Albel and rest of his group finally went through the giant door located on the 10th Floor of the Time and Space lab, to enter the main Research Facility where the supposed "God" was doing his work. The room they entered was beyond anything beyond their imagination; it was a very large, wide, and open area, almost as if it was supposed to be a ballroom. Many types of advanced computer equipment were seen to the back of the room, flashing, beeping, and doing whatever work it was assigned to do. High up above the room was a giant glass dome, showcasing the spectacular purple, starry, and thunder-filled sky of the Daemoneum.
"Wow…" Raditz muttered in awe, surprised on how big this research facility truly was. "So this is the main research facility? It's HUGE… it seems way too big to be just a mere research facility to me…"
"This is where the most sophisticated and advanced machines in this lab are located…" Jeiuce explained, still clutching his forearm in pain. "The man has to be here somewhere for sure…"
"Wait a minute…" Lancar said, quickly reaching back for his quad scanner that suddenly started beeping rentlessly. "My scanner is picking up a strong creation energy reaction here… of magnitude… 3? H…how?"
"It could be… from the Sacred Orb…" Maria speculated, still tired out from her manifestation earlier against the combined form of Saphiro and Asmodeus. "And I'm sure the lab itself… needs incredible amount of power to… operate…"
"No, this is no ordinary amount of energy…" Lancar mumbled, his face getting pale from reading out the information on the scanner, and cold sweat running down the side of his face. "The concentration of energy is increasing… magnitude 4… 5… 6… 8?… 9? WHAT THE HELL?"
"Did you just say… MAGNITUDE 9?" Raditz asked, flabbergasted. "Is it possible to even generate that kind of power? That's unheard of!"
"Whatever kind of power this man may have doesn't matter… I'm not backing down now." Albel said, stepping in ahead of everyone to yell out loud. "LISTEN, SCUM! WE KNOW YOU'RE HERE SOMEWHERE… SHOW YOURSELF!"
At that moment, an ordinary sized man with short blonde hair emerged out from the back of the room, with his head slightly down. He slowly walked ahead towards the group to reveal himself, chuckling a little with a menacing grin on his face.
"Heh… so it's happening again…" The blonde-haired man muttered, holding the Sacred Orb in his hands. "These bugs… anomalies… are once again getting in my way…"
"Who the hell are you, maggot? What is it that you want?" Albel yelled, demanding an answer. "Whatever your reasons may be, I'm going to put an end to your twisted ambitions… right here, right now!"
"And as I thought… it's the same ones…" The blonde-haired man said, slowly raising his head up to face the group. "Why can't you entities understand that there is no avoiding your inevitable fate? When will you realize that it's useless to rebel against your own creators!"
"Wait a minute… that voice…" Peppita mumbled, slowly recalling the menacing voice that she was hearing. "No… no way…"
"Wh…at…" Roger gulped, not believing what he was seeing and hearing. "But we… we all… he's…"
"This… this is not possible…" Maria mumbled, her eyes opening wide in disbelief. "How can he… be… alive…"
"Heh… you think a mere data such as yourselves can achieve such thing as gaining complete freedom from your creator?" The blonde-haired man yelled, looking bitter yet very amused. "Or worse yet, DESTROY your own creator? Hahaha… you entities indeed ARE contaminated beyond salvation… now you have even lost your sense of perception to your own illusion!"
"L…Luther…" Albel muttered with a mortified look, finally realizing the man's true identity. "How could he be…"
"Huh? Did you just say… Luther?" Lancar asked, suddenly getting a very bad feeling. "You mean… THAT Luther…?"
"He's… Luther? You mean…" Clair also asked, turning to Tynave and Farleen who both had a similar look of worry in their eyes as she did. "But Nel said he is…"
"Y… you guys know him?" Raditz asked, totally confused. "Who the hell is he?"
"Heh, I'll tell you who I am, and also what YOU all are…" Luther said, pointing towards everyone. "I am Luther, your creator, your god… and you are all nothing but data that is to be deleted by the yours truly."
"Errr… Shut up already, you creep!" Reen yelled, not backing down from Luther. "YOU'RE our god? Hah! I got news for ya unlike those stupid demons, we're not going to fall for your silly nonsense! We're smarter than that… right, guys?"
Reen looked around to see everyone but her, Raditz and Meena staring at Luther with a totally serious look, deathly quiet.
"…Right…?" Reen asked as her face turned pale, suddenly getting a sickening feeling that what Luther claimed about himself was indeed be true.
"This is ridiculous…" Jeiuce said, refusing to believe the truth. "You mean that it was actually true? Are you telling me that this man here, really IS our god?"
"Hmph, you're right… it IS ridiculous…" Luther said, walking up even closer to the group. "It's ridiculous that programs such as yourselves are still bent on defying the will of your own creator…"
"H… How can he be alive?" Roger asked, still confused on how it can be so. "We killed him 2 years ago… we really did… I saw him being killed right in front of my eyes!"
"Hahaha… so you fools actually thought that you were able to get rid of me completely?" Luther asked rhetorically in a sarcastic tone, not taking his eyes off the group. "I had already prepared in advance so that such thing wouldn't ever be possible!"
"Then explain, maggot…" Albel demanded, clenching his fist in rage. "How the hell are you able to appear in front of us, right here and now, even after we disposed of your sorry carcass 2 years ago…"
"Heh… fine… I'll let it all be known… maybe THEN you'll finally realize how powerless and futile your efforts really were, and will be!" Luther sneered, as he started to explain everything. "You see, this body of mine that you see standing before you happens to be entirely of data, much like yourselves…"
"Entirely of data… like us?" Maria asked, struggling to stand up. "You mean…you're a program?"
"Correct." Luther replied, with a senile grin. "Long ago, I had programmed the data of myself into the Eternal Sphere, which was to be activated at the time of my death."
"It was your intention all along to live on in the Eternal Sphere…" Albel asked with a disgusted look. "Even after your own death…?"
"Hmph… that's right. I programmed myself in order to be preserved in the Eternal Sphere after my own death… but that was until I decided to delete the whole bug-filled game in its entirety!" Luther continued. "At that point, all I wanted was to get rid of all of you and your entire universe! But somehow, you all managed to defeat me and kill me… it sure was an unexpected, premature death. It seemed that I had underestimated the power and the abilities of my own creation…"
"You're damn right you did!" Lancar shouted at Luther. "And the history will repeat itself really, really soon!"
"Heh… you'll get what's coming to you in a moment." Luther retorted back at Lancar, before continuing on. "After my death, I was reborn in the Eternal Sphere in a data form, as you see now… I found out that I had somehow failed in deleting the Eternal Sphere in it entirety, but then realized that I could make the most of the opportunity…I immediately researched how and what exactly made it possible for you all to enter the real world and act like the real people..."
"Y… you mean that's the reason why you…" Maria muttered, finally realizing the reason behind the capturing of Fayt, Sophia, as well as herself.
"That's right… hahaha!" Luther laughed, as he pushed couple of buttons on the computer nearby him to reveal the containment tubes with Fayt and Sophia inside. "That's when I discovered the secrets behind your precious Symbological Genetics Research! The Genes of Destruction… Alteration… Connection… were the keys to it all… it was what made all your actions possible! It was truly a fascinating discovery… it meant that it was actually possible for a mere data like me to return to the real world just as how I was before… as if I had never died at all! It meant that it was possible for me to be reborn into the real world! HAHAHA!"
"Fayt! Sophia!" Peppita yelled as she ran towards them, only to be held back by Lancar.
"Fayt!" Meena yelled, greatly worried for Fayt who was unconscious inside the containment tube. "Oh no!"
"So he was able to use the weapons we had created to fight him, for his own use…" Lancar commented, with everyone now fully aware of Luther's true intentions. "Talk about irony…"
"After I had acquired the three necessary genes, all I had left to do was to look for an Intervention Device that would allow for the connection from the Eternal Sphere to the real world…" Luther continued, observing the Sacred Orb that was in his hands with great interest. "And this orb here happened to be the only ID left in all of Eternal Sphere, with Time Gate and all the other ID's having been destroyed… It took some searching, but I've finally found it… Now everything is in place so that I can finally make my return to the real world! After I dispose of all of you that stand in my way, of course."
"This is… nothing like what I had thought…" Maria said, thinking hard to herself with her head down. "I thought we were our own world now, and that we had totally separated from the 4D Space… But this new world that we had come to understand, created by our own consciousness, is still really nothing but…data?"
"Hahahaha! This is hilarious… your own world you say? Created by your own consciousness? HAHAHAHA!" Luther laughed out hysterically, thoroughly amused by what Maria had just said. "What philosophical nonsense… the only reason that all of you and the Eternal Sphere are still functioning right now is probably because Blair activated the backup system! Simple as that! Nothing could ever be made real by fabrications such as your minds, no matter how much you wished that were the case… "
"Where do we Demons stand in all this?" Jeiuce stepped up to yell at Luther, demanding to know the truth about the whole alliance. "Why did you get all of the Daemoneum involved in your cause?"
"Heh, this place just happened to have all the resources available for me to carry on my plan… it had plenty of creation energy, advanced facilities, and it of course had the manpower!" Luther replied, looking out the window to the big continent of the Daemoneum. "It simply had everything that I could use to my advantage… and your kind were all easy enough to manipulate, as well… thanks to all of you demons, my plans were sped up by a considerable amount."
"So you used all of us just purely for your own benefits, after all…" Jeiuce muttered, clenching his fist in anger. "All that talk about the New Demon World… was just a bunch of false promises, wasn't it?"
"New Demon World! Hahaha… that was a prime example of how easy it was for me to manipulate you lowly bugs… You think I would have actually created a new world for all you pathetic beings? Don't be ridiculous…" Luther laughed again, thinking about how gullible all the demons really were. "Your kind are all really nothing but corrupted data… as a matter of fact, you are even more despicable than the data in the Eternal Sphere itself! After I eliminate of every single one of you, I shall return to the Sphere Company and regain my rightful position as the owner… then delete the Eternal Sphere as well as this quarantine of infected data, for good!"
"WHY…YOU!" Jeiuce shouted in rage as he went into his battle stance, furious about how Luther had just defiled his entire race. "You're not going to get away with this! On behalf of all my fellow demons that were tricked into participating in your scheme, I shall slay you!"
"For the suffering and pain you have caused to both of our worlds…" Clair went up to support Jeiuce, taking out her Twin Daggers to get ready for the battle. "And for every life that had been sacrificed to your vile acts of self-fulfillment, I vow to slay you as well!"
"Everything that had happened to me, all the emotions I now feel, and everything I have vowed to protect… is all real, no matter what you 4D beings might say…" Albel also said, unsheathing his katana to prepare himself for the imminent battle. "That is what I believe… and nothing will convince me otherwise. And believe this, maggot… what is about to happen to you will be all too real… you're going to be feeling it for yourself… You're going to FEEL MY PAIN!"
"Heh… indeed, nothing has changed… the fools still don't know their place." Luther said, as he raised his hand to fire a small energy ball in the air above his head. The energy ball then scattered to form a huge pair of wings, much like the ones he had when the group fought him 2 years ago. "That'll be enough talking for today… the time has come, abnormalities… prepare yourselves to be deleted!"
"Do not underestimate us… Luther…ugh…" Maria said as she struggled up to fight, even though she could barely stand up on her own two feet. "We defeated you 2 years ago… and we shall defeat you again once more!"
"Hah, if you bugs think that I am the same as I was two years ago, you are sorely mistaken…" Luther sneered as he jumped in the air to attach himself to the giant pair of wings he had created, with a huge lance in his hand. "You stand no chance… my battle parameters have been set up to be much higher than all of yours combined! Statistics do not lie… and you all shall find out the hard way! Behold, TRUE POWER!"
Right at that moment, Luther shot a massive purple energy bolt from his wings at the party, creating a spectacular explosion that everyone only barely managed to jump away from. However, Luther's Expansion Force attack had just been a decoy – He immediately flew in behind everyone who had dodged the attack, and then made a wide swipe with his gigantic lance. The huge energy arc created by the slash knocked everyone down to the floor with authority, dealing a great amount of damage to all.
"Ugh… that was… way too quick…" Peppita mumbled, as she struggled to get back up to her feet. "I couldn't even see him… get behind us…"
"Heh… that was just a warmup… but you are all already struggling to get back up?" Luther taunted, amazed at the degree of his own power. "My parameters seem to have been set way too high… even I think it's ridiculous… it's almost as if I was using a cheat device! HAHAHA!"
"SHUT YOUR TRAP, YOU SCUM!" Albel yelled in rage, as he suddenly made a mad dash towards Luther. "I'm going to make you eat dust, as well as your own words! GYAAA!"
"Yeah, we aren't just some toys for you to play with, you bastard!" Raditz also shouted, as he started running in from behind Luther. "Parameters? Hah, you'll see how none of that applies to us after I kick your ass! HIYAA!"
Albel and Raditz ran in from front and back of Luther, trapping him in a Pincer attack. Both made rapid slashes with their swords fully expecting them to hit, but Luther had moved so fast that they only slashed right through a blurring image of him. Luther then immediately appeared up in the air above them, yelling "WALLOW IN DESPAIR!" as he flapped his wings forward at them with great force. A trail of fiery explosions appeared beneath both Albel and Raditz, as they both got knocked backwards in a heap of smoke; they were then hit by a powerful purple shockwave attack that followed up the fire attack, which tossed them mercilessly down to the ground. Both Albel and Raditz stayed down from Luther's devastating Flaming Divide attack, almost unconscious.
"U…ughhh…" Albel groaned, trying his best not to pass out from the great deal of pain he was in. "I can't… be beat… like this…"
"I have to… get up…" Raditz mumbled, clenching his teeth in determination to stand back up. "Sir Ratix would never have given up… just from this…"
"Hahaha! It's all too simple…" Luther laughed, as he prepared to strike at both of them with his lance. "But I guess this is no time for to play around… there is no sense in wasting any more time… DIE!"
"NO! Everyone, let's go help!" Clair yelled, as she and others charged towards Luther to prevent him from dealing a fatal blow to Albel and Raditz.
"MAX SHOCKWAVE!" Lancar yelled, as he charged up massive amounts of energy in his hand, and then shot it towards Luther in a huge half-moon shaped wave. However, to Lancar's surprise, Luther simply neutralized the huge attack using just his palm; he then lunged towards Lancar at a blinding speed to strike him down with an energy wave emitted from the swing of his lance. Lancar was floored, badly hurt by the attack.
"PULSE BLAST!" "HAIL ORB!" "INSTANTO BLAST!" "SPIRIT ATTACK!" Maria, Reen, Peppita, and Tynave all started bombarding Luther with their long-range attacks, stunning him momentarily but not doing significant amount of damage overall. Roger and Jeiuce both took that opportunity to toss their Axes and Spear respectively at Luther, but the blonde-haired madman reacted in time to simply hit them away with a swing of his lance.
"HWAA! ILLUSION!" Albel gathered himself to lunge towards Luther, executing 4 rapid slashes in a cross-shaped format and then two spinning slashes at finish it off. Amazingly, Luther was able to parry every single one of the blurringly quick slashes, though he had his hands full in doing so. With Luther reeling back a little bit, Raditz also charged in to join in on the attack, charging his Aura Blade in electricity to execute his Lightning Sword maneuver. "Ugh…" Luther staggered back from being slightly hurt from the Lightning Blade attack, but then created a giant barrier around him to knock both of them far back.
"STAR FLARE!" Farleen took that opportunity to unleash the spell she had been charging up, engulfing Luther with a shower of powerful star energy. However, Luther countered the attack just in time by executing the Dark Sphere maneuver right underneath him; the Sphere sucked in the energy from the Star Flare spell, neutralizing it and protecting Luther from any harm.
"Heh… pesky bugs… how persistent… I guess I should have expected no less… but this has been quite enough." Luther commented, as he suddenly rised up higher above in the room to charge up both of his wings with massive amounts of lightning energy. Two huge balls of lightning were formed around both of his wings, as Luther unleashed them down to the ground towards the fighters, yelling "When will you realize that… DATA SHOULD BEHAVE AS SUCH?" The two huge lightning balls went right into the floor beneath the fighters, immediately spreading out to cover the entire area with deadly lightning energy. "AAAAHHHHH!" Everybody screamed agonizingly in pain, being shocked and burned mercilessly by the rising wave of electricity. With everybody now locked down with the Perfect Symmetry skill, Luther unleashed another spell by yelling "RAY!" and sending numerous laser beams towards all. Everyone got helplessly blasted back by the laser beams, as they all fell to the ground in near-incapacitated state.
'N…no…" Clair faintly mumbled, being one of the few who were left with any consciousness at all at that point. "This can't… be… it…"
"Ugh… get… up… get up…!" Albel mumbled to himself, trying his best to get back to his feet and failing. "Can't lose here… after… coming… this far…"
"It's been a valiant effort on your part, my creations… but as you can clearly see, your parameters simply can't measure up to those of mine." Luther proudly said, as he started gathering enormous amounts of red-coloured energy in his hands. "Now, it's finally time for you all to be deleted… prepare yourselves to feel the wrath of my most powerful program!"
"That skill is… no… we… have to get… up… before its too late…" Maria muttered as she recognized what Luther was about to do. He was preparing to unleash his most deadly attack, the Insanity Prelude.
"Here the sound… the sounds of the gates of the netherworld opening to take you away…" Luther said, as the floor slowly became engulfed in crimson-red wave of energy.
"Gah…" Albel finally struggled back up, barely able to support himself on this katana. He knew that if they were to be hit by the Insanity Prelude attack in their current state, they wouldn't have a chance of surviving. Albel desperately struggled towards Luther, trying to do somehow halt the attack.
Right at that critical moment, three small fireballs came out of nowhere accompanied by a faint voice yelling "FIREBOLT…!" The Firebolt spell nailed unsuspecting Luther right in the back of his head, distracting him enough to temporarily halt the Insanity Prelude attack.
"H…huh?" Albel muttered, surprised at being saved in an unexpected fashion. "Who…"
"Ugh… what the hell was that?" Luther yelled in annoyed voice, as he immediately turned around to see who had just nailed him with the Firebolt spell. He saw Nel standing weakly in her battle stance, staring right back at him.
"I… I have no idea how you are still alive… Luther…" Nel said faintly, weak from using her last ounce of strength on the Firebolt spell. "But as long as I'm still breathing… I'm going to do everything in my power… to stop you…"
"N… Nel!" Clair softly called out while still being down on the floor, glad that Nel had recovered her consciousness. "Thank goodness…"
"Y… you're the one that I brainwashed with the device! How dare you interrupt me?" Luther yelled angrily, turning around to glide towards Nel. "Hmph, I guess those bugs somehow found out how the device operates… so you've failed in your mission as well, just like those three useless demons… I'll have you know, the price for failure is heavy…"
"I would never work for the likes of you… on my own will…" Nel weakly said, not backing down an inch from oncoming Luther. "And as an honoured member of the Crimson Blade… and in divine name of Apris… I will atone for my mistake… I shall fight you to the end!"
"Hah, you can barely stand up on your own two feet… and yet you're still stubborn enough to put up a resistance?" Luther sneered, as he swung back his lance to strike at Nel. "How foolish… very well, DIE… JUST AS YOU WISH!"
"…!" Nel closed her eyes and covered herself helplessly, not having the energy to do much else. She clenched her teeth in bracing herself for his strike, and for death that was to most likely follow.
However, Albel used that moment to gather up the last ounce of his adrenalin to lunge at Luther from behind. 'UWAAA!" Albel let out a thundering cry, giving it his all in striking him with a powerful Double Slash. The first upward slash mercilessly tore right through one of his wings, and then the downward slash sliced him right across the back, spraying blood and creating a sickening gash. "UGHHH!" Luther yelled as he fell down to the floor, in great deal of pain.
"Ugh…" Nel moaned, and though she was saved by Albel's attack, Nel fell to the ground, passing out from the stress.
"H… how dare you… damn…" Luther muttered, stunned by Albel's blindsided attack "I got… careless…"
Right that that moment, Meena, who had been hiding behind one of the pillars in the room the whole time, ran out to yell "FAIRIE LIGHT!" to cover the fallen party members in a warm, soothing holy light. The Faerie Light spell fully healed everyone's wounds, allowing them all to get back up to their feet, good as new.
"W…WHAT? H… HOW?" Luther yelled in astonishment, stunned at how everyone had recovered instantly back to full health. "T…that girl… possessed the powers of healing… of such degree? But only a Nedian could…"
"It's back to square one, Luther!" Albel yelled, with everyone running up behind him to show their support. "None of us are going to back down even an inch… we're just going to keep coming at you, no matter how many times you have us down. So prepare yourself to feel our wrath over and over again, maggot!"
"Heh, incompetent fools…" Luther chuckled, as he turned around to face the party in full confidence. "You think such a minor wound from getting a lucky shot in is going to change anything? I am still vastly superior to all of you all aspects, in all parameters… all I have to do is to beat you all down to the ground again, just like I did before… it's that simple."
"All of you, listen up… this could be our last chance…" Albel told everyone, as he took his fighting stance once again. "We may not be so lucky the next time he has all of us down. So don't hold anything back… give it all you got… let's all show this creator what we're capable of, and show him who we all truly are! "
"Yes, let's all show him that we're all much more than mere data he has created…" Maria said, following up on Albel's words. "Let's demonstrate how we're not ones to be limited by parameters and such… let's show him that we are all capable of going beyond them! "
"That's right… think of all the obstacles that we have been able to overcome so far… all the powerful enemies that we have defeated… we can do it again… we can defeat him… just believe in yourselves!" Clair said in her inspirational voice, her eyes glittering in determination. "And most importantly, think of everything that you cherish and love, all that you want to protect from this evil… remember that only we can protect them, and no one else! Let's give it our best, everyone… for the sake of everyone in our universe!"
"Hahaha… go ahead… delude yourself into believing in such fabrications all you want…" Luther laughed, gliding towards the party to start the battle once again. "In the end, only the truth and righteousness will prevail! DIE, ABNORMALITIES!"
Luther shot purple shockwaves from his wings again, raiding the party with his Expansion Force attack. However, everyone was determined to mount more offense this time around; Tynave and Lancar both dodged the blast by quickly jumping out of the way, and then dashed right into Luther to shower him with an onslaught of punches and kicks from both sides. Luther struggled for a while to parry their flurry of attacks, having much more trouble this time around. "Beh…" He finally swung his lance in a wide arc to hit them away, but both of them sprung right back up, not about to let up.
"Hit us away all you want… we're just going to keep coming back for more!" Lancar yelled as he dashed towards him once again, but at a greater speed this time. "FIERY TACKLE!"
"Ugh…" Luther grimaced, as he was sent staggering backwards from Lancar's devastating Fiery Tackle attack. As he staggered back from the impact, Tynave snuck in from behind him, yelling "RISING DRAGON!" to deliver a swift spin kick and then a powerful uppercut. Luther was knocked up in the air from the stinging combo, but he soon gathered himself to spin back into his ready position. "Damn…you impudent bugs!" Luther yelled in rage, as he used his Expansion Force attack again to hit the two fighters back with a purple shockwave. Both Lancar and Tynave were knocked down to the ground in pain, but they struggled back up immediately to ready themselves again.
"Shit…why don't you all just give it up already…" Luther said in annoyed voice, realizing that everyone had somehow gotten more persistent and stronger than before. "No matter how much you attack, it's not going to matter… you data can only do so much…"
"Hah, I don't care if it matters or not, you moron!" Roger taunted, as he launched both of his axes repeatedly at Luther to execute his Axe Fury attack. "Yeah, I may not be strong enough to beat you alone, but I can still make your life a living hell! HIYA!" Luther batted away each of Roger's Axe attack, but not without trouble; one of the axes nailed him directly in the forearm, causing him to back away while clutching his arm in stinging pain.
"SHADOW FLARE!" "METEOR SWARM!" With Luther reeling, both Jeiuce and Farleen let loose with their respective spells to shower him with countless numbers of shadow bolts and fiery meteors. "BAH… DAMN IT!" Luther cursed, as he could only shield himself while being pummeled by the dark energy bolts and the meteors. Though none were able to inflict a direct hit on Luther, it certainly did wonders in making him retreat back and turn the tide in heroes' favour.
"MIRROR SLICE!" Clair yelled as she made multiple dagger slashes in smooth and fluent motion, accurate and precise as a reflection in a mirror. Luther was only able to block about half of the six slashes, as others cut right across his torso and chest to deal stinging damage to him. Luther immediately hit Clair away with a swing of his lance, but noticed that he had been pushed back almost all the way to the end of the room.
"W… where did this overwhelming amount of power come from?" Luther muttered in confusion, clutching his slash wounds in pain. "This is impossible… my parameters are set infinitely higher than all of these inferior beings combined… then why… why am I the one reeling?"
"You once again have underestimated our capabilities, Luther! Just like I said earlier, our abilities are not bound by your silly parameters or anything that you have created." Maria said, as she pushed Luther back even further by repeatedly firing away at him with the Scatter Beam attack. "You didn't take into account something we possess that was NOT of your creation… our spirit and will in fighting for our existence… and for protecting our own world…"
"NONSENSE! UTTER NONSENSE!" Luther yelled angrily, as he executed his Flaming Divide attack to knock everyone back down and create himself a little more breathing room. "Spirit and will? Such fabrications… can only ever be fabrications and nothing more! This is just a game… what you speak of is absolutely impossible!"
"Hah, I'll show you how there is nothing impossible about it! HOLY ORB!" Reen yelled, as she sent 4 of her magical orbs high into the air to charge them up in massive amounts of holy energy. Reen then immediately fired them away towards Luther, as they descended down to blast him backwards powerfully with each hit. "ARRG!" Luther grunted in pain, as he was finally sent struggling down to only one knee.
"SWORD DANCE!" Peppita shouted out, as she quickly dashed into Luther with both of Nel's daggers (that she had momentarily borrowed) in her hands. Peppita executed 8 rapid spinning slashes along in an illusive but fluent dance sequence, eluding Luther's defense with its unorthodox and unpredictable pattern. Luther received the full wrath of all 8 hits, as he was now sent down to both of his knees.
"Erggg… ARRRGHHH! THAT'S IT… ENOUGH… IS ENOUGH!" Luther suddenly shouted out in rage like a madman, losing control of his emotions from now being on the losing end. "I SHALL HAVE YOU ALL DELETED, AT ONCE!"
Luther used every ounce of strength he had left to float up into the air and charge enormous amount of electric energy right in front of him. The energy gathered together to form into a huge energy pyramid, powerful enough to mercilessly disintegrate anything in its path. "GET READY TO BE OBLITERATED! TROJAN DELTA!" Luther yelled as he unleashed the energy pyramid, which spun slowly forward to engulf and destroy everything in its way.
"Damn, we gotta stop that thing before it fries us into dust!" Lancar yelled, as he immediately shouted "MAX SHOCKWAVE!" in an attempt to neutralize Luther's attack. However, the huge energy pyramid easily plowed its way right through Lancar's energy attack with its superior power; Maria also used her Energy Burst attack in an attempt to stop it, but it also couldn't do much in slowing down the deadly pyramid of doom.
"THERE IS NO STOPPING IT, FOOLS! BE WIPED CLEAN, ABNORMALITIES!" Luther yelled in delight, fully confident that he was about to finally come out on top.
However, right at that dire moment, something clicked into both Raditz and Albel's mind. The power of Seven Stars suddenly manifested in both, as Raditz held back his Aura Blade while being surrounded in flames. He then shouted "GRAND PHOENIX BLAST!" at the moment he swung his sword forward, to unleash a huge, fiery Phoenix in front of him. The Grand Phoenix met head-on with Luther's Trojan Delta attack, ruthlessly engulfing and disintegrating the energy pyramid. The Phoenix then went right through to Luther himself, swallowing him in its flames. "UWAAAAAAAHHHH!" Luther let out a blood-curdling scream as his entire body started burning painfully from the holy fire.
With Luther staggering from feeling the full effects of Raditz's ultimate attack, Albel dashed in to unleash one of his own. Albel yelled "DRAGON RAVE!" while being surrounded by the blue aura, executing 10 continuous slashes of the deadliest speed, power, and accuracy a human could ever muster up. After each of the 10 slashes sliced right through Luther's flesh like hot knife through butter, Albel gathered up enormous amounts of dragon spirit energy in his claw to finish him off with 5 hits of the Dragon Roar blast. "GWAAA….!" Luther yelled as the impact sent him flying backwards, his body hitting the floor twice before being knocked down flat on his back.
"I… I can't believe it…" Luther mumbled, down on the ground with his fingers and body twitching, unable to get up. "I've… been defeated… by these data… again?"
"huff huff That's right, maggot… this is the end of the line…" Albel said, out of breath from exerting tremendous amount of power for his Dragon Rave attack. "… I'm going to finish you off huff … once and for all…"
"Ugh…" Luther grunted in pain, crawling away helplessly from Albel in desperation. "This… can't… be… happening…"
"DIE… LUTHER!" Albel yelled, as he raised his Crimson Scourge high up above his head to get ready to strike down Luther. "….!" Luther winced, as he braced himself for the fatal blow.
Right at that moment, Albel suddenly felt a spine-chilling tingle down his spine as something flashed in his head.
"…"
… Something was coming.
"ACK…!" Albel grimaced, as lowered his katana and staggered back in distress.
"Albel?" Clair asked in concern, noticing that Albel was suffering from some sort of trauma. "W… what's wrong?"
"?" Luther also looked up from the ground in a state of confusion, using that opportunity to slowly back away out of harm's way from distraught Albel.
"Beh… what… is… this?" Albel asked himself, wincing and experiencing some sort of a mental breakdown. This was the same feeling that he had felt right before the fight with Saphiro, when he felt that something VERY familiar was coming in his direction.
However, this time, the feeling was much, much stronger; he was 100 certain that something was coming his way, and that it was about to enter the room through the door. Albel felt his soul being pulled to whatever that was coming his way, just as if one end of the magnet was being pulled to the other…
"Albel! Get a hold of yourself!" Raditz said, rushing in aid of Albel. "What is it that is bothering you?"
"Something… is… coming…" Albel mumbled, turning around to shift his focus to the door. Everyone turned around with him, to see if Albel was right.
At that moment, a boy entered the room. A Blue-haired boy with a tail.
Chapter 59: Conflicting Identities
The blue-haired boy walked into the room, void of any sort of emotions in his face. He robotically made its way towards Albel and the others, unsheathing his Eternal Sphere sword and seemingly ready to battle at any given moment.
Albel immediately stared down at the boy's expressionless face, to see whom this person that he apparently saw coming really was. And surely enough, he definitely recognized him. He had recognized him by the look, but more so through his soul…
"You're…" Albel mumbled in shock, his eyes wide open and his face deathly pale. He looked as if he had just seen a ghost.
And he wasn't far off.
"T… this is the guy!" Lancar yelled, immediately recognizing the blue-haired boy that had taken him and the others out earlier. "This is that blue-haired boy that I was talking about! The guy who had us beat at Kaddan and stole the Sacred Orb!"
"Y… you're right … he really is a Roakian Felinefolk…" Raditz commented, noticing the blue-haired boy's tail and the fighting stance. "And that's the Edarl Style stance… who… who is this guy?"
"Ah… hahaha!…. cough… Of course… how could I forget?" Luther muttered in laughter, slowly getting back up to his feet while clutching his wounds. "How could I forget about… my greatest weapon…"
"I knew it! I knew all along that he was working for you!" Farleen said, pointing to the blue-haired boy. "You ordered him to retrieve the Sacred Orb for you, didn't you?"
"Heh… correct… and unlike those useless demons… he was able to succeed…" Luther said, with an evil grin on his face. "Now I shall order him… to destroy all of you at this instant!"
"Hah… we may have lost to him back at the Shrine of Kaddan…" Roger said confidently, twirling his chained axes in a circle. "But this time, we got EVERYONE here… there is no way he'll be able to take on ALL of us!"
"Ugh… how overconfident…" Luther cursed, staggering back to support his damaged body on one of the computers. "Unlike those demons and you defects… this boy here is able to manipulate the power of destruction, alteration and connection to their maximum potential… you fools stand no chance… this is the most perfect, ultimate weapon…"
"You mean… he's genetically engineered with all 3 genes?" Maria asked, staring sharply at rather oblivious blue-haired boy. "And he's able to use them with full control?"
"That's right… and the best of all, he only goes in accordance of my wishes…" Luther sneered, quite confident on the ability of his servant. "He's a perfect example how all data should truly be… functioning under the absolute command of its creator! Hahaha!"
"We already know how to free him from your control, Luther!" Clair said, staring down at the two big, circular earrings that the blue-haired boy had on. "All we have to do is to destroy that device you placed on him!"
"Heh… then why don't you give it a try?" Luther said confidently, as he around to his servant. "You won't even be able to touch him… see for yourself. All right… MY LOYAL WEAPON… KILL THESE INTRUDERS!" Luther yelled while snapping his finger, ordering the blue-haired boy to attack.
"…" The blue-haired boy, however, didn't attack. Instead, he started staggering in one spot, holding his head in apparent state of mental trauma. "…ugh…"
"UGH…!" Albel also let out a loud groan right at that same moment, in a similar state as the blue-haired boy. "He's…" Albel muttered, holding his head.
"W… what is this?" Luther asked in panic, wondering why his orders didn't get through to the boy. "Is this a glitch of some sort? Why is he not… responding to my orders?"
"Albel! What's happening?" Clair yelled, rushing over to kneeling Albel in concern. "What's causing you… all this pain?"
"Damn, what the hell is going on here?" Raditz asked, as he turned around back and forth to look at Albel and the blue-haired boy. "Why are these two reacting in the same way? And how did Albel know that this guy was coming here in the first place?"
"Albel… please answer me…" Clair begged, as she supported Albel back onto his feet. "Please tell us what's going on!"
"T… this boy…" Albel mumbled, as he slowly gathered himself to look back up at the boy's face. "he's…"
"You… know him?" Clair asked, turning around to look at the blue-haired boy as well. "Who… who is he?"
"That boy… is the same boy from… the picture…" Albel struggled to explain, supporting himself on his katana and his knee. "Simone's… picture… that boy is… her son…"
"W…what?" Clair asked quietly in disbelief, her entire body suddenly stopping cold. "Her son? But Simone's son is…"
"This boy…" Albel continued, gathering himself and then finally dropping the bombshell. "He is… me…"
Right at that moment, everyone froze, staring at Albel in utter disbelief.
"He is… you?" Maria asked again, just to make sure if she heard it right. "What are you… talking about…?"
"That is my original, true vessel…" Albel explained, with his head a little more clear now. "The body that… my divided soul… got separated from…"
"No way…" Reen said, absolutely stunned. "I don't believe it…"
"There is no doubt about it… that boy over there… is me…" Albel claimed, looking very sure of himself. "I can sense it with my soul…"
"T…that explains why that boy is a Felinefolk and know the Edarl style…" Raditz muttered, still shellshocked himself. "But…"
"…" Luther just quietly listened along, astonished yet fascinated with the information.
"Wait a second… if all this is really true… if that boy over there is indeed your real self…" Jeiuce said, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. "Your soul is supposedly to be of the evil component that got divided by the Demon Mirror… so it logically means that the boy over there possess the good half of your soul…"
Upon hearing Jeiuce's words, Lancar immediately recalled back to the words that the Queen had spoke back at the Shrine of Kaddan, regarding the boy. "It… it all makes sense… her majesty said that she could not feel any evil presence in that boy's soul…"
"So that must have been the reason how he was able to enter the Holy shrine…" Tynave said, looking at the blue-haired boy who was also slowly gathering himself. "Because his soul was of the pure good…"
"So we have finally discovered the truth about it all…" Clair commented with her eyes closed, thinking back to everything that had happened between Albel and herself. "But no matter what the truth is, the only true Albel that is standing here is the one that is with us. Nothing will change that."
"…" Albel stood quietly, and then slowly went into his fighting stance. "You're right. Divided soul or not, I am the only me. I'm the only Albel that is known to this world… not that brainwashed vessel that is standing over there. So let's end all this right here. Let's get rid of him and that scum Luther… right off the face of our world."
"Arrg…" The blue-haired boy initially walked towards the party to attack them, but then collapsed to his knees again holding his head. He was seemingly having a conflict of his own within his mind.
"His mind control device… it's losing its effect!" Maria pointed out, upon seeing the boy struggle. "This is our chance… let's free him from the device and then kill Luther for good!"
"No." Albel said adamantly, as he walked towards the boy to strike at him with his katana. "That body… needs to die… for my own sense of identity… and for my own sense of existence…"
"Albel! No!" Clair yelled, rushing over and preventing Albel from striking the boy down. "There is no need to kill him!"
"Ugh… let go of me!" Albel screamed at Clair in rage, freeing his arm from Clair's grasp. "This is… for the purpose of my own being!"
"No, listen to her… she is right!" Jeiuce yelled out, to inform Albel of something. "If you kill him, you'll…"
Right that that moment, Luther, who had been forgotten by the party in the midst the whole fiasco, suddenly flew up in the air to concentrate ALL of his remaining energy into his hands. "HAHAHAHA!" Luther laughed hysterically as a red wave of light scattered away from his hands in a circular pattern, knocking everyone down. The floor then got filled in a huge crimson-coloured vortex, as roots suddenly popped out from each side of the room. The roots then powered up the huge ball of matter that appeared in the air in front of Luther with tremendous amount of light energy, to create one large energy ball. With everyone scrambling back up from being hit with Luther's unexpected attack, Luther yelled "BEGONE!" as the huge ball of energy in front of him scattered away to home in to each of the fighters, blasting them all away mercilessly. Though Luther's Insanity Prelude attack was unsuccessful in killing anyone due to his weakened power, it still damaged everyone very badly. Everybody stayed down on the floor, all in a state of near-incapacitation.
"Hahaha… fools…never turn your back… on your creator…!" Luther taunted, stumbling along to a huge computer that was to the right of him. "That… was… some fascinating information… you say that… the blue-haired boy over there… is one-half of your divided soul? HAHAHA!"
"Ugh…" Albel grimaced in pain, trying to get himself back up. "Damn you… Luther…"
"Hahaha… this is brilliant…" Luther laughed hysterically, punching in commands on the computer with a grand scheme in mind. "With this… there is no way they'll be able… to defeat me…"
"N… no…" Jeiuce mumbled, seemingly understanding what Luther was about to do. "He's can't be thinking of… no… this must… be… stopped…"
"SOUL TRANSFER, INITIATE!" Luther yelled, as he finally executed the program that he had activated with the computer. Suddenly, a huge yellow bolt of energy came out from the device to shoot right into Luther's heart, which then came back out a few seconds later to shoot right into the blue-haired boy's heart. "UWAAAA!" The blue-haired boy screamed in pain, as a blinding flash engulfed the entire room.
"…" Raditz looked up, to see Luther's body dropping to the floor like a ton of bricks. "What the hell… just happened… here…?"
"That bastard…ugh…" Jeiuce cursed, looking up to see that his speculations had unfortunately come true. "He used the Soul Transfer device… on himself?"
"…Damn…" Albel swore, as he also slowly lifted his head to see what had just transpired.
As the dust settled, everyone witnessed the blue-haired boy slowly getting up from a fetal position, with a very menacing grin on his face. They could easily tell that the blue-haired boy was now of totally different entity; Luther had transferred his own soul into his.
"Hehehe… excellent… I can feel the unimaginable amount of power flowing through this body…" Luther commented in great pleasure, admiring his newly acquired body. "Who could have thought that this lowly leftover vessel from the demon experiments would become of such a great use?"
"He… he just switched bodies…?" Maria commented, as her and everyone else slowly got back up to continue fighting. "This is not good…"
"So that was the Soul Transfer Device…" Reen said, realizing that the machine was of the same Moorian-technology that had transferred the soul of Elise, her ancestor, to another vessel 700 years ago. "Playing around with people's souls and bodies… is just wrong… we have to destroy that thing…"
"Heh… this is the price you corrupted bugs pay for building such a device that tries to change and defy the laws of nature!" Luther yelled, as he held up the Eternal Sphere sword in his head and walked towards the party. "Now, I'll make sure all you fools die by your own mistakes."
"Don't think that it's going to be that easy… Luther!" Maria yelled confidently, pointing her phase gun towards at Luther. "No matter which body you transfer to… we're not going to back down from you… we'll all continue to fight on as we have so far!"
"Really? Is that so? We'll see if you will think the same way once I tell you about a certain piece of fascinating information about my new body…" Luther sneered, with an amused grin on his face. "You see, if you all somehow manage to kill me… it'll also be the end of your friend standing over there!" Luther quickly pointed his sword out to Albel, who looked back to him, confused.
"H… huh…?" Clair mumbled, stunned at what Luther had just claimed. "N…no… that's got to be a lie…"
"No way! You think we'll believe something like that, Luther?" Reen yelled back at Luther, refusing to believe what he had just said and arguing with him. "Why in the world would THAT ever happen? It doesn't make any sense… there is no logic to it!"
"That's right! It's got to be all lies! We're not going to be tricked by you anymore!" Peppita yelled, agreeing with Reen. "Right everyone?"
"Hmph… if you all refuse to believe me, perhaps you will believe someone on your own side…" Luther said, turning towards Jeiuce. "Tell them truth, demon… you know how it all works…"
"…" Jeiuce just stood there with his head down, closing his eyes.
"N… no! It can't be true!" Clair said, rushing over to Jeiuce wishing that he could tell her the same. "They're all lies, isn't it, Jeiuce?"
"No they aren't… he speaks the truth. I'm sorry to tell you." Jeiuce confirmed, to the dismay of everyone. "He transferred his soul to Albel's old body… which means two souls currently reside in that vessel; his own, as well as Albel's 'good' soul. Should his body die, his soul would die as well, but the other half of Albel's soul in his body would also die along with it… yes… it all means that… Albel will die. The good and evil in a soul cannot exist without each other. It's the basic law of this world."
"W… what…?" Albel asked in disbelief, totally shocked by the truth. "I'll… die?"
"No… that can't be!" Clair cried, burying her face in her hands and yelling out loud. "THAT CAN'T BE TRUE!"
"There is nothing false about it." Luther said, going into the Edarl style battle stance. "All programs works as such… you data are all of the binary code… you're all composed of nothing but 0's and 1's… and a program without either a 0 or a 1 is not possible!"
"Then how are YOU going to live on, Luther?" Lancar asked, clenching his fist. "How are YOU going to live if you end up killing Albel?"
"Heh… you're as incompetents as you look…" Luther sneered. "Even if the other half of his soul in this body dies, it is of no concern to me… my own soul would still exist, and I'll continue to live on in this vessel."
"…" Everyone dropped silent, lost at what to say or to think about what was going to happen from here.
"I'm sorry." Jeiuce said, going into his fighting stance in order to fight him. "I didn't think it would turn out this way… and I didn't want to do this…"
"No, stop! We can't fight him… if we kill him, Albel… will also die…" Clair begged, trying to stop Jeiuce from fighting Luther. "There has to be another way!"
"We have no other choice! Errg…" Jeiuce yelled, struggling to free himself from Clair's grasp. "It's either he dies, or the entire universe dies!"
"GALE SLASH!" Luther wasted no time, shooting a storming gust of wind at the rest of the party. Everybody barely managed to dodge the blast, but Meena was still knocked back from the force, hitting her head against the wall. "AHHH!" Meena dropped to the floor, unconscious.
"Meena!" Roger yelled, rushing to Meena's care. "Are you okay? Speak to me!"
"Hmph. Good. She won't be able to miraculously save you all any longer…" Luther commented, running in towards the party. "This all ends now… PREPARE TO DIE!"
"DEMON FANG!" Jeiuce retaliated by shooting a ground energy wave towards Luther, but Luther effortlessly deflected the blast away with his Eternal Sphere Sword. Luther yelled "DOUBLE DRAGON SLASH!" as he made a powerful upward slash then a downward slash right against Jeiuce's body, with his sword covered in dragon force energy. "UGHHHHH!" Jeiuce yelled in pain, as Luther's powered-up version of the Double Slash knocked him down to the floor, doing critical damage.
"!…" Everyone else wanted to go in and help out Jeiuce, but then hesitated when they thought about what would happen to Albel if they killed Luther. "…" Everyone froze, not knowing how to deal with this situation.
"U... ugh…" Jeiuce mumbled, stubbornly getting back up to his feet to continue fighting. "I'll… take you on… by myself… if I have to…"
"Hah! Persistent bug… a disgusting corrupted data like you should be erased!" Luther said, as he suddenly made a sharp thrust into Jeiuce's body with the Eternal Sphere sword, piercing right through his midsection. "ARRRRG!" Jeiuce screamed in agonizing pain, as Luther slowly raised the sword with Jeiuce still impaled in it.
"What's wrong, fools?" Luther sneered with an evil grin, turning around to face the party with Jeiuce gruesomely impaled in his sword up in the air. "Shouldn't you all be coming to his rescue by now?"
"GWAAAHH!" Albel suddenly let out a war cry, lunging in by himself towards Luther like an angry bull. "Hmph! I could see you coming from a mile away!" Luther yelled, as he immediately dropped Jeiuce from sword and turned around to face oncoming Albel. Luther made a powerful slash with the Eternal Sphere sword, as the star waves emitted from the sword knocked Albel back without much effort.
"Ugh…" Albel groaned, struggling back up to his feet to keep on going. "Listen! All of you! Don't just stand there like idiots… ATTACK HIM!" Albel yelled in frustration at the rest of the party, prompting them to attack.
"He's… right… you must…" Jeiuce muttered on the ground, before passing out completely from the pain and the blood loss.
"B…but!" Maria replied, hesitant to attack. "What about…"
"FORGET ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO ME! WHY WOULD YOU GIVE A DAMN?" Albel yelled in rage, "JUST ATTACK HIM! DIDN'T YOU FOOLS COME HERE TO SAVE THE UNIVERSE? THEN DO SOMETHING!"
"H… he's right…" Raditz said, reluctantly stepping forward to fight Luther. "We can't just stand here… we have to stop Luther from deleting our universe…"
"Y… yes…we have no other choice…" Maria said, half-heartedly stepping up to fight as well. "We still have to fight him…or else he will end up deleting all of us as well…"
"But… but…" Reen still stayed back, confused on what she should do. "I want to save our universe… but Albel… I can't just watch him… die…"
"… Alright…" Clair, who had been in thought for a while, finally announced to the surprise of everyone, going into her battle stance to fight. "If this is what must be done… if this is what Albel wants…then…"
"Good… and the REST OF YOU DO THE SAME! FIGHT HIM!" Albel yelled to everyone, as he lunged towards Luther once again. "Remember what all of you came here for!"
"L… let's go then!" Lancar yelled as everyone charged towards Luther to fight him, although they all still looked somewhat reluctant.
"Hmph. So you all choose to fight me after all…" Luther said, not moving an inch. "Very well then… SHOCKWAVE STORM!" He suddenly yelled, as he swung his sword in a wide arc around him to surround himself in giant pillars of energy. "UGHH!" The pillars of energy knocked everyone right back down to the ground, in great pain.
"D… damn…" Lancar mumbled, struggling back up. "He's just… too powerful…"
"BEH… GET UP, FOOLS… ATTACK HIM WITH ALL YOU GOT!" Albel yelled angrily, getting back up to his feet. "ENOUGH WITH YOUR HALF-ASSED EFFORTS! FIGHT LIKE HOW YOU ALL HAVE BEFORE! GIVE IT YOUR ALL!"
"Heh heh… you fools always let some fabrication like your emotions get in your way…" Luther said, as he suddenly charged his Eternal Sphere in massive energy. "That is exactly why you will never be able to defeat me! Take this… SPIRIT BLAST!" Luther yelled, swinging his Eternal Sphere sword downwards to scatter countless blasts of power spirit energy all over the room. Albel, Clair, Lancar, Maria, Raditz, Tynave, and Farleen all barely managed to avoid the attack, but the rest were not so lucky. "AAAH!" Roger, Peppita, and Reen screamed as they were hit back by the spirit blast attack, instantly knocking out all of them. The bursts of energy also hit the containment tubes that Fayt and Sophia were in, releasing them.
"Hmph. That's only 3 of them… and it looks like I blasted those two out of their containers, as well…" Luther muttered, looking towards unconscious Fayt and Sophia on the ground. "No matter… they're of no use at all anymore, anyway."
"Fayt… Sophia…" Maria said, concerned for both of them who were helplessly down on the floor. "Hang in there…"
"I guess I'll take care of rest of you separately, just to make sure…" Luther said, rushing towards Tynave to attack her. "Erg…" Tynave hesitated, not knowing what to do. Her moment of hesitation was enough for Luther to hit her away with his Double Dragon Slash, knocking her out. With Tynave taken care of, Luther turned around to look at Farleen, who had been standing closest to him.
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" Albel yelled at Farleen, prompting her to attack. "FIGHT HIM! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM? YOU ALWAYS HATED ME… THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO KILL ME OFF!"
"N…no…!" Farleen retorted, defending herself against Luther. "I may not like you…. But you're still one of us… I can't…!"
"FOOL!" Luther yelled, swinging his Eternal Sphere at Farleen to hit her with the wave of star energy. "AHH…" Farleen yelped as she dropped to the ground, falling unconscious.
"Hmm, which one of you should I take care of next…" Luther said, looking around to the rest that were standing. "I'll save that Albel boy for last… It'll be better to take care of rest of them first…"
"Not if I take care of you first, maggot!" Albel yelled as he ran in to execute his Dragon Rave attack on Luther. However, Luther parried off every single on of his attacks with precision, then knocked him away with his sword without much effort. "Heh… your efforts are useless… I can see your moves… before they even come…"
"D… damn…" Albel cursed, down on the ground. "H… how…"
"ALTERATION DEVICE!" Maria yelled, shooting a bullet from her gun and manipulating it with her powers of alteration to alter its property of matter. The bullet flew right towards Luther surrounded in bright, circular pattern of symbols, surely to disintegrate him away upon impact.
"Heh…" Luther laughed, just waiting for the bullet to come towards him. "YOUR POWER AREN'T GOING TO WORK ON ME!" he suddenly yelled, as he reached out with his arm out to snag the bullet right out the air with his bare hands.
"H… how?" Maria asked in disbelief, having put all she had into that one attack. "Even my powers… are not enough?"
"Hmph… you still don't have full control of your powers…" Luther grunted, clenching his hand into a fist to mercilessly crush the bullet. "But this vessel can manipulate all three genes to their maximum potential… I can neutralize any your attacks with ease…"
"I… it can't be…" Maria mumbled, dropping to the floor in exhaustion.
"Still, it'll be the best to kill you right here, right now, while I have the chance…" Luther said, walking upto nearly unconscious Maria to finish her off. "You never know what your types can be capable of…"
"GRAND PHOENIX BLAST!" With Luther momentarily occupied with Maria, Raditz used the opportunity to unleash his most powerful attack on Luther, pushing him back with powerful force of the scorching phoenix. "Ugh…" Luther groaned, not significantly damaged but still momentarily stunned with the attack.
"SHINING KNUCKLE!" Lancar immediately followed up Raditz's attack by charging towards Luther surrounded in golden energy, pummeling him repeatedly in the midsection with his charging fist. "D… DAMN!" Luther yelled, holding his stomach in pain. "How dare you… bugs…"
"Damn… that's all I had left…" Raditz muttered, completely drained out of energy.
"huff… same here…" Lancar said, staggering forward then kneeling down. "Shit…"
"DIE!" Luther yelled, about to strike both of them down.
But as Luther tried to charge towards both Raditz and Lancar, somebody came from under him to grab him across his arms, to hold him in place. "Ugh… get… him…" It was Fayt, who had somehow recovered his conciousness. "…Now!"
"CLAIR!… THIS IS THE CHANCE!" Albel yelled, still down on the ground, to the only person that had remained standing. "KILL HIM!"
"R… right!" Clair said as she dashed in towards Luther, attempting to kill him by slashing him right across the throat with her daggers. "!" Luther cringed, helpless to defend against it.
"…NO!" Clair cried, stopping her daggers right at Luther's throat, and then pulling back. "I… I can't do this!"
"Heh… idiots…" Luther sneered, as he immediately freed himself from Fayt's grasp and knocked him away back to the wall. He then slashed at Clair with his Eternal Sphere, knocking her away with the wave of star energy. "AHHH…" Clair yelped, as the energy blast mercilessly knocked her down to the floor. As she hit the ground, the Palmira's Wishing Charm that was in her pocket fell out, and dropped to the floor. "…I'm… sorry…" Clair mumbled, losing consciousness.
"Hahaha… friendship… love… whatever fabrication it may be…" Luther laughed, looking down at Clair. "You'll never be able to defeat me because of your silly attachments to them!"
"…Damn…" Albel muttered on the ground, frowning in disgust… "Clair…"
"Now, to finish you off!" Luther yelled, concentrating vast amounts of energy into his Eternal Sphere sword. He held the sword out, as the sword started shining brighter and brighter in prism light. "PRISM NOVA!" Powerful beams of prism light bursted away from the sword like a supernova, scattering it in all direction. "UWAAA!" Raditz and Lancar both screamed in pain as the attack blasted them and everyone in front of him back, downing them for good. However, the Prism Nova attack was so massive that it also destroyed all the computer systems and engines that were in the lab. One of the machines exploded, as the tank above it started shaking heavily.
"Hmph… it looks like I damaged the main creation engine in the lab…" Luther muttered, looking at the massive tank in the back that was badly damaged. " It'll probably end up exploding and obliterate this entire dimension… heh, not that I care... I was going to do that later, anyway…"
"!" Jeiuce reacted faintly upon hearing that information, almost near death. "No…."
"There is probably about 10 minutes left before it overloads and blows up… 15, if I'm lucky…" Luther said, turning back around to face the downed party. "That should be more than enough time for me to kill off these bugs then make my way over to the real world… hahaha!"
"F…Faerie…Light…" Right at that moment, someone softly yelled out to cast a weaker Faerie Light spell, healing everyone just enough for them to barely get back up to their feet. It was Sophia, who had used her last ounce of power to heal everyone.
"Huh? Oh, right… forgot about that one…" Luther said with a little surprise, noticing Sophia in the corner of the room, who collapsed back down. " Whatever… It doesn't matter if you all get healed now… look at you, you can all barely even stand up..."
Albel got back up, and suddenly looked to be in a really deep thought…
"We can't… give up…now…" Raditz mumbled, struggling back up to fight. "We have to all… fight until the end…"
"Yes… you'll have to kill us all off… before you can go anywhere… Luther!" Maria yelled, still in severe pain. "We're not backing down!"
"Heh. Kill you all off? That's relatively a simple matter at this point!" Luther laughed it off, charging his Eternal Sphere once again in energy. "I shall do as you wish, then. BEGONE, ALL OF YOU!"
"STOP!" Albel suddenly yelled to stop everyone, then slowly walked towards Luther. "You won't be fighting them, Luther… you'll be fighting… me…"
"W… what?" Lancar asked, confused by what Albel had just said. "What are you…talking about?"
"He was right… you all let your emotions get in your way. You won't ever be able fight to your full potential against Luther, because deep inside… you're all concerned about… what would happen to me…" Albel continued, staring right into Luther's face in determination. "Right now… I'm the only one who can fight him without such concern… I'm the only one that stands a chance of killing him. I'll do this… alone."
"…!" Clair reacted, shocked by what she was hearing. "Albel…"
"Heh… let me get this straight… you want to take me on… ALL by yourself?" Luther asked, very amused. "Hahahah! This is truly hilarious!"
"Nothing funny about it, maggot. I mean all of it." Albel said coldly, taking his battle stance. "Let's end this… one on one."
