Two Destinies Chapter 16: The Battle with Barbatos
Author's Note: Here it is! The final chapter of Two Destinies part 1! I gotta warn you ahead of time, you guys are probably gonna want to choke more information out of me (literally) once you have read this, but my lips are sealed. You'll just have to wait until my writing hiatus is done~~~! Regardless of any frustrations you may have upon completing this chapter, I hope you enjoy it! And, just to remind anybody who may be thinking way too much into this chapter, this is the end of the FIRST part of the story, so keep that in mind... ;)
This is all my fault... Kyle thought as he ran blindly away from Peruti. His legs just kept bringing him in some random direction, completely separate from his thoughts. If I hadn't insisted on having Reala stay in Peruti, she wouldn't have been kidnapped... But how was I supposed to know that Barbatos was following us? Out of breath and stamina, Kyle stopped running. For the first time since he had left Peruti, he finally took notice to the environment around him. The grass lightly tickled at his shoes, and a moderately chilly wind played with his yellow hair and white scarf. Kyle'd had no time to remove his outfit from the Mount Celsius adventure, so the chill wind didn't bother him. Kyle had no idea where he even was, or how far away from Peruti he had even gotten. This didn't seem to bother the already-troubled teenager, however, as he was completely focused on his rescue mission. He needed to find 'a cave on the coast', according to the letter from the other person who was apparently accompanying Barbatos. Having recovered somewhat, Kyle dashed off into the unknown once again, scarf bouncing in the wind.
~~~
Somewhere fairly nearby, the other five adventurers were trying to find the runaway teenager in attempts to stop him from doing something stupid he may regret. They had been searching for almost an hour at this point, with no clues to pinpoint even which direction Kyle had run off in. "This is ridiculous..." Keele said, somewhat out of breath. "Not only is that stupid kid fast, but it's like we're chasing after a ghost..."
"I have a better idea than trying to find Kyle." Farah said. Everybody turned to face the green-haired martial artist. "Instead of looking for him, let's try looking for the cave on the coast that the letter had talked about. If we find that, perhaps we'll end up getting there before Kyle and, once he shows up, we can start talking sense to him."
"Great idea, Farah." Reid said. "So, let's head in the direction of the coast, then."
"It should be in that direction." Chat said, pointing in a random direction. "The breeze is coming from that direction, and since it's the middle of the day, that means the wind is blowing in from the sea."
"All right." Keele said. "Chat's right. Let's head into the wind." And the adventurers ran off, hoping they would somehow run into Kyle, perhaps by accident.
~~~
Kyle had also reached the coast by sheer luck, having no idea about sea breezes and was also searching for the cave by following the coastline. Waves licked at the cliffs below, occasionally sending a chilly spray upward. Thanks to his warm jacket, Kyle didn't even flinch at the sea spray.
~~~
On the other hand, the rest of the team, not wearing their winter outfits anymore, were getting wet and cold from the spray. "So... wet!" Meredy said after getting doused with an especially powerful jet of spray after a large wave rolled into the side of the cliff. Quickie shook his fur out.
"We have to keep moving." Farah said. "Don't let the cold water slow us down!"
"Keep an eye out for anything that seems remotely cave-like." Keele said. "We need to keep searching."
"Do we have to keep running so fast, though?" Chat said. "I'm starting to get tired here..."
"Me too..." Keele said. "We can slow down a little bit..."
"No way!" Reid said. "We have to find Kyle and make sure he doesn't get hurt!"
"He'll be fine." Farah said. "He always somehow ends up being okay, no matter what. And I agree, we should slow down a little."
"Well, I guess you have a point..." Reid said, scratching the back of his head. "But we still have to hurry and make sure nothing terrible happens, though."
"Which is why I said we should slow down a little." Farah said. "Not a whole lot, just enough to let Chat and Keele recover."
"Fine." Reid nodded. He slowed his run a little and the others followed suit. "We need to find that cave..."
~~~
Kyle had found a pile of dark grey and craggy rocks that were jutting out of the ground conspicuously. And, sure enough, when he looked around, he found a hole in the outcrop. However, just as he was about to enter, a strong breeze picked up and, even with the extra layers on, Kyle was forced to recoil from the wind. After the wind subsided, Kyle resumed his entrance into the hole a couple steps, when, all of a sudden, he felt a tug on his neck and could not continue inside anymore unless he wished to choke himself. Looking back behind him, Kyle saw that his scarf had somehow gotten stuck in between two rocks when the wind had picked up. He walked back outside and begin tugging at the scarf, but it would not budge.
"Damn scarf..." He said under his breath. After a couple seconds at staring at the trap, he figured that either he would somehow rip the scarf if he tried to remove it or it would be stuck there forever. Shrugging, he added, "Well, it's not like I need it anyways..." Somewhat gracefully, Kyle spun around and the scarf came off of his neck. It billowed in the wind, its obvious white color standing out like a beacon against the dark rocks that had trapped it. Kyle stared at the pinioned scarf for a half a second before descending into the darkness once again.
"Reala?!?" Kyle yelled into the darkness as he progressed slowly inward. "Are you here? Hey!" He kept repeating these phrases and others as he fumbled his way around the cave. At one point, he had even nearly fallen over when the trail abruptly dropped in slope. After his heart stopped racing from the scare, he sighed in relief and continued onward. Turning around corner after corner in what seemed to be an endless maze of cave, Kyle's heart skipped a beat when he finally saw a faint glimmer of hope. There was a very dim purple glow that an unobservant individual might have missed up ahead, and, hoping it was Reala, raced in the direction that the light was emanating from. As he banked the next turn, the glow became even stronger, to the point that Kyle could actually see his hands in front of his face once again. There was only one more turn left to take...
Sure enough, seemingly floating in the air on the other side of the nearly circular cave room, there was Reala. Her eyes were closed, and her hands were poised around the Lens pendant on her neck, which was providing the illuminating aura. Kyle gasped, and then, at the top of his lungs, he yelled out "REALA!!!" With a tiny gasp of her own, Reala's eyes opened and she stared into the face of the hero that had come to rescue her. Instead of the smile that Kyle was anticipating, however, Reala's face was filled with fear.
"Kyle, no!" She yelled. "Please go back! It's a trap!" After taking a rather raspy breath, she added. "I don't want to see you get hurt!" Not one to follow good advice at a time like this, Kyle ran a few steps toward Reala rather than turning around.
"I'm not leaving without you!" He yelled. "Please, come with me!" Kyle extended an arm towards Reala as a gesture.
"I can't..." Reala said. "There's a spell that was cast to keep me from moving... I've done everything I can to break the spell..."
"I'll break the spell!" Kyle said, taking another step forward. "I'll save you no matter what!"
"No, Kyle..." She said, forcing back tears. "Leave me here and escape to safety... Your life is in danger..."
"I'll never leave your side again, Reala!" Kyle yelled. "And I'll fight off anything to keep you safe!"
"'Anything'?" A deep voice resonated from seemingly nowhere. Kyle gasped. That voice was unmistakable. He looked around the cave to look for anything that stood out and his right hand instinctively reached for his sword. However, before he could draw the weapon, a loud battle cry of "BURUAAAAA!" rang out from behind him. Whipping around quickly, Kyle just barely saw what was coming at him a second before his small body was thrown to the ground. Reala gasped upon seeing this dead-on blow. Leaving his opponent no time to get a second attack in, Kyle quickly sprang to his feet and dodged an axe slash. Standing a few meters apart now, Kyle faced down his much taller opponent, who was grinning evilly from ear to ear.
"Barbatos!" Kyle yelled as he whipped out his sword at last. "Give me Reala back!" Barbatos chuckled evilly at this demand.
"And what makes you think that I'll just hand her back to you, brat?" He replied. "You're gonna have to fight me to get her back. Alone. None of your companions are here to help you..." Kyle's face furrowed deeper into anger as he stood still, breathing heavily. Barbatos was unmoving, too. They both knew that even though Barbatos was far stronger than Kyle, the latter could easily outrun the former and dodge many of the blows. Both of them waited for the first move to be made by the other.
Just then, Kyle concocted an idea that would hopefully get him an edge in this standoff. All he needed to do was cast a spell on Barbatos, and move in to attack while he reacted to the attack. Deciding on which spell to cast, Kyle closed his eyes to begin focusing on his spell. This was a big mistake. Barbatos smirked when he saw that his opponent had closed his eyes in the middle of a duel standoff.
"I see what you're trying to do there, you idiot..." Barbatos said, holding out a hand towards Kyle, who didn't see this because he was still busy trying to cast his magic. "I won't let you use that spell! Execution!" Kyle's eyes shot open and gasped in wonder upon seeing that his opponent was able to cast a spell so quickly. And in an instant after, the dark spell began to run its course.
In order to defend himself, Kyle yelled out "Guardian!" and held his sword over his head. A green glow surrounded the young swordsman as the dark magic battered against the barrier. However, this method wasn't the most efficient, and soon the barrier shattered under the pressure of the enemy's spell. A last lick of dark magic zapped Kyle, sending him to the ground. The spell then faded away as Reala gasped once again in the back. Barbatos chuckled as he walked over to the fallen swordsman.
"Don't take your eyes off of your opponent..." Barbatos laughed as he stood over Kyle. However, not done yet, a smirk creeped onto the young boy's face, slightly surprising Barbatos.
"Azure Pursuit!(1)" Kyle launched an Azure Edge at Barbatos, causing the blue haired man to back away in surprise. Kyle quickly rose to his feet and finished the rest of his move by slashing horizontally at Barbatos. Reala cheered for Kyle during this retaliation. The intimidating villain laughed after the attack had ended.
"So, there's still some fight left in you, huh?" He chuckled. "I'm just getting warmed up here..." After saying that, Barbatos lifted his axe over his head and behind his back to prepare for another attack. Kyle knew what was coming, so he quickly ran towards Barbatos to intercept the attack. However, as light on his feet as he was, it wasn't enough to get to Barbatos in time.
Reala saw the axe fly over Barbatos' head and prepared for the worst. "KYLE, NO!!!" She yelled. However, nothing she could do would be able to stop the axe from burying itself into the ground.
"WORLD DESTROYER!!!" Barbatos yelled as his axe split the earth beneath it. Dark energy sprang out of the ground through magic cracks created by the attack, and Kyle received the full force of the blow.
"AAAAH!" He yelled as he was knocked backward and skyward by the World Destroyer attack. Reala yelled out for Kyle once again, tears starting to form in her eyes. She wished so much that she could run over to her injured hero and heal his wounds. After he hit the ground pretty hard, Kyle would not move. Barbatos once again walked over to his opponent.
"Are you finished yet?" He said darkly. Kyle opened his eyes slowly to look up at the man towering over him. Barbatos frowned upon seeing that his opponent still lived, even after he had used World Destroyer. This annoying teenager just wouldn't die. "Still want more punishment?" Barbatos said, resting a foot on Kyle's chest.
"I... can't... lose..." Kyle said slowly, clearly suffering from his injuries. "I... won't..."
"You already have..." Barbatos said, putting more pressure onto the foot that he had placed on Kyle's chest a few seconds prior. More screams of agony were uttered by the injured boy as he felt the heavy villain's foot start to collapse his rib cage.
"BARBATOS, PLEASE STOP!!!" Reala yelled, tears streaming from her eyes. "PLEASE!!!" Barbatos removed his foot that was delivering the pain and looked around back at Reala.
"There's nothing you can do..." Barbatos said, grinning. "Your little hero is nearly dead... And I'll make sure I finish the job!" He turned around to deliver the final blow to his victim, but, despite his numerous injuries, Kyle was still insisting to stand and fight and had found his way onto his feet once more while Barbatos was talking to Reala.
"I'm not going to die here..." Kyle said weakly, pointing his sword at Barbatos. "I can still fight..." Reala gasped when she saw this display of courage. Barbatos only frowned.
"You can barely stand..." Barbatos scoffed. "How do you plan on defeating me?" Determination and pain highlighted Kyle's eyes as he breathed heavily, each breath being raspier than the last. All of a sudden, a red glow began to radiate from Kyle's body, and his eyes glowed with newly found strength. Barbatos only raised an eyebrow at this.
"So, you're using a Spirit Blaster, huh?" He said. "I bet you'll drop dead before it's even complete." A dark laugh came from Barbatos and rang in the air. Kyle straightened up, and Reala gasped. A dark frown came over Kyle's face. He ran towards Barbatos as if he wasn't injured and started attacking with a flurry of rapid slash and thrust moves. Barbatos somehow was able to parry all the blows of this fierce attack, but he was surprised by the intensity of these attacks. The attacks soon subsided, and Kyle jumped back a step.
"This isn't over! Riot Crusader!(2)" Kyle managed to knock Barbatos off-guard with an upward slash, and then he jumped up after somehow managing to knock Barbatos into the air and slashed the villain three more times before twisting around with one more slash and landing gracefully on his feet. Barbatos, however, landed less gracefully. "And I'm not done yet!" The red Spirit Blaster glow became even stronger and Kyle's sword even seemed to glow now. Barbatos had no idea as to what was about to happen and tried to prepare defending against it. "Feel the sword of the hero! Soar!" Kyle thrusted his sword forward and into Barbatos' abdomen, causing the larger man to recoil from the blow. "Ring!" A slash downward followed the prior attack. Barbatos grunted with the hit. "Divine..." A slash upward, followed by Kyle leaping into the air and delivering another punch with his left hand, caused Barbatos to stagger back, setting Kyle up for the final blow. In the same fluid motion as the leaping punch, Kyle swung his right hand upward for a powerful slash that launched him and Barbatos into the air, where Kyle yelled out "EDGE!!!(3)" Barbatos fell onto his back, and Kyle landed on his feet soon after. Reala cheered loudly in delight upon seeing Kyle clobber Barbatos with his Arte. The red Spirit Blaster glow faded away.
"Dammit!" Barbatos growled from the ground as he got up again to stare at Kyle, whom Barbatos had totally underestimated because of his injuries prior to being hit with the powerful Arte that he felt. After a couple seconds of staring, Kyle coughed up blood, dropped his sword, and sank to one knee, recoiling in the pain of his preexisting injuries added to the overexertion he had just put into his last Arte. If he was nearly dead earlier, now he was barely grasping onto life. Reala gasped. Barbatos once again had the advantage, and he smirked at this as he walked over to where Kyle was, this time dead-set on making sure he was completely dead. Barbatos wrapped a large hand around Kyle's relatively scrawny neck and lifted him into the air higher than where his feet could touch the ground. Even though he was almost dead, Kyle still had enough strength to try and struggle out of Barbatos' grasp.
"KYLE!" Reala cried. "NO!!!" Barbatos laughed at the futile struggle of his victim.
"So..." He said, really pleased that he had come out on top in this battle. "You've been one hell of an annoyance... It's time for you to die..." Under normal circumstances, Kyle would have shot back some kind of retort, but he had no energy to do so remaining. "Now, you choose... Would you rather me do things quickly and with less pain by having me squeeze your neck until it snaps?" Barbatos tightened his grip a little more on the word 'squeeze', causing Kyle to attempt to yell in pain. "...Or would you rather suffer for longer and wait until I suffocate you to death? Pick your poison..."
"Barbatos, please!" Reala yelled, crying desperately. "Please spare him! You've made him suffer enough already! I can't take this anymore!!!"
"...No answer, little hero?" Barbatos said sarcastically. "Then I'll choose your fate for you. Now, let's see... It brings me great joy to see you suffer... I'll have to pick number..."
"DEMONIC CHAOS!!!" A new voice rang out through the cave, causing Reala to gasp. Three projectiles sailed across the battlefield towards Barbatos, who jumped back in surprise and inadvertently dropped Kyle. Barbatos frowned towards the entrance of the room and standing there was a red-haired teenager with a sword in his hand, looking really angry. Four other people spilled into the area and were poised to fight, as well.
"Reid!" Reala yelled out. "You came just in time!"
"Hyades!" Barbatos barked. "It's your turn!" Turning to face Kyle, still on the ground, he added "I've done all I need to do here... You'll be dead soon, even without having the final blow inflicted by me..." Barbatos turned around and faced Reala and started walking towards her. Reid ran toward Barbatos as fast as he could, but suddenly, he was knocked over by something. Looking up, he saw Hyades on top of him, ready to kill. However, before he could react, Hyades felt one of Farah's shoes clobber his face, and he turned around to deal with this second attacker. Chat lobbed hammers and Keele lobbed spells at Hyades, and the Celestian villain was now trying to kill all four attackers at once with little avail. Meredy, however, ran over to Kyle in order to try and save his life.
"Is Kyle okay?" Meredy asked as she kneeled over Kyle. There was no response. Meredy looked at him for another second before pulling out her Craymel Cage. "Water of life, mend these fatal wounds!" She chanted. The Cage glowed blue. "Heal!" Kyle, too, was bathed in blue light for a couple seconds as the magic did its work.
However, Meredy was still in the middle of this spell taking its effect when she heard "I'll kill you, Meredy!" and spun around to see Hyades lunging at her. Meredy gasped and prepared for the worst, but instead, there was a thwacking sound, and Hyades dropped to the ground, leaving Meredy unharmed. Meredy opened her eyes and saw Keele standing over her, staff in a position ideal for hitting somebody over the head. The purple-haired Celestian smiled as Keele withdrew his staff.
"Keele saved Meredy again!" She chirped. "Thank you, Keele!" Once again, Keele's reward for saving Meredy was being hugged (and nearly tackled) by the energetic young girl. Blushing (though notably less than at Mt. Celsius), he returned the hug.
"Guys!" Farah yelled to Keele and Meredy. "We need to stop Barbatos!" Barbatos stopped in his tracks.
"So, you think you can beat me?" He chuckled. "Your little friend over there wasn't capable of doing much damage, and now he's lying at the edge of death..."
"Alone, we'd probably end up like him..." Chat said. "But together, we can take ANYTHING down!"
"Try me..." Barbatos said, turning around and brandishing his axe.
"Meredy, get Kyle out of harm's way!" Farah said, looking at Meredy. "Keele, get the scoop on this guy!" Meredy nodded and was somehow able to quickly drag Kyle a few meters away from where he had been lying before. Keele pulled his Spectacles out of his pocket and held them up towards Barbatos. The giant man suddenly became super furious for no reason.
"Is that a Spectacles I see?!?" He yelled, advancing quickly upon Keele. Keele looked away from his Spectacles to see the oncoming attacker, and he uttered a surprised yelp. Barbatos grabbed Keele before the cowardly mage could get away, and held him at eye level. "Let me get things straight for you..." Barbatos growled. He then threw Keele to the ground hard. "NO... ITEMS... EVER!!!!!!" After a series of brutal attacks, Keele got knocked away into the air with one final axe swing. However, while he was still airborne, Farah used one of her healing Artes on Keele. The blue haired Craymel Mage quickly sat up after hitting the ground and brushed off his robes. A small smile towards Reid told the hunter that Keele was okay.
"Come on, team!" Reid said, rushing towards Barbatos. "We can do this!" The others began to quickly gather around Barbatos, as well. "You're surrounded, Barbatos! Give up!" Barbatos only smiled evilly.
"Poisonic Void!" Barbatos drove a fist into the ground, and dark energy sprang up all around him, attacking all of the surrounding party members, and they all were flung backwards by the attack and knocked to the ground. Stepping over Meredy, Barbatos continued to walk towards Reala, who was utterly shocked that her friends had all been defeated. Once he was a few steps away from Reala, he stopped and smiled. "It's time for us to go home, Reala..." He said. "You've been useful in helping me exterminate some pests..." Reala gasped.
"I won't let you use me!" Reala yelled bravely. "You can't control me anymore!" Barbatos chuckled.
"You forget that I still have this..." He held up a tiny Lens to show Reala. "You'll do as I say. Now, take us back home!" Barbatos' Lens emitted a white glow for a second, and then Reala's Lens began to glow, too.
"No!" She began screaming. "You can't do this! Aaah!"
"REALA!!!" A voice rang out. Barbatos turned around to Kyle once again on his feet. He looked rather unstable, but still determined. "REALA, NO!" He started to dash towards her and Barbatos. But Barbatos laughed evilly.
"I already won!" He yelled. "Nothing you can do will stop me now!" Whipping his axe around, Barbatos pointed it at Kyle, focused for a second, and quickly raised the axe into the air, yelling "Genocide Braver!" Not anticipating the attack, Kyle was hit with the blow dead-on. He fell to his knees after being hit, but he looked up at Barbatos, determined to stop him.
"I... can't... let you... take Reala..." Kyle said, glaring at Barbatos. Once again, he rose to his feet. However, the white glow that was surrounding Barbatos and Reala had gotten to a point where it was starting to bleach out their appearances. There wasn't much time left to rescue Reala, and Kyle knew that. He once again forced himself to his feet, his legs wobbling beneath him as he stood looking at Reala for half a second. Once again, he broke into a run. "REALA!" He yelled, getting very close now. He held out a hand, hoping that he could somehow reach Reala. Reala as well held out a hand towards Kyle. However, just before their hands could touch, Reala's hand faded away, as did the rest of her body. Barbatos was gone, too. Kyle took a few more paces forward and ended up at the spot where Reala had been just a few seconds ago. He stopped and just stood there.
"Oh no..." Farah, who had gotten up not too long ago and was mending the wounds on her fellow companions (seeing as she figured that she wouldn't be able to get to Reala in time from where she was standing), said as she looked up at Kyle. "She's gone..."
"Kyle..." Reid said. "He must be in so much shock that he wasn't able to save Reala..."
Just then, Kyle dropped to his knees. His vision was blurred and was he was unable to see anything. His strength was quickly declining, and his arms wobbled dangerously, threatening to collapse under him. The pain from his injuries began to fade from his mind, and everything else faded as well: his eyes, his smile, and his energy. Soon, Kyle's arms could no longer support his weight, and they buckled underneath him, causing him to fall to the ground. He just lay there, not willing to struggle back to his feet like he had all those other times. And then his eyelids grew heavy, falling over his eyes that had lost their brilliant azure hue. The others had quickly rushed over to Kyle when they saw him collapse, but by the time they had gotten over to him, it was too late...
Author's Nota Bene: And that's all she wrote! Sorry, there's nothing more for me to write. Part 1 is finally complete! I hope that, despite the sad ending, you enjoyed this! Now I'll be going onto a writing hiatus, waiting for more schedule time to open up. I may rename this story to "Two Destinies Part 1" and label it complete, and once I get the chance to write again, I'll create Two Destinies Part 2. I'm still debating that in my mind, since doing that will cause all the people who have this story on their alerts to have to find the next part and put THAT on alert. I'll decide on that once I have the first chapter (the prologue) of Part 2 all written. Thank you for reading this story! I enjoyed writing it.
Footnotes:
(1) This is actually the Azure Storm used by the Thief Class in Radiant Mythology. The Azure Storm used by Yuri Lowell in Vesperia will have its name stay the same. This change was made to avoid confusion.
(2) A Fanslation of Shikkuu Rensatsuken.
(3) Together, it's supposed to say "Soaring Divine Edge"; A Fanslation of Zankuu Tenshouken (modified from my friend's fanslation due to me not being too fond of the original (Drastic Finality Edge)).