Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off, Harris and Heidi gradually recovered and shared more moments of bonding, all the while the elite unit was marching towards the Koringwood, looking to kill them. Heidi managed to hold her own well enough to kill one hundred of the elite regiment before she was finally subdued. Seeing no other choice, Harris revealed himself to be the human Racemaster.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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Truth in Power, part ni
Harris stood in front of Heidi with the army in front of him. "Harris why…"
"Heidi… I'll explain later but listen to me one last time if anything. Leave this to me and hide, I'll find you." Harris said. Heidi seemed to hesitate, but she nonetheless turned around and vanished.
"What is the meaning of this Harris?" Heidi asked. Instead of leaving the battlefield, she simply climbed to the top of a tree branch to watch. "Alright then…"
"Now then." Harris turned back towards the army with a piercing glare.
"Whooaaa…" The entire army, minus the major backed off in fear.
"What is wrong with you men? Racemaster or not, we are the elite of the Black Army!" The Major shouted.
"Major…" Harris started.
"Hm?"
"I have a special end prepared for you." Harris said. "Therefore, it's only fitting that all of your men go first." Harris threatened.
"Uuuuuggghhh…" The elite moaned for a bit.
"Men! Stand your ground! No foe is invincible as long as you have strength and cunning." Destro said with a smile. "Fine, since he wants me for last, I'll just head to the back ranks." Destro backed off in to the ranks and fiddled with a radio under his helmet. "Alright men, wait for my orders over the radio. Melee unit one attack now! All others hide!"
"Hmph." Harris watched as the majority of the men all went to hide while several dozen ninjas, paladins, defenders, templers, assassins, and nearly every other advanced melee fighting job there was. "Fine then." Harris began walking forward slowly.
"Charge!" A ninja led the charge while the others spread out to surround Harris. Harris quickly drew his swords and began blocking and spinning his way through the melee units with nearly unseen speed and grace, avoiding every single slash and sword strike swung at him.
"Unbelievable…" Heidi thought as she stared in awe. Harris flowed in to one dodge and counter from the next, seemingly not dealing or receiving and strikes at all as each elite fighter chained together their attacks. "I've never seen Harris move like this before. It's like he's on a whole new level." Harris spun his way out of the crowd as he twirled his swords and then sheathed them.
"UWAAGH!!!" Suddenly cuts and gashes appeared on the bodies of the soldiers that attacked Harris one by one before falling to the ground dead.
"What! They didn't even realize they were hit until he was finished with all of them. Grrrrr…" Destro thought to himself. "All bow users and gunners, open fire now!"
"Heh…"
"What?" Heidi looked around and just now noticed how many gunners, hunters, snipers, and bow using assassins were hiding in the trees surrounding Harris. "Harris!"
"Fire!" Several arrows flew and several guns sounded from every single direction around Harris.
Fwip fwip fwip fwip fwip
Bang bang bang bang bang
"Huh?"
"What!"
"Whoa…""Is this all?" Harris asked. Every single arrow that was fired at him missed completely and pierced the ground around him, mere millimeters away from where he was standing, clutching something in his fists. He opened his fists and dropped several dozen bullets on to the ground around him.
"You mean we didn't even hit him?"
"Let me show how to aim properly." Harris said as he drew something from under his robes. Harris held out four kunai knives in each hand and knocked away the arrows around him.
"Kunai… those are a bit more difficult to use than shuriken." Heidi thought.
"Wild throw!" Harris began spinning around and around in the fashion of wild swing until he was now a spinning blur. After reaching top spinning speed, kunai knives began flying out around him.
"Ugh!"
"Gwa!"
"Ack!"
"Hack!" As the kunai continued to fly, several hunters, snipers, assassins, and gunners began falling from the trees with a single kunai embedded in their foreheads.
"Whoa!" Heidi was shocked as a kunai hit the tree trunk beside her. "Can he not aim while doing that? Wait…" Heidi looked and listened carefully. "No… this is the only one that hit a tree at all… the only reason he threw one here was… he knows I'm still here."
"Melee unit two! Go at him as he stops spinning! He ought to be somewhat disoriented!" Destro ordered in to the radios as he watched from a distance.
"Rah!" Several more melee fighters rushed Harris from all sides. Harris instantly turned to one group charging at him with a fist drawn.
"Air render!" Harris thrust a fist forward, sending a blast of air towards the group of attackers.
"Gah!" One was sent flying backward, crashing in to the others with lethal force.
"Far fist!" Harris turned and threw a fist that caused a blast of air to explode in the middle of a group of attackers. "Air blast!" Harris spun around and swung a leg in front of him, sending a wave of air that decimated a large group charging at him.
"Raaaahhh!!!"
"Air blast!" Harris did the same move again, but this time he jumped up in to air, twirling as he did so while drawing two kunai. "Sonic boom!" Harris threw the two kunai at two separate groups and killed several soldiers with two blasts of sound. "Acid!" Harris inhaled as he reached the height of his jump. Harris then spit out glob after glob of yellow acid at the soldiers below.
"AUGH!"
"AAAAGGGHHH!!!" The soldiers gave blood curdling screams as the acid ate away at their faces.
"Jump him when he lands! Spellcasting unit, be ready." Destro ordered in to the microphone "What kind of acid is that… most blue mages can only use that to weaken opponents, not outright hurt them. Much less kill." Destro thought. As Harris began his decent, he started making quick handsigns before a large cloud of metal powder spread through the trees below Harris. "What is this? This is far larger than the metal veil attack should be." Destro thought.
"Hey where'd he go?" A soldier asked.
"Be on the look out men!" Another one shouted.
"ARGH!"
"What was… ARGH!"
"Faster." Harris zipped through the metal powder cloud and cleared out all of the remaining black soldiers inside of it within mere seconds.
"Okay, spellcasters be ready for when the cloud clears." Destro ordered.
"Thundaja."
"The cloud is clearing, wait… what's… AUGH!" The spellcasters hiding in the bushes were prepped to nail Harris with a few spells when a gigantic lightning bolt suddenly struck the area they were in and started ravaging the area they were in.
"Huh… I didn't even notice those guys over there. And he obliterated them." Heidi thought. The cloud finally cleared with Harris looking as fresh as when he started. "He's clearly winning and he hasn't even broken a sweat." Heidi thought. Harris continued to walk slowly through the woods.
"Sir, the morpher unit is prepared." Shak reported to him.
"Send them all in then." Destro said. "Let's see how he handles monsters, armed with the intelligence of nu mou." He said to himself.
"Hmmmm…"Harris stopped walking when he noticed goblins, dragons, flans, bombs, lamias, bugs, panthers, malboro, and floateye creatures surrounded him from everywhere. Harris quickly tilted his head backward signaling the monsters to come at him. The panthers were the first ones to charge at Harris.
"Hastebreak!" One of the morphed coeurls said.
"Poison claw." Harris formed green mana in the shape of claws around his hands and slashed at each individual panther that came at him. Harris then started jumping off of the tree trunks and slashing at each floateye and ahriman that tried to tackle him. Each monster he slashed died only about a minute after being slashed by the poison.
"Bad breath." The Marlboros and Big Marlboros inhaled and breathed on Harris as he landed, hitting him with green breath from everywhere.
"Heh… that got him." Destro thought.
"Harris…" Heidi thought with worry. As the green breath cleared, Harris stood there, unfazed. "Whoa… that's… that's… incredible…"
"That's all? How sad." Harris said. "Saint Cross!" Harris expelled a ring of holy energy wider in radius than any saint cross attack he performed before, killing all of the Marlboro's around him.
"Got him!" One of the dragons slammed in to a tree so that it would fall on top of Harris. Harris looked at it disinterested and held a single hand above his head. The tree stopped dead once it hit the palm of his hand. "What?"
"I'm no Casey, but to me this is like carrying a stick." Harris said. He then tore out the remaining roots and swung it once, clearing out many of the monsters before drawing more kunai. "Sidewinder!" Harris then threw single kunai at each of the remaining monsters before turning to face the direction the rest of the army was.
"Spellcasters strike now!" Destro shouted. Suddenly summoners, alchemists, sages, and bishops surrounded him while charging up spells.
"Ifrit!"
"Shiva!"
"Ramuh!"
"Titan!"
"Madeen!"
"Firaga!"
"Blizzaga!"
"Thundaga!"
"Bio!"
"Aero!"
"Water!"
"Holy!"
"Flare!"
"Meteor!"
"Giga Flare!"
"…" Harris simply stood there as each esper loomed above him and each spell threatened to engulf him. Harris kept his cool, took a breath and…
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM
"HARRIS!!!" Heidi shouted from her hiding place.
"Heh heh… I'll admit, he had me worried, but alls well that ends well." Destro said with a cocky smile. "Hm?" Destro looked at the smoke with a serious expression on his face. "No… it's not possible…" Destro said.
"Damage mana… coupled with defense, and absorb mana." Harris said as the smoke cleared, revealing absolutely no sign of harm on his body. "That essentially means your spells were nothing."
"Amazing…" Heidi thought. "It's almost like he's untouchable…"
"Now let's couple that with return magic, half mana, and turbo mana." Harris said as he held out two glowing hands before swiping them around him. Suddenly every esper was above the original summoners, every spell was ready to engulf the original casters.
"AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"AAAARRRGGHHH!!!"
"GAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
"AAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!"
Harris walked past the dying spellcasters and the spells that were sent back at them.
"Melee unit three!" Destro shouted.
"Raaaaaahhhh!!!" Several melee jobs attempted to jump Harris from above before he seemingly disappeared. "Huh?" The melee units landed and looked around. "Where did he…"
"Bad breath." Harris exhaled sickly green breath.
"Hack…" Several of the enemies that inhaled it writhed in pain before shrinking and changing shape.
"Hmph." Harris continued his march, not minding if he stepped on any of the melee units he turned in to blind and poisoned toads.
"He… he… he's a demon!" One of the soldiers shouted.
"Run for it!"
"Men stand your ground!" Destro ordered as several of his men attempted to run for their lives. Suddenly green vines burst from underground, wrapping themselves around everyone except for Destro.
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
"What is this?" Destro asked.
"No need to order them to stay Major." Harris said.
"Hm?" Everyone who could turn looked at Harris fearfully.
"I'll just force them to stay." Harris said as he prepared a spell. "Star dust!" Harris summoned down a storm of meteors from above, threatening to crush every single soldier like a stone dropped on top of a small insect.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
Each deafening crash of the meteors seemed to grow louder as they crushed many soldiers at once, one after the other.
"Men! Hack… men!" Destro shouted, coughing on the dust that rose from the meteors. "Men! Sound off! Sound off damn it!" Destro shouted, trying desperately to peer through the thick cloud of dust.
"Don't bother major… I told you that your men would go first."
"Hm?" Destro looked around. "Where are you? Come out you coward!" Destro dared as he drew his blades.
"You have nerve. I'll grant you that."
"Grrrrr… whoa!" Suddenly the ground around Destro erupted in to flames. The flames encircled him, and they seemed to weave an intricate path through the forest, not burning any of the trees mysteriously. The flames parted to the right of Destro, and Harris walked through them, giving Destro an emotionless look.
"So then, you are the last one." Harris said.
"You bastard!" Destro swung at Harris with his left blade, Harris kicked the sword out of Destro's hand and sent the sword flying through the flames until it embed itself in the trunk of a tree. "Grrrrah!" Destro swung his right blade, but Harris caught it easily and held on to his wrist tightly. "Ack…" He groaned.
"Listen." Harris said. He closed his eyes, and then opened them with a renewed look of sheer hatred. "This… is what happens when you harm those that I care for." Harris hissed as he tightened his grip.
SNAP
"AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!" Destro cried as Harris let go of his broken wrist. Meanwhile Heidi got closer and watched Harris.
"Harris…" Heidi thought.
"Let this be a lesson, as to what awaits the wicked." Harris said while Destro attempted to punch him from behind. Harris turned around and caught it an inch from his face without batting an eye.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!" Destro shouted as Harris crushed his hand. Harris then spun around to Destro's back side while holding Destro's arms, then crushing them both. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"I could kill you this instant." Harris said.
"You… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Harris then forced Destro on to the ground and then stomping on his legs, breaking them like breaking dried twigs.
"But no… I want you to realize something before I kill you." Harris said as he grabbed Destro by the neck and lifted him above the ground.
"Harris…" Heidi was shivering uncontrollably now. Frightened by the way Harris was acting now.
"Feel the pain…" Harris said as he hurled Harris towards a tree. Tossing him through the flames.
"ARGH!" Just before he hit a tree, Harris was right behind him, catching him by the neck. "Hack…"
"Of those innocent people you and that damned army you so blindly follow hurt." Harris said as he slammed Destro in to the ground.
"Urrrrrrrgggghhh…" Destro groaned weakly.
"Now face… your final judgment." Harris said as he drew his sword. He started channeling his mana through his sword, causing it to glow brightly.
"It's… almost like holy blade but… the mana type is different." Heidi thought. "It has… neutral quality."
"DIVINE BLADE!!!" Harris stabbed his sword in to Destro's stomach.
"Augh…" Destro started to moan uncomfortably. "Arrrrrrrrrrrrgggghhhh…" Destro's body started to light up as he groaned more and more uncomfortably. "AUGH! AUGH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Light shot out from Destro's eyes, nose, and mouth, and soon his body disintegrated in the bright flash that ensued.
"…" Harris stood where he was for a moment as he picked up his sword and sheathed it once again. Harris then sighed sadly and lowered his head, practically in shame. "Heidi isn't in that tree any longer. I… had best find her."
Later…
"Harris…" Heidi was sitting right next to a rock in the ground. She was feeling a full range of emotions. She was frightened, confused, in awe, saddened, and angry. "Why? Why did he hide it?"
"There is a lot to it." Harris said from the top of the rock.
"Harris!" Heidi gasped in surprise.
"A lot more to it." Harris said sadly.
"Harris, that night when I accused you of being Racemaster… when we talked about trust… was that just a lie?" Heidi asked, tears in her eyes.
"No… Heidi I…"
"You couldn't trust me, you kept lying to me. You lied to everyone." Heidi said.
"Heidi please…"
"Why couldn't you help us before? You could have helped us and saved a lot of agony. Do you know that?" Heidi asked exasperated.
"Heidi I'm…"
"Why didn't you help your friends when the Black King was about to kill us!" Heidi asked now raising her voice.
"Heidi…"
"WHY DID LIE!!!"
"BECAUSE THE LAST TIME I USED MY POWER IT COST ME EVERYTHING!!!" Harris yelled, causing a noticeable tremor in the area. Heidi stayed quiet while Harris caught his breath. When he seemed to calm down, Heidi looked at him, and noticed that tears were falling from his face.
"I… I've never seen Harris… in tears like this." Heidi thought as she looked at Harris sadly. Harris dried his face with his arms.
"Heidi…"
"…"
"Please… come with me." Harris asked.
"What?"
"Please come with me."
"Where?"
"…" Harris turned towards the trees. "It's that time of the month." Harris said.
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What secret does Harris have to reveal? Find out next chapter.