Chapter 20: Final Weapon (II) - Reason to Fight

"This…?"

"Your brother's. I want you to have it."

Iris broke into tears as soon as she heard the news. Colonel was defeated and perished while defending the Space Port from the Hunter's assault. Immediately she was down to her knees, in her arms holding a purplish crystal emanating a warm glow.

"I am sorry to say that the Repliforce had to suffer heavy losses in search for their utopia." the tall figure turned his back facing the crestfallen Reploid, he placed his both of his hands behind him, lifted his chin and continued, "I also hear that your brother was last seen battling the commander of the zeroth unit of the Hunters."

Iris's eyes widened, tears still flowing endlessly like a river, her thought processor was muddled and fuzzled, unable to actually comprehend the newly acquired information that was fed to her by this man.

"What is this… thing?" Iris murmured, referring to the glowing crystal in her embrace.

"Colonel's battle chip," cheekily giving a brief pause, presumably giving time for the young Reploid to take it in, albeit a very short info, but it was extremely delicate and must be handled well. "I hear Reploid siblings have a very close affinity and compatibility towards each other's hardwares and softwares, regardless of what class they were originally built."

He paused again, this time taking a few steps forward, away from Iris. "I will leave it to you on how you will use it." Soon he vanished into the shadows and out of Iris's sight. Her head was not lifted during the entire ordeal and she could not actually see his face.

"Iris!" A voice was soon heard coming from afar. The voice all too familiar for Iris this time, unlike the mysterious person before. The footsteps gradually increased in audacity as well.

Iris stood up, wiped her tears and hugged the battle chip tighter.

Zero navigated through the dark tunnel which gradually brightened up and led into a room that was pretty much… empty. He ran through all sorts of simulations in his mind on how the Final Weapon come to be, and what adversaries would be waiting for him ahead.

He would've hoped Iris was somewhere to be found here, preferably a safe place. As soon as he could meet her face to face, everything should come into place.

Once into the bright and empty room, it didn't take long for him to notice a small silhouette waiting for him just ahead. He dashed further forwards, and it was a huge sense of relief on who he found there.

"Iris!" Zero yelled, running as quickly as he could to shorten their distance. But soon he had to slow down his pace, the atmosphere around wasn't right, and Iris didn't seem to act… normal.

"Iris?" Zero stopped, still about a unimeter away from Iris.

"Tell me, Zero."

"What?"

"Did you fight with my brother?" Iris retorted, her voice cold and sharp, Zero had never hear her speaking in such a tone, as if it's… murderous.

"I… am sorry, Iris." Zero hesitated, unsure of what sort of answer to give her.

"So it's true… it's over then. Everything."

Her voice immediately send chills down Zero's mechanical spine. He was stunned for a second there, not budging an inch when Iris tossed the glowing orb straight upwards.

"Wait, Iris! Listen to me!"

But it was already too late. The orb began to float on its own as it reached the desirable height right above Iris's head. Iris spread her arms wide, absorbing the purplish-black ray that was blasted out from the orb. Purple armors pieces began to materialize on Iris's body, starting from her palms and feet, going up towards her torso and finally enveloping her head. Once the armor was completed, it resembled a Ride Armor with a purplish theme and diabolical wings. Purple used to be her favorite color, wings…? Zero frowned, slightly perplexed by the appearance Iris harnessed after tapping into this… unknown power.

"Stay with me, brother…" it was soft but Zero could catch these words with ease. Could it be…? He had no time to ponder as Iris pulled out a blue saber from thin air, supposedly part of her renewed programing, and charged into Zero head on.

What!? The very sight of the saber quickly took Zero off guard. He recognized it immediately. It was Colonel's. I… see. Most of his doubts were also cleared at the same time. Upon impact, Zero shifted his body back just enough to avoid the strike towards his torso, he chose to skip a few steps back as well.

Iris did not hesitate at all, resuming her assault onto her supposedly love companion. She launched a barrage of wild swings towards the red Maverick Hunter, her moves unrefined and predictable, Zero could dodge them easily.

Zero remained patient, still gathering his thoughts on what was culminating currently and remained on the defensive. His thoughts were a mess, Iris attacking him was way out of his predictions, her using Colonel's battle chip was just a tip of the iceberg. He knew that Reploid siblings could share certain chips together, but something felt awfully off. Colonel was a straight-out combat Reploid, while Iris was all but that. Could two contrasting Replied types share chips that easily?

It felt like Iris replaced her non-violent core chip with her brother's.

As the battle dragged on, Iris's movements becoming more and more crisp, with Zero becoming increasingly difficult to maneuver around her with ease. She became faster and faster, perhaps her programing had finally caught up with the abundant data her brother possessed in that chip.

Using her wings well, she was airborne the entire time, giving her the extra edge to glide around Zero swiftly. She began by launching frontal attacks solely, but gradually evolved into circulating around Zero and leaving him few gaps to avoid her assaults.

Zero could not see through the suit to grasp her emotions, subtle eye movements and facial expressions could help the veteran hunter foresaw the attacks. The suit was seemingly hollow, as if it was a fighting machine inside it. Zero tried to call her name countless times, but to no avail.

Finally trapping Zero to a corner, Zero was forced to block a forward charging strike, causing his back to slam the wall, causing his first damage. He was not given time to retaliate as Iris kept tackling him towards the wall. Without much choice, Zero chose to lay as low as possible and to slide underneath Iris's suit to safety.

Just as Zero almost got up to his feet, he could hear a buzzing sound coming from behind him. The purple crystal that gave Iris her combat powers was there and appeared to be charging some sort of energy. Damn it! Predicting it to be some sort of a projectile energy, Zero leaped up.

A dark-purplish beam was fired from the crystal, melting the walls of the room in an instant. What the… Just as the laser cleared away, Zero could not foresaw the following attack.

Another laser that came from straight below.

Realizing the lethality of the attack, Zero leaped forward as far as he could with his Kueenbu, his hind foot barely avoiding getting melted away.

Zero desperately reached to a wall he could grab onto, as Kueenbu wouldn't allow him to dodge a third laser attack mid-air.

Now further away from Iris, Zero predicted that it would take her some time to cover the distance, giving him time to dodge as he slowly slides down the wall he was latching to. As the smoke from the laser blast cleared off, tiny, whitish projectiles come homing towards him, exploding as soon as they touched him.

Arghhhhh…! Such a carefully crafted strategy quickly reminded Zero of his greatest rival. This way of fighting was exactly Colonel's! Zero could not fathom just how much data Iris was synchronizing with her brother's. It turned her into a powerful force to be reckoned with.

Just how much longer can her frail body take all this?

The entire circumference of the room was utilized fully by the battle-enforced Iris. She would deploy the tiny projectiles to fill the entire room, homing into Zero at random intervals and speed, giving them an extreme advantage of unpredictability. From far range, came the laser beam that could blaze in two at a time, they already melted various places of the room but Iris showed no sign of slowing down its usage. Close up Iris would perform the dashing slash very, very similar to Colonel's, his shadow repeatedly haunting Zero, who became more and more distraught every time Iris brandished the saber, Zero couldn't shake off the harrowing image of Colonel every time she used it.

Zero could hardly stand a chance against Iris, his mental state severely famished, running around in circles was a futile attempt yet there was no better option. He was severely exhausted, suffering from various grazes all over his body, and extremely close-calls that would easily cause him to lose a limb.

Two lovers, their bond now severed by war, and their allegiances had pitted them against one another. The shock from such a delicate timing was too much for the two of them. Iris could hardly contain herself from the tragic loss of her brother, not when he was defeated and destroyed by none other than her own beloved, all she could do was to go on a blind rampage, crushing everything in sight no matter who they were. On the other side, Zero found himself powerless to contain the berserked Iris, never in his life would he imagine such a sweet and gentle girl like Iris resort into violence and tear everything apart.

In the end, it was a cat and mouse game between the two of them. Iris's energy core glowed brighter with each passing moment, something Zero could barely tell the difference at first but such a minute change began to unveil itself greater and greater as the fight went on. It started almost pure black with a slight purplish hue, to a bright purple with a luminous white center.

Don't tell me…!?

"Iris!" The crystal enveloped its entirety with blinding white immediately after, a sudden rapid change to itself as opposed to the gradual change before. For the first time in this battle, Zero rushed to the direction of Iris as fast as he could, Iris was still wielding her brother's saber high above her head, in her mind only wanting to slash anything down. Right before they came into impact, the crystal and Iris's core in her body exploded, sending both her and Zero flying.

Zero was the first to get up, waving his hands around to clear off the smoke surrounding the room, it was thick and forced a few coughs from him. "Iris!" He ran straight ahead without consideration, unable to find Iris from such a thick emission. "Iris! Iris!" He yelled as hard as he could.

Eventually the smoke cleared up and Iris could be found, lying there motionless.

"Iris!" He ran up to her as soon as possible, his face immediately dropped upon witnessing the terrible state Iris was in. Her ride armor was entirely destroyed, leaving her in her default form, albeit severely damaged throughout, sparks can be seen emanating from all over her body, her face dirtied by dirt and smoke, her breathing labored and her eyes were shut tight. "Iris…" Zero's heart sank.

"Zero…" slowly, Iris opened her eyes, and looked to him.

"Hang in there, Iris." Zero put his face closer.

"Please," she began, her voice unbearably weak, "stay away from Repliforce. Let's live together... in a world where only Reploids exist."

"Iris," Zero hesitated for a brief moment, "there's no world just for Reploids, it's only a fantasy."

Zero wasn't finished, but Iris opened her mouth, quickly prompting him to stop. "Yes… I know…" with her remaining strength, she continued, "But, I want to believe it. I wanted to live in a world where only Reploids exist…" There was a longer pause, Iris's breathing becoming incredibly tedious and shallow, her hand gradually raised to reach towards Zero's cheek, which was already overflowing with tears, but could only reach halfway before Zero squeezed it tight with both his hands. With her final breath, she ended, "...with you."

"Iris!" Zero exclaimed, trying to bring her back. But all she could do, was smile. Before long, she went limp, and her head dropped.

"Iris, Iris!" Zero exclaimed again, this time holding her shoulders and shook them hard, not a single response. There was not a single sign of life left in her stationary body. "... Iris…"

"NOOOOO!" Holding Iris in his arms, the devastated Hunter shouted though his lungs as hard as his could, his tears cascading and falling on the wrecked body of his beloved. "This… this isn't happening! There is no reason for me to go on…. WHAT AM I FIGHTING FORRRRRRR?!"