Sonic did his best to stand under the enormous reiatsu that Libra now exuded. It surpassed his master's power and eclipsed anything he or Gilgamesh could put out in several lifetimes. He has had 3000 years to perfect it, he thought bitterly. There's no way I'll last long like this. I need to buy some time. Out loud he asked Libra, "What do you mean no one's seen it for 3000 years? How the hell could you, no, could Arias live that long?"
"Buying time, are we?" Libra asked with a cocky smile and Sonic visibly flinched. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to indulge your curiosity before you die. After all, you did manage to just barely dodge my first attack. If you hadn't then we wouldn't be having this conversation." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked into the sky. "After Arias' family was murdered by those who desired his position my master approached him with an offer: He would gain immeasurable power and in exchange would take on one of the Twelve Zodiac Weapons. But while my brethren are just simple weapons I alone was given consciousness and a will of my own. Because of that I was ordered to wait until the time was right to make my move."
"Still doesn't explain how you look like you're in your forties." Libra glared at Sonic and kicked him, sending him flying into the side of a building.
"Have some patience, rodent," he commanded. "When one of my siblings reaches Zodiac Mode with a wielder they sacrifice their physical form, much like your father and Sagittarius. However, unlike them I have no physical form since I'm the manifestation of my creator's power. So in order to make sure that I always have a host I use my own power to sustain their life near-indefinitely." He smiled at the hedgehog. "Even if you manage defeat me here I will still be inside of Arias," he told him. "Kill me and you kill him. Or kill him and you kill me, whichever you prefer. Still, it really would be a shame. He likes you, Sonic. You remind him of himself back when he still lived on Earth."
"That so?" Sonic asked with a pained laugh as steam started to rise off his body. "Then I'll be happy to meet him after I beat your ass into the ground, Libra."
"With the same old tricks as before?" he asked, his smile fading. "Please. You can't honestly believe that I would let you pull the same move off twice."
"Not the same," Sonic answered. "This is why I love villains. Your egos are so freaking big that you think nothing can stop you. But what makes you special Libra is that you knew I was stalling. But it wasn't so that I could us Kijokiri no Mai again. No, it was so I could do this." A second Kaiyō Mujō formed in Sonic's free hand and he held the two pommels together, an aqua light surrounding him as he did so. The steam poured off him in droves, almost completely obscuring him. "Zenki!"
Libra had to catch himself as a whirlwind surrounded Sonic, lifting the steam further into the air and shredding the rubble in the area. After a moment the wind died down and the steam began to subside, revealing bits of Sonic at a time. His uniform was gone, replaced by a midnight blue body suit. He had turquoise bands around his wrists, elbows and knees. Libra could also make out a simple crown in Sonic's hair quills. His boots were gone and the body suit covered the back half of each foot. Libra was about to mock the hedgehog until he saw the weapon in his right hand.
Sonic's swords had been replaced a large halberd with a feathered tassel hanging from the base of the blade. The shaft looked like ordinary wood while the pommel was a round emerald that shone from the energy still radiating from Sonic. "Ryūmi Nyotei," Sonic said and the energy around the halberd pulsed, blasting the last of the steam away from him.
"Zenki, huh?" Libra asked as he looked Sonic over. "That name rings a bell but I can't place from where." He tapped his temple as the visor came over his eyes and he scanned Sonic. "Hmm, no Guardian energies so far. I'm impressed that you've gone this long without using them." A light rain started to fall around them but Libra ignored it. "So you changed your weapon. Do you think that will be enough?"
"Do me a favor, Libra, and shut up," Sonic replied. The human was about to ask what Sonic meant until something slammed into his chest. He looked down and saw Sonic's halberd point-first in his chest, the armor cracking from the impact. The hit threw Libra back a few feet but before he could counter Sonic was back where he started.
"The hell?" he asked as the armor regenerated. "My Eye didn't detect any movement from you. Another one of your mist clones?"
"Keep guessing," the hedgehog said. Libra growled and stepped forward only to have Sonic hit him with a horizontal slash. The force of the blow threw Libra back even further than the first as he tried to gain his bearings. The Sonic he'd been staring at slowly disappeared as another slash tossed him through a nearby building.
"He's moving so fast he's leaving an afterimage," the human realized, brushing rubble off his armor. "But why can't my Eye see through it?" A sonic boom shook the air around him as Sonic came at him with an upward slash. Libra blocked it but was still tossed through the two ceilings before crashing through the wall of the third floor. Sonic followed him, jumping from building to building to build up speed. Soon he was above Libra with a glowing halberd.
"Ryūkai tsume!" he shouted and slammed the aqua wave into Libra, rocketing him back towards the ground. Libra stood up no worse for wear as he stared at the rapidly descending hedgehog.
Where the hell did this speed boost come from? he thought as the rain continued to fall. His focus shifted from Sonic as he looked at the ground for the first time since his Zenki had started. "The ground's not wet," he mused, trying to see the significance. He looked skyward letting the rain fall on his face. "And neither am I." He looked at Sonic who had the halberd resting on his shoulder. "What exactly are you up to, hedgehog? What is this rain really?"
Sonic couldn't help but smile. "For starters it isn't rain," he said as he dropped into an attack pose. "You'll have to figure the rest out for yourself." He charged at Libra only for the human to block at the last second, the halberd scraping across his armor.
He didn't have the same strength as before, Libra realized. But why?
Turquoise energy began to spiral around the halberd's shaft. "Ryūkai kiba," Sonic said with a smirk. Libra knew he couldn't dodge an attack at this range and cursed under his breath. The energy reached out and latched onto his armor, coalescing into a dragon's head as it drove him back. Libra dug into the ground only to see Sonic charging him at an impossible speed. "Again!" Another dragon's head slammed into him causing his armor to creak under the stress. His feet were skipping across the pavement like a stone across a pond. The air shook as a sonic boom echoed through the streets. "Again!" Sonic yelled and yet another dragon head shot out from the halberd. This one slammed into his chest and completely collapsed his chest plate.
Libra growled more out of annoyance as he dug his feet in, ripping up the asphalt in the process, and flexed his upper body muscles. The dragons vanished in a cloud of mist that caused him to quickly jump back. Sonic appeared above him, his body twisted into a crescent with his right leg coming down fast. The artificial limb slammed into Libra's injured shoulder and the human felt a crack! run through his entire body.
"Aughh!" he roared in pain. He tried to lash out at Sonic but the hedgehog, still airborne, planted both feet on his face and kicked off, throwing the human to the ground. Libra stood up carefully testing his shoulder. It hurt far more than it had before but it still wasn't the worst pain he'd felt. With a growl he pulled two of the feathers in his wings out and threw them at Sonic. They missed by a wide margin but exploded when they hit the ground. The blast threw Sonic off his feet and sent him skittering across the ground. Libra drew several more feathers and threw them, each one edging closer and closer to Sonic.
"Dodge this," the human spat before tossing his last feather. The projectile hit Sonic square in the chest resulting in a blast that made even Libra falter. When the dust settled there was a crater where Sonic had been but no signs of the hedgehog. The rain came to a gradual halt and the puddles around Libra vanished into nothing. "Does he think I'm an amateur? I know a trap when I see one," Libra muttered as he looked around. His Eye still showed nothing which irritated him to no end. How had Sonic hidden himself from his All-Seeing Eye?
Libra took a deep breath and closed his eyes, flexing his back muscles in the process. The feathers he had used slowly grew back as the glow from his armor dimmed noticeably. Almost on cue he heard something fast come at him. He leaned back but not fast enough as an almost invisible Sonic flew past him, cutting a gouge in the armor near Libra's neck. Sonic landed lightly on a nearby wall and pushed off with enough force to crack the building at its foundation. The tower came toward Libra as did Sonic who planted his artificial knee in the dent he'd made before, knocking the wind out of Libra. The hedgehog was gone just as quickly as the building built up speed. Guess again, Libra thought as his wings flared out. They sliced cleanly through the building parting it just enough that it would miss him. Glass and concrete flew through the air as the building slammed down. The steel beams in the frame twisted and snapped but Libra still remained untouched.
"I guess it wasn't just me," Sonic's voice called out when Libra could see again. "Kinos dropped three buildings this size on me but it didn't do a thing. You'd think several tons of material falling on you would have some kind of effect. Guess it's the advantage of being a freak."
"Speaking of freaks you survived a direct hit by my feather. I'm curious to know how you pulled that off," Libra said as he rose steadily into the air, ignoring Sonic's comment. Sonic was standing on the longer end of the building looking no worse for wear. Something about him was different but Libra couldn't quite place it.
"A gentlemen never reveals his secrets," Sonic lightly scolded him, giving a tsk tsk along with wagging his finger.
"This zenki of yours has made you even cockier than before." As Libra landed his wings quickly bent until the tips were pointing at Sonic. Energy began to gather at the points before letting loose a flurry of blasts that tore through Sonic to no effect.
"You'll have to move faster than that to hit me." Libra spun around his wings flaring out to cut the hedgehog in half only to cut down an afterimage. As the wings passed the real Sonic joined his afterimage and drove his fist into Libra's chest, his gauntlet scraping across the metal. Libra staggered back at the force of the hit while trying to watch Sonic.
"Since when did you get those?" he asked finally placing what seemed different. Sonic now wore a pair of turquoise gauntlets that went halfway up his forearm and to his second knuckle but still left his finger free of the armor.
"You should pay closer to attention to what's going on around you," Sonic informed him as the rain started back up heavier than before. Libra glared at Sonic as the rain hit his body but still didn't get him wet. He didn't know what game the hedgehog was playing but he knew it was time to end it.
Sonic made the first move, coming straight at Libra. He dodged the wings with ease as well as the blasts of energy from them. He swung the halberd in a wide arc, spinning in the process. Libra blocked the first attack but staggered under Sonic's new strength. "I suppose I should wonder where this newfound strength of yours came from," he said through gritted teeth, "but it won't matter in a moment, Guardian." He placed his hand on Sonic's stomach and red light began to pour out from his palm before blasting clean through Sonic. The hedgehog responded by slashing across Libra's chest and spinning around to clobber the side of his head with the pommel, rocketing him off the building and headfirst into the asphalt.
Sonic placed a hand where the blast had gone through him. There was no visible damage nor did he feel different aside from his heart trying to beat its way out his chest. "No way he missed at that range," Sonic muttered, flooded with relief. "I wonder if this is what the tiger was talking about when she said Libra was designed to kill Guardians."
Libra pulled himself out of the ground, spitting the bits of asphalt out of his mouth. He turned to see Sonic no worse for wear and growled angrily. How the hell is he still alive?! he thought as his armor began to glow even brighter. He was about to let loose another flurry of projectiles but took several deep breaths to try and calm his nerves. Sonic had already dodged that attack several times so once more would be no problem. He needed a way to hit Sonic that would put him down for good. Perhaps I rushed my Chaos Buster. It has been some time since I've used it. I might've only put enough power in it to weaken him instead of killing him. Red energy formed around his hands and feet, engulfing them like flames. Libra smiled. Let's give this a try.
His wings opened up and he dashed at Sonic, the force of his takeoff shattering nearby windows. He landed a direct hit on Sonic's chest but the hedgehog seemed unfazed. Libra followed up with several chops and kicks that Sonic blocked with ease. Libra let out a snarl and he lashed out with his wings. Sonic deflected one but the other slashed down his right side sending up a spray of blood.
"I suppose that will have to do," Libra said with a twisted smirk and placed a fist on Sonic's chest. Golden energy spiraled around it before blasting Sonic. The beam ripped through the landscape before colliding with the wind barrier. Libra followed the path of destruction until he could see Sonic. The flesh on Sonic's chest was burnt and blood seeped from the cracks as well as from his shoulder. "I'm impressed you managed to dodge that as well as you did," the human told him as he glided down to where Sonic was. "You're lucky to be alive."
"Eat me," Sonic replied though gritted teeth.
"I'm not fond of roasted hedgehog," the human admitted with a chuckle. He held his hand out and energy started forming again. "But as a courtesy I'll make sure to deliver your remains to the Mongoose girl." A cruel smile formed on his lips. "Right before I do the same thing to her." Before Sonic had a chance to move Libra fired the attack, blasting a massive gouge in New Mobotropolis.