Chapter Fourteen: The Omega Sword
At last, the time had come. After searching three different planets for three special metals, I finally had the means to destroy the Phantom God, Bellum, who had been possessed by Majora, and was currently on a rampage on Earth draining the life force of any and all life on the planet. If what we had heard was true, the Phantom Sword that I now possessed would be able to cut through him like tissue paper… or something. The T-Ship had taken a bit of damage from our previous encounter with a giant fish monster, but it was able to hold together enough for us to make the journey back home. This time however, I couldn't sleep. I was too full of determination to be tired now. I was determined to help the other Titans defeat this beast, that they had been keeping at bay so that Link, Starfire, and I could find the means to destroy it. Not only was Bellum a threat to the whole world, but he also ate my new friend Wonder Girl, and my dad, Ares. By doing so, Bellum and Majora had made this fight personal!
About an hour after leaving the deceivingly aquatic world of Neria, we were only minutes away from returning to Earth. Even from here, we could see that a lot had changed. The whole planet was surrounded in dark storm clouds, and the atmosphere had a slight red glow to it.
"Star? Are you sure we got the right planet?" I asked, unsure of what to make of the scenario.
"The coordinates are right on the mark. This is most certainly Earth." Starfire answered me. "Although, judging by it's current appearance, I do not blame you for asking."
The T-Ship descended into the Earth's atmosphere, with a lot of turbulence. It looked even worse on the surface. Jump City was a wreck, with only a few skyscrapers still standing, and all of the land around it looked brown and dead. There were several twisters in the distance out towards the ocean, with a huge thunderstorm brewing. There were no people in the streets, or rather there were, but they had all been turned into statues, no doubt because of Bellum. From the sight of it all, it's as if the fiends were draining the life from the planet itself!
"How long were we gone?!" Link asked. "It looks like Bellum and Majora have taken all the life force on Earth!"
"Hopefully it hasn't been more than three days. The Phantom Hourglass should've kept our friends safe from the Bellum." Starfire answered him.
"Starfire, Kalena said that it would keep Bellum from taking their life force. She never said anything about them being completely shielded from him. For all we know they could've been…" I mentioned.
I stopped myself short, because I know Link and Starfire did not want to have that idea on their minds, and to be honest, neither did I. We decided that we should land near the wrecked Titans Tower. If any of the other Titans had survived, that was where they'd probably be. I just hoped that at least one of them survived!
We had arrived just in time, because the T-Ship was about to fall apart due to all of the turbulence. Starfire opened up the front door to Titans Tower, only for it to come completely off it's hinges, or whatever kept it up. The inside of the tower looked just as bad as the outside did right now. There were broken ventilation pipes sticking out everywhere, and the walls had been smashed in. The elevator was broken, so Starfire had to fly us up to the ops room. The kitchen was wrecked with broken plates all over the floor and the fridge demolished. The big window in front was broken, and the couch had been torn up to the point where I almost didn't realize it was the couch.
"What happened here?" Link asked.
"Do you even need to ask?" I responded sarcastically.
Starfire pulled out her communicator and tried to call for the other Titans. Unfortunately, all that she received on the other end was static. She kept trying to call the others for over thirty minutes, while I decided to comb the area for any signs of life. I went into one of the hallways and looked through most of the rooms. The door to Link's room had been smashed into, and most of it was torn up. I noticed a shattered picture frame on the ground and picked it up. It was a photo of a blonde-haired man and a red-haired woman holding a small blonde-haired child in her hands. Were these Link's parents? I could see the resemblance to his father, and his mother, ironically, greatly resembled Starfire. Kinda funny that Link would have a crush on a girl that resembled his mother so much. Though I heard from the others that Link had never known his parents; that they were murdered when he was just a baby. Gee, and I thought my life sucked.
All of the sudden, I felt something moist fall onto my shoulder; some kind of purple sludge. I quickly brushed it off, and looked up. There was more of it on the ceiling, a lot more! I jumped back before it fell down to the floor, then it rose up and opened a big yellow eye. I shrieked a bit at the sight of it, but that wasn't the worst part. Somehow, armor formed from within the sludge, and surrounded the eye blob. It now resembled a large armored knight with a big sword. I dropped the photo and bolted out of the room back towards the ops room, and the knight was chasing after me!
"Intruders must die!" It said in a demonic voice.
"You're the intruder here, pal!" I shouted back to it while running.
I burst into the ops room, tripping on the stairs in the process and, once again, falling face first onto the floor. Why is it always the face?! I got up just in time to warn Link and Starfire, who had still been trying to contact someone, of what was coming. The knight from before came crashing through the door and stomped into the middle of the room.
"All intruders must be eliminated!" The knight said again.
"Who are you calling intruders?!" Link snarled before pulling out his Master Sword.
Starfire pulled out her own Spirit's Sword, and I formed the Phantom Sword. It was time to see what this baby could do! The knight swiped it's big sword at Link, but he managed to counter it with his own sword. Starfire went over to help Link, and the two of them managed to force the knight back. This was when I came in and swiped the Phantom Sword right towards the knight's head. However, my sword just bounced off, making the knight even angrier! It almost hit me, but to my surprise, another figure jumped out and blocked the attack with a bo staff. There was only one guy I knew who used a bo staff, and once I got a second look, my suspicions were confirmed. It was Spikey!
"Robin! You are alive!" Starfire declared.
"Course I am. It takes more than a giant octopus monster to take me down!" Robin claimed while still fighting off the knight.
It was while he was fighting that I saw something weird on the knight's back. It was a big yellow eye, the same one that came out of the purple blob before it became this knight-thing.
"Well if my sword didn't work on it's head, then maybe…" I thought to myself.
As Link, Starfire, and Robin continued to defend themselves from the knight, I turned invisible and waited for it to let it's guard down. The knight was about to strike Robin when I came up behind it and thrust the Phantom Sword straight into it's back eye. The knight fell to it's knees and disintegrated back into the purple sludge from before. I discarded my sword and went over to help Spikey up.
"You owe me big time, Spikey!" I told him as I helped him up.
"Heh. Same old Nikki." Spikey sighed.
At this point I noticed that his outfit and cape were torn in several places, and he had a black eye (although it was hard to tell under that mask of his). I asked him if he was alright, and he claimed that he was fine. I'm pretty sure he was lying about that, but the fact that he was still able to stand was impressive, especially considering all the beating he must've taken from Bellum. Link and Starfire came over to greet him, with Starfire giving him a hug. Even though she wasn't his girlfriend anymore, I couldn't blame her for feeling for him, and I'm pretty sure Link was thinking the same thing. Though I did notice a little hint of jealousy in his eyes.
"Did any of the other Titans survive?" Link asked him.
Robin looked towards the ground in silence for a moment, obviously a sign that the others had not survived.
"The Phantom Hourglass ran out of sand about a day ago. They all got their life force drained by Bellum. I only managed to survive because of Kalena." Robin informed us.
"Kalena?" I asked. "Where is she?"
"I'm not sure, but she's probably in the Tower somewhere." Robin answered.
As if on cue, a white-haired girl who looked about Starfire's age appeared behind Robin. He took notice of the looks on our faces.
"She's right behind me, isn't she?" He asked us.
"Yup." I answered.
Robin turned around to face Kalena like the rest of us. Unlike Robin, Kalena did not look worn out at all. She looked as vibrant as when we first saw her in the Tower a few days ago. Link and Starfire greeted her in the same friendly manner as before.
"Welcome back chosen ones. I assume that you have returned with what you set out to find?" Kalena asked us.
"Yeah. I got the Phantom Sword, and I'm ready to face Bellum!" I told her.
Just to prove my point, I stepped forward a little and formed the Phantom Sword in my right hand. I swung it around in the way a professional would, with Spikey noticing most of all (probably because he wasn't there when I first formed it). Kalena took a close look at the sword construct, and confirmed that it would do. She then pulled out the Phantom Hourglass and informed us of what we had to do.
"Once Bellum has been slain, his remains must be sealed once again into the Phantom Hourglass. It is the only vessel that can contain him." Kalena told us.
"What about Majora?" Starfire asked.
"I regret to inform you that Majora cannot be sealed into the hourglass. That kind of power... is not contained so easily." Kalena answered.
That kind of power? What did she mean by that? What exactly was Majora anyway? I had a feeling that Kalena wasn't telling us everything. Who was she really?
"Kalena, what do you know about Majora?" Robin asked her.
"Yeah, and come to think about it, how did you know about any of this? And about how I was crucial to the mission?" I asked her.
Kalena was silent for a moment, then looked back and told us that there was no time to explain. Bellum was on his way. Apparently he and Majora had been able to sense the power of the Phantom Sword that I had now. We all rushed towards the window to see a huge swarm of pitch-black clouds approaching from far off in the distance. Kalena wished us all good luck and then disappeared. Honestly, there was just no predicting that woman! Anyway, Robin told us that we needed to head for the roof of the tower. That was where we'd confront our opponent. From the size of the storm clouds approaching, I was a bit spooked at what Bellum/Majora would be like now that they've devoured most of the life on Earth. But I've faced big stuff before, so I wasn't that spooked. I followed the others to the roof of the tower, and I was ready for whatever abomination I had to face!
The dark clouds came ever closer, until they were positioned right over the tower. They began to fade away slowly, revealing our foe. At first sight, I immediately noticed a change. Bellum had been large before, but now… he was colossal! He was nearly five times the size of Titans Tower! His physical appearance had changed too. Before his head resembled that of a squid, but now it was elongated to resemble a dragon's head, although like before there was a big, disgusting eyeball where his throat would've been. His whole body in general had grown longer, with the root-like appendage that had been underneath of him now acting as a tail. He still had five tentacles, but they were now lining the middle of his body and were considerably larger.
"That's Bellum?!" I shrieked. "You've gotta be kidding me! He's huge!"
"Yeah… I forgot to mention. All of the life force he's eaten has made him… bigger." Spikey told us.
"That's putting it mildly." Link responded.
Upon looking closer, we could all see Majora's Mask clinging to Bellum's neck. He still looked about the same size (ironically) and his six tentacles had dug themselves into Bellum's skin like veins. He looked like he was on fire, probably because of all the power he had stolen. The behemoth floated closer to the tower, enough that we were face-to-face with Majora.
"Hello again, Titans. I've been expecting you." Majora spoke in a deep, monstrous voice. "And I see that you have the Phantom Sword."
Just to prove his point, I formed the Phantom Sword right then and there, although Majora didn't look intimidated at all (although, since he was a mask, it was hard to tell anyway). The others pulled out their own weapons as well, though we had no idea if any of our weapons would even do anything. At least the Phantom Sword might be able do something.
"What have you done with our friends you monster?!" Starfire shouted at him.
Majora just laughed at her question. Honestly, I think Starfire already knew the answer to that question.
"We have taken their life force. They are within us, just like everything else in this world! With Bellum under my control, we have become the true Phantom God!" Majora declared. "And very soon, you will join them!"
Yeah, like that was going to happen! I didn't just travel to three alien planets, brave harsh environments, and maim several monsters just to end up in Bellum's stomach! The others obviously agreed with me there, because Robin shouted out to Majora that that was not going to happen! Afterwards, without warning, Bellum brought down one of his giant tentacles onto the tower. Starfire got the three of us out of the way just in time, but Bellum's tentacle still cut Titans Tower right in half. Cyborg was gonna be pretty pissed off from that; once we got his life force out of Bellum's gut that is. Starfire flew us over to the city, to one of the few buildings that were still standing. Bellum hadn't lost us though, and had his huge eye directed towards us.
"Now… witness the true power of the Phantom God!" Majora bellowed.
With a disgusting sound, Bellum spat four purple wads of sludge towards us. He missed every shot, but considering what this purple goo was, I had a feeling that he wasn't aiming for us. My assumption was proved correct when each pile of goo transformed into four knights wielding giant swords, just like the one that we faced in the tower. They came at us while Bellum stayed off in the distance; the coward! The others did their best to fight off these phantom knights, but all their attacks could do was slow them down. The one I was dealing with wasn't too hard to deal with; after all, I had the Phantom Sword! I forced back my opponent's strikes, then quickly jumped over it and stabbed it in the eyeball on it's back. Piece of cake!
The others weren't handling this as easily as I had. Robin had tried to blind them with a few smoke bombs, then attack them from within the smoke. Unfortunately, these things didn't seem to be affected. The knight struck Robin on the side with it's sword. He was knocked really far back, and he would've fallen off the building if there hadn't been a smoke vent in the way. He didn't look too bad, but the phantom knight's attack had stunned him. He couldn't move! The knight was about to strike him again, but I got there just in time and thrust my sword into it's back. I swiped it upward and cleaved the thing in half!
"Looks like you owe me another one. Huh Spikey?" I teased.
Robin got up just in time to help me deal with the other two knights. Link and Starfire were doing their best to keep them back, with Starfire countering their assaults with her Spirit's Sword, and Link attacking them while in spirit mode. I knew neither of them could keep it up for long, but luckily they didn't have to. I snuck up behind both knights (while invisible of course) and brought both of them to their knees. Link and Starfire took a moment to catch their breath.
"Thanks Scarles. We owe you one." Link said.
"No problem, guys." I told them.
Spikey mumbled something about why they didn't have to owe me anything. Honestly, I had been messing with Spikey when I told him he owed me, and I think he knew that too. There were more important things to worry about now. He could thank me when this was all over.
At that moment, Bellum swiped another of his tentacles towards the building we were on, cleaving it in half horizontally. It began to collapse, so we had to run over to the building next to us, quickly! The others got over easily enough, but I kinda had a slow start and wasn't able to reach it in time. I jumped as far as I could to try and grab a ledge. I missed, but fortunately I formed my whip and pulled myself up just in time. Spikey offered to help me up, but I told him I could handle it. The others had gotten across just fine, but we still had Bellum to deal with. He was glaring at us intensely; it kinda gave me the creeps. But I should've been more wary than creeped out, cause at that moment Bellum shot a huge fiery laser from his eye, and it cleaved this building in half vertically. The half that the others were on fell down, but Starfire was able to get Link and Robin to safety. The half I had been on was still standing and I was now staring down Bellum on my own.
One of his tentacles was headed straight at me. Now was the time to see how effective the Phantom Sword was on this guy! I braced myself to strike Bellum's tentacle. Once in range, I swung the sword at it, expecting it to cut through. To my shock however, I was knocked back just like Spikey had been when he was struck by that phantom knight! I got back up only to stare at my Phantom Sword in disbelief.
"I don't get it. This thing should be able to make mincemeat out of you!" I shouted towards him. "What's going on?!"
"The Phantom Sword may have been effective on Bellum before, but with my power now coursing through him, and the power obtained from all the life force on Earth, it is all but ineffective!" Majora claimed.
No! It couldn't be! The one thing we knew could defeat Bellum, and it wasn't even working!
"Prepare to join your friends and your father… little blood stain." Majora taunted.
Little blood stain?! I've been called that name before. Back when I was still a part of Roman's gang. Roman had always found ways to demoralize me, whether it was through pain or through humiliation, and aside from the name 'Scarlette' there was another name he called me; an insult he'd use whenever I failed at something. He'd call me his 'little blood stain'. Whenever he called me that it made me so angry. I'm not sure if Majora knew about any of this, but even so, getting angry wasn't going to help right now. Even in 'blind fury' I didn't think I could do little more than scratch this guy. I was beginning to think there was no way to win this fight; that there was no hope.
But I was wrong. Before Bellum could get me with his tentacles again, all of the sudden, a light blue lightning bolt shot down at Bellum from out of nowhere! It was strong enough that it forced him back for a few minutes. And in those few minutes, a voice spoke to me.
"Child of the gods… are you truly one to give up so easily… I expected better!" The voice echoed in my head.
Great. Now I was hearing voices. I thought that I may have gone crazy. This was not the case. I decided to answer back.
"Who's there?! Who are you?!" I asked.
I looked all around, trying to find out where the voice was coming from. It sounded old, but powerful. Whoever it was, I hoped that he was on our side.
"I have been watching you for some time, daughter of Ares. I have witnessed all of the struggles you have been through, and how you have overcome them." The voice told me.
This guy had been spying on me? For five years?! That was creepy, but I had a feeling it's been for a good reason.
"So why haven't I heard you before?" I asked.
"I have been allowing you to fight your own battles, with your own power, but against this threat to both mortals and gods, I can no longer simply watch." The voice answered. "Do you think your family and friends would want you to surrender? For you to surrender would be unbefitting for a half-god. Perhaps I have been wrong about you."
Whoever this voice was, he was right. I couldn't just give up now, everyone was counting on me. Even if I did fall from this battle, I was gonna go out fighting!
"You are warrior of the gods Nicole, not a coward. Only a coward accepts defeat." The voice told me, no doubt as a way to motivate me.
"I… am NO coward!" I responded.
I brought my Phantom Sword back out and prepped it, even though I knew it wasn't enough to win this fight. But I was gonna fight anyway!
"Now that is what I'd expect from my son's daughter." The voice said.
His son's daughter?! So did that mean… this was the voice of my grandfather?! Zeus?!
"However, despite your bravery, you still do not possess the power to defeat this foe." Zeus told me. "Therefore, I offer to you, Nicole Sera, the greatest power in all of Olympus. The same power that ended the Great War and destroyed the Force of Destruction. A power that should only be wielded by a champion of the gods. I offer to you, the power of the Omega Sword!"
With that last statement, a giant, light blue omega symbol appeared in the clouds above me, and from it a lightning bolt like the one before came down onto me, except this one was bigger. The others arrived just in time to see this and were concerned for my safety. Spikey tried to jump into the lightning to get me out of it, only to be blasted back. He was going to try it again, but all of the sudden, Kalena appeared and stopped him. She informed Robin, Link, and Starfire of what was going on: that my grandfather, Zeus, had considered me worthy of holding the power of the Omega Sword. How she knew this, I didn't know, but right now I was focused on keeping myself together while being struck by this lightning bolt. There was a tremendous amount of force behind it, even more so than when I had first formed the Phantom Sword, but I was strong enough to keep standing while this power flowed into me. Speaking of the Phantom Sword, it had begun to change. The hilt opened up in a shape that resembled eagle wings, and the handle grew a little longer. As for the blade itself, it grew to nearly three times it's original length. It now resembled a Zweihander, but I could still hold it in just one hand. The teardrop-like symbol in the center of the hilt also changed; now it was a glowing blue omega symbol. The whole sword had a slight blue glow to it, even more so than before, and now even my arm markings had the blue glow too! I could feel tremendous power emanating from this blade. It was definitely not the Phantom Sword anymore; now it was the Omega Sword!
Off in the distance, Bellum and Majora saw all of this, and actually looked a little intimidated. By now, the effect of the lightning bolt that hit him had worn off, and he was prepped to attack again.
"You think this new power of yours will make a difference?! You may be the daughter of an olympian, but YOU are NO GOD!" Majora shouted towards me.
He sent a tentacle towards me again. This time was different however, as my new sword cut through Bellum's tentacle like it was nothing. Majora roared in agony as the tip of Bellum's tentacle was cut off, and it fell to the ground far below with an explosive thud. The others were amazed by my newfound power, and so was I! I knew from the sound of it, that this 'Omega Sword' would be powerful, but I hadn't expected this much power! Now I was in business!
"Maybe I'm not a god. But I'm enough to beat you!" I snarled at Majora.
Bellum sent another tentacle at me, which was once again cut off. Only this time, I grappled onto the severed tip with my whip and pulled myself towards it. I was raised into the air and flung myself around onto the tentacle. I plunged the Omega Sword into Bellum's tentacle, using it as leverage as I slid down. Once it was level, I leapt onto a horizontal surface and balanced myself on the giant tentacle, ready to charge forward towards Majora. Before I could though, five phantom knights emerged from within the tentacle (yeah, it was about as nasty as it sounds), trying to block my way forward. It was five against one, it didn't seem fair; for them!
One of the phantom knights charged forward to attack, but it was no match for my new Omega Sword. I dodged it's strike then easily cleaved it in half. I didn't even need to hit it's back eye; the Omega Sword ripped through it's armor like tissue paper! The other four knights took me all at once, but I severed them all at once with a spin attack, which I had learned from Link. All five knights were cut in half and disintegrated. With them out of the way I continued advancing towards Bellum's body. Of course, Majora wasn't going to make it easy for me. Bellum's head snaked around towards the tentacle I was running on and brought down his jaws on me. Before he could bite me, I leapt off of the tentacle, brought out my whip and grappled another of his tentacles. As such, Bellum only succeeded in biting off his own tentacle, though it didn't phase him much. The tentacle I was on began to rise vertically, so I brought back out my Omega Sword and used it as leverage while I slid down. Bellum used this opportunity to fire a laser at me, but I jumped off at the last second and grappled another tentacle. I swung to horizontal ground only to be greeted by more Phantom Knights; an army of phantom knights to be exact!
I was horribly outnumbered, and even with the tremendous power of the Omega Sword, I couldn't dodge all their attacks. Since the odds were not in my favor, I tried a different tactic. I plunged the Omega Sword into the tentacle I was standing on. A huge surge of what looked like electricity poured out of the blade and surrounded me in a vortex. Any of the phantom knights within range instantly disintegrated, and after a few seconds the area I had stabbed exploded and severed the tentacle. But it also blasted me into the air, and this time there were no tentacles nearby to grapple! I had definitely miscalculated this tactic.
However, by a stroke of luck, my fall stopped and I began to rise back up. I wondered how at first, but then realized that Starfire had flown in to catch me! Whew! That was too close! If she hadn't been there to catch me I definitely would've gone splat on the ground!
"Thanks Star! I owe you one!" I told her.
"You are welcome." She replied.
I took a look back towards the boys and Kalena, who were still standing on the half-smashed building. They all looked okay, which was a relief for me, so I returned my attention to the battle. Starfire had flown back up to where I had been before I fell, but I asked her if she could fly me closer to Bellum's neck.
"Star, I need you to throw me towards Bellum's neck, towards where Majora is attached. I'll take care of the rest after that." I informed her.
She was a little worried about doing that, but she agreed. She flew as close to Bellum as she could, and before Bellum could attack, she flung me as hard as she could towards Bellum. Her aim was slightly off, but I still managed to latch my whip onto an area above where one of Bellum's tentacles was attached. I brought out my twin swords and sank them into Bellum's skin after grappling onto him, giving me leverage as I climbed up towards Majora. More phantom knights emerged from within Bellum, clinging to his skin like I was. I just couldn't catch a break here could I?
I wasn't going to let them stop me though. Whenever one of them got too close, I swatted them away with one of my swords, causing them to lose their grip and fall. A few of them tried to grab me from below, but when they did I just kicked them in the face. I had to climb for about a mile, but afterwards I finally reached Majora, still attached to Bellum by his disgusting tentacles.
"You cannot stop me!" Majora claimed. "You cannot stop anything!"
The tips of Majora's tentacles came out of Bellum's skin all around me. Each one grabbed my arms and legs in a death grip and lifted me into the air. His grip was strong, but I was stronger!
"Oh yeah?!" I shouted. "Just watch me!"
I broke free from his grip and was flung into the air, at just the right angle for me to deliver the final blow! I formed the Omega Sword once again and descended down towards Majora, plunging the sword straight into his face! Lighting shot down at the area I had struck, and after a horrific scream, Majora began to crack apart until he finally shattered into a million pieces! After which, Bellum began to leak golden sand, which was most likely all the life force he had consumed. I guess with Majora gone, Bellum couldn't keep his form together. After his body stopped leaking sand, Bellum exploded. I was flung off in the process, and was blasted far away.
"I… did it." I said to myself before losing consciousness.