Chapter 32 - Endgame
It was time for the summoning. He was just one step away from becoming that which he desired so he could rectify his mistakes and clean the world of this pestilence, this disease... and so he called them, urging them to come to him in the only way he knew how...
Slowly, the wound closed up, the flesh becoming whole once more but nothing could mend his world with what he now knew. His eyes opened and he saw three familiar faces above him.
"Are you alright man? That looked pretty nasty," asked Crono, extending his hand. Grasping it, Spekkio felt himself lifted to his feet by the spiky-haired youth.
"It's time. We can't stall this any longer, we have to move now. The question is wh--" Spekkio stopped speaking as he felt his insides start to tingle. As the feeling spread through his body, so did the intensity. Suddenly, the tingling stopped, to be replaced by the cold embrace of nothingness as a vortex opened up around him. Reacting quickly, Crono dived into the vortex, quickly followed by Frog and Ayla, just before it closed up, devouring them completely...
They stood in the opening, all but one of them in that one place. They had gathered as commanded to by the outsider, V'nark, for they knew it was time. They could not stand by and watch their planet, the planet betrothed to them by the Gods. They knew that in this matter, they had to trust in V'nark, despite their hatred of him because of his crimes, for they all knew what he was. The son of God.
At the same time the vortex appeared around Spekkio, several vortexes appeared where they had gathered, each one centred around an individual Nu. None of them spoke or cried out as they were swallowed up whole for a wave of realisation hit them all, simultaneously. They now knew who they really were...
He chuckled to himself as he saw the vortexes appear before him, pouring forth his creations. Only one now remained, the one that would bring his one true son back to him, V'nark to the Nu's and Spekkio to the accursed Lavos-spawn. How ironic it was that the creation he so abhorred had given forth the form he now inhabited, albeit temporarily. Soon he would be whole again and able to return to what he once was. It had been a mistake to give forth his power to those he had created for he had not realised that they in turn would create, but not perfection as he had. No, they had created imperfections, a disaster upon his pure world, but that he could tolerate, mistakes happen. What he could not tolerate was their other notable creation, time. They had not reasoned what would happen if they created it, and had thus signed their own death warrant. The only way a Nu, one of his sacred creations, could die was of old age and it irked him immensely. What angered him the most though were the actions of the interloper, Lavos. Only he, Kronos, had the right to give existence but the invader was defying him brazenly, but that would soon end...
He sighed with relief as the final vortex opened up before him, taking longer to arrive than the others since the distance was further to travel. But what came out was not what he had expected. No matter, for the three uninvited guests could stand no chance against him. A stifled cry came from behind him as some of the guests he had invited recognised them.
"Crono!" screamed Marle, struggling against the arms that held her bound. Not that Crono was listening, he was too busy staring at the figure before him.
"At last we meet boy... it's been a long time. I'd almost forgotten what you looked like."
"A... are you... me?"
"Not anymore... once I was but now I'm something completely different. I'm not even human anymore... I am Lazarus, the mortal body of Kronos and soon I shall be no more. There will be no use for me and I will simply die, I will be gone forever and I am happy to do so in the service of my God. Now come to me my children."
Streaming past the confused trio came a hoard of blue Nu's, surging towards the host of their God. All except one. "Come to me my son. You are the chosen one... come to me."
Slowly, Spekkio stumbled forwards, to be stopped by Crono's arm grabbing hold of his. Turning to face him, Spekkio's eyes blazed. "Release me mortal, you have no right to bind me like this."
"What's wrong with you Spekkio? What's going on?"
"My father has called me back to his side. I must join him so please let me go."
"NO! I won't let you do this!"
Shrugging, Spekkio grabbed him and flung away before turning and walking up to Lazarus. "I have returned to you father."
"It is time for the ceremony to begin son. You know what to do."
With a nod, Spekkio's shoulders slumped as he slowly collapsed in on himself. Crono got to his feet as he saw Spekkio turn into a puddle. It glided across the floor of the ethereal world to where the Nu's stood with their eyes closed. As the puddle glided over the form of the first Nu, all of their eyes snapped open but none of them moved to help the first Nu as it was slowly devoured. As it dissolved into a puddle like Spekkio had, it joined with the first one, making it larger. Slowly it spread through all of the Nu's, dissolving them all, one by one until there was only the puddle of quicksilver.
Changing course, it drifted over to Lazarus, gathering around his feet. The others stood horrified as it flowed around him, slowly crawling up his body to his face. Streams of the quicksilver poured into his nostrils, his mouth and his ears, drowning him in itself. Finally it had all entered him, his body full with the life essence of all the Nu's, the power he had entrusted them seeping into him, bleeding the power into his very being. Lazarus dropped into a crouch, breathing heavily as he felt it flow through him, his blood rushing through his head, lights flashing before his eyes. Looking up at Crono, he smiled before exploding in a flash of white light, Lazarus' body parts flying away on the crest of the shockwave.
As the bright light receded and everyone could see again, the ethereal reality reasserted itself around the new figure, glowing in darkness. Shimmering, it floated from its supine position on the floor to a metre above the ground, still wrapped tightly around itself. Slowly it unfurled, glimmering as its transparent body parts stretched out. It was a black Nu, a dumpy figure floating in the air. Unhurriedly it turned, taking in the fear of those that were around it. And then it changed... to Marle it looked like Crono, to Lucca it looked like Frog, to Ayla it looked like Kino, to Frog it looked like Lucca, to Crono it looked like Marle... a reflection of that which their hearts truly belonged to, those they could never want to harm out of hate.
"Do you seek to stop me?" it whispered in its reflective voices. "I am not without a sense of fair play. If you defeat me in battle, you may take back your feeble little existence. How does that sound?"
In response to its supposedly magnanimous gesture, another vortex opened up, a much larger one than the others before it. Gracefully, out slid the ethereal form of the long dead Lavos, freshly reanimated by the incarcerated Lavos brain. Atop it sat Alyssa Zeal, cackling maniacally.
"Where the hell is that bitch daughter of mine? I want my fucking leg back!" she screamed hysterically, an evil grin still playing on her face.
"In all that excitement, I nearly forgot about you. It's about time you showed up," Kronos said. Closing its eyes, it summoned another vortex above it and from it dropped Queen Zeal's leg, falling into its hand. "Is this what you want? Come and get it."
Hopping down from her perch, Alyssa stumbled over to it with the aid of a poorly constructed crutch.
"Give it back now or face the wrath of Lavos," she threatened, giving a toothy grin before cackling again.
"No," was all it said as it plunged its fingers into her eyeballs, rapidly ripping her head from her shoulders, her body slowly toppling over to the side. Turning, it threw the head to Crono, who caught it by instinct, quickly dropping it on the floor in horror.
The disembodied heads eyelids opened revealing two new eyeballs and it winked slyly at the shocked Crono. Picking itself up from the floor, Alyssa's body gathered the crutch it had been using and hobbled over to the head, quickly picking it up and placing it back to its rightful place, the wound quickly healing.
Cricking her head to both sides, she spoke again: "Oww, that hurt! I'd really rather you hadn't done that." Clumsily, she turned herself around. "Now, last chance. Give me my foot back or pay the consequences."
"You really believe that one of those puny Lavos' can defeat me, a God?"
"You're no God, you're just a creature that got lucky. You're just another being who has different powers to the rest of us. You're not special, you're just different..."
"You'd liken me to the rest of you puny mortals?"
"I think you'll find none of us are as puny as you think..."
"You wish me to prove my strength? Done." Turning around, Kronos flew towards the gigantic hulk of the Lavos, gliding swiftly through the air, bursting straight through its shell. Light came pouring through the gaping hole, as it all started to vibrate, steam rising from the outer shell as it slowly evaporated, leaving only Kronos standing there in a small steaming puddle of green blood.
"La... Lavos?" stuttered a shocked Queen Zeal.
"You doubted my power? You should have known better Alyssa... the whole purpose of the Black Wind was for my own gain, not Lavos'. You've been working for me the whole time."
Screaming, Alyssa took off from the floor, levitating in a similar fashion to Kronos. As she flew at it, wailing like a banshee, Kronos merely sidestepped her, grabbing her one remaining ankle as she went past. Giving it a quick jerk, Kronos brought her flat down on her face, lights exploding before her eyes as a burst of blood came from her nose. Still holding onto her ankle, Kronos quickly flipped her overhead, slamming her back down to the ground on the other side, the back of Alyssa's head smashing into the floor.
"I tire of this already..." Lifting Alyssa from the floor, Kronos placed its hand between her breasts, the hand slowly sinking in through the flesh. Ripping it back out, Kronos held her still beating heart in its hand as Alyssa's eyes fixed on it. Squeezing it tightly, it burst like a melon in its hands, Alyssa simultaneously going limp and falling to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
"And now, it's your turn," Kronos said as it turned to face Crono, Frog and Ayla.
"It's now or never guys," Crono murmured to the others.
"My promise still stands. You defeat me, your... existence will go on as will your species. You lose, and I take it all and it will return to what it was originally intended for."
"Deal."
"Let it be," said Kronos.
No-one moved, all of them watching each other warily, waiting for the first move. Ever the impatient one, Ayla burst forward, her feral instincts taking over as she launched herself towards Kronos. Spinning away from her, Kronos lashed out with a heel in one fluid motion, catching her in the side as she flew past, knocking the wind from her lungs.
Frog and Crono slowly edged around it, both with their swords held out in front, the points aimed squarely at Kronos. With a quick step forward, Crono swung low, aiming for the legs as Frog on the other side went high, his blade arcing towards Kronos' head. Two blades appeared in its hands, the first spinning round to block Frog's blade, the second glancing away Crono's sword. Back-flipping away, Kronos took up a fighting stance, its right hand holding the sword in front of him, the left holding the sword reversed as if it was a knife. Kronos staggered forwards as Ayla jump-kicked it from behind, quickly recovering from her earlier blow. Spinning around, blades flashing quickly, the sound at a nearly deafening level as they clashed against each other. Kronos calmly stood there blocking and parrying every single sword thrust that came near it.
"Is this the best you can do? You humans are pathetic... how can you hope to defeat me?" it sneered. "Time to step it up a bit."
Launching into attack, Kronos' twin blades sung out in unison, scoring nicks and scratches all over his opponent's bodies as they tried to keep the swords at bay. As Ayla jumped in, pummelling Kronos with her bunched up fists, Crono and Frog slipped back a bit, a silent nod between the two of them... time to step it up indeed.
As Kronos staggered backwards again, Crono interrupted his quiet chanting to cry out, "Ayla, get down!" as Frog charged towards the retreating form. Dropping into a crouch, Ayla felt Frog's feet on her back as he launched into the air, sailing over Kronos, thrusting the Masamune downwards. Summoning a lightning bolt, Crono threw it straight and true, aiming for the mighty mythical blade. In an explosive burst it hit it, lightning coursing down it towards Kronos as the blade plunged upwards. The swords disappearing, Kronos threw its hands up, slapping his palms either side of the Masamune, snatching it out of the air as Crono threw his sword blade first at Kronos. Instead of its body being racked with pain as the lightning coursed through its veins, it merely stood there, holding the blade above its head as Crono's sword, the Swallow, plunged through it's stomach, erupting from the other side in a spray of vitriolic blood. Leaping up from her crouch, Ayla flew at the sword, lashing her foot out and hammering it further in, pushing the sword up to its hilt inside of Kronos as Frog landed on his feet behind the supposed God. Slowly, it lowered its hands, the Masamune still clutched tightly between its palms as it looked downwards, cocking its head to the side as it tried to work out what that sword was doing there. Suddenly, Kronos looked up, staring Crono in the eyes. Flipping the Masamune into its left hand, it clutched the hilt, slowly drawing the Swallow out of its gut with its free hand. Dropping to one knee, it looked down again as a puddle of black ichor spread around its feet.
Rising back to its feet, Kronos advanced on the now defenceless Crono. It merely shrugged off the bolts of lightning Crono was throwing at it as it started spinning the blades around in its hands. A burst of water hit Kronos from behind but it ignored it. When Ayla leapt upon its back, raining blow after blow upon its head, Kronos just continued walking, its pace slowing as Kronos lost more and more of its blood, its strength flowing from its wounds.
Finally losing patience with the prehistoric woman beating on its head, a third arm grew from its body. Reaching up to grab her by the hair, it held her at full stretch in front of itself. Kronos laid the two blades at her neck, and with a scissor motion, severed Ayla's head from her shoulders. As her body fell to the floor, blood fountaining from the neck, it threw the shocked looking head over its shoulder, not looking to see where it landed. As the third arm returned to its body, Kronos sensed another attack from behind, spinning round and catching the ball of water Frog had thrown at it. It started to bubble and evaporate as a ball of pure energy formed in its hand, glowing, pulsating as it grew and grew. With a leer on its face, Kronos threw the ball of energy at Frog, hitting him square in the chest. Frog stood there and just took it, seemingly unaffected by it at all. Just as he was about to cast another ball of water, he knew something was wrong. The magic he was drawing upon overran his body, overloading him. As he opened his mouth to scream in agony, a bright white light poured forth, blinding everyone. When the light receded, all that was left was a pile of ashes on the ground. Turning back to its final target, Kronos advanced determinedly, the swords being spun around again. Stumbling over Alyssa's corpse, Crono fell backwards to the floor. Sensing victory, Kronos approached even faster, the sword tips whistling through the air as they grew closer and closer to the frightened form on the floor. It never noticed Crono's chanting until too late. Using the last of his energy, Crono cast his ultimate spell knowing it was beyond his control and would kill him as well. Luminaire. A high-pitched whine was heard as a circular wall of yellow light rose from the ground, encasing both Crono, Kronos and Alyssa's corpse.
As the dome closed, Marle finally moved into action, shrugging off the man who had been watching in awe as the fight had taken place. Stamping on his foot, she rammed her elbow deep into his gut, swinging her hand upwards catching him with a mighty backhand across the jaw. As he staggered back, she ran towards the dome of light, towards where she knew Crono was. As it slowly collapsed in on itself, a shockwave of sound and force burst out, catching Marle on the crest. Lifted from her feet and flung backwards, the last thing she thought was that it was like flying...
