Ready to finish the battle once and for all, Lloyd slammed the side of his fist down on the red button. In just a matter of seconds, the laser started charging up and was getting ready to fire.
Tiberius could only stare as the giant beam of energy was forming and getting close to striking him down.
Moments after Lloyd hit the button and the energy formed in the laser cannon, it fired very quickly to the ground and hit Tiberius dead-on.
Anyone on the ground and watching Tiberius as he got blasted by the giant weapon would be horrified. They would see the giant beam come down on Tiberius and encase him, but a silhouette of him would still be very visible through the blinding blue and white light of the laser. In an instant, someone watching would see the silhouette of Tiberius go from looking whole to suddenly looking like a pile of dried sand get blown away in a violent wind.
When the laser cleared, all that was left of Tiberius was a pile of ash and some very small fragments of bone. The scattered remains were in the middle of a crater in the ground that the laser had left.
Lloyd stared, almost horrified at what he had just done. Never before had he seen someone die so violently, and he irked him that he was the one who had to do it. But it was for the best, he had to keep telling himself.
To finish the entire job, Lloyd flew the floating top of Tower Tiberia over a patch of the battlefield where there were no soldiers, and he started completely destroying the controls. Taking both of his material blades, Lloyd began hacking at everything inside the room that could be destroyed.
It wasn't long at all before Lloyd could feel the flying ship start to lose its stability in the air, and it started falling very quickly.
Lloyd concentrated all the power of his Cruxis Crystal and sprouted his angel wings and flew out of the top of Tower Tiberia through the window that Tiberius had smashed in their fight.
As Lloyd flew out, he could see the top of the Tower start falling out of the air and towards the ground. When the giant top of the tower hit the ground, it created a giant dust cloud that blocked Lloyd's vision for a long while. As Lloyd shielded himself from the dust cloud but still remained flying, the image of the control room was becoming more and more visible. When the view was completely clear again, the top of Tower Tiberia and the once highly advanced and highly dangerous control room looked like it was in ruins now. It was completely destroyed, never to be used again.
Lloyd took a deep breath, and then he heard something very disturbing. Nothing. That's what he was hearing.
Lloyd quickly started flying over to where the battle was taking place, but he heard no more screams of terror or pain or agony, and he saw no more blood or dismembered limbs flying through the air. He slowly started descending when he got back to the battle field, and what he saw took his breath away.
As Lloyd landed where the battle was taking place, he saw that the fighting had stopped. The swordsman looked at all the dead bodies around him, of both Tiberian soldiers and ones from Meltokio. All of them looked like they had suffered horrific deaths during the battle. But what Lloyd saw after that truly left him speechless.
After seeing all the dead bodies, Lloyd looked up at what was straight ahead of him. All of his companions-Genis, Raine, Colette, Sheena, Zelos, Presea and Regal were standing there and were looking directly at him, all completely silent. Standing beside them was Yuan and Zyn, and behind Lloyd's nine companions were all the Meltokio soldiers who had survived. There wasn't a single trace of Tiberian military left. Lloyd didn't know how, but his friends had done it. They had pulled through, won the battle, and survived.
Lloyd stared breathlessly and awe inspired at all of them. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Everything that had happened over the past several days, and it was now all over.
All of Lloyd's companions walked over to him, but none of them said a word. In fact, none of them were even smiling at him. They all had the same serious looks of disbelief all over their expressions. There were no words and no emotions being shown, and yet there was something about the whole scene that tugged at their hearts.
Without any of them saying a word, all of them started marching away from the battle field and backed towards the portal to take them back to Aselia. They marched and didn't speak once, not even any of the Meltokio soldiers who lived. Never looking back, they all left the blood-stained battlefield, hoping to never have to look at it again.
A gentle wind blew by after that, and it brushed away all the fragments and remains of Tiberius.
After the group had walked away from the battlefield and through the portal that took them back to their own world, they found themselves back outside Meltokio. All of them quietly marched into the city, trying not to create a disturbance. But that didn't last long.
As soon as most of them were inside the gates to the city, civilians started bursting out of their houses and were cheering loudly, enthusiastically and happily. The surprise warm welcome caused Lloyd and his party to stall in their tracks.
The civilians continued pouring into the streets and their cheers got louder and louder. No one in Lloyd's group was expecting this, so none of them knew how to react. They just stared open mouthed at all the civilians that were cheering for them and congratulating them on their victory against Tiberius.
"Ah. Chosen," said a deep voice coming through the crowd. Everyone in the large mob quieted down and parted, creating a pathway leading right to the heroes. It was the King of Tethe'alla, and it was obvious who he wanted to talk to.
Zelos had a smug expression on his face as he approached the king of his city. "What is it, your majesty?"
"Chosen," the king repeated, "I see you have done well in leading my troops to victory in that battle. For that, I truly congratulate and honor you. You have saved our world…yet again."
Zelos was surprised by the king's surprisingly pleasant welcome-back. He didn't know what to say. "Uh…thank you, your majesty."
The king nodded his head. "I had a feeling you would pull through for me, so as a way of saying thank you, I have reserved that dinner hall down the street from your mansion for a victory party tonight."
"Really?" Zelos said, getting excited.
"I kid you not," the king said. "The party will begin at 8:00. Better start getting ready."
"Thank you, your majesty," Zelos said yet again.
The king, for the first time in a while, smiled at Zelos. Princess Hilda, the king's daughter, popped up behind him and started clapping her hands. The king shortly followed in applauding, as did several civilians. Before anyone realized what had happened, the entire crowd that was flooding the streets burst into a deafening round of applause and cheers.
Then, for the first time since the final battle began, a large, happy smile started spreading across Lloyd's face.
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"Yeah!" screamed Zelos loudly and excitedly. He had a bottle of an alcohol-beverage in his hand that he had just popped open, and now he was spraying everyone around him with the beverage inside.
It was past 8:00 now and the victory party in the dinner hall had begun. Now everyone who took part in the journey was laughing and smiling and enjoying themselves. Well, almost everyone.
Lloyd took a huge bite out of a piece of pie that was sitting at a buffet table as he ran over to Yuan, who was sitting in a corner and just watching the celebration.
"Come on, Yuan, why don't you have some fun and enjoy yourself?" Lloyd asked.
"Heh. I have better things to do than to make a pig of myself and started dancing around like an idiot," Yuan replied.
"Aw, come on, Yuan!" Lloyd said. "Why'd you even come if you weren't going to have any fun?"
"I…came here to supervise you guys," Yuan said. "You can never trust kids when you're throwing a giant party."
"Sure, whatever," Lloyd said as he walked away from the blue-haired Seraphim.
Lloyd walked over to all of his friends just to party with them and celebrate their decisive and saving victory in that battle.
Lloyd ran over to Genis, and the two of them promptly gave each other a high-five, then hit the side of their fists with each other, both of them having very visible smiles when doing so.
Raine came over, and she gave Lloyd a gentle hug. After a few seconds, the two of them broke apart and smiled at each other for a few seconds before Raine walked away.
Colette was then in Lloyd's view after that. Lloyd quickly walked over to her and the two of them stared at each other for what felt like a long time. Then, all the partying around them and the loud victory music somehow got drowned out. The two teenagers slowly got close to each other, then embraced each other in a very affectionate and caring hug. It was several seconds before either one of them let go.
Sheena was the next one to come out, and Lloyd gave her a very caring hug as well. After the hug, Sheena put up one fist in the air right in front of Lloyd's face, trying to non-verbally say, "We rule!". Lloyd put his fist up in the same way as a response.
Zelos was laughing like a maniac, but he went over to Lloyd anyway and gave him a forceful high-five. Zelos then even proceeded to do a fist-pound with Lloyd.
After Zelos and Lloyd shared their moment of victory, Presea went over to Lloyd. Lloyd wasn't sure how to congratulate Presea for a job well done, and neither did Presea, apparently.
When a long while had past after the two of them started making eye contact, Presea put out her hand to shake Lloyd's. Not hesitating for a moment, Lloyd put his hand out, and the two of them shook.
Regal was the last one to go over to Lloyd. Since his hands were tied up, he couldn't shake hands or hug or anything like that. Instead, he showed slight signs of a smile and nodded his head to Lloyd. Lloyd did the same.
The rest of the party went fairly mainstream for a while. There was lots of cheering and there was never a second when someone wasn't smiling. All of them were so happy that the journey was over and that they had saved the world again.
Then, while everyone was still partying, Lloyd looked over and saw that Zelos's butler was standing there, apparently to keep watch as well. Lloyd walked over to the butler and said, "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course," the butler said politely.
Moments later, the music was suddenly turned off, and the celebrating with it. Everyone was confused at what happened, until Zelos's butler stepped in front of everyone.
"Everyone," he said, loud enough for everyone to hear him. "Sir Bud would like to make an announcement."
Lloyd nervously walked in front of everyone. They were all clearly interested in what it was he wanted to say.
"Uh…hey, everybody," Lloyd said nervously. He had never publicly spoken like this before. "Look, there's something I kinda want to say."
The entire room fell silent.
"First of all, I want to thank all you guys for helping me out," Lloyd said in a very grateful tone. "You guys had busy lives to deal with when this entire journey started, but you all risked your lives to help me make it through. Thank you, all of you."
Everyone in the room started clapping.
"Thank you, to all of you: Genis, Raine, Sheena, Zelos, Regal, Presea, Colette, Yuan and Zyn, who unfortunately couldn't make it here tonight due to being sworn in as Tiberia's new leader."
There was more applause before Lloyd put both of his hands up, telling them all to hold their cheers for later. He suddenly looked like what he was about to say would be very difficult, and it soon became clear why.
"But most of all, I wanted you to thank Kratos."
Everyone's smiles suddenly faded, and they turned to serious and sad expressions.
"Kratos couldn't make it either…" Lloyd managed to choke out, "…because he's no longer with us. He gave his life for me, for you guys, and for the world. For that, I ask that you always keep him in your thoughts and remember how he helped us and was a decisive factor twice now for our journeys."
No one looked happy anymore. They were clearly heeding Lloyd's words and remembering Kratos.
"And he wasn't the only one," Lloyd said, still sounding depressed. "There was Skelter, there was Stromm, there was Cesara, there was Kayne…there was Tiberius. And there were all those Tiberian soldiers and all those soldiers from Meltokio. All those were lives that were lost because of a hatred that was born 4,000 years ago that means nothing today."
The group was clearly taking in every word Lloyd said, and some (like Genis) were surprised that Lloyd even had the capability of making the speech that he was.
"It's never good to hold grudges," Lloyd said. "That was a grudge from the Kharlan War 4,000 years ago, and look what it did. So please, everyone…don't hold on to your hatred. It doesn't do you or anyone else any good."
There was a long silence before Lloyd could finally finish. "Once again, thank you everyone for helping me out on this journey. I could not have done it without you guys. You guys are the best friends I could have ever asked for. And after this journey, I know for a fact that we all have ties and bonds to each other that will never break."
Lloyd's companions slowly started clapping and cheering for their leader. Before long, all of them were partying again, once again celebrating their victory.
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To all my readers, I can safely tell you those guys won't be the only ones partying in a while…