College. It sucks. Free time is nonexistent. Someone help me, please…

…With that said, apologies to everyone for the long wait. I have no computer of my own, and the one containing the original copy of (The beginning of) this chapter has vanished with a friend of mine moving to LA. He alone knows what the fate of that document is…

Now: Review Response Time!

Mast: Check above. Apologies again… updates are going to be taking some time now.

Sn3kers: I enjoy the well-placed 3. I'll see what I can do… she'll probably show up in a later chapter, or a different story. Glad you're enjoying it!

Mast: They're all miscillanious phrases in English that I translated into German using babelfish… not really important to the story, but might provide a –little- insight. Maybe.

Melomancer: Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to know more. Note that instead of a juravis, Tattoo was a black chocobo. I'm glad you like the stories! E-mail me!

2sidez: Still with me! I hope the long wait didn't irritate too much… I need more free time. Glad you're still liking it! Do note that if you like someone and want to see more of them, then… well, you know the drill.

No plugging right now, must go to story… must… write… chaaapptteeeeeerrr…

Perseverance! I refuse to let the fans down! Raaah!

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Chapter 10: The Lancer
"Tod von Oben"

The stones. Throughout history, the stones were the strings pulled by power-hungry and greed-mad men and women. Alliances had been made and broken by swears upon them, and their true power was forgotten and remembered multiple times. Wars had been fought over the stones, and won with the stones. Lives had been lost and saved by the stones, damned and sainted by them. Many saw the stones as either good or evil, though neither were correct. The stones merely amplified what was within you… for good or ill.

"The stones were on my side"

"I swear, it was as if I'd held a stone"

"I could have sworn on the stones, it was so clear"

"By the stones, I've never seen such a thing."

The stones.

One stone was cold, now. Crimson in color, the stone swung by a chain in the freezing, snowing winds. For miles around, there was nothing. Nothing but dead grass covered by white, powdery ice flakes. The blanket of pearl was undisturbed in the near-morning darkness, save for a pair of metal feet buried almost mid-shin deep. No tracks led to or from the spot, as if the owner of the feet had been standing there when the snows had started… Truthfully, she had. She had no name now… It had asked her name, and she had given it… and now she was without a name. It was an empty feeling, one that was unpleasant, sorrowful and cold… cold like the snow, like the air. She'd given it up for the Purpose, the duty that had been asked of her. Battered metal plate mail met blue cloth as gaze traveled upwards, the knighted figure clad in a tattered blue skirt with shredded insignia. She'd known what they were once, but all memory had gone with the name. Dented plates above that, the quilt underneath them keeping out the deep freeze for the most part. To her left and right, a lance and shield… her javelin and escutcheon. They were old, but she'd forgotten their histories. Now they were her only friends against the cold… those two and the dragon-likened helm that marked her for a Lancer, blond hair falling out behind and blue eyes staring forwards as within the armor, Libra shivered.

"The stones made me do it"

"Unholier than the stones themselves"

"A demon of the stones, he is"

"I could do it with the stones"

The stones

One stone was warm now, the tear-shaped sapphire cradled in a pale shield-side hand of beauty as winter flooded vision. Red metal curved to various shapes met snow unpacked and fluffed, the various details in the exquisite armor only hinting at what lied beneath in many imaginations. Her name was gone… she'd given it freely and openly, and had been replaced with so much more. She did not control herself any longer, but her consciousness rode within with a certain amount of glee. This world would soon be gone, and her benefactor would rule… She would rule, for they were one and the same now. They were both all one part of a greater thing. Black hair fed out through the back of a falcon-likened helm, brown eyes fastened on the face not four feet from her… one hand gripped a pure white spear, the other enclosed within the straps of a shield made from gorgeous diamonds. Among other things, these had been given to her… to Virgo, warm Virgo.

"You stand before us yet again, dear sister Libra. Shivering, shaking Libra. Libra who seeks to maintain her fragile balance with only two hands. Tell me, what slip of a girl have you possessed, Libra? Coward? Weakling?"

"This girl is no weakling, malicious Virgo… and taunt me though you may I stand in your way again. You shall have no conquest."

"You expect me to be impressed that you banished my siblings again, foolish Libra?"

"They were my siblings as well, vile Virgo."

"You have been foe too many times to be of our family, traitorous Libra."

"And you have tipped the balance too many times for me to show you mercy."

"You never have… Why do you let your body freeze?"

"Because I will spare you nothing, Virgo."

The two weapons met in the falling flakes, rod against rod as each sought to push each other backwards into the snow. Steel ground against steel, then sprang apart as both jumped backwards. Whiteness was shoved and slid by muscled and metal'd legs, each suddenly reversing momentum and coming in a charge towards the other with both shield and spear raised. Two points ground against two shields, the two matching moves almost in a mirrorlike fashion. Both spun to the left in a pirouette, but only Libra swung the bar like an overhead flail…

…and was rewarded with the spang of metal on helm, Virgo cartwheeling into the cold with the nearly-assured ringing ear of someone who'd taken a severe hit to the side of the head. Getting up quickly out of reflex, Virgo's stolen eyes looked up in time to see her enemy's spearpoint being driven towards her head-

-and there was an explosion of spent energy, a feeling of distended air as snow rippled away from the holder of the blue stone, Libra flung upwards into the air, stories high above the disturbed snow. It took a full few seconds for the girl to realize where she was and what had happened, back twisting like a cat's in the suit of dented mail. Spinning like a top and flipping in the air, feet finally met the snow with a crash… the snow waved from the impact, momentum expended forcefully through the ground and away from the girl to save limbs. Libra had her own power… She was unhurt, but the armor couldn't take much more of this.

…but the snow was empty of foe, only white and exposed brown showing where they had been. Eyes looked around, then behind, then up, only to cause a near-timed roll to the left as white spike skewered where she'd been a split second ago. The javelin came up, fwhoomphing in the air as Virgo pulled her weapon from the ground…

CRACK.

The butt-end caught her in the head as the spear came free, Virgo sent toppling into the air while the falcon helm unclasped from pauldrons and spun into the snow some feet farther. Both warriors climbed to their feet, one helmeted while the other's black hair swung free…

"This is pointless, Libra."

"Then why do you still fight? I am not forcing you to continue this… battle. You are free to banish yourself."

At the same time, both crouched and sprung upwards, sleet and snow whistling past them as altitude climbed upwards, the two drawing towards one another slowly but surely with spears at the ready. Twenty feet up, fourty feet up, sixty, eighty, a hundred, higher and higher and higher and higher and up and up and up and

WHAM.

Virgo's shield met Libra's skull, cutting under the dragonlike helm and colliding with chin in a crushing blow that dazed and confused. Somersaulting backwards, Libra regained a hold on her weapon and twisted to see…

…Virgo's form suddenly alter direction as Libra's escutcheon went falling below, plates ripping from her back to make way for gigantic scarlet wings that tore flesh and bled as they expanded feathers and muscle. The huge flightfeathers whipped the stolen body around, the shield let free as both hands gripped the huge razor-tipped pole and arrowed directly towards her rival's heart…

…only to be blasted backwards by an outburst of energy from Libra's outstretched, likewise-unshielded hand. Both were flung away from each other as the altitude climb slowed to a pause, the semi-conscious bodies seeming to float in the atmosphere for precious seconds before gravity managed to figure out what was wrong with this picture.

The two fell, air whistling around them as gradually they both picked up speed. Virgo's wings fwapped once, stalling for precious seconds before re-orienting again… and Libra could do nothing without expending more precious energy than she wanted to. Eyes spun, looking around, up and down… snow to the left and right, her foe above her and her still-tumbling shield below… That was it.

Her weight shifted, falling faster and faster as her foe failed to keep up, those huge buoyant wings holding Virgo upwards and away from her. She fell faster and faster as the escutcheon came closer and closer…

SNATCH.

The metal plate was grabbed, slid onto the arm as back met snow. A tidal wave of momentum ripped through the disturbed white foam, flinging it high and out as Libra's own magic kept the spine whole and well. The plate was held to the chest, eyes upwards at Virgo's crimson missile of feathers and metal and flesh and edge and point…

And spearpoint met shield, the universe holding its breath for a few moments of apprehension. Little by little, cracks came riding up the spear's length from point to butt, Virgo's feet alighting on the earth on either side of Libra with a disturbing lightness…

KRABOOM.

The spear finally shattered, pent-up magicks no longer contained within the sundered weapon. Instead of exploding, it simply shattered, pieces raining on the escutcheon, its slayer as Virgo looked down upon prone Libra with irritated eyes that glinted an intimidating blue in the morning light…

"I could end you now."

"I do not believe you, Virgo."

"You lie prone at my feet and refuse to believe me?"

"You would have already done so if you could."

"…You are correct. I could kill you right now, but not in this form…"

Libra's bruised face twisted into a grin, eyes glinting with challenge…

"Then prove it, Virgo. Let us end this… if you banish me, now, then I will never oppose you again… I would lead your armies to this planet several times over."

"And if you banish me, Libra?"

"You seemed to be so sure of yourself earlier, Virgo, that I am surprised you even entertain the possibility."

"There must be two sides to every challenge. To every coin, Libra."

"Instead of the edge that we consistently land upon?"

"What?"

Without warning, Libra's chested escutcheon came upwards in a blow towards Virgo's stooped face. Blood spattered the snow as Virgo raised in surprise and a squall of pain, Libra's leg bending, raising and shoving Virgo stomach-first bodily away. The momentum carried Libra upright as Virgo flew upwards from the force, finally regaining control some twenty-five feet in the air and an equal distance away. Libra had put magic into that kick… Virgo had not thought the lesser stone had owned such power.

Libra re-hefted the spear, the shield readied and shook back onto the wrist, where it had fallen from with the blow.

"Virgo…"

And a million screams pierced the desert of ice, the morning light darkening as scarlet plates exploded away from Virgo's expanding form… arms lengthened, legs lengthened, wings grew ever larger… screams turned to cackling laughter as the nude form of a winged giantess eclipsed the moon still hanging in the sky. In most respects, it still resembled the host of Virgo, in the black hair and proportions of her stolen body, but wings had grown again just above the ears, from the sides of the head and again from the upper arms.

"…You do not frighten me."

"Do I not, petty Libra? Can you honestly look upon my power and say that I, great sister of the Lucavi and archangel of murder, do not frighten you? You are either a fool, suicidal, or incredibly brave."

Libra's feet placed firmly in the rapidly-melting snow, joints no longer cold of the wind but warm of Virgo's-… Altima's heat. She radiated it… it was as if she were the center of a sun. But Libra was not scared… Either way this battle went, neither of them would die… they would only be doomed to repeat this some years later.

"You may think of me as all three."

And feet left the turf, Libra's borrowed legs bunching and springing the armored and battered body into the air. Not vertical, but rather as an arrow flies, javelin wrapped in one hand and the shield held in front of the face. She accelerated like a rocket with obsessive-compulsive disorder, altering flight with small bursts of energy and twists of the legs. Closer and closer and closer and

WHAP

Altima's almost lazy hand swept, the back of the palm colliding with the girl as a flyswatter to a mosquito. Armor pieces flew, the suit itself shattering on impact to send Libra rolling to the dead grass in thin clothes- skirt, tights and quilted shirt. Hands still clenched around her weapons; even with magic as a cushion for the ground's impact, the smack had smarted. Feet were regained in time to see Altima's foot at high velocity downwards. Libra rolled, a back-somersault out of impact radius. Eyes looked upwards, into that ominously beautiful face, meters wide and kilometers high up…

And one outstretched hand wrapped around her, clamping around her arms and legs so she could not move or retaliate. Libra was lifted into the air, squirming and firing so many different pulses of energy which did next to no good; if Altima had felt them, it was impossible to tell…

"My dear Libra, I believe this is the first time I've won. Perhaps you should not have made your silly little challenge?"

"You expect me to repent my choice?"

"Why argue semantics when I can banish you here and now, painfully and grotesquely? You will burst most prettily, dear Libra, when I squeeze so…"

Libra screamed as bones bent and strained under crushing joints, the blood and organs in her body squished to both ends, her skin almost feeling to tear- then the pain ended as suddenly as it started.

"But I mustn't do it all at once, must I… I should savor this."

"You… You… You…"

"I what? Poor Libra, you cannot even begin a sentence without gasping for air… Perhaps your neck needs a little exercise, for breathing?"

"W-what?"

The right hand moved inwards, a single enormous finger placed on the top of Libra's head; pressed down, then slowly turned it at different angles, twisting and turning and pulling and stretching as Libra howled in agony… and it ended as well, Virgo-… Altima laughing as the hand withdrew from the aching girl.

"You stupid girl… to call yourself one of the Lucavi… only the might of a REAL Lucavi could best me…"

"...You want to fight a real Lucavi, Virgo?"

"What?"

An explosion… The echo of it was heard miles away, Altima's hand flung wide and away as Libra hung floating in the air with both javelin and escutcheon hanging from limp limbs. Every part of her hurt… It ached, it was sore, it was bruised and cut and bloody and beaten and one of her eyes were blackened… She could barely move her neck and she was sick to her stomach and lungs… but she could still stare defiantly back into her captor's gigantic eyes.

"Is that what you want?"

Bright magenta electricity crackled around Libra as her swollen lips pulled backwards into a painful grimace, eyes glowing the same shade and pulsing as quilted fabric ripped and gave way to blood-soaked feathers. Veins pulsed under skin as Libra's balance…

…let go…

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The boom was heard even continents away, deafening many and frightening still more.

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…And Altima was knocked over on the ground, neck snapped and half of her head a scorching crater. Still the look of shock was frozen on the once-gorgeous face, unbelieving of what it had seen. Unclothed feet alighted on bare chest, the javelin held in one hand and the other hand clutching at a side.

"…perhaps… Perhaps now… You will see why balance is important… dear Virgo."

The Javelin plunged down through flesh and bone and into the heart, where it tapped against a small, pulsing blue stone…

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Years later, a wandering herdsman found the body of two girls and two of the holy stones, one red and one blue. Wasting little time, a religion was quickly founded and a temple was built to the two goddesses of the holy stones. The javelin and the escutcheon were placed on top of two of the pillars. Eventually, the religion was found and destroyed utterly for practicing human sacrifice. The men responsible eventually discovered the holy stones, then proceeded to use them to fuel devices that they had built to 'better humanity's progress towards knowledge'. One of these programs turned their inventions defective, wiping them out without a trace. Today, this place is known as Nelveska Temple.