Before I begin, I want to thank Christoph and Leppers for my two reviews last chapter. I actually think I ought to apologize for being a little short about not getting reviews for two chapters. Sheesh, maybe I do need to be a bit more patient. Oh well, sorry for complaining about not getting a review for the previous two chapters.
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"Then it's settled," Kratos said in a decisive voice. "Let's head back to the inn we stayed at on Tiberia and get our weapons back. We'll go back to stop Kayne and Cesara from there."
"Good thinking," Lloyd said.
Lloyd and Kratos had to go through the grueling process of heading to Iselia, then finding the portal there that would take them to Tiberia, and then heading back to the inn where they had slept the night before. (This was because of the fact that their teleporters weren't able to plain and simply warp to Tiberia itself)
Lloyd retrieved his material blades from under his bed from the night before, and Kratos was able to get his regular sword back.
"Lloyd, are you physically and mentally prepared?" Kratos asked. "Going up there to stop Kayne will be the final battle. Once we stop him, all we have to do is retrieve the crystal and the world will be saved."
"And we'll be able to bring mom back!" Lloyd said excitedly.
"Don't get too excited," Kratos cautioned. "Save it for when we're in battle."
Lloyd gently nodded his head, and then sheathed both of his swords. "All right, I'm ready."
Saying this, Lloyd took out his teleporter and hit the small button on it. After the lights took the duo away, they both found themselves back in the room they were fighting Kayne in only a little while before. Except now the room was completely deserted.
"Whoa," Lloyd exclaimed slowly and breathlessly as he looked out the giant windows that were easily four times his size. Looking out the window gave him a clear view of Aselia. It looked so peaceful, yet so defenseless. And if he and Kratos didn't hurry, then it would only be a pile of dust.
"Let's go look for Kayne, Cesara or the crystal," Kratos said.
"Yeah." Lloyd accepted.
Lloyd and Kratos started running through the giant space station as they hunted down Kayne and Cesara. The long, empty halls of the space station seemed devoid of any life, but there was just a menacing look to the silver stainless steel that supported the walls or the chrome colored tile.
Both swordsmen were running as fast as they could, hoping to locate either of their enemies or to find the crystal.
It looked hopeless for a while. Neither Lloyd nor Kratos heard anything in the distance that would signal a person was there, nor did there seem to be anything except the long empty halls.
"Where do you think Kayne and Cesara are?" Lloyd asked when he was sure it was safe enough to talk without being heard.
"I would presume they're either in the room with the crystal in it, or in the room with all the controls for the weapon."
They both continued looking, but they didn't have much luck. The deep vacuum of space seemed to make the entire station all the creepier, and the dead silence did not give a feeling of ease, despite how calm it was.
Lloyd and Kratos were getting very annoyed with the lack of success they had when they were trying to find an enemy or the crystal.
But that all changed when Lloyd and Kratos entered one room. Standing in the corner of what appeared to be a room that was meant for sleep was Cesara. She looked a little surprised to see them, but tried to keep an overall pleasant expression.
"Gee, Cesara, it's certainly a surprise to see you up here!" Lloyd said in an aggressive and sarcastic tone.
"How'd the fight with Kayne go?" Cesara asked, still smiling.
"Oh, it went just GREAT!" Lloyd yelled angrily. "Except for one thing…you set us up!"
Cesara's grin immediately faded and switched to a look of shock and disbelief. "Whatever do you mean?"
"Drop the act!" Lloyd scolded.
"We now understand that you were deceiving us from the very beginning," Kratos coolly, yet sharply said.
"Those weapons you gave Kratos and I were fakes!" Lloyd yelled. "Sure, they may have looked powerful, but coming into contact with a real sword just once would be enough to snap it in half."
"I…I…" Cesara said, scrambling to think of an excuse as to why the swords that she gave them broke so easily.
"You were trying to get us killed," Kratos deduced. "You and Kayne thought we were your biggest obstacles, so to get rid of us, you tried sending us in to battle Kayne, hoping he would render us completely defenseless since we only had fake weapons and destroy us."
"But guess what, Cesara!" Lloyd screamed. "We were one step ahead of you. Look what we got!"
Lloyd proceeded to unsheathe his material blades, leaving a look of fear on Cesara's face.
Kratos drew his sword as well and slowly walked over to Cesara. He then shoved the blade under her throat, almost happy to hear her gasp in pain as the cold metal came into contact with her.
"You're going to take us to the crystal now," Kratos said. "You're going to deactivate this weapon. Millions of innocent people need not die."
Cesara saw that Lloyd and Kratos were now completely serious and were not afraid to do her any harm at all if she refused to cooperate.
Thinking fast, Cesara pushed Kratos out of the way and made a run for the door, just barely getting out. Before either Kratos or Lloyd could realize it, she was out in the halls and running for her life.
But the two swordsmen didn't waste any time. Both of them jolted out of the room and started chasing her down the long halls of the space station.
It really wasn't much of a contest. Lloyd and Kratos were much faster than Cesara. When they had caught up with her in just a short amount of time, Cesara seemed to choke on her fear. She lost her concentration when running and slipped, slamming onto the cold metal floor beneath her.
As she plummeted to the ground, Lloyd started charging at her with all his energy. Cesara was able to roll on her back and see Lloyd charging right at her. She had just enough time to have a look of genuine and pure horror on her face.
Lloyd jumped high into the air and unsheathed both of his material blades simultaneously. As he was falling, he thrust the Vorpal Sword and the Flamberge into her, impaling her onto the floor.
As soon as he stuck the blades through her, Lloyd forced them out and sheathed them. Breathing heavily, he watched as Cesara had tears swelling up in her eyes as she stared up at Lloyd. She now longer looked full of terror, but sorrow.
Cesara let out a few last sad, soft sighs, and then her eyes closed and she lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. Lloyd didn't look like he felt any remorse, but he definitely looked like he had a few emotions swelling up within him. What those emotions were could not be deciphered.
Lloyd went over to Cesara's lifeless body and knelt down on one knee. He put his hand on her cold forehead and left it there for a few seconds. Kratos walked up from behind Lloyd.
"Is she dead?" Kratos asked in a surprisingly casual voice.
"Yeah," Lloyd said, sounding like he was choking on his own words.
"Very well then. Let's keep moving. We've yet to locate either Kayne or the crystal."
Lloyd slowly got up, not once taking his eyes off Cesara's body.
"Okay," he finally agreed.
And like nothing happened, Lloyd and Kratos were once again running through the space station, hoping to find one of the other two things they were looking for.
Luckily for Lloyd and Kratos, it didn't take them much more time. It was still frustrating having to go through the empty halls and into all the rooms to see if there was anything in there, but it wasn't long before they found one of the things they were in search of.
Lloyd and Kratos opened a giant door and they found themselves looking into a giant room. The room had a massive window just like the one where Lloyd and Kratos started in when they started scavenging the station. The window had an equally clear view of Aselia, and standing right in front of the window staring out at it was Kayne.
"Kayne!" Lloyd screamed.
"Well, well, well, look who's come back for more," Kayne said. He turned around, giving Lloyd and Kratos a full view of his spiked fire-colored hair and his dark blue military suit, coated with badges signifying his high rank.
"You're not gonna get away with this!" Lloyd yelled.
"Really?" Kayne asked. "What makes you so sure? When I first met you when I was a miserable little grunt in the Tiberian, then you could have said my plan would not have worked. But after you were gracious enough to eliminate Stromm while I was aiding you, the Tiberian army gave me this rank and put me in command of this space station! I would say I am getting away with it!"
"Yeah?" Lloyd yelled. "Well, Kratos and I aren't going to let you destroy Aselia!"
Kayne just laughed. "Oh, really."
Kayne turned around and hit a button on a panel. Instantly, a bright light was seen from the outside of the space station, and it seemed to be getting brighter and brighter.
"W…what's that?" Lloyd asked, starting to get very nervous.
Kayne started giving Lloyd an especially nasty look. "That would be my giant laser charging."
Kayne pointed to a digital clock that was counting down from six minutes above the large window. "Yes…" Kayne said. "In just six minutes, the laser will be fully charged, and your world will be completely obliterated!"
"No!" Lloyd screamed in horror when he saw how close Kayne was getting to destroying their world.
Down on Aselia, several thousands of people were standing outside where they could see the space station and its giant laser charging. They could tell that after a certain point, that space station would turn into a weapon that would completely destroy them.
Because of this revelation, all the people on the world were running around chaotically and in terror. While everyone was running around and screaming, one figure was standing calmly in the center of it all and never took his eyes off the space station-Yuan. (He had used his teleporter to take him to Aselia from Derris-Kharlan)
"That's the laser?" Yuan asked in complete disbelief when he saw how powerful the weapon was and that it could truly destroy their world. "Kratos, Lloyd…what the hell is taking you so long?"
Kayne was now laughing evilly as Lloyd and Kratos stared awestruck. Could they really just let Kayne win like that? No, they couldn't.
Full of frustration and fury, Lloyd drew his material blades.
"Ah. I see you have new weapons," Kayne said in a cocky way. "Did Cesara lend you those as well?"
"No," Lloyd said. "Didn't we mention? She's dead!"
Kayne gave them a rather cold look from this, and then drew his double pronged sword.
"So, you think you can defeat me?" Kayne asked.
Kratos drew his sword. "Kayne, we're going to make sure you're not going to destroy our world!"
"That's right!" Lloyd said. He got into his fighting stance, getting on his guard and trying to look as aggressive and as intimidating with his material blades. Kratos walked over to Lloyd and got in his fighting stance right next to him, ready to start the decisive duel with Kayne.
The seconds on the clock continued to count down.