Chapter 35

The Azure Sorceress

Ultimecia was flying as fast as her raven wings would carry her. She tried to increase the gap between her and Leviathan, who was eager to avenge a dozen years of slavery and certainly had the power to do so. Leviathan fired raw, ocean-blue energy from his maw. Wedges of the same force shot from the glowing blade held by the Daughter of the Armageddon Fist. Smaller tidal waves appeared in mid-air to harass Ultimecia, altering her flight path. Any magical force or projectile she had fired at Leviathan's scaled head or hide had been ineffective. She was furious to be fleeing a Guardian Force in view of her army. She required her Knight, so that she could take the offense.

Suddenly, a different blue light appeared between them, halting Leviathan. The form glowed as brilliantly as a blue sun, slowly fading to reveal a blonde woman within the light. The Azure Sorceress, facing Ultimecia without a hint of dread.

With only a cursory glance behind her, Quistis called to Thalassa, 'Where's Rinoa?'

'She was blown out of the sky!' Thalassa responded. 'She could be dying!'

'Go to her!' Quistis urged. 'You've done well, Thalassa, but allow me to take it from here!'

'But-! '

'Go to her!' Quistis said, more forcefully this time. 'If she's dying, then I'm sure you have the affinity to receive her power!'

A look of wonder crossed the face of the White SeeD. Quistis had seen that, too, Ultimecia noted.

'I promise to avenge your father,' Quistis said, 'along with Edea, Irvine and everyone else she has killed!'

'Fine,' Thalassa said reluctantly. 'Make sure you do!'

With a hard stare at Ultimecia, Leviathan curved away and headed back to the ruined hotel. Quistis spun with a flash of her salmon attire, a gust of white wind lowering her to a flat rooftop below. After scanning for any other threats, Ultimecia slowly descended after her, addressing the Azure Sorceress for the first time.

'Confident, are you?'

'I know first-hand that you can be defeated, Ultimecia,' Quistis responded calmly.

Ultimecia understood. 'Of course. All of the Children of Fate would have accompanied the Lionheart to the future. But my downfall is not ordained for hundreds of years! I do not perish here!' She paused. 'You are the only one of those fated six that I have yet to meet in battle, Quistis. They say that you are the most powerful of the three Sorceresses; a masterful Blue Mage even before you became a Descendant of Hyne.'

'Rinoa's power was split evenly,' Quistis replied humbly.

'To what end, I will never understand,' Ultimecia said. 'Rinoa once had the majority of Hyne's Half. The Planet was at her fingertips, if only she had known how to control it! She was unworthy!'

'Rinoa wanted nothing more than a life of peace, as Sorceress Edea did before her. You cruelly robbed our Matron of that, and now you have done the same for Rinoa, Selphie and I.' Quistis' voice was unwavering. 'Though you have just raised something. Your mother imparted you some of her power to slow her mutation. Yet when we met Doctor Odine, he was certain that Rinoa and Adel were the only Sorceresses of the era. How did he not know of your existence?'

Ultimecia rolled her glowing eyes. 'My mother did not trust Odine. He cares nothing for who his loyalty belongs, so long as he can continue his research. I was known to only to my father, Odysseus Vlahos, and a select few of Adel's most loyal aides, sheltered away from the mainland until I came of age. Which coincided with the devastation of the Lunar Cry. With the Cowardly Lion's incompetence in dealing with the Cry, I was able to rise to power far quicker than I had envisioned.'

'Well, it comes to an end here, Ultimecia,' Quistis pledged. 'It has to! Even if I fall, Squall, Rinoa and Selphie will step up to take my place!'

A roar announced the arrival of Tiamat, and Leo descended to Ultimecia's side. Bloodstains glistened like rust on his obsidian blades as he drew them. His appearance filled Ultimecia with relief; she had the upper hand now.

'Seifer is dead,' he informed her.

'And the boy?' she asked expectantly.

'The boy was guarded by the Abadon of Adaryn, in whom I met my match,' Leo admitted. 'Moreover, the Guardian of Trabia has already recovered. When she joined the battle, I had no choice but to abandon the quest.'

'The Abadon is naught more than a would-be martyr!' Ultimecia snapped. 'He does not have a place in this act! Nor does Selphie! I will have to kill them all myself!'

'Pray forgive me, Your Grace,' Leo said. 'I seek to redeem myself here.'

The sounds of a roaring fire came from their flank. A hulking, horned beast jumped over the edge of the rooftop, a trenchcoated man holding a gunblade crouched on its shoulder. Ifrit lowered himself slightly, and the gunbreaker jumped to the ground before the GF disappeared in an imploding flame.

'Gerra!' Leo snarled.

The man did not respond, instead saying to Quistis, 'Nida and Tyris have engaged Vlahos and Zebalga.' He looked between Ultimecia and Leo as she nodded.

'Gerra Almasy, the soiled Sorceress' Knight,' Ultimecia said slowly. 'I immediately see why I would favour you, Gerra. Your spirit burns incessantly.'

'I won your favour by killing my only friend in the Arena, as Leo knows,' Gerra said with disgust. 'His name was Firion. I ultimately came to my senses, and I've spent years planning your destruction.' Flames surrounded him, intensifying to almost veil him from view. 'Killing you in the future would have done little for that world of ruin! I had to stop it from ever coming to pass!'

'No, Gerra,' Leo said. 'Your profitless crusade ends here!'

Gerra asked, 'Why are you doing this, Leo? You've seen how the world was before the Ultimecia's ascension. Do you truly want her Age to come to be?'

Leo said nothing.

'So, you got what you always secretly desired,' Gerra pressed. 'I guess it was inevitable that you would become Ultimecia's Knight. As Alanis, Leona and Griever are forever lost to you.'

Leo looked murderous at the sound of their names. 'Then you understand what you have taken from me!' he said. 'That this goes far beyond devotion to the Empress!'

He approached Gerra. Serving Knight struck former Knight first, saying nothing more as they traded blows, quickly moving away from the Sorceresses. Ultimecia turned to the calculated Quistis, who had remained silent since Gerra's appearance, but now threateningly struck the bladed end of her whip to the ground like a beast tamer.

'Let us begin this waltz,' Ultimecia said dryly.

Both of Ultimecia's gloved talons glowed with purple ethereal substance as the golden whip struck her, the only shield Ultimecia needed as she calmly diverted each lash. Eventually, Ultimecia feinted and allowed the robust whip to curl itself around her right talon. Drawing on the small amount of power that remained in the newly captive Carbuncle, she wrenched the elegant weapon from Quistis' grasp. Two regal battle-axes appeared either side of Ultimecia, spinning in mid-air.

'I can do better,' Quistis said disdainfully, extending both arms outward.

What looked like rocket-propelled grenades appeared, on a course directly for Ultimecia's chest. Impossible! Ultimecia thought. Summoning weapons took some understanding as to how they were forged. To think that Quistis could summon real explosive weapons at will, with all their components, was unfathomable. Instinctively, Ultimecia flew upward, her axes disappearing. The missiles were real, obliterating the wall behind her. Quistis' intelligence must have been off the charts! But then again, she had become a SeeD at just fifteen, and had been instructing her former classmates but two years later.

Quistis did not have wings though followed Ultimecia on a white wind, and as she did, golden lights appeared in both of her hands, taking solid form. They both resembled the handle of Save the Queen. From them protruded two thin, gleaming lights – the off-white of holy-elemental magic. These bars of light grew until they were several yards long, rippling and twisting as though they had lives of their own. Ultimecia looked at them wearily, bracing herself.

Quistis began to pummel her with them faster than she could block, rising above her, forcing her back to the roof. In desperation, she conjured parallel scarlet lines above and below Quistis, seeking to trap her between the lethal corridor of magical force. Though Quistis calmly rolled through the air as the lines converged, striking Ultimecia's face with overhead lashes and landing gracefully on her feet. She was stupefied from the blow, fearing for her life for the only time since she had fought Selphie, fifteen years before.

Ultimecia tried to call Leo's name, but he was locked in a fierce duel with Gerra on the other side of the rooftop. Quistis had a gleam of triumph in her eyes. With a broad movement of both arms, both ethereal whips bound Ultimecia from head to toe, trapping her raven wings to her body. Caught like a chicobo in the web of a grand mantis, she could not move a muscle, her yellow eyes meeting the grey ones of her fellow Sorceress. She was now wholly at the Azure Sorceress' mercy.

'It's over, Ultimecia!' Quistis stated unequivocally.

She cast one brief glance at Gerra and Leo, then a deep look of concentration crossed her face. She crouched slightly, as she had when she summoned the missiles. Ultimecia felt herself being lifted slowly into the air. A large orb of quicksilver appeared from within her chest. She saw several lesser orbs take form in front of her, evenly spaced, the same colour as the one growing from her bosom. Feeling the magical energy of more orbs behind her, the sheer light veiled everything from her sight. Immobile and helpless as the dazzling orbs slowly approached the one within her, she screamed for the second time in an hour. She had never felt such great magical energy.

Leo knew that his Empress was in peril as the silver light bathed the rooftop. Mercifully, Gerra's power was fading.

'The Undying Fire wanes,' Leo said derisively.

He shot one of Tiamat's flares at Gerra as he backed away, who tried to erect a shield of flame, but it was not strong enough. He was sent hurtling over the roof edge.

When he looked at the Sorceresses, Leo realised he had witnessed these blinding orbs before. The same pulsar had been used by Omega to annihilate thousands of his troops. Ultimecia had been forced to depart her gothic castle with Gerra and the Praetorians to aid Leo in subduing the demon. Commendably, Leo had been able to hold off Omega with Bahamut's power until they arrived. Though Ultimecia had unquestionably saved his life that day. Nonetheless, if she was hit with that pulsar, she would be obliterated.

Forgoing all thoughts of honour, Leo sought to save the life of the woman he loved as she had once saved his. He moved to approach the silhouette of the rooted Quistis from behind. The pulsar was almost ready. An overwhelming crescendo of noise had replaced the steel song from the city streets below. The ring of quicksilver orbs was steadily approaching the larger one obscuring Ultimecia, drawn as though to a magnet. At the final moment, when the orbs were a foot from meeting, he was within range.

With all the power he could muster into the halves of Harbinger, Leo impaled Quistis through the back with one, and then the other. The brilliant light vanished instantly. As did the holy cords holding Ultimecia in place, plunging the whole area into sudden darkness.

As Leo's eyes adjusted, the only sound that he could hear was Ultimecia's amplified laughter. He looked above to see her winged silhouette against the dark sky. In her hand was a magicite crystal glowing faintly with silver. The hibernating Eden was entrapped.

Then she descended, extending her other hand to draw the Sorceress power from Quistis. Leo witnessed a Transference; a true spectacle of equally blinding white light, a hundred times more magnificent than receiving para-magic from a draw point. Ultimecia shuddered as each white line struck her. The mortally wounded Quistis clung to life on the edges of Harbinger just long enough to relinquish her power. When the Transference was complete, Leo slowly withdrew his blades, repulsed by what he had done.

The lifeless body of Quistis thudded facedown to the rooftop surface. Ultimecia waved one arm, and Quistis' body was levitated over the edge, then contemptuously dropped. Leo did not react to the thud of it striking the concrete below, nor to the groans of the Galbadians that followed.

'Take your rightful place by my side, Leo,' Ultimecia said.

He obliged after a heartbeat, climbing astride Tiamat as Ultimecia flew away from the rooftop. Slowly rotating to view Galbadia City from above, she summoned Eden. The Elder Guardian Force appeared like a giant spectre above the city, quietening the pockets of raging battle. He wondered what Ultimecia was planning. The battle below had not gone in Esthar's favour, and she would need her army to complete her conquest. Most of her fighting force was concentrated within the city she was now surveying hungrily. With Quistis dead and Eden her puppet, it would be wise for her to pull back and strike again when the Elder was at full power. Then, she could simply pummel her remaining enemies into submission.

Instead of directing Eden's attack below, Ultimecia commanded it to obliterate the skyline. In a sweeping curve of destruction, piercing silver light vapourised the upper floors of every high-rise building in the city, including the hotel. That alone would have killed thousands of sheltering Galbadians unable to fight. Then Eden directed much narrower, concentrated beams at the Arch of Triumph and the Presidential Palace, razing the landmarks to rubble in an instant. The light that struck the Palace shone a little longer, penetrating to the old nuclear bunker below. Any government officials cowering within would have been killed in an instant, perhaps watching their impending doom unfold on the satellite feeds.

Her statement made, Ultimecia informed Leo she would gather her forces and abandon the city. She darted downward, leaving Leo astride Tiamat to survey the altered city.

Thalassa had witnessed the light spectacle and Eden's power from the lobby of the hotel building, safe as most of the upper floors had abruptly disappeared from above them. She was relieved as she heard Esthar's horns of retreat. Northern Galbadia would remain at liberty for now.

But Quistis was dead, and Eden was in the hands of Ultimecia.

Gilgamesh stood alone in the lobby, every weapon except his Yoichi greatbow drawn. He warily watched the protective Sacred and Minotaur as they stood guard before a seated Rinoa, who was hugging her knees in a childlike pose. She was bruised, broken and bloodied. But she had healed her own injuries and would live to fight another day. Her Knight was on his way, having saved Fujin's life. Raine was also with them, Minimog's power completely drained in aiding the Galbadians. Thankfully, Raine had listened when Thalassa had said not to follow her earlier. Otherwise, Minimog would likely have been lost, too.

Thalassa had witnessed Gerra's dying embers as he fell from the rooftop, Ifrit using the last of his power to cushion Gerra's fall. She had darted down the street to his prostrate form, which was now surrounded by Ballad and his Garlands.

'Stand aside!' Thalassa demanded.

She knelt by Gerra's side, putting a hand on his bearded face. His eyes opened wearily, and they met hers.

'I… need… more… power!' he breathed.

Thalassa gently wrapped her arms around the man from the future.

'Just rest now, Gerra,' she said. 'We'll get it, and then we'll stop her!'

(A/N: Thanks for the reviews, people! I'm gonna have to leave it here for a short while, as I'll be backpacking in Spain over the next few weeks, now they've finally relaxed travel restrictions. I just wanted to conclude the Galbadia City arc before I took off.)