Chapter 39: Mithos, the Hero
The main teleportation device in Welgaia takes the group through the deepest parts of Derris-Kharlan, where they eventually end up inside an ancient, desecrated castle, right in front of a staircase that led to the single largest door in this entire building. Yuan looks around at the castle and comments in a surprised tone of voice "Vinheim has lost most of it's former glory since I last came here…"
"It has been quite a while, hasn't it Yuan?" Kratos asks, and Yuan nods his head while replying with "After I formed the Renegades, my visits to Vinheim decreased exponentially…After all, I did not want either Mithos or Pronyma to suspect that I was the leader of the Renegades. But that is all in the past now…And I can't really say I have fond memories of this place anyways."
"Derris-Kharlan…The birthplace of elves…And yet, ironically, it has hosted their hated foes for most of it's existence." Kratos points out, and in turn Regal turns to him and asks "There's something that has been bothering me for a while now…Did Derris-Kharlan have a Great Tree at any point?"
"…Yes, or rather…It still does. But it has lost most of it's energy due to the magitechnology we had to create for the formation of Cruxis. But the mana in the atmosphere is strong enough to sustain life as is…For at least another few millennia." Kratos explains, and Lloyd turns to look at him while asking "So why didn't Mithos just use the Eternal Sword to fix the Great Tree?"
"Because it's not a pressing issue. The angels don't need mana, and neither did us…There is no reason to concern yourself with this matter Lloyd, by the time it'll be a problem, all of you will be long dead." Yuan was blunt, but he was just doing that to get Lloyd back on point. Kratos, however, felt the need to say to his son "But don't worry, the Great Tree will be brought back to life once the magitechnology is removed."
"…Alright then, let's get back on track. Sorry…" Lloyd had a problem with what Kratos was saying, but he couldn't quite put a finger on why that was. Without any concerns about Derris-Kharlan's Great Tree distracting them, the group turned around and went up the staircase, since that seemed to be the right way to go. As they approached the large door at the top, they are suddenly ambushed by a bipedal black dragon as large as the door itself. His impact sent forth a shockwave of air that made the group pause near the top of the staircase.
The beast lifted his head up and let out a roar of purple flames to intimidate the group, and as the swordsmen go for their hilts the dragon looks down and says in a bestial tone of voice "I am the final guardian of Lord Yggdrasill's throne room! My flames were born in the abyss of absolute darkness, my body hardened with the scales of a thousand fallen demons, and my bones were made from the most arcane of magic in the entire universe! Challengers, do you believe you have what it takes to face me?"
Lloyd is the first to draw both of his swords from his hilts, but Riku merely snaps his fingers beside him so a gap of darkness opens up in front of the Dark Dragon. In a matter of seconds, the dragon's neck is grasped by Takashi's right claw. He is then swiftly dragged into the realm of darkness to get taken care of. The door he was guarding opened up slowly a few seconds later, the entire castle shaking as it does so.
Riku shrugged his shoulders while Lloyd sheathed his blades and glanced at him, commenting in a nonchalant tone of voice "Did we really need to waste time with him?" Lloyd says "Well…Not really, but I forgot that you could summon a dragon of your own."
"I'd have him help us more, but unfortunately he'd either destroy the environment we'd fight in or overdo it with his powers and destroy a Summon Spirit…" The teenage Overlord explains, and Zelos nonchalantly chuckles while stating "Well, I guess it'd suck if the Great Seed was destroyed by a gigantic dragon. Anyways, let's get a move on."
The group heads through the nearby door, and find themselves staring towards a vast expanse of mana being absorbed into the core of Derris-Kharlan. Far from the broken platform they stand on is another solitary platform with a throne on it and the Great Seed floating directly above it. There was a single teleporting seal on the ground below their feet, but before they decided to use it Lloyd turned around and asked "Is everyone ready?"
"I'm read. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to put an end to this…" Raine says first. "Mizuho, Corrine, you guys…All of you believed in me, and now all of our efforts are going to amount to something! We're going to save this world!" Sheena then comments. "A world without sacrifices…A world where people don't have to think the same way I did…That's what we're going to create with this miracle, Lloyd." Colette says.
"Everyone should be able to live freely, no matter who they are. Humans and elves and even us, they all deserve to live here…in this world." Genis says. Regal nods his head and comments "That is why it is imperative to revive the Great Tree…Not only to restore the world and bring peace…" "But also to prevent the world itself from dying." Presea adds-on with urgency in her voice.
"The people that I liked and the people that I don't both have the right to live in the same world as I do. Don't worry, I'm not going to run away anymore…" Zelos says in a serious tone. "…You and I will not fully see eye-to-eye, but I do wish to thank you for everything you've done so far, Lloyd Irving. Martel will be saved, and everything can be made right…" Yuan says. "We're all proud of you for what you done…But none can be prouder than me…my son." Kratos comments.
Finally, Riku looks at Lloyd and says to him "You've tolerated a lot of things, and I'm sorry once more for dragging myself through this journey when it wasn't necessary…But I'm not going to run away from life anymore, I will see this through to the end." With that final comment in mind, Lloyd nodded his head and turned to look at the Great Seed while saying "Then this is it…We're going to restore a world where everyone can live freely!"
The seal below their feet is then activated with a thought, surrounding them with a mint-green glyphic seal that teleports their bodies all the way over to where the Great Seed resides. But when they arrived there, they found a surprising sight…Mithos' Yggdrasill body was floating above his ruined throne, his eyelids shut as he muttered to himself "Home…I'm going…home…" repeatedly.
Riku moves his right hand close to his chest as the Cruxis Crystal begins to emerge from it while Genis exclaims in an unaware tone of voice "Mithos…You still have your body? …Please! We don't have to fight! Just return the Great Seed to the planet!" Mithos continued to say the same thing, and Lloyd noted "…Something's not right. He sounds like a puppet…"
The teenage Overlord then says "Of course…That's because Mithos' consciousness…" As the Cruxis Crystal pulls out and flies straight towards Yggdrasill's body, Riku grits his teeth and says "…It resided within his Crystal." The body and Cruxis Crystal become one again, and in a matter of seconds the eyelids open up on Yggdrasill's body. With a tired grin, Mithos said to the gathered group "…I need to thank you for going through all the trouble to bring me back here. I'm finally myself again."
"So that's why you tried to possess me? To bring yourself back to your body?!" Lloyd exclaims, but the man doesn't respond. "Mithos…Why are you still doing this? Martel…She's dead…" Genis tries to reason with his friend, but Yggdrasill widens his eyes and snaps defiantly with "No! She's still alive! So long as the Great Seed exists, her soul will always be alive!"
"But if she's just a soul, she's not living…She'll just continue to exist as a lifeless being." Lloyd counters Mithos' point, leading to the man asking "What's wrong with that?" Which angers Lloyd as he snaps back with "What?!"
Yggdrasill spreads his arms out and summons mana around him while explaining "After all, in our bodies flow the blood of humans and elves-the bloods of those who despise us. We're better off casting aside much filth and become lifeless beings." Lloyd was not surprised by this response, and decided to ask to get some absolute certainty from the man "That's what you really want?"
"Of course. Watch! When you become a lifeless being, you can even control your appearance and growth!" With a snap of the fingers, Mithos changes his body back to that of his younger self before the group's eyes, then snaps back to his older self long enough to make a demonstration, but he chooses to end back on his younger form. With an earnest smile, Mithos says "Everyone should become lifeless beings. I told you before…The only way to eliminate discrimination is for everyone to become the same race."
"That's always going to be a dream, Mithos. Discrimination comes from weak hearts…" Lloyd points out, and Genis follows up with "He's right. People place themselves too high while looking down on others…" And Sheena exclaims "You do the same thing! You look down on humans and elves, treating them like cattle. That's the weakness of your heart!"
"Even if people become lifeless beings, nothing will change. Discrimination will continue." Regal points out. Mithos leans his head back with an unnerved expression he asks "…Then tell me…Where should we go? If half-elves aren't accept anywhere no matter how much we open our hearts…Then where should we live?"
Lloyd told him straight up "You can live anywhere you like." Mithos grinned eerily and stated in turn "Don't make me laugh." Lloyd then shook his head and explained "I'm serious. Anywhere is fine. If you aren't doing anything wrong, you should just live proudly in the open."
"It's because we couldn't do that…that I…that we wanted a place of our own to live in!" Mithos exclaims while bitterly glaring at Lloyd. Zelos then wags his right pointer finger and says "You got to be kidding me. You don't have the right to play the victim here, not after everything you've done you little brat!"
"What you've done caused meaningless suffering and death to countless people. Can you feel their pain? …No, you cast away your soul long ago for immortality…" Presea coldly states. "People can change. Even if they don't change right away. Months, years…as time passes, change in inevitable." Raine explains, and Colette then points out "Maybe not everything can be forgiven. But one can try to atone for one's sins. Can't you feel it in your heart? The Goddess known as conscience…"
Mithos glares angrily at the group and says "Do you think I'm going to beg for forgiveness? Ridiculous. There is no Goddess…" Kratos then steps forward and says to Mithos "I once thought like that as well…And yet, even for all that I have done, Lloyd forgave me for most of it…Even though my heart was too weak to stand against your decisions long before. You were a brilliant student Mithos, but in the end I ended up being a terrible master…"
"Regardless of your relation to Martel…Regardless of your existence as a fellow half-elf, the crimes you have committed are countless, Mithos…And I was a fool to stain my hands with the same blood as you. If you do not wish to seek forgiveness, then I will put an end to your life now." Yuan coldly says, and Mithos summons forth his wings while exclaiming in response "Shut up! All this time I was trying to save this damned world from itself! If you had just let things be, I would've cured old age, disease, put an end to discrimination, and made it so the world was perfect for all!"
"And all it would've cost was the lives of half the people on this planet…Is that the final justification you want to make, Mithos Yggdrasill?" Riku asks, and with his anger at a boiling point Mithos began to rise into the air while stating "I've had enough from you especially, Elemental Overlord! I will continue to pursue my ideals! If there is no place where I can live, and if you will continue to deny my Age of Lifeless Beings…Then I will build a new world on Derris-Kharlan! A world just for my sister and me!"
With his wings fully spread, Mithos snaps his fingers, drawing on what little of the Eternal Sword's power he could to increase the size of the battlefield threefold, making sure there was more room for him to annihilate the group. He then teleported down before them all, a blank smile on his face as he told them all in a slow, chilling tone "…There's nothing any of you can do…" In response, there was no hesitation from anyone in the group as they drew their weapons simultaneously and readied themselves for whatever Mithos threw their way.
Mithos held his right hand out and immediately cast Ice Tornado upon his foes, forcing a split up between the group, though Genis and Presea are caught by the attack and are dropped onto the ground face first due to their legs being frozen solid. Lloyd and Zelos run at Mithos at the same time with swords dragging along the ground, and as they get close enough to leap at the boy they draw their weapons back for a combination sword slash.
But in retaliation the half-elf swings his arms down beside himself and summons forth a magic circle that releases a continuous burst of energy, catching the two swordsman for a few seconds before they are launched back onto the ground. The field disperses, and as Mithos recovers from the move Sheena has finished summoning Efreet to her side for combat. The Summon Spirit of Fire throws his right claw out and launches fire fireballs straight at his former master, but Mithos flies into the air before they hit him.
He then throws his left hand out and quickly summons forth a torrent of water from the ground to consume both Efreet and Sheena, the heavy amount of magic imbued in the spell being enough to force the mighty Summon Spirit to retreat while Sheena is drenched enough to lose sight of the area around her while damage was inflicted upon her body. In the time she was distracted, Mithos warped through the battlefield before Colette's holy empowered rings could hit him.
He reappeared in front of Sheena and was ready to swipe at her neck with a blade of holy energy extending from his arm, but then Riku stamps his right foot against the ground to summon forth five vines that wrap themselves around the wrist of Mithos' arm and pull back on it enough to prevent him from striking Sheena. While Mithos was bound, Yuan threw his double-edged sword at him, commanding the weapon to rotate around and grind along the ground as it headed for his fellow half-elf.
Meanwhile, Genis was using some basic fireballs to heat up the ice off of his and Presea's legs, an event which Mithos was glancing over at when he wasn't looking at Yuan's spinning blades. He pulls himself forward as much as he physically can to drag the vines forward, allowing Yuan's weapon to slice clean through it and free him. Mithos then quickly warps away from his current location and appears in front of Presea with his magic blade still drawn. With his hand pulled back and an angry look in his eyes Mithos exclaims "Die you worthless puppet!"
"Mithos, no!" Genis exclaims desperately as he tries to focus on his kendama and summon a powerful spell to stop Mithos. Meanwhile, Presea was stuck in place since the ice had not fully thawed, leaving only one option for her to be saved. "Photon!" Raine exclaimed from afar, and as Mithos swung his sword towards Presea's head he is suddenly paralyzed by a sphere of light wrapping around his body and simultaneously bursting.
The sword was inches away from Presea's forehead, and in the time that Raine provided for him Regal ran to pick Presea up atop his cuffs and throw her above his head. Zelos, ever the gentlemen, flips into the air and catches Presea with open arms before he drops to the ground. He puts Presea on her feet and quickly draws his sword again, using the blunt edge to crack the remainder of the ice from her legs so she can rejoin the battle.
Presea nods her head in an appreciative manner and then grabs onto her axe, running towards Mithos mere seconds later. Regal performs a spinning kick against Mithos' chest, pushing the half-elf back a few feet as he begins to recover from Raine's earlier spell. But before he can get out of the way Presea leaps over Regal's body and brings her axe down through Mithos, her weapon impacting the ground with such force that it splits apart and launches the half-elf into the air.
Regal leaps up and spin kicks Mithos twice before thrusting both of his feet downward to send the half-elf crashing straight back into the ground a fair distance away from him and Presea. Once he's in the ground, a large rock is dropped on top of him thanks to Gnome, who was summoned despite Sheena still trying to regain her vision. Gnome taps the top of his head with his shovel proudly and then vanishes, while Kratos and Yuan both ready their own magic to strike Mithos.
"Grave!" "Thunder Blade!" The two exclaim as they swing their right hands out, and as a combination of two magic circle surround the boulder Mithos is under a blade of thunder roars down from the sky and shatters the boulder apart while a series of stone spikes puncture through the center of the blade to further harm their foe…But the problem with this plan lied in the fact that Mithos was nowhere to be found amongst the two spells.
Kratos and Yuan were on-guard upon noticing this, but it was far too late as Mithos appeared behind them both with a stoic expression and slightly tattered clothes as he held both of his hands out and threw out bolts of light into their backs. The two were thrown forward onto the ground, and Mithos grinned slightly at what he had done. But in this moment of arrogance Riku glides behind him and swings his flaming blade across his back, swerving out of the way before it was possible for the half-elf to fight back.
Mithos turns around and immediately tries to strike at Riku, but Lloyd then runs behind him and cuts at the glowing red scar his friend created with the full power of the Eternal Sword. "Aaaarrgghhh!" The half-elf exclaimed in excruciating pain, and then immediately teleported into the air to get out of range of most of the group's attacks. Raising his right hand into the air, Mithos' face is bathed in a shadow as he grins and exclaims "Judgment!"
With his energy once more acting as the catalyst, Mithos threw out a series of beams of light from the sky as he swung his right hand forward, all of them bombarding straight down at the heroes as to expected of this particular spell. But because this attack was to be expected from the half-elf, the group was well-prepared to use whatever Guardian spells they had in their arsenal, and Riku even shifted into his Light Form momentarily so he could use a reflective barrier to send one beam straight back at Mithos.
Meanwhile, Lloyd runs to the defense of Kratos and Yuan as they try to get back onto their feet, and with both of his Eternal Sword empowered blades raised into the air he pushes back at the two beams of Judgment with all of his might before he is able to cut them down with a single slash. However, this effort left him feeling a little bit tired. Lloyd asks "Are you two ok?" in the midst of trying to catch his breath. Kratos smiles proudly for a moment as he and Yuan rise to their feet, and he comments seconds later "Thank you for coming to our aid, Lloyd."
"Now it's our turn to fight back. Kratos, it's time we use our combination attack." Yuan says as he summons his double-edged sword back into his hand. Kratos nods his head in agreement, and after tightening his right glove the man comments "I hope time has been kind to our teamwork, Yuan…"
Yuan confidently smirks, and that was all Kratos needed to see before he exclaims to Lloyd "Hold Mithos off, we'll need some time to prepare!" Lloyd understandably nods his head and says "Got it!" Lloyd then looks back up at Mithos as the half-elf draws his hands down beside his body, wiggling his fingers tensely while gritting his teeth and exclaiming "Why won't all of you just leave me and my sister alone?!"
After he says this, Riku warps behind him, now back in his normal form while he dully notes "We're done playing this game of back and forth…Mithos." He then throws both of his hands out to send a blast of air into Mithos' face as the half-elf turns around to confront him. Mithos' is sent straight at Lloyd, who draws both of his swords above his head and waits until the last second to swing them down, slicing through Mithos' body and sending him crashing against the ground.
But the half-elf rebounds up, with Lloyd swinging his right sword aside while exclaiming "Colette, he's all yours!" Colette, who was flying high up with her angels wings spread, nodded her head and began casting a holy spell as Mithos' body flew up in front of her. "Holy Cross!" She exclaimed as the chant was finished under murmured breath, and as a ring of crystal appears below Mithos' body the half-elf is encased in a prismatic cross and is continuously struck with holy energy.
While he was doing that, Raine cast Sacred Shine from afar to continue the onslaught of damage upon Mithos, and even Genis shows no hesitation as he casts Indignation upon Mithos' encased body. This shatters the prismatic cross and opens the way for Zelos to summon his angel wings and fly in front of Mithos, grinning merrily before he activates Shining Bind to keep the half-elf in place with continuous blasts of light that rise up around his body.
With all the time that Lloyd and his friend have allowed him, Kratos has applied all of the energy in the Sorcerer's Ring he had on him to encase Yuan's blades with lightning. Yuan pulls his blade back and grasps the handle tightly, nodding his head to show that he was ready to do his part. "Lloyd, Zelos, Colette, back off now or you'll be struck as well!" Kratos exclaims in an urgent tone of voice as he swings his arms out and summons forth a violet magic circle below his feet.
Lloyd leaps to the right and both Chosens fly away, allowing Yuan to throw his lightning infused sword at Mithos, making it spin around like a pinwheel surging with electricity before it strikes directly into the half-elf's chest. Once the first blow is made, Yuan uses his control over the sword to make it spiral around Mithos' body, hitting him multiple times while he glides his hand around in the air.
Kratos holds his right hand out and exclaims "Gravity Well!" This heralds both Mithos' body and Yuan's blade being wrapped up in a sphere of gravity-based magic, where the true nature of the two Seraphim's combination attack comes into play. Yuan snaps his fingers to pull his sword out from the gravity field, leaving behind the electricity inside to bounce around, which causes a series of sparks to try and push out from the boundaries of the sphere as the strands of electricity strike straight through Mithos' body.
With Mithos' body weakened by the crushing force of gravity, he is torn apart by the reflecting electric bolts, and every time they strike against the sphere it grows larger and the energy itself grows stronger. As the light of the sparks become as bright as a newborn star, Yuan flips his body around and spreads out his cape with a brush of his right arm while exclaiming "Farewell, Mithos…Oblivion Thunder Blade!"
From the sky Yuan is able to call forth another blade of raw electricity to pierce through the center of the gravity sphere, which causes it to burst apart with an array of dark sparks flying through the air. The light built up fades away as Mithos' body crashes against the ground near his enlarged throne, and with his skin singed horribly and most of his clothes' left in shreds there was a lot to indicate that he had been defeated with that combination attack.
"…That can't be it, can it?" Lloyd asks, leading to Kratos pointing out "Regardless of how the Cruxis Crystal works…Mithos had just returned to his body, which was not fully healed…Not only that, but our numbers are greater than before while you have gotten stronger. I can safely say that this whole ordeal has reached it's end, Lloyd."
"…Si…sister…" Before Lloyd can safely sheath his blades, Mithos speaks once again. Kratos was disturbed to hear the half-elf's voice, and glanced over along with the rest of the group as Mithos rises up from the ground like a member of the undead. His eyes were devoid of pupils, and he limply hung his arms out beside his body. "Why can't I have my sister…Why do you all want to stop me…Why…Why…Martel…Martel…Please help me…I'm scared…Please Martel…Come back to me…"
As Mithos begged for his sister's return in an emotionless tone of voice, Regal, Sheena and Colette's bodies glow momentarily. In a matter of seconds, the broken mirror, golden spider, and nicked knife emerge through their clothes and fly straight towards Mithos' body. Kratos and Yuan both gleam at the objects in surprise, with Yuan in particular commenting "What the hell is going on here?!"
The objects surround Mithos' body, and after a few seconds of floating ominously in mid-air they forcefully merge themselves with the half-elf. Mithos' then lets out a painful howl as all of Derris-Kharlan suddenly grinds to a complete halt. The flow of mana going out of the planet instead redirected itself towards Mithos' body as the half-elf collapsed on his knees in agony. Mithos is consumed by black mana, and Lloyd comments in a worried tone "W-What's happening to Mithos?!"
"…I have no clue." Kratos comments in a disbelieving tone of voice. The mana around Mithos expands outward, creating an unholy shape that materialized in a physical form a few seconds later. Mithos was now isolated in a aqua-colored chrysalis with a golden underside, and behind him was a machine that held the chrysalis in place and release six rainbow colored plumes of pure mana to act as wings. Surrounding the base of this machine were thirteen disjointed marble spikes, and in front of him were four small floating shields made out of a similar material. As the machine finished being born into existence, two sets of arms were formed behind the chrysalis, one wielding two blue orbs of hardened mana, while the other wielded thin but sharp golden blades on both sides of it's closed hands.
At the same time as the machine finished being born, the battlefield's atmosphere changed, with the sky being veiled with a wavy blue veil that looked similar to the depths of space beyond. Mithos stated in an echoing, emotionless tone of voice "Die…" and "Martel…" at such a rapid rate that the two words overlap each other rather frequently. While he spoke, distorted visages of Mithos' past floating in and out of existence across the veil, but what they all shared in common was that they showed the fondest memories Mithos had spent with Martel.
"Mithos…Why are you showing us this?" Genis asked in a puzzled and melancholy tone. Afterwards, Riku lands on the ground beside Lloyd and says "It seems we're facing the manifestation of Mithos' inability to let go of his ideals…"
"…Mithos…He really did care for Martel this much…" For a moment, the weight of seeing Mithos' memories made Lloyd hesitant to fight, but before Kratos could help his son get a hold of himself Lloyd clenched his swords tightly and exclaimed "But I can't back down. None of us can! We'll stop Mithos no matter what it takes…And save both worlds!" As he declared this, all of Lloyd's friends ran up beside him, gathered together for the final battle as Mithos' memories vanished from the veil, leaving only the child in the machine of his own creation for them to face…This would be the end of the struggle…
Next Time: Hope