aquaria. It was him who planned for all the suffering and destruction to happen in your land. And I, his son, blindly cooperated only because I longed for a fight…"
"No, you're wrong… it's neither you or your father's fault. It was Vox who actually carried out the plan itself, and he's at fault." Clair argued Albel's claims, shaking her head. "Vox said that your father didn't go along with the plan, for whatever reason. Perhaps he had realized and eventually decided that it wouldn't be good to start a war between our countries."
"But you still don't hate me or my father for harbouring such intentions?" Albel asked. "I slaughtered many of your fellow Aquarians in the war for no reason at all other than simply wanting to fight. What I did was no different from all these demons…"
"Albel, let's just forget about all those things… you have already learned from mistakes of your ways, and besides… we should leave everything that have happened where it rightfully belongs… in the past." Clair said, comforting him with an assuring smile. "I hold no grudge or bad feeling towards anyone from Airyglyph anymore… I just simply want this war happening right now, to end. That's the most important task at hand right now."
"Clair…" Albel said, grateful for Clair's forgiveness and kindness. "Thank you…"
Meanwhile, Maria, Raditz, Reen, and Jeiuce were all examining a monolith that stood before the first door at the Temple. "Hey, you two… come here for sec." Maria called out to them, waving them towards her. "There is a monolith here which says something, but it seems to be in Ancient writing of this planet. Even my Translator can't decipher this… Do you think you can translate it?"
"Sure, let me take a look at it…" Clair said, walking up to examine the monolith herself. "Let's see… hmm… you're right, this is the ancient characters that was used here dating all the way back to the time before the days of Ancient Kingdom of Aquor… just give me a moment, and I should be able to translate it."
"That's great." Maria said in relief. "Take your time."
"Alright, it says…" Clair started reading it out, translating it word by word. "Offer the opposing orb… to the dais… to open the way… But know this: That which is the same… as the orb offered… shall become an indestructible… barrier."
"Huh? What's that all about?" Raditz muttered, confused about its meaning. "Indestructible barrier?"
"It looks as though it is a clue to some sort of a puzzle that exists within this Temple." Clair told everyone. "We will have to keep this in our mind. Let's go ahead."
Everyone headed through the first door to the interiors of the temple. It was a strangely well-lighted temple, with Altars seemingly scattered everywhere in the large hall. Something flashed in Albel's mind right at that moment once again… He was here one time, too. He couldn't remember exactly when, but he definitely remembered this place from some time ago.
"There are Altars everywhere…" Reen said, examining the hall. "And… hey! I can sense demons here, too! Let's be careful…"
"Not surprising, since this is supposed to be our main base of operations." Jeiuce said, stepping forward. "We should be able to take care of the guards, as long as they're not too many of them. Most of the army should be out there in the overworld right now for the invasion…which probably means that the security is probably relatively light right now, compared to before. "
"Alright, let's go. And stay on your toes." Albel said, cautiously walking ahead. "We might run into demons at any time. We'll walk around and see what we have to do to get through it."
Albel and others encountered several demons along the way, which they took care of without any problems at all. After walking around for 5 minutes or so, they discovered more Altars along the way, and also found a gigantic Cauldron with Green energy contained in them blocking their path.
"Hmm… this thing is blocking our path…" Maria said, examining her quad scanner. "Looking at the source of the energy reaction, we need to progress past this thing in order to get to our destination… but how are we going to do that?"
"Destroy them?" Raditz said, giving a hard slash towards one of the cauldrons. "HI-YA… OWWW… this thing is too solid!"
"…Beh…" Albel muttered, shaking his head. "It wouldn't be here if it was that easy to break through in the first place, you fool."
"…Good point…" Raditz agreed, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Hey everyone, look at this!" Reen yelled, who had been off in the corner examining a treasure chest. "There is an orb here… I can sense great deal of energy emitting from it."
"Hmm, this orb seems to be of composed of element of Air." Maria said, analyzing it with her scanner. "Now I get it… think back to the monolith. It said 'offer the opposing orb to the dais to open the way', right? So all we have to do is offer this orb to the correct Altar, and the path should clear. The energy contained inside of these cauldrons seems to be essence of Earth, opposite of Air. So if we offer the orb to that altar over there, it should work."
"Great. I knew that!" Raditz said, smiling shyly with a sweatdrop. "So let's try it."
Maria went over to the nearest Altar to place the Orb of Air on it, and the energy generated from the altar resonated with the energy inside the cauldron, disintegrating the cauldron that was blocking the way and clearing up the path.
"Yay, it worked!" Reen said in excitement. "So that's really how you get rid of them… so all we have to do is find the appropriate orbs and offer it to the right altar… then we should be able to get to the end!"
"Hmph. How elementary for a puzzle…" Albel commented, walking ahead. "Let's continue."
At that moment, 3 demons with wings suddenly rushed at the party to attack them. "We have intruders! Kill them!" One of them yelled as it flew towards the party.
"Hah, don't these guys ever learn? They don't stand a chance against us!" Raditz said confidently, unsheathing his sword to fight. "Well, might as well have a little practice session!"
Raditz jumped up towards the flying demon to strike it with his Twin Slash attack, expecting an easy victory. However, the slashes went right through their body without actually hitting anything.
"HUH? What the hell?" Raditz yelled in shock. "How come I didn't hit them?"
"Beh, this is just like that time with those demons from before!" Albel said, swinging his katana through the demons harmlessly. "We can't hit them at all!"
"What…? Even with my powers? How could they…" Maria asked, surprised at this unexpected turn of events. "How is this possible?"
"These guys are shielded by aerial aura…" Jeiuce said, his Black Sabre attack harmlessly bypassing through the demons. "Could it be because of what it said back there? Didn't it say 'That which is the same as the orb offered will become indestructible'?"
"The orb we offered at the Altar was of the element of Air…" Clair said, as she fought one of the demons off. "It makes sense… these demons have become indestructible because they are shielded with the same element… just like what the monolith said."
"Shoot, so what can we do, then?" Raditz asked, deflecting one of the demon's attacks. "We can't hurt these demons!"
"I think in times like this, it's better to just run!" Reen said, as she charged her orbs with energy to execute a quick spell. "DEEP MIST!" The deep mist spell disoriented the demons with a thick fog, giving everyone the opportunity to flee from battle and hide from them. "Now, everyone! RUN!" Reen yelled, as she fled from the scene.
"This goes against my nature…" Albel muttered in disgust, as he reluctantly ran away with the others. "Bleh…"
The party continued through the Urssa Cave Temple by repeating the steps to get rid of the different Cauldrons that stood in their way. They found the orbs from the treasure chests, and then offered them to the right altars to open up their way. They encountered many demon guards along the way, some of which they had to run from because they had the aura of the same element offered to the altar – rendering them invincible. After about an hour of navigating, the party finally arrived at the outside the final door before the target point.
"Here we are. This should be it." Maria said, checking her scanner once again to confirm the energy reading. "My scanner is picking up a great energy reaction from a space-time disturbance. We can probably find the portal to the Daemoneum in the room past this door."
"They may have somebody powerful guarding the gates behind that door… it could be Archdemon, Bahkihous, or perhaps even Saphiro himself." Jeiuce said. "In any case, be prepared, mortals. We probably won't be able to go through here without a fight."
"It doesn't matter. I'm ready for anything." Albel said, going through the door. "Let's go."
Albel and others went through the final door to find themselves in a very wide-open room. There was a small stairway leading to an altar in the middle of the room, which had a small mirror floating on top of it; a mirror that had a strange symbol inscribed on it.
At that moment, Albel froze solid, his face suddenly turning pale.
This was something he had seen before.
"Hey… w… wait a minute… that mirror…" Raditz suddenly muttered, also seemingly familiar with the symbol that was inscribed on the mirror. "That… symbol on the mirror… it looks like…"
"Yeah… that symbol looks like…" Reen mumbled, also recognizing the symbol. "It looks just like the symbol drawn on that mural at Cool!"
Suddenly, Albel turned towards Reen, remembering back to that time when Reen told him the whole story about it at Cool:
'This is an ancient mural from over 700 years ago! It's a really famous painting, everybody knows about it! They say that a great artist painted this long ago, inspired from the impression that he got from an artifact… an artifact from an ancient race that lived here on the Moore Continent long time ago!'
Albel also clearly remembered himself getting a strange flashback of the same symbol from sometime in the past at that moment. He knew that he had seen the symbol from sometime before back then, and he was seeing it once again, right in front of him.
"H… how can this be?" Albel asked, totally confused. "How can it be… here? I've seen this… I've seen this in the past…"
"That symbol… is the symbol of the demons." Jeiuce explained, also familiar with the symbol. "It is a symbol of which is said to define the very existence of our kind. Which means that mirror must be…"
"Symbol… of the demons…?" Reen asked, confused. "But the story from Roak was that… it was from one of the artifacts of the ancient Moorians…"
"That's what I thought, too…" Raditz confirmed, with a puzzled look. "But that doesn't explain how Albel's seen it before…"
No, it didn't explain it. Albel thought. It doesn't explain anything. Albel walked up to the mirror, his heart suddenly pounding rapidly with feeling of nervousness, excitement, and uncertainty. There was something from the mirror that was drawing him closer to it; a strange force that was pulling him in.
"DON'T GO NEAR THAT THING!" Jeiuce suddenly yelled. "If you mortals look at that mirror, you will…"
At that moment, a strong powerful aura suddenly gathered up high above them. A person suddenly materialized out of nowhere from the aura, descending down on them. It was a demon with long white hair, pair of black wings, dressed in a black robe.
Chapter 54:Clash withSaphiro
"Jeiuce, Jeiuce, Jeiuce…" The demon spoke in disappointment. "I always knew that you were somewhat of a rebellious one, but I didn't think you would stoop so low and actually join forces with these mortals. How disappointing."
"S… Saphiro!" Jeiuce yelled, surprised by Saphiro's sudden appearance. "So, you've finally come to face us!"
"Tell me, Jeiuce… why did you rebel against us?" Saphiro asked in menacing voice. "We vowed to create a new world in which us demons would reign supreme… I do not see a reason why you would oppose it. It is not too late… come back to us now, and we may be able forgive you."
"Quiet, you puppet!" Jeiuce yelled back at him, defiant. "You are all mindlessly going along with that man's wishes, not even knowing of what his true intention is. Unlike you, I have integrity… I will no longer blindly follow orders without any meaningful purpose, or be enticed by empty promises… as a matter of fact, it is you, who have stooped so low in serving a man from another world!"
"So what of it?" Saphiro replied coldly. "I do not see anything wrong in serving our god… you ARE aware that he is the creator of all, do you not? Look at the power he has granted us, and impossible things that he has made possible for us… he indeed is our creator, our god, without a doubt."
"C… creator?" Maria asked, getting suspicious. "Then, could this person be… someone from the 4D space?"
"You're truly a naïve one, Saphiro." Jeiuce yelled back. "There is no proof that he is our god… he's just using you all for his own benefit!"
"I do not need to listen to your silly jabbering. The fact remains… you're the traitor." Saphiro said. "A traitor who have joined with the mortal kind… and this… failure of our project… you all must die!"
"Project? Failure? A FAILURE!" Albel suddenly blew up, in a major state of confusion and frustration. "WHY AM I THE FAILURE? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU? Who am I… what do you have to do with me… I know you know the truth… I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION OUT OF YOU, MAGGOT… NOW!"
"Heh… so you're telling me you still do not know of who you actually are?" Saphiro sneered, amused by Albel's cluelessness. "That you are actually of our kind?"
"WHAT?" Albel yelled, totally stunned by what Saphiro had just said.
"This boy… is of our kind?" Jeiuce asked, very confused himself. "Explain, Saphiro."
"I do not need to explain the whole story to these lowly mortals myself." Saphiro said, crossing his arms. "I'll just have you tell them, Jeiuce. Tell them… tell about the Demon Creation Project."
"The… DEMON CREATION PROJECT?" Jeiuce yelled, taken by shock. "You're telling me, this boy here is the product of that project?"
"Product…? Project…? Demon?" Clair asked, not grasping it. "I do not understand…"
"Tell me… demon…" Albel, now trembling, asked Jeiuce in a low voice, moments away from finally finding out the truth of his origins. "What was the purpose of this project…"
"The Demon Creation Project… is the Project which was developed by Saphiro and several others of the top authority over 20 years ago…" Jeiuce started explaining. "I do not know of the exact details, but its purpose was to create demons out of mortals who were still alive. It involves splitting the mortal soul into two – good and evil… the evil component of the soul is then somehow transferred into a new vessel, creating a demonic being which would be similar to us. However, I heard that the project indeed ended up as a failure…"
At that moment, everything froze for Albel.
A split soul? Transferred to a new vessel? He was pure evil? Albel stood in the spot, motionless, upon hearing of this unbelievable truth.
Clair just turned to look at Albel, speechless. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"For your information, this mirror which is behind me is the very device which enables splitting of the mortal soul." Saphiro informed them, disappearing then reappearing behind the floating mirror. "This is the Demon Mirror. Our most precious artifact."
"As I thought…" Jeiuce commented, and then turned to Saphiro to ask him more questions. "So why did it have to be this boy, Saphiro?"
"This boy just happened to be a bonus. Our main subject was a mortal named Glou, from Planet Roak." Saphiro explained. "He was a fighter, his soul flowing with evil… a man who was willing to do anything in order to get stronger. He was easy enough to entice… This kid just happened to be his son he brought along as a sign of loyalty."
At that moment, Albel's eyes opened big and wide. Upon hearing that information, it all suddenly became clear to him… why he felt so close to Roak… why he felt close to Simone… how he had a similar fighting style to Raditz… how him and his father were the only two who were able to wield the Crimson Scourge… why he was such a reckless young boy back in the day… why his soul had always felt incomplete… EVERYTHINGmade sense now. Everything.
"Albel... and his father… are originally from Roak?" Raditz asked, stunned. "That does explain a lot of things, but… how did they receive a new vessel?"
"I thought you may already know that, considering how you are Roakian yourself, mortal." Saphiro told him. "The device we used for that was one of your technology. The Soul Transfer Device, is the product of the Moorians who are from your planet. It makes it possible for a soul to be transferred from one vessel to another."
"W… What?" Reen asked, remembering back to what Elise told her at Sylvalant Caves. "That means… Elise was also the product of that technology… she said Albel was just like her…"
"Unfortunately, the project turned out to be a complete failure." Saphiro continued. "Glou's mission was to retrieve the OPA named the Sacred Orb from this planet… that was our pact. However, even after many years, he failed accomplish his mission… as a matter of fact, his evil soul was tainted with the good upon spending time on this planet. And the same goes for this boy… they both turned soft. I had no choice but to take his life, as he had broken the pact."
"So that's why Albel's father originally planned for the invasion of Aquaria…" Maria commented. "It all makes sense."
"… Why did you want our Sacred Orb?" Clair gathered herself, to ask Saphiro the question. "What purpose does it serve you?"
"Back then, I merely wanted it for my own benefit. It was said to be an object containing great power… I was fascinated by its potential. I needed Glou to retrieve it, as the holy aura from the Shrine prevented me from getting it myself." Saphiro said. "But now, the situation has changed… It is needed by our god in order for him to grant us our wish of the great demon world."
"This 'god' again, huh…" Raditz muttered, unsheathing his sword. "Well, all of this doesn't matter, anyway. All we need to do is kill you and this so-called 'god' your working for. Problem solved!"
"Yeah, straight and simple." Maria said, taking out her phase gun. "All we have to do is take you out, Saphiro! And we can do it… your 'gift of god' is no longer of any use with me here!"
"Hmph. So it was indeed you mortals who killed Romero, after all." Saphiro said, as the fiery Flamberge sword appeared in his hand. "I do not know how you were able to do so, but it matters not… I do not need to be invincible to kill you mortals. My powers are more than sufficient enough for that… you have no chance against a great demon such as I."
"You're the one who divided my soul… you're the one who killed my father and mother… and the reason behind all my misfortunes…" Albel said, as he stepped in front of everyone and unsheathed his Crimson Scourge Katana. "You're the cause of it ALL… there is no way I can forgive you for all this… I'm going to make you pay, right here, right now. PREPARE YOURSELF!"
"Hmph, you talk big for such a miserable failure." Saphiro taunted, as a powerful aura surrounded him. "Failures like you should have been disposed of long time ago. You can die, along with this traitor and the rest of these mortals!"
"GYAAA!" Albel let out a battle cry, as he charged towards Saphiro, with Raditz following right behind him. Saphiro simply deflected away both of their sword strikes, then knocked them back a bit with a big slash. As Albel and Raditz tried to regain their balance and go at him again, Saphiro yelled "DEMON FANG!" as he swung his sword towards them in a rapid motion. The powerful ground energy wave attack knocked both Albel and Raditz down to the floor upon impact.
"ENERGY BURST!" Maria yelled as she gave it all she's got with her phase gun, with its energy output raised to max. The large energy beam blasted towards Saphiro to engulf him, but Saphiro created a force field around himself to neutralize the beam attack with ease.
"DEMON LIGHT SPEAR!" Jeiuce ran towards Saphiro to execute a powerful spinning thrust upwards at him. However, the attack went right through Saphiro who had deceived Jeiuce with an illusive image of himself. Saphiro reappeared in behind Jeiuce, and made a sickening slash across his back. "GWAAA!" Jeiuce screamed in pain, as Saphiro's scorching Flamberge sword sliced and burned right through his skin. Jeiuce dropped to the floor, knocked out.
"Hmph, pathetically weak, Jeiuce. I'm disappointed." Saphiro taunted, looking at fallen Jeiuce. "That is why you were of an inferior rank…"
"HEALING!" Clair immediately casted her healing spell on Jeiuce, to heal his life threatening wound. "Are you alright?"
"W… why…" Jeiuce asked Clair, mad at himself for being beaten by Jeiuce and for being helped by Clair. "Why do such foolish thing like heal me?"
"Consider it a favour returned." Clair said, turning towards Saphiro. "He is strong… much more than that other demon… we're really going to have to be careful."
"Heh, now you have these mortals actually HEALING you, Jeiuce? Pathetic." Saphiro insulted him with a cocky grin. "Watching a demon like you cooperating with mortals… it's making me sick!"
"FLYING GUILLOTINE!" Clair yelled as she tried her long-range attack with both of her daggers. Saphiro stood in one spot without moving an inch, and picked out the precise time to hit the spinning daggers away in front of him with one swift slash before the attack could hit him.
"FLARE ORB!" After flying above Saphiro, Reen charged her orbs in massive fire energy, and then threw it towards Saphiro to blow him away. But Saphiro simply stuck his Flamberge sword out to absorb the Fire attack, and then jumped and slashed upwards while yelling "AIR RAID!" The energy waves emitted from Saphiro's sword knocked Reen up in the air first, then sent her crashing right down to the ground.
"A…ahh…" Reen groaned on the floor, badly hurt by the attack. "REEN!" Raditz quickly ran over to feed her a magical blueberry before she could pass out, healing her wounds a little and saving her from passing out completely.
"GYAA! TAKE THIS!" Albel yelled while charging at Saphiro again, pressuring him with continuous rapid slashes from his katana. Saphiro could only deflect the attacks back, being pushed back by Albel's flurry of attacks. Albel suddenly saw an opening, and used his claw arm to swipe at him three times in total while yelling "HAND OF DOOM!" The attacks successfully wounded Saphiro, who staggered back in pain.
"A… ack … how did the failure like you… get so strong…" Saphiro cursed, surprised by Albel's power. "How dare you wound me… you're going to pay for this! LIGHTNING FEATHER!" the Lightning Feather attack encased everyone in a large area of electric shock, with Saphiro's black feathers flying around everywhere. The devastating attack shocked and burned everyone, flooring them all in near incapacitated state.
"Too… strong… ughh…" Jeiuce stuttered, as he tried to get up and failed. "His power… is… surreal…"
"It sure is. It's the power of gods, granted by the great one himself. You never had a chance." Saphiro said, as he flew high up in the sky, with a symbol flashing on his forehead. "Now, I shall use this power to disintegrate you all into nothing!" Saphiro gathered immense energy in front of his forehead, with his black feathers floating everywhere around him.
"T… that power…" Maria mumbled, helplessly down on the floor. "It's the… destruction… gene…"
"BEGONE!" Saphiro yelled as he finished gathering up the energy in front of his forehead and prepared to unleash it toward the party. "ETHREAL…"
"MAX SHOCKWAVE!" A large wave of energy suddenly interrupted unsuspecting Saphiro before he could unleash his Ethereal Blast attack, hitting him from behind. Saphiro was knocked back down the ground in pain, completely caught off guard.
"STAR FLARE!" Another voice yelled, as the powerful energy of the stars engulfed the grounded Saphiro. Saphiro covered himself in desperation as the shower of light energy burned some of the skin off his body.
"FAERIE LIGHT!" A holy light engulfed Albel and others who were down, healing and soothing their wounds and allowing them to get back up to their feet.
"Phew. Looks like we made it just in time." Roger said, as Lancar, Peppita, Tynave, Farleen, and Meena all stood beside him in their battle stances. "You guys alright?"
"We're all good, thanks to you guys…" Maria thanked them, turning towards Saphiro who was slowly getting up from the ground. "Am I ever glad to see you guys… we needed you here more than ever."
"Looks like the tide has turned, Saphiro!" Albel yelled at the demon, as he walked up to Saphiro with confidence. "We have you down… and now I'm going to finish you off for good, maggot!"
"G… gwaa…" Saphiro groaned in pain, as he stood back up to fight once again. "I didn't think there would this many more of you… you caught me off guard… ugh… it matters not… I'll just have kill you all!"
"PALM OF DESTRUCTION!" Albel shot out an energy blast out from his claw arm to knock Saphiro back with its impact. Tynave took that opportunity to lunge at Saphiro, yelling "SAKURA ATTACK!" She executed a blurring combination of powerful punches and kicks all over his body, with cherry blossoms floating everywhere around her. She finished the attack with an energy blast of her own, grounding Saphiro once again.
"FAERIE FRIEND! COME ASSIST ME!" Peppita yelled, as she created a large stuffed animal with her magical powers. Peppita went on to execute a string of attacks, which the stuff animal mimicked. The two of them hammered away at Saphiro together, sending him staggering back.
"Let's go, everyone! This is our chance!" Lancar said, as he dashed forward to attack. "We have him reeling! Let's all pound him at the same time!"
Everyone except Meena followed Lancar, surrounding Saphiro and dashing in from all directions to gang up on him in order to finish him up for good. But Saphiro slowly gathered his Flamberge in massive energy, readying a counterattack of his own.
"Heh… you mortals… got… overconfident…" Saphiro muttered with a grin in his face, as he struck his charged-up sword down on the ground in front of him. "DEMONIC CIRCLE!" The attack created a large circle of powerful shockwave around him, blasting everyone back and downing them all for good. The impact of the attack was so great that the ground he executed the attack on eventually gave way, creating a large hole in the ground. Saphiro had just defeated the party with one single counterattack.
"U…ugh…" Clair mumbled, nearly fainting. "N… no…"
"I must admit… the strength of you mortals… were beyond anything I could have imagined… for a moment I thought… I may… actually lose…" Saphiro said, clutching the wound of his chest and walking up towards the downed party. "You have fought admirably… but it all ends here. I'm going to make you suffer… and BURN YOU ALL TO YOUR FIERY DEATH!"
Get up! Get up! Albel told himself, his mind getting hazier by the second. He had to do something, or Saphiro was going to kill them all.
Saphiro charged his hand up in massive fire energy, readying his final attack. After a few seconds, he pointed his hand out towards everyone, and yelled "DEMON SCORCHER!" A large wave of scorching fire came rushing in towards everyone, about to engulf them all in the same fashion as it engulfed Glou, many years ago.
'! NO!'
Right at that moment, Albel's eyes let out a flash, and suddenly turned blue in colour. The power of the legendary Seven Stars manifested from within him, as he was now shielded in powerful blue aura. "EEEYAAA!" Albel let out a loud cry, as he dove in right INTO Saphiro's flame attack. Albel's aura around him dissipated the fire attack, as he went right through it and then made a powerful thrust right into Saphiro's midsection. "GWAAAAA!" Saphiro yelled out in extreme pain, as Albel's Crimson Scourge Katana went right through his flesh, out to his back.
"K…ka…kaaa…." Saphiro stuttered, impaled by the katana. "Y… you… how…"
Albel pulled the sword back from his body, and Saphiro staggered backwards, about to fall any minute. Ironically, Saphiro staggered right to the large hole he had made from his own attack. Albel took that opportunity to strike him with his katana again, knocking him back into the pit.
"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG………." Saphiro screamed as he fell down the dark bottomless pit, down to his doom. The battle was over.
"I… I got him…." Albel weakly dropped to his knees, exausted and overcome with emotion. "That's it… he's done for…. for good… I did it…"
"Ah… FAERIE LIGHT!" Meena had been paralyzed with fear the whole time, but finally regained her composure to heal everybody up with her powers.
"Albel… you did it…" Clair said, rushing over to help him up. "You defeated him. That was… Amazing."
Albel stood there for a second and thought to himself about what he had just accomplished. He had just defeated Saphiro, his archenemy who had pretty much ruined his entire life. He had just avenged his father's death as well after all these years. So this is the feeling of revenge that I had consumed me for all these years… Albel thought. Yes, he had indeed just accomplished his lifelong goal of revenge. But how did he feel now?
Albel felt… empty. Although Saphiro was dead, his father or mother wasn't going to come back. Everyone who had already been sacrificed wasn't going to come back.
In the end, taking revenge did not accomplish a thing.
"Albel… that energy that manifested in you…" Raditz went over to tell him. "It must be… the legendary power of the Seven Stars… I thought it was only a legend… I can't believe I just witnessed it. So you really ARE of us Roakians…"
"I don't have a clue about what you are talking about…" Lancar said, crossing his arms. "But I'm glad it kicked in… if it wasn't for Albel, we would have all been dust by now."
"…" Albel just stood there quietly, thinking back to everything that he had learned about himself moments ago.
"Hey, what's wrong, Albel?" Lancar asked. "You're so quiet… You finally avenged your father… I thought you would be a little more excited."
"Well, we found out shocking things while you guys were gone, too." Reen said, trying to console Albel. "And it wasn't exactly good news for Albel…"
"We might as well tell them… I think they deserve to know." Maria said. "Here's what happened…"
Maria told Lancar and others about origins of Albel; how he was part of the Demon Creation Project, how he was originally from Roak, and about how his soul was split and put into a new vessel. Everyone was dumbfounded by the news, finding it all hard to believe.
"Albel's soul… was split?" Peppita asked, shocked. "And his soul is of pure evil? I don't believe it… no way…"
"No. Albel's soul is definitely not pure evil, no matter what Saphiro did to him." Clair said. "And no matter what happened in the past, Albel's Albel… it doesn't change a thing. The person that we see right now is the only Albel. Not anyone else."
"Yeah, I agree!" Roger said. "Who cares about what happened before! The Albel we all know and love is standing right here in front of us!"
"Well said." Lancar said. "Sure, he may have his flaws, but so do the rest of us. So he isn't really any different from rest of us."
"You were forced to become a guinea pig of an experiment, against your own will…" Maria said to Albel. "I definitely know how that is like, Albel… But I learned on my last journey with all of you that you can't dwell on it forever. Sometimes we just have to accept the fact and move on, and learn to appreciate whatever positives it left us… For example, in my case, if I wasn't the subject of Dr. Leingod's symbological genetics project, we wouldn't have been able to fight those 4D beings together, and those executioners may have killed us…"
"Plus, if it wasn't for all these things, we all wouldn't have met, right?" Reen said cheerfully. "We should all be glad for that! I'm really glad I was able to meet everyone!"
"That's right." Clair agreed with a smile. "Perhaps all this was destiny…"
"Alright. That's enough." Albel said quietly, finally raising his head. "You can all stop. What matters is that I finally know of my own past… and that's good enough for me. Like Maria said, I'm moving on… Our journey is not over yet… remember that."
"… Anyhow, Saphiro is now dead." Jeiuce said. "So now we can proceed to the Daemoneum as we planned."
"Yes, most definitely." Maria said. "Anyways, Lancar… Peppita… and everyone else… welcome back. So I am assuming that her majesty and the Sacred Orb were safely guided back to the Lazeria? "
"Oh, that…" Roger muttered. "Well Miss Maria… you see… her majesty is safe, but…"
"…We lost the Sacred Orb." Lancar finished the line for him. "At the Shrine of Kaddan, We encountered a Blue-Haired boy of unimaginable power… he took us all out in a flash, and took the Sacred Orb for himself."
"…Blue-Haired boy?" Albel asked him. "You mean… the same boy that Woltar was talking about back at Airyglyph?"
"Yeah, I'm assuming that was the same guy as this one." Lancar said. "What's more… he had a style of fighting which was similar to you and Raditz… Edarl style, I think you call it?"
"WHAT?" Raditz asked, stunned by the information. "He fought using the Edarl style? Man… it seems to getting really popular these days… first Albel, and now this guy? Something is definitely fishy here…"
"I saw a tail too!" Meena told him. "He had a tail like you, big brother!"
"A tail? Then I guess he is a Roakian Felinefolk just like me…" Raditz said. "But why would he be working for the demons? Hmmm…"
"Well, there's only one way to find out. Let's go on ahead to the Time and Space Lab." Maria suggested. "We should hurry… they now have everything they were looking for, and we don't know what's going to happen, now... Let's go and stop them before its too late."
"Alright. Offer your relic on that Altar over there." Jeiuce said, pointing to the altar in the middle of the room. "The portal from here should take us to the Time and Space Lab."
Maria took out the 'Eye of the Truth" and offered it to the altar. The energy emitted from the "Eye of the Truth" reacted with the space in front of the altar, creating a large black vortex like the one they had went through at Roak. Everyone jumped in one by one, transporting to the Time and Space Lab to finally confront Asmodeus and the 'God' who had been behind it all.
