Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off, Blaze was quickly losing the edge in his fight against Ize, but thankfully Hunter arrived to lend him a hand. Meanwhile the battle against Cious and Laura remains nearly at a standstill, all the while Matt has a heated battle against General Mis. In the end, Matt prevails over Mis. Now how does Cole fare against General Diabol?
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
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The Court of Ultima
"Amazing…" Diabol said as he looked at his surroundings.
"So you know where this is?" Cole asked.
"Of course, I read about this place all the time." Diabol said in amusement. The two of them appeared to be standing on an endless sheet of glass, but all around them; up, down, left, right, anywhere they looked, they saw an endless sea of stars and planets. As if they were standing in outer space itself. "The legendary Court of Ultima." Diabol said in awe.
"Correct." Cole said. "I believe that this place is appropriate. The mages of old settled the greatest of disputes here, and now here we shall settle who between the two of us is the better mage." Cole said.
"I will give you my amends. I never thought it was possible to reach this place anymore." Diabol said.
"Those who stand within this sacred court… art thou prepared to accept the conditions thrust upon thee?"
"The voice of Ultima…" Diabol said in awe. "Yea."
"Yea." Cole said.
"Only magic cast by thine own hand be welcome here. Thou art not to lay thine hands upon thy foe, and thou art not to divulge in thy items. Dost mages who hast lay foot upon this sacred court accept?"
"Yea." Cole answered.
"Yea." Diabol answered.
"Show thine respect…" The voice said. Cole and Diabol bowed to each other, all the while keeping their eyes glued to the other. "Let this dual of magic, commence."
"Firaja!" Cole instantly cast a spell that formed a pillar of fire around Diabol.
"Black wall!" Diabol instantly created a wall of dark mana around him. "Black blast!" He then not only gathered a sphere of dark mana, but he also absorbed the mana that made up the shield in to it, making it much bigger than usual. "RAH!"
"AH!" Cole got hit by the surprisingly swift ball of dark mana before…
KABOOM
"Ha ha!"
"Thundaja!"
"ARGH!" Diabol then got struck by a gigantic column of lightning, making him yelp in pain as the many thousands of volts coursed through his body.
"Star cross!" Cole followed that up by creating a white, eight-pointed star that radiated with holy magic.
"Black sweep!" Diabol slammed his hands against the ground, creating a wall of dark mana in front of him that not only stopped the radiation of holy magic, but the wall also started to surge forward like a raging tsunami, preparing to consume all in its path.
"Whoa!" Cole was swept away by the blast of dark mana, feeling as though it was sweeping over his very soul.
"Now the real fun begins." Diabol said sinisterly. "Whirlpool of blackness!" The dark mana around Cole then began to swirl around and around, as if it was draining somewhere. Pretty soon the dark mana formed a whirlpool, with him swirling around the edges of it.
"ARGH!" Cole yelled as he was helplessly swirling around the whirlpool of dark mana.
Meanwhile…
"Fire render!" Blaze threw a large fireball at Ize, who simply jumped over it while spinning around.
"Faster!" Hunter then fired a few swift arrows at Ize, who simply deflected them by swinging his sabers around.
"Grrr… no matter how little they amount to me alone, put together they may prove to be a threat. I've got to go for that guy with the bow, he's significantly weaker than this guy." Ize thought.
"Fire blast!" Blaze performed a spin-kick that sent an arc of flame at Ize.
"Water jujutsu! Water veil!" Ize created a small wall of water between him and the wall of water that created a lot of steam around him.
"Heh." Hunter smirked at this.
"Goblin…!" Ize ran for Hunter with a fist drawn to strike him down. "Whoa!" Ize failed to see an arrow embedded in the ground at such an angle that he would trip over it and fall on his face. "Oog…"
"RAH!!!"
"WHOA!!!" Ize rolled out of the way of Blaze, who nearly crushed him underneath his flaming legs and fists.
"Dang… I knew he couldn't see past the steam himself, I thought planting that arrow there for him to trip over would work but… YIPE!!!" Hunter quickly leaned backwards as Ize hurled several kunai and shuriken at him, avoiding each one that sailed over him.
"HA!" Ize then engaged in a fast and furious sword to fist fight with Blaze. Although Blaze seemed to have the advantage for a moment, Ize managed to do a close-quarter dodge and go in to impale his sword in to Blaze's stomach.
"Take Aim!" Hunter took careful aim with his bow, and then released it, sending it flying until it struck Ize in the shoulder.
"Ah!"
"Fire Rush!" Blaze then slammed his flaming fist in to Ize's face, sending him skidding across the ground several feet.
"Grrrrr… twister!" Ize ignored the intense burning on his face and formed a light purple whirlwind around Hunter.
"GAH!" Hunter cried as the blades of wind cut in to his skin.
"Ha!" Laura and Cious went in for intense close-range combat with each other. As Laura went in for a thrust, Cious held her katana in a back handed style, spun around while deflecting Laura's rapier upward, and then sweep kicking Laura. "AH!"
"DIE!!!" Cious then prepared to stab her katana in to Laura's stomach.
"Thundara!"
"AUGH!" Cious was then struck by four lightning bolts that sent her flying backwards. Laura stood back up while gathering mana for another spell.
"Ifrit!" Laura called upon Ifrit, burning brighter and more furiously than ever.
"Grrrrr…" Cious was getting fed up with this fight. "The kid gloves are off…" She hissed. Ifrit gathered a gigantic fireball in his hands and hurled it toward Cious. "I CALL UPON THEE!!! TITAN!!!" Cious created a brown magic circle in front of her. From it, Titan appeared, blocked the fireball, and then slammed its fists down in front of it. A chain of stalagmites burst from the ground towards Laura, tearing up the ground as they proceeded.
"AUGH!!!" Laura got slammed by this chain of stalagmites. "Shiva!" Laura summoned Shiva, who then used its ice to freeze all of the rocks from the inside, interrupting the chain and preventing Laura from certain death. "Shiva, show the might of thy sword!" Laura commanded. Shiva charged towards Cious with its rapier of ice ready to pierce Cious through.
"Hmph." Cious jumped at the last second, landed on the icy rapier and ran along the length of it. She jumped off of Shiva's shoulder as Shiva disappeared with her sword above her head, ready to slice Laura in half.
"AH!" Laura jumped back, but still received a nasty gash along the length of her torso.
"Laura!" Kyle shouted.
"Whoa! Stay focused!" Cid shouted. He punched away a small crowd of black soldiers that were preparing to jump Kyle from behind.
"I need to find Laura." Kyle said to himself. "RAH!" Kyle then leaped high through the air, somewhere a ways back.
"Sheesh, what's eating him?" Monty asked as he gunned down any black soldiers that were charging at our heroes.
"Whatever it is… I hope it's important. BECAUSE HE IS FREAKIN' LEAVING US HERE!!!" Mendoza shouted, trying his best to fend off multiple black soldiers.
"Breath of life, light my mace and sing within light. ULTIMA MACE!!!" Gilbert swung his glowing mace as hard as he could, slamming a hapless black soldier in the head and sending him sprawling in to a crowd of black soldiers, where a dome of purple mana soon consumed them.
"GAH!" Both Monty and Mendoza shouted as they noticed the flurry of arrows coming their way.
"Secret art! Soil Veil!" Seth summoned a wall of earth in front of the two of them, saving them from the storm of arrows.
"Whew…"
"Secret art! Prominence veil!" Seth caused flames to erupt in seemingly random places of the battlefield, throwing the black soldiers caught in the blasts in to confusion.
Meanwhile…
Cole continued to swirl around and around in this vortex. "Grrrrrrrr…"
"Forget it, even a mage of your caliber cannot escape that vortex! I have won!" Diabol shouted.
"Heh…"
"What's so funny? The fact that I have proven that I am the superior mage?" Diabol asked.
"No…" Cole said. "Just that fact that you forget who has had more experience here."
"What?" Diabol's look of confidence instantly changed to one of shock as Cole disappeared in a blinding flash of light. "WHAT!!! That's not possible!"
"Bio!"
"Black wall!" Diabol surrounded himself with black mana just in time to avoid several globs of poison from clinging to him and exploding. "What?" He turned around to find Cole levitating above the ground.
"I have dueled here once before Diabol, I know how to use the ambient magic energies this place possesses, you have only read about it." Cole said. "Star dust!" Cole summoned down a massive meteor storm to crush Diabol.
"You think I don't have a few tricks left? Black barrage!" Several orbs similar to black blast formed all around Diabol and launched themselves at the meteors, shattering them upon collision. The remaining orbs then flew at Cole, who was unable to avoid them all and was sent flying backwards.
"Grrrrrr… Waterga!" A massive geyser of water erupted beneath Diabol's feet and sent him soaring through the air.
"Black gale!" Diabol sent a spiraling blast of dark mana flying towards Cole, catching him in a windstorm of blackness.
"Too much… depends on this fight… I can't lose…" Cole groaned. "Force Shield!" Cole formed his impenetrable shield of mana to protect himself from the gale, then exerted even more mana so the wall would sustain itself briefly. "Haste!" Green roman numerals spun around Cole quickly. Cole then vanished from behind the wall and was right behind Diabol the next minute.
"What!?!"
"Flare!" Cole cast flare on Diabol, causing a massive temperature spike around Diabol.
KAAAABOOOOOOM
"AUGH!!!" Diabol went skidding across the floor. "Black consuming!"
"Gah!" A swirling black portal opened up beneath Cole, and numerous tentacles came up and wrapped themselves around Cole. Cole used his own mana to fight being pulled down, desperate to get away.
"Ha ha! Even if you can fight being pulled down… that's all the advantage I'll need!!! Black destruction!!!" Diabol snapped his fingers, soon a small black orb with purple flames around it appeared at the tip of his finger, then it began to grow, and grow, and grow. "Soon, YOUR END HAS COME!!!" Diabol shouted.
Meanwhile…
"Wood veil!!!" Jessica entangled numerous soldiers in front of her with green vines. "Fire jujutsu! Fire veil!" Jessica then created a burst of flame that threw the black soldiers in to confusion.
"Breath of life… light my blade and sing within light, Ultima saber." Kate said emotionlessly and slashed a single soldier in the stomach before leaping back and allowing the dome of light to consume him.
"Far fist!" Will threw his fists forward rapidly, causing outbursts of wind wherever he aimed them to blow soldiers everywhere.
"Expert guard!" Adam took a defensive stance, proceeding to block any and all attacks that were thrown at him, and also causing any soldiers foolish enough to attack him to receive a fatal counterattack from him.
"Oh for the love of all things good and wholesome this is getting nowhere!" Brently shouted out of frustration as he just flipped over the top of several black soldiers while throwing rings at them, constricting them where they stood.
"I'll finish them off for you! Fira!" Stacy roasted those black soldiers alive with mildly large fireballs. "I did it!"
"Behind you!" Seth shouted. "Augh!" Seth felt a blade sink in to his shoulder before he gut kicked the soldier who did before running him through.
"Yipe!" Stacy narrowly rolled out of the way of a few sword attacks.
"Gah!" Mendoza yelled as a thunder spell hit him.
"There are so many of them!" Monty shouted as he took cover from the many arrows raining down from above.
"… Ultima punch!" Cid threw his glowing fist forward and socked a black soldier right in the jaw. Soon the soldier and any of his allies around him found themselves consumed by a dome of mana.
Meanwhile…
"Ha ha ha ha…" Diabol started laughing. "Ha ha ha ha… ha ha ha ha… HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!" Diabol was now in a laughing fit. "You see Racemaster!?! Do you see that I have proven myself superior to you!? I am the ultimate mage in Ivalice! No… the whole world even!"
"…" Cole simply stared intently at him as the black ball of fire was now the size of a really large meteorite.
"What's the matter? Are you so frightened that words escape you?" Diabol asked.
"…" Cole closed his eyes and smiled. "You're a fool." He said.
"GRRRRRRRAH!!!" Diabol then hurled the large projectile at Cole. Suddenly mana formed around, Cole, then like blades of wind, the mana cut the tentacles holding Cole down and allowed him to move out of the way.
"WHAT!!!"
"I told you… I know how to harness the abundant magical energy inside of this court Diabol… your arrogance will now be your downfall! DEMOLITION!!!" Cole formed a ball of mana and bowled it towards Diabol, growing larger and larger as it picked up speed.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Diabol shouted as the ball struck him head on.
"This dual hast ended. Thou shall now be sent back from whence you came." No sooner did the voice say this, that a bright white flash of light occurred, and the two were in the room Cole found Diabol in previously. Diabol now was on his knees, his head face down on the table.
"How…" Diabol asked weakly.
"You were too arrogant Diabol. You expected that move to finish me off, and you had nothing else prepared in case I somehow escaped or survived that attack." Cole said he had his rod prepped to swing at Diabol.
"…" Diabol said nothing for a moment, but then spoke. "Who did you send after Marshal Agon?"
"…" Cole did not answer.
"Because whoever you sent after him… you have sent that one to their death." Diabol said with a smile.
"No." Cole said with a smile. "I have the utmost confidence in my friend. He has made mistakes before, and so have I… but…" Cole paused and sighed. "He will not fail… to do what he believes is right." Cole said. He then swung his rod and struck Diabol in the side of the head. Due to his weakened state, this simple blow to the head, was all that was needed to finish him off.
Meanwhile…
"Ha!" Ize swung at Hunter with his swords, Hunter blocked it with his bow and shoved him off before rolling out of the way of a vertical slice.
"NOW BLAZE!!!"
"Huh…"
"Breath of life, light my flames and sing within light! Ultima blaze!!!" Blaze threw a flaming first forward, sending a large fireball that was glowing in multiple colors.
"Breath of life, light my arrow and sing within light! Ultima shot!" Hunter fired a glowing arrow at Ize.
"Grrrrrrr… Breath of life, light my blades and swing within light! ULTIMA SABERS!!!" Ize struck both the arrow and the fireball with two glowing sabers. There at first a massive surge of mana energy before…
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!" All three combatants went flying backwards as the mana exploded with intense energy.
"Don't you two get it…?" Ize asked.
"Hm?" They both looked at Ize.
"No matter what strategy you come up with, no matter how much stronger you might get… I will always be one step ahead of you… because I will have worked a thousand times harder than either of you could have in a lifetime. Your so-called natural gifts will not win against me!!!" Ize yelled.
"GAH!!!" Laura was sent flying backwards as Cious' Shiva caused ice to erupt from underneath Laura.
"Last breath!" Cious ran forward, ready to stab her katana through any vital point on Laura's body.
"Carbuncle!" Laura quickly summoned Carbuncle and stopped Cious cole.
"Augh!"
"Blizzara! Thundara!" Laura struck Cious with both a blizzara spell, and then a thundara spell, sending Cious flying backwards for a brief moment.
"Oof… grrrrr… why don't you just die!?" Cious yelled.
"Because… you said you wanted to prove you're the best summoner." Laura said.
"So?"
"…" Laura then gave Cious a cocky smile. "You don't expect me to admit someone is stronger than I am without a fight do you?"
"Gah! Hiyah!" Toxin was cleaving her way through soldiers, fending off soldiers left and right as they tried to converge on her. One soldier removed her blindfold, most of them backed off in fear when they saw her eyes. "Looking in to these eyes for you… means death!" She shouted as she blew them all away with a crack of a fire whip spell.
"Star cross!" Syack created a holy star over the battlefield, sweeping over black soldiers with holy energy.
"Beso toxico." A black soldier sniper aimed a poisoned arrow carefully at Toxin, before releasing the arrow.
FWIP
"Ugh…"
"…" Toxin looked in horror at Syack, right behind her, with a poisoned arrow in his stomach. "Syack… you…"
"Heh… I owed you for saving my life in the desert… and I owed you a much more sincere apology…" Syack said.
"You… YOU STUPID OLD MAN!!! YOU PLANNED THIS DIDN'T YOU!!!" She shouted.
"This way… I'll see my grandson again…" Syack said as his vision grew blurry. "I've lived long enough… you still have life and love to pursue… don't throw that away just yet…" Syack said. "Breath of life… light my rod and sing within light…" Syack said his rod began to glow brighter and brighter. "ULTIMA ROD!!!" Syack slammed his rod on the ground in front of him. The dome of mana expanded, consuming Syack, and all of the black soldiers around him, but not even effecting Toxin, by Syack's will.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Toxin shouted.
"My dearest grandson… I've fought to make this world better…" Syack thought as the light grew brighter around him. "That's what you always wanted right? You've changed this bitter old man… you've shown me the error of my ways even after death… this way… I will see you again… your grandfather… Syack…"
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
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The battle is progressing, and more have died honorably. How fare the other two Racemasters? And will the battles with the Colonels ever end? Leave a review and tell me your thoughts.