Book III Finale
Chapter XXVIII
"How do you forget your own birthday?" Canaan asked Finch.
"Look, I didn't forget, I just... lost track of time," Finch responded.
"You say that with a lot of things!" Zane laughed.
"Ooh! Can we see a big forest for my birthday?" she chirped excitedly. "I wanna see big trees and grassy plains!"
Canaan laughed. "For the Architect's sake Finch we live in Torigoth. Gormott's covered in forestry, you can literally go outside and see it."
"See what?" she asked, completely losing her train of though.
"Oh what are we gonna do with you?" Same asked while chuckling.
...
"That's why I'm doing this," Canaan thought to himself. "I'm not turning back now, I leave here today with my mission complete, or I die in the hardest battle of my life. Either way, I win."
Mòrag looked at him, unwavering. "You say you killed him, and now you claim to take my life as well?"
"I WILL end it here, or die trying," Canaan responded.
Mòrag nodded. "I believe you intend to back up those words then, boy? I fear you are out of your league, but very well..."
Her dark brown eyes grew even darker as her black and red scythe appeared in her hands as she spun it around herself faster than Canaan could even see before holding it in a fighting stance.
"Then let us commence."
https/youtu.be/1Clvj81QmTA
Canaan threw a strange device on himself, coating him in some sort of aura. He then drew his short sword and deployed an ether shield that was attached to his forearm, similar to the one Silas had, but much bigger.
Mòrag continued moving faster than Canaan could see, however his aura and shield absorbed most of the damage she was doing, otherwise he'd have died before he even took a step.
"Zane give me a read on her speed," Canaan demanded.
"I can't... she's too fast for the scanners, but her speeds seem to be approaching the speed of light itself, you may be out of your league here, bro," Zane answered.
"Maybe so, but that means she's not human, and I'm prepared for that," Canaan reassured before trying to get in hits, but they were in vain, as Mòrag was simply too fast.
"I'm impressed, most would have died by now, and you don't even have a blade, however I'm done talking," Mòrag said.
Her scythe was coated in a blue flame before she surrounded the two of them in a wall of fire. The fire burned hot, but did not seem to affect her at all. She used this to her advantage as she moved through the fire.
This, however, allowed Canaan to see where she was moving, as the trail of fire followed her. He pulled his gun and tried firing where he thought she'd be, although he was still only taking guesses, as she could outmaneuver the bullets themselves.
She caught the bullets and threw them back at him, which he blocked, thanks to his ether shield.
He threw down a light grenade, and it went off, letting out a large flash that blinded Mòrag.
He jumped on his hover board and flew straight towards her, dealing whatever damage he could in the short time he had. However even blind, she blocked his attacks with ease.
She slashed upwards, slicing his hover board in half and slicing straight through him, although the ether damage was still minimal, thanks to his aura.
She regained her sight as she threw herself at him and he was met with a barrage of attacks that he couldn't even see.
"Canaan I know that aura is powerful, but you can't keep taking this kind of damage!" Zane warned.
Canaan got knocked against the wall and Mòrag slammed her scythe against his shield.
"So where's your core crystal?" Canaan asked as she began crushing him with her outrageous strength.
"You're no fool," Mòrag laughed. "But you are foolish, I'll finish it quickly."
"You assume I'm willing to die," Canaan retorted before an ethereal explosion erupted off his belt, throwing her back a long ways, but doing almost no damage to him.
"The aura gets stronger with any ethereal damage given to it, she doesn't use physical attacks," Canaan reassured Zane, but quietly so that Mòrag couldn't hear him.
"Whatever you say...," Zane said with uncertainty. "Your vitals are fine, just give it all you got."
"Willco," he said as he jumped in and started slashing with accuracy and power.
The ether grenade had done its damage, and she was certainly much weaker, but she wouldn't be for much longer.
"I still have my trump card," Canaan thought to himself. "Best to save it for now."
He did a good number, however it seemed she was converting his physical damage into ethereal damage, another power that would prove to be difficult to deal with.
She launched him backwards as he hit the ground with a hard thud. He jumped up quickly, in time for her to knock him back again.
"Alright, no more time to waste!" Canaan thought as he discreetly and quickly deployed an object underneath himself before Mòrag knocked him back again.
He got up quickly and clashed against her, sword against scythe. He had to get her in position so that the blast would hit her dead on.
"C'mon! Is this all the queen of Tantal can offer me?!" he baited her.
She, being the prideful warrior she was, took it immediately and threw him back with one slash.
He slid behind her and she spun around and hit him square in the face with the handle of the scythe, throwing him back over the trap he planted as she rushed towards him.
He stood quickly and planted his shield into the ground, and she clashed against it. It stopped her in her tracks.
"How long do you plan on hiding behind your shield like a coward?" she asked.
"As long as it gets me to where I need to be!" Canaan retorted.
He pressed a button, and it dispelled the shield, letting out a large ether blast that knocked her off-balance, and he used the opportunity to slam his hilt into her chest, throwing her down onto the trap he'd placed.
With the press of a button, a large electrical shock covered her entire body as she screamed and the scythe disappeared from her hands.
"Didn't want to do that, but had to keep the fight fair, don't you think?" Zane said.
"Wh-What did you do to me?" Mòrag asked.
"You have a blade in you, right? That was an ether disruptor. Right now you have no access to your internal powers.
Canaan threw down his now destroyed shield and felt something was off.
He turned around quickly to see Mòrag's blade, Aegaeon, bring a chroma katana down quickly to Canaan's neck.
Canaan parried it quickly and knocked him back.
He joined up with Mòrag and she took his weapon.
"I don't need it to win, I'll strike you down with this," she said.
Mòrag and Canaan met, blade to blade, and clashed hard and fast.
They danced their swords around each other at alarming speeds, and Mòrag only having one arm greatly reduced her ability to fight without moving at the speed of light.
He slashed back as she jumped backwards and then Aegaeon used himself as a kickstand and she drove herself towards him.
Canaan slid underneath her and stabbed upwards, puncturing her intestines.
"I WON'T LOSE!" Canaan yelled as he readied himself.
She limped over and Canaan jumped up, ran to her, jumped, and brought down his blade. She attempted to block it with Aegaeon's sword, but he shattered the blade's sword and cut her down her skull, and she fell to floor as blood rushed out. Aegaeon returned to his core crystal at the death of his driver.
"Mission accomplished!" Zane said excitedly.
"No, it's not," Canaan argued. "She has a core crystal inside of her keeping her alive, I have to break that to kill her."
Mòrag got up off the ground as the cut in her skull began to heal.
"Tell me, boy, how do you still breathe?" Mòrag asked.
"I studied everything there was to know about you, and took even rumors and legend to be absolute fact. Fun fact, Alrest has been raised in lies and understands nothing of the past. The people are too worried about guns, blades, and Aegises to understand that the real threat is the one who's fed them these lies since the beginning."
"And yet you claim to have killed my husband and aim to kill me?"
"It's complicated. I didn't kill Zeke, his age did, but I definitely murdered him."
"Is that so?" Mòrag asked before he nodded, and then she continued. "You know, I must thank you."
"For what?"
"Thanks to you, I realized something I haven't been able to for the past five hundred years."
"Oh?" Canaan asked, interested. "And what's that?"
"Cereza took many things from me that day. My blade, my dignity, my humanity, and in return she made me her puppet. However, I never understood what blade she implanted within me. My body forced itself into the shape of the blade contained in the core crystal within my body. I looked like a small girl."
"But you don't look like that now, what changed?" Canaan asked.
"She inserted more than one blade in me," Mòrag answered. "She put a part of herself in me, which is why I appeared as a small girl, but as the years went by, I changed into the form of the other blade she put inside me that dreadful day."
Mòrag said nothing as a blue rapier, a form of sword commonly used in fencing, appeared in her hand. It was covered in flames.
"The blade she killed, my blade, Brighid. She inserted a part of her into me. I only just realized it now, when I heard her tell me to keep fighting, as I know she would want me to."
The blue rapier began to turn bright white as white flames erupted from it.
"Now, boy, let us finish this, once and for all," Mòrag challenged.
Zane jumped in and spoke to Canaan through his headset. "Her physical ability has changed dramatically. She can't move at the speed of light anymore, however she can still dodge at up to Mach two, her attack speed is half the speed of sound, your aura is still very strong, you can win this. The power comes from her heart, place your blade there and you've won, got it?"
"I know where this power comes from, I'll finish this here," Canaan assured.
https/youtu.be/P9mQTmXxU8E
"Then let us end the greatest battle I've had in five hundred years," Mòrag said as she moved her thumb and her rapier began to extend itself into a long, flaming whip. "But you no longer fight Cereza's puppet, you stand before the Flamebringer, wielding the Jewel of Mor Ardain! Show me your will, boy!"
Canaan sheathed his short sword and pulled out his long dagger, one shot was all he needed.
He pulled his pistol and popped off a few shots as he closed in, she whipped the bullets out of the air before dodging and kicking him to the ground.
He jumped back and dodged as she attempted to whip him, it was still ether damage, but he'd already taken quite a beating, even with the aura, he didn't want to chance it.
Her eyes began to glow as she slammed the whip into the ground and a wall of pure white fire shot out straight towards him.
He narrowly dodged before she retracted her whip back into a sword and stabbed him in his side, narrowly missing any vitals.
He sliced at her and she jumped back, extending her whip back out.
"Her swords do physical damage!" Zane warned through his internal headset.
"Oh thanks Mr. After-the-fact," Canaan retorted sarcastically.
"You alright?"
"I'll live."
Canaan threw out a handful of earth element grenades.
Mòrag launched herself back enough so that it didn't hurt her, but it did make her lose her balance.
Canaan quickly knocked her to the ground, and went for the kill, but she rolled out of the way and kicked him back.
He pulled his pistol again and shot out a few shots, but Mòrag's evasion was still very high, and she rolled out of the way.
They were surrounded in a wall of white fire and the building started burning around them.
"How determined are you boy?" Mòrag asked threateningly.
"Enough," is all he replied before he rushed her.
She retracted her whip back into a sword and they were locked in a battle of blades. He made quick swipes in different directions, but she knew swordplay, even with one arm, she kept up well.
He tried to go in for a quick slash, but she easily dodged and kicked him square in the torso, knocking him back. Before he could fly back very fall, she extended her sword back into a whip and slashed him across the chest, throwing him into a midair spin.
She took the opportunity to launch him into the ground with a kick.
He rolled out of the way as he began to hear music playing through Zane's intercom.
"Are you seriously listening to rap right now?" Canaan asked, annoyed.
"I'm bored, focus on the fight. You don't have time to complain about my music."
Canaan rolled out of the way as her whip crashed down right next to him.
"Fine, but I'm gonna kick your ass later," Canaan said, making an empty threat.
Canaan noticed her flames begin to dim, and he took his opportunity.
He rushed her again, but as he approached, he shot out a barrage of bullets from his pistol.
She dodged them, a few of them grazing her skin, she became alerted to her waining power, and tried to give it one last push.
She retracted her sword and they engaged each other.
Blow after blow, shot after shot, the building falling apart around them and the smoke clouding their vision, they fought.
They both gave every bit of energy they had into each of their attacks as each parry could mean life or death for either of them.
He dropped an electric grenade on the ground and continued to parry until the very last second when he jumped back, letting the grenade explode, electrocuting Mòrag and instantly lowering her defenses.
He jumped in for the final blow as she tried one last time to parry him.
The blades slammed together.
"One," Canaan thought as he parried.
"Two," he continued as he struck from a different angle, she parried againZ
"Three," he said aloud as he lowered his dagger to strike upwards with alarming strength, throwing the weapon from her hands.
Before she could react, he plunged his blade into her heart, cracking the core crystal.
"Y-You...," Mòrag said in disbelief.
Canaan didn't say a word as he pulled his dagger out, wiped the blood, and sheathed it.
"I'm almost curious as to how you beat me," Mòrag said as she tried to stay on her feet.
"I read history, I knew how you fought. I've had an aura on me this entire time that absorbed ether damage. It shorted out with your last successful strike, but it did it's job."
"I see, so once you got rid of my speed, it was hardly a fight..."
"I wouldn't say that, I've never been in that one-sided of a fight in all my life. Hold your head high, you fall as a warrior," Canaan tried to ease her.
"Agreed. But there was something else, you knew my swordwhip would run out of power, how?"
"Historically Brighid's swordwhip was blue, the only time it was white was when it was imbued with the power of an Aegis. That Aegis sleeps with Waylon, therefore the power you had was simply residual, and not guaranteed to last."
"Very well, then I accept defeat. Though I was more powerful, you were more prepared. I suppose it's my fault for not keeping up with the technological advances of the past few hundred years."
"I have a request. Would you give me the name of your son?"
"Why? So you can kill him too? Not so easily," Mòrag scoffed.
"No, I made a promise to your husband that no matter what I wouldn't kill him," Canaan swore.
Mòrag stared him in the eyes, before telling him.
Canaan nodded in acknowledgement. "You have my word as well as he did."
"You remind me of me, boy," Mòrag said. "I hope you find peace with yourself."
"I don't know if I ever well, but I thank you."
Mòrag smiled, one last smile, before her body went limp and she fell backwards, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
"Mission accomplished," Canaan told Zane.
"Copy that, bring it in bro, ship's up top the building, you have the spare hover board, right?"
"Yeah."
Canaan walked out of the smoldering room and into the small entry way, he looked to see a white tiger with an eyepatch looking at him.
"Mòrag... She's?" He began to ask in his deep, elderly-sounding voice.
"She's been assassinated, yes," Canaan confirmed.
"I see," the tiger said. "He who sheds a man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. She was a warrior, and died as such."
Canaan said nothing in response and walked right by the tiger, head held high, but not taking a second look at him.
"And what will you do?" the tiger asked.
"I'll take back what's mine, give her to someone who'll take care of her, and then I'll face judgement for what I've done," Canaan answered, not looking back at him.
"Very well, you leave here a broken man, but you're head is clear, I respect that."
"Thank you, blade."
"Dromarch," he corrected.
"Very well. Thank you, Dromarch."
Canaan flipped out the alternate hover board and shot up into the ship before taking off.
...
"Well done," Adonis congratulated, applauding him and laughing. "Well done indeed, you've been very useful."
"Enough ass kissing, my payment?" Canaan demanded, bluntly.
"Yes, yes, of course," Adonis agreed, causally tossing him the core crystal. "One Finch."
"This concludes our business, do not contact me again," Canaan warned before walking to the door.
Two guards blocked the door before he left and Canaan sighed.
"Actually I have one last job I want you to do."
"Why am I not surprised? I said no, Adonis."
"It wasn't a request," Adonis ordered with a sadistic grin. "You'll do it, or say goodbye to that waste of an inventor you call a brother."
"What?" Canaan immediately realized the danger. "The girl!"
"Lieutenant Violet Uzuki is a very clever girl, as we speak, she could kill him at any moment."
"You bastard!" Canaan yelled before yelling into his internal intercom. "Zane! Zane pick up damnit!"
"You have one last chance, Canaan."
Canaan pulled his machine gun, loaded on earth-type bullets and shot open a window in the BCCHQ and jumped out and pulled out the hover board, moving at speeds that the machine wasn't meant to handle.
He blasted into his house on the outskirts of town to find Zane, bound and on his knees with Violet pushing her katana into the back of his head.
"Don't take another step boy, you have your orders to kill the son of King Zeke, do you accept?"
"Don't do it Canaan!" Zane yelled before she kicked him square in the jaw, knocking him over and causing blood to flow out of his cheek.
She giggled. "You're much braver than I gave you credit for Zanie."
"So I guess no fifth date?" Zane laughed.
Canaan pulled his pistol and unloaded at her.
Before the bullets hit her, another person came down through ceiling and the bullets bounced off of her.
She was obviously a dark blade, wearing a skimpy, black outfit. She wore a small pair of glasses and had a black and purple helmet on her forehead. Her skin was a dark tan and she reminded him a lot of the blue-haired blade he'd seen with the Aegis outside of Theoscaldia the week he'd killed Zeke.
"I will not allow you to do that," she said threateningly. "My name is T-elos, you'd do best to surrender immediately."
"Last chance cutie!" Lieutenant Uzuki laughed.
"Fuck off you cunt," he snarled.
"Oh well...," she said before lifting Zane up, pushing him forward so that he stumbled forward, and then she pulled a pistol and shot him in the back of the head.
His body hit the ground with a loud thud.
Canaan had no time to be sad, he ran out of there as fast as possible, he wasn't prepared for this fight.
T-elos jumped behind him and kicked him square in the leg, breaking both of his calves.
He went down easily and she threw him into a nearby river, leaving him to drown.
"Mission accomplished, let's head back to HQ, we've got to track a traitorous sister."
"Affirmative," T-elos agreed, and they left the scene.
Readability Level: 11-12th Grade
Time Taken: 9 Hours