Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off, the clans of Ivalice, and the Black Army have begun the final battle. The Racemasters went straight to the castle and found the only way to the Black King was by way of defeating the remaining Colonels and Generals. Deciding to leave the Colonels to their allies, the Racemasters all find their targets separately. Now how shall Casey fare against General Agres? And how shall the battle outside the castle go?
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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What Makes a Warrior
"RAAAAAAHHH!!!"
"RAAAAAAHHH!!!"
CLANG
Casey and Agres' weapons met with violent force before the two backed away from each other, then lunged at each other and began taking rapid swing at each other. Both of them were slashing and stabbing at such high speeds that it looked as though they were wielding many weapons at once against each other. The two then backed off to take a quick breath before leaping back at each other again and taking rapid attacks at each other.
"Rush!" Casey knocked Agres backwards a few feet away. While Agres went skidding, he kept his balance perfectly while drawing his lance back.
"Dark lance!" Agres began thrusting the spear end of his pole axe rapidly, sending small pointed blasts of dark mana.
"Expert guard!" Casey swung his sword rapidly to knock away each energy blast, however eventually they started to get through.
"Rah!" Agres then switched to the axe end and swung his weapon, sending an arc of dark mana at Casey.
"Ha!" Casey sliced the arc in half while jumping a few feet in to the air. "Earth Render!" As Casey landed, he slammed the back of his right hand on to the ground and sent an earthquake in a straight line right at Agres.
"Oof!" Agres was stuck by the roving earth and was knocked back a bit.
"Bangaaa CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Casey let loose a deafening shout that sent sonic waves at Agres.
"Black Gale!" Agres spun his poleaxe in front of him and sent a swirling gust of dark mana that overpowered the sound waves and nailed Casey.
"AAAAUUUGGHH!" Casey went flying backwards as the dark mana sliced him until he hit the wall of the coliseum, raising a thick cloud of dust.
"Come on… I know you're not this easy." Agres challenged.
"Far fist!" Suddenly a blast of wind struck the ground near Agres and exploded, sending him stumbling a little bit. Casey then rushed out in a blur with his sword ready to slice Agres.
CLANG
Agres blocked the sword with the middle of his poleaxe, and now the two were struggling to push the other back. "Grrrrrr… I'm not about to lose to the likes of you…" Agres growled.
"Oh? And why is that?" Casey growled back as he started pushing Agres back.
"Because… unlike you… I am a true warrior…" Agres growled as he regained the edge, beginning to push Casey backwards. "I live for battle… and you fight to end the greatest battle of all time… how can you call yourself a warrior for that?" Agres asked.
"This is not a battle… this is war… and no good can ever come from war… are you too blind to see that?" Casey asked as he pushed Agres back further.
"What is war but a battle to prove who is the strongest? Is that not what we're doing now? Having a battle to prove who the strongest is?" Agres asked rhetorically.
"Don't debate with me… I've been alive far longer than you… you'll lose any argument with me." Casey said. The two were now pushing even again.
"Then we won't debate…" Agres began charging up dark mana near his mouth while Casey inhaled.
"FIRE BREATH!" Casey breathed out fire while Agres breathed out dark mana. The two attacks met instantly and…
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM
Meanwhile…
"Rah! Blazing blitz!" Blaze took several aimed punches at Ize, who still dodged them with little effort while countering with is own swings that Blaze dodged in return.
"Goblin punch!"
"Fire wall!" Blaze spun around as if doing a wild swing attack, but a dome of fire formed around him as he did so and repelled Ize.
"AH!" He shouted as he went flying back.
"Fire render!" Blaze threw a fist forward and sent a large fireball at Ize. Ize recovered and intercepted the fire attack with a quick water veil.
"So… you learned a few new tricks." Ize growled. "Metal jujutsu! Metal veil!" Ize shielded himself from view with a cloud of metal powder.
"Fire fist!" Blaze threw a small fireball that exploded in the middle of cloud of metal powder, expelling it and revealing Ize to not be there.
"Water jujutsu! Water veil!" Blaze's arms were doused by a spout of water.
"Got ya!" Ize charged in with his sabers. Blaze didn't make a move he simply stood his ground, as if waiting for something. Right as Ize swung his sabers, Blaze's arms ignited by themselves and he grabbed Ize's sabers. "What! Since when could you…"
"I learned quite a few things." Blaze said with a grin. "Including this…" Blaze's legs then ignited like his arms.
"What!"
"RAH!" Blaze then gut kicked Ize and sent him flying backwards.
"GAAAAAAHH!!!"
"Gah!"
"Argh!"
"Clanmaster Adam!"
"Hang on!" Adam shouted. "Fire sword! Bolt sword!" Adam created a fire sword in one hand while creating a bolt sword in the other hand. He towards the shouting while swinging his swords wildly, slicing black soldiers like they were butter as he went through.
"Rush!" Adam then sent several soldiers flying with a single swipe of his hand. "Are you alright?" He asked the Clan Liberation member on the ground.
"I'm okay but… LOOK OUT!!!"
"Faster!" Hunter fired several arrows quickly and shot down the black soldiers about to jump Adam.
"Keep your guard up yourself!" Toxin shouted at Hunter as she slashed the guts of the black soldiers behind Hunter.
"Too many of them! No choice… Ultima katana!" Seth swung a glowing katana and sliced one soldier.
"Ugh… what the… AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" As the soldier stumbled back, a glowing dome of purple mana consumed him and several soldiers around him.
"Throw!" Seth turned and threw some shuriken at Black soldiers about to jump Will.
"Thanks! Earth render!" Will slammed a foot in to the ground that mowed over several soldiers at once.
"Shiva! Blizzara!" Laura summoned Shiva behind her and charged her with a Blizzara spell.
"Ifrit!" Cious summoned Ifrit right behind her. The two opposing element espers stepped towards each other and locked hands. "Ha!"
"Ha!" Laura and Cious charged at each other and began trading rapier and katana at high speeds while the espers wrestled with each other above them. The espers then channeled their respective mana types to their hands, which resulted in steam that shielded the two summoners from view.
"Titan!" Cious summoned Titan, who inhaled then hurled up a gigantic mudslide from its mouth.
"Carbuncle!" Laura quickly summoned carbuncle and shielded herself from the mudslide. "Ramuh!" While being shielded by carbuncle, she summoned Ramuh right above the two of them. Ramuh called down a column of lightning to strike Cious. Cious however was too fast and got away from the lightning storm.
Meanwhile…
"UWAH!" Both Casey and Agres were both sent flying backwards by the explosion from earlier. They flipped backwards and landed on their feet, skidding backwards only a little bit before they charged at each other.
"Beatdown!" Casey made an incredibly powerful swing towards Agres, who dodged and stabbed the spear end of the poleaxe in to Casey's stomach. "Gah!"
"Heh heh." Agres chuckled, this would have worked on any ordinary opponent, however…
"Tremor!" Casey stomped a foot straight downward and sent Agres skidding backwards. "Air render!" Casey thrust his sword forward rapidly and sent sharp-pointed blasts of air in rapid succession.
"HAH!" Agres took a much more aggressive approach. He spun his poleaxe in front of him, blocking a few of the air blasts, while running forward towards Casey. Casey quickly stopped thrusting and swung his sword to meet with Agres' poleaxe. The two didn't take as many fast slashes at each other, but rather more powerful slashes that sent out waves of energy that only those two could stand whenever their weapons met. "Just give up!"
"I'll never surrender! I will fight this battle to the end!" Casey shouted.
"You enjoy battle… yet you seek to end this war. You contradict yourself Racemaster." Agres said.
"That is where you are wrong!" Casey argued back. Casey jumped way back from Agres while gathering his mana. "Holy!" Casey cast holy on Agres, causing holy light to surround Agres, dealing him a tremendous amount of damage.
"Black blast!" Agres gathered mana in his mouth and fired an orb of dark mana that nailed Casey in the chest.
"Argh!"
"Hah!" Agres then launched in to a combo where he would spin and send arcs of dark mana out to attack Casey. Bombarding Casey with constant attacks. "Ha ha ha ha! War is battle at its finest! It is where a real warrior can feel alive!" Agres shouted maniacally.
"Greased bolt!" Casey quickly slashed through several arcs of mana in one quick slash, he began doing this back and forth across the battlefield, Agres frantically keeping his eyes on him. "HA!" Casey finally passed by Agres, leaving a deep cut in his side.
"ARGH! Rah!" Agres turned and struck Casey with his poleaxe. Agres then began twirling the poleaxe from side to side, creating an incredibly lengthy combo that kept striking Casey rapidly.
"Bangaa… CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Casey shouted at the top of his lungs at point blank, sending Agres flying all the way to the other side of the arena. "Heh… heh…"
"Heh… heh…" Agres had to catch his breath after that attack. Both looked at each other, exhausted, scratched, and bruised.
Meanwhile…
"GAH! Damn that hurt!!!" Ize shouted as he clutched his stomach from that last kick.
"Fire blast!" Blaze did numerous spin kicks, sending wide arcs of flame at Ize. "Fire render!" He then threw three larger fireballs.
"Ha! Hiyah yah yah!" Ize sliced through each attack that came at him. "Acid!" Ize then spit out a glob of yellow acid at Blaze.
"Hmph." Blaze side-stepped the glob of acid and ran for Ize with his arms and legs ablaze.
"Damn… seems he's gotten a lot better. Oh well, nothing I'm wholly unprepared for." Ize thought. Blaze began throwing punches and kicks in rhythm at Ize. Ize on the other hand was remaining on the defensive, evading punches and kicks with relative ease in spit of being able to fight back seemed like an impossibility.
"Wild fire!" Blaze began spinning around while expelling a short stream of flame. Ize was forced to jump way back, but while he was doing so he was making a string of hand signs.
"Metal jujutsu! Metal veil!" Ize formed a cloud of metal powder around Blaze. He then charged forward while charging up a hand with mana.
"Fire wall!" Blaze made a dome of fire that expelled the cloud of mana, the second he stopped spinning, he ran at Blaze with a glowing blue hand.
"Hastebreak!" Ize's hand had mana forming a blue claw around it. He swiped it at Blaze, striking him and causing Blaze's movement to be slower. "Hiyah!"
"Fire rush!" Blaze was still fast enough to throw a fist at Ize, but not after receiving a nasty cut on his cheek. The fire blast that resulted from the attack sent Ize skidding backwards several feet. "Fire fist!" He threw a small fireball at Ize. Ize jumped way in to the air to avoid the explosion that resulted. "Fire render!"
"Huh? AUGH!" Ize found himself struck by a large fireball, burning him severely. Ize looked at his opponent, hardly damaged compared to their last battle, while he himself had many burns on himself. "Grrrrr… this punk is not going to win."
"Ring!" Brently threw several rings in to the air that landed on top of a couple of black soldiers, constricting them and preventing them from moving.
"I've got them!" Jason shouted as he fired his arrows at the stopped black soldiers. "Whoa!" He narrowly avoided a bunch of arrows himself.
"Firaga!"
"Fire sword!" Mendoza created a fire sword and absorbed the flames from the firaga spell, he then swiped the massive flaming sword and incinerated many a soldier.
"Ice shot!" Monty fired several icicles in to the chests of black soldiers, killing them instantly.
"Bolt breath!" Kyle breathed out many lightning bolts, striking many black soldiers, sending thousands of volts through their systems before dying. "Hiyah!" Kyle stabbed his lance through two soldiers before withdrawing it and using it to knock back a few black soldiers.
"Deluge!" Syack caused geysers of water to erupt and flood over many black soldiers at once. He failed to notice several soldiers behind him ready to run him through.
"Whoa! Fire bomb!" Brently caused threw a molotov cocktail at the soldiers, frying them in ensuing explosion. "Pay attention old man!" Brently shouted.
"Angel whisper…" Kate said emotionlessly. As numerous soldiers surrounded her, she just stared past all of them at nothing as she said… "Blow up." Kate suddenly released a fiery explosion from her body. When the smoke cleared, the soldiers around her were dead, and she was covered in dirt and soot. She then drew her saber and started cleaving through Black soldiers.
"Sorry…" Syack said, clearly thinking about something.
"Fira! Thundara!" Laura tried striking Cious with conventional magic spells, all of which Cious easily avoided.
"Come Ramuh!" Cious summoned Ramuh to appear.
"Come Titan!" This time Laura summoned Titan over the top of her. As Ramuh called down a bolt of lightning, Laura had Titan create a dome of earth over her with the stomp of a foot. The lightning was still powerful enough to cause the dome to shatter to pieces. "Strike her… ugh!" Laura shouted. Cious had come over and stabbed her katana in to Laura's shoulder.
"Ha ha ha…"
"Ya!" Laura ignored the pain and thrust her rapier for Cious' throat. She managed to avoid the throat stab but received a stab in her shoulder instead.
"Ugh… this is going to take all day." Cious groaned in an annoyed tone of voice.
"Blizzara!" Stacy created icicles to skewer many black soldiers at once.
"Earth jujutsu! Earth veil!" Jessica created a wall of earth in front of Stacy, forcing many black soldiers to stop charging at her suddenly. Jessica then jumped over that wall and sliced through the black soldiers.
"Thanks Jessica." Stacy said.
"No problem." She said.
"Look out!" Stacy shouted. Jessica turned around to find many arrows flying at her. At this rate they would surely hit her.
"No!" Jason got in front of the arrows and took every last one of them for Jessica.
"Wha…" Jessica looked in horror as the arrows embedded themselves in Jason's back. Two or three even protruded out the front of his chest.
"Ugh… ugh…" Jason started to cough. His eyes were getting foggy, blood was coming from his mouth.
"Wh… why?" Jessica asked. Jason said nothing, he simply turned around and saw the archers that launched the arrows. Jason used the last of his strength to raise his bow, he aimed at the group of archers.
"Breath… of life… light my… arrow… and sing… within light… Ulti…ma… arrow…" Jason coughed out. He let the glowing arrow fly as he fell backwards. The arrow landed in the middle of the archers, it glowed even brighter, and then the dome of mana exploded. Jessica caught Jason as he fell and held him for a moment.
"Oh damn it! Keep your guard up you crazy dame!" Cid shouted as he jumped in front of Jessica and threw his fists at all of the black soldiers near them. "Mog lance!" Cid fired lances of mana by thrusting his fingers forward rapidly.
"Why…?" Jessica asked Jason's corpse with a few tears trickling down her cheek.
Meanwhile…
"Bolt breath!"
"Black blast!"
KABOOM
CLANG
Casey and Agres began running around the whole coliseum arena, dashing past each other and taking slashes at each other as they passed by. Occasionally stopping to use ranged spells and attacks.
"Aeroga!"
"Black tornado!" As the large tornado formed around Agres, he cancelled it out with his own tornado of black mana. "RAH!"
"HAAAAA!!!" The two were running so fast, that the ground beneath their feet tore up as they ran over it. The met near the middle of the arena and began rapidly trading weapons. Agres disarmed Casey, sending his sword high in to the air when Casey created ice swords in both of his hands, fending off Agres' poleaxe before flipping over the top of Agres, catching his sword behind his back, and wielding his normal sword along with an ice sword.
"RAH!" Agres shattered the ice sword, causing Casey to keep using his regular sword. "Don't you see?! This war is a battle! A battle is what a true bangaa warrior lives for! You can not deny this fact!" Agres shouted as he locked weapons with Casey.
"There is no fact to be had in your words Agres!" Casey shouted. "War is only unrest, and death! You have no right to call yourself a warrior Agres! You do not even know what a battle is!" Casey shouted.
"Ha! Then tell me! Show how me wrong you are!" Agres challenged.
"A battle is not war… it is not unrest… it is not all of this put together. A real battle is a contest. A contest of the highest order… to prove who is stronger than whom. A way to settle things." Casey said.
"LIES!" Agres shoved Casey away and prepared to bring his poleaxe down on top of Casey's skull.
"RAH!!!" Casey swung his weapon with such tremendous force that both his and Agres' weapons flew out of their hands. "You are the one that is wrong! Although there may be better ways… battle is ultimately one thing…" Casey said as he gathered his mana.
"And what would that be?" Agres said as he gathered his own.
"…" Casey closed his eyes. "SWORD OF THE JUDGE!!!" Casey called upon the mighty judge sword. It landed on his shoulder, he put one hand on the end of the hilt, and then used his massive strength to hold it behind him.
"AXE OF DARKNESS!!!" Agres created a gigantic axe out of dark mana, preparing to swing it at Casey.
"Battle is… ONE ROAD TO PEACE!!!" Casey shouted as he swung his weapon at Agres' weapon. To Agres' surprise, the sword completely obliterated his axe.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Agres shouted as the wave of energy exuded by the sword swept over him. Agres went flying back in to the coliseum wall. The wave of energy from the sword expanded and obliterated the foundations of the coliseum around Casey.
RUMBLE
CRASH
CRUMBLE
BOOOOOOOOOMMMMM
Casey stood in the center of the coliseum, his mana depleted, his cuts bleeding, and beads of sweat pouring down his body. "It is a… shame…" Casey breathed. He walked over and picked up his sword. He looked at the sword for a moment before he sheathed it. He took another few breaths of air as he looked at the rubble and dust around him. "You never could… realize what… it means to be a warrior." Casey said. He turned to the castle, and began walking towards it.
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The first casualty, and the first major victory of the final battle has come. So be sure to leave your comments.