Finale
As they passed through the gateway, the view of the Edge of Madness greeted them. It was an eerily majestic place on a platform high above a flight of stairs. Surrounding the platform were massive glowing structures in the shape of swords pierced into the ground. And even from below, they could make out Chaos's enormous throne adorned with carvings of skulls.
Chaos, the God of Discord, was seated on the throne, slumping lazily against one hand. He was gigantic in size with a pair of leathery wings, four arms, red horns the color of blood on his head and a powerful tail. His whole appearance was monstrous to the point of repulsive. He eyed the warriors closely as they reached the top of the platform and gave a mocking snort, "Hmph, impressive… You managed to come this far… by the help of a traitor I see…" He stared at Golbez, the expression on his hideous face imperceptible.
"It doesn't matter how we get here," the Warrior of Light asserted. "We've come to end this war, for good!"
Snarling at the Warrior of Light's retort, Chaos idly sat up as he placed all four of his hands on the armrests of his throne. "Before that," he said, grinning maliciously, "Tell me. What do you fight for? To return to your homelands?" His smile seemed to widen with every syllable he said. "Do you really think you have one?" Savoring every look of confusion and shock which scattered amongst the Warriors of Cosmos, he continued nonchalantly, "You're all nothing but imitations, clones of 'real' people in the homelands you so wish to return to. Why do you think you have no memories? You are nothing but a perfect manikin. Pawns for our war. Or has your goddess told you otherwise?"
"Wha-What!?" The Warrior of Light stammered. "Cosmos will never do that!" Gasps of shock and denial can be heard amongst his fellow warriors. Even Gabranth, Shantotto and Gilgamesh looked visibly shocked. Can the God of Discord really be trusted?
Chaos chucked at their reaction. "I may be God of Discord, your enemy. But I do not lie. If you do not believe me, you can call forth your beloved goddess here and make things clear."
Cosmos! Please come and tell us that it's not true. The Warrior of Light screamed inwardly. Tell us that all we do have homes. That we'll get our memories back if we end this war. As he tried to recall all that Cosmos have told them, he felt a sharp pang of pain in his heart. Cosmos have never said anything about ending the war; about going home; about getting their memories back…
It has always been about continuing this fruitless cycle. The war was the only time when Harmony and Discord can be balanced, for one cannot exist without the other, the yin and yang of this world.
"So what?" Lightning's voice rang out in the despairing silence, "Don't make me laugh! What you just said doesn't make a goddamn difference! If we have no homelands, then we'll just have to make one for ourselves, right here! And we'll do that by getting rid of you!
Every warrior was staring at her in awe as she brandishes Odin's gigantic S-shaped blade in one hand, ready to challenge the God of Discord.
"I never thought I'll see the day when Lightning's more positive than I am!" Laguna cheerily said as he aimed his machine gun at Chaos, apparently recovering from his depression, "But she's totally right! We may be imitations or clones, but that doesn't make us defective. We already have friends. All we gotta do is to create the memories!"
"Tha-that's right!" Terra piped in as she stepped forward to join Lightning and Laguna, "It's not the net worth of one's life that's important. It is the day to day concerns, the personal victories, and the celebration of life… and love!"
One by one, the warriors stepped forward as they found back their lost hope. It was a different future altogether, but one that shone brighter than ever. The thought of continuing a new life with people around them, people they can see and remember clearly, in contrast to blurry visions of a life they once had strengthened their resolve.
"This is our story. It'll go the way we want it to be!" Tidus exclaimed, grinning widely as he twirled his bubbling blue sword in his hand.
Beside him Yuna smiled determinedly as she said, "We'll end this endless cycle of destruction… without false hope!"
Zidane placed one hand on his hip and shook his head, saying, "I can't sit around knowing a girl's in trouble. Goes against my nature."
Gabranth swung his dual-bladed sword as he stepped forward, growling, "Even a stray has pride!"
Even Gilgamesh was pumped up by his companions' soaring morale. "Ha! That's the way it should be! It will never do to have low fighting spirits! For Gilgamesh… IT'S MORPHING TIME!" And in a flash of light, he had morphed into an eight-armed figure which each of the six extra hands carrying a different weapon.
Chaos looked visibly infuriated at this turn of events, his horrendous face contorted into one of pure bestiality and evil. "You shall pay for this… I'll bring you 'true' death!"
He began the battle by sending four glowing meteor balls at the group. They dispersed to avoid the attack but soon followed up with retaliation. It was like none of the battles they ever had before. Every member was driven by a common dream, creating combination attacks they have never endeavored before.
Furious that his first attack had missed, Chaos leapt from his throne and dived through the air and created a glowing fissure as he landed. He was lightning-fast in his movements that it was near difficult to distinguish his figure if he was slashing through the air. Unfortunately for him, his landing was foreseen by Gabranth and before he could catch sight of the Gabranth, Chaos was staggering back by the impact of a powerful swipe of Gabranth sword. This was immediately followed by Terra's Flood magic, creating a forceful burst of water from the ground which tossed him into the air.
Kain followed up next, jumping high into the air and hurling his lance square on Chaos's chest which threw him back. But before he landed, Lightning had kept him launched with a series of slashes by Odin's Blade and in a flurry of red rose petals; Chaos had found himself struggling to escape the seemingly endless series of attacks.
He spun in the air, unleashing a horizontal disc of energy which extended throughout the platform, successfully injuring Firion, Tifa, Vaan and Prishe. They staggered as they picked themselves from the ground but declared firmly, "we can still fight!"
Chaos smirked at his success and swung his claws at Cecil, who barely avoided them, leaving blazing red trails in its wake. Shantotto took the chance as Chaos was focusing on Cecil to launch a series of magical spells on him; fire, earth, thunder, air, water and ice. Firion connected it with his firing of every weapon he has in his arsenal, charged, hurling him straight into Vaan's whirlwind. Caught in the vortex, Chaos was struggling to escape when Jecht sent an enormous meteor crushing down on him.
He fell from the sky but before the he touches the ground, Prishe had greeted him with a wide grin and a glowing fist. This time, the impact on Prishe's punches sent him sliding across the ground, leaving a trail of destroyed rocks. He staggered to get up, shaking furiously in anger. But a combination of Golbez's lasers and Yuna's Bahamut's black energy balls combined rained relentlessly on him, some even created holes on his wings.
He tried to block out the attack, creating a pillar of red flames around him. Reappearing on the top of the pillar, he went berserk as he slashed around the area frenziedly with his claws and tails. His attacks made its mark on the Onion Knight, Laguna and Squall. Badly injured they may be, but they still stood back up to fight this battle until the end.
Squall released a series of thunder magic on him. While the shock did little to damage him, it did break his concentration on his attacks, allowing Cloud to close in. Cloud's swords disintegrated into at least five different types of swords, glowing blue as it floated around Chaos, trapping him. In the speed of light, Cloud had slashed Chaos repeatedly, changing his sword at every turn he made. With a final blow and an explosive bullet from Laguna's gun, an explosion occurred in mid air.
Chaos was severely worn out from the unyielding attacks. He was panting heavily and with his torn wings and bleeding scars, very little remained of the proud God of Discord who swore to finish them earlier.
"You… No…" He growled, his voice shaking in anger, "You are not leaving this world! You shall pay for what you've done and dig your own graves… right here in this dead world!" A bright pillar of fire erupted around him and in one blinding instant, Chaos had transformed into, if it was even possible, a more bestial form.
He crawled on his four arms and two legs and his torn wings and wounds glowed red and yellow. He gave out a loud and ferocious roar before charging forward at the warriors once more.
And everyone soon realized that Feral Chaos, unlike Chaos, was one moved by sheer insanity. It was as though he was in a constant berserk state, attacking in random, hoping that it would find its mark on someone.
No longer able to foresee his attacks, a number of the warriors were caught in his frenzied attacks. The Warrior of Light cursed inwardly as his arm was badly lashed by a swipe of those burning claws. The God of Discord has lost his mind, he thought. We have to bring him down! But… how? His movements are erratic. What could be his weakness? Racking his brains for answers, the Warrior of Light continued sending rays of light at the feral god.
One by one, every warrior was injured in one way or another. So this is the strength of pure lunacy… Golbez thought. When you can't think, and unleash all the powers contained within you… This is what you get?
"I refuse to believe we'll end by the hands of this monster!" Zidane declared, wiping blood off his mouth with the back of his hand. "There's got to be a way!"
"Can't we combine all our powers?" Gilgamesh asked, shrugging his shoulders, "like… SUPER DUPER MORPHING TIME or something?"
"Combine our powers…!?" the Onion Knight said excitedly, "That's it!"
"SUPER DUPER MORPHING TIME?" Gilgamesh asked almost innocently.
"No," the Onion Knight replied as he leapt from the ground, avoiding a lash of Feral Chaos's powerful tail. "Maybe… we can combine our magic powers. I mean we can't just pierce our swords together at the same time at him, can't we? So… If we channel every last ounce of magic power we have… maybe we stand a chance!"
"Worth a try," Lightning said as she swung her blades to counter Feral Chaos's claws.
"We'll channel them all to Shantotto! She has the strongest magic here." Terra agreed.
"Ohohoho." Shantotto said, "Jolly good idea. Now stand guard around me as I focus, and send me your magic powers, hocus pocus." With that she closed her eyes and concentrated her powers.
One by one, all the warriors sent every ounce of their magic to her. In Shantotto's hands, the energy ball was now filled with sparks of electricity, fiery serpents, ice crystals among others, each signifying the magic which each warrior was best at.
As Tifa sent her last magic in the form of ice crystals to Shantotto, the queer mixture in her hands began to radiate a golden light. Enveloping all the different elements to form a huge golden energy ball, the combined magic powers of every warrior shot straight out of Shantotto's hands, knocking even its caster back, and headed straight for Feral Chaos.
A blinding gold light forced everyone to shield their eyes. And when they reopened them, the environment had seemingly transformed. It was the same place based on the structure of the platform, but all around, it was dark save from a mysterious golden light high up above them.
The light grew larger and larger as it got nearer and nearer. Soon, the golden light in the shape of a majestic dragon flew around the platform, lighting up the area enough for them to see Feral Chaos's corpse, no longer glowing and lifeless, sprawled across the throne.
A gentle golden light engulfed them as the golden dragon circled the platform, and one by one, they were teleported out of that place…
…
It was nothing but a blank space, pure white, where the warriors were floating. They looked around nervously, wondering if this was what death looked like.
"My warriors…" Cosmos's voice rang out, echoing throughout the whole place.
"Cosmos!" The Warrior of Light cried out.
"You have fought bravely. Will it console you to know that you have ended the war for good? Shinryu have left the world for good… There will be no more resurrections, no more cycles, no more Gods…"
"What about you?!" Cecil cried out.
"Harmony cannot exist without Discord. I have decided to leave this world too. The last of these powers that I have as a Goddess… I'll use it for your sake… You deserve it."
And soon after, they could see one another no more…