Book VIII: The Fourth Driver

Chapter LXIII

Our ship came to land in a very interesting area, and we all exited the ship. As we looked around, we were met with dead trees and grass, it looked like it had all been burned, but not recently.

"Take heed in this warning," Dromarch said to me. "Five hundred years ago, Waylon lost control of Mythra and she lost control of herself. This is what she managed to destroy before he could snap her out of it."

"You've gotta be careful with your ability," Granny added. "Or else you'll be the next driver to witness a continent's destruction, and probably the last."

It was a grim reminder, but we kept going anyway, I didn't want to let Adonis have her any longer.

We soon made it to the remains of Indol, and as Granny had said, it was destroyed. However, after digging around in the rubble for a few minutes we found traces of where Adonis had entered and exited.

"There is a high probability we will not survive," KOS-MOS stated, as literal ever. "Approximately ninety-six point-"

"Thank you KOS-MOS," Acacia interrupted. She took a long sigh. "The point is she's right. If anyone wants to back out now, leave."

"Rafi not going anywhere!" Rafi cheered.

"Poppi stay with Rafi!" Poppi added in.

Gabriel chuckled. "Wussing out of a fight's just not my style!"

"And I stay with Gabe!" Kasandra giggled.

"I'll supply battle music!" Sonata chimed.

"Finch and I are ready," Canaan assured us. "Nia's healing ability is amazing."

"I'm not about to let him think he's stronger than an Aegis," Malos nodded.

"We shall accompany you!" Sheba said simply.

"What about you, my darling driver?" Azami questioned me. "Are you sure you're committed?"

I sighed, knowing what she was referring to. I then nodded, "I'm sure, if I die here, then I die taking my last stand."

"Then we offer our assistance as well," Dromarch stated with a bow.

"Granny?! Are you sure?" I asked. I didn't want her to get hurt.

"No matter how bad he hurts you, I will heal you," she explained. "And the furball and I are quite the pair!"

"Well… if you're sure…," I noted. "Then let's go, I find it hard to believe he's not waiting for us."

We walked in and funneled our way down a very narrow hallway into an empty laboratory. It seemed that whatever experiments were held here ended a long time ago. We continued down even further, and eventually we were let out into a massive open area.

The area was large and a very light, metallic grey. There were narrow windows at the very top to let light in, but the entire room was extremely reinforced and there were large columns holding the place up. The columns seemed very old-fashioned, but were an insanely strong metal, and at least four peds in diameter, or around twelve feet. I knew that this room had to be some sort of testing room, maybe to test Pyra's power without destroying too much.

"I was beginning to think you'd actually given up, but that little display with Juliani was quite incredible," a very familiar voice said.

"Can't keep an Aegis' driver down forever," I quipped, trying to see where he was.

"Of course," he replied, coming into view. "Forgive me for not seeing to that last time. I suppose I'll just have to fix it for good this time."

Pyra approached behind him and held her sword, ready to fight.

"And I hope you don't mind, but I decided to get a little assistance," he added.

"What are you on about?" Gabriel asked, but soon we had our answer.

Mythra approached behind him as well, standing next to Pyra and she readied her own sword.

"She's not completely loyal yet," Adonis noted. "But she's getting there."

I pulled my sword and placed a dark ether crystal into it.

https/youtu.be/7KvgVGII5Bk

"Azami, with me. Everyone else, please keep Adonis and Pyra off of Mythra and I," I ordered.

Everyone else nodded.

"Dromarch and I'll stay back for support," Granny informed us. "Knock his bloody head off!"

"Mythra, if you're in there," I said aloud. "Then I'm getting you out!"

Malos rushed towards Adonis at blinding speed, and Adonis pulled out his claymore and parried it, his stern face replacing itself with a smile.

"I'm surprised you destroyed your own Siren, wouldn't it have been of more use under your care?" Adonis questioned.

"He betrayed me, I don't need traitorous wretches," Malso replies simply.

He shifted his stance. "Monado Cyclone!" Malos yelled, throwing up a dark ether wave, blowing Adonis back.

Acacia jumped in with KOS-MOS' ether cannon, blasting a few shots at Pyra, who knocked them out of the air with her sword.

"Prominence Bolt!" Pyra shouted as pillars of fire began erupting from the ground.

Sonata shoved Acacia out of harm's way before throwing her dagger towards Gabriel, who slashed at Pyra.

Poppi flew in and changed to her Q-TCE Finale form, and Granny became obviously nervous.

"Poppi, won't that form destroy you?!" she asked frantically.

Poppi shook her head. "Negative. Rafi fix Poppi up! Poppi power now above maximum!"

Poppi, with her QT gloves, alpha shield, and QT π sword, stood to help Malos with Adonis.

"Noponic Axiom!" Poppi Finale shouted as her sword popped into a gun and she shot a high-power laser directly into Adonis.

"That Poppi's power!" Rafi shouted excitedly.

I brought my ether sword down onto Mythra's sword.

She looked at me emotionlessly, it felt like I was staring into a void. No hope, no fear, nothing, she was a robot.

"Snap out of it Mythra!" I shouted.

"R…," she stuttered.

"Mythra?" I said again, maybe she could hear me?

"Ray of Punishment!" she shouted, launching an arrow of pure light into my skull.

Or rather, that's what would've happened had I not had foresight.

I launched myself back, narrowly dodging the light arrows as I dropped my sword to the ground and Azami threw me her weapon while I was still in the air.

"Grenade Launcher!" I shouted as I launched some explosive dark ether rounds onto the ground surrounding Mythra, blowing her onto the ground.

I landed, grabbed my sword and jumped down, slamming it right next to her head and touching her core crystal.

I immediately felt a large surge go through my body and my nose started bleeding profusely.

"What… happened?!" I asked as I instantly began feeling better.

Granny was behind me, healing me with her power.

"You failed to resonate," she explained. "Her core crystal rejected your aptitude."

I steadied myself as Mythra got off the ground.

"Then I'll try again!" I shouted, invigorating myself.

"I've never heard of anyone trying to resonate with a blade multiple times," Dromarch pointed out to Nia.

Nia giggled a bit. "That's because most people have a sense of self-preservation Silas apparently lacks."

Kasandra threw Gabriel her shield hammer as he jumped towards Pyra.

"Detonation Blow!" he shouted as he slammed it into her.

She screamed and was blown back.

"NOW RAFI!" Canaan shouted.

"Speedy sword!" Rafi shouted as he took Poppi's QT π sword and spun around, hitting Pyra, breaking her defense.

"Your turn Gabe!" Rafi yelled back before throwing the sword back to Poppi, who continued engaging Adonis.

"Vajra Blow!" Gabriel yelled as he used Kasandra's shield hammer to sweep Pyra off of her feet and onto the ground.

"Behemoth Uppercut!" Canaan shouted, going in behind Gabriel and launching her into the air.

"Cattle Driver!" Acacia announced as she shot Pyra further into the air with KOS-MOS' ether cannon.

Kasandra threw Gabriel into the air as he took Sonata's dagger, positioning himself directly above Pyra.

"Powerhouse Smash!" he cried as he slammed Pyra into the ground, knocking her out of commission.

"Monado Buster!" Malos yelled as he slammed his sword into Adonis' sword, but Adonis wasn't budging.

"Poppi Crushing Blow!" Poppi shouted as she slammed her gloved ether fist down on Adonis, hitting him directly.

"Enough," Adonis said, more agitated than anything else, and his sword erupted in a bright teal light that sent everyone into the ground.

"You've all gotten stronger, and I'm impressed, but this ends now," he stated.

"Prometheus!" Adonis stated as a large ball of pure ether energy began forming above our heads.

"Everyone get near me, NOW!" Granny shouted.

Adonis' blast had even knocked Mythra down, so I grabbed her and dragged her back with me, and Gabiel grabbed Pyra.

My foresight had kicked in and I knew immediately what was about to happen.

"Listen up!" I ordered. "I need every blade to open an ether shield and surround us! Granny, I need you and Dromarch to keep healing yourselves and everyone else, no matter what!"

The bright teal ball grew larger and larger, and it felt like it was going to be even more powerful than Siren's blast.

"It's not enough!" I shouted in realization.

"I got this!" Canaan shouted as he threw up a device that created an extremely thick ether shield all around us.

"Everyone hold on tight, and don't drop your shields!" I said.

"Poppi scared!" Poppi announced.

Rafi went up behind her. "Everyone scared Poppi! But Poppi and friends strong! No stupid ether attack is gonna beat us!"

"Yeah well let's see what Prometheus thinks," Acacia said sarcastically.

The pure ethereal energy slammed its way into us. It seemed to lose a lot of force at Canaan's ether shield, but it eventually broke through, it then hit the ether shields and Granny and Dromarch continued healing us, keeping the shields running. In the end, we survived, but all of the blades were out of energy.

As the smoke cleared, we could barely stand as Adonis stood across from us with a smile on his face.

"I'm honestly impressed," he stated. "I didn't think any of you would survive. Well done indeed."

He then looked at Pyra, who was lying with us.

"If you don't stop sleeping with the enemy you are going to be in a world of trouble, do you understand me, blade?"

Pyra got up off the ground and ran behind him very nervously.

"What in the bloody hell makes you think you can talk to her like that?!" Granny said, getting off the ground, Dromarch right behind her.

I then realized how strong she really was, none of us could even move, and yet here she was, standing with her blade.

"And who the hell are-" Adonis cut himself off mid sentence. "You- You're!"

"My name is Nia, blade of the Third Aegis Driver and one of the few who defeated Torna five hundred years ago!" she stated.

Adonis started laughing uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" Granny asked.

"I undermined and arranged for Zeke and Mòrag to both be killed, killed Rex myself, and Tora died of his own accord before I could even do it myself. But you… you were the only one I couldn't track down!" he said with glee.

"Y-You killed Rex?"

"It's not that much of a surprise now is it?" Adonis questioned. "You don't think he would've just let his blade fall into my hands."

"Pyra, are you telling me you still believe he created you after hearing that?" Granny asked.

"I was constructed based on Rex's blade, I am not, nor have I ever been, Rex's blade," Pyra answered.

Granny drew her sword confidently.

"Granny… wh-what are you doing?" I queried, unable to get up and help her myself.

"I want to give you a proper demonstration," she explained. "Of how blades and drivers should be!"

"I am with you, my lady," Dromarch said as he stood behind her.

https/youtu.be/44to_rdvYI4

"You've never had it in you to fight Nia, give it up!" Adonis laughed.

Nia floated up into the air, bringing her sword down onto Adonis, who parried it before countering with his own blade, but Dromarch jumped in and blocked it with his twin rings.

"Last Hope!" Nia called as Adonis felt slightly weaker, and we began feeling stronger, but we still couldn't even stand.

"Something is holding you back Silas, and I don't know what it is," Granny said to me. "So please, whatever it is, start believing in who you are!"

"X-Star!" Adonis shouted as he lashed out a large amount of wind ether. Granny deployed her own ether shields and jumped back in, crossing swords with him fully.

"For years, I felt abandoned, lost, broken, but right now I've never felt more alive!" Nia yelled as she launched a large amount of water ether in his direction.

"I'll be sure to fix that," Adonis shouted as he slashed back at her in an upwards direction. Nia parried it, but lifted her body up with the sword, balancing it on his. She then jumped off and slashed him across the back.

"Redeeming Strike!" she said as ether entered his body.

"Right now, I feel like I'm exactly where I belong, doing what I was meant to do. He may not be here, but I can feel him next to me, and he wants me to fight, just like he would!" she announced as she went to slice him again.

He spun around and slammed his sword into hers, knocking her back.

Pyra went in for the hit, but Dromarch slammed his body into hers, throwing her to the ground.

"My apologies, Miss Pyra," he said.

"You have no idea how much I loved him, but I knew we had different fates when we split," Nia reminisced as she recovered for another strike. "The day I heard I'd never see him again, it hurt."

"Granny…," I said aloud. How long had she been carrying this burden? How long had she suffered in silence without me knowing?

"It still hurts… to this day," she said. "But I know that everything I did, he would've approved of. And what I wouldn't give to hear him say something stupid, 'Keep going!'or 'Don't give up!' or something like that…."

Adonis went for a slash.

"C'mon Granny, you can beat him!" I shouted across the room.

She parried his blow and Dromarch let out a roar of water ether energy, throwing him to the ground.

She laughed. "Yeah, I suppose that'll do, Silas."

"Are you done?" Adonis asked as he got up off the ground.

"Not quite," she said. "Divine Sword."

Immediately, Adonis began screaming as his muscles began swelling.

"What did you do?!" he shouted.

"My healing replicates cells to replace damaged ones, but I can also use it to replicate the cells, whether they're damaged or not. Your body is developing cells it doesn't need," she explained.

"Bastard…," Malos said under his breath.

"However I'd be a fool to think it would kill you," Nia continued as she impaled him.

"MASTER!" Pyra screamed as she got up.

"BLAZING END!" she shouted as her core crystal shone a bright emerald color, and her sword discharged a massive amount of fire.

Nia narrowly dodged it and her and Pyra locked blades.

"Your fear betrays you, Pyra," Dromarch said as he roared once again, but this time Pyra cut through it.

"You really care for him? Strange," Nia pointed out as she knocked her to the ground.

Adonis jumped back up and readied his sword again.

"Prometheus!" he shouted as the ball of energy began forming.

"I don't think so," Nia said as she sliced at his legs, throwing him to the ground again.

I wanted to help her, but I still couldn't get off the ground, I could only hope she would win.

Nia went to drive her sword down into his skull.

"Flame Gear!" Adonis called as he was wrapped in flames, throwing Nia off of him.

"My lady!" Dromarch called.

"I'm fine," Nia said as she healed her own wounds.

Adonis jumped in and attempted to slash her again, but she repelled it as Dromarch roared at him again, blowing him off balance.

"As long as I live, as long as I breathe, I will fight as he would have. I am Rex's blade, from the day he accepted me. If this is where I fall, then so be it, but it will be in memory of my driver! AND I WILL KNOW MY LIFE HAD MEANING!"

Nia slashed as a massive wave of ether energy ripped through him.

Dromarch closed in, ready to deliver the finishing blow, but Adonis grabbed him out of the air by his throat.

"Dromarch!" Nia cried.

"It's been a pleasure, my lady," he said. "I feel the same for you as you do for him."

Before anyone could react, Adonis smashed his core crystal and dropped him to the ground.

"I love you too," Nia cried, but wiped her tears.

She began slashing her sword with as much force as she could, wave after wave of ether energy crashing into him.

He walked through it, taking every hit, but continued, step by step.

"Was he ever human?!" Acacia shouted.

"Don't get any closer!" I shouted, trying to get up, but I stumbled forward. I couldn't move.

"Don't worry Silas, you have what you need," Granny said to me. "You don't need me anymore, and so I keep my promise. It'll sting, for the rest of your life, but I know you'll find your place."

"GRANNY!" I screamed, like a child, a powerless, helpless child.

She sliced again and again, but Adonis kept enduring the hits until he reached her, and he shattered the sword in her hands.

"Keep going Silas," she said. "Fight your war!"

And with that, Adonis planted his sword through her core crystal. He then pulled his sword out and tossed her corpse at me.

"G-Granny?" I called, but there was no answer.

I grabbed her hand and held it to me, there was no more strength in it. She… was gone.

I felt everything go white, everything felt faint. This… this wasn't real. How did this happen?!

"I told you to give up, I warned you," Adonis said with a glare. "These deaths are on your head, but don't feel too bad. You won't have to feel the pain for too much longer. Prometheus."

He, once again, summoned a large amount of ether energy.

"So this is how it ends, is it?" Gabriel questioned. "Out of power and burned alive."

Poppi reverted to her alpha form and hugged Rafi. "You were good Masterpon!"

"And you were bladiest blade Rafi could ever ask for!" Rafi responded, hugging her back.

"Say my name," I heard a voice say to me.

"There's nothing left to live for, I'm done," I said back to it.

"That wasn't a request, child," it said again.

"I don't want to keep surviving…," I argued again.

"Then what do you want?"

"I want… Granny back, and Mythra, and I want Adonis to die."

"I can't bring her back, but Mythra and Adonis are well within my power. Say my name."

And so I did.

https/youtu.be/Kw_0JI9drWk

Adonis launched the ether in our direction, and I stood up, and slashed it into nothing.

"What's this?!" he shouted.

"You will die," I declared.

"You don't have any power boy, or did you forget?"

Before he could even blink, I was standing next to him, and I used my hand to push him through one of the metal pillars.

"What the hell?!" Acacia exclaimed.

"Silas, calm down! You're losing control!" Gabriel added.

"Waylon?" a weak voice said.

"Mythra!" everyone around her shouted.

"Where's Waylon?" she asked.

"I don't know about Waylon," Canaan explained, pointing at Silas. "But something's definitely happening with him.

Adonis forced himself off the ground and started laughing.

"Well isn't this a surprise?! This could almost be entertaining! I want you to know I really took it easy on your poor old 'granny', I wanted to really make her feel special," he antagonized.

"M-Master?" Pyra said, getting off the ground. "Please be careful!"

I wasn't myself anymore, I could only hear once voice. It was telling me to kill, to slaughter, to leave this place without a trace of life. Destroy my enemies, leave nothing to chance, end it all.

"If you think you scare me, you're wrong boy!" Adonis shouted. "You're nothing compared to the power I possess, and I will recreate this world as I see fit, and you won't be able to stop me!"

"You should run," I warned.

Before he had the chance to respond, I rushed into him and shoved him into the ground, forcing my blade to his throat. He narrowly parried it and forced me back.

"I'm done playing with you, I should've ended this a long time ago!" he threatened.

"You waited too long, and now I will be ending you, permanently."

Adonis ran at me, with his sword drawn, and that was his first mistake.

I slammed into him before he had a chance to react, shattering his teal blade into nothing, I then threw him through multiple pillars and slammed him into the ceiling before throwing him into the ground, completely wrecking every surface I threw him into.

I then pointed my sword and punctured my way through him faster than anyone could see. I picked him up and threw him through a wall, but his wounds were still healing. So I went for the finishing blow, but he weakly deployed a shield that protected him from my attack. He then tried to launch a counter attack, but I grabbed him and threw him around like a ragdoll, slamming him into every surface I could find and then I threw him into the air and shot a pure wave of ether energy at him, which blew him into the ceiling. As he hit the ceiling, I had been waiting for him at the ceiling, and I slammed him back into the ground, where he was no longer able to move.

I drew my sword and went to finish this all, but my sword was blocked by Pyra's.

"I won't let you kill him!" she yelled.

"What makes you think he's the only one I'm trying to kill?"

"Wh-What?!" she shouted as she began trembling.

"You were responsible for her death no less than he was, and you will die like he will."

"We've got to stop him!" Mythra shouted frantically.

"We can't do anything against that kind of power!" Acacia shouted.

"The odds of success are zero point-" KOS-MOS started.

"I know, please stand back, and be ready to help me. Canaan, I have a request for you," Mythra stated.

"Stay back! I-I'm warning you!" Pyra shouted.

I sheathed my sword and another sword appeared in my hand, a teal one, my eyes and hair turned teal and began glowing as an unexplainable power began emanating from my body.

Pyra, feeling this power, took a step back. She almost tripped over herself as she started running for it.

"Too little too late."

I grabbed her by the back of her head and slammed her into a wall.

She spun around quickly and let loose a barrage of fire ether attacks at me, trying to get me away. I slashed them out of the air and then shattered her blade in a single slice.

She shot fire from her hands, trying to force me back, and then used the cover of the smoke to try and run. However, I picked her up and slashed her across her body, narrowly missing her core crystal. She shot more fire at me as I stomped her into the ground.

She shot more fire upwards, making me stumble a tad, but overall it was worthless.

"SILAS STOP!" Poppi shouted, but I couldn't hear her.

I approached Pyra, who was quickly running out of energy, and prepared to finish the job.

"Take solace in knowing you weren't as bad as he was," I said before planting my blade down into her.

But instead of hearing her core crystal crack, my sword was blocked entirely, and I was forced off my feet.

https/youtu.be/x_zxmuLSwRU

Mythra stood in between me and Pyra, and in her hands was a sword I hadn't seen before. It was bright emerald green, and radiated power similar to the power coming off of my blade.

"Get out of here Pyra, grab Adonis and go," Mythra ordered.

"B-But," Pyra started.

"I'm sorry he did this, this isn't him. Just go for now, and be safe," Mythra explained a little.

"Ok, we're still enemies though," she said as she picked up Adonis and began running away.

"You're in my way," I growled, although it's debatable whether "I" was there at all.

"I know what you're going through right now," Mythra said. "Please, find a way to control yourself, I know you can do this!"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" I yelled as I sliced at her.

Mythra parried it. "Damnit Silas SNAP OUT OF IT!"

We began fighting, hard. We slashed at each other so rapidly that the others couldn't even see our swords at all.

A bright flash hit me in the eyes as I was blinded. Acacia had thrown a flash grenade at me.

Poppi, in her Q-TCE Finale form, came at me as well, fighting with everything she had. I parried her blow and shoved her into the ground.

Mythra and I were floating off the ground and we resumed our swordplay, moving at speeds that shouldn't even be humanly possible.

In the background, Canaan sat in the prone position, holding a sniper rifle fixed on Mythra's core crystal.

"Please don't lose control," he was praying.

"I'm going to use a power that I can only control for a very short period of time, and should only use with a driver. If I lose control, I'll be just as dangerous as he is right now. If that happens, no matter what, I need you to take the shot at my core crystal," she had told him, and he was going to hold to it. However, he really didn't want to.

Malos jumped in and slashed at me, and I spun around, flinging the sword out of his hand then I threw him to the ground.

Mythra came in behind me and shoved me to the ground as well.

"Starburst!" she yelled as a Siren blast hit me square in the body, but it did little damage.

"Come on Silas! It's that sword, isn't it?" Mythra pointed out.

"HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!" I shrieked, but she didn't hear that until after we were fighting again.

"It hurts doesn't it?" she said, continuing. "You have so much power in your hands, and it screams at you. 'Destroy, kill, end your suffering'. Am I right!"

"SHUT UP!" I shouted, slamming my blade into her sword, throwing her back a fair distance.

She kept her cool, however, trying not to let those same voices take over her.

She closed the distance once again and we were moving around each other, slamming into one another like lightning strikes.

"One thousand years ago, I sank Torna into the Cloud Sea. Malos had destroyed an entire village and I knew someone I cared about was there. When that happened, I drew this sword for the first time, and I lost every ounce of who I was. I lost control, and the continent fell. The giant Titan cried out in anguish as the damage I had done burned it until it died. It was slow, painful, and all I knew was that it was my fault."

There were tears streaming down my face, but I couldn't stop. I wanted to kill them. I wanted him to die. However, I didn't want to be the one to kill him.

"Malos kept telling me that our purpose as Aegises was to destroy. However, as I unleashed my last blast, tears streamed down my face, and I cried, wishing only to protect. I spent the next five hundred years trying to resonate and take someone to Elysium, so that I could have my father's permission to die. I only wanted to protect, and I didn't believe that I was capable."

I said nothing as I continued attacking her.

"Rex showed me that I was capable of so much more. Addam, my first driver, helped me develop into loving humanity, but Rex, he showed me that I could be a benefit, and he accepted my powers fully. And then I had Waylon, and honestly he caused me more problems than anything else," she chuckled through her tears. "But I ended up loving him for never giving up and showing me compassion I didn't really deserve, and you're just like him."

"I tried… I-I tried giving up…," I said as I finally stopped attacking, and was left sobbing.

"But you're here now, aren't you? You didn't leave me, and you stayed true to your word," she said before she wrapped me in a hug and pulled me down to the floor.

"I-I lost my granny," I said, and I broke into tears, crying into her shoulder. I felt so pathetic.

"Shh, calm down. I know it hurts, but you'll get stronger, I promise."

"Will he be alright?" Nia asked him.

"He will, that was the last thing you needed to do for him," he told her.

"So, then that's it."

"Indeed, Rex is waiting for you, he has been for a long time."

"Well then I guess I shouldn't leave him waiting any longer."

"D-Do you hate me? I wouldn't blame you if-"

"Nonsense," she interrupted me. "I did what I was supposed to do, but the ones you really need to apologize to are the people down there right now. Not killing Galea is what caused all of this."

I nodded. "Thank you Nia, maybe we'll meet again."

"Yes, I'd like that, but you still have work to do for now, no slacking off!"

"Yes ma'am."

And with that, the drivers who had saved the world from Malos five hundred years ago finally met their end. May their souls be reunited within the ether flow.

End of Book VIII

Readability Level: 11-12th Grade

Time Taken: 4 Hours