Chapter 26
In the organ room, the winged Joshua was playing the organ slowly. He suddenly turned his head around and continued playing the instrument. "Oratorio! Through my horns, to Pandemonium!" Joshua called upon the organ. "It's a huge pipe organ." Chrono stated while Rosette was still looking at the room, not knowing what to say in regards with the situation at hand. "Joshua! Azmaria! Damn it, they can't hear me." Rosette shouted out as she was banging on the glass window. "Stop Rosette! The Astral is very thick. It would be best if you don't bang the glass so forcefully." Chrono strongly advised her. "Then what should we do?" Rosette impatiently asked while Chrono did not answer. "Damn it, there's no other way?! Chrono, I'm releasing the seal!" Rosette loudly announced while she was holding her pocket watch. "Releasing the seal?! You can't be serious?!" Chrono exasperatedly asked as he could tell that Rosette had failed to calm down. "Of course I'm serious! Let's hurry up and release the damn seal already!" Rosette impatiently answered and it was becoming quite obvious that she was still in an impulsive state. Chrono touched Rosette's shoulders and turned her around facing towards him. With a mildly irritated and impatient tone, Chrono said "Listen to me Rosette!" Rosette all of a sudden calmed down and looked at Chrono with a blank expression on her face. "When you open the seal on the pocket watch and my power is released, the cost for that is your life. In other words, we'll be bringing you closer to the end of your life. The time to use it is at the end. Only when all that awaits is death." Chrono calmly reminded her, much to Rosette's annoyance. "I already knew that in case you didn't know!" Rosette said aggravated. Just then, something caught Rosette's attention and they turned their heads around, seeing the standing six Apostles with their mouths open gasping loudly while blood was flowing down from their eyes. "Azmaria? What happened? Why are they becoming so lifeless?" Rosette desperately asked since she was deeply shocked and terrified with what she and Chrono were seeing in the gigantic organ room. "They're in sync with the Astral Line!" Shader's voice revealed. Suddenly, an electrical warp image of Shader appeared across the room which heavily frightened Rosette to the point that she began screaming and fell down onto her bottom on the floor. "Sorry to talk to you through this screen. I'll explain everything to you." Shader apologetically said. "Shader?!" Chrono called out in surprise since he recognized her. "It's been a while, hasn't it Chrono? I missed you!" Shader said in a smothering tone. "It's been fifty four years and our preparations are finally complete! We're going to throw the Astral Line at Pandemonium by using the power of the Apostles, amplified by this Astral Organ." Shader explained. The screen then flashed a picture of a mortally wounded Aion lying onto a huge slab of stone. His right leg and left arm were severed along with his impaled stomach. "Aion!" Chrono shouted out in shock with Rosette also being just as shocked as he was. Meanwhile, back outside Eden, Duke Duffau was looking at Aion lying on the standing slab of stone with utter contempt. "What a waste, you're completely defenseless. If you're going to keep deluding yourself in front of a general, you should just give up!" The Pursuer general said to Aion in a harshly critical tone, as if he was mocking him. "You can watch from there as your tiny kingdom disappears." Duke Duffau said as he then lifted his arm high up as a sign for the remaining winged Pursuers to prepare themselves to attack. "All forces, attack!" The Pursuer general commanded his army as he straightened out his hand towards Aion. Just then, before the Pursuer army could continue their attack on Eden, the winged Pursuers bodies all of a sudden froze which took the general by surprise. "What's happening? Why isn't my army moving?" Duke Duffau asked himself as he couldn't figure what was the cause behind his army's sudden freeze movement. A few moments later, Duke Duffau's body began to slowly crack and he started to yell in pain. His body now could no longer move as if it was frozen and the Pursuer general fell to the ground while Aion grabbed his sword that was beside the stone slab. Aion began to once again cough out some blood as his body was still badly maimed from Duffau's battle with him. "It's pretty hard, isn't it, to lose on purpose? In order to trick you, I had to prepare myself for this. Don't tell me you were completely unaware that I was doing it on purpose." Aion explained to Duffau about the geas that was cast on all the horned demons while obviously mocking him. He then picked up a jewel that was on the ground and directed it to the hole on the sword in what appeared to be that of a Jewel Summoner's bracelet. "Rosette, do you see what I see?" Chrono alarmingly asked Rosette as they were both seeing Aion placing the jewel onto the bracelet area of his sword which then magically floated. "I can't believe it, A Jewel Summoner's jewel?!" Rosette pointed out while the power of the jewel on Aion's sword helped to regenerate his body at an extremely quick pace, which deeply astounded and confused Duke Duffau. "What have you done Aion? Why can't I move?" The Pursuer general asked with fear in his eyes. "Because Pandemonium is now awake! Can't you hear it Duffau? The Oratorio the Apostles are playing had woken up Pandemonium's voice for the first time in ten thousand years!" Aion explained triumphantly. Meanwhile, at the Atlantic Ocean as the Astral Line continued flowing its way through the sky, a large, gigantic wave began to rapidly form into a tsunami and an enormous, flat demon like creature roamed its way through the sky along the waves. Rosette and Chrono looked at the waves and the gigantic creature with a shocked look on their faces. They couldn't believe what they were seeing had already begun to take place. "That is the origin of all demons, the spirit world of Pandemonium." Shader explained to Rosette and Chrono. It was 6:40 PM back at New York where Christmas decorations were lavishly put up across the city as it was snowing. A little boy then pointed to Pandemonium high up in the sky which quickly brought all of the adults on the street to their attention. Pandemonium had unfortunately reached the city as the tidal wave was following to where Pandemonium was roaming to. A few seconds later, the tidal wave aggressively flooded down towards the buildings which then began to collapse. As the wave continued flooding the city in its path, Rosette looked at the tremendous flood in shocked despair. She could never imagine that a catastrophic situation like that would have occurred at such a disastrous price. "The Astral Line is a huge mass of Astral energy from the waking Pandemonium of its ten thousand year slumber. The center should be in a state of panic due to the awakening. Because of that, the army should be beyond her control." Shader continued explaining as more and more buildings across the city flooded in such little time. Just then, the screen switched back to Aion and Duke Duffau where Aion was standing in front of a defenseless Pursuer general. "These are the chains that the superiors use to control! In other words, the army's umbilical cord is still attached to their mother. And the umbilical cord is also this!" Aion patronizingly explained to Duke Duffau as he then grabbed his horns. "Horns?!" Rosette shouted while the screen then switched back to the scene that was showing the current awakening of Pandemonium along with the flooding of New York City. "That's right. The demon army listens to orders given by their superiors. Because the army is part of Pandemonium, horns are the source of a demons power, but at the same time, an antenna as well." Shader explained as the screen then switched to a graphic of Joshua who was still playing the organ. "To defeat Pandemonium, one needs to manipulate the Astral Line while possessing horns and not be a demon. Also, the Holy Woman is our most important key to the apocalypse since in order for the apocalypse to proceed in full swing, Pandemonium's head will have to take full possession of the Holy Woman's body, which means that not only Pandemonium will be defeated, but the human race will then cease to exist." Shader explained and the screen then switched to a graphic of herself. "The girl's brother did a wonderful job for us Chrono. Thank you for your contribution!" Shader thanked Chrono and switched the screen back to the scene showing the flooding of New York which showed the Statue of Liberty also flooding as well. Rosette looked at the flooding with such a horrified and sad expression to the point that tears began to fall from her eyes.
In the meantime back outside on the top of Eden, Duke Duffau's body began to slowly crumble away as his body was beginning to lose its legions. This caused several crystal like edges on his body to form, including his face. "Aion, don't tell me you tried to escape the chains of Pandemonium by breaking your horns? That's ridiculous! If that's the case, you can't fight." Duke Duffau remarked in a grunting tone. "Naturally, I had a plan." Aion said and showed the Pursuer General three jewels that were between his three fingers. "My horns and my contractor are sealed in these jewels. With this the chains of a contractor are not a problem either. It's as if I became totally invincible." Aion explained triumphantly and he then placed one of the jewels onto the sword and aimed it towards Duke Duffau's head. "Well, I believe your time has come to an unfortunate end. So long, Duffau!" Aion said in a mocking tone as he raised his sword high up and stabbed the Pursuer General in the head. Back inside the building, the screen had phased out and Rosette along with Chrono looked at the glass window speechless as they were so shocked with what they just saw. Just then, Chrono abruptly formed his hand into a fist, pulled back his arm and swiftly began to punch the glass window. The Apostles all of a sudden stopped gasping which was a sign that Oratorio had stopped working. Chrono had punched the glass window so aggressively that it not only shattered into pieces but it also caused Chrono's hand to become bloody. Rosette then got herself up and faced the organ room. "Rosette, I will not forgive him!" Chrono said in an extremely bitter, vengeful tone while both he and Rosette gritted their teeth. "That's right, me neither!" Rosette responded in an equally unforgiving tone as they both had an intensely angry look on their faces. "Revival of the world? Sealed in a jewel? Don't think everything is so simple! Everybody is in so much pain! If you die, you can't come back!" Chrono said in an extremely angry voice as he thought of Aion in his demon from as well as the time when Rosette was lying on the ground at the carnival screaming in agonizing pain from his abrupt transformation. "How many more will you kill? Just to accomplish your twisted goal? Their hearts! Their time! Their lives! I won't forgive you Aion!" Rosette said in an angry yet sad tone while thinking of the time when the orphanage was frozen in time. She also thought of the winged Apostles along with Aion himself in his demon form. Rosette then stood her way by Chrono's side as she pulled out her gun and pointed it towards the room while Chrono grabbed two curved knife swords from the weapon backpack and also walked forward. "No matter what your motive is, we will definitely not forgive you!" Rosette said in a determined yet bitterly aggressive tone. Azmaria then looked towards Rosette with such a blank expression that it looked as if she was completely lifeless while blood was still dripping down from her eyes. "I can't believe it, it's losing sync. I'm sorry, the Oratorio should not stop right now. I'm going to release the outer ring. I'm really sorry." Shader announced in disbelief as she apologized for Oratorio stopping. Just then, the lower platform of the floating fortress began to drastically creak while the upper platform had just been abruptly set on fire. The building that Chrono and Rosette were in also began to collapse itself. "The platform is collapsing!" Chrono stated urgently while the ground they were standing on had separated itself. "Damn it!" Rosette said in frustration and jumped towards the circular ring surrounding the room. Further away in front of her, Rosette saw Joshua standing in front of the organ. Joshua sternly turned his head to see what was going on. "Joshua!" Rosette shouted out his name while Joshua turned around and had an extremely stern, bitter look on his face. The circular ring however broke apart which caused Rosette to fall down towards the bottom of the room and she began to scream. "Rosette!" Chrono shouted out her name as he was worried sick about what might happen to her. However, someone grabbed Rosette's arm, much to Chrono's relief. "That was dangerous! This is the second time!" Satella said to Rosette. Satella was on one of her jewel monster transporters while Rosette looked at her with a surprised look. "You don't think about consequences! It looks like you can't live without me." Satella constructively commented while Chrono grabbed onto the jewel monster's tail. "Satella!" Rosette said her name in surprise as she wasn't expecting that Satella would save her just in the nick of time. "Satella, how come you came for us?" Rosette curiously asked. "We'll talk about it later. We're withdrawing for now!" Satella told her and her ghostly fish jewel monster pulled them out of the building. The jewel monster managed to successfully fly its way out of the crumbling building and out of Eden. "Rosette, are you alright?" Chrono asked while he finally reached up to her on the jewel monster. "Yes Chrono, I'm alright!" Rosette confirmed much to his relief. "Oh my God, it appears as if Eden transformed itself." Rosette stated as she could see that Eden no longer had any vegetation left on top of it. Instead, it was transformed into a huge circular shaped fortress and a lot of smoke was coming out from it. "That's right, I have a feeling that this must be Shader's doing." Chrono commented. "I am so glad that you found us Satella!" Rosette said to her. "I came here earlier to investigate the situation. I am glad you two followed me here and for that I'm happy." Satella explained in a grateful tone. "It looks like we made you worried, sorry about that." Rosette apologetically said. "I am just glad that we are all safe! To the Sinners, Pandemonium is the enemy and we're just the audience who will eventually be terminated. They mock us while thinking 'What can the humans do?' I was also watching what was happening to New York City." Satella explained to the two. "For that cause, my sister is somewhere there!" Satella said with intense determination. Just then, a huge roaring noise came up from the sky and within a few seconds later, Pandemonium's soul came roaming its way through the sky. "Pandemonium!" Rosette and Chrono shouted out in disbelief that it already was to reaching Eden. Pandemonium continued roaring loudly across the sky. It looked like a creature with a body of a whale yet had a face like that of a snake. As it continued to roam its way through, a huge banging sound had erupted. "Oh my God, this thing is so huge! I can't even tell how far away it is!" Rosette commented in a shocked tone. "This looks bad!" Chrono remarked in a worried tone as he feared for the worst to happen. "The Gate Shift from the Atlantic Ocean, that sure was fast!" Aion commented with obvious satisfaction as Pandemonium completed its Gate Shift from the Atlantic much faster than he had expected. "Oratorio's third movement shall begin! Containment!" Shader said back in the control room with a worried look on her face. Joshua resumed playing the organ aggressively which caused Azmaria and the other Apostles to begin gasping loudly. The six Apostles also began to scream as blood continued dripping down from their eyes. The third movement of Oratorio allowed Pandemonium to begin dropping several demon cells down into the ground's surface as it quieted itself down. "It got quiet all of a sudden." Chrono stated since he realized that Pandemonium had stopped roaring. "Hahahahahahahaha! Well, I can see that victory is clearly on my side!" Aion maniacally laughed at the top of his lungs and flew his way towards Eden. "He's getting away!" Rosette alarmed the two. "Let me down! We have to stop him right now! If we don't, it might already be too late!" Chrono demanded and Satella commanded her jewel monster to fly down towards Eden at the direction to where Aion is at. "You should all be more aware of your surroundings." Aion smugly said to them which caught Chrono's attention. Suddenly, he saw demon cells in the shape of starfish being dropped at the direction where Satella's jewel monster was at. "What the hell is that?" Rosette curiously asked. "Their demon cells are multiplying far over the limit! But originally, that was suppressed! Pandemonium has gone silent! Both the commanders and controllers are gone! Their instincts are taking over!" Chrono explained as he was watching the demon cells go down and Pandemonium began to roar heavily once again. Rosette suddenly pulled out her gun and started to shoot towards the demon cells.
"Damn, they sure are fast! Slow down, I can't hit anything this way!" Rosette commented while she was taken aback by Satella commanding her jewel monster to move faster towards Eden. "Don't be stupid. If we stop, they'll get us!" Satella urgently explained to Rosette. "Look from above." Rosette alarmed the others as she saw so many more demon cells falling their way to the ground. "Good Lord, there are so many of them!" Rosette said and took out another pistol. Rosette pointed her two guns towards the demon cells and started to shoot at them again with vigorous speed. She was becoming more and more frustrated with the amount of incoming demon cells. "Damn it, this situation is becoming hopeless! What do we do?" Rosette shouted desperately while she continued shooting. "Please withdraw, Rosette!" The minister's voice called out to her, which then caught both Rosette and Chrono's attention as they saw huge explosives heading towards the demon cells which immediately eradicated them all. Just then, they saw a huge airship roaming across the sky along with many other smaller airplanes. It wasn't long for the two to realize that all of the aircraft that they were seeing high up in the sky was from those of the Magdalene Order. "Dozens of demons were destroyed above the axis line!" Sister Mary reported to Sister Kate while all of the Magdalene battle reporters were inside the enormous aircraft. "What about Pandemonium?" Sister Kate asked authoritatively. "We're still confirming the damage. No effect! It's still together!" Sister Claire answered her as she just reported Pandemonium's current condition. Meanwhile, Father Remington was contacting Reverend Gilliam through headphones while a group of other Militia members were standing on the top of the aircraft out in the open. "Roger. Please tell the Elders to hurry." The minister told Gilliam as he then hung up. "What the hell! That thing sure is huge." One male agent remarked as he was seeing Pandemonium. "Don't quiver, Storm!" One dark skinned agent told him as he could see that Storm Valerie was shaking. "We've talked too long." One brunette nun said while she was standing beside two other agents. "As Militia, we will fight to the very end. We won't let even one near!" The nun said with great determination as all the other Militia members whether nuns or agents, prepared themselves for the battle ahead of them. "I'm going ahead, Ewan." Reverend Gilliam told Father Remington through his headphones with Sister Grace sitting right behind him on the airplane that he was piloting on. "The Barrier ship Metron! Attack!" Father Remington commanded as he was holding his laser sword. One Militia nun directed the other Militia members to their positions as they prepared themselves for battle. Just then, the airship opened the cannon holders and began to shoot towards the remaining demon cells with intense speed. The fire shots resembled those of cannon balls. "It's the Magdalene Order! They came!" Rosette gladly said while Chrono looked at the Magdalene's aircraft force with huge surprise. "I don't know what you are capable of, but I am not pleased." Aion said to himself in an unimpressed tone as he knew that the Magdalene Order could ruin his plans. Rosette continued firing at the remaining demon cells with both of her pistols as Satella's ghostly fish jewel monster was getting closer and closer towards Eden. "Chrono! I'm going ahead!" Aion shouted out towards Chrono while taunting him. Aion's voice quickly got Chrono's attention as he was wondering what he wanted. "Let's play a game! Who will be the one to reach the center first? Our bet will be our individual, and the loser will forfeit." Aion explained while challenging him. "If you want to stop me, come and catch me. You said you won't forgive me, didn't you?" Aion tauntingly asked him. "The main event is from here on. Let's have fun, my brother!" Aion said as he wished his brother all the luck on their game. "Wait, we can't! There are too many enemies for us to get any closer." Chrono nervously stated since he realized that there were still loads of demon cells falling down from the sky. "The Sinners air fortress is going to land on Pandemonium." Sister Claire reported to Sister Kate while looking carefully at Pandemonium's movement. "Stop them!" Sister Kate urgently commanded. "It's too late to reload the cannon missiles. There are too many enemies and the Militia is severely understaffed." Sister Anna reported to Sister Kate. "Sister Kate, since Rosette's group is alright, do you think it would be a problem to ask them for our help?" Sister Mary asked. "You idiot! What are you saying?" Sister Anna snapped at her as she knew Rosette was already battling against Eden and Pandemonium. Sister Kate thought long and hard about whether to contact Rosette or not but she realized that the situation was very dire and so she decided to finally contact Rosette through her speaker. Rosette's telephone rang and she picked it up from the telephone holder that was on the right side of the weapon backpack. "Rosette!" Sister Kate called her name in an authoritative tone. "Sister Kate, is it true that you were demoted?" Rosette startlingly asked as she wasn't expecting that Sister Kate would contact her at that moment. "I chose to be here, working at the scene!" Sister Kate impatiently explained. "The normal command system is not functioning, so I am temporarily in charge. Communications from the New York base has stopped due to the flooding that just happened." Sister Kate explained which reminded Rosette as she gritted her teeth out of bitterness of the situation. "Withdraw Rosette. You are not supposed to be part of this operation. From Minister Remington's information I didn't expect you to be here. But anyway, we can accommodate you on this ship. Please return here at once!" Sister Kate ordered. "I'm sorry Sister Kate, but I cannot obey your order. I'm not qualified to be a Sister anymore, am I? I'm sorry for being brash but honestly, I'm not just fighting because it is my duty. Four years ago, it started in a small orphanage and the tragedy that befell us. Today, tragedy has hit countless people. That was caused by Joshua and Aion. Those, who were once very close to us. We have to go, so that the same tragedy will not be repeated again. Please, allow us to help our loved ones repay their sins!" Rosette pleaded while reminding Sister Kate about the real reason why she joined the Magdalene Order as well as remembering the time of when everything at the orphanage led straight to chaos. Sister Kate was stunned by the words Rosette just said to her as she never would have imagined that Rosette would speak with such wisdom. "I see, so she has finally grown up indeed!" Sister Kate said to herself as she was glad that Rosette had finally matured. "Aim the cannons at Pandemonium!" Sister Kate commanded the Sisters while straightening her right arm forward. "But the effect is still unstable!" Sister Claire protested. "That doesn't matter. Fire!" Sister Kate ordered and the air ships cannons fired directly towards Pandemonium with a huge bang. Rosette looked at it surprised as she could see that a huge crack had been made onto Eden's upper round surface which means that a path had been made. "Rosette, if you feel that strongly about not giving up, it's alright. I order you to scout ahead!" Sister Kate ordered her. "First, break through after determining a clear path. I'll send reinforcements afterwards." Sister Kate explained while sighing afterwards as she had a feeling that her sudden kindness will be the end of her. "Okay!" Rosette happily responded since Sister Kate never allowed reinforcements before. "Please go, Rosette. Right now, you are the closest one to the scene." Sister Kate urged her while Satella commanded her jewel monster to fly faster towards Eden. "If that girl comes back alive, then all thanks be to God!" Sister Kate said to herself as she put down the communicator device. She then decided to contact the Elder to tell him to refurbish the machine that he and the others were working on. "What was that Sister Kate? The engine hasn't even started yet." The Elder said frustratingly. "About Rosette's lifespan, how much longer does she have?" The Elder asked concerned as he was worried about the fact that Rosette's life was slowly drawing to an end. "I don't know." Sister Kate answered. "She can probably feel it. The next time she releases the seal, what awaits her will be death!" The Elder alarmingly reminded her while Rosette and the others had finally reached the path on Eden as the jewel monster was flying at full speed.