Chapter Ninteen: Fading Hope

"I've come to retrieve Illumina," Ike said, rising from his knees. "You can't handle it," he stated, brandishing his sword. Ike then jumped down over by me from the hole in the roof I had crashed through.

"Here you go, making a big, dramatic entrance! This is MY show!" I yelled at him.

"Well... you don't really think HE deserves to be the main event... do you...?" Ike asked, pointing his sword at Charon. I looked over at the last Luce, whose wound had healed.

"Well, I suppose not," I said softly, stepping forward to match Ike's position. We then started walking toward Charon together.

"Hah! Do you feel you can defeat me?" Charon asked menacingly. "Defeat the power of Illumina, the sacred sword of light?"

"You should come to realize that you cannot control the power of Illumina," Ike said, waving a finger at him.

"You're wasting your time, buddy," I taunted, pointing my sword at him. "I think he needs to learn the hard way."

I looked at Ike's face, or rather, where his face should have been. It was still covered by his hood, but I felt he'd looked at me, too. We clashed out blades together momentarily while charging at Charon. We ran out and flanked him.

I made the first move, putting the sakaboto away for a Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. Charon evaded the attack, trying to impale me in the chest with Illumina. Ike quickly stepped in and blocked the attack, and I used the opportunity hit him in the face with the pommel of my sword. Charon stepped back with his nose bleeding.

Ike charged at him, but was barely knocked aside by a last-minute save that literally saved his life. I followed it up with a stroke of my own, but Charon somehow summoned a lance of light to parry my blow.

Ike and I jumped back, charging once again. We attacked him at breakneck speeds, but were blocked with Illumina and a light lance. Charon stabbed at me, but I knocked it aside. Ike impaled Charon in the shoulder with his great sword, leaving it.

"Twilight Release: Great Spiraling Sphere!"

A basketball-sized orange Spiraling Sphere appeared in Ike's hand, and he threw it at Charon. He dodged it, but it gave me the leverage to impale Charon in the chest with the sakaboto.

Charon staggered back, almost gushing blood. He gasped several times, but eventually grabbed the swords impaled in him and cast them aside.

"You two work well together... but even so, you can't defeat me with simple martial strength. I thought you'd know that, Ike," Charon said, placing disgust in Ike's name.

"So what? You've still lost a lot of blood. I know plenty about human physiology, and if Luce are anything like humans, you're barely able to stand," Ike said. "You can't stand well, your vision is blurred, and you feel like you're dying... because you are."

"You think I'm like you...?" Charon taunted. "Have you forgotten? I have Illumina, the sacred sword of light! It helps me recover from these grievous wounds!"

I looked on in horror as the wounds Ike and I had inflicted on Charon healed at an astounding rate. In just a few seconds, he'd stopped bleeding.

"You think we'll give up that easily?" I asked, making hand seals. I used Earth Release: Great Mud River to delay Charon while Ike grabbed our swords. He quickly got them and tossed the sakaboto to me.

We attacked him again, but not as successfully. He jumped back, almost impaling me in the shoulder with his lance, and striking Ike in the shin with Illumina. We both stepped back, and Ike tore off the ripped part of his cloak. The silver fabric fell to the ground.

"Now... it's over," Ike said coldly. A white aura surrounded him.

"What is that...?" I asked.

"Heh... finally upping the ante, eh, 'Ike'?" Charon taunted him.

"Can it. You're dead," Ike said with the same icy tone. He bradished his sword, then put it in its sheath. "Keep fighting along side me, if you will, but I can't guarantee your safety."

I gulped.

Ike vanished, then reappeared behind Charon. He had already impaled Charon on the back with his red sword. Blood was flowing out of the wound, staining the ground and Ike's silver cloak. Charon staggered forward, but the next time I blinked my eyes in disbelief, he was riddled with deep cuts, all spurting blood.

"I... you're more skilled... with that form... than you were last time we fought..." Charon gasped. "You're only using... a fraction of your real... strength, right...?"

"That's right..." Ike said, stepping aside as Charon fell to his hands and knees.

"Hey, you guys!" A cheerful voice chimed in. I looked up to see Aegle on the crags leading up into the main castle. She carefully jumped down to avoid tearing her clothes.

"Aegle, no!" I shouted. But it was too late.

Charon got a sinister look in his eyes. He dashed toward Aegle even through his greivous wounds. I went to stop him, but...

More blood... the blood of an innocent... stained the snowy floor. The blood of a corrupted light stained the floor as well. My blood stained the floor. Only the mysterious vagrant, Ike, had no wounds.

I grabbed Illumina by the blade, feeling my blood run down it. Aegle slumped over, dead. Charon gasped as Ike's blade pierced his head.

I could only gasp with sorrow and despair as I pulled Illumina from his dead hands. I stabbed his corpse over and over, even after Ike had pulled his sword out. I could only stab the corpse of the one who had taken the life of someone so precious to me...

"That's enough, Jake," Ike said as another white aura enveloped him. "That won't bring her back, and you'll be corrupted beyond salvation if you hold onto that sword much longer."

"I don't care!" I shouted, stabbing the corpse over and over. Ike knocked the blade from my hands with a swing of his sword. Illumina fell over to the center of the room, levitated for a moment, then fell through the hole in the floor.

Ike and I both chased it.