Book VII Finale
Chapter LIX
"Ladies and peons I have a special treat for you today," Juliani announced excitedly. "Slightly less than 500 years ago a good friend of my forefather found manuscripts that contained information on the inner workings of the Aegis herself. This mass of energy is what is believed to have sunk three continents 1,000 years ago and almost caused the end of the world 500 years ago! It was discovered in the depths of Morytha and brought back to this new Alrest on a titan. It took generations of nopon in my family to understand this creation, but I, the most powerful and intelligent woman to ever exist, have reconstructed under my command. Now it will be what kills this illegal driver once and for all."
I looked up at the robotic monstrosity. It was massive, painted black, and had blood red ethereal wings. One thing that seemed to bother me though, was that it had no halo. I seemed to remember Mythra's Siren having a large halo, but this one had none. It also bothered me that the color scheme matched Malos' core crystal.
"D-Do you have a plan?" Azami asked me. She still hadn't gotten off the ground. The fight with True Rosa had really done a number on her. Even with her wounds instantly regenerating, she was at her limit, and I wasn't doing much better.
https/youtu.be/9YV3ic-dyOQ
It began to shift its stance as it began pointing a large metal piece at me, and bright light began shining from the tip.
"I think getting out of here is a good first step!" I said, pulling her off the ground in a panic.
"We can't dodge that!" Azami argued as she got up as quickly as possible.
"I don't imagine we have much of a choice!"
I grabbed her hand and pulled her behind me as I ran as fast as possible.
She yanked her hand away from me and stood between Siren and I and deployed her ether shield.
"DAMNIT AZAMI THAT WON'T WORK!" I screamed at her.
"I'M NOT ABOUT TO LOSE ANOTHER DRIVER!" she said with a tear streaming down her one good eye.
"Y-You remember your last driver?" I asked, confused.
She nodded. "I... I'm scared, I don't want to keep forgetting them... THIS ISN'T HOW I WANT TO LIVE!"
Siren began to fire, and I hugged her from behind, deploying my ether shield so that there'd be even more to protect us.
"Wh-What are you doing?" Azami questioned.
"I don't want to live knowing I left you to die, we'll take it together."
She seemed to blush just a tiny bit. Well... it was either that or her exterior was reacting to the heat of a laser meant to wipe out continents heading towards us.
Luckily it didn't hit, or... that's what I would've liked to say. It did hit, and it hurt, a lot. The sand and dirt around us melted into a glass and our ether shields were eradicated into dust as the searing hot rays of pure light tore through our bodies. I watched the skin and blood evaporate off my very bones that then proceeded to turn to dust.
I was dead, and Azami's core crystal evaporated immediately.
I wondered if there was anything I could've done differently, at this moment. I knew it had to be a low powered blast, Juliani wouldn't risk the safety of everyone in the audience or her image trying to kill me. After all, it had all been a huge publicity stunt.
I did notice something peculiar though, the beam was hot enough to instantly turn the dirt into glass, but there was a harder material underneath. I then realized that the entire floor in the arena was made of a thick layer of lead. I was even willing to bet that Juliani had lined the entire place for this very purpose...
As this came to my realization I looked around to see me holding Azami, bracing for the end. What had happened?
All I knew was I needed to act fast.
I grabbed Azami's ether cannon off from my back and shot the ground full blast, repeatedly.
Her cannon was much more powerful than usual, and it began knocking insane amounts of dirt in the air as Siren fired off his blast.
Azami ran up to me as I tried to lift a piece of the lead off the ground that I had broken off with the cannon. She helped me lift it up and we slid underneath. We could hear the sand turn into glass and I had suffered severe burns from the blast. I made it without a second to spare.
"What on Alrest just happened?!" Azami questioned.
"I realized we were only dying because our bodies couldn't handle the amount of radiation hitting us, so I used the lead," I explained, but I couldn't talk much more, I was in severe pain. My whole body was covered in blisters and any movement at all made me want to faint.
Azami wanted to ask more questions, but she could tell I wasn't doing good.
She threw off the piece of lead and aimed her ether cannon at Siren, letting off blast after blast. Weirdly enough, she was actually staggering it.
"The closer my driver is to death, the more powerful my cannon is. You've messed with the wrong blade," she yelled.
Siren pulled out what looked like some sort of metal sword, but with a blade made of energy and a handle as long as the blade itself. He took aim at Azami, and I couldn't do anything about it.
Just then, aloud whirring came from the sky as a ship appeared from the top, and what looked like some purple sparkle came flying down towards Siren.
...
"Malos now!" Acacia ordered. "And don't die!"
"Aw you care about me?" Malos teased.
Acacia sighed and nodded.
Malos rolled his eyes. "Well fine, don't worry then."
KOS-MOS guided the ship over Siren and Malos jumped out, wielding his Monado and aiming it at his former artifice.
"Looks like you are in need of reprogramming, you traitorous toy!" he shouted as he plunged into it.
"MONADO BUSTER!" he yelled as he plunged his Monado into Siren's head.
"No... No! No! No!" Malos yelled. "What did she do to you?!"
Malos sighed as he took his Monado and jumped off, keeping his sword inside Siren. His Monado grew larger to accommodate the large target, and Malos cut his Siren clean in half.
KOS-MOS landed and Acacia jumped off first, she looked around quickly to see Azami kneeling over some red splotch on the ground.
Only that wasn't a red splotch, that was Silas. His body was so marred that she couldn't even tell he was a person. His clothes were mostly burned off.
"SILAS!" she shrieked as she ran towards him, dropping to the ground.
I coughed a bit, "You w-wouldn't happen to have any burn cream... would you?"
"Shut up you dumbass! What were you thinking, going off on your own?!" Acacia shouted. She wanted to do something, anything, but she was powerless.
"Take him to Nia, and you can save him," a voice said inside her head.
Acacia felt my heart, but there was nothing there.
Fear gripped her as realization struck.
"HIS HEART'S STOPPED!"
"Take him to-"
"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME! HE'S ALREADY GONE!" Acacia began crying.
"FLOREN HE NEEDS HELP!" a tiny voice shrieked.
"Electra get away from there! You don't need to see that!" Nim scolded, trying not to let her see Silas' corpse.
Unfortunately Electra was already crying.
"We're too late. He's dead and it's all our faults! We can't do anything right!" she began blubbering.
Floren was devastated, but he ran to Silas anyway.
"You... You're a healing blade!" Acacia realized. "You have to help him!"
Floren already had tears going down his face. "I-I can't heal this! I mess everything up! There's no way I can do something like this!"
"Please!" Acacia begged. "Please just try, you're all he has left, no one else can do this!"
Floren nodded. "I-I'll try."
Floren grabbed his bit ball and began using it to perform ether healing on Silas, but it was doing nothing physically for him.
"I... I can't do anything like this... But I'm not going to give up," Floren swore to himself.
Acacia felt my chest as she began to whimper, but then something seemed off.
"His... heart is beating!" Acacia shouted.
Azami had been fighting herself from returning to her core crystal, but all of a sudden she didn't have to anymore.
"If I stop healing him, he will die again," Floren sighed. "I'm only increasing his suffering and delaying the inevitable."
"I know someone who can heal him," Acacia said. "I need you to keep healing him until we get there."
"We're not allowed to leave Argentum," Electra pointed out.
"Dromarch and his rules can stuff it! We have a job to do am I'm not about to mess it up," Floren said with a very authoritative tone. "Misfits, we accompany them wherever they go until we get him where he needs to go. Now move!"
"Yes sir!" they both said.
"Thank you," Acacia responded graciously. "Azami, help me get him back to the ship, we have to get to Leftheria.
"Not so fast!" another voice said.
They turned to see Praxis and Theory running up to them.
"You're gonna pay for what you did to Siren!" Praxis yelled.
KOS-MOS had joined in, and Azami motioned her to take Silas out of her hands.
"Go, I have some heads to roll," Azami said in a tone no one had heard before.
Acacia nodded and they quickly began moving.
Praxis grabbed her large lance and prepared to throw it at Silas, but Azami grabbed the lance and shoved Praxis into Theory.
"Do you honestly think you can take us both at once?" Praxis asked, obviously annoyed.
https/youtu.be/yzf3fOLkD-Y
"I think you two don't know your place," Azami snapped. "But don't worry, I'll fix your broken points of few."
Theory pulled her sword. "Fine but don't expect us to-"
She couldn't finish her sentence because Azami had blasted her square in the face.
"Theory!" Praxis shouted before turning to engage Azami.
Azami pulled a short sword from seemingly nowhere and met her megalance.
"Where did that come from?!" Praxis remarked in confusion.
"I'd personally be more concerned with the grenade I slipped in your shirt," Azami said with a cackle.
"You didn't!"
Azami giggled as she jumped away. Praxis immediately checked her shit, pulling out a grenade. However, the pin wasn't pulled.
"You were bluffing?!" Praxis asked, more freaked out than anything else.
Instead of giving an answer, Azami gave her a smile and shot the grenade with a pistol she also pulled from seemingly nowhere.
Praxis flew back, weapon flying out of her hand and face planting itself in the dirt.
Theory drew her sword again and went at Azami again, who was more than happy to engage her again.
Azami swung her sword, parrying hard against Theory's. Azami began dancing around in a ballet fashion while slashing her sword carelessly and roughly, unnerving Theory.
Theory finally grew tired and slashed quickly, but Azami pulled a dagger and parried the sword.
"WHAT?!" Theory gasped.
Azami giggled and Theory realized that Azami was no longer holding a sword, but a gun. Azami then proceeded to shoot Theory square in the forehead.
Praxis jumped back in and Azami pulled out a whip, tying it around Praxis' neck and then using it to fling the water blade around like a ragdoll.
Theory cut the whip, causing Praxis to be launched into the air, and then she slashed once again at Azami.
Azami blocked with her ether cannon this time, and then shoved into Theory's face, knocking her hard over the head. She then aimed it at Praxis, who was currently falling, and shot her out of the air.
"You damn ugly bitch!" Theory shouted as she began slicing at Azami once again.
Azami was using two short swords this time, parrying with ease.
"Judging people by how they look is so rude," Azami pouted as she knocked the sword out of her hand.
Azami then impaled Theory completely, narrowly missing her core crystal.
"I won't kill you yet," Azami giggled. "This is way too much fun!"
Azami kicked her in the stomach, knocking her off of her sword.
Praxis caught Theory and reminded her that they'd have to fight together.
"Geyser Spring!" Praxis shouted as a large stream of water erupted from her weapon.
"Rebel Sister!" Theory continued as the water forced itself into icicles.
Azami smiled at the large amount of ether heading towards her and she aimed her ether cannon.
"Shadow Rhapsody," she muttered with a sinister grin.
The ice shattered into nothing as dark hands began emerging from the ground, and soon they collided into Praxis and Theory.
They both hit the ground, and as they began standing up again, a small device landed next to them.
It was an earth ether grenade.
They screamed as they were once again blown into the air with a large amount of force. And Azami began humming to herself as she blasted both of them with her ether cannon.
"Are you two even trying?" Azami questioned. "This is getting boring."
"I'll show you boring you sadist!" Praxis shouted as she stumbled her way off the ground.
"Judging someone by their actions?! That's much better!" Azami commended.
"Torrential Pain!" Praxis said as the arena was covered in water ether moving at high speeds.
Azami was caught in the waves and was thrown around in them.
Theory placed her sword in the water ether, "Winter's Wake."
The water was bombarded with a large amount of ice strikes, freezing the water, and Azami inside of it.
Praxis and Theory ran to her frozen body and Theory prepared to strike her core crystal.
"Wait, where's her ether cannon?" Praxis questioned before ether blasts began raining from above.
They were both pelted relentlessly and the ice was broken. The ether cannon landed back into Azami's hands.
Azami grabbed Praxis' hair and slammed her head into the barrel of her ether cannon repeatedly, before forcing it up against the tip.
"Goodbye bubbles," Azami chirped before melting her entire head off with a single blast.
The sheer amount of damage caused Praxis' AI to overload and she was forced back into her core crystal. Azami then put the core crystal into the same place she kept all of her weapons, not that anyone knew where that was.
"Y-You monster!" Theory shouted.
"You don't understand," Azami said, much more seriously. "You messed with the one and only thing I care about. Without my driver, I am nothing in this world, and to watch you act like he deserves to die has sickened me to my core. I want to watch you die screaming, and even then you still will never understand the pain you have put into my soulless heart. Now come here, and I'll make sure you sleep peacefully."
Theory began breathing erratically, she was shaking and gasping uncontrollably.
"N-NO! Stay back! I mean it!" she was practically crying.
"Oh just like you stopped when my driver was crying, when he BEGGED you to stop? You deserve everything that is coming your way, and your driver will get what's coming to her one day."
Ice spikes began growing from Theory's elbows and from her hand, creating a sort of offensive armor.
"STAY BACK YOU WITCH!"
Azami sighed, "And we're back to appearances, oh well, at least you look like you might be some fun this time!"
Theory rushed her quickly, slicing faster and harder than she ever had before.
"So scared," Azami giggled as she parried with her ether cannon.
Azami fought back even harder, switching weapons faster than what Theory could keep up with. She broke off piece after piece after piece of the ice, chipping away at what little power Theory had left.
Theory tried another slash, but Azami caught her blade with her hand, and snapped it.
Theory then tried crawling away, and Azami picked her up by her hair, just like Praxis.
Azami placed the end of the gun to the back of Theory's head as she squirmed and tried to escape.
"Goodbye Frosty!" she uttered before overloading Theory's AI as well, forcing her back into her core.
With both crystals in her possession, Azami quickly jumped on the aircraft as it began taking off.
...
"What are you going to do with those core crystals?" Acacia asked Azami. "I guess if we resonate with them, we could put them on a better path. Or we could donate them to BAP, where they could make the world a better pla-"
She was cut off by the loud sound of wind rushing into the ship as Azami opened the door, with nothing but an endless ocean below. She then grabbed the two core crystals and flung them out the window before closing the door.
"Azami what the hell?!" Acacia shouted.
"They should be thankful," Azami giggled. "I wanted to break them, but I don't think my adoring driver would approve."
Malos, who had been watching the entire time, stood up to exit the room.
"Remind me never to get on her bad side," he said before disappearing to his own room.
Readability Level: 11-12th Grade
Time Taken: 5 Hours