A little annoucement: as you all have noticed , I've been abscent for some time. That ia duelo to College's final paper. So don't expect any updates at the normal rate. When I have free time, I may write, but considering my schedule...
Anywho... Let's jump right into this one!
Chapter 51
Nightmare Swarm
How did I get here?
Those were Presea's first thoughts as she floated in this space. Around her was complete darkness. She remembered being here before. Back when…
Oh… that's right.
She remembered now: the battle on Heimdall, Genis, Colette… the feeling of her body being torn open by that Mystic Arte…
Strangely enough, she didn't shudder or even minded the fact she was just killed like that. It felt somewhat unimportant. What a strange thought to have...
The pink haired axwoman suddenly discerned a figure that seemed to glow with a purple outline in this complete darkness. She quickly identified it as Shadow. Greeting him as she would an old friend, Presea heard the raspy voice of the Spirit echo in her head:
You… careless…
Was he referring to the fact she sacrificed herself for Colette? If that were the case, then Presea would be as careless as she needed, again and again. Shadow seemed to read her thoughts as he said:
Your time… mortal... is over… take on… role…
Before the pink haired woman could ask, Shadow stretched his body until its head was a hair's breadth away from Presea's face. His red eyes shone and suddenly Presea felt like her mind was bombarded by several images and feelings, which, while she could not feel, she could read. She clutched her head, with a laboring breath as she tried to process all of it.
Images of hate. Of sadness. Of cheat. Of secrecy…
However, there were also images of affection, hidden friendship, companionship, even love. Then it delved back in tragedy, despair and greed.
The cacophony of images kept going on and on, faster and faster...
We are… the other side… of souls… Shadow's form appeared in her mind's eye, superimposed over the images that now seemed to show two at a time and, eventually, four at a time. Presea tried to concentrate on Shadow's words, but she felt like she was losing it. We… balance everything… for light… there must be shade… for truth… there must be secret…
Why was she seeing all of this? Why was there so much negativity on these people she was seeing? Why even feelings she always associated with good people felt like they belonged in this setting?
Everything… has other side… feelings… no different… like and friendship… have dark side… dark consequences… too…
There were now twelve images coming to her at once. She felt that everything that was ever hidden or kept secret was being revealed to her now. She saw tragedies overcome by old friendships pass in an intant. Love stories result in tragedy as if they were a dramatic play. There were even scenes of love spawned from the hate of bitter rivals, as if they only had each other in the world.
The images went on and on. Scenarios becoming more complex, feelings becoming unstable and as equally complex. She couldn't understand half of what happened or why it happened. Was this the side of things Shadow spoke of? Did that mean that even her love for Colette had dark intentions and implications behind it?
Everything… has darkness… on it… negatives… balance positives… otherwise… there wouldn't… be life… no progress… only stagnation…
Were those twenty-four images now? She couldn't discern it anymore. It was all too much! Too fast! Why was Shadow thrusting these things onto her? Was this a punishment for her sacrifice earlier?
You accepted… darkness of existence… you are… darkness of existence… this… who you are…an envoy of balance… keeper of the negative… Warrior of the Deep Abyss…
"I… I just…" even speaking was taking a monumental effort. There was too much on her mind that even forming coherent, independent thoughts was a struggle. "I just… wanted… to be with her…" Presea felt herself tear up, like her mind was breaking down. "It's too much… I can't… please, just let me see her. One more time!"
She couldn't think coherently now. It felt like something was crawling up on her. She tried to blot out the images to see what was happening with her body and could see brief images of shadows spreading on her arms and legs.
Her eyes became moist and she cried, the emotional charge of the memories too much for her to take in. She couldn't think or see.
She called for her friends. For her daddy. For anybody.
Why were these thoughts and emotions the only things she could perceive?
What… do you defend?
Shadow's question cut through the haze of conflicting and overwhelming information and she grabbed onto it like a life line.
What… most important… to you?
Important? Something she wanted to defend… something she knew she could defend. But… what was it?
She had to remember! She tried pushing all those memories and feelings away. They couldn't be important. She didn't even recall more than half of those people. Just nameless faces in her vision. Yes. Those people weren't important as she knew none of them. More than half of them were probably already dead, so what was the point?
She pushed them away, one by one. As she did she felt that sensation of something crawling over her body intensify.
What… is… your… duty… ?
As she pushed, she started to find some scenes that called her attention. Bringing them to the forefront, she saw they were all related to a single individual.
"Colette…"
Colette in her time in Mizuho…
Her time with the Brunels…
In Iselia…
Her friend and first crush, Maki… banishment… travelling on the road with a band of companions… persecution… doubt… the list went on an on to show someone that, even though tortured by fate and those around her, still stood and fought.
And was hunted down and tortured still…
"My duty…" Presea started as the images of the one she loved played faster, until they came to an halt at their encounter in Ozette. "is to protect."
The world was a dark place… all people had dark secrets and ill intentions… even Colette had dark in her, but… but that didn't matter to Presea.
Colette helped her. From all the judging and twisted people that she was surrounded by, Colette and the others were the only ones that came for her, the only ones that gave her a motive to continue, a meaning to her existence. And her bond to the blonde was the only thing that genuinely made the pink haired woman happy.
"If I have to embrace the darkness… become a terror upon the heart of all those that will hurt them… so be it. I'll bear this horror and take these secrets with me, so she can sleep peacefully…"
Then… rise… !
Shadow's voice spoke. Presea then felt her form growing like when she transformed, but this time, her eyes turned completely yellow and glowing, her mouth became an yellow, glowing line as her lips took a jagged form, making the grin in her completely obscured face terrifying.
The form made out of pure darkness then uttered in a twisted voice that sounded like two Presea's of different ages talking at the same time:
"Nightmare Swarm!"
- / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / -
In a matter of hours, he had gathered a sizeable and versatile force, contacted all demons in the Gaorachia region and directed all of them to the location the ghost of Zelos' sister provided him with, just to arrive and discover an empty base with all of the equipment either taken or destroyed.
"This doesn't make sense," Genis' aide Rahishi said, besides him as another scout returned from the lower levels to report the same thing: no one there and all equipment either taken or destroyed. "Did they know we were coming?"
That was what the General wanted to know too. He knew the Renegades had evacuation routes and contingency plans in case a location was compromised, but Genis and his troops had the element of surprise with them. There had been no contact of the Summon Spirits with the Renegades, they had made sure of that, and, currently, Cruxis was holding the Summon Spirits prisoner.
So, how come the base had been evacuated before their arrival? Could they have done it because of Verius' attack?
"Master Genis!" Reriki called, approaching him and Rahishi. "We found something!"
The two ran with her to what they assumed was the office room, which had been equally emptied of furniture, file cabinets or anything that might make it seem more than a simple, empty room in this giant base. Reriki pointed to the wall at the right side of the door, to which some demons were looking with curiosity.
Genis looked and his eyes narrowed at it. There, inscribed in the wall in some kind of black substance was a message:
FOUND OUT. LEAVE.
Genis approached the wall and passed his finger over the black substance. It simply evaporated on his finger like some kind of gas. The feel he got was that of darkness magic, though he couldn't identify an associated aura. The automated door then opened and through came the last person Genis wished to see right now.
Richter looked around, taking in the deserted appearance of the room and couldn't help, but jab in:
"Looks like you were late for the party," he flicked his hair to the side, as if to add some flair to the insult.
"And who invited you?" Genis questioned, looking at his aides.
"You said you wanted all demons in the surroundings to know and aid in the attack, Master Genis and… Richter kinda was around, so…" Reriki showed her tongue in a cute way, as if to say "oopsie".
Genis sighed. He already had enough to deal with without a smartass like Richter grating on his nerves. He looked again at the red head and said:
"I bet you're happy that they got away."
Richter didn't reply, but kept the smug smile on his face. He knew he was being petty, but Genis could be such a brat that Richter couldn't help to take a few shots at the silver haired Desian's ego whenever he could.
Genis sighed, told his aides to finish sweeping the facilities (although he knew they would find nothing of use), and walked to the door. Richter looked at the message on the wall and back at Genis and asked:
"Aren't you going to stay and study this?"
"What I do or not, is none of your business," Genis retorted, stopping and turning to Richter, who seemed surprised at the nonchalant attitude of the young-looking half-elf.
"You're different…" Richter mumbled, putting his hand under his chin as he examined the Desian General in curiosity.
Genis knew he would regret asking this, but, after rolling his eyes, he asked what Richter meant. The half-demon elaborated:
"Normally, you would jump at the opportunity to study uncommon phenomena that is linked to magic. However… it's like your drive is gone now."
"'My drive'?" Genis didn't know why, but that bothered him.
"My lock…" Reriki gasped, attracting the attention of the two males and Rahishi.
"Lock?" Richter repeated. As the man joined the pieces, he finally understood and looked back at the younger Sage. Standing still, Richter concentrated on the magical spectrum around the boy and saw what he was looking for. "I see… so that is how you approached Verius."
"Reriki, Rahishi. Do not tell him anything else. That's an order," the two nodded to their General as Genis turned to Richter. "And you. What I do is my business, the only one I have to answer to is Lord Nebilim and the Grand Demon Lords."
Instead of continuing their tirade or making any rebuttal, Richter only sighed and looked at Genis with… pity? Why was the red head looking at him like that?
While adjusting his glasses, Richter spoke:
"Raine doesn't deserve such a pathetic brother."
That comment infuriated the young-looking half-elf and Richter knew it was only because he called Genis pathetic. However, instead of rebutting and yelling back at him, Genis simply turned and called his aides again, muttering a:
"We have better things to do than to listen to a hypocrite," with that, the trio left.
Richter could only look at the automatic door hissing as it closed. He sighed again as he turned to look at the message written on the wall, thinking to himself:
If only that boy could pull his head out of his ass, he would notice that he might be in even bigger trouble than a simple screw up in Nebilim's eyes…
- / - / - / - / - / - / -
Lloyd felt, for the lack of a better term, "like shit".
As he woke up, he felt like someone had run with one of those vehicles the Desians used over his head. Multiple times.
"Urgh… someone… call Raine… and ask her what the cure spell for brutal headaches is," he mumbled.
"It's called, 'aspirin'," came the answer in the voice of said half-elven healer.
"Really?" Lloyd finally opened his eyes and… felt like he hadn't really woken up.
Blinking a few times and cleaning his eyes he saw the scenario still looked like a sterilized, white jail cell in the middle of… well, it looked like some short of circular room. But as he approached the bars and looked outside, what he saw was a giant space in the middle of a tower with a single platform connecting to the jail cell and nothingness filling the rest of the tower, essentially isolating them from anything.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"In Cruxis' custody," his father's voice sounded. Lloyd turned around and saw Kratos near Regal and Sheena. They seemed to have been discussing something as Lloyd woke up.
"Cruxis?"
"I know, I am confused myself and considering we still have our weapons… however, according to Sheena and Regal, after we went back to the Torrent Forest… things didn't go well."
Lloyd's crush and Regal proceeded to tell him what happened after he was knocked out; Verius' defeat, Genis' appearance, the reveal about Seles and even…
"Presea… was killed?" Lloyd's eyes were wide as he spoke that. All of the adults present lowered their heads. The dual swordsman looked around for the one he was sure was affected the most by the news. He found Colette at the bottom of the cell, sitting against the wall, her head hanging low with her bangs obscuring her eyes. "Colette?" Lloyd called, but received no response.
Emil and Marta were besides the girl, trying to call her attention, but from what Lloyd could tell, Colette wasn't reacting to anything. If it wasn't for the rise and fall of her chest, he would have thought she was dead.
"She's been like this ever since she woke up," Marta said in a saddened tone. "I think… she might still be in shock over what happened."
"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder," Raine announced, making the group look back at her. "I've seen many cases of it. Mostly from former soldiers. To be honest, I'm quite surprised she hadn't shown signs of a crisis till now."
"Don't talk about Collie like that!" Sheena protested, narrowing her eyes at the older woman, who kept her tone to the level of one that gave a clinical diagnosis.
"Oh. And how would you like me to phrase that to appease your ears?" Sheena gritted her teeth and made motion to go and grab the half-elf by the collar of her shirt, but after Raine finished speaking, she wobbled in her place slightly, almost losing her balance. That made the ninja stop.
The Centurions manifested around the cell at that. Aqua, Ignis and Glacius supported Raine so she wouldn't fall.
"Please, don't fight, you two," Ignis said. "Lady Raine hasn't recovered from using her vital energy to heal you."
"What?" Sheena asked.
"At your battle with Verius, back on the Twilight Palace, Lady Raine casted Sacrifice," Aqua explained. "It's one of the most potent healing spells in existence, but the… drawback from using it is hardly worth the cost."
"It essentially sacrifices all of the caster's mana, or in this case magical and vital energy, to replenish and heal those around at the same rate," Glacius said.
"If it wasn't for the fact that Lady Raine was in her Spirit form at the time and had just enough power, she would have killed herself using it," Aqua then floated in front of Raine. "Lady Raine, you should seriously consider not using that again. The way you are now, you'll probably take an entire week to completely recover."
The entire group now was worried that Raine performed such a risky move, leaving herself effectively defenseless and almost dead. Lloyd was the first to talk:
"Raine, don't ever do something that dangerous again!"
She looked at him and was about to talk, when Emil added his own thoughts:
"Your sacrificing won't solve anything, Raine. You should find another way instead of purposely endangering your life like that."
She sighed and decided to let the matter drop as she thanked the Centurions for their support and stood on her own again. Lloyd looked around and saw Zelos sitting near the bars at the other side of the cell, but unlike Colette, he seemed to be in deep thought.
The red head apparently noticed his gaze, for he looked up and stood as he greeted the dual swordsman, saying:
"Hey bud. Glad you woke up."
"Zelos… I…" Lloyd started, not knowing what to say to the reincarnated Celsius.
There was an awkward silence for a moment, before Zelos spoke up, his tone a little more serious than usual:
"Before you start; the others already gave me their condolences about my sister and… well, can't say I'm not pissed off about the fact…" Sheena and Kratos looked at the red head, who only sighed and shook his head. "But, look guys… I'll be fine, ok? It's not like I haven't gone through something worse before," his voice dropped to almost a whisper. "I probably should be glad I was able to speak with her for some time…"
The silence became oppressive after that. Nobody knowing what to say. Even the Centurions didn't dare to utter a word in sight of everything that went wrong ever since the group visited the Twilight Palace. However, one of them soon forgot they were supposed to be mourning:
"Hey guys!" Lumen called, his voice cutting like a knife through the heavy atmosphere. "I think I might be going crazy here, but I'm feeling Tornitrus nearby."
The party then got curious and confused over that statement. Sheena was about to ask what Lumen meant when Emil closed his eyes and opened them soon after:
"He's right! I can feel him too."
That made the mood around them change as even Ventus and Solumn confirmed they could feel their brethren nearby. But the question remained, how that was possible since they were in Cruxis' headquarters? Regal thought a bit about it and posed a question that made everybody's attention turn to the President:
"Tornitrus is the Centurion of lightning, correct?" Tenebrae nodded to him. "Could his power, somehow, be converted into energy to fuel, let's say, magitechnology?"
The Centurions looked between themselves at that question, pondering about it. They seemed to exchange messages through their eyes as all turned back to the Thunder's Apprentice, Ventus speaking:
"Theoretically speaking, yes. Although, the energy we release when in our core state is of a more chaotic nature, it would be possible to channel it."
"Then you mean…" Lloyd started, only to be interrupted by a new voice.
"Well, isn't that just a lovely sight," the party turned to look beyond the bars to the one that spoke. "All of you here, together. I wonder how much fun we'll have."
Raya, the Seraphim of Punishment, had a catty smile on her face as she struck a pose, with her hands joined near her face and lifting a leg in a pretty childish fashion. Her presence put the group at unease, especially Lloyd and Sheena.
"Who's the chick?" Zelos asked, although still on guard.
"Me? I'm Raya, Seraphim of Punishment," her face contorted into a cruel smirk as she regarded Zelos and kept it as she spoke to him. "Hope we can be greaaat friends, hot stuff."
That has got to be the first time that I'm uncomfortable at receiving a flirt. Zelos thought.
Marta felt a shudder at the Seraphim's tone, which disturbingly reminded her of someone.
"Hey, is she alive?" Raya pointed at the immobile Colette at back of the cell. "Lord Yggdrasil wanted her alive, so it would kinda be bad if she just kneeled over and died."
"What does it matter to you?" Sheena spoke up. "And what does Mithos want with Colette anyway?!"
Raya's eyes narrowed and her expression went from cherry to dangerous, her tone low and threatening as she spoke:
"Watch how you speak of him with your filthy mouth, whore," and just as quickly as it came, her expression went back to cherry and upbeat, with a slight tinge of sadism. "And I'm not really sure. Lord Yggdrasil isn't exactly very open and, honestly, I doubt she would be that great. I mean... if he wanted to do that he always has me," her demeanor then turned a bit shy as she formed a triangle with her fingers and looked down.
During that entire show, the party could only think:
Bipolar much?
"But anyway… good news is; since he only wants her, I have all of you to myself," her smile became a dark, dangerous one and her tone a bit sultry. "We'll have looooots of fun together."
The reincarnated Summon Spirits couldn't hold back the shiver at those words. Even the Centurions found the Seraphim's tone disturbing. That is, all except for one:
"I think I know why she's the Seraphim of Punishment," Lumen commented to the group, his ears dropped down, as he seemed a little bit afraid of the girl.
The group would have replied on his obvious statement, but they were too uncomfortable at the moment to do so. Raya looked at the cheetah, which made Lumen gulp for the first time since the group has gotten to know him.
"What can I say? It's just another job. Eair ponders, Gaelius judges and I deal the sentence."
"E-air?" Lloyd muttered, confused.
"I suppose that is another Seraphim," Raine talked as Raya shrugged.
"Either way, I'm going to take the blonde girl now," that made the group tense and reach for their weapons. "C'mon now... this cell was specially modified to hold you. You won't be able to activate your powers, so resisting only... actually, go on. Struggle as much as you want," her sinister grin came back as she drew one her rapiers, bringing it close to her face.
As the group could only ponder on their situation, Tenebrae suddenly felt a presence entering his mind. Instantly, he was assaulted by several voices and a power that made him stagger for a moment, which brought Ventus' attention over him. However, the Centurion of darkness could not hear his brethren as he felt, for the first time, what humans perceived as a headache.
Tenebrae... Tenebrae, is that you?
A voice cut through all of the others, shutting them out and now the Centurion could think more clearly. He recognized that voice, but... wasn't she supposed to be dead?
Tenebrae... where are you? I can feel you... but I can't pinpoint your presence.
Presea... she was really alive! And this... could it be she rediscovered the link Lord Ratatosk made between the Centurions and the Summon Spirits of their respective elements? No matter, there were more pressing concerns at the moment. She couldn't find them. Maybe it was because of this cell.
"Tenebrae? Is something the matter?" Ventus asked, one wing reaching for his brethren before the dog-like Centurion sprinted out of the cell, like if possessed by something.
Tenebrae passed by the party and dissolved into dark particles when near the bars, reforming outside and making Raya look at him in mild surprise. The Centurion and the Seraphim stared each other down as the reincarnated Summon Spirits tried to process what just happened.
"Ah. You're one of those 'Centurion' things," Raya mused.
"Correct. It seems you were right when you said the cell was specifically made for my Lord and his brethren," Tenebrae replied.
"Well, no matter. What are you gonna do? Summon monsters? By all means, go on," her gaze became malicious once more, as she unsheathed her second rapier. "It's kinda boring killing monsters. No screams or reactions to pain, just struggling. But I wonder… are you a screamer?" her grin became positively hungry at the last part.
Tenebrae didn't seem affected by her. Instead, he was now relying everything happening here to Presea and what he was getting back from the reincarnated Shadow was…
"I'll summon something, alright. However…" Tenebrae closed his eyes and, when he opened them, they were red with a blue iris, his voice and Presea's overlapping on one another. "It'll not be a monster."
"Oh. Cool trick with the eyes. But that's not…" Raya stopped speaking as she felt her vision becoming distorted and her sense of balance completely upturning, as the world seemed to become a wave of distorted images. "Wh-what is… ?"
Then, suddenly, the background went black and she heard something that sounded like clicks and feminine laughter. Shadows poured out from under Tenebrae stretching bellow him and reaching Raya as she could only look, stupefied at what was happening.
"What kind of trick is this?!" she demanded from the dog-like creature, her voice seeming to echo and the laughter getting louder.
Several eyes opened up on the air around her. Raya wasn't fazed by that. She knew this ought to be some kind of illusion or... something grabbed her leg and looked down to see the shadow pool reached her legs and from it came human silhouettes.
"Hah! Nice try," Raya said, with a confident smile as she swung as Runeblade at the thing, knowing it was probably some kind of magically summoned- when the blade connected it didn't do anything other than a blunt-hit sound. "What?" she swung at the thing's head again, but its head simply went to the side due to the impact.
Disgusting…
Raya heard the thing speak. She then kicked it away and took a step back, intending on using a spell to blast it away until she felt more hands grabbing her legs from behind. She turned and saw more human silhouettes raising from the dark pool.
The voices echoed on her head:
Dirty girl…
Make another mistake and you die…
You like pain, don't you… ?
Trash like you can only be punished…
These voices… they reminded her of… Raya shook her head.
"It's only a trick," she said aloud, more to convince herself than anything. She took another swing at the things, only to have her weapons do no damage again. "It's only a damn trick!"
The voices continued to taunt her:
You're dirty…
Filthy girl…
You like this, don't you… ?
You wanna die, right… ?
"Shut up!" she yelled at them and tried to fly away, but more hands came from the pool, grabbing her with strong grips and keeping her in place. The voices never stopped their taunting as more human figures came out of the darkness and grabbed her, pulling her to the floor and keeping her there.
It made her, again, remember of that time when…
Be quiet, or I'll kill you…
"SHUT UP!" Raya screamed and struggled frantically. Why wouldn't those things just die and disappear? Why weren't her blades working?! "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!" she continued to swing at the things, but it was of no use. And they just kept taunting her with that cacophony of insults, reminding her of all those times.
While Raya was going through that, Lloyd and the others could only see the pool of darkness coming from under the Centurion of Ratatosk. The voices, figures and dark background were only seen by Raya's eyes. That is until, the lights then went out, startling the group, who was already with their nerves frayed at seeing the psychotic and sadistic Seraphim reduced to a panicked girl.
"What… is… ?" Zelos half-voiced the question on everybody's head.
"From what I'm seeing… it looks like some kind of illusion," Raine said, though there was an edge on her tone.
"But didn't those Runeblades protect them from any spell?" Kratos asked, looking around for any possible threats.
"Aggressive spells, yes. But common illusions fall under a different category. They don't do any real damage to the body and are easily repelled without the need of magical tools, unless you happen to have a fragile mind."
"Presea… ?" to everybody's surprise, the voice came from the catatonic Colette, who suddenly looked up and around, surprising the group.
"Colette? You're…" Sheena started, but was ignored as Colette simply got up and ran to the bars, right when part of the dark pool stretched in their direction and slid around the cell's door.
With a screech of metal being twisted, the door was pulled out of its place as a humanoid shadow started to form. It was the size of an adult with a lean form and two appendages (or was it hair) coming from the sides of its head. It's back was turned to the group and it was walking to the still screeching and struggling Raya, raising the metal door over its head.
"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTU-! Wait, WHAT THE… !" Raya stopped her struggling against the invisible shadows and voices on her head when she saw a bigger shadow with what looked like one their cell's doors…
The Seraphim stopped her struggling when the door came down on her head, making a sickening, banging sound. Raya tried to get up, feeling dizzy, just for the door to come down on her head again. She could now feel a slight headache, but she wouldn't…
Three more bangs of the cell-door-turned-club and the party could only flinch as the impacts started to dent the metal and blood drop on the floor as the shadow brutally beat Raya into unconsciousness. The last strike destroyed the upper part of the door, denting the metal inwards. Raya's hands fell to the ground limply as the door fell over her body.
The party could only stare in surprise as the figure kept its back to them, looking at its handiwork. Colette was the first to leave the cell and stop near the dark figure, calling it out:
"Presea… is that you?"
The shadow slowly turned its head to Colette, showing its glowing, yellow eyes and an equally yellow mouth with what appeared to be sharp, shark-like teeth, but since the entire figure was completely dark, it was hard to tell where the teeth and lips started. Colette didn't flinch at seeing the thing's appearance and fanged grin until it sunk into the ground, too fast for the blonde to even react. Colette went on her knees and looked around, calling the name as if she could will Presea back into existence.
The reincarnated Summon Spirits finally left the cell, Zelos, Regal and Lloyd looking at the bloodied, unconscious form of their would-be-tormentor and couldn't help the shudder at thinking how painful it should have been to be on the end of that beat down.
"Was that really Presea?" Marta thought out loud.
"Of course it was!" Colette jumped up at hearing that, startling the brunette. "It has to be! That power was darkness based, right?!"
"Colette. That doesn't necessarily means it was…" Raine started.
"Shut up!" that startled the entire group, so much they actually did a double take to be sure it was Colette who just said that. "It has to be her, so shut up!" the girl even put her hands over her ears, as if blocking out Raine's words would validate her point.
The silver haired woman looked, for the first time since the group had known her, perplexed. Sheena decided to cut her some slack and put her hand on Raine's shoulder, calling her attention while the dark haired ninja shook her head. It was best not to push things right now.
The Centurions approached their brethren, who still had his eyes glowing red. Lumen was the first one to speak:
"Tene-man, are you there or… ?"
"I am," Tenebrae said, although his voice sounded like a strange mix of his and Presea's. "We are using the link right now. Follow me," he turned and walked over to the edge of the platform.
The party saw Tenebrae walking over to the edge and dark pools started to appear in the middle of the air he "stepped" on. He stopped briefly, turning to look at them, clearly waiting for the group to follow. They hesitated a little, however Colette was the first to run to him, completely ignoring the other's calls and stepping on the dark road. For everyone's relief, it was actually solid enough to support the girl's weight.
They ran to the Centurion, who also sprinted, spreading the dark pools in midair, forming a bridge for the reincarnated Summon Spirits. They ran until they reached the other side of the large tower. There was a door there, almost hidden between the white panels.
Shadows from the pool slid around the door and slipped between its lines. There was a click and it slid open. Lloyd and Sheena took the front, looking inside the room. Seeing it was some kind of closet or room for storing equipment, they urged the rest of the group on.
Once the last one entered, they closed the door behind, the shadows sliding over the frame and the sound of a click indicating the door locked once more. The group looked around and saw the room was dimly lit by red lights. Hanging from rails on the roof were what looked like machines.
"Cleaning drones," Raine stated. "Though, I've never seen so many lined up before."
"Not to talk they cost a fortune to manufacture," Regal commented in a humored note. "Yuan said Martel always wanted one."
"Excuse me…" Ventus said. "but could we save the conversations for later? We are still inside an enemy base after all."
"Tenebrae, or… Presea?" Emil asked his possessed-looking Centurion, who turned to look at him with those glowing, red eyes. "Any idea how to leave."
"None," the joint voices of Presea and Tenebrae sounded. "I simply used my connection to Tenebrae to teleport right here. I don't have any idea about the layout of the Tower."
"Well, that is just great," Glacius said, crossing her legs as she floated in midair. "What now? Do we wait here for them to capture us again?"
While the group tried to look for something to aid them in their escape. Emil walked to the end of the storage room and his foot hit something. Looking down he saw what looked like a hatch with a locking mechanism on it.
"Guys," he called, pointing to his finding.
The group turned and, upon seeing the possible escape route, Sheena grabbed the lock, charging her hand with light, and ripped it off. Emil opened the hatch and the group jumped down it. He turned and saw Colette talking with Tenebrae:
"Presea… are you… ?"
"Not here," the mixed voices of the Warrior of the Deep Abyss and the Centurion of darkness answered her. "Let's wait until we're not in immediate danger."
Colette looked like she wanted to protest, but thought better of it and nodded. She would wait. As long as Presea was okay, she could wait. She looked up and saw Emil beckoning her to the hatch. Colette jumped down it and the other blonde went right after.
The party found themselves in what looked like some kind of maintance tunnel. There were machine parts scattered everywhere, together with panels. The walls were a brown color and parts of it looked rusted. It was a far call from what they had seen of Cruxis' base until now.
However, Raine was more worried about some cameras she could see from where they were standing. Some looked like they were deactivated, but there was no way to be sure.
"Now what?" Lloyd asked, crossing his hands behind his head.
"Considering we're on the Tower of Salvation, maybe we should try to go down?" Marta suggested.
"I doubt it will be that easy," Kratos replied. "We can get lost wandering through these halls."
"Allow us," Ventus said.
The group looked at the Centurions, who positioned themselves over the different paths of that corridor, summoning small monsters, which they set off with orders to scout.
"Good idea," Sheena complemented.
"V-wing always have the best ideas," an excited Lumen said.
As the group waited, Colette tried to make small talk with Presea/Tenebrae, but didn't receive any answer other than brief sentences. Was Presea angry with her? Granted, the pink haired woman did die trying to protect her, so maybe she…
"Don't think for a moment that I regret it," came the curt response from Tenebrae, which turned his head to Colette, startling her. Did they just read her mind?
While she was thinking that, Marta tried to run a quick diagnosis on Regal's wounds. A simple healing spell made most disappear and she had already taken care of Emil when they escaped. The brunette wouldn't let Raine try it, for she feared what would happen to the Professor in case she forced herself to cast another spell.
After a few seconds, the monsters came back to report their findings to the Centurions.
"It seems this place is mostly a giant maze," Solum told the party. "They've met each other on the way, although they found some curious blockage on their way."
"Blockage? Like gates, or something?" Lloyd asked.
"I bet that's the path we should take to go down," Glacius said. "It's always through locked doors."
"What makes you think that G-freeze?" Lumen asked his brethren in a confused tone.
"Oh please…"
The group decided to ignore that and followed the direction Ventus indicated. They arrived at a passage with some short of colored, force field blocking the next hallway. Without so much as word, the shadows beneath Tenebrae stretched to the gate and slipped through the arc that seemed to be projecting it. The gate blinked and disappeared.
No one commented, leaving the chit-chat for later. Once they arrived at an intersection, The Centurions summoned monsters once more to find their way. The process continued as they went down another level and arrived in another gate. Beyond it was a large door with some short of card slot besides it.
With the help of Presea's new ability, they were able to deactivate the field and approach the door. However, as Raine was about to analyze at the slot, an object blurred in front of her and a "TINK!" sounded. The party looked and saw a Javelin sticking on the wall right above the slot. Turning, the reincarnated Summon Spirits saw a visage that made their blood run cold.
Standing on the corridor at a good distance away from them was a woman with pale blonde hair, ashen-grey eyes and standing at least as tall as Kratos with a serious and cold expression etched on her face. Her attire seemed a mix of white robes and a tight-fitting black suit that hugged her front and left a small part of her upper cleavage showing. She was using steel boots and gauntlets and the symbol of Cruxis tattooed in her collarbone. The spectral wings coming out of her back left it clear (to their horror) they were in front of another Seraphim.
Lloyd the others were about to transform and attack the woman when they suddenly felt a massive pain course through their heads as they could hear some kind of scathing sound. It was like their heads were about to explode. No one notice the woman materialize another Javelin in her right hand and throw it at them at great speed.
The pain faded as suddenly as it came and Emil looked up to see the sharp point of a Javelin inches away from his nose. Holding it, her hand smoking like it was being burned, was the strange, grinning, shadow form of Presea. It looked at the woman and threw the Javelin away from the group. The angel glared at her and Presea's grin seemed to widen. The angel's eyes briefly widened before going back to their initial, emotionless state.
"Leave this to me," Shadow-Presea said, with a runic circle appearing beneath the group. The pain now completely gone. "Open that door."
The Seraphim materialized three Javelins in midair and launched them at the group at the speed of bullets. Presea grabbed two of them and sprouted an extra arm from her body to grab the third. That impressed the party as their companion threw the lances back at their opponent and lunged for her like some kind of beast.
The angel waited for her to approach and materialized another Javelin when Presea was upon her, thrusting the weapon and blowing Presea's entire midsection into two streams of darkness attached to her legs.
"PRESEA!" Colette called, horrified at seeing this again.
"Calm down. She won't be destroyed that easily," Tenebrae said.
As if to prove his point, the two streams of darkness closed in circle around the Seraphim and dark spikes shot out of them. The angelic woman seemed mildly surprised, but countered by summoning two Javelins and creating barriers that destroyed the spikes upon contact. Swinging her weapons in a spin, she launched an energy blade that completely dispersed the shadows.
However, that didn't affect the ones that gathered at her feet and released dark winds that attempted to drain the Seraphim's energy. Her Runeblade-type weapons once more deflected the attack. However, when several copies of Shadow-Presea rose from the dark circle and attacked the woman with sharp claws, her weapons weren't able to nullify the physical strikes and she was forced back as the three replicas attacked.
"Raine… could you go a little faster?" Marta asked, as the group was watching in bewilderment as their friend relentlessly attacked the Seraphim. Each time one of the Shadow-Presea's was destroyed, another copy took its place.
"I'm trying, but the interface doesn't give me a lot of options," Raine grumbled as she tried to work on the card slot.
"Allow me," Regal spoke. The half-elf gave him space and the man put his hand on the card slot. Electricity flowed form him to the device and the door opened.
"Couldn't you have done that before?" Sheena asked.
"I could, but the chances of success or frying the device and having the door permanently locked were equal. I didn't know how strong the charge should be."
The group decided to withhold any arguments and simply ran to the elevator on the other side of the door. As soon as they stepped out of the protective rune inscribed on the floor, the Seraphim noticed it and the party once more clutched their heads in pain as they felt like their minds were being torn apart.
"Enough!" Presea's overlapping, twisted voice sounded as one of the copies grabbed the Seraphim by the neck during the window of opportunity where the angel was focusing on launching her mental assault and slamming her head on the floor with enough strength to make a dent on the metal.
Three other replicas ganged up on the Seraphim, using several metallic instruments and robotic parts on the hallways as blunt weapons. None did any real damage to the angel, denting and shattering as they impacted against her.
An explosion in the Seraphim's aura, releasing a blinding flash on the entire corridor and the shadow copies disintegrated, releasing a hiss. The Seraphim looked up as she got to her feet to see wisps of darkness slithering through the cracks on the elevator doors, which were now closed.
Inside the descending elevator shaft, the group was trying to get their breath back.
"What… what… was that?" Marta asked, panting as she could still feel her head throbbing.
"I don't know for sure…" Raine said, sitting and leaning against one of the railings around the elevator. "But if I had to guess I would say it was a psychic attack."
"Raine is right," the overlapping voices of Presea and Tenebrae answered, the shadows beneath the dog-like Centurion still twisting around him like some sort of pulse. "I managed to resist the attack because… of certain things," the group looked at the possessed Centurion in confusion. Presea never hesitated when speaking. "From our brief, mental conversation, I managed to gather her name is Eair, Seraphim of Mercy."
"What conver… oh," Lloyd let out at realizing what Presea was saying.
All of that only made Raine more worried. If Eair was truly a Psychic that meant they had no means to fight her, Summon Spirit powers or not. However, if that was true, then how come Presea was able to shrug off the mental assault the Seraphim inflicted on them? And on that matter, just what were those powers she had been demonstrating until now? Raine could honestly say she was, for the first time in her long life, dreading to find the answer.
Above them, the elevator door exploded, being launched to the other side of the tunnel as the group looked up, tensing themselves for combat.
"She's quite determined, isn't she?" Sheena wondered aloud. "Hey Presea! Can your rune protect us while fighting?" she looked at Tenebrae as she asked that.
"Fighting in this narrow space is unadvised. I'll do this instead…" the pool of shadows beneath Tenebrae split into four that went to the luminescent pillars around the elevator.
Suddenly, the entire platform stopped moving. The group got nervous at that, wondering if Presea unknowingly broke something. They looked up and those with the best sight could see Eair high above in the tunnel. The Seraphim just glared at them before she spun hear arms, creating tens of floating Javelins around her.
"Um… Presea… anytime you wanna help it'd be fine," Zelos called, his voice trembling a bit in fear.
The Javelins aligned, pointing down at them. If those things hit them, they would be skewered alive with no chance to defend themselves. Eair looked at them with her emotionless eyes and expression and pointed at them.
"PRESEA!" Marta called in horror as she saw the Javelins dive at the speed of bullets towards them. Covering the entire tunnel like a contained swarm of bees.
That was when a dark portal opened beneath the group and swallowed them, closing right before the Javelins struck the platform, burying themselves to half of their length.
On the bottom of the platform, another portal opened and the party was dropped in the shaft, falling through the dark tunnel. Lloyd and the others with flight capacity transformed and caught their companions.
"Here…" Presea/Tenebrae said as they guided the group bellow.
They heard the sound of metal being bent and twisted, light finally pouring through the dark shaft. The doors were then blow out and the party found themselves in another maintance corridor, but at the end of its stairs was a teleporter.
"Keep your guard up. There is no way to tell where this will take us," Kratos warned the group.
They nodded and entered the teleporter on pairs…
- / - / - / - / - / - / -
When the reincarnated Summon Spirits appeared on what looked like another dimension with moss-covered, brown, spiral walkways, a green background and runic stones floating in the distance, they immediately wondered if they took the right teleporter.
"Where are we?" Sheena asked.
"The entrance of the Tower of Salvation," Colette answered as she and the others arrived. She shivered as she was reminded of what occurred in the place. "This is the altar."
"So, that means we're almost out, right?" Ignis asked with cheer.
"I don't think it'll be that easy," Marta commented, looking around. "I don't see any exits or something."
Emil found a teleporter at the end of a path with large, blue, transparent tiles. He tried stepping on it, but the mechanism didn't hiss to life or even react at all. Raine guessed it probably had been deactivated.
Before they could think up on some kind of solution, they heard a strange sound and saw angels materializing from the large runic circle that had brought them to the altar.
"Cease and desist," the angel commander ordered.
"Great… nowhere to run and we're in the angels' turf," Zelos muttered as he materialized his icy sword.
There's no need to panic… Presea spoke, her voice not coming from Tenebrae this time. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere.
The angels paid it no heed as archers and mages prepared to launch their attacks… just for a large pillar of darkness raise between them and the party, obscuring their view. The agents of Cruxis stood on their guard, but nothing could prepare them for when the pillar lowered and Presea's shadowed form appeared, her lower body stretching from the floor in a physically impossible fashion were it not formed from shadows. Her mouth was open in an impossible angle right before the angel's face.
Shadow-Presea's mouth closed like a trap. The sound of flesh being ripped and a splatter of blood were all the party could see right before the body of an angel, with the front half of his head missing, fell with a "THUD" on the ground.
What followed could only be called a one-sided massacre as Presea, limbs stretching at impossible distance and taking the shape of weapons, proceeded to virtually slaughter the angel squad that came after them. She ripped their wings with her bare hands, created copies of herself that attacked the archers, stole the lancers' spears and skewered them with their own weapons and spikes formed from the bodies. Took other angels and beat them on the floor with enough strength to create cracks and, eventually, split their heads open.
Even the Executors proved to be no match for her, as Presea's copies held their hammers and maces with their hands and proceeded to gut the angels alive. Any attacks against the replicas only made their bodies stretch as if they were not solid or were simply brushed off. One Angel Mage managed to hit one of the clones with a Photon spell, which made her hiss as her body was dispersed by the explosions of lights. The lucky mage was rewarded by three other copies ganking on him and amputating his arms, legs, biting his wings off and one thrusting her arms into his chest, before his entire midsection exploded from the inside out when the Shadow-Presea turned her joined hands into a sphere of dark spikes the length of her arms.
When everything was over, all that was left were the maimed, dilacerated corpses of the agents of Cruxis. Presea looked at her copies, which seemed to giggle as they melted on the ground and joined at her feet, raising another pillar of dark energy. When it faded away, the physical form of the pink haired girl was visible once more.
The group was simply dumbstruck. Few of them ever saw such a brutal beat down. Not even Kratos witnessed something like that and he had walked through many gruesome battlefields on his time as General.
Presea then turned to them and the group finally noticed she was back to normal, on her adult Spirit Form. However, her attire was different; a pale white skirt was attached to her metal belt, one of her shoulders sported a silver guard, her body suit no longer covered her legs and shoulders and her collarbone was exposed, showing the tattoo with Shadow's Symbol on her skin.
She looked, in one word, breathtaking. There was something about Presea that felt different from before, so much the group didn't know what to think of her earlier rampage anymore. That and now she was smiling. A genuine smile that showed happiness.
Colette cared not for such things and simply tackled Presea in a hug, saying the pink haired woman's name again and again, crying tears of joy at seeing her alive and well.
"I'm sorry for making you cry," Presea said, nuzzling her head on the top of Colette's blond head. "I'm sorry for taking so long to…" before she could continue, Colette tilted her head up and kissed her full on the lips.
The reincarnated Shadow was surprised for one moment, but in the next, she returned the kiss with equal passion, not minding that the rest of the group was watching. When they had to let go, Colette spoke, still in tears:
"Please… please tell me… you're going to stay, right? You won't leave… right?"
Presea only smiled once more and opened her mouth to confirm…
Only for the sound of a blade piercing flesh to be heard.
The pink haired woman looked down and saw a glowing, golden, ethereal blade sticking out of her chest. Colette's eyes widened as Presea looked back at her loved one. She was about to try to speak again…
More blades embedded themselves on her, turning the Warrior of the Deep Abyss into a veritable pincushion. Presea fell onto Colette, who looked like she was going to have another panic attack.
"Strange…" a deep voice sounded, making the shocked group look up to the altar. "I thought Gaelius said Genis had taken care of her."
There was Yggdrasil, his hand outstretched and still glowing from summoning those light blades. He then looked at the party, his condescending smile in place.
"Imagine my surprise at hearing you all escaped. I was wondering how that was possible. You even managed to evade Eair, a feat none were capable of for… obvious reasons."
"Mithos…" Lloyd grounded his teeth, anger coming to surface at seeing the half-elf hurt his friends once more.
If Lloyd was angry, Sheena was livid. The only reason she had not rushed to the bastard was because she knew her light based attacks were useless against him. That and in terms of raw power he far outclassed her.
"So, this is the one you all talked about?" Regal's question sounded more like a statement as he entered in Spirit Form together with the others.
"Yes. The leader of Cruxis," Kratos replied. He would have went forward and transformed, but his powers had yet to recover. We're in grave disadvantage here. Not all of us have recovered from our fight with Verius.
Yggdrasil looked over to the group until his gaze set on Lloyd:
"Hello again, Lloyd. I see you are still alive."
"Gee, thanks. After all, it was nothing more than being stabbed in the back by somebody I considered my friend!" Lloyd tried really hard to keep his voice under control.
"In hindsight, I wasn't really aiming to kill you. After all, you were born from humans, but you are not one."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
Emil then walked ahead of the group without anybody noticing until he was close to Colette, who was still looking over her would-be girlfriend. The blonde looked up to Yggdrasil.
"Hello… Mithos…" Emil said, his voice neutral.
Yggdrasil only narrowed his eyes, smirk still in place. The angel then teleported down and suddenly he was back to his youthful form, facing the reincarnated Lord of Monsters. The two were surprisingly the same height.
"Well, well. What a surprise," Mithos said in his prepubescent-sounding voice. "Last time we saw each other, you were mouthing my sister off for being too naïve to do what was necessary. How about now Ratatosk? Am I doing what should have been done that time?"
Mithos' tone was venomous, but Emil didn't seem to be affected. The party looked from one to the other, trying to ignore the fact the two blondes looked disturbingly alike. Marta was the first to ask:
"Emil… do you know him?"
"I do," Emil said. He closed his eyes and the air seemed to shift around him. A heartbeat-like pulse emanated from him as he opened his now crimson eyes. "In fact, seeing him here just confirms what I suspected all along, but never had solid evidence to prove," Emil said in Ratatosk's brash tone, although it sounded a lot less angry than it normally should be.
"What you suspected?" Raine asked.
"Tell them Mithos," Ratatosk said. "Tell them that this whole 'angel' and 'divine envoys' shtick is just an elaborate ruse."
"Ruse?" Zelos asked. Nebilim's words that day on Meltokio came back to him, making the red head's eyes widen. "You don't mean…"
Mithos grinned at the group's increasingly shocked faces and finally spoke:
"When did you find out?"
The entire party (save Centurions and Ratatosk) looked on in shock as they processed the information. Zelos' hands started shaking as he looked down. Only one conclusion came to their heads as they processed Mithos' answer:
Cruxis was a lie…
"I always suspected something was up with these 'angels'. They couldn't be guardian entities like my brothers and sisters," Ratatosk spoke.
"Indeed. Beings assigned by the Great Lords have a very distinctive feeling to them that isn't like any being that exist in the physical world," Solum added. "Your angels didn't have that feeling. If anything, their auras felt… skewed."
"Divine agents my ass," Glacius sharply retorted, glaring at Mithos. "And now looking at you… these angels are just half-demons, aren't they?"
In the silence that followed that declaration, one could hear the drop of a pin. Mithos didn't talk, but his smile was all the answer they needed to know it was true.
"It's curious…" Ventus regarded, his wings' feathers stroking his beak like fingers as he thought. "Though I do recall a race of the High species that had unique qualities to their aura that could match that of your angels."
"But the question here isn't that," Ratatosk brought the group's attention back to him. "The question is, why go through such lengths? Why mount this entire elaborate lie?"
"That really doesn't seem like something demons would normally do. It's too complicated for them," Lumen agreed with his boss, his eyes fixed at the Seraphim.
Mithos chuckled at the Centurion's questions and assumptions. The group could only hear as the blonde explained:
"The demons… they don't have any tact. They can't think beyond their pride or simple notions of subjugation. In fact, if it wasn't for the potential of the Expheres, they would have waved away the Cruxis Initiative when I presented it."
"'Cruxis Initiative'?" Regal queried.
"Well, it's not only me that came up with it. Either way, you don't need to know the details. All that you need to know is this: the ties of hatred between half-elves and humans are stronger than those of friendship."
"Is that it? That's why you're doing all of this?" Marta asked.
"Oh, but I already told Lloyd that," the group briefly looked at the dual swordsman, who grounded his teeth and closed his knuckles. "Besides, I can't tell you more as, even though this tower was built for me, the demons have footing in here. So, let's cut the explanations short.
"You all will go back to your cell while I take Colette here," he pointed to the blonde, who had lowered her head and seemed to be shaking.
"Again? What do you want with Colette, anyway?! Are you some sort of sicko or something?" Sheena growled as she glared at him.
Mithos didn't answer as he simply raised his palm up and gathered some light on it… just to quickly dispel it as he had to grab a punch aiming for his face. The force of the blow was enough to send an impact wave through the air, making Ratatosk jump back and momentarily close his eyes as he opened them to the emerald tone of Emil.
"Oh… that brings back memories," Mithos said in jest as he eyed Colette who, for the first time since the group had gotten to know her, was looking at him with hatred on her eyes.
The blonde, reincarnated Summon Spirit didn't answer, instead she transmuted the metal on the stone floor beneath them and it jumped to her free arm, forming a large blade that she aimed at Mithos' throat, her intention clear in her eyes.
Even so, the blade shattered against a barrier he erected. Still, Colette didn't stop as she wrenched her hand away from him and tried to use a Frag Throw on him. However, the fragments of metal merely pinged against his skin once more.
"Are you even trying?" Mithos provoked and Colette threw more metal chakras at him, which he effortlessly battered away.
Deciding to end this poor excuse of a resistance, Mithos casted a Prism Sword spell. Sheena saw that and quickly stood in front of Colette, using her defensive Arte to absorb the blades of light that fell over them.
"Colette. Don't get so… Colette!" Sheena tried to call her surrogate, little sister, only for Colette to ignore her and try to attack Mithos again. It was quite clear the blonde was consumed by anger and grief. The Seraphim didn't even bat an eye as he waited for the girl to get close enough , teleporting behind her in a blink of an eye, back to his adult form, and using an Outburst that threw her against the wall of the altar.
"I… hate… you…" the Keeper of Terra's Oath mumbled as she got up.
"What was that?" Yggdrasil asked.
"I hate you! It's all your fault! That day… on Iselia… the training exercises… you were the one that made it so the Desians would invade town," Colette stated.
"What makes you say that?" Yggdrasil asked in a humored tone, as if she hadn't just tried to attack him before.
"Exercises of the Purge Inquisitors are done under the inspection of a minor angel. I remember that from school. So, the only reason the Desians attacked when they did…"
"Hmmm… you're not as naïve as you look," Yggdrasil interrupted her, making Colette throw a venomous look at him. "And to think that all that took for you to wake up was to lose your loved ones. Like grandmother, like granddaughter."
"Don't talk about my family like that!" Colette tried to lunge for Mithos again even as Emil teleported near her and tried to hold her back.
The others went to attack Mithos and divert his attention… but that soon proved unnecessary as a huge column of darkness rose from the middle of the arena, reaching impossibly high before it fragmented on the top into several dark beams that hit the floating, runic stones at the extremities of the illusory plane. The runes on those became a blood red and suddenly the green horizon blinked out of existence, giving way to an endless black.
The combatants stopped as they looked at looked around. Mithos too was surprised when that happened. Those runes weren't easy to meddle with. For someone to take control of them like this…
"I've heard enough," a voice that the entire party knew very well sounded and they looked, astonished, to Presea, who was getting up. "You made Colette cry… you ruined her life once…" the light swords embedded on her body cracked and dissolved out of existence as she got on her feet, her back turned to the Seraphim. "And will continue to do so, will you not?"
"How is it that you're… ?" Mithos wondered. That should have passed her defenses and eliminated her. But, now that he thought about it, he didn't notice she reverting back to her human form.
"You know, Mithos…" Presea interrupted him, making the blonde narrow his eyes at her, keeping his guard up. "You once told me we're alike. What was it that you called us? A paragon of rejection?"
The group then felt Presea's aura expand and engulf the space around them in a way very similar to what happened when Mithos broke the seal on his powers. The dark background was filled by low, creepy, feminine laughter and some kind of eerie chanting.
"But, as I said before, I don't care… I don't care about any of this at all. The discrimination. You motives. Your goals…" Presea then slowly turned her head up and turned it to look at Mithos with wide eyes that showed some kind of emotion he couldn't decipher. "the only thing I care about, you are now trying to break. And for that I'll throw you into the deepest, darkest of my nightmares."
Eyes then filled the dark background; red glowing eyes with a blue, vertical iris. The singing also got louder, the melody giving goosebumps on the entire group. Raine could recognize some of the verses as ancient elven and when she mentally translated it, she paled:
Being of the light…
Dancing in the Abyss…
Come join us, in this eternal Night…
Dream with us… dream and never awake…
Knowledge that she was positive she never learned in this life came to her; this was a spell to unleash something. Something with the potential to consume this world should it not be held in check.
Presea's form was then consumed by darkness and her eyes and mouth were back to that glowing yellow, grinning form. The laughter got louder and strident. When it stopped, Presea launched herself at Mithos.
"Arbiter's Sentence!" he countered, not willingly to discover what that woman had in store for him. A massive blade of light dropped right on top of Presea. Big and wide enough to completely crush her. It release a dome of light as it fell, which then stretched into a pillar before breaking the sword into several fragments of light.
There wasn't any sign of Presea after the attack, but Yggdrasil's instincts screamed at him to leave that spot immediately. He flew up right when several, pointed dark tendrils raised and clashed together where he had been before in an attempt to skewer him.
A huge shadow then covered the floor and rose in a dome-shaped formation as what looked like the eyes and mouth of Shado-Presea's form appeared on it, its mouth open wide and before Mithos could move it ate him whole.
The party moved away as they saw that and when the giant exploded after several light beams pierced it from the inside they saw pillars of darkness raise around Mithos and contort in a strange fashion. That was when they took the form of several joined hands and limbs that tried to grab the Seraphim only for him to blast them with light and attack with his wrist-wings.
Presea's copies appeared and tried to attack him with their claws and transformed limbs, only for that to fail against Yggdrasil's defense as he blast them away. Even as he was held by the hands of one of the three dark pillars and the limbs of the other closed on him. Mithos performed a quick spin, his wrist-wings lashing out and the cuts exploding on light. The pillars and shadow clones hissed as they were erased by the light.
The replicas appeared on the floating, illusion projectors and around the spiral paths, some jumping on Mithos to try and rake at him with their claws, only for the Seraphim to dodge each one of them. Presea then appeared in her normal Spirit Form and sent a blade of darkness at him. The Leader of Cruxis easily blocked it with his hand, but as he did that Presea had already crouched and launched herself at him.
The impact of the Warrior of the Deep Abyss' blade colliding against the Seraphim's invisible shield sent an impact wave through the air. They clashed again and again with descomunal force.
"Such power…" Kratos mused.
"They're evenly matched," Lloyd spoke.
"No they are not," Tenebrae said, attracting the group's attention. "It's merely the fact that Yggdrasil is incapable of killing Lady Presea, yet she doesn't seemed to be able to inflict any serious injuries upon him either."
"You mean she's using it?" Glacius asked.
The Centurions saw the look of confusion on the party's faces and Ventus decided to elaborate:
"Lady Presea is using Shadow's original Mystic Arte; Nightmare Swarm. It is a Mystic Arte that use negativity as its fuel and can be kept active for as long as there is enough negativity around."
"When you say 'negativity', do you mean… ?" Colette asked.
"Feelings, darkness of the heart, darkness in general… y' know, those things," Lumen said. "It's quite scary though, cause if Shadow was around now he could easily covered the entire world in darkness using it and the only ones that would survive would be the demons."
The shudder Raine felt before came back in full force. The group also couldn't help, but gulp at the thought of anybody using such an Arte.
"Either way, one cannot deny it is quite useful," Tenebrae called their attention back. "When it's active, Shadow could create an endless number of copies of himself and his main body would instantly rebuild itself if it was destroyed."
"Wait, you mean that Presea is immortal now?" Marta asked.
"As long as there is enough negativity and she keeps Nightmare Swarm active, yes," the Centurion of darkness looked up to the aerial battle as Presea was pushed back to one of the spiral paths and before Mithos could hit her, she melded with the shadows on it, avoiding the attack. "However, it seems she sacrifices part of her offensive power to use it."
The paths then became consumed by shadows and these started to rotate and closed around the Seraphim, forming a cage on him. Mithos destroyed it with a pulse of his aura, but the darkness was only momentarily pushed back before it reformed into tens of replicas that converged on him, trying to bite, slash and maim the angel. None of it worked, except for irritating the Seraphim of Enlightenment.
Yggdrasil's body glowed and he transformed into his younger form, evoking an Arte:
"Rejection!" a cage of light manifested around him, burning the shadow copies away with a hiss. The group saw that Mithos was completely unscathed even after being mobbed by all those replicas. When the attack died down, Mithos was immediately hit by a thrown spinning ax. "GAAHHH!" the weapon managed to hit his left arm and leave a shallow cut that was covered by darkness. The hand ax made a boomerang turn back to Presea's awaiting hand.
Raine found it strange that none of Presea's previous attacks even managed to scratch Mithos. Any magic or summoned element seemed to either disperse when in contact with him or simply slid around his body, as if it were avoiding him. It was then a thought came to Raine's mind.
Could it be… ? she closed her eyes as she accessed the power and knowledge of her previous self. Opening them, Raine felt her magical perception heighten several times as she looked at Mithos.
She could see the magic on his body, the energy released in each attack and defense against the maelstrom of all-consuming darkness that was released from Presea. She concentrated a bit more and found enchantments all over his body, which seemed to circulate just as his blood did. Looking more attentively she found the source.
"Oh no…" Raine muttered, bringing the group's attention to her. "He has a runic body," she then felt a little fatigued and reverted to her Human Form.
Most of the group was confused by it, but Emil and the Centurions seemed to understand Raine as Ventus said:
"I see. That would explain everything."
However, before the group could ask them what they meant, Yggdrasil quickly charge an angelic spell. When he called its name, the party looked up in apprehension:
"Judgment!" large beams of light rained on Presea and her shadow copies, dispersing all as the real Presea seemed to phase through the beams, appearing in different locations as she evaded the attack.
Lloyd and the others used their defensive Artes as Regal used his powers to amplify their potency and Kratos used what little power he still had to mold them all into one, giant dome. However as the beams exploded into light feathers against their defense it quickly start to crack. Seeing that, Sheena flew up and touched the shield, modifying it so she absorbed the energy of the attack through it. The Radiant Maiden felt her body strain against the chaos-mixed light and gritted her teeth as she had to concentrate on gathering as much of it as she could.
When the attack came to pass, Sheena felt her body was at its limit as the energy threatened to burst out. Trying to focus it on a single attack, Sheena looked up at Yggdrasil, who was in the process of turning to them. She teleported to his position, her palm pointing at his chest and the ethereal rings floating around her wrist glowing.
"Ring Beam!" the resulting blast was almost twice her size and consumed Yggdrasil's figure, annihilating the path behind him. However, when she got rid of all the extra power, Yggdrasil's hand clamped down on her wrist, interrupting the attack as Sheena glowered when he came out completely unscathed.
"Impressive," he muttered as his glare intensified. "Yet, useless…" he punctuated that by thrusting his wrist-wing onto her belly in a motion faster than what Sheena could register.
The Radiant Maiden, although feeling pain, managed to ignore it as the attack didn't even pierce the defenses of her Spirit form. But before she could retaliate, one of Presea's shadow copies grabbed her shoulders from behind and pulled her back. Her wound quickly closed as the copy, which had stretched its lower body out of the opposing path, dragged Sheena through a dark portal, which Mithos tried to blast.
The Seraphim of Enlightenment then sensed Presea behind him and materialized an ethereal, light lance, twirling and impaling the one behind him as he turned to see…
"Martel?" Yggdrasil's eyes widened as he saw the green haired woman's hunched form over the spear, blood quickly staining his hands.
"M… Mi… thos…" Martel's voice sounded in a struggled voice. She coughed blood.
The blonde was shocked as he tried to process that. All of his senses were telling him this was Martel… that he had attacked and mortally wounded her… but...
"You… you can't be here," he narrowed his eyes, disregarding his senses and taking a deep breath to calm himself and his frantic mind.
When he did so, he felt something clinging on his mind. It was like some kind of voice; a persistent thought that was trying to keep him in a certain thought track. He squashed that using the mental technique the same woman on his illusion had taught him so long ago. When he opened his eyes, he saw a shadow copy looking at him with that smirking, fanged mouth. Mithos used a Shinning Shackles spell on it, a Photon and a Miguel's Blades Arte just for good measure.
While that happened, the group sensed a concentration of darkness behind them and turned to see shadows entering into the teleporter's mechanism. Sheena then reappeared, being shoved out of a portal that opened on one of the pillars around the path of transparent "tiles". The piece of magitechnology on the other end of the platform then glowed with a purple energy instead of its usual blue as a shadow copy of Presea appeared near it and spoke to them in its twisted, reverberating voice:
"Use it to escape! I'll follow you soon enough."
The group nodded and picked themselves up, running through the teleporter as it activated and their silhouettes were reduced to small dots that disappeared into the ground. Colette was the last one as she slowed down to look at Shadow-Presea for a brief moment and could swear she saw longing in those glowing, yellow eyes.
"Don't worry about me. I won't leave you," the copy said as it assumed Presea's true form. "I'll never leave you again."
Colette wanted to say something, do something… but this was neither the place nor the time. She looked up and saw Mithos was fighting back dark tentacles formed of limbs. She turned back to the teleporter as the Seraphim looked down and saw the entire group was gone and Presea, the real one, looked up at him.
The attacks stopped, the dark appendages dissipating in some kind of dark smoke as Yggdrasil glared at her. He now knew it was useless attacking that… thing. It would just replace itself with another copy and spawn its body in another place. The copies hanging out on the runic, floating stones around the tower dissolved into shadows and "jumped" back to the original, restoring the background back to its original, endless, green expanse.
The Seraphim of Enlightenment lowered himself back to the altar and looked at the reincarnated Shadow, taking in her different form and aura. He had not paid attention to it before, but now he could see… she was different, far different from what he had sensed before.
"So, you too ascended beyond a mere mortal," Mithos noted. "But I wonder, what do you intend to do? You can't hurt me and I can't seem to destroy you either," as if to punctuate his statement he reverted to his young form. The cut on his arm was gone.
The teleporter on the altar then activated and Gaelius materialized, together with two Angel Commanders.
"I don't care what I am anymore. I only know this: my mission is to protect Colette and the others from all those that seek to hurt them," Presea stated in an emotionless tone.
"'All'? Does that include the humans?" Mithos asked, smirking a bit.
A dark aura extended from the Warrior of the Deep Abyss, images of pain and war appeared on its depths as she spoke, her voice seeming to wrap and echo as if there was another Presea talking together with her:
"I said 'all who seek them harm'. No matter who, or what they be," her eyes widened and the aura then seemed to wrap around her body, hiding it from view before it stretched into a pillar of darkness and faded in the middle of the air.
Gaelius stood behind, only observing it all as he saw his Lord was alright and the battle had seemingly ended. He turned to his superior to query:
"Should we pursue them, my Lord?"
Mithos seemed to ponder for a moment, before he turned to his stoic Seraphim and said:
"No. With all that power, I doubt she teleported them anywhere nearby. Bring the Research Team here and discover how she managed to hack into the projectors and the teleporter. They might give us clues as to where they went and exactly what we're facing."
Gaelius nodded and passed the instructions to his Angel Commanders. He turned to leave, before Mithos spoke again:
"And make a call to Genis," Mithos walked up to the altar and Gaelius stood besides his Lord as the blonde spoke. "The stakes have gotten higher. We better wrap things up on our end before the Great One decides this war has become too bothersome to his tastes."
With a nod Gaelius activated the runic circle and the two left the altar.