Sorry for the extremely and uncalled for late delay. Unfortunately, I had severe issues, most of them regarding exams and in fact am awaiting for yet another one. So, though I may have written the chapters, there was even less time to upload them. Gomenasai-yo. However, here are the next three. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 24: Seven Holy Virtues

In the room that was preceding the Dragon's Gate, a lone woman sat on the throne.

"So, Tamara is gone," she whispers to herself.

She stood up and straightened her clothes as she heard some noise. In less than five minutes, Lyn, Hector, Eliwood, and their group were in the room. She stared at them emotionlessly as they tensed, waiting for an attack.

"I don't suppose we can ask you to step aside, can we?" Hector asked hopefully.

"No, I'm afraid not," she replied back evenly.

Lyn narrowed her eyes. Something was wrong. The woman in front of her was radiating with a strange aura. A glint in her eyes didn't sit too well with Lyn. Something was really off in this situation.

"You won't leave here alive," she said harshly as she snapped her fingers. Suddenly, out of the ground, humanoid figures started to arise. They were blank, as they had no face and only the most limited human appearances in reference of their bodies.

"And He said, 'Let there be life!" Taran called out to the strange bodies. The bodies started to twitch and contort. They stretched as some areas sunk in and some areas bulged out. Faces were formed and amazingly, each one had a different face. All of them had one thing that was the same though. Their backs bulged and ripped. For each one, two, large, white, feathery wings emerged.

Each homunculus was now fully clothed in white robes and were carrying every type of weapon. They were angels and they were prim and primed for a fight.

"Have at them!" Taran shouted.

Immediately, everything degraded into a frenzy. More than half of the group was pushed outside to where most of the fighting was actually taking place. Of the ones that were still inside were Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector. However, they were having their work cut out as the angels were no pushovers.

Lyn ducked under a lance that was spun horizontally. Unfortunately, Wallace was standing on the other side and the lance carried enough force that it actually scratched through his armor and pushed him three feet. The grey general lost his footing, but in doing so, managed to crush the angel that he was locked against.

Of course, things couldn't be that well for everyone. Florina, who was not pushed out thanks to the constitution of her mount, was being mobbed by the angels and was having a difficult time fending them off. Luckily, Marcus and Isadora were near enough to help her up and the three rejoined the fight.

Eventually, the fight was starting to even out, even though that was only because of the experience of the members who were inside. Those who were outside were suffering more as the angels can fly and during that time, only archers and magic users and those capable of flight could do anything to them. Inside though, the angels pulled back and started a new assault.

When they started their assault though, they did something that took the members inside by complete surprise. The remaining angels rushed forward and tried to push as many of the fighters outside as they could. Even those who had mounts were pushed out by the wave.

Hector, who was so huge, yet maneuverable, managed to grab Eliwood as he was pushed by. With his larger constitution he acted as a shield against them and with he was able do avoid the stronger assaults because he had more maneuverability than the mounted units. Eliwood's horse though, was swept outside. Eliwood was not too worried though. His equine friend knew how to defend himself so there was no worry for him. He was busy defending Hector's back from angels who were planning to take a slice as they passed by.

Lyn on the other hand, was too far from Hector to use him as a shield. She was nearly swept away when the angels pushed at her. Of course, being Lyn, she didn't just stand there as they carried her to the door. Instead, she threw away the Iron Blade she was carrying and took out a Killing Edge. Now those angels were in for it. Added with the sword's perchance for critical chance and Lyn's perceptiveness after having Mark train her, the angels were quickly laid low. Most were trying in effort to avoid her.

When the last of the angels left, they closed the door and left a light rune in front of it so that no one could enter or exit. Of course, the only people who were left in the room now were Taran, Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector. The four of them stared at each other. Lyn narrowed her eyes at Taran who stared neutrally at the three lords.

"Get her!" Hector shouted as he and Eliwood rushed at her.

Despite her frail frame, she packed quite a punch, literally. She wove between their attacks and gave each of them a hard punch to the gut that sent them flying backwards. Lyn spared a look at her fallen comrades who were gasping for air.

"I've told you before. Nothing will stand in the way of our reconstruction," Taran said at them through gritted teeth.

Lyn was becoming less and less sure of herself every time she fought against one of these people. For some reason, they make her question whether what she was doing was right or not. Why?

Lyn thought back. During the fight against Nergal, there were times that they too questioned whether or not they should continue. Even against nearly impossible odds, they still continued headfast. Hector would say that he wanted to fight more; Eliwood would mutter that he must avenge his dad and that the fate of the world lies in their hands. She herself would say that only they could do this and Mark… he kept on saying that he couldn't just leave the story unfinished.

This time though, it was different. Back then, they had Mark to keep them going. Even through everything that kept happening, every despair, he kept pushing them forward. Perhaps this was because Mark was the only one who didn't deceive himself. Perhaps he was the only one who stuck to what he said. Perhaps he really meant that he couldn't leave a story unfinished.

Then what about now? Were they in the wrong? Could their actions be keeping another world from being reconstructed? Lyn shook her head. This was no time to be second guessing their actions thus far. They came here and now they're going to finish this. Just like what Mark have said, "Don't start what you can't finish."

Lyn pulled her Mani Katti out and rushed forward at Taran, though she knew to move slow enough so that she'll be able to get out of the way in time, unlike Hector or Eliwood.

Taran again wove around her attacks. Even though Lyn was more agile than her two friends, Taran moved with uncanny speed that seemed to predict her movements. When Lyn misjudged a step, Taran was already poised and ready for a heavy strike. Luckily, Lyn lifted up her sword and braced behind it as the punch connected with the flat end of the blade. Lyn was pushed back as well, but remained upright, though her friends were coming to.

Lyn looked down at her sword which was still vibrating. From one punch, the sword had already taken heavy damage. One more focused punch like that and it'll surely shatter. Lyn tightened her grip on the sword, willing it to stop vibrating. Even then, the sword still sent shivers up and down her arm. It was almost as if the sword was crying.

"You lack what it takes to defeat me," Taran stated simply as she walked forward towards them. They all took a step back to get into a defensive stance. She was unperturbed as she continued without missing a beat.

Lyn lifted her sword vertically and looked at the blade. She could attack, but more than likely, the sword will miss and Taran will retaliate, breaking the sword. Of the other swords with her, none had the mobility or power that she needed like the Mani Katti. The Sol Katti came close, but it was much too large to be maneuvered in such a close quarter fight.

"We're not done yet!" Hector shouted as he rushed at her with a Brave Ax. Hopefully, with the ax's abilities, he'll be able to maneuver better. Unfortunately, though he evaded some of her initial attacks, a spinning kick landed on the ax's head and it spun Hector out of control. Using that time, and his momentum, she grabbed his free arm and threw him across the room. Hector landed with a thud and his ax fell several feet away from him, its head now sporting a deep dent.

Eliwood and Lyn glanced cautiously at Hector to make sure that he was still alive and looked back at Taran.

"My power draws on the powers of Mercy. You cannot defeat them. Nothing can defeat them," Taran said softly, though she a tone of bitter resentment.

Lyn looked at her slightly longer. She suddenly stood up straight and relaxed her guard slightly. Eliwood looked at her wonderingly, though still keeping his stance, and Hector was looking at her as well as he got up from the floor.

"Powers of Mercy," Lyn stated. "You don't say. Somewhat like the powers of the Seven Sins?"

"… Yes."

"Then I suppose that the same restrictions apply then," Lyn stated confidently. "An antithesis attack would therefore nullify your abilities right?"

Eliwood thought for a second and a spark lit in his eyes. "I think I've got it!" He started by taking off every extra item he had except for Durandal, which he drew. Lyn noticed and shouted out for him to stop. He replied back, "The answer has been laid bare!"

With that he rushed right at Taran.

Taran just shook her head sadly. "Unleash some of thy powers!" she called out. She lifted one hand and a burst of energy erupted from underneath Eliwood, some ethereal feathers forming. Eliwood kept running at her, though not in a straight line, causing her attack to miss. She lifted her other hand and another attack came up, but it too was evaded.

Eliwood was now almost close enough to attack her with the huge sword. Suddenly, she dropped her hands as a large circle with runes formed in front of her. She traced another circle behind the one that formed with her right hand and flames lit the runes. "Luna Seal!" she cried out as blades of energy struck out at Eliwood.

Eliwood suddenly halted and brought his sword in front of him to block the attack. The energy spikes were diverged from him, keeping him relatively safe, but he was still thrown back by the force alone.

"Tougher since they're not dragons, aren't they?" Hector asked Eliwood who landed near him.

"Yeah. Almost make me wish that she was a dragon, but…"

"Ninian right?"

Eliwood just nodded while keeping his eye on Taran. She stared at them cautiously. Eliwood flinched. Something was wrong in her eyes. Over the course of many battles and countless deaths, Eliwood was no stranger to the feeling of hate as loved ones were cut down.

However, this was the first time that he's felt hatred this much. Lyn must be having it tougher. Lyn was more or less directly involved in the situation and it was only natural that she would be held accountable for both sides. Even then, it didn't make it fair.

"I've got it," Lyn said. Everyone turned their attention to her.

Lyn was kneeling on the ground with Mark's book opened in front of her. When Eliwood dropped all of his items, the book was one of them. When he said that the answer was laid bare, he meant that the book was there for Lyn to look through. He was just buying her time to find out how to beat Taran.

"You think you know how to defeat me?" Taran said through gritted teeth. "How would you know the feeling of the Sins and Virtues? Carrying the Sins is painful. Carrying the Virtues is even more so. The Sins can lay their feelings bare, but the Virtues must be kept upright, no matter the circumstances. Can you understand not feeling when you want to feel the most? Or have you lost the rest of your humanity as well?"

Lyn chose to remain silent.

"So silent? Fine then, die in silence as well!" Taran started to charge up an insane amount of energy. "Divine Spear!"

An ethereal spear was conjured up and it propelled itself at Lyn at an extreme speed.

"LYN!" Hector and Eliwood called out as they watch the spear impale her.

The spear faded away as the onlookers' faces filled with shock.

Lyn was standing there, remaining unharmed.

"How? How did you avoid my attack?!" Taran shouted at her in disbelief.

"The same way you were avoiding all of our attacks," Lyn stated back simply. "You used the gentleness of your energies, this Mercy you call, to avoid clashing without our energies and in so doing, avoiding our attacks."

The two male lords were looking at her in shock with their mouths agape. Lyn sighed in relief and continued on.

"However, it only works if the user is completely unafraid."

"I see," Taran said slowly. "Now that I understand what you just did, I'll be able to counter that. You really shouldn't let your advantages out, lest the opposition use it against you."

Eliwood and Hector were now even more shocked at Lyn.

Taran started to glow with an ethereal light of her own. Transparent feathers formed and flew around her as eight white wings emerged from her back. The four middle wings folded around her torso to form a protective barrier.

"You shall fall here!" she shouted as she rushed with amazing speed at Lyn.

Lyn, though shocked that she could run that fast in robes, gripped the Sol Katti and drew it to fight back. Taran sent a punch, but it fell short. Instead, she pulled it into a hook, and though Lyn had her sword poised to deflect an attack, the attack was not deflected and was now locked with the sword.

Extending from Taran's wrist was a purple blade. Upon closer inspection, Lyn saw that it was yet another wing, only it was made of energy. Lyn only reacted as she sensed Taran coming in for another attack with another wing blade from the other side, aimed at her abdomen. Shifting her weight, Lyn launched her self upwards, using the point the two blades were locked in together as a fulcrum.

Lyn managed to swing in a full arc over Taran, who was not expecting an attack from behind. Reversing her movement in the arc, Lyn drove her feet into Taran's back and kicked off. This caused Lyn to be launched into the air and Taran to stumble forward.

The moment Lyn landed, she spun around to face Taran. Taran, too, spun around and faced Lyn, her expression stone hard. Lyn felt more energy gathering around Taran. Suddenly, Taran disappeared.

Lyn glanced around quickly to try and spot her. By the time she's noticed that Taran was right beside her, Taran's punch was already lodged in her solar plexus and it sent her flying. Before Lyn could even register that she was punched, Taran appeared behind her and grabbed her arm. Taran swung Lyn upwards, causing Lyn to crash into the ceiling and even fracturing it.

As Lyn was falling down, not even ten feet from the high vaulted ceiling, Taran reappeared above her and slammed her foot into Lyn's back. The force drove the two straight to the ground where there was an explosion of dust and floor fragments.

When the dust cleared, Hector and Eliwood stared spellbound at the standing figure of Taran, towering over the form of Lyn collapsed on the ground. Taran turned her head slowly to face Hector and Eliwood. Both stood up and readied their weapons.

She was instantly over to them and proceeded to lash out with attacks that neither lords could keep up with. In less than two minutes, both Hector and Eliwood were on the ground, gasping for breath. Taran was standing over them without even sweating.

"This will be the end," she said softly as she gathered energy in her hand. "May she know the pain of losing a loved one."

Suddenly, a red streak slit right across her. She let out a sharp breath of air in pain but was otherwise unharmed. She turned around to see Lyn standing a fair distance way from her, tired but otherwise uninjured.

"Why won't you just die?!" Taran shouted in evident anguish as she sent the energy she was gathering right at Lyn. It passed through Lyn without leaving a scratch. "What?!" Taran shouted.

Lyn just stared at her. "You've lost," Lyn said slowly.

Everybody was frozen in place as they awaited for the next move. Taran closed her eyes, but then they snapped open in shock.

"What did you do to me?!"

"…" Lyn was silent.

Taran tried again to pool together her energy. Again she failed.

"Answer me!" she shouted as she rushed at Lyn.

"You are clouding you mind," Lyn said simply as she sidestepped Taran.

By now, Taran's movements were less coordinated and her sense of balance was, instead of being in her center, seemed to be all over the room. Lyn acted more like a teacher disciplining a student. She pointed out all of the flaws in Taran's attacks.

Eventually, Taran backed up and was breathing hard. "What did you do to me?" she asked again.

Lyn was silent at first. "… I simply stopped you from using your powers."

"!"

"The last attack I used was designed to stop one action. Of course, I had to time it correctly, but it seems that my guess was right," Lyn paused to take a breath. "You procure energy from the surroundings in order to fight at a higher level than your opponents, so when that is stopped, you are naturally reduced to being weaker!" Lyn shouted with an accusing finger pointed at Taran.

Taran looked at Lyn with wide eyes.

"Furthermore," Lyn continued. "You yourself left hints of how to by pass your own attacks." Everyone was staring at Lyn now in shock or wonder. "You said how 'nothing' can stand in the way of your attacks. Therefore, it was a clue to how to avoid them. By becoming nothingness, I could withstand those attacks!"

"How did-," Hector started to ask, but Lyn already started to answer before he could complete his question.

"Becoming nothingness is easy enough in theory. Philosophically, one can be referred to in correlation with the rest of the world by Soul and Nature. Soul is the individual and Nature is everything that is not the individual. From there, become a point of reference from neither the position of the Soul nor Nature, or adversely, become both the points of reference of both Soul and Nature."

"…Huh?"

"… I see," Taran said. "A well thought out answer. I suppose that's why He must have taken an interest in you."

Taran's wings started to fade away. "However, that doesn't mean that you've won yet."

It was now Lyn's turn to look surprise.

The wings had completely faded and a winged sword appeared in Taran's hand. "With this Divine Reaver, I'll destroy you and your soul."

Lyn was not ready for this. All of the other attacks she had precipitated for were physical, so she could at least find refuge in a shifted plane of existence, but this next attack would transcend even this plane. If it connected, she'll be on a one way trip to wherever you end up once you're decapitated, maimed, or otherwise dead.

Taran was close enough now for both of them to attack. Lyn felt so tired though. The stress of battle was taking its toll on her body and it just couldn't respond like she wanted it to. Suddenly, her ears twitched as she heard something. It was a soft melodic tune and rejuvenated her body. Not only that, she felt a boost of speed that let her see, at the last moment, the direction of the attack.

Lyn slipped through the opponent's sword as she lunged in with her own.

Everything happened in slow motion as the Sol Katti pierced through clothing and flesh.

Taran gasped and dropped her sword. It faded back into nothingness as its energy dispersed. She stumbled backwards as the Sol Katti left her abdomen. The sword was not stain with blood and she was not bleeding. Instead, white light filtered out from the wound. She clutched it as if it was painful though.

"Perhaps, not feeling pain, but knowing of it, is painful enough," she managed at say as she fell back on the throne behind her. Her voice was even and not broken, unlike others who spoke before dieing.

Her eyes stared to gloss over though and her body started to fade away. "I'm sorry sis. Gomenasai nee-chan. I… couldn't avenge you."

The rest of her body started to fade away as she looked upwards, seeing images of various importance to her. "Perhaps… I'm just not meant… to… exist…"

Taran disappeared in a cascade of lights and feathers. The three lords stared at where she once was. All of them were still shaken from having to fight her and they were all suffering inside, for they knew that each of her words had some meaning of truth behind them.

"Is it over yet?" a voice called out.

The three lords were shaken out of their stupor as they looked at Ninian and Nils who stumbled out of their hiding place.

"Looks like we're the only ones who are in here," Eliwood stated as he and Ninian drew nearer to each other.

"We have to keep on moving," Hector said.

"I agree. We can't wait for the others. They know how to handle themselves," Lyn said, concurring.

Everyone looked at each other. No words were needed to tell what had transpired. Ninian and Eliwood held each other close for support. Hector and Lyn pondered on what to do next, and Nils was just as lost. Beyond that next door lay the Dragon's Gate. All of them were connected to the place by some reason or other.

Now was not the time to lose hope. Everything is drawing to a close. Finally, after what seems to be so long, they can stop the nightmare.

And there you have it. Taran's end. I actually like the action description in this chapter, but if anyone knows how to write better action scenes, I'm more than willing to listen.