CHAPTER 44: AND THEN ALONG CAME ZEUS
Grim, unfettered by Tartarus's effects, finally climbed all the way up the Titan. Once he reached the arms, he scurried up the leftside… towards Ortho.
"Hey! What're you doing, you mangy sidekick?!" Idia yelled. "You leave my brother alone!"
The Titan tried to shake Grim off its arm, but the blotted-up direbeast held on tight by biting the strings that held the littler Phantoms together. Once he had a chance, Grim jumped up and lunged at Ortho, digging into his chest. The robotic boy didn't fight back as he normally would.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Idia prepared a fire spell.
"Idia, wait!" The voice seemed to be coming from the Titan. Despite its grand size, it still sounded like a young boy. "If you hit the direbeast at this angle, you'll hit me!"
"Gahhhh…" Idia hissed. "Never liked this stupid furball!"
"I'll take care of it," the Titan promised. It placed Idia onto its shoulder, then prepared to flick Grim off its palm like a bug. But before it could happen…
"Have you forgotten about us?!" Vil cried from above. The Shrouds looked up to see the Pomefiore trio riding their Chariot with the full-powered Thunder Spear held between all three of them.
"Oh, please. You know the Thunder Spear is like eons old, right?" Idia taunted. "Yet you're staking everything on that?"
"Pipe down!" Epel yelled. "This is for uprootin' us and puttin' us through all this mess!"
"Indeed, we will smite your monstrous form and save all that we love!" Rook agreed.
"You never should've messed with Night Raven College—Pomefiore in particular!" Vil announced. "You'll see firsthand the tenacity of the Fairest Queen!"
"C'mon, get on with it, this is no time to grandstand…!" Ace said from between his teeth. Between Jill's collapse, the group's lack of magic, and Tartarus's life-draining effects… it was safe to assume everyone was on their last legs.
The Pomefiores aimed the Thunder Spear, the Titan readied its arm to punch… and then everything went white.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!
If the pieces of the Spear felt and sounded like a thunderstorm… then this was a cataclysm. The enormous blast rocketed down the Titan's arm and up to the blot-filled vial of its head. Grim narrowly avoided the blast; he jumped away from Ortho, just to fall into empty space…
"NO!" Vil dropped the Spear and rushed forward, past Rook and Epel who were too stunned to stop him…
"ORTHO!" Idia screamed, and in the blink of an eye, he changed back to his regular form. A wave of exhaustion overtook the Ignihyde housewarden, and he passed out… only to be caught by the Titan's other hand.
"Idia, it's okay…" the Titan whispered. "Even if I can't be free, then you will!" And then it tossed Idia up to the Chariot of Team 3, who were shocked to suddenly have Idia fall into the backseat.
"VIL!" Rook screamed. "Vil, where are you?!" The hunter scanned the area, but his housewarden seemed to be nowhere.
"Stop screaming…" Vil's voice was from below. Upon closer inspection, Vil was clinging to the Chariot's underbelly, holding Grim underneath his other arm. Grim growled, but the sound was broken, and he didn't resist Vil's embrace.
"Vil, hang on! We're taking you both up to the stairs!" Epel said. He put the Chariot into high gear, slowly drifting over the stairs so Vil could let go and land on his feet. The other two Chariots landed nearby, looking after the unconscious Jill and Idia.
"How do we close this gate?" Deuce asked. Everyone was watching the Titan slowly descend into the ghostly inferno below.
"Idia would know how," Ace said. "And when he wakes up, we're coughing the answer outta him!"
As the Titan fell, it looked over the little robot in its arms. Ortho's chest was dug out, and many components were missing. But even if this form was destroyed, the love of Ortho—both Orthos—remained.
"Sorry for causing you trouble, big bro…" the Titan whispered. It released its grip, letting the robotic Ortho fall into the abyss. That was the last of its strength.
Once Vil was on solid ground, Epel parked the Chariot nearby, and the remaining two Pomefiores abandoned the defunct Thunder Spear and clamored out to see their housewarden. Except, as everyone came to realize… Vil did not escape unscathed.
Vil's skin had turned wrinkly, and his hair was as white as paper. His frail frame was bent slightly, though he was trying to stand at full height. His purple robes bagged on him, and he now struggled with the weight of Grim. The direbeast jumped out of Vil's arms, limped off to the side, and started to cough.
"Vil…" Rook was beyond words. All three teams were stunned at the elderly Vil Schoenheit.
"Humans and direbeasts are affected by Tartarus differently," Riddle realized. "It was much worse for you, yet you took Grim without even thinking…"
"Grim's a troublemaker, right up to the end," Ace said. "He's the reason you had to…"
"Still, it was amazing what you did, Vil!" Deuce noted. "That was like something a prince would do!"
"I know… but I'm sorry I couldn't save Ortho," Vil rasped. "Jill wanted me to save all three of them…"
"Nothing to apologize for…" Epel was bowled over by Vil's bravery. Everyone was.
"Your beauty hasn't dimmed," Rook decided. "And you should be proud… for you've become the Fairest of All!"
"I suppose I have," Vil chuckled, then hunched over in pain. "Ah—!"
"Here, Vil, take this," Jamil said, giving over Jill's staff.
"Th-Thank you…" Vil mumbled. He leaned onto the Hallowgrim dorm weapon as if it was a walking cane. "But we're not out of the woods yet. We need Idia to close the gate!"
"Right," Azul agreed. He and Riddle lifted Idia out of the Chariot and lightly shook him.
"Up and at 'em, Radish Sprout," Leona grunted. He was about to come over and lend a hand when he noticed Grim was finally done coughing.
Grim had hacked up Idia's magestone pen, which had been attached to Ortho during the fight. The blot was gone from the magestone, rendering it sky-blue once more. But something else was recovered from Grim's mouth—some blue device with metallic filaments on one side like a comb. Whatever that was, Leona couldn't care less, but it was odd that Grim would target that. Grim himself growled quietly, curling in on himself as he laid down on the stone steps.
Inside Idia's dreams, he was facing quite a trial of his own.
