Chapter 27: The Aeons
"Nice to meet you, Elli." Jin says. He slowly moves his hand towards his sword. "I'm presuming that I must fight you in order to break one of the Cross's Seals?"
"Indeed you must!" Elli says, taking a bow. He turns to Jin and smiles. "Let's get started, shall we?"
His red finger starts to emit a fiery glow and a sword emerges in his left hand. Jin charges forward and keeps his hand over his sword. Elli swings his volcanic blade and it unleashes a powerful blast of fire right at Jin. Jin quickly jumps into the air and draws his sword for an aerial attack.
"Flame on!" Elli snaps his fingers and fireballs appear all around Jin. "Dancing Flames, let your fire dance upon this man's corpse!" All of the flames fly towards Jin, attacking him from every direction.
Elli's flame sword vanishes as he watches the fire fall down from the sky. "That wasn't very fun…I thought you would be a challenge." He then notices a blur moving out of the corner of his eye. "I was hoping that you would still stay alive. It's a lot more fun that way!" His blue finger starts to glow and a blade of ice envelops his right arm.
Jin stops moving to look at Elli's new blade. (Does that mean his fingers have the power to become an elemental sword? He's already summoned two…so…eight swords. I'd better not take this one lightly.)
"You shouldn't stand still." Elli moves with lightning speed towards Jin with his arm extended forward. Jin quickly jumps back to dodge the forward thrust but to his surprise, Elli continues to move forward as the ice sword shatters and the shards fly past him, cutting him in many different places. Jin stutters on one foot as Elli continues to move forward to punch Jin in the face.
Jin slides across the ground and slams into the wall.
"You're not any fun at all!"
Jin strikes his sword into the ground and pushes himself up. (A person with this much power…just what is he?)
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"Wow…such a brilliant design…" Jr. feels the walls of the large rectangular room he's in. "I'll have to remember to upload this for the Durandal!" He reaches to pull out his Communicator but then something smashes into the wall right next to him. Jr. rolls to the side and pulls out his guns. Several more holes are on the wall where Jr. used to stand.
"You're pretty quick." The attacker has a hat covering his face. He's in Western-style clothing, like a cowboy. "Nice to meet cha! I'm Ace Logos. It's been awhile since I've seen another gunslinger my age."
"For your information, I'm 27! I may not look it just because of my childish appearance but don't take me too lightly."
"That's what I meant."
"Oh. You can tell?"
"Of course! An ace gunman has got to have razor-sharp skills for analyzing and hitting the enemy." Ace moves his hand up in the form of a gun with his index finger pointing at Jr. "Let's see what ya got, gunslinger."
(What is he doing…he has no guns!)
Ace smiles. "Bang."
Jr. suddenly feels a sharp pain in his left arm.
"What the…?"
Ace starts to squeeze his thumb rapidly like a trigger and sharp pains start occurring all over Jr.'s body. He falls on one knee and starts breathing heavily.
(How is he attacking me…? All he's using is an index finger and a thumb…) Jr. then realizes the secret behind Ace's gun. "I never…thought it was possible…but mind bullets…?"
"Ah, so you've finally started to see? I have no need for physical objects when my mind can make it for me! I don't even have to worry about reloading bullets!" He starts firing rapidly at Jr. who quickly darts to the side. Jr. returns some of his own fire. Ace easily dodges them and then fires back. Jr. runs backwards and up the wall. He bounces off and then starts spinning around to dodge Ace's mind bullets.
He reaches into his pockets to pull out his secret weapon. (Attacking this guy straight forward will probably be difficult so…I'll have to think outside the box!)
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MOMO steps into a dark room, clutched to the wall. (I don't like the dark…)
"They had to send me a girl, huh?" A voice echoes through the darkness.
MOMO materializes her bow and aims it in front of her. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
A person with a black sleeveless vest on along with black pants, with a black cape trailing from the top of the pants stepped into the light. He also had white gloves on which seemed to stand out along with his white earring on his left ear.
"I apologize for having to do this...but you must die. I'll make sure it's painless, little girl." He vanishes into the darkness.
(So…one who attacks from the shadows…fortunately, that trick won't work on me!)
MOMO turns to her right and shoots three arrows.
"Ah!" A small thud is heard and MOMO readies another arrow. "I didn't expect you to be able to sense where I am…a Realian, huh? I should've known that you were built with sensors that can easily find anyone. However…"
MOMO checked her scanners and saw that there were three targets in the room. (What…? How can this be? I could've sworn there was only one!) MOMO fires arrows in the three different directions but they strike the wall and echo through the room.
"Your scanners are useless against me!"
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Shion is standing still, surprised at what she is seeing in front of her. "What…? How can this be…?"
She was standing in Kevin's room, where they had…
Shion hears footsteps walking towards her from behind and a familiar voice that says, "Welcome, Shion. Do you remember this place well?"
"Kevin…" Shion turns towards him and takes a good look at him. She starts to walk towards him but stops. "No…I must…remain true to myself. Kevin…he betrayed me." She pulls out her M.W.S. and draws the blade.
"Can you really fight me, Shion?"
"I can and I will!" Shion charges forward and aims straight for Kevin's face.
Kevin is a little surprised but puts up his dimensional barrier blocking her M.W.S. blade thrust attack. (She is really determined…so… I must resort to that method…I know it's wrong and cruel. But I love her. Can she not see that? I did all of this so that she would stay out of fate's grasp.) He blows her back with a small portion of his power, sending her back but not enough to harm her.
"I really did not want to do this. But you leave me no choice. I do not mean to sound possessive but I love you so much Shion. If you will not see things my way, I will make sure you understand my feelings!"
Kevin extends his right arm to the side and starts channeling his power into his hand. A vortex starts to grow by Kevin. When it comes to a reasonable size, Kevin reaches inside and grabs something. He starts pulling the thing he grabbed inside but was having some trouble.
"Hey! Let go of my hair!" A familiar voice said.
"Allen?" Shion gasps.
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"So it hasn't changed one bit." chaos walks into an open field of dead flowers. All sorts of them were lined up like tombstones, as if it was a graveyard for the beautiful. "This smell!" He quickly covers his nose and sees a shadow walking towards him. "Arsenic?"
A green haired man stops a couple of feet away from chaos and smiles. "Hello again, old friend."
"Are you here to fight me? You know that it's against Divine Law to attack one of the Sovereign!"
"He allowed it. So now, I finally get to quench this bloody thrill of tearing your body apart!" Arsenic charges forward and slashes forward with his deadly claws. chaos is a little surprised at Arsenic's statement but quickly jumps back and keeps an eye on his opponent.
(So…if Arsenic is here, that means the others must be fighting the other Aeons as well…Ace, Elli, and Echo…did he call them up to stop us?) Arsenic charges forward and thrusts forward with his arm. chaos does a backflip kick sending Arsenic up into the air. chaos follows after him and touches Arsenic's right shoulder. (I have to end it now before his poison gets to me!) The shoulder starts melting off but so does chaos' glove.
Arsenic looks evilly at chaos and slashes him across the chest. "Gotcha!" chaos lands and quickly jumps back. He checks the wound to see if Arsenic's attack had drawn blood but luckily it was just a torn shirt. "Don't think that your powers have any effect on me. Even if you do manage to inflict a wound on me, I have even more poison flowing through my body. So, if you kill me, you'll also die from my poison!" He laughs hysterically and charges forward.
"Why are you doing this?" chaos dodges his attack and then punches him away. "You're supposed to…protect the Sovereign…"
"Because…you abandoned your duty!" Arsenic starts releasing more poison into the air. "I'll make sure you die a painful death!"
(So…it looks like I just might have to transform…)
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KOS-MOS walks onto the platform overlooking a sea of spikes down below. T-elos is waiting for her.
"So you finally came, KOS-MOS. Now we'll be able to finish what we started. I'll prove to them I can fulfill the role that I was destined to lead!" T-elos waits till KOS-MOS is a reasonable distance away and then runs forward. KOS-MOS materializes her R-Blade and rushes to meet T-elos' charge. T-elos jumps over KOS-MOS' sweep attack and kicks her in the back of the head. KOS-MOS flies towards the edge of the platform but quickly recovers by using her blade to stop her. She spins around on the blade and kicks T-elos in the face who was trying to finish her off at the edge of the platform.
"Why are you obsessed with defeating me?" KOS-MOS gets up and faces T-elos.
T-elos materializes her L-Blade and holds it in front of her. "Because you took everything from me!" She strikes the ground and starts running forward. She stops short of KOS-MOS and swings her blade upward. A blade of fire is unleashed from the arc attack. KOS-MOS steps to the side and then blocks T-elos' attack.
"Please explain what you are meaning." KOS-MOS knocks T-elos' weapon aside and jumps over her next attack. KOS-MOS swings her blade at T-elos' exposed back but T-elos spins around to block her attack. They both jump up into the air at the same time and start fighting in the air.
"The role that I wanted to have…you took it from me since you were created first! I was activated later in order to destroy you so that I can take my rightful role back!" She pulls out her Magdalene-16 and starts firing on KOS-MOS. KOS-MOS easily deflects the shot with her blade and pulls out her pistol with her left hand. She starts firing at T-elos' firing hand to knock away the Magdalene but fails. T-elos slams into the ground and rushes forward. She slams her fist in the ground creating a smokescreen around KOS-MOS.
KOS-MOS turns on her scanners and senses T-elos moving around her in a circle. She hears the Magdalene firing energy bullets from T-elos' circular attack. KOS-MOS moves to the side and ducks from the bullets with ease. She aims her pistol in front of her and fires. It hits T-elos headpiece and destroys it.
T-elos jumps into the smoke and appears in front of KOS-MOS with her L-Blade up in the air. "Damn you, you bitch!"
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Ziggy is walking through the streets of a city that has abandoned and partially destroyed. "This can't be…" He recognized the places he used to go to when he hung out with his old comrades. He touched the places to make sure he wasn't seeing things but sure enough, they were there. He notices a Cathedral in the distance and feels driven to go there.
He heads there and opens the Cathedral doors. "The Archon Cathedral…is this really Michtam from 100 years ago?" The lobby was gargantuan. A center staircase led to a platform that could operate the ancient elevators within the Cathedral. Huge boulders and walls were scattered around the Cathedral. A giant picture of the Messiah being born was on stain glass near the ceiling of the building. There were other various stain glass pictures that lined the walls of the Cathedral.
"Come on out, Erich! I know that you sent me here." Ziggy yells.
The Black Testament appears on the center platform and looks down at Ziggy. "Are you still adamant about calling me Erich? Voyager is my true name now." He starts descending the stairs down to Ziggy. "This power…I still don't understand how you could refuse such a golden opportunity. To tell you the truth, you still have the power to become one right now."
"Like hell I would!" Ziggy materializes his bazooka and starts firing madly at Voyager.
"Hahahahaha…..it's futile." Voyager walks through the smoke with his barrier and faces Ziggy. "Now let me show you what this power can do!" He reaches out to grab Ziggy's face and then jumps into the air. He dives down and slams Ziggy into the ground.
Voyager jumps back from Ziggy's arm blade and floats in the air.
"I'll make you regret those words. As well as killing my family, Erich." Ziggy raises his left fist towards Voyager.
"Words are empty. How about doing something about it?"
Ziggy opens his hands quickly and lightning strikes Voyager from all different locations. "Ahh!"
"Your shield may be invincible but you have to initiate it first." Ziggy walks towards Voyager. "You may have power…but everyone has their limits!" He slams his fist down on Voyager who quickly rolls back. Ziggy runs forward with his arm blade and starts slashing wildly. "I won't give you the chance!"
"That's a Federation captain for you." Voyager floats back and lands.
Ziggy spins around and does a low kick, unleashing a fire wave towards Voyager. He easily floats up above it and is then hit in the face by Ziggy. Voyager crashes into a rock wall.
"Give up you can't escape." Ziggy materializes his bazooka and starts firing concentrated shots at Voyager. After exhausting his ammo, Ziggy puts it up and looks to where Voyager was. He doesn't seem to be injured though he had a hard time getting up.
"For a mechanical man, you move pretty quick…" Voyager unleashes a hideous beast from behind and points to Ziggy. "Attack." The monster lunges forward and smashes his claw on Ziggy from above. Ziggy barely manages to stop it with his arms but starts wavering. "How long can you last?"
Ziggy grunts to try and keep up his strength.
"This is just like old times. I'll ask again then. Will you join me as a Testament? Or shall I absorb the remnants of your soul?"
"And it'll just be like last time…neither choice!" Ziggy throws Voyager's familiar away and materializes his missile launcher. He fires a barrage of missiles on the familiar, eliminating it.
Voyager charges forward and lunges forward with his Evil Claw. Ziggy jumps to the side and then swings his fist at him. Voyager quickly twists his body to dodge Ziggy's attack and then does a reverse backhand on Ziggy, sending him across the dirt.
Ziggy slowly gets up and faces Voyager. (I'll settle this here and now…even if it means ending my life…)
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"You really are a bastard you know. People's pain is an entertainment for you. Such a wacko." Albedo laughs. He's standing in front of the Compass of Order which is currently watching the Xenosaga team fight their worst enemies as well as the Aeons.
"Au contraire. You're worse than me, Albedo."
"True, you may be right. Still, the way you do it is just…not to my liking."
"Well, how about you welcome our coming guests?"
"So, they're here? Maybe I will." Albedo vanishes leaving Wilhelm to watch the Compass of Order.
"Devotion and determination are truly interesting characteristics which make them shine out. It is no wonder that all of them could be potential Testaments." Wilhelm turns around and stares at a large golden circular door. "Soon, they will come open Zarathustra's door. And then…"
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A/N: Wow! I'm so pumped from typing all of this. Hopefully it's goodie woodie…the Aeons and the fight scenes…plus the storyline is almost at its end! Though don't think there won't be twists! Have fun reading! Thanks again!