Two blades filled with anger met as Alain and Rost ran into each other. The sheer force of each others swings battered the weapons off one another, sending them both reeling backwards. They both swung from afar again, causing the blades to cut down the length of each other sending sparks sizzling to the floor. They drew back with their weapons behind them and gripped the hilts with both hands and swung vertically. The weapons locked once more as they forced themselves forward closer to each other.
Alain's eyes did not waver from Rost's face as they each applied pressure to one another. He felt himself slide back slightly as the Elvaan found more strength. Rost's taller form and stance overwhelmed his attempts to push back; he had let too much ground get taken. He began to bend backwards as the Samurai continued to apply pressure, bringing his own weapons blade dangerously close to his body.
Letting his sword drop sideways, Alain side stepped letting Rost's weight propel him forwards enough for him to parry both weapons down to the side. Pushing off his back foot, he rammed into his opponent with his shoulder sending him rolling to the floor.
As Rost got up, he was narrowly able to duck under his Great Sword as he swung with it in one hand from where it had fallen. Charging forwards, the Elvaan got to his feet and they met in another exchange of powerful strikes that caused them each to ricochet off one another. Dodging another slice, Alain heard Rost utter Zanshin and backed away in time to avoid the enhanced second swipe.
"Bind!"
A purple circle appeared in the white stone around Rost's feet that fired up magical chains that wrapped around his legs. He swiped two sets away, but more continued to appear and hold him. Alain put some distance between them and pointed an extended open hand forwards.
"Fire!"
A ball of red energy erupted into flames and shot from him towards his enemy. Though chains still held his legs, Rost ignored them long enough to raise his Great Katana upwards and slice the fireball in two at its furthest possible distance away. As the ball broke into two each section blew up. The force from the blast was large enough to push him backwards, breaking the bind spell in the process, and throwing him to the floor.
By the time he returned to his feet, Alain had already prepared his next spell. A large crystalline blue sphere had formed before a clenched fist. As his hand opened the sphere increased in size and became a block of solid ice. He pulled back his hand and then thrust it forwards, turning the ice into a thick jagged shape and causing it to fire forwards as if it had just been fired by a gun.
Rost's weapon glowed, "Tachi:Jinpu!"
Striking down, the Samurai's Great Katana released a mini cyclone of magical elemental wind. No sooner had the first left the weapon had a second appear with another sideways slice. The spear of ice collided with the first shattering it instantly and firing dangerous shards in all directions. The second cyclone whistled through the remains towards him. Alain rolled out of the way, but forgot he had moved so close to the wall of the chamber. The cyclone struck into the white stone, blowing chunks of it and a cloud of dust into his back, knocking him over.
Expectedly, Rost did not give him time to recover just as he had not for him, and ran across the room to attack straight away before he could even stand up fully. Alain swiped upwards as he got off his knees and met the Great Katana creating another fierce combat.
Each swing of the Great Katana seemed to get stronger. The force of each slash, deflection, and block had caused his wrists to go numb with pain applied upon them and his hands shook slightly. Without dipping into the powers of a Dark Knight he would not be able to match blow for blow much longer considering Elvaan had superior bodily strength and stamina in comparison to a Hume. However, he could somewhat use his smaller stature to his advantage and cause more attacks to brush past him as opposed to trying to block them straight on. Zanshin made it impossible to rely on, but Alain knew that Rost could not initiate the ability over and over without draining himself.
Dodging another attack, Alain stood firm. It was a gamble. If Rost had tried to use Zanshin again at that moment he would have been open to the quick attack, but he got lucky. Rather than try to inflict a blow that would most likely be caught, he instead struck sideways with his hilt, catching Rost across the face as he recoiled. He had not expected such a garish attack, and with the momentum of the blow twisted fast enough to loose his weapon. The Great Katana slid a short distance away, coming to a stop at the edge of the circular indentation in the floor.
Alain moved to the side and stood between his former companion and the katana, raising his Great Sword ready to attack. Rost looked to the floor and laughed quietly to himself. Blood dripped from his lower lip onto the cold floor, spattering into blotches.
"What's so funny? You've lost," Alain stated. "Surrender and I won't end it."
"End it?" Rost replied coldly, looking up. "You think because you have disarmed me that you have won? I can't help but notice that your hands are shaking. Have your wrists gone numb yet? You have stupidly been taking the force of my blade over and over as I planned…have you seen the damage done to your weapon?"
Reluctantly, Alain let his gaze waver, down to his sword. He bent it sideways slightly so he could see the flat edge. Deep cuts and thick scratches lined both sides of it and the very tip had been blunted. He was speechless. How could his weapon have been so badly affected by the exchanges and the Great Katana remained unhindered? The difference in body mass could not make that much difference on a steel sword.
"Surprised? I'm sure that you remember where I got that Great Katana from, don't you? It is an enchanted blade from a world outside of the real. It is a Dynamis weapon, a thing that does not obey our laws. It will never be dulled or damaged. I discovered that while fighting off waves of Antican…and so much more."
"I… That doesn't change anything; even a blunted blade can kill an unarmed opponent! I'll only say this one more time; surrender."
"I will not surrender. Strike me down, if you can truly take my life. I will show you the skills of a Samurai."
He had no choice. That was what he told himself. No matter what he said he would be ignored because Rost was not of sane mind. It was as if he was talking to another person now. He felt different as well. It felt like he was watching himself as he pulled his damaged sword over his head once more and stepped forwards. The blade fell on the Elvaan.
In mid air the Great Sword was stopped. Alain could only blink with amazement as Rost's flat palms pressed together before his chest and caught the blade. Not only that, but the held it in place like something trapped in a vice. His best efforts to pull the blade back failed.
"This isn't possible…" he stuttered as he tried to fight back against the pressure.
"Isn't it? Samurai are taught to understand the structure of a weapon, its composure, its sturdiness, its effectiveness. Every weapon is different, but to one trained to look for it, weaknesses can be easily exposed. My strikes and cuts were not random; they were deliberately across the middle of either side of your sword. Weakening this point also created enough indentation for me to safely grasp it. It also gives me more than enough leverage…to do this…"
Rost's palms parted slightly, one sliding higher and one sliding lower. There was a disturbing creek and crack as each then applied even more pressure. The Great Sword's blade bent and then tore, breaking exactly halfway between both his hands. Rost's hands passed by him and his wrists crossed. Alain stumbled forwards as the blade was broken. The top half fell freely and then the half still attached to the hilt dropped as the back of Rost's fist caught him across the face. He dropped to the floor shortly after the two sections of his weapon did. Calmly, the Elvaan strode by to retrieve his katana.
Perhaps I was wrong…he has not changed enough.
What…what am I supposed to do now? I don't… I can't fight without my sword!
Stretching forwards, Alain pulled the hilt of his Great Sword back into his hand. Not even half the long blade remained attached. He might be able to take some swipes with it if he used it like a short sword or dagger, but it would be no match for the Great Katana.
I don't have a choice, I'll need to use just this…but if I let him attack first then it's over…he'll use that ability… I don't know if I can stop that… Catherine… Catherine, I need to survive this for her!
"Last Resort."
Alain charged forwards surrounded by blood red energy while twisted the remains of his sword around so that the blade stretched out below his fist. Rost was taken aback by his furious charge and barely defended against the first swipe that struck harder than any of the hits had when the sword was undamaged. He skidded backwards from the force straight into the wall of the chamber, causing it to crack slightly. Not even a second past and Alain was in front of him again and brought down the backwards broken blade on the seemingly invincible katana. Rost was forced further into the wall as rock broke under his weight and his armour was dented all over.
He swiped out but cut only air as Alain moved with ease to avoid the attack. It gave the Samurai enough time to pull himself from the broken wall and charge, but as he met with the empowered Dark Knight again he was knocked sideways across the floor. Alain followed after Rost as he rolled across the floor, all the while refusing to loose his grip on the Great Katana.
No! Damn it!
The red aura around him evaporated as he dropped to one knee grasping his chest. It was as if he had been punched in the gut after running a marathon. His ability had sapped what was left of his strength as it always had done. He looked to Rost, who had not gotten up from the last attacked yet, but he knew he had not done enough during Last Resort to consider the fight over.
With an annoyed grunt Rost rolled onto his knees and peered over his shoulder to make sure he was not about to be attacked. His eyes narrowed as they met with his and he smirked at how helpless he had to have looked cradling a broken sword and panting like a dog. The Samurai got to his feet and swung his katana around back into his fighting stance.
"Is that it, Alain? Is Last Resort the depths of your strength? Such a futile ability, to expend everything you have left for a few powerful strikes… I thought you had grown stronger, I thought you had stolen power from the darkness like Zeid. I thought you would be stronger than him because of what you have become. You were supposed to stop me."
What!
"But instead you will just die here, in that pathetic state you have put yourself in. You have seen me use this so many times against the enemies we shared… but now it will be used on you. You will feel the depths of a Samurai's resolve! Meikyo Shisui!"
No! He can use three techniques without any pause and I probably can't even stand against one! I need to move…get up, damn it! I won't give him the satisfaction of losing to this!
"Tachi:Enpi!"
Rost appeared before him with a purple line shooting out from the tip of his Great Katana. It fired into him, but he was able to hold up the remains of his sword in time to let it be caught. It shattered into even smaller pieces and was flung by the force of the purple bar expanding and causing a shockwave. He gritted his teeth to hold in cries of pain as shards of the blade and purple energy stabbed into the right side of his stomach and shoulder. He rolled backwards and got to his feet as Rost prepared his second technique.
"Tachi-
"Stun!"
Two orange bands appeared in the air and pinned Rost's arms to his side. His blade shook as white energy left it, smashing into the floor and ceiling above almost ripping the central spike from its fittings. The energy for the second technique had been expelled without direction and was wasted completely. Visibly angry, Rost tore through the orange bands and broke into a run.
A third technique was coming, the Great Katana began to glow blue. Electrical energy sparked around the length of the blade tainting the whole room in a similar colour. Alain out stretched his hand from where he had came to a stop. Concentrating hard on the tip of blade he forced his magic to surround it. The electrical sparks turned back into pure white energy. Rost skidded to a halt as the energy then turned into balls attached by glowing lines that parted from the sword and were absorbed into Alain's hand. Without a weapon he could not use the absorbed energy back at the Samurai, but at least he had dispelled the third and final attack.
He laughed, somewhat helplessly, as he knew he had not won. But at least he had wiped the smirk off that arrogant face.
"Well done, you are finally using battle tactics," Rost said emotionlessly. "But you have not changed the outcome. Face my resolve again; Meditate!"
Multicoloured light spread from the Samurai's feet all the way up his body, eventually sparking the blade once more and making it glow white. Rost pulled back the sword and held it next to the side of his chest as if it were being placed in a sheath. Bending forward on his front knee, Rost looked up as the white energy on his blade turned a pale pink colour.
Moving instantly, Rost passed straight by him. Raising his sword and slashing sideways as he did, he scrapped across Alain's chest. He felt the cut but could not trace his opponent's movements at all. He looked down and saw a pink ball of light sitting on the front of his armour over his stomach. It seemed to fold out into the shape of a beautiful pink lotus flower with a glowing crystal sitting in its centre. Behind him, the unhindered Samurai held his Great Katana by his side once more.
"Tachi:Kasha."
Rost knocked his knuckle off the hilt of his weapon.
The flower's petals broke apart and shot in all directions as the central crystal stabbed into him. He felt all control leave his body and swayed like a scarecrow caught in a light breeze. The petals flowed gently across the side of his face and over his shoulders while a steam of blood shot up from his stomach. His body staggered backwards by itself, and equally automated one of his feet moved backwards to support his weight, causing him to sway again. A moment later as the last petals hit the ground around him and vanished, he fell forwards into a pool of his own blood.
Like a distance sound he heard Rost whisper, "So this…is how it was meant to be?"
Why? Why didn't you…
Hey!
"...Wha…what?"
Alain looked up from the pool of blood he lay pathetically in to see himself looking down with an angry expression. The version of himself standing before him crouched down and shook his head in dismay.
Why didn't you use what we learned? You can beat him easily!
"You're…the part of me I left in the darkness. Where am I?"
Back in there, can't you tell?
The strange room was gone, so were Rost and Catherine. The only thing that remained besides the mirror image of him was pure black. He was back in the place that had almost driven him insane speaking with the part of his persona he had sacrificed for power; the part of him that hated Rost.
"Something is wrong…" he struggled to say. "He isn't fighting me because he wants to! I can tell, its something to do with all those months ago…we were both infected by something."
That something has a name, you know? I figured it out for us. But that doesn't matter. He is our enemy and we can defeat him. Isn't that what we wanted? This body you see before you wouldn't exist if it was not true. So get up, get up from that floor and show him.
"…Emissary…why did I just think of that word?"
It doesn't matter! Get up! Show him the power of a true Dark Knight! Show him our anger!
-
The darkness warped around him and it felt like there was an earthquake. Distorted visions and words bombarded his mind as everything seemed to lose cohesion. He was witnessing Rost speaking with the Dawn Maiden linked to the Prayer Stone of Earth.
"What have I become?"
"Thou have become an Emissary of the Dusk."
"It is as I read in those ancient writings…then is he?"
"Correct, the Emissary of the Dawn."
"I have been chosen because of my tainted existence, correct? Whereas he has been chosen because he is the exact opposite of his tainted race… we are the extreme opposites of each other. So, if the things I have read are to be believed, the unavoidable outcome of this is one of us…"
"Thou cannot escape the Chains of Promathia, Elvaan. Thou are bound just as he is to our call. Which of you will seeketh out the holy Mother Crystal will be decided by you."
-
Rost turned as an immense pressure of sheer power bore down on him as it flooded the room. A thick black cloud spread around Alain's body as it rose to its feet like a puppet having its strings tugged. The ground beneath the Hume's feet seemed to become tainted and stained pure black. A grey circle appeared around him, cut at sections by three pointed wing shapes that grew before vanishing. Rost recognised this three tipped circle as the Dark Seal, an outlawed incantation to increase magical potency specifically catering for Black Magic. The White Magic equivalent was commonly used by White Mages.
Though the black cloud hid most of his figure, Rost saw Alain's eyes glare at him as he sudden twisted and outstretched an open palmed hand. Rost felt his body pull forwards and immediately resisted. It felt like his body was burning from the inside and he had not choice but to drop to one knee as the pain increased. He saw the top of his right shoulder wince as the focus of the agony centred on a small cut in his armour he had received during the battle. From the cut his armour was peeled open like a can as circular drops of blood were pulled out by powerful magic. He fell forwards onto his hands and knees until eventually he was able to grasp his shoulder and stop the flow of blood.
The blood that had flowed so easily through an open wound was absorbed into the black cloud surrounding Alain. Though it was hard to be sure, the Samurai's sharp eyes were sure that the bleeding around his opponent's deep chest wound seemed to have both stopped and sealed. He had drained his very life using an empowered spell to heal his critical wound before it caused lasting damage.
His opponents figure vanished, reappearing nearby long enough to pick up what was left of the shattered Great Sword's blade. He appeared next right in front of him. The only thing that saved him from being gutted in that instant was his Third Eye. He dodged the attack by rolling sideways, but no longer could he depend on it as his concentration was broken by shock.
The blade of his katana met with the tiny remains of the Great Sword and was thrown back like it was ten times as strong. Before he could recover from the drastic recoil he twisted sideways and fell to one knee as the broken blade ran across the side of his chest, cutting a slice into his armour and meeting with skin. Alain's boot met with his chest as he still knelt and he was pushed back the entire length of the room to the far side he had first entered from.
Getting up slowly, he twisted his blade around in both hands and then rested it by his side as he had done once before. His Great Katana glowed with potent white energy that then turned pink once more. He shot forwards, catching Alain in the exact same place again. He skidded to a halt at the far side of his opponent.
"Tachi:Kasha," he whispered.
His knuckle fell on his blade, but as it did the lotus flower did not explode as before. Instead, a loud ting sounded out as the top half of the katana snapped off and collided with the floor. Rost starred in disbelief at his shattered weapon. It was supposed to be invincible.
This is it, Rost!
He twisted around and did not have time to pull back. Alain was right in his face, glaring at him with focused eyes. The black cloud that had surrounded his enemy now surrounded him as well, he was that close. He looked down slowly as a pain spread across his chest. Though Alain's hands were now at his sides, he at been fast enough to leave the broken Great Sword blade stuck into him without him even noticing.
He tried to speak, but it came out as only an astonished and painful moan. He dropped to his knees before his opponent and held the hilt of the broken blade lodged in his chest. It was a deep wound despite how much of the thick blade was missing, and had done enough damage to cause severe blood loss. It flowed freely around his hands onto the floor, staining where Alain's blood had already fallen.
"I…lose…" he managed to stutter from the floor.
Alain seemed to wobble as well and soon he was back on his knees as the wound in his chest reopened. He then fell to the floor opposite him. Their gaze met across a pool of blood directly below the spire of the room, inside an indented circle. In that moment Rost realized that the Dawn Maiden had been wrong, the conclusion was not that one of them would survive, quite the opposite. They had been foolish.
"Why…" he thought he heard Alain stutter. "Why did you…so willingly… just to see… the gates?"
Though the words were broken he understood. Not because he deciphered them, but because he heard the thoughts that created those words.
"To see paradise…that's a lie… I was chosen to kill you… on that day our dislike for one another became…artificial hatred. I learned this…from the Dawn Maidens…"
"If you knew…then why…why still fight me?"
"Because of what this… If two emissaries are chosen…that means… when the Zilart…they will awaken… None of us are strong enough for that…especially me, since he… but you…" he paused to cough harshly. "I knew you could get stronger…I heard Zeid explain… Limitless power because of your soul…with that, you could brush away the Zilart…and then do as the Dawn Maidens wish…"
"What did they want me to do!"
"To stop the apocalypse… What the Zilart do now…it's just… It will begin with… a boy."
Rost closed his eyes as Alain did the same.
-
Catherine stirred slowly from unconsciousness and was dazed. Wherever she was it was heavy with powerful energies and potent magic. She remembered losing track of where she was inside the tower and then finding-
"Rost!" she exclaimed out loud.
Holding her head, she tried to stop the room spinning. Somehow, for some reason, through some unknown way, Rost had found his way to that place. She was sure it was him, yet on seeing her he attacked without so much as a word. It pained her to even try to remember it. To see someone she had known since childhood filled with such violent intent aimed at her was something she would never forget.
Was she still in that same place? The realization that she still might be in danger had brought her to her senses. She got up for where she had been (someone had moved her, it seemed). She did not have time to take even a single step before a cold chill ran down her spine and she let out a scream as she gazed upon the centre of the room at two bodies laying face down in pools of blood directly across from one another.
She ran to them both with tears flowing down her face. Despite the blood, she dropped to her knees between them both staining her white cloth. She placed a hand on each of their heads and summoned her healing magic on them both. Ten seconds past and there seemed to be no effect. She tried again, but still no signs of life. They had both lost a lot of blood and they did not seem to be breathing.
"I won't…." she whispered.
Catherine tried again.
"No, it won't… I won't…"
There was still no response.
"You won't die…"
She placed her hands over her heart.
"Benediction."
