Dreadfully sorry for the wait once again, I've had a busy week. Didn't get a chance to start writing until Friday, and I celebrated my twentieth birthday on Saturday with copious amounts of alcohol, so I couldn't write too well during the weekend. I also picked up Red Dead Redemption (incidentally a pretty good game so far). But I haven't played it in three days, I've been trying to get this damn chapter done all week.
Hope it's worth the wait. Enjoy chapter 10.
Chapter 10
"It's been too long," Raines admonished, unperturbed by the fact that Lightning had a bead drawn on him with her gunblade or by the death stare she was giving him. Hope stood next to her, anxiously rolling the crystal Odin had given him around in his hand. "I'm glad you could both be here at the dawn of the new world…"
"Hope," Lightning whispered out of the corner of her mouth as Raines drawled on. "Go fill that crystal in front of the core, I'll hold him off."
Despite a heavy knot in his stomach, Hope knew that Lightning could take care of herself. With a quick nod, he turned and ran down the bridge and sat a few feet from the edge, just below the core. On top of the softly pulsing colors and the intense feel of the magic it radiated, Hope also felt a pleasant warmth given off by the large orb. He contemplated the sensation for a moment, but quickly shut it out and dropped into a meditative trance and began to pour energy into the small crystal.
As the sound of Hope's footsteps reverberating through the room, Raines trailed off from his long winded speech. Lightning tensed up, but he did not move to pursue. "Hmm," the man said, a smirk appearing on his face as he watched Hope run down the bridge.
"You'll have to get through me first," Lightning said evenly, aiming her gunblade right between Raines' eyes.
"Indeed," he replied nonchalantly. "But I prefer it this way. From one soldier to another, fighting civilians doesn't have quite the same…thrill as fighting trained professionals."
"Cut the act," Lightning spat. "You're not Raines. Raines was a good man caught up in the machinations of the fal'Cie…I won't let you insult him further by using him as your shell, Barthandelus!" She squeezed off a quick three shots. Barthandelus didn't even flinch, however, and the bullets bounced harmlessly off the fal'Cie's barrier.
"Impressive," Barthandelus mocked, letting out a few condescending chuckles. "But allow me to show you how it's done." He threw off his cloak with a dramatic gesture, and the gray owl took flight. The movement catching her eye, Lightning adjusted her aim and fired off another shot, catching the small bird square in the chest. It hit the ground with a feeble screech and dissolved into gray energy, leaving only a few feathers behind.
Barthandelus looked down at the spot curiously. "What was that for? Did you perhaps think that destroying Menrva would prevent me from using my power?"
Lightning gritted her teeth and scowled, but quickly regained her composure. She lowered her gun to her side and brushed her bangs out of her face. "Something like that," she replied.
"I see," Barthandelus said. "While it's true that when I was masquerading as Dysley Menrva did hold a sizeable portion of my strength, in this form I have no need to separate any of my power from myself. He was with me now merely because I had grown accustomed to his presence."
Lightning responded by extended her weapon into its blade form and dropping into a battle stance, her gaze unwavering.
Barthandelus sized her up with what appeared to be a practiced eye. "Hmm, interesting choice. Most gunblade users start with simpler forms, yet you lead with the most complex, Renzokuken."
Lightning cocked an eyebrow, obviously taken off guard by Barthandelus's knowledge of gunblade techniques. "How…?"
"I wonder how much you know about Raines. Before he became the commander of the Cavalry, he was quite a talented soldier, most notable for his skill wielding gunblades." He reached behind his back for something Lightning could not see. "A skill which I have inherited from my gracious host." He produced a gunblade from a sheath that Lightning hadn't noticed, and dropped into a stance similar to her own. "I wonder how your own ability measures up."
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Odin and Mateus circled each other, both with weapons ready sizing up the other. The two were clearly tense, ready to spring into battle at the slightest sign of aggression. Odin's dual ended sword crackled with electricity, while Mateus's arm blades were covered by a layer of ice, causing them to gleam menacingly. The two maintained intense eye contact.
Alexander and Hashmal, on the other hand, had yet to move at all. Hashmal still wore the same disinterested expression, and was seemingly unaffected by the gaze of Alexander, who stood a good seven feet taller than the human form that the earth aspect was pressed into. After another minute passed in silence, Hashmal sat down cross-legged and placed both of his palms flat on the ground on either side of him. His muscled chest heaved as he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
Alexander shifted slightly, drawing a look from the earth aspect. "Something the matter?" the eidolon rumbled, curious of his opponent's strange behavior.
"Yes, Anima sending the aspect of earth to fight on an airship, the bastard." He sighed and after a few moments stood up again. "But I suppose the material the ark is made out of is receptive enough to magic for me to make due." Hashmal began to flex his corded arms and perform a few warm up stretches.
Alexander looked down at him pensively. "It doesn't have to be this way," the eidolon said. Hashmal looked up at Alexander with one eye open, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know what Anima told you, but the truth of your origins…"
Hashmal raised a hand to silence the eidolon. A slightly angry expression crossed his face as his gaze fell to the floor. "I know about everything…about Ultima. Most of us do." Alexander was taken aback, and across the room, Odin stiffened, apparently having been listening to Hashmal. The earth aspect exchanged a glance with Mateus, who also had a frustrated look on her face. "After Cocoon fell and our fal'Cie forms shattered, we regained memories of our…past existence as Ultima. But we were unable to stop Anima from capturing us. Now we are his slaves, forced into human bodies to do his bidding."
Odin turned away from Mateus to address Hashmal. "We can help you break Anima's hold over you," the eidolon offered. "If you can just resist him long enough to stand down…"
"We cannot," Mateus said mournfully. "His will is too strong…"
Hashmal grimaced in pain, rolling his head around his shoulders. "His voice crawls through our skulls like a poison. Some of the more…chaotic aspects are driven mad by it. But even for those of us who are able to retain our sanity…there is no way to fight his control. The only thing you can do for us is destroy these forms."
"Our essences return to Anima after they are liberated from a host," Mateus began, "but it seems he is unable to immediately press them into new ones. Anima attempted to put Phoenix and Leviathan into new bodies, but neither of them fused with the humans properly, resulting in the deaths of the intended hosts. We don't know how long it will take Anima to overcome this, but if you can defeat all of us quickly enough, he will be without servants and vulnerable."
"Then we will free you from your shells," Alexander said, gathering energy. Closing the distance to Hashmal much quicker than his size would suggest was possible, he leveled a punch at the aspect. Reacting just as rapidly, Hashmal crouched to the floor and pressed his palms against it once again. The metal around his hands began to ripple, and it flowed like water over his forearms. It solidified to into twin gauntlets on both of his hands, and he met Alexander's punch with one of his own. Their fists collided and sent shockwaves through the room.
Odin and Mateus stumbled a bit from the force of the impact. "Perhaps we should move to another location," Odin suggested, motioning to a door that lead to an adjoining room. Mateus nodded, and the two of them entered the slightly smaller room off of the one reverberating with the force of Alexander and Hashmal's blows.
They moved to the center of the room and squared off again, reading their weapons. As another layer of ice coated Mateus's blades, a sad smile crossed her face. "Don't hold back," she murmured. "I won't be able to."
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"Who are these guys?" Snow asked again to the eidolons standing in front of him. He was puzzled when he noticed the anxiety etched in the faces of Stiria, Nix, and even Brynhildr. "What's up? I don't know about that chick over there but that guy looks like a soldier to me, nothing we can't handle." He cracked his knuckles and made to brush past Stiria, but she threw out a hand and pushed him back, knocking him to the ground. "What's the big idea?" Snow said angrily to his former eidolon.
"Stay back Snow!" Stiria shouted, and Snow was put off not by the fact that she had shouted at him, but by what he could have sworn was fear in her voice. The group was startled when the man armed with scythes began to cackle uncontrollably.
"If the human is eager to die," he sneered, "don't stop him." He spun his weapons in his hands a few times, and a gust kicked up around him. The wind caused the man's mane of hair to blow wildly around him, giving him an even fiercer look.
"What the hell?" Snow exclaimed as he and the others were buffeted by the gust. "Who the hell is this guy?"
"…Typhoon," Nix replied.
"Typhoon? Is that supposed to ring a bell?"
"Snow, I promise that we will explain everything when we get you all out of here," Stiria assured him. "But for now, please just stay back and let us handle this. These two are very power, and very dangerous." She turned to Brynhildr. "Nix and I will handle Typhoon. You take care of Madeen."
Brynhildr nodded, readying her weapon as she walked over to stand before Madeen. Up close, the eidolon saw that the woman's misery was even more noticeable. Taken aback by Madeen's expression, Brynhildr lowered her weapon slightly. Noticing this, Madeen looked up at the eidolon in front of her.
"Don't," she whispered softly. She tried to compose herself. "I'm sorry, I know it's hard to fight me when I'm like this, but you mustn't hesitate. Anima is too strong…I can't escape him."
Brynhildr studied the woman in front of her, a look of pity on her face. "I didn't know that you were…aware. I thought that Anima had just twisted you to serve him…"
Madeen looked away, staring down at the ground regretfully. "No, we kept our minds. When he puts us into these bodies, he binds us to his will. We cannot ignore the whispers that echo through our beings. Some of us…" she looked, a flash of anger crossing her face, at Typhoon who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself as Stiria and Nix closed in on him. "Some seem to enjoy the chance to fight and kill. I do not."
Typhoon turned towards Madeen at this, letting out another harsh cackle. "You're pathetic," he spat. "How a weakling like you has any power at all is a mystery to me." He turned back to Stiria and Nix, twirling his blades again and strengthening the gale swirling around him.
Madeen looked up at Brynhildr again but flinched in pain, grasping her head with both hands as if suffering a terrible headache. "Ugh…I'm sorry, I can't…" Brynhildr reached a hand out to her, but Madeen jumped back, falling to her knees and letting out an unearthly wail. Her body began to emanate a soft glow, and her eyes shone a bright white.
Typhoon turned to her again, and snickered. "About time."
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Lightning and Barthandelus stood with their gunblades raised, eyes staring, and muscles tensed. Barthandelus did not infuse his weapon with energy, so Lightning didn't either, wanting to gauge the truth of his claims that he inherited Raines' skill with the weapon before she brought magic into play. She gazed intently at him, and after he slowly cracked a small smile. His eyes glinted, and she took the hint.
They both charged simultaneously, and their blades met in a shower of sparks and a ring of steel. The gunblades trembled against each other for a moment and quickly broke apart. Lightning took the offensive, working her gunblade furiously and driving Barthandelus back several paces. She guided her blade through several complex maneuvers of the Renzokuken form, but the aspect's claim appeared to be true. He parried every stroke easily, and eventually turned the fight around, sending Lightning back on her heels with his own Renzokuken attacks, all of which were executed flawlessly. A slight lull appeared in Barthandelus's attacks, and Lightning took the opportunity to disengage, flipping backwards away from him and squeezing off a shot, which was casually deflected.
"I trust that was an adequate enough display to prove my abilities to you. You don't have to hold back any more," Barthandelus said smugly. He resumed his battle stance, and his gunblade began to glow with white energy. Lightning mirrored his stance, and infused her blade with electricity. This time, there was no stare down. Lightning charged, and when their blades met she grit her teeth as the impact of the colliding energies sent waves of force and magic rolling over her. Despite the added distraction, Lightning was still able to perform the more advanced techniques of the Renzokuken style. She quickly found out that once again, Barthandelus was able to counter and mimic all of her attacks.
The ferocity of their duel increased as they neared the upper tier of Renzokuken forms. Lightning no longer had the luxury of deciding which to use, she merely reacted, letting the hardened soldier make the snap decisions that deterred Barthandelus's gunblade a split second before it would decapitate her. Her blade was halfway through its own offensive pushes before she even realized which attack she was using. After several minutes of this, she felt beads of sweat running down her face, and was granted some satisfaction when she noticed that Barthandelus was also working up a sweat. At least his human form has some limitations she thought to herself.
Barthandelus broke into a flurry of attacks, pushing Lightning back on her heels. She was momentarily startled when her blade slashed through air before she realized that the aspect had backpedaled. A small smirk crossed his face before he swung his gunblade horizontally in front of him, releasing an arc of white energy from the slash. Lightning managed to bring her sword up to try and parry the crescent shaped projectile, but its force was more than she expected. She poured more energy into her weapon to prevent it from being sheared in half as she struggled against it, her feet sliding backwards trying to hold it off. Finally, with an almighty wrench she managed to fend off the attack, dissipating it as her gunblade split the crescent at the middle.
Barthandelus chuckled as Lightning panted heavily, having put a large amount of energy into defeating his attack. As she tried to catch her breath, the aspect took on a relaxed stance, as if mocking her, and raised his free hand. An orb of white energy formed in his palm and Lightning straightened up, readying herself to guard against his magic. No less than a dozen ruin spells erupted from the orb and shot towards her, immediately erasing any thought of trying to block them all. As they neared her, she performed a few quick back steps and flips to avoid most of them, the last three deflected on the flat of her gunblade. She could feel the energy from each of the attacks, and knew that if even one got a direct hit on her, she would be in trouble.
Several more ruin spells spewed forth from the orb in Barthandelus's hand, accompanied by renewed chuckles from the aspect as he added in a few shots from his gunblade. The bullets glanced off Lightning's weapon as she deflected them and dodged the first few ruins that came her way. The rest flew far over her head, and just as she was about to give thanks for Barthandelus's poor aim, her eyes widened in shock as she realized the true target of the spells. Ignoring the enemy facing her, Lightning turned around as a surge of fear tugged at her, tearing a strangled cry from her throat.
"Hope!"
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The room rang out with the sound of steel on steel as Odin and Mateus fought viciously. The clamor was joined by the occasional blast of lightning from Odin or ice from Mateus, accompanied by vibrations of power as the spells struck the walls and floor as their intended targets barely avoided them. Despite Odin's size advantage, Mateus parried his attacks without backing down and matched his spells blow for blow. The aspect also had the advantage in terms of speed and agility, but between his shield and sword, Odin hadn't taken any direct hits yet.
Odin felt an upsurge of energy roll off Mateus and knew that he had to turn up the heat as well. He spun his sword staff, and it began to crackle with energy. He launched a thundaga spell as he charged, arcing it to the left to force Mateus to dodge right. She moved as expected, and he swung his blade, aiming to decapitate her. His aim was true but his sword came to a jarring halt, held at bay by one of Mateus's blades. The aspect was in the hook of Odin's curved blade, and the eidolon tried to overcome her resistance and complete the strike. He could not budge her however, and with a surge of energy from Mateus, a layer of ice began to cover his sword from the point where her own blade held it. Odin disengaged quickly, putting several feet between himself and the icy aspect.
Mateus crouched and stabbed one of her blades into the ground. Odin noticed a pained expression flash across her face, and that probably saved him. He was able to bring his shield to bare just in time as a huge icicle spear erupted from the floor in front of him, angled to skewer the eidolon through the chest. The icicle stabbed through Odin's shield, which quickly froze solid. Odin abandoned it, and it shattered when it hit the floor. As he watched Mateus pull her blade free from the floor and calmly walk towards him, he pulled his sword staff apart at the middle, wielding one side of it in each hand as Lightning did when they fought in gestalt together. He flipped the weapons in his hands and they sparked with power, ready to meet Mateus's next attack.
Still slowly walking towards him, Mateus pulsed with magic and several balls of energy formed over her shoulder. They formed into more icicle lances and hurled themselves at Odin. Mateus broke into a run and was close behind them.
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Alexander and Hashmal were still exchanging heavy blows, and the room was still echoing violently from their attacks. As they both put more and more energy behind their attacks, the tempo of the fight picked up. Alexander was amazed that Hashmal had the endurance to withstand his attacks, and even more so from the force behind the aspects attacks when he was hit. They seemed to be more or less evenly matched, but Alexander had the size advantage, and that was giving him an edge.
Hashmal apparently realized this as well, and with a thrust of his palm, pushed off of the eidolon and backed away. Hashmal sighed and rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. He stomped on the ground, and a block of metal rose from the floor to his waist. "Bah, it's just not the same as real earth. But…" he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "I think I can use it to even this out a bit." He crouched down again, and the floor began to ripple. Alexander watched as more metal flowed onto Hashmal, and the aspect was soon engulfed in a ball of it, leaving a large, smooth crater in the floor where he had taken it from.
The metal shifted and gradually took a human shape, albeit one much larger than Hashmal's. When it was finished, Alexander found himself staring at a metal golem that stood even with him in size and, from what he could feel from the construct, power. As he studied the creature, a plate on its chest opened up to reveal Hashmal.
"This should make things more interesting," the aspect said. He grabbed the block of metal he had formed from the ground, and with more ripples, he pulled out a large bronze sword. The metal flowed back over Hashmal's face and the golem charged.
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Madeen's chilling shriek drew the gazes of everyone to her, as she glowed and convulsed with energy. Typhoon smirked, noticing that Stiria and Nix were distracted, and charged at them. Nix snapped to attention in time to produce the wheel she fought with and blocked his scythe-like weapons. She held out her hand to steady the wheel as sparks flew from its spinning surface and the sound of Typhoon's weapons screeching across it filled the room. The aspect broke away to dodge a blizzara spell launched his way by Stiria.
The sisters regrouped as Typhoon pulled back, but their combined front did not seem to concern the cackling man. He ground the blades of his weapons together and another powerful wind kicked up behind him. He rushed forward again, this time spinning both of his weapons and loosing twin blasts of air at Stiria and Nix. The two managed to dodge the attacks, but by the time they recovered, Typhoon was upon them. Nix stepped in and started frantically fighting him off, barely able to keep up with his vicious flurry of attacks. After a few moments she was able to find a rhythm in his attacks and started fighting back, parrying his blades with her wrist armor and forcing him to dodge as she aimed devastating kicks his way. All the while, her wheel zipped around him, racing in to take advantage of any blind spots.
The cocky smile long gone from his face, Typhoon poured more energy into his weapons as the fight went on and intensifying the tornado that emanated from him. He began to push Nix again, but when Stiria began firing off blizzaga spells, Typhoon was forced to disengage.
"Not so confident now, are you?" Nix called to the aspect as he faced them. Stiria stood next to her, arms crossed.
Typhoon flashed another crazed smile. "I'm just warming up."
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Brynhildr hefted her weapon into a ready stance as Madeen stopped screaming and stood. Her eyes were still bright white and the rest of her body was surrounded by a softer white glow. Out of the corner of her eye, the eidolon saw Typhoon engage Stiria and Nix, but she shut that out. Something told her that Madeen was done talking.
She held her hand out in front of her and with a white gleam, several white spikes of every shot out of it and hurtled towards Brynhildr. The eidolon shifted her axe to deflect the projectiles, which bounced pathetically off it. Brynhildr was slightly confused at the weakness of the attack, but realized the ploy when she shifted her weapon and saw that Madeen had used the blind spot created by her weapon to approach her. Madeen held a larger version of the energy spikes she had just used in her hand and thrust it a Brynhildr's chest. The eidolon tried to avoid it, but she winced as the lance of energy scraped across her side as she moved away. Brynhildr swung her axe, forcing Madeen to jump back, but stopped the weapon mid-swing and launched a bolt of fire at the aspect. The bolt struck Madeen with a small explosion, sending her smoking form sprawling across the floor. Brynhildr moved to capitalize on the successful hit, but a sharp pain in her shoulder caught her by surprise. Looking down, she saw another of Madeen's energy spikes lodged in her left shoulder and sending painful waves of energy down her arm. She rested her weapon on the ground and grabbed at the spike to pry it free, but it shattered at her touch.
Retrieving her weapon, she looked up in time to see Madeen getting to her feet. The attack had not done as much damage as Brynhildr thought it had, but the aspect had not escaped unscathed. She rolled her shoulder gently, and found that her left arm would not respond properly after Madeen's attack. Examining Madeen's injury, Brynhildr noticed apart from the scorch marks on her exposed skin, she was sporting a limp. Just as she began formulating a plan to use this to her advantage, Madeen closed her eyes and a pulse of energy rippled through the room. A flash of light later, Madeen looked in perfect health. She formed another energy lance and charged at Brynhildr.
This may take a while the eidolon though as she readied her axe.
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Snow, Serah, Sazh, and Bartholomew watched in amazement as the eidolons battled the mysterious people who they could only assume were l'Cie. While the others wore looks of trepidation, Snow looked on in frustration as Stiria and Nix fought without him. He clenched his fists angrily, slamming one into the wall next to him.
Sazh noticed this and the look on Snow's face. "Hey, you gotta calm down, hero. There's nothing we can do to help them right now, if you go out there you'll just end up getting in the way."
Serah put a hand on Snow's shoulder. "He's right, Snow. We have to let them handle this."
Snow tried to relax, letting his hands drop to his sides and gave Serah a small smile and a nod. Their words did not calm him, however. He looked back to Stiria and Nix fighting against their savage opponent, knowing he couldn't sit there and do nothing. He rubbed the spot on his arm where his l'Cie brand once was, cursing its absence and his own helplessness. There has to be something I can do!
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Lightning turned and began running down the bridge after Barthandelus's ruin spells. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion to her. Hope had heard her cry, and turned around to see the spells closing in on him. From his meditative position, he didn't have the time to dodge the spells, and she could sense that his own power was still being drawn in by the crystal, rendering him unable to cast a powerful enough shell to block the ruins.
Lightning pushed her body to its limits, trying to reach Hope in time, but she knew that she would not be able to. Even fueled with magic as her muscles were, she could not get to him before Barthandelus's spells. She looked at Hope and their eyes met. I can't lose him she thought frantically as she continued running. Not like this…there's still so much that I…
From deep within herself, Lightning felt a sudden surge of energy, power that felt strangely familiar yet alien at the same time. Her heart quickened as it coursed through her, and although the sudden shock startled her, she embraced the energy and made use of it. She felt the air around her ripple with the power coming off of her and put on a burst of speed. A violet blur obscured her vision and the next thing she knew, she was standing over Hope. She saw his dumbfounded expression before she turned, bringing her gunblade to bear and letting her new energy flow into it. Barthandelus's spells dissipated feebly on her blade. She knew that these spells were the same strength as the last volley, but against the magic she had found they were weak.
Lightning looked down at herself, and noticed small crackles of purple electricity frequently bursting from her. The brand that had snaked itself partway down her arm was glowing brightly, its hue matching the purple that she associated with Kujata. Her gunblade was coated in a soft purple aura instead of the electricity she had expected, but she could tell that it surged with much more energy than she had ever been able to infuse in it.
"Impressive," Barthandelus said, snapping Lightning to attention as she looked up and realized that he was walking towards her. "It seems you've managed to find Kujata's true power. I didn't think you had it in you."
He seemed like was going to continue speaking, but Lightning had had enough of his endless speeches about her inferiority. With another burst of power, she instantly closed the gap between herself and Barthandelus, and was awarded deep satisfaction at the shocked look that flitted across his face as he barely managed to raise his gunblade to parry her attack. Not hesitating, Lightning pressed her attack, executing the highest tiers of Renzokuken abilities effortlessly, and with speed and power that she hadn't thought possible.
Barthandelus was taken aback by the ferocity of her attacks, and was desperately scrambling to keep up. He poured more energy into his weapon and tried to mount an offensive, but Lightning would not be denied. She pushed the aspect back on his heels and finally she broke through his defenses, scoring a heavy slash across his chest. She jumped back to avoid the spray of blood and launched a spell at him, intending create a gout of flame. Instead of fire though, the energy in her spell released itself as blast of purple lightning that slammed into Barthandelus and sheared through his body, sending him to ground in a smoking, bleeding, heap.
Lightning walked towards the prone form of Barthandelus, her gunblade pulsing angrily with power, intent on finishing him. Several feet away, she felt a slight ripple of power from the aspect, and had to jump several yards back to avoid a ruinga spell. She narrowed her eyes as the dome of energy created by the attack blocked her view of Barthandelus. When it cleared, he was struggling to get to his feet, leaning heavily on his weapon. He was panting heavily and splattering the ground with droplets of blood with every heave of his chest.
"You…are stronger…than I thought," he said through labored breaths. He managed to stand and bring his gunblade up in front of him, and Lightning felt a great tingle of energy as the weapon flared to life with power, a gray aura pulsing down its length. "But I am not done yet."
Lightning began pouring more energy into her own weapon as Barthandelus increased the flow into his. The energy building up in his weapon began to cause small flares of magic to escape from it. Bursts of energy would flit across the weapon and strike the floor around Barthandelus or rocket past the bridge and into the huge space around them. Occasionally, ruin spells would burst from it and fly aimlessly through the room, eventually combusting in air or upon contact with the bridge. Lightning matched the power, but kept her own weapon under control.
Barthandelus spun his weapon over and dropped into a ready stance. Lightning did the same, and after a few seconds of staring at each other, she put on a burst of speed and rushed to meet the aspect's challenge.
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Hope tried to concentrate on filling the rest of the crystal as he felt the two colossal powers growing behind him. The magic in the room was nearly tangible to him, and he felt as if he was sitting in some viscous liquid as it pressed on him. The powers reached a crescendo, and despite his concentration, he turned to look when he felt them collide. What greeted him was an explosion of energy, and he nearly allowed the energy in the crystal to escape as the waves of power from Lightning and Barthandelus washed over him. He was unable to sense either of them through the torrents of magic, nor was he able to see them through the smoke that was kicked up. He forced himself to turn away and focus on finishing his own task, dreading the sight that might emerge from the smoke when it cleared.
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Odin leaned back, wincing as another of Mateus's icicle spears launched itself at him and grazed the side of his jaw as he barely dodged it. He recovered in time to put a sword in line to deflect Mateus's double thrusts with her arm mounted blades, each coated with magic infused ice giving them an extra few feet in length and a deadlier edge. Almost as soon as the sound of her swords slamming into the flat of his blade rang out, Mateus had back flipped away from him, loosing a blast of icy magic at Odin. The eidolon knew that he could not dodge the attack in time, so he brought his sword to block it again. The spell hit the weapon, which instantly began to freeze. Odin pumped energy into the blade to try and save it, but he knew that the spell would consume his weapon once he cut the flow. Odin cast the weapon to the ground, not looking back as it froze completely.
As Mateus touched down, she immediately ran at Odin again, a steely glint reflecting off of her frozen blades. Odin again caught her blades on his remaining sword, this time using his free hand to cast a thundaga spell. The spell was a direct hit, sending Mateus sliding backwards, her body clenching up as the electricity raced through her. Odin pressed his advantage, raising his sword for the killing blow. The weapon was interrupted mid-swing, however, by a pillar of ice that erupted from the ground in front of the aspect to intercept it. As the pillar shattered, Mateus swung her blade at the eidolon's throat. Odin avoided losing his head, but the frozen weapon sliced one of his horns off. The curved golden metal clattered to the ground as Mateus recovered and disengaged.
Odin realized that the aspect apparently wanted to end the fight sooner rather than later when he felt a sudden upsurge of energy from her. Her blades were enveloped in energy, the tips sparking slightly with power. Odin energized his own weapon, preparing for another assault, but Mateus pointed her weapons to either side of herself. The blades suddenly elongated and plunged themselves into the walls, which instantly began to freeze over. The eidolon could do nothing as the entire room was covered in ice.
Mateus's swords returned to normal size and she cut off the flow of energy. Odin noticed her breath was visible as a fine mist as she exhaled, and while the cold didn't bother him, he knew that the altered environment would only make the aspect of ice stronger. As the thought crossed his mind, he felt a tingle of energy from behind him and shifted to the side just in time to avoid the icicle lance that had erupted from the ground angled to stab him through the back. As he expected, when he turned Mateus was rushing towards him. He fired another thundaga spell and moved to meet her charge, his sword crackling with energy.
Mateus, however, did not try to dodge the spell. She didn't even flinch as it rushed towards her, and Odin found out why when the thundaga dissipated before it hit her, apparently engulfed by the energy given off by the frozen room. Unable to adjust his course completely, Odin received a heavy slash to his right side. Additionally, the energy draining effect of the room seemed to also sap the power from his blade. When he caught Mateus's second weapon with his, the blade of Odin's drained sword was sheared neatly off at the point of contact.
Odin stared at the hilt and the few inches of blade that was still in his hand for several seconds before dropping it. Without a weapon or the ability to use spells, there didn't seem to be any way he was going to defeat the aspect. He turned to face Mateus, who was wearing a sorrowful smile again, also having come to the conclusion that Odin would not be able to win. She flicked her wrist and a blunt pillar of ice angled up from behind Odin and knocked him to his knees. Frost then crept over his legs, rooting him to the spot.
Mateus walked over to stand over Odin. A pained expression flitted across her face, and the eidolon could tell that she was trying to fight the compulsion to kill him. He used the time she spent hesitating to try and find a way out of his predicament, but none came to him. Out of the corner of his eye, however, the eidolon spotted something that gave him a bit of hope. The sword that Mateus's attack had frozen was lying within reach slightly behind him. The blade was frozen over, but the hilt was still graspable. If the icy coating gave the weapon enough of an edge…
Fixing his gaze on Mateus, he reached behind him and grasped the hilt of the frozen weapon. When Mateus lifted one of her weapons to decapitate him, Odin swung his sword at an upward angle. A slight resistance told him that he had struck his mark.
A muffled grunt escaped Mateus as a flash of blood erupted from the wound Odin had made, which ran from her bottom left hip to her top right shoulder. As she fell backwards, Odin noticed a slight smile on her face. She hit the floor and a great pillar of light blue energy blasted from her chest and through the ceiling. A moment later, the ice coating the room dissipated, as did that on Odin's legs and sword. The eidolon got to his feet, tentatively assessing his injuries. Realizing he was fit enough to continue on, he bowed his head in respect for Mateus and walked towards the door.
XXXXX
The impact tremors that Alexander and Hashmal had created before were nothing compared to those that ripped through the room after Hashmal encased himself in the thick metal that made up the ark. Alexander had to increase his power output to full strength to keep up with the aspect, and even then his punches didn't seem to be damaging Hashmal very much. On the other hand, the sword Hashmal had pulled from the floor was powerful enough to damage Alexander's armor. So far, the eidolon had managed to shrug off the strikes from the weapon, but he could tell his armor wasn't going to last much longer.
Alexander soon realized that Hashmal's armor was virtually impervious to physical attacks. Knowing he had no other choice, the eidolon closed his eyes and a pulse of energy emanated from him, rolling over Hashmal and causing him to hesitate from his attack. The two smallest ridges resting on Alexander's shoulders on either side of his head began to emit a slight glow. The rings at the tips vibrated slightly, then stood straight up and shattered. A high, clear note filled the air, followed quickly by a low rumbling. Hashmal looked around, perplexed, for the source of the noise. The rumbling grew louder by the second, and not wanting to wait to see what was about to happen, Hashmal charged at Alexander, sword raised.
Hashmal was nearly in striking distance of the eidolon, but he pulled up short when a great crash sounded from overhead. Two large, white pillars burst through the hull of the ark, showering the combatants in fragments of bronze metal as they crashed to the ground on either side of Alexander. The eidolon put a hand on each pillar, causing them to stir with energy as the parapets at the top began to spin. Hashmal was sent stumbling backwards by another heavy pulse of energy followed quickly by twin lasers fired from each of the pillars. The white hot beams drew jagged rents across the aspects improvised armor. Hashmal tried to recover from the attack and pounded towards Alexander, only to be stopped by another blast from the pillars. The aspect raised his sword to block the lasers, but was sent crashing to the floor when the first beam sheared his sword in half and the second sliced his arm off neatly at the elbow.
Alexander looked down at the aspect wrapped in metal, and felt a surge of sympathy for his situation. The eidolon knew he had to finish the job though, and gathered his energy for the final blow. "I'm sorry," he said regretfully.
The metal plate in from of Hashmal's face shifted, once again revealing his face. He wore a grim expression, and said with a tangible surge of energy, "So am I." The aspect pounded his remaining fist into the ground and the pillars next to Alexander toppled, pushed to the ground by blocks of metal that erupted from the ground, and interrupted the eidolon's attack. A stronger wave of energy came from Hashmal, and the metal hull of the ark again flowed like water at his call. Gaping holes dotted the walls as the structure of the room tricked away and converged on the broken golem containing the aspect. The golem rose to its feet as it was bolstered by the new metal, its from still writhing and twisting as the armor settled in. When it was finished, the golem's hide was nearly twice as thick, and it stood at least five feet taller than Alexander. Additionally, Hashmal discarded the broken sword, and instead formed heavy, flanged maces over his fists.
Before Alexander could react, the huge golem charged at him with absurd speed for something of its size, making the eidolon sure that its stride was somehow quickened by the aspect's magic. Alexander tried to brace himself, but the force of Hashmal's mace-fist thundering into his chest sent the massive eidolon crashing to the floor, a sizeable dent in his normally pristine armor. The eidolon was cut a break however, when he realized that Hashmal's attack had hurled him near one of his pillars. He pulled himself to his feet and put a hand on it, his pain somewhat alleviated by the rush of energy from its core. Alexander righted the pillar just as the tremors in the ground signaled to him that Hashmal was charging again. The eidolon pulled the pillar in line with the behemoth lumbering towards him and focused his energy into it. Hashmal swung both fists into the structure, and was put off balance when his maces clanged off its side, not even leaving a dent. Taking advantage of his momentary surprise, Alexander poured more energy into the pillar and fired another laser at the golem.
Despite being stronger than the previous attacks from the pillars, the laser did not piece the golem's strengthened armor. It did however unbalance the thing, and it stumbled back a few steps and fell to the ground. Alexander focused again on the structure in front of him and used it to call to the one that was still on its side. The pillar called its twin, pulled it upright and over to Alexander. Realizing his enemy's strength, Alexander released another pulse of energy, and the next largest ridges on his shoulders began to glow. Their rings stood up and shattered like the last, releasing another crystal note. The telltale rumbling sounded, and another pair of pillars crashed through the hull of the ark to land beside Alexander, forming a square around him with the first two.
Hashmal stood up, noticing the new pillars, but paying them no heed. As he charged, the four of them began to glow and spin, releasing massive amounts of energy. When the golem got near enough to strike, a cloud of lasers burst from the front two pillars and slammed into the aspect, propelling him across the room to slam into the wall. Alexander took no notice of this, focusing more energy into the pillars, increasing the speed of their rotation and their output of power. As the spinning parapets became a blur, the tops of the pillars opened, releasing a beam of energy from each. The energy arced towards Alexander, who held out a hand to catch it. From the vortex of energy created as the energy met, a magnificent golden hilt emerged. The eidolon grasped it and the pillars immediately stopped, the energy they were giving off dissipating. A long silver blade sprouted from the hilt in Alexander's hand, white glowing runes inscribed along its length. As the sword finished forming, the four pillars flashed bright white and vanished.
Hashmal pulled himself out of the impact crater in he had made in the wall, and faced Alexander, seeing the new weapon in his hands. He also noted the absence of the pillars, and smacked his mace-fists together menacingly. He stomped his foot and the fragments of wall that littered the ground around him twisted, melted, and flowed onto his body and went to the maces, thickening and strengthening them. He smacked them together one more time and charged.
Alexander swung the sword through the air a few times, not moving to meet the golem's charge. He shifted it into a ready stance and a white glow shrouded the blade. Hashmal closed the distance quickly, and as he raised his fists to strike, Alexander took a step forward which seemed to carry him much farther than it should. He thrust his weapon, blazing with power, through the open arms of the golem. The sword pierced the Golem's thick armor like a hot knife through butter, piercing through its chest, the tip erupting from its back as its arms went limp. Alexander pulled the blade free, bracing his hand on the thing's shoulder to brace himself. He wordlessly backed away and it crumpled to its knees. The golem's torso bent backward on top of its legs, the shredded metal plate sliding aside to reveal Hashmal with a grievous wound.
The earth aspect said nothing, and Alexander stood silently as a contented smile crossed Hashmal's face. A burst of golden energy blasted free from the man's chest. His body became crystal and quickly dissolved, leaving only the wrecked, hollow golem behind.
XXXXX
Despite their heavy forms, Stiria and Nix had to brace themselves against the hurricane force gale that Typhoon had stirred up. Despite the force of the winds, the two eidolons could still hear the man's taunts and cackles of glee. The glint of his weapons was all the warning they received before he came at them, his tangled mane billowing wildly as he rode the currents of his own wind towards them.
Stiria fired a blizzaga spell at the aspect as he drew nearer, but the spell veered off course, unable to penetrate the chaotic storm enveloping the man. Nix met his charge in a shower of sparks as his scythes skated off her armor. Unable to control her wheel in the face of Typhoon's wind, she tossed the weapon to her sister and aimed a snap kick at the aspect, scoring a heavy blow on his abdomen. As the man doubled over slightly, Nix did a graceful back flip, catching Typhoon with another kick squarely on his jaw. As she landed, the eidolon coated her armor with a layer of ice to strengthen her offense and defense, but also to help maintain her footing in the gale. Nix had noticed that the storm was even stronger when she was within melee distance of Typhoon.
Typhoon rubbed his jaw and gave her a cocky grin before he engaged her again, his scythes flashing. The sparks were replaced by flecks of ice as she parried his attacks, but her armor held. Their erratic clash dragged on, and Nix scored several more hits, but did not inflict any lasting damage. She knew that the gust surrounding the aspect was softening her blows, but she didn't see a way to get through it. Stiria couldn't land any spells through gale either, which was evident through the occasional flash of a blizzard spell being blown off course or dissipated by the wall of air.
Typhoon executed a flurry of slashes that had Nix on the defensive, ending the assault with a heavy strike that clattered against Nix's frozen bracers. The aspect put pressure into the attack, grinding it against her armor, and the eidolon found herself face to face with the man as she gritted her teeth and pushed back. He flashed another cocky grin and whispered to her over the wind "I think it's time to end this." A ball of air coalesced in between them, and Nix glanced down at it with widened eyes, startled by the amount of energy in the seemingly small spell. The ball of wind burst and hit Nix like an anvil, shattering her ice armor and sending her to crash into the wall with a sickening crack.
Nix rose shakily to her knees, unable to stand up as Typhoon neared her and the force of the gale surrounding him hit her. He raised one of his scythes, and Nix could see the air swirling around the blade, knowing that he was aiming to kill. Before he could bring the weapon down on her however, his eyes widened and he lurched forward, a flash of blood splattered the ground behind him. The gale around him subsided for a moment, giving Nix time to put distance between herself and the murderous aspect.
Regrouping with her sister, Nix noticed the wheel she had tossed to Stiria, sporting a frozen edge resembling a saw blade. The weapon floated idly over the eidolon's palm, several of its spikes coated in Typhoon's blood. "Thanks," she said, as she stood hunched over, panting and trying to shake off the pain from the aspect's last attack.
"No problem," her sister replied as Nix regained her composure and stood up. "Let's finish this bastard." The two of them both raised their hands and pooled their energy into the wheel, which began to spin and crackle with energy. Sharing a quick glance, the sisters pressed the attack, the weapon racing towards Typhoon, who was still on his knees with his back to them. The wheel sped towards his neck looking for a clean kill, but stopped suddenly as it closed in on him. His shoulders heaving, Typhoon rose, his hair beginning to blow again as he kicked up another wind. He turned around and held his hand up to the wheel, which seemed to be struggled against some unseen force. A rush of magic emanated from the aspect as he clenched his hand and a visible blast of wind struck the spinning wheel, shattering its icy enhancements. Another blast sent the wheel tumbling to the ground to roll over feebly over to Stiria and Nix.
His psychotic glee replaced by seething rage, Typhoon discarded his scythes, which clattered the ground at his feet. "Time to die," he spat, and a visible vortex of wind rose up around him. He was still bleeding freely from his wound, and the tornado was soon flecked with scarlet as his blood intermingled with the ferocious magic-driven wind. Stiria and Nix braced themselves, waiting for his attack, and the aspect obliged. He thrust his arm towards them, and the gale rushed towards them. The two felt strong slivers of magic within the hurricane, and saw that the wind was leaving long and deep gouges in the walls, floor, and ceiling as it blew towards them. They leapt aside as it reached them, and a vicious rent ripped the ground where they had just been.
The magic and blood filled storm tore apart the room, tearing sizeable chunks from the walls around them. The sisters barely managed to move out of the way as a huge part of the ceiling collapsed above them. They took cover behind the chunk of debris to weather the onslaught, trying to come up with a way to deal with the psychotic aspect.
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Snow and the others winced as the facility shook with the force of Typhoon's attack. They had retreated around a corner when the battle had intensified, much to Snow's annoyance. Serah already had to pull him away from the corner around which he was sticking his head to see the fight four times since they had moved. His wife now had him in a tight grip sitting against the wall, knowing him well enough to know he would not be able to stay put without being restrained.
"Snow, please just stay put. Sazh is right, we would only get in the way if we tried to help them," she whispered to him pleadingly.
Snow sighed heavily, looking down at his petite wife with a determined smile. "I won't let anything happen to you," he murmured, drawing a confused expression from Serah. He kissed her deeply before she could ask him to elaborate. After a few moments, she relaxed her grip on the man, and was startled when she felt his body flex. Snow broke the kiss and jumped to his feet, giving Serah one last fleeting look before he charged around the corner towards the fight.
"Snow!" she shouted, but as he ran down the corridor into Typhoon's storm, her call did not reach him.
XXXXX
Stiria and Nix crouched lower behind their cover as another blade in Typhoon's storm cut the chunk of ceiling shorter. "He's gotta run out of energy sometime!" Nix shouted to her sister over the gale.
"That's not necessarily true," Stiria replied. "He's probably using the air around him for the hurricane, so he's using a lot less energy just to manipulate it instead of creating it. And his blood is mingled with the tornado, so I think that might be what's creating the blade effect. For the magnitude of the attack, it's taking an extraordinarily small amount of energy. He could probably keep it up for hours."
"So how are we gonna beat him?" Nix demanded, taking a look around their cover and quickly pulling her had back as another air blade struck the rock next to her.
"I don't…." Stiria began, but her voice caught in her throat, seemingly interrupted by something. Nix looked over at her with a questioning look, to find a surprised expression on her face. Curious, the eidolon followed her sister's gaze and saw Snow sprinting towards them, leaping, ducking, and rolling to avoid the flurry of blades in the tornado around him. The sisters sat in silence for several tense moments as Snow made his way towards them, only daring to release their breaths as the man ducked behind the chunk of debris, situating himself between them. He flashed a confident grin to the sisters as he caught his breath.
"Hey guys," he said after he had stopped panting. "Thought you could use some help."
"Snow, what the hell are you doing here?" Nix shouted at him, an anxious look on her face.
Snow dropped his smile and replaced it with a determined look that the eidolons knew well. "I can't sit around and let you two fight without me."
"But Snow," Stiria began, trying to find a delicate way to phrase her words, "you don't have powers anymore…a normal human doesn't stand a chance against someone like Typhoon…"
"We can use gestalt mode," the man countered matter-of-factly.
"I don't even think that's possible," Nix protested, looking at the man with a confused expression.
"I know it's possible," Snow replied adamantly. "When I first saw you guys a little while ago, I could still feel the connection we had…it's faint but it's still there, like a slight breeze against the back of my neck. We have to try, gestalt mode is the only way we can beat this guy."
"No," Stiria said. "It is possible to use gestalt mode, Snow, but you don't have access to your power anymore. Normally in gestalt, our attacks used a combination of our energy and your own, making them very powerful. But if you have no magical energy to provide…the connection will draw upon your life force instead. If could kill you if we used up too much of it."
Snow seemed slightly taken aback by this, but shook the feeling off. "And if we do nothing, we'll all die anyway," the man said, cracking his knuckles. I don't think we have much of a choice."
Stiria looked down at Snow's determined look for several moments, eyes filled with worry. Finally, she relented. "…You're right. It's the only way…"
"Alright ladies, let's do this!" he pumped a fist into the air, and the two eidolons reluctantly began to transform. Noticing the looks of concern on both of their faces as their bodies interlocked to form a motorcycle, he winked and gave them a thumbs up. "Don't worry, the hero doesn't die in the middle of the story." The vehicle complete, Snow swung a leg over and sat down, revving the engine and feeling a familiar tingling sensation as he felt the eidolon's power fully for the first time in six years.
Typhoon's hurricane showed no signs of letting up, so Snow turned his bike, preparing to ride right into the eye of the storm where he knew the enemy was waiting. He rode forward, and created an ice path over the debris they had been using for cover. As the spell was released, Snow felt his heart flutter momentarily along with a sudden feeling of fatigue. He shook the feeling off and rode the path up and over, extending it across the room and swerving and turning to avoid the blades of energy within the vortex of wind. Extending the ice path and putting on a burst of speed hit Snow with another discomforting wave of fatigue, but he again ignored it. Typhoon had apparently noticed him now and wore a perplexed expression.
"What?" the aspect stammered as Snow rode past him, buffeting him with icy energy. Snow began spinning the motorcycle and kicking up an intense amount of power. Typhoon turned to attack him, but the energy solidified around him as Snow completed the diamond dust attack. The mountain of ice enveloped Typhoon and soon shattered, revealing the man frozen in a block of ice. The hurricane died down and quickly subsided. The bike came to a stop, and Snow leaned over the side, gripping his chest and gasping for breath.
Serah and the others came running around the corner after the storm stopped, Serah letting out a shriek as she saw Snow. She ran towards him, Sazh and Bartholomew close behind her. Snow fell to his knees off the bike, and Stiria and Nix reemerged, crouching over him. Serah reached him, and he looked up at her dazedly and flashed a smile. "Piece of…cake," he said before passing out.
"Snow!" she yelled, shaking the man but eliciting no response.
Sazh knelt at his other side and put two fingers on his neck, holding them there for several seconds. He looked up, a blank expression on his face. "There's no pulse," he said quietly.
XXXXX
Brynhildr fired another couple of fireballs out of her axe, unable to swing it with full strength due to her injured arm. Madeen easily dodged the attacks, retaliating with more volleys of white spikes. The eidolon managed to block all but once, trying to ignore the stab of pain as the stray shot struck her above the left knee.
The aspect closed in and Brynhildr was forced to drop her weapon in order to dodge the woman's fierce thrusts. The eidolon could feel the heat and power rolling off of Madeen's energy lance as it passed centimeters from her head. Brynhildr launched a burst of flame at the aspect at point blank range. The spell caught Madeen and she once again went tumbling to the ground.
Not missing a beat, Brynhildr ran forward, scooping up her axe along the way and filling it with fiery energy. She brought it down in as heavy a swing as she could with only one good arm. She braced for the impact, but the weapon did not strike through a soft target. It didn't even crash into the ground. Brynhildr tried to heft the weapon away, but found it to be stuck. Looking past the edge, she saw Madeen holding it with one hand, her body glowing more fiercely then before, her injuries from the eidolon's last attack already gone.
The aspect thrust her lance at the eidolon's abdomen, but Brynhildr let go of her weapon and leapt back, narrowly avoiding the deadly attack. She threw another spell at Madeen, but the aspect blocked it with the eidolon's own axe. Madeen lifted the axe in front of her, the weapon much too large for the small woman. She severed the axe head with her lance, tossing the hilt aside. Throwing a spiteful look at Brynhildr, she plunged her spear into the center of the axe head, shattering the weapon into several pieces.
A series of rumbles and cracks distracted both combatants, and they turned to see a fierce hurricane that Typhoon had created, tearing great gashes in the floor and ceiling. Not thinking Stiria and Nix's position could be any worse than her own, Brynhildr put the scene out of her mind.
Her weapon destroyed, the eidolon's only chance seemed to be with magic. So far, her spells hadn't done enough damage to prevent Madeen from simply healing herself. Brynhildr would have to use all of the power she had left in one spell if she was to have any chance.
Madeen swiped a hand through the air, hurling half a dozen energy spikes at the eidolon. Brynhildr dodged them, and predictably, Madeen had used the distraction to begin closing the distance between them. Brynhildr gathered the last remnants of her strength, focusing all of it in her good hand. Madeen drew closer, shifting her arm back to thrust her spear. At this movement, Brynhildr released a tremendous burst of fire at the aspect. A blinding flash came from Madeen's empty hand and a white disc appeared in her palm, rapidly growing. By the time the spell reached her, the disc was large enough to block the flames. The edges of the disc pushed forward and formed a bubble, containing the raging fire of Brynhildr's spell. As it closed, the bubble began to steadily shrink, until it winked out of existence, taking the eidolon's last hope with it.
Her energy drained, Brynhildr could not retaliate as Madeen appeared before her, stabbing her lance down through the eidolon's leg, above the knee, and driving her to the grounds. The aspect drove the lance into the floor, pinning Brynhildr to on one knee and created another large energy spike. Madeen slowly dragged the new lance across Brynhildr's chest, leaving a shallow but painful wound. She held the point of the lance mere inches from the eidolon's face.
So this is how it ends the eidolon thought to herself. She looked up at the aspect, determined to die with dignity, and saw a tortured expression on the woman's face, her eyes no longer glowing. She was gritting her teeth, her eyes closed as if she was fighting some titanic inner struggle, and Brynhildr figured that she was attempting to resist Anima's compulsions. The lance tip in her face began to shake as Madeen fought the invisible force's control over her body. Her foot shifted forward shakily, and the lance tip was nearly close enough to singe the eidolon right between the eyes. Brynhildr stared up at the conflicted aspect, momentarily curious when the sound of ice shattering reached her ears, but she again pushed the sound of her companions' fight aside. She knelt there, waiting for the tip of Madeen's lance to be driven home.
XXXXX
Hot tears slid down Serah's face, several of them dripping onto the prone form of her husband, who was still showing no signs of life. Serah cradled Snow's head in her lap, her shoulders heaving with silent sobs.
Sazh was standing to the side, silently grieving for his friend. After a few moments, he looked up and searched for his eidolon, hearing a roaring fire, but Brynhildr was not visible. Typhoon's tornado had collapsed a large portion of the ceiling, some of which was apparently blocking Brynhildr and her opponent from view. All that was visible from where he was standing was a soft light shining through gaps at the top of the barricade.
Stiria and Nix knelt beside Serah, each with a hand on her shoulder trying to comfort the woman. The two eidolons were almost as devastated as she was over Snow's fate. Nix was visibly crying, her tears freezing as they rolled down her cheeks, hitting the floor as tiny crystals of ice.
Distraught by grief as they were, none of them heard as fine cracks spider webbed across the block of ice holding Typhoon. Sections of the frozen prison broke off and shattered on the floor, and after several minutes, the aspect was free, shaking off the biting cold that had crept into his body. Looking around, he saw the eidolons huddled on the floor over a dead human being held by another one, the two others standing to the side. An evil grin crept over his face and he stalked silently towards them, retrieving one of his scythes along the way.
Serah looked up and saw Typhoon, letting out a gasp, drawing the gazes of Stiria and Nix to the aspect. They both stood, shock evident on their faces.
The aspect loosed a harsh cackle. "You thought a pathetic attack like that could kill me?" he spat, his blade glinted as he slashed it through the air. "The two of you know you can't kill me, but I did have fun fighting you. In return, I will let you choose the order in which your humans die."
Stiria and Nix exchanged glances. "We won't let you touch them," Nix said defensively as she dropped into a fighting stance. Sazh and Bartholomew stood behind Serah, tensing up at Typhoon's words. Serah was trying and failing to stifle her sobs. Typhoon sneered with contempt at the woman.
"If you will not choose, than I think I will start with the woman." He ran his finger over his scythe as a wind kicked up around him. Before he could make another move, however, he jerked violently as a bright white spike erupted from his chest. He turned his head to face his attacker, and found himself staring at Madeen.
His eyes narrowed in hatred as he looked at the woman. "You…bitch…" he stammered out, and jerked violently again as Madeen tore her lance free, the weapon dissipating in her hand. Typhoon fell forward and Madeen walked past him, not looking back as a pillar of jade green energy burst from his corpse.
Brynhildr appeared around the corner, looking worse for the wear, but still alive. She limped along behind the aspect towards the others.
"Madeen?" Stiria gasped, staring at the aspect with incredulity. "But…"
"I am sorry for the trouble that we have caused you," the woman whispered softly as she looked down at the body of Snow, still held by his sobbing wife. "Senseless death…" she murmured. "But it is not time for this one to pass yet."
She knelt down over Snow and placed a hand on his chest, her body beginning to glow again. Serah looked up at her, not understanding what was going on. A blinding light filled the room, causing the others to look away and shield their eyes. When the flash subsided, Madeen stood up and took a few steps back. After a moment, Snow's eyes fluttered open.
"Hey…guys," he mumbled as he sat up, rubbing his head. "What's goin' on?" He grunted as Serah leapt into his arms and wrapped him in a tight embrace, sobbing harder than ever into his chest. He embraced her and looked up at Madeen with a puzzled look.
"That is all I can do for you," she told them. "I can only break Anima's control for a short time." She looked around at them with a genuine smile. "The rest is up to you and your friends. Bring balance back to this broken world. I know that you can." She closed her eyes and a pillar of white light was released from her chest and her body fell apart as it was left behind.
Brynhildr limped over to Stiria and Nix, both of whom winced as they saw the extent of the eidolon's injuries. Nix offered Brynhildr an arm to lean on, which she gratefull accepted.
Stiria turned to the others. "I think it's time to go."
XXXXX
As Alexander composed himself and hefted his sword over his shoulder, Odin entered from the other room, battered but looking well enough to be getting on with. Alexander gave his companion a look over, noting his heavy injuries. "You certainly took a beating old friend," the eidolon rumbled with a slight chuckle.
Odin waved him off and likewise studied Alexander, noting the large sword and missing rings on his shoulders. "Four pillars? Anima's servants are becoming stronger much quicker than I expected."
"Indeed," Alexander replied. He turned towards the door that Hope and Lightning had taken. "It doesn't seem as if they have disrupted the core yet, and there can't be much time left. We'd better hurry."
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Hope forced himself to concentrate on filling the crystal, but he was finding it exceedingly difficult not to dwell on Lightning's fate as the minutes dragged on. Finally, he felt that the crystal was full, and stood up, seeing the small object glowing brightly. He pointed it up at the core and willed it to release its pent up energy. A beam of brilliant multicolored light shot towards the core, and when it connected, Hope felt a massive wave of unstable energy wash over him. The core began to shift colors much faster and the room started shaking violently.
When the crystal was spent, it shattered in his hand and the core stopped and turned black. It pulsed heavily, and the surface was disrupted by swells of erratic energy. Several of them seemed to pop, sending jagged bolts of energy in many directions, tearing ragged rents in the room. His job done, Hope turned and began pounding down the bridge, straining his eyes through the nearly dissipated smoke. He saw a body and rushed towards it, and found himself looking down at Raines, a bloody wound across his chest and a broken gunblade at his side. The aspect was unconscious, so Hope paid him no further mind, looking around frantically for Lightning.
He spotted her several feet away, seemingly unconscious with her still intact weapon next to her. She bore several injuries, but from Hope could tell, none of the visible ones were fatal. He ran to her and threw himself down at her side. He raised a hand over her chest and began a healing spell. With the other, Hope put a hand on her shoulder and began to shake her, trying to wake her up.
"Light! Light!" he called, his voice breaking slightly as he shook her. He could that she was still alive, but his spell seemed to be making slow progress. He brushed hair out of her face and rested his hand on her cheek. "Light…please wake up…" he whispered.
After another minute, Hope saw her eyes flutter open and she looked up at him with an odd expression. "I thought I told you," she began as she sat up, "to call me Claire."
Hope stared at her dumbfounded for several moments before crushing her in a tight embrace, letting out a strangled laugh. "Hey, hey, I'm still a little sore, take it easy." She halfheartedly fought his grip, and he backed away. Lightning glanced over at the damaged core and back to Hope. "Looks like you…" was all that she managed to say before Hope kissed her deeply, and she eagerly returned the gesture. The two lost themselves in each other and an indeterminate amount of time passed until they were interrupted by a cold voice.
"How touching," it said to them as it was followed by footsteps across the bridge. Hope and Lightning looked over to see a dark haired man in a suit walking towards them. Hope couldn't put a finger on it, but the stranger seemed vaguely familiar to him. As his features grew more distinct as he neared them, Hope was sure that he had seen the man before.
"Who are you?" he asked him. "I've seen you before…"
The man cocked an eyebrow at Hope's declaration, then laughed to himself. "You must mean you've met this human before," he said, gesturing to himself. "I believe this shell's name is something like…Rufus."
Hope's eyes widened. "The councilman?" He narrowed his eyes at the man. "If he's your 'shell' then who are you?"
"I am Zalera, the aspect of darkness," he said, dropping into an exaggerated bow. "You've most likely heard of me."
Lightning and Hope stiffened as Zalera introduced himself. Hope's mind reeled. If this guy really is Zalera, that means he's Anima's strongest follower. He glanced at Lightning, and by the look on her face, he could tell that she had realized the same thing.
Zalera continued towards them, gazing up at the pulsing core, tsk-tsking as he studied it. "Such a waste," he said to them regretfully. "I had been looking forward to seeing what this thing could do after we destroyed Cocoon. Ah well, I suppose you can't have everything." Hope opened his mouth to speak, but he felt a sudden pulse of energy from the man, and he had vanished. He looked quickly around for him, locating him floating in the air in front of the core. He and Lightning took several steps back, wondering how the man could move so quickly and apparently fly.
As they sorted out the mystery, another surge of power rolled off of the aspect and he plunged his arm into the blackened core, which began to seethe even harder. The crackling storm of energy rolling off of the thing intensified.
"What is he doing?" Lightning asked aloud, turning to Hope, but Hope had not heard her. In the instant that he had reached into the core, Hope had sensed the aspect's power. The dark pit of energy that the man possessed was unlike anything he had ever felt. Zalera withdrew his arm from the core and landed lightly in front of them.
"You've forced me to detonate the core in order to shatter Cocoon, but you can make it up to me. The two of you possess something that I want," he said with a smile.
Hope reached for his own power and released a firaga at the aspect, but by the time the spell had left his hand, Zalera was gone. He appeared in front of Hope with a burst of black light. "You'll have to do better than that," he whispered to Hope before punching him hard in the stomach. Hope doubled over and was launched down the bridge with a ball of black energy before he hit the ground.
By the time this had happened, Lightning had drawn her gunblade and swung, the weapon coated again in the aura of purple energy. Zalera caught the blade between his thumb and forefinger in mid swing, his hand bathed seething black energy.
He raised an eyebrow as he watched Lightning struggle to free her weapon. "So, you've bonded with Kujata. I didn't think it was possible for a host to full bond with an aspect and not die. I'm afraid you're still no match for me though." He tore the weapon from her hand and hurled it down the bridge to land point down several inches from Hope's head. Lightning loosed a blast of purple electricity at the man, but he held out his hand and drew the energy into his palm. He clapped his palms together and chuckled.
"That was rather impressive," he said to her. He vanished again, and Lightning was unable to follow his movement. He reappeared in front of her and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the ground. He pulled a small crystal from his belt and held it up to her face. "Do you know what this is?"
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As Lightning's gunblade embedded itself in the ground next to him, Hope groggily sat up and attempted to make his head stop spinning. A crash from behind him caught his attention and he turned to see Alexander and Odin entering the room.
"Hope," Alexander said as they drew level with him. The eidolon helped Hope to his feet and the young man immediately turned to Lightning, the color draining from his face as he saw that Zalera had her by the throat. He sprinted off towards her.
"That's…" Alexander began as he recognized the energy coming off of the man holding Lightning.
"Zalera…" Odin finished.
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"This is the crystal that Anima created to house Kujata. Unfortunately, the meddlesome Menhirrim didn't give us a chance to use it. I'm here to rectify that." He touched the crystal to the heart of Lightning's brand and her body was engulfed in a violet aura. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as her eyes glowed to match her brand. Zalera drew the crystal back, leaving a tendril of purple energy connecting it to Lightning's brand.
"Claire!" Hope shouted as he approached them, firing a thundaga spell at Zalera. The aspect turned to him with an annoyed look and casually deflected the spell with a flick of his wrist. He quickly followed that with a bolt of dark energy that caught Hope in the leg, sending him stumbling to the ground. Hope struggled to get up as he felt the footsteps of the eidolons coming up behind him.
Alexander again pulled Hope to his feet, and they joined Odin as he ran past them towards Zalera. The aspect rebuked the three of them with another blast of energy. Hope looked up and saw the last of the purple aura leave Lightning. Zalera pocketed the crystal and nonchalantly tossed Lightning to the ground. Hope ran to her and pulled her upright, shaking her harshly.
"Claire!"
She looked at him weakly. "Ho…pe," she whispered. Her body seized up in his arms, and Hope watched in horror as a layer of crystal ran up her legs. He looked down at her, a single tear rolling down his cheek to land on hers. The crystal enveloped her completely, engulfing her once more in crystal stasis.
Zalera turned to Hope, but was taken by surprise when he was grabbed from behind. A white orb formed in the hand of his assailant, and Zalera recognized it as Barthandelus's power. The ruin spell hit him full in the face, but the aspect shrugged it off. He released a wave of dark energy that knocked Barthandelus away, and turned to face him.
"You're pathetic," he spat, staring at the aspect with hatred. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you to handle this." Barthandelus charged another attack, but Zalera launched a bolt of energy at him, the attack dropping the aspect to his knees. Zalera stood over the man. "I'm going to enjoy this," he said. His hand seethed with darkness and he plunged it into Barthandelus's chest, and hurled him to the ground. A blast of grey energy escaped his body. Zalera brushed himself off and turned to Hope.
"Your turn boy," Zalera said as he drew another crystal. Alexander and Odin stepped over him and blocked the aspect.
"You are…the Menhirrim?" He laughed harshly. "So you were their eidolons all along…clever. Very clever…We never suspected a thing. But you must know that you cannot stop me." He took another step forward, but the room gave an almighty lurch as the unstable core reached a critical level. Alexander took his chance and swung his blade at the aspect, cleaving a heavy slash across the man's chest, causing him to stagger back and fall off the edge of the bridge.
"We have to get out of here!" Odin shouted to him. Alexander tried to grab Hope, but he would not let go of Lightning's crystallized form.
"Hope," the eidolon called to him. "We have to go, now!" Hope did not listen, still clinging to Lightning. Alexander gave up, and hefted Lightning into his arms, gathering Hope up in the process. Odin stepped to the edge and pointed down to a hole that had been ripped in the hull by a blast from the core.
"Down there!" he yelled, and the eidolon jumped towards the opening. Alexander, carrying the sleeping Lightning and the unresponsive Hope, followed.
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Some time later, Zalera was walking briskly through the Pulse Vestige that was Anima's prison. He entered a wide room with a dome, which began to shift and open to reveal the sealed l'Cie. The aspect walked up to him and pulled out the purple crystal, setting it into a small indent on the floor beneath Anima. Eleven other indents were in the ground, ten of them filled with glowing crystals, the other empty.
"Cocoon was destroyed," he reported, bowing. "However, the hosts of Kujata and Eden had damaged the core by the time I got there. I was forced to detonate it and the ark to do so." He gestured at the purple crystal. "But, as you can see, I managed to extract Kujata."
"And Eden?" Anima asked, his voice echoing strangely through the room.
"Eden escaped with the Menhirrim. It seems they were posing as the l'Cie's eidolons six years ago," Zalera replied.
"I see. No matter, we are nearly there. Once we collect Eden, I will be able to free my self from this cursed prison," Anima said. "Do you have any ideas on how to track the boy down?"
Zalera smiled. "I do. I think it may be time to bring in some…assistance."
"Hmmm. Do you think you can control them? It's been quite a long time," Anima responded thoughtfully.
"Well enough to accomplish our goals, I think," Zalera said.
"Very well, I will send the call."
"Oh, one more thing." Zalera said, turning back to Anima after he had begun to walk away. "What of the rest of the humans?"
"They have served their purpose," Anima told him. "Do with them what you will."
Zalera bowed again and left the room, his cold, high laugh echoing through the vestige.
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I tried to make the scenes as easy to follow as I could, but I don't know how well I accomplished that.
I didn't give a blow for blow account of Barthandelus X Lightning because I read R.A. Salvatore, and when Drizzt is fighting someone, he gets pretty detailed and it's usually difficult to follow the scene. I figured it would be best left to your imaginations.
Message me if you see any glaring mistakes, I kinda skimmed over it after I was done, I wanted to get this thing posted already and I didn't want to read through all 28 pages.