Chapter 317: Roar of the Biggest Dreamer!

While the situation in Arubboth was sightly improving, the battle around the Gan Knot World itself was escalating by the second, and those on the side of the Infinite Victory and Conquest Corporation were getting more rattled by the second. One of those members, was General Douglas Hein.

The man in charge of the Zeus Cannon was an average-looking, middle-aged man with short, swept back black hair and pale blue eyes. He wore a black turtleneck shirt under a long unfastened leather coat. The coat had decorative pieces akin of his military rank. He wore a wide belt and black leather gloves.

At the moment he was watching some of the Gundam's and Voltron blowing up Prince Lotor's transformed Castle of Doom before he narrowed his eyes." The others are not taking this seriously enough! Captain Gray Edwards…tell the Deep Eyes squadron to fire right outside the city."

His subordinate looked at Hein carefully." But won't that effect are own forces?"

"Nothing matters but the tower! Set the blasts to focus on vaporization and we will take them all out before they can get here! We're gonna keep hitting them again and again and again until they are all dead. It has to be done. Huh?"

While he was about to fire, he saw the warship next to him blow up before seeing it came from Mack in the Emerald Weapon. A burst of static went off the general comm's channel before his voice cut in. "Not leaving this one to a long-range bombing run…" Immediately afterward, the hulking humanoid mech flew straight for the orbital station. "Any of you on board got any escape pods on that thing, use 'em right now because ready or not…here I come!"

Hein responded to the opposition with an outraged, "No…they have to die! It has to be done! Fire!"

The cannon adjusted its aim—arching away from the planet enough to target the WEAPON-turned-mech. Moments later it discharged another blast; this one aimed at destroying Mack in one shot. However, in spite of its ungainly size, the massive mech managed to shift just enough to evade the blast, and the shot thundered out harmlessly into space.

The radio squawked again. "Pretty nice gun. Not really built for a target like me, though, is it?"

Hein grit his teeth. "Retarget and fire again! Even one of those WEAPONs can't stand up to a shot from this!"

The crew quickly did as they were told. The massive weapon reorientated itself, charged once more, and fired a second shot. This one was even harder for the burly mech to dodge than before, and Mack got over it only with the bottom of its "feet" engines getting singed.

"Sorry, bud. Still no good."

Hein practically scowled. "Fire again! Now!"

One of the crew members looked up uneasily at that. "Sir, the Zeus Cannon wasn't meant to be fired repeatedly like this… We need cooldown-"

"Cool down when that thing is ashes! Now fire!"

Looking more reluctant than before, the crew once again reorientated and fired. This time, it very narrowly missed the mark. Mack was forced to fire off some of his own shoulder cannons to blast the ship to one side—barely edging out another shot. By now, the systems in the Zeus Cannon were beginning to issue warning messages. Great red and yellow images showing the overheating began to blare on all screens.

Not that Hein cared. "Fire again! Fire!"

"But…but sir…"

"Damnit!" he swore, as he pulled himself over to the console, practically threw the operator aside, and mashed the button. "I said fire!"

Again the Zeus Cannon thundered off, and this time it was so quick that Mack couldn't evade it completely. He grit his own teeth and buckled down hard as the blast tagged one of the WEAPON's shoulders—instantly annihilating the pods on it and taking off the entire top. Yet when the blast cut off again, the rest of the mech was still standing.

The interior of the Zeus Cannon had fared worse. By now the systems were blaring continuously. Several of the consoles were sparking. Pressure was mounting, the structure was shaking, and some of controls were growing too physically hot to even touch.

Several of the crew members were taking Mack's earlier warning and rising to try and flee for it. "Sir!" the one nearest the console yelled. "It's too much! She can't take anymore!"

"We hit it, damnit! We just need one more!" Hein yelled back, furiously mashing the button on the console for another shot.

It did manage another shot, but this one wasn't like the others. It was thinner, weaker, and staggered. It impacted the Emerald WEAPON, causing the mech to buckle and Mack to get a bit of an internal collision, but it did no more.

"Damnit! Fire! Fire! FIRE!"

Hein continued to desperately try to shoot, but the systems around him couldn't take anymore. The displays cracked. The shielding gave out. The heat continued to build. Finally, it started to erupt around him while he still glared murderously at the console until the very last…

And from Mack's own cockpit, he watched as the Zeus Cannon lit up in a ball of fiery plasma and decimated itself. He slowly pried himself off of his own controls, grunting and groaning as he settled in, and watched the flaming debris cascade and begin to slowly reenter the atmosphere.

"Even the rebuilt Sister Ray couldn't fire in rapid succession… Guess my guess about what was basically a bigger version than it paid off."

He had little time to relax. Smaller enemies were already seeing the Emerald WEAPON injured and were homing in on it. Frowning, he tried to fire his shoulder cannons to fend them off—only to remember that only one was still working. Nevertheless, he quickly brought the "skirt"'s engines back up to start evading.

"The big gun may be down, but it ain't over. In fact, it's just getting crazier…"

He gunned the engines up, only to get another light battering that caused him to rattle in his cockpit again. As the alarms went off, he quickly snapped to the radar console—which promptly informed him that some stray laser blasts had tried to hit him. Worse than that, he saw numerous bogies were now targeting him and incoming.

Looking back out the main display, he saw the source of the fire had come from the other gears being commanded by Kahran Ramsus, who declared, "Fool! Know when to use that big gun, and on whom! You failed because you try to solve everything with force. You have muscles instead of brains. And you rebel cur, I'm afraid I do not have time for such gay revelry!"

As his Omnigear, Vendetta, unleashed a barrage of lasers, Mack blocked a few blasts, and then saw some more coming from behind, being released from the Shinra executives in their own reconfigured weapons.

Mack scowled as he readjusted the engines and shifted the cannons into their secondary mode. "I think I miss the days when all you board of directors ever did was siphon money…"

With that, he gunned the thrusters to return to the fight.

At the moment the members of AVALANCHE were trying to take down those who were their original targets, the heads of Shinra. Despite piloting the reconfigured weapons, with their new allies backing them Cloud's friends were not backing down.

At the moment Tifa was evading attacks from Scarlet as the blonder woman gave off another dismissive laugh. "It's been fun but this little game of hide and sneak ends hear! The intended execution may not have gone as planned, but this is almost as exciting. Bah, you're all stuck up to the end!"

She raised Ruby Weapon's right hand to try and crush Tifa, but the martial artist jumped through the hand and landed on her enemy's machine's shoulder." You're the one who is too afraid to have a "fair" slap fight and have to get in a giant robot!"

"I'm rich, I get what I deserve! And what I want, is to crush your pompous face into glue!"

While tentacles shot out to try and run Tifa through, she evaded a few strikes and retorted with," And I'm making you see that no matter how much money you have, you're not having your way!"

She went to punch the head of the giant enemy, and while Scarlet tried to fire back, Yuffie struck its head before she formed a savage grin. "Hey Scarlet? Remember this " Wutai Savage?" You will before I'm done with your wrinkly hide!"

"My sweat child." Scarlet coldly retorted," Mocking someone's physical appearance is tacky and beneath me! Instead I'll merely carve you all piece by piece, so I have the last Wutai vermin on my wall! Its past time…that I got hands on…and ground your faces into dust!"

She fired a beam from behind at Yuffie, only for Carbuncle to save her by reflecting the blast back at her. As Scarlet staggers back, the green summon taunts her with" Hey lady…didn't anyone ever tell you nobody likes a gal in her 40s with a case of giant crabs?"

Scarlet turned beat red." They talk now? Nice try girl but, I'll own that to, I'll own everything!"

She tried charging an even bigger laser till she saw a wave of water coming for her,

She tried charging an even bigger laser until she saw a wave of water coming for her, a focused Tidal Wave as Leviathan, in full serpentine form, brandished his full sinuous size and flashed his whiskers as he fanned his crest out.

As the wave crashed into her legs, both smashing into her with raw force as well as ripping out the very ground beneath her like it was no more than a carpet to be swept, he bellowed in the full volume of the Master of the Seas.

"I'd explain the foolhardiness of your sentiments, but seeing as you won't bother listening in any event I'll simply show you how little your human standards of wealth avail you against nature's own primeval chaos!"

Heidegger saw the sea serpent and snickered."

Some relics still are alive eh? Stupid beast, you still don't understand your role in this! Don't you see? You fools were never in control! You're all nothing but pawns for us to profit out of! But now your use is over!"

He prepared to bombard Leviathan, only for Setsuna to have his mobile suit's GN Sword Bits form a barrier to protect his new allies. He saw the Diamond Weapon aim more lasers at him before he declared," Your obsession with control has twisted this world, and can distort all the worlds left! It has to end! Trans Am!"

He tried to slice the Diamond Weapon apart, only for his target to have an energy barrier form around his machine before he laughed." It will only end, when the trail of the eco-extremist group Avalanche and their conspirators get what they deserve! No matter how much you struggle, you can't stop this wave!"

He prepared to unleash a energy attack, only for Kira Yamato of the Multiversal Rebel Alliance to have the Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam fly down before he cried out," Then we will blow it away!"

He fired his mobile suit's EQM-Y148 convergent heavy nucleon beam cannon "Disruptor," mounted in the forehead to fire a blast powerful enough to blow through his target's barrier, and blast a chunk of the Diamond Weapon away.

Barret smirked before he charged his own gun." The robot man's right asshole! You looked down at us for the last time. No matter how big you built yourself up we are knocking you down! "

He fired his own Catastrophe limit break laser to blast the damaged part of the Diamond Weapon. At the same time Palmer found that the Ultimate Weapon was being barraged by all sides before he winced." Oh dear, oh dear, if we take too much longer we are going to lose are bonus's! Nothing to worry about, I'll finish this quickly! GUH!"

Vincent Valentine had managed to land on the top of the Destiny Gundam and fired a barrage of bullets to cause his target's Ultima Beam to backfire before the man in red hissed out," You're going to lose a lot more then that for all the pain your greed has caused everyone."

Palmer yelled in outrage as he grasped his mech's controls and yelled out," You little dirty twerps! I'm not done yet!"

He tried to charge up another attack, only for Clive's ally Cid, once more transformed into his Ramuh Eikon state, flew above the Shinra member and bellowed out," I think you should read the room mate! Judgment Bolt!"

He unleashed a blast of lighting that caused Ultimate Weapon to have small explosions to blast out all over and cause it to crash into the ground. Tifa charged at Scarlet once more before yelling out," You thought you all were so damn big, but it was not big enough!"

Scarlet had her eye twitch before she hissed out," Then we will have to get bigger! Palmer, Heidegger, do it, fuse now!"

To everyone's shock the three giant machines glowed, before they became attracted to each other like magnets. Ruby Weapon then became the outer layer around Diamond Weapon, while Ultimate Weapon became part of the top and back. As the new fused Weapon started to glow Barret had his eye twitch." This is a joke right?"

Red XIII growled before retorting with a bitter," A cruel one if so."

Scarlet laughed as the new fused Weapon stood up to tower over Midgar itself." Nyahaha! I was just playing around now, but this Amethyst Do-Ten-Kai-Zan WEAPON proves my greatness! You never stood a chance! Your just dust to be blown away!"

Despite the fact that the fused weapon was preparing to unleash a storm of attacks at her, Tifa just glared back at Scarlet." I don't care what you think of me! You took my town, my father, and my second home away from me! Even if you could crush the planet with your hand your still not to big to take down!"

"You stupid hick…time you learn the hard way that no matter how much you hate your masters…IT WON" T DO YOU ANY GOOD! DIE!"

Clive roared as he, in his Ifrit Eikon state became consumed with flames." She's right! No matter how big you become you will not be big enough to enslave us! Brother, with me!"

Jousha, in his Phoenix state, flew by before lifting his brother up. Dion, in his own Bahamut state unleashed a barrage of flares, and the other Eikon's attacked the " Amethyst Weapon from all sides to. Scarlet felt her seat rumble before her eye twitched." Its cute you're trying so hard, but your all obsolete trash facing down a master, GUH!"

Billy Butcher then slammed right into the head of the giant machine before he formed a crowbar of energy." All you are is one giant tacky cunt! I may hate sups, but I hate the cunts that spawned them even more…so right now we all hate you!"

Kregg also punched the mecha's knee while shouting out," That's right…you will see what real strength is woman!"

Scarlet screamed out in anger as she pressed a few buttons." And you savages will see that true strength, is true money! It does not matter if your stronger then are first class SOLDIERS freaks…we have all the power…and power is the only thing that matters in the end! Time for the Mako Nuke to go off, and fry every last one of you!"

The chest of the fused mecha slide open, and started to gather a massive amount of energy. As the Gundam's and others came for it, she laughed." Want to die faster? Try and cross this stream, and you will just be caught in the explosion! ALL YOU BROKE IDIOTS CAN DO IS DIE SO JUST…huh?"

She was caught off as she saw a small pink plane, the Tiny Branco come for it, being piloted by this world's Cid. The official head of flight service called "Bronco Airlines", flew right for the cannon while screaming out," I let you Shinra fat cats take my dream, and everything else. But I'm not letting you take anything more! Palmer…you wanted your damn tea? HEAR"S YOUR DAMN TEA YOU FAT TUB OF LARD!"

Palmer saw Cid flying right for him before he had his eye twitch." He's lost it!"

Scarlet had her eye twitch before licking her lips." All these fools can do is run up to die!"

She was about to blow Cid away, till the Emerald Weapon suddenly dropped from the stratosphere—utilizing its own size and momentum to tackle the big machine.

"You forgot one, lady!" Mack's voice yelled over the speakers. "I'm not letting Cid bite the big one before me this time! Now bail out already, you stubborn asshole!"

Fortunately, the pilot didn't argue past letting out a small curse, before he used the chance Mack gave him. After aiming the plane on its final course he jumped from the Tiny Bronco and let it sail right into the cannon.

Scarlet saw this and had veins from on her head before she seethed out," No…you can't stop this, NONE OF YOU CAN STOP YOUR SUPERIORS!"

She saw that Tifa and Yuffie had gotten a lift from the others before Yuffie yelled out," Your wrong, the Wutai warriors are superior! I'll make you see that no matter what!"

"YOU WILL NEVER BE BETTER THAN ME WUTAI RAT!"

She had a smaller laser on her machine's head come out to try and vaporize the two approaching women, only for Carbuncle to get in front of the laser, yell out," Shut up, already! You're as shrill as Siren!" and reflect the blast back at the head.

As Scarlet and the two men with her were knocked around, Barret jumped up and gathered all his power while shouting out," We are not getting off this train we are on, but its time you Shinra pigs are kicked off, forever! Catastrophe!"

Barret fired his most powerful Limit Break attack, while at the same time Vincent jumped up. He got shot through the chest, but his eyes just glowed before he uttered," It would seem…its time to put down the Shinra legacy forever."

He transformed into the Chaos demon and fired his Death Penalty laser blast. As the two men's laser beams caused the head of the mecha to crack Scarlet saw the alarms go off before she turned pale." No way…this is the ultimate weapon! Huh?"

She saw Tifa come for her while shouting out," You're learning the hard way that no weapon you make is trumping my fist Scarlet! Final Heaven!"

At the same time Yuffie had her weapon glow." Father…hope your watching me! All Creation!"

The two woman unleashed there limit breaks on the head of the Amethyst Do-Ten-Kai-Zan Weapon before Heidegger saw his controls freeze and yell out," Whoooaa!"

Palmer whimpered before he pressed buttons frantically." Oh no, oh no oh no no! Can't we make a deal or, AHH!"

Scarlet frantically pressed more buttons before screaming out," No…its impossible for, AHH!"

The impact of the attacks smashed the head of the mecha down into its own chest. Scarlet saw she was being smashed into her own ultimate energy blast before she screamed out," No wait, save me please! I don't deser, AHHH!"

She, Palmer, and Heidegger were vaporized after one last scream as the cockpit was smashed into the Mako nuke. The entire giant mecha started to blow up all over before Tifa landed on the ground and took a deep breath." Oh, trust me, that is exactly what you all deserve!"

Yuffie looked around before she uttered a bitter," Not so fun when you have to answer for what you done eh?"

Kregg saw Tifa's pose before he raised a eyebrow." That woman's not a Viltrumite from this universe right?"

As his comrades shrugged, Tifa smirked." I don't know what that is, but this is the results of learning calisthenics from Rashard Zangan.

Masaki saw the Shinra Exe's blow up, and evaded Neuer Sternregesseur's attacks before he smirked." Keep it up guys! No matter what they throw at us, they are not going to keep us down!"

His opponent uttered," You cannot oppose destiny! I will correct your existence!"

The giant being's mouth guard shattered to reveal a skull like blast before it fired a massive yellow laser. Masaki was able to have the Cybuster evade the blast before he grit his teeth." The only thing being corrected is your ego jackass!"

He and the other members of the SRX team fired a barrage of projectiles in response, one of those projectiles missed its target, and hit one of the fiends Bahamut was attacking, causing it to crash into the still raging Hannya, who yelled out his wife's name before crashing into other Vistor demons and exploding.

Bahamut raised his serpentine eyebrows a little, but decided to roll with it as he sent another MegaPyren through the ashes and smoldering remains of the great worm he had been fighting, and right into the cloud of miasma beyond it. It burst in a nuclear reaction—almost instantaneously fusing the vapor and annihilating it.

Using the momentary pause, he glanced about the area around them before frowning. "Ragnar, mother, and the rest of the old group aren't here anymore!"

"What'dya mean?" Tiamat shouted back as he seized either jaw of a flaming, burning, reptilian monster and proceeded to yank until the head ripped in two. "Did they get themselves captured?"

Bahamut sent another Megapyren to boil and burst a towering, mountain-sized tentacled being made of water before responding. "I don't sense them with Sephiroth, but that's all the more reason to hurry!"

Tiamat let out another snarl, for he watched as the latest incarnation of the giant worm monster respawned before him. While it was still forming, he spread his wings and flew along its body—raking it with his claws to peel the skin off of its flesh. "I'm killing these things as fast as I can! Don't they ever run out of…whatever the hell they're made of?!"

"I doubt it, so we'll have to figure out how to get through them for good or cut them off!"

Little did they realize that their comrades were trying to do something about that.

Not being the biggest "fighter" in the bunch and acutely aware of that fact, Cid had wasted little time applying his skills to where they were better spent—trying to figure out a way to shut down whatever was prompting the undying fiends to keep regenerating.

He had still been in the midst of doing so when they were warped to where Krystea was. And while he was initially shocked and distracted at the fact of seeing Faerio alive again, he quickly snapped out of it on seeing his devices react. Before he had been closely monitoring his spanner, but now that they were in the midst of a battle zone he was even more glued to it.

"Sir Cid!"

The engineer looked up as if he had been distracted from something, and saw Taraketh limping over to him and breathing heavily. "Are you injured? Because if you are, show me where so you can get back into battle! I just used most of what I had left to revive Ceja and we can't afford to sustain many more injuries! We need everyone fighting together!"

Turning and looking up, he spotted Quaren nearby—rifle out but hesitating as he looked from one person to another. "And that goes for you too, gunny!"

Quaren frowned a bit at the nickname, but flustered as he moved over to the two while still looking for a target. "Firing a rifle in an enclosed area isn't like hurling rocks! Everyone's moving too fast for me to line up a shot and if I miss I could ricochet!"

Cid, somewhat oblivious to the urgency, proceeded to point to his device. "I'm sorry, but look! The signal is even stronger in here!"

"Signal? What signal?"

"The resonant mana my spanner picked up outside the tower! I think it's emanating to cause the Four Fiends to respawn!"

Taraketh looked blankly back, so Quaren sighed and moved in closer. "What're you talking about? You sound like this is a radio frequency or something."

"That's just it. I think these fiends do have some sort of duality with being spirits of mana and wireless transmissions. It would explain why they keep coming. Every time Bahamut and Tiamat destroy one, it's like they're 'jamming' the signal.

So the act of recreating them in a more enhanced version can be thought of the signal being recalibrated in order to produce another one. I mean, it's not exactly analogous. The bodies themselves are some sort of flesh receiver that operates off of the wavelength.

Or…or maybe a fiberoptic connection would be more of a better explanation. You know you can transmit radio waves through light, right? I mean, of course you can. All radio waves are is a lesser form of-"

"Cid…the point?"

"Oh, right…right! Here, come with me!"

With that, he suddenly spun totally away from the battle, stunning both other men, before they fell in behind him. As for the engineer, he was back to being glued to his device and monitoring it as he quickly left the room and turned down one of the corridors.

"Wait…what…what are you doing? The battle's back there!"

"Well it's outside too, and it's not going to end until we turn off what's spawning the fiends! And it should be this way!"

"Well what do you need us for?"

"You think they won't have this place guarded? Besides, one of you is a mage and the other is a special forces soldier! The two of you can break anything, right?"

Taraketh and Quaren exchanged a grimace but kept following behind.

Neither man seemed to be that happy of being led away from the fight, especially since Cid took them a good distance into a totally different region of the lab. They were soon surrounded by much larger and more bizarre devices than ever, but none of them seemed to be tied to the original purpose they had seen on arrival. Taraketh was about to yell that they needed to head back when they finally turned a corner and spotted something new.

Much like in the Tower of Chaos, there was a wide and spacious area spanning separate levels up ahead. And much to their shock, it sported four massive maturation vats large enough to fit mythical kaiju inside.

And it seemed they were doing just that at the moment, for the horrific visages of Yug, Shaddamehl, Soddoth, and Hulukith were floating inside them like oversized specimens. As they watched, occasionally one of them would vanish from inside as if sucked through a cosmic vacuum, only for a new tiny embryo of the adult to take its place and rapidly start growing into full size as if they were watching a time lapse video.

A very large and impressive looking console, twisted and styled almost like a dramatic church organ, overlooked the four massive tanks. It was lit up and running furiously on some form of AI—no doubt the source of the demons respawning.

Cid spotted it and lowered his spanner. "And there we are."

Taraketh looked around the area. "No guards, contrary to your fears…"

"I wouldn't be too sure…" Quaren muttered as he readied his rifle again. "We should probably take this slow. I'm sure some robot guard or shield or something will pop out. Don't you think, Cid? Uh…Cid?"

The engineer wasn't paying attention. Heedless once again, he had already gotten out his drill and was starting to approach the console. He gave the bit a few whirls as he got near. "Just a few well-placed holes in this thing oughta do it…"

A loud bang from a gunshot cut Cid off, nearly making him jump. He looked at his drill, and saw it was now sparking and smoking from a fresh hole blasted into the side of it. Stunned, both he and the others turned and looked behind them.

Based on the two large if not archaic-looking gun barrels he was holding, the attack had obviously come from the man who was now approaching them. Cidolfus Demen Bunansa regarded the group with a half-smirk. "Gentlemen…I'm a little flattered that you already know me. Nevertheless, this is as far as you go. I'm not going to stand by and let someone else ruin my work a second time."

"Huh?" Cid asked, puzzled and seeming to have already forgotten about the smoking and sparking tool in his hands. "We don't know you. Who are you, anyway?"

Quaren glanced between the two men for a moment. In spite of their differences in attire and personal style, he soon noticed that, in spite of being on the lankier side and rough and bearded, the younger Cid did seem to bear a resemblance to the older one. "Could he be a cousin or something from another timeline?"

Dr. Cid almost looked puzzled himself, before he turned his head to one side. "What's that? Oh…oh, I see." He turned back, now regarding the group—especially Cid—with a frown. "Apparently the name 'Cid' is quite popular across universes. And it always seems to boil down to the best and brightest of their respective generations…well…aside from that embarrassing Cid Raines.

Well…anyway its almost always, based on you. It wasn't enough for you to be a glorified mechanic on an island in the middle of nowhere, was it? You also had to denigrate yourself to be a glorified servant of some self-proclaimed 'god'. A little girl, of all things."

"Hey!" Cid retorted, finally looking incensed. "Don't you dare disrespect Lady Faerio in front of me! She was the only true Sorceress out of all of them! She gave her life to save ours!"

"Yet you're here now, along with her. So, it looks like that sacrifice was wasted and it's about to be that way again soon after. Unless you think that oversized cordless drill in your hands is going to make any difference."

Cid, looking challenged now, grasped and twisted the handles on his machine. "I got more than one tool on my belt," he retorted, as the device in his hands shed the broken parts all together and ejected the drill bit.

It slid out a long barrel in its place with a muzzle break and flattened itself out in the rear—converting into a giant rivet gun. After that, he smirked and chuckled a little. "Y'know, I always wanted to say that…"

A loud snort was the response, only it didn't come from Dr. Cid. Quaren and Taraketh looked past and watched as the shriveled form of Dr. Lugae stepped out from behind him, snickering and adjusting his spectacles. That wasn't all, however. The two immediately became aware of a rhythmic pounding shaking the floor. One that quickly grew louder as it kept coming.

"Your little toys or tools or whatever will never be enough against my beloved child, Barnabas. He could beat you all with one arm!"

Quaren frowned. "Oh yeah? Who's Barn…a…bus…?"

The sniper cut himself off as a shadow fell over Lugae from behind, right before a burly, hulking giant made of a combination of flesh and metal into a grotesque undead golem came stomping out—clearly the source of the footsteps. He was so massive that Lugae himself only amounted to the size of the giant's head. And while the eyes looked dull enough, its jaw was clenched and it glowered down on the three of them like a boy looking at ants.

"GRR."

Taraketh let out an exhale, but then immediately took up his kusarigama and began to twirl it. "Is brute strength all you have? In that case, I'll settle this right now with my magic."

"I think not…"

The mage turned to the sound of the voice, before one of the darkness pillars from before ignited on the opposite side of Dr. Cid. When it cleared, the blue-skinned, demon-faced visage of Xande was standing there—baring his sharpened teeth, brandishing his staff, and letting his own large muscles course with electric blue light.

"I am the greatest of Sage Noah's students. Whatever pitiful level of magical ability you've accumulated can't possibly compare to mine. This is where you die."

The three looked at their new opponents for a moment of silence. Taraketh, at last, frowned as he focused fully on Xande. "Three opponents…one for each of us then. I'll handle the wizard."

Quaren looked at him uneasily. "Are you sure? I thought you said you were almost out of mana…"

"I've got enough for this blue clown. Just worry about the others because I can't possibly handle them too."

The sniper looked uncomfortable as he glanced between the others. "Cid, maybe I should handle…Other Cid. That behemoth over there looks more like your level."

"No, that's alright."

"Huh?"

Cid's eyes narrowed on Dr. Cid's. "He insulted Lady Faerio along with me. I'll handle him."

"Oh, you'll handle me, will you?" Dr. Cid smirked back. "Well then, I should inform you I'm not exactly alone."

A whirring sound went out, like the sound of tiny turbines. The three men were curious for a moment, before they watched as twenty hovering drones, topped with spikes and looking almost archaic, but with glowing blue cores, hovered out from behind Dr. Cid and fanned around him protectively.

"And that's not all… I've perfected the esper summoning process this time. Even enough to pull on celestial beings outside the Zodiac. Come forth, Orphan!"

The ground gave another shudder as, to the surprise of the group, a new hulking figure even bigger than Barnabas dropped down and hit the ground with a resounding thud before going into a hover.

It was a humanoid figure that looked like it was made of armor composed of solid stone, but was muscular in nature and bearing a pair of balls and chains from either leg. More than that, what looked like colossal urns built into its shoulders were perched on either one…like they were intended to be some sort of cannons.

"Still think you can 'handle' me?"

"Uh…"

"Well, it's too late regardless. En garde!"

With that, the opposite side charged at the three men.

Quaren had little time to waste. He didn't bother with his sniper rifle at all. As Barnabas thundered toward him, he quickly backpedaled as fast as he could. He might not have been fairly apt physically, but fortunately his opponent was so slow that he was able to gain distance on it quickly. And the moment he did, he quickly pulled his rifle around and strapped it on his back only to pull out an automatic smaller-caliber gun. He immediately unloaded a stream of bullets into the hulk.

Unfortunately, whether the bullets hit metal portions or dull, gray skin, the result seemed to be the same. They merely sloughed off and Barnabas kept coming. Letting out another dull growl, he swung his arm out and swept for Quaren.

The sniper winced and quickly threw himself into a dodge roll to evade the reach of the arm as it ripped through machinery and metal plating like it was tissue paper. Quaren got back onto his feet from the roll only to wince as he had to dive again, realizing that the reach of the monster was enough to make up for his speed as he got knocked back, to the delight of the scientist. As parts of the chamber fell down Luage cackled in delight.

"That's it! Stomp him flat!" Lugae cheered the hulk on. "Those little pebbles can't hurt yo, huh?!"

He saw Quaren was up again. Apparently, he had faked the severity of the blow, and while he was a bit bruised from the attack he was now on one knee himself. His sniper rifle was out, taking careful aim, and his bullet was already loaded.

"You've got an oil leak," he stated before pulling the trigger.

The shot was perfectly lined up. After erupting from the gun, it proceeded to shoot forward right into a gap in Barnabas' chest region, through the internal machinery (in particular the oil well), and exit through the other side—shattering the oil well right before sinking right into Lugae's own chest.

Whether or not the shot to Lugae was fatal, Barnabas immediately began to quiver, and yelled out," NEEEEED OIIIIL!" As his body started to whine, and vent smoke…now black…twice as fast as before. Lugae's face turned into a shocked gasp. "Oh no-"

An instant later, Quaren turned away as Barnabas erupted into a rather messy and hot fireball. Lugae was instantly consumed along with him. Whatever parts of his own metal body that were still flesh and blood that didn't get blasted apart from being so close to Barnabas' eruption were instantly consumed by the resulting fire. In moments, there was nothing left of either individual but flaming ruins.

With that done, Quaren exhaled to steady himself, then ejected the spent casing before getting up to rejoin the others.

Xande wasted little time with his opponent—almost immediately sending out a cascading Firaga attack at Taraketh. Taking a deep breath, the mage planted his feet and swung his kusarigama more rapidly in a disc-like motion before him. While it almost took him too late, he managed to generate his own Blizzaga spell to respond and collide with the incoming fireballs. As a result, violent eruptions from thermal stress resulted between the two wizards, but while Taraketh buckled he kept his footing.

The blue wizard snorted. "You have some skill, but there are none among mere humans that compare to me!"

Arching his staff around, he summoned another spell. Rapidly, the air around him grew dark and clouds began to form in midair. Eyes widening, Taraketh quickly stopped his spinning and grasped his hammer and sickle at the same time. He chanted intensely, causing a shell of green light to come around him. Moments later, titanic bolts of lightning ripped out of midair and impacted him one after the other. He buckled and winced underneath it, and his strength ebbed further, but he held out against both blasts.

Yet Xande simply swung his staff down. "Too feeble!" With that, three bolts at once erupted from his staff and sailed toward the man—each one impacting around his midsection. The combined blast was too much for him, and he gave out a rush of air as he doubled over and was blasted backward.

Even as this took place, however, he grit his teeth, toughed through, and swung his kusarigama over his head again. After a few vigorous spins, a great disk of air generated over his head and was flung at his larger and bulkier opponent. Xande assessed this as it came, but simply snorted in response as he chanted a spell over himself. Much like Taraketh's green Shell, a yellow Protect came over him. A moment later, he charged forward and flexed in the face of the Aeroga spell—bursting right through it.

Taraketh, however, wasn't finished. While still somewhat hunched and in pain, he pulled his sickle back in and traced a new emblem. Xande found himself halted for real a moment later as the ground erupted before him, sending columns of stone into his body. This attack seemed to leave him in a bit of pain as one shaft of rock knocked him in the gut, and another smacked him in the face. However, when Taraketh was done, his hand was quivering and he was breathing hard.

"Damnit…these are only 'Ra' level…I used too much…"

Xande snorted as he dusted himself off. "Against a lesser mage, your spellcraft might have prevailed. Alas, you've never dealt with a true master! Allow me to show you a real Blizzaga!"

With that, the blue mage swung his staff about again before aiming it at Taraketh. An instant later, monstrous shards of ice coupled with an chill strong enough to freeze the flesh off of bones erupted from the end of it, and began to rain down on the younger mage in a hellish ice storm.

While it was clearly straining him, Taraketh raised his kusarigama and chanted through it. He started to spin just as the frost nearly reached him, and soon began to generate a wave of fire to counter. Yet in spite of the magical flames he conjured, the wave coming across him was too strong. It began to suppress the fire and he could feel the biting cold and deadly, razor-sharp icicles approaching him.

"This is it for you, fool wizard!" Xande shouted. "Your life ends here! And with it, eternal life will at last be mine!"

Taraketh grit his teeth a bit longer as he tried to withstand the attack. Finally, he made a move. Although it made the cold close in on him faster, he managed to break off one of his hands and started generating another spell. Keeping his eyes focused on Xande, he drove his arm forward and executed it.

The blue-skinned mage seemed ready and willing to take whatever he threw at him, and, as a result, was quite surprised to see a circle of mystical light, like a ring composed of smaller orbs, suddenly shrink and contract around him and his outstretched staff.

He was even more surprised a moment later as it collapsed on him, and his spell suddenly cut off. He gave a start and faltered where he stood, right before, to his amazement, he saw the blip of light shoot away from him and back toward Taraketh.

It contacted him soon after, and the moment it did it seemed to sink or even melt into him. At once, Taraketh looked strong again as he rose fully to his feet. He took in a deep breath and cracked his neck. "That's much better."

Xande, on his part, rose to his own feet, wiping a little sweat from his brow, and scowled. "What was that supposed to be just now?"

Taraketh snorted at him. "You're supposed to be the 'disciple of the Great Sage Noah'. You tell me if you're really such a powerful wizard."

Xande's eyes widened. "What did you say to me?"

"Perhaps once upon a time you were a mighty mage, but humanity and magic has advanced by leaps and bounds since then. Your glory days have long since passed. You're only a minor challenge to me at best now. True, you might have been able to overcome me if I was still depleted of mana, but that's no longer a factor. Your own mana pool is about all you're good for now…and thanks to it I'm all refilled."

The blue mage grit his teeth. "You dare to mock me? Do you have the slightest idea to whom you speak? Mages the world over could only dream of the power I possessed! I plunged half of the world into water and darkness! I turned its entire populace into lifeless, eternal stone! I drained the Four Crystals themselves! And you? You're nothing!"

"One would think with your choice of allies you would realize all you're boasting about are trifles. In any event, I'm done humoring you."

"Wha…humoring me?!" Xande shot back. "I've had enough of your insolence!" Raising his staff and his free hand, he began to chant again. "I am the possessor of the ultimate black magic! The greatest power of destruction! Behold the Met-"

"Enough!"

Xande had nearly completed the incantation for the Meteor spell, when Taraketh lashed out with his kusarigama hammer. It hit its mark true—right along the knuckles of Xande's staff-wielding hand. A cracking sound went out, and his red eyes widened in pain as he let his stave fall from his grip.

A moment later, the sickle and chain went out and rapidly lashed across both of his wrists. Before he knew what was happening, both of his hands were being yanked together and fully cutting off his spell.

Taraketh finished by pulling his chain taut and held his other hand before him. "Thousands of universes of possibilities, and yet your vision was so narrow you thought magic mastery was something you could be 'done' with? You never had the view to ever be truly great! Behold it for yourself! Grand Delta!"

At once, the air rippled and shook as if some sort of cosmic train had broken loose out of thin air, and Xande gaped in shock as a great triangle that seemed to open a door to the vastness of the cosmos itself erupted from Taraketh's hand and surged right for him.

Even merely beholding it, he could already tell all of his own spells…even his Meteor…were as nothing before it. He was left gaping in horror as it thundered toward him, ripping the air, tugging at his clothing, dimming his lights, and widening his red eyes in absolute shock.

"Im…impossi-"

The attack struck, and a cosmic warping noise erupted as the full power of the dimension-sundering spell blasted him for all it was worth. It lasted a few fateful seconds, and then cut off again. What was left behind was nothing but Taraketh's now-empty kusarigama and a bit of ash, which rapidly floated away from the resonant powers being cast about in the other battles around him. Xande was gone.

Taraketh pulled his weapon back and gave the space where he had been one last scoff. "Idiot," he remarked, before turning to check on the others.

Cid let his rivet gun fire as soon as Dr. Cid made his first move, for all the good it did. At once, the Rook drones surrounding him activated their nephicite shielding at once—preventing any of the rivet bullets from getting even within five feet of the man himself. Seeing that, Cid quickly changed his targets and started firing on the drones instead. Unfortunately, they were reinforcing each other with shielding as well. Two of his rivets managed to damage two of the drones, but that was nothing compared to the full number. And by the time he did that little bit of damage, Dr. Cid was hefting both of his own guns and opening fire.

The engineer quickly had to abort his attack and duck for cover; hoisting up his rivet gun in front of him to act as a shield from the bullet storm. Yet even as the shells ripped past him and tore apart the metal paneling where he had been—reducing it to a semblance of cheese—it didn't save him from Orphan. The esper swooped in and immediately kicked out with one of its massive balls and chains; smashing down right in Cid's path. He winced and managed to halt himself, but now found himself caught between the esper and the oncoming bullets.

Getting desperate, he pivoted his gun around and fired it at the floor—using the recoil to launch him up, out of the way of the other ball and chain and the firepower, and sent him sailing over a console to land behind it. He quickly pressed his body up against it, using the moment to try and recover and switch devices…

Yet he had no luck. No sooner had he gone out of view than Orphan angled one of its urn-like cannons forward and fired—not ammunition or missiles but torrential, hurricane-like gusts of wind. They were so intense they flailed up metal shavings and ashes, and soon circled around and seized Cid. He cried out in alarm and quickly deployed his goggles to shield his eyes, only to find himself yanked totally off the floor as if by a vacuum and violently cast about and back into the midst of the battlefield—dumping him unceremoniously on the floor.

Dr. Cid was reloading at this point, but Orphan wasn't done. As the man groaned and began to pick himself up, the esper aimed its other cannon at him. This time, a jet of water as powerful and potent as a diamond saw erupted from the end and blasted Cid square in the middle of his chest. The engineer fortunately tried to defend himself again, but he was still easily knocked clean off his feet and thrown across the room before being smashed into a wall again as cast off water spray saturated everything around both fighters.

Cid dropped to the ground, coughing and sputtering, but also looking rather unnerved to see that the force of the water had sheared his rivet gun clean in half. He grimaced as he tossed both pieces aside, only to look up and see both Orphan and the Rook drones approaching him.

He whistled as he reached behind him. "Alright…you asked for it." As he got to his feet, he pulled out an oblong machine wielded with two hands on one side, and forced his feet underneath him to get steady. "I haven't had a chance to test this properly yet, so I'm not responsible for the damage it's gonna do!"

He reached over and undid a clasp on half of the machine, causing some casing to fall off of it and to expose a monstrous-looking, triple-bladed chainsaw. As one final note, he reached behind himself and pulled out a protective mask to put over his own face. One that looked rather oddly like a skeletal hockey mask. He said something else, although it wasn't clear what based on how muffled he now was, before he grabbed a rip cord and gave a yank. As Orphan and the Rooks neared, they hesitated on seeing the chainsaw roar to life—right before Cid charged at his opponents.

It soon was clear the engineer was barely in control of the new weapon, although that was only bad news for the Rooks. As he swung it around like crazy, the triple blades passed through one of the Rooks and easily sliced it to ribbons in an instant—bypassing the shields with ease.

He quickly sliced through two more as he half-walked, half-staggered right for Dr. Cid. The older man was still reloading, frowning at this new development, before he had Orphan move in instead. The esper began with swinging another one of its large balls and chains, meaning to bring it down on the engineer's head. Yet as the sphere came down, Cid arched his blade up, partially at random, and easily sliced the ball in two.

Cid let out another muffled noise that sounded almost victorious and, while Orphan was stunned from the last attack, dove on the esper and drove his blades right into his chassis. Sparks and fragments of stone spewed everywhere as he struggled to impale the nephicite enhanced construct. Yet for all the power the chainsaw had displayed, the body of the esper was still stronger. Slowly, cracks and fissures began to appear on its adobe-like frame, and eventually what looked like a shallow gash began to form along it, but he couldn't pierce it all the way before Dr. Cid had a chance to reload.

He smirked at him. "Tenacious…just like a certain misbegotten offspring. You at least have something in common with him. But now, it's time to say adieu!"

He hoisted his gun up again, this time combining his two weapons into a much larger one, and opened fire at much closer range. Fortunately, the recoil from the weapon was too great for the old man to keep all bullets focused, but that didn't save Cid from getting a storm of them at close range.

He pivoted his chainsaw blades to intercept them, but soon the heavy caliber bullets were ripping the new weapon apart all together. This time, Cid wasn't able to brace himself completely. Some of the bullets went past, and he winced and gave muffled cries as he was grazed once…twice…a third time…

Orphan, meanwhile, still scarred and broken but now angry, came forward and swung the other ball and chain at Cid the moment the bullets cut off. The chainsaw was totally obliterated, and Cid was once again battered and flung away violently once again. He smashed against the floor even harder than before, arching and wincing in response.

"I've perfected the deifacted nephicite this time. My newest generated esper is unbeatable!" Dr. Cid called to him. "Or do you need more of a demonstration before that fact sinks in?"

Cid let out a deep breath, but leaned up again. While he was much sorer and stiffer than before, he nevertheless reached behind him and yanked out a pair of pistol-like nailguns.

Taking a deep breath, he instantly swung both behind him again and did a twist, and then brought them back out to show they literally had belt-feeds of nails leading to both of them, as well as a new attachment mounted in front. He paused only long enough to yank off his mask and glared at them with determination. "That's fine by me, 'cause I haven't finished demoing the latest in magitech carpentry yet either!"

Holding both guns up, he squeezed the trigger and proceeded to discharge a hail of nails like they were a pair of fully automatic machine guns. Dr. Cid actually winced a little at first, until he saw that his shield was once again holding. Not only that, but he soon saw for as determined and fierce as Cid was boasting that his attack was doing relatively little.

The nails lacked the piercing power to go more than a centimeter or two into the Rooks in most cases. Only one of them was shot luckily enough to disable it. As for Orphan, the stone esper merely hovered there and let itself be covered with the nails until it resembled an odd pincushion, but was otherwise unaffected.

Finally, Dr. Cid smirked and adjusted his glasses. "Cute party trick."

His white-gloved hand went up and snapped his fingers at Orphan. Immediately, the wind cannon went off again—twice as strong as before. It slammed into Cid so hard that his goggles, the nail guns, and all of their associated ammunition was blown out of his hands before he was swept clean off his feet. The water cannon fired next, shooting out and slamming into him while he was still in mid-air and smashing him into the floor. The air cannon instantly fired again, swept him up, and then used the water cannon to slam him down again. The living weapon did so a third time, and by then Cid spasmed upon landing and writhed as if something was broken.

"Maybe you were some sort of genius at home repair and construction in whatever universe you came from, but here you're a disgrace compared to my family line—let alone the rest of the Cids in existence." Reloaded again, he pivoted his gun around. "And now you die."

He squeezed the trigger to start warming up the barrel. However, just before he could fire, Cid sprung to life with a burst of energy and whipped out his tape measurer. The line lashed out straight for the ceiling and managed to hook onto something, and an instant later it retracted. Both he and his remaining devices were yanked to the ceiling just in time to avoid another stream of fatal gunshots.

Yet in spite of how bruised, battered, and beaten he was, Cid showed off his quality as a Sorceress Knight by nevertheless finding enough strength to clip the measurer to his belt; holding him suspended against the ceiling. Still wincing, he reached behind himself and yanked out his acetylene torch. Yet no sooner had he brought it across than he grasped the tip and yanked it off—squeezing the trigger to reveal an arclight coming from two electrodes at the tip.

Dr. Cid nearly raised his gun to catch the younger Cid in his line of fire—only to widen his eyes on seeing the electrodes. He looked about him and his jaw dropped when he made the connection. As for Cid, he managed a weak grin.

"The thing about carpentry is…sometimes it takes a while to set up before you make your biggest move."

Aiming his gun down at the water-soaked floor, he fired off the arclight. Moments later, Dr. Cid went rigid and cried out in pain as the entire area was swarmed with bolts of intense electricity. However, as bad as his electrocution was, it was nothing compared to the others.

The arcs shot out to each Rook, as they were sprayed and dripping with water as well, and as soon as the electricity hit the nails embedded in them they exposed Cid's next trick. The attachments he had put on his guns had put a small temperature-sensitive cap on each nail's head. And now, each one was going off and sending the resulting nails the rest of the way into and through their targets. In moments, each and every one of the Rooks was blowing apart in balls of flame.

Orphan was no better. He might have been able to withstand the nails dotting his chassis if he had been intact, but the chainsaw had weakened him. Now the nails were being driven into him and fracturing him further.

His stone coating was almost instantly obliterated. One of his cannons was blown clean off while the other was broken in two. The lower limbs were crumpled into bits and the esper faltered and nearly fell to the floor completely. By the end of the devastation, the espers was left a broken, half-floating husk.

Cid cut off the arclight after a few moments, and Dr. Cid was left smoldering, gasping, and unable to even move from the painful shocking. As for Cid, he released his tape measurer and sent himself sailing back to the floor. As soon as he landed, he began to run toward Dr. Cid once again. He reached behind him, pulling out his atomic hammer, and igniting a fresh fusion core that was already loaded.

Dr. Cid saw him coming, but couldn't even yell out to stop much less stagger away from him. He was helpless as Cid's core began to hum and he yanked back the hammer behind him.

In desperation, Orphan did the only thing he could do. He half-floated, half-dragged his form in between the two of them—planting himself in front of Dr. Cid as a human shield. The younger Cid didn't hesitate. Giving a war cry of his own, he brought the hammer around, slammed it right into Orphan's broken body, and ignited the core.

A warped sound of fusion ignition went off before both targets were illuminated in a blinding impact blast. The raw impact instantly obliterated what was left of Orphan—blowing the esper into a billion dust fragments in an instant. As a result, Dr. Cid was spared instant annihilation, but that was hardly a good thing.

Instead he got to feel the agony as half of the bones in his body were shattered and the other half were broken, while many of his organs were turned into paste within his own chest. His body, almost instantly crumbled internally, was cast about with such violent force that when it smashed into the machinery behind it the result left a human-sized impression in its wake.

The light died down and the impact ended. Cid, panting and tired, lowered his hammer and twisted the shaft to eject the spent fusion core, and looked up to see the aftermath. Dr. Cid was still half-embedded in the wall. His body was bruised and broken. Blood was fountaining out of his mouth, nostrils, and ear canals, and he looked like he was barely able to breathe. His eyes, looking already dead, were open and staring at the younger Cid, and at first it seemed as if he wasn't even able to see him.

Yet then he let out a single weak cough.

"Am…amazing… You…did all that…without a single…gram…of magicite… What…what a…prodigy…"

With that, he went limp, falling out of the indentation and landing on the floor. He moved no more.

Cid exhaled and wiped his brow, shaking as he put his hammer away and got out his collapsible wrenches instead. As he stood there and tried to regain his bearings, he soon saw Quaren, a little sore and stiff but otherwise alright, run up on one side, while Taraketh, looking a little singed but actually in better shape than before, come up on his other. Cid blinked and looked up and around.

"Did…did you two get the other bad guys…?"

Quaren sighed and exhaled. "'Frankenstein and Igor' are gone. What about you, Taraketh?"

"I managed to walk away from that better than before, if you can believe it. It's been a while since I met a mage so rudimentary they had no protection from Osmose…"

Cid wearily nodded. "Alright then. Only one thing left." Dual-wielding his wrenches, he turned fully to the console. "Just let me do my thing… Phew…can you believe it? All that fighting and we managed to miss it…"

He began to take a step forward, before Taraketh suddenly went rigid. His hand lashed out and grasped him by the shoulder. "Wait."

Cid looked at him puzzled, as did Quaren. "What's wrong?"

Taraketh was silent for a few moments, glaring at the console coldly. Finally, he let out a smirk and a dark chuckle.

"Taraketh?"

"I may not be an engineer, Sir Boer, but it doesn't make much sense to me that they would have that console out in the open and not be standing between us and it when we arrived. Or that they would go all out with high level spells and wanton destruction if they wanted it protected or preserved."

Cid looked puzzled. "What are you saying, Taraketh?" Quaren asked.

Taraketh stared a bit longer, before he leaned up and glared ahead.

"Stop it, Lady Cybus."

Now both men really looked confused. "What're-"

"Your illusions aren't going to work this time, and I'm not going to be reduced to having to sacrifice another limb to break them. For once in your life, have the decency to not hide behind a deception."

His voice echoed loud and long in the chamber, slowly fading out. Quaren and Cid both looked forward, going quiet themselves now, and waited. Several moments passed.

Then, as if reality in front of them was nothing more than a curtain, the console, the tubes, and the fiends inside them suddenly compressed, melted away, and fell to the ground. What was left behind was a smiling Sorceress Cybus with her harp of ice still poised in her hands.

"Oh Taraketh. Here I thought little boys liked to play games."

Quaren grit his teeth and readied his sniper rifle. Cid, while shaking a little, brandished his wrenches. Taraketh kept staring with his weapon naked.

"But it's just as well," Cybus went on, her voice dropping and her lips curling to a sneer, "because I am still very upset with your rejection. I suppose I can only blame myself for being far too much of the mother figure in your life, but just the same…I'm glad I get to make you suffer. And I will once it's just the two of us."

"I don't know what universe exactly this version of you comes from, Lady Cybus, but we've killed you once before."

She let out a haughty laugh. "I'm sure you did. But you had Sir Bahamut and Dael Levinson's help before along with the rest of your little band. Oh, that reminds me… I have some 'presents' for you."

Her sharp fingernails strummed her harp-strings. The three nearly recoiled, but it wasn't an attack. It was a breakage of more illusions. This time it revealed something that unsettled all three men. More curtains of reality dropped to reveal the bruised and bloodied limp bodies of Cryder and Ceja on either side of her.

Cybus smiled cruelly. "That's not all, dearies. Oh Lady Veriguno?"

A pillar of darkness erupted, causing the three men to brace themselves. Each felt a collective wave of fear come over them as the burly form of Sorceress Veriguno walked out from it. Not only her, however, but there was a form slung over one of her shoulders. As soon as she emerged, she dropped it on the ground—the beaten body of Jalab.

Cid was shaking more than ever now, and Quaren had to wipe some of his sweat away as the two Sorceresses squared against them. "It took all of you together to defeat us one on one before, Sir Sabian. Now it's just you, that overgrown child of a sniper, and that pitiful little grease monkey Faerio was silly enough to call a Sorceress Knight against the two of us." She smirked soon after. "Oh…I'm sorry."

She strummed her fingers along the harp again. Instantly, Quaren's eyes went white, he let out a pained gag, and his body went rigid. Taraketh and Cid snapped to him in alarm, but it was too late as he collapsed to the floor.

Smiling more, Cybus strummed her fingers over the harp again. Soon, Cid was reacting in much the same way, much to Taraketh's shock. A moment later he too collapsed to the ground, and the mage, stunned, was left alone.

"I guess it's just you against the two of us." She readied her fingers as she grinned. "Let's get my pleasure and your pain started right now…"

Taraketh tensed up. He nearly thought of chanting a spell, but it was too late. Cybus could stop him in an instant. Her fingers began to descend…

When a tongue of fire lashed out with a whip crack, struck the harp, and instantly shattered it into snowflakes. Cybus' smile turned into a bored frown, but Taraketh was surprised. However, he recognized the move, and turned to his side to see Faerio, still looking hurt but more determined than ever as she walked up to his side.

"I'd give you a punch to the crotch right now just to make us 'even' if I could, Sir Sabian, so don't do anything else incredibly stupid to tick me off," she muttered to him before she focused entirely on the two sorceresses. "You'll not hurt Sir Boer ever again, you perverted bitch. I don't care how much forbidden sorcery you use on yourself…you'll never be anything but a withered, sick hag to everyone."

"And here I thought Lady Mianyl had put you in your place a second time…" Cybus sneered as she stretched to full height. With a wave of her hand, the air in the room chilled dramatically, right before two dozen razor-sharp lances made of ice appeared around her at the ready. "So much the better. I've always wanted to discipline you in the worst way, you little brat. Making you writhe will be so much more satisfying than simply seeing Lady Mianyl scatter you like the insignificant bit of dust you are."

Taraketh took a deep breath, starting to swing his kusarigama around. After all, even with Faerio there, he didn't feel much more confident than before. In response, Veriguno extended her hand and brought forth another hammer made of solid rock. "Do you really want to do this all over again?" Taraketh spoke quietly. "Are you still really wanting Lady Mianyl's mad vision born only of trauma? Are you still so selfish that you'd use it just to get what you want? Look around you, Lady Cybus. What's going on is far bigger than either of us or even our world."

"Perhaps, but that hardly matters, Sir Sabian. In spite of everything, my views are still exactly the same as before, and they'll give me the same goals I desire."

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" Faerio shot back angrily. "Don't you get it yet? There's nothing to gain for you from all of this! You're really willing to go through this all over again…and for what? Even if you win, all you're going to do is end up helping some deranged, rich madman have power over everything!"

"And why should I care?"

Both Faerio and Taraketh looked surprised at her calm and casual response, but Cybus merely smirked and chuckled at them.

"Little children, you are so hopelessly naïve. Has Lady Mianyl taught you nothing? There will always be Siegs in the universe, just as there will always be Mianyls. And Sephiroths. And Lazards. And Shinryus. And whatever else you want. So long as desire exists. Desire, after all, is what gives our lives any meaning in the first place. And so long as there are people who are willing to make their desires become reality no matter the cost, there will always be those who become mad and greedy for it.

"You can't stop it forever. You can't erase it. But you can use it. Whether it be the madness of a little girl wanting to blot out those oh-so-painful memories of her dead and rotting parents…or a man so afraid of losing that he wants to rewrite reality so that loss is no longer an option…they'll never hurt for needing help to make their desires come true.

And in doing so, it's such a trifle for them to grant lesser desires. Such as a universe that exists only of people giving me the worship for my humility and kindness that I was always due. One that will have a version of Taraketh that appreciates both my grace and my womanhood as well, who I will have all to myself."

She waved her hand at him. "So go ahead and chop yourself into little bits for all I care, Taraketh. You soon won't exist anymore along with this world, and I'll have my choice of much better versions of you."

The mage grit his teeth in a mix of revulsion, betrayal, and anger. Faerio, on her part, sneered. "Alright, I've had it. I'm whipping that condescending look off your face ne-"

A horrible musical note cut Faerio off, and made both her and Taraketh contort in agony. Cybus smiled as her body also melted away like a curtain along with the lances of ice—revealing the real Cybus standing behind it perched next to a much larger orchestral harp of ice and strumming it gently. She laughed as both were soon crippled.

"Really, darling…after being so easily stabbed in the back before, one would think you would have realized when you were walking right into a trap. Ah, the ignorance of youth."

She strummed harder, making both cry out.

"Now listen carefully, children…because I composed a very, very long requiem for-"

Cybus cut herself off at that moment, eyes widening in alarm…for her harp was suddenly shattered by a powerful blow.

More specifically, from Veriguno swinging her hammer into it.

Taraketh and Faerio both gasped in relief as if they had nearly been drowned, but as they looked up they were just as alarmed as Cybus to see the burly woman now glaring down her fellow Sorceress rather than the two of them. They were too astonished to even react, but Cybus wasn't.

"Veriguno! What…what's the meaning of this? What do you think you're doing?!"

"Lady Cybus," she calmly responded, "the day I became a Sorceress and took my place among the Order of Hyne, I had but one desire of my own. I wanted to defend those who couldn't defend themselves and stand up for those who couldn't stand up for themselves."

"Yes, yes, I remember your old sentiments quite well. And I thought by now you had concluded they were just as naïve as I did. I thought you had seen the pointlessness of all of it and realized there's no justice to be found by your hand or anyone else's!"

"I did. And I do."

"Then explain yourself!"

Veriguno closed her eyes and exhaled slowly before opening them again. "When I was fighting Sir Tierras again just now, and I saw him looking at me…without hate…without rage…with just the somber look of pity…the same look he gave me throughout our last battle…the same look he gave me as I lay dying before him telling him how meaningless his victory was…I slowly realized something. Deep down inside, in my heart of hearts, I wanted him to defeat me.

Partially because I was tired. I was tired of fighting my best friend. I was tired of trying to kill him for the sake of killing everyone else I loved. But mostly…it was because I wanted him to prove that everything I now accept was wrong. That I was fighting for a lie. That the side of 'truth and justice' was right all along."

Cybus looked aghast. "Have you lost your mind completely? What is this? Have you regressed into a child, Veriguno?! Believing in silly fairy tales and infantile sentiments?!"

"Maybe things like justice are just make believe. Maybe they are nothing more than childish dreams. But if they are, Jalab, Taraketh, Cid, Eden, Bahamut, and all of these other people from all of these different worlds believe in them. And they're fighting to the death to make these childish dreams a reality.

And they've proved that their wills are just as strong as ours and their resolve as great. So it doesn't really matter if they're real or fake. It would seem some things are worth fighting for even if they don't exist."

Cybus scoffed, letting out a haughty, mocking laugh. "And I thought Lady Mianyl had gone quite mad. You've taken leave of your senses completely."

Veriguno's eyes narrowed.

"Even if I have lost my mind, there's one thing I now know for certain. I sided with Lady Mianyl because she wished for an end to the cycle of suffering for mankind. I did not side with her so that you could live out your greatest depraved lusts and desires. And I certainly didn't to help yet another corrupt company turn people into cattle to be slaughtered and consumed at their leisure.

I've dwelt too long over my own selfishness to see how far I've fallen. There is no peaceful oblivion at the end of this…only an eternity of servitude to a corrupt group of men and women's whims. I'm a pawn of the very devils bringing about the Hell I so hated, and I will serve them no longer."

"Lady Veriguno…?" Taraketh called out incredulously. "Are you seriously…?"

"Sir Sabian, I will stand and fight with you and Lady Faerio."

Cybus' face twisted in anger and hate, dropping any façade of propriety and dignity. "Your wretched, ugly brute of a Sorceress…"

Instantly, she waved her hand and sent dozens of razor-sharp shards of ice into Veriguno's eyes. The woman had to quickly recoil and cover them to avoid having them stabbed out, and Cybus used that moment to quickly pull back and generate another harp of ice in her hands. As it formed, she yelled out bitterly.

"You stupid, ignorant, mewling, desert-dwelling cow! At some point you must have replaced your brain with rocks as well! If you want to die so badly for your little fairy tale delusions, then have it your way!"

The harp finished and she brought her hand down to strike the strings. However, Veriguno was a moment faster and smashed her own hammer down on the ground and held it there. In response, an intense vibration went through the ground that traveled through the entire lab and up through the soles of the feet of the remaining fighters—including Cybus. She strummed her harpstrings, but was soon stunned to see they wouldn't play. They only made dull plucking sounds.

Veriguno kept concentrating as her eyes opened. "Strike her now… She can't use her music so long as I vibrate the earth enough to cancel her out."

The other two didn't waste a moment. Immediately, Faerio cried out and sent a wave of fireballs from a Firaga spell right for her. Quickly, Cybus countered by strumming her harp in a different way—this one generating a Blizzaga of her own to match Faerio's incoming fire with monstrous shards of ice.

Much as with Taraketh and Xande, the two attacks met and burst violently on contacting each other, but neither managed to do more than cancel the other out—which left Taraketh free to summon forth another Aeroga in the form of a tightly-knit, churning sphere of tempests. He flung it right at Cybus while she was still defending and, unable to take both, the blast swept her off of her feet and cast her into the air.

Unfortunately, she didn't reach the ceiling. Spreading out her arms and scowling, she halted herself in midflight and glared down at the three before strumming her harp again. Now the temperature in the room truly did drop to a bone-chilling degree. Enough to make all three of them woozy from the sudden temperature chill.

Yet as ice and frost rapidly began to form all around them, the true danger came as Cybus kept playing and proceeded to bombard them all with a hellish hailstorm of knife-like icicles and great hailstones—the former of the two being strong enough to pierce metal and the later being strong enough to dent it.

Both Faerio and Taraketh raised their respective weapons and began to spin them fiercely to try and shield themselves, but even Faerio's flames didn't protect them from some of the shards from coming through and slashing them. At once point, she cried out as one of the shards got all the way through and pierced one of her calves; causing her to falter. Taraketh, seeing she was in danger, quickly stepped over and twirled his kusarigama more intensely to try and ward off the attacks, but soon a hailstone struck him and jarred his arm; nearly cutting off the protection…

Yet Veriguno, on her part, crossed her arms in front of herself and covered her body in a yellow aura. As icicles and hailstones alike pelted her, they left scrapes, cuts, and light welts, but she toughed through it all like a living tank. As she did, the ground around her shook harder and erupted into a series of jagged gem crystals—each one bearing the likeness of projectiles or even crude missiles.

Taking up her war hammer-like weapon, she let herself be pelted as she swung her it around and smacked each one like she was driving a golf ball—casting them up and at Cybus to counter her. In spite of the intense, frosty gale coming down on them, the missiles still had enough power to reach their target, and soon Cybus was forced to cut off to defend herself.

Her counter blizzard spells went out to strike down the first missile, then the second, but she faltered on the third, and the fourth struck her in the stomach. She was knocked back, but although she managed to steady herself she hissed on seeing blood oozing from her stomach from the jagged gems.

Looking more hateful than ever, Cybus began to play more intensely. While the air stayed cold, this time it was icy water that generated around her—quickly forming in hovering, liquid spheres before elongating into swirling tentacle-like coils around her body.

The liquid rapidly began to spin about her as a new shield, and as Veriguno sent her last few gems at her the water churned so forcefully that it smacked aside each one. Taraketh, recovering from his own pained jolt, quickly brought his kusarigama back and spun it about in a new way. This time, the sky broke to expose space behind Cybus, and a moment later Meteors erupted from the opening and rained down upon her. Yet to his shock, even those did nothing as the watery tentacles about her sliced them into pieces.

Cybus changed her pitch, and the watery shield suddenly lashed out for the three of them. At first it went for Veriguno. She answered by striking the ground and making a shield of solid rock appear in front of her, but that did no good as the watery tentacles snapped around and smashed into her with such force that, to Taraketh's astonishment, Veriguno's formidable body registered pain. Then she made it worse by sending an additional tentacle to plow right through the rocky barrier—breaking it into gravel in an instant—and smashing into Veriguno's face. Red mist stained the air as her head snapped back and she staggered.

Taraketh could see no more for the watery tentacles were coming for him next. One swung down from above, and he quickly sidestepped it only to have to dodge another one that came for his side. Yet they moved too fast, and the third one that came in aimed for his head.

He pulled it aside but the water still grazed his cheek, and he cried out in pain as it had sufficient force to leave a bloody gash across it. Unfortunately, that left him too stunned to stop the next as it swung out and slammed against the side of his body like a club. To his shock and agony, his arm was bent inward like it had been hit with a bat the size of a tree trunk, and he heard a loud snap from within it. His pupils shrank into pinpricks before he yelled in pain.

That left Faerio. She watched as the water came toward her, but planted her feet and held one hand to her side. As she watched the tentacles swirl about, she began to generate another ball of flame in one hand while keeping her whip out to the other.

The water drew nearer, but just as it was about to strike, she twisted her body and her wrist and lashed out again. Her flaming whip darted inward around the incoming tentacle, though a gap between two others, over one swirling for her, finally under a fourth one…and lashed itself around Cybus' ankle. Suddenly having her flesh seared, the Sorceress let out a scream of her own and lost control of her playing. The watery tentacles quickly faltered.

Faerio used that moment to snap down on her whip, yanking Cybus forward, and then greeted her by throwing the fireball right in her face. Her eyes widened in panic right before the fire erupted against her own head—casting her back to the ceiling while bathing her in flames.

The youngest Sorceress looked hopeful that had finished the job for a moment…before Cybus halted her body again before hitting the ceiling. Water condensed over her burning body and then dropped on it, smothering the flames. However, now her face and hair were burned, and her face was twisted in hate as the fire had pushed her madness even further.

"So you want to play rough, dearies?!"

Holding her hands out, two smaller harps generated out of midair and hovered alongside her as she began to play them both furiously—almost haphazardly into a cacophony. It didn't damage any of them directly, but they immediately felt the ground shake violently and the area around them started to groan. Moments later, to everyone's shock, the "ground level" of the lab had its walls bulge and burst inward as tsunami's worth of water swept in. In a heartbeat, a lethal deluge of water was descending on everyone.

Taraketh was too in pain to even react, struggling to heal his broken arm, and so Faerio leapt to his side and quickly cast an orange shell of light in the form of an advanced protection spell of Mighty Guard around them, but both were soon swept away like so much debris by the waves regardless.

Veriguno had no such luxury, but more importantly her eyes went to Jalab as well as the others who were lying helpless. Taking a deep breath, she raised both of her hands from the ground just as the waters slammed into her. While any normal person would have been cast about, somehow the powerful mage kept her footing planted solidly as she cast her own spell. Columns of rock erupted from the floor once more—each one beneath one of the unconscious warriors and pushing them up above the waves.

However, all three were soon in trouble. Faerio and Taraketh were being battered about as whirlpools and waves churned throughout the entire area, sweeping them up and, more importantly, shoving them down under the water. Taraketh had no sooner healed his arm than he needed to grab Faerio and struggle to get her head above the deluge.

Yet each time they managed that, a watery tentacle would rise and smash into their heads—giving them another powerful blow and sending them back under the waves. The tentacles also lashed out and began to erode and chip away at the rock columns saving their comrades from drowning, with Jalab being the only one even stirring at the moment let along even close to saving themselves. Veriguno herself was stuck beneath the water, struggling to keep her spell going, and all as the depth kept rising.

"I was going to draw out your suffering, but I think watching you all struggle feebly for your final breaths while trying to save the rest of these little wretches will suffice! Keep kicking to the last, won't you, children?!"

Taraketh and Faerio, both clearly looking desperate as they struggled to get back to the surface again, looked about for any chance of escape to get off another move. As they did, while beneath the water, they swirled toward Veriguno. In spite of everything, her face was as stoic as ever as she struggled to hold on.

Suddenly, however, her eyes looked at them and met theirs. At that point, she began to mouth to them a word: "one shot". Quickly, she gestured with her thumbs in an upward thrusting motion, followed by a swirling gesture, and then a strike. She followed up with mouthing a "get ready".

Neither mage fully grasped exactly what she was hinting at, but both of them realized she was preparing for something and so they stood by for their opportunity…

Veriguno steadied herself with the little air she had left, before she suddenly let her hands fall. The pillars of rock rapidly crumbled and dropped into the water, along with the individuals they were meant to save, but Veriguno quickly mouthed again—this time with air bubbles coming out. Taraketh and Faerio both realized she was using the stored air in her lungs for spells. And in response, they suddenly saw the water burst on opposite sides of the room.

Cybus looked as well, and immediately lashed out with her water tentacles to beat and shred them back. Only they weren't individuals this time. To her alarm, they were a massive pair of gem-shaped heavy blades…

A moment later, Veriguno used her last breath for one more spell…one that launched a column of rock beneath Taraketh and Faerio. Both of them were instantly launched up and above the waters themselves on a column of rock. By their quick thinking and realizing exactly what Veriguno had intended, they reacted immediately.

Taraketh took up his kusarigama and lashed out to grasp one of the gem blades, while Faerio resummoned her whip of fire and lashed around the other. Cybus, distracted and confused at their appearance while looking on opposites sides of the room, didn't have time to react before they snapped their weapons taut and yanked both gem-blades across—striking Cybus simultaneously from both sides, shattering her newest harps and smashing the blades weapons into her sides. Two gashes were opened as the rough force pounded the wind out of her—causing her to gag in agony.

Even then, she struggled to recover and started to regenerate another harp, but Taraketh had been preparing for the moment he'd get this time and didn't waste it. He unleashed a Thundaga just as she finished the frame and began to make strings, and the lightning instantly stunned her with more pain and left her rigid and immobile. Her body rapidly began to fall to the ground afterward.

As the waters started to recede from her lack of focus, Taraketh called out. "Finish her, Lady Faerio!"

"With pleasure!" she shouted back, before leaping off of the rock to meet her. Her whip vanished as she held both hands in the sky; gleaming with fiery light so strong that it became blinding. Her body didn't quite fly but it hovered closer to hers as her face filled with fury. "Burn in hell, you old bitter crone!

Corona Star!"

As Cybus looked up in pain and agony, she saw Faerio discharge her move right in her face. Instantly, a great, burning, resonating fiery wave erupted around Faerio and bathed the older sorceress in her heat; forming an intense ball of burning, dazzling light right over her body. Cybus' cries turned to absolute agony as she vanished inside of it—taking the full measure of the fellow sorceress' wrath and being ravaged inside and out by heat so strong it rapidly made the water beneath her boil off into steam.

The attack finally ended as the waters continued to drain and the floor was exposed again. The others landed on the ground roughly, with each of them giving a slight moan in response, and Jalab, at last, starting to stir and struggling to rise. Veriguno was exposed again, and while she stood stoic as always she started to gasp for air the moment she was out of the water.

Taraketh practically sprawled on the ground, but grunted as he got up and forced himself to move to the nearest injured (Cid in this case) and got to work.

Finally, Faerio actually managed to touch down gently on one foot—while Cybus' body, reduced to a twisted, withered husk that resembled burned jerky, slammed to the floor soon after. She was clearly dead.

The young woman took a deep breath of her own as she held next to her. Taraketh, who had just finished reviving Cid, paused and looked back, and the man himself blinked and looked up to stare at her. Veriguno herself ceased her breathing and stood tall and resolute as she watched.

Moments later, light began to emerge from Cybus' charred remains like little dancing fireflies. They continued to emerge and gather in a cloud for a moment, before they all streamed outward and sailed straight for Faerio. She closed her eyes and gave a mild cry as they touched her and sank into her.

This transpired for a few moments before cutting off, and she let out an exhale. Cid was astonished. "Lady Faerio…"

Snapping out of it, the young woman opened her eyes and turned to him. "Cid! You're alright!" She nearly stepped toward him.

However, Cid was still looking at her with awe. "Did you just…inherit Sorceress Cybus' power?"

The young woman paused. She blinked and looked down at both of her hands. A moment later, she waved one hand and generated her flaming whip in it. She looked at her other, hesitated, and then waved her hand. A harp of ice formed in her arm. "Huh…I guess I did!" she retorted with almost child-like delight.

Yet after doing so, she stuck her tongue to one side and focused, and the harp of ice reshaped itself into a guitar. "Heh, that's more my flavor." She instantly grinned mischievously. "Hee-hee… I'm feeling more dangerous than ever now! I almost want Lady Mianyl to try and beat me up again!"

"Um…if it's just the same, maybe we can stick to the sidelines now…" Cid muttered nervously.

"Oh, don't be a party pooper, Cid."

Taraketh actually found himself smiling a little as he turned to Quaren next and started to revive him. But by the time the sniper opened his eyes, the inevitable happened. Jalab recovered on his own and got to his feet only to look around himself at all of the damage and aftermath, but in particular he saw who was among them.

"Lady Veriguno…"

Cid and Quaren both turned to her, and both stiffened in shock. Quaren began to go for his sniper rifle. However, Taraketh held out a hand to them. "Wait, wait…she helped us defeat Cybus."

Both of them looked alarmed. "Wait…what?"

"Did she really, Lady Faerio?"

The young woman's enthusiasm faded with a frown. "I may hate to admit it, but yeah, she did…" She placed her hands on her hips and glared at her. "But unless I'm still a little waterlogged, I seem to remember you saying in your little speech that you still think we're fighting for nothing. I don't recall ever hearing an 'I'm sorry' in there either."

"And if I had asked you for forgiveness," Veriguno finally answered, "would you have given it to me?"

"Hmph. Good point."

Taraketh used the moment to quickly revive the others—even if it meant having to explain to each one what Veriguno had done before they could attack on instinct. Ceja was particularly hard to calm down, and it was only Jalab himself who was able to restrain her. Only once all were revived and standing, and Taraketh once again felt himself drained, was she able to speak.

"I will not pretend that the events of the past or of other universes can be discounted or pardoned so easily," Veriguno stated. "Nor do I want them to be. I will not waste any further time with arguments or pleas. I will say only that I would gladly take whatever Hell can be found in life or death than live as a pawn of Sieg any longer. I will give my life and even my existence to stop him and the Infinite Victory and Conquest Corporation. Is that enough for you to allow me to fight alongside you or will I walk this path alone?"

Faerio snorted. "Look at you…having the gall to act all silent loner and mighty after everything…" She grumbled. "But I guess I still owe you, so I'll leave this to the others to decide."

"Well, I'll admit, after what she did to Lady Faerio it really doesn't sit well with me…" Cid muttered.

"Listen mate, are we really in the position to be 'choosy' about help at this juncture?" Cryder asked with a shrug. "If we're on the topic of former enemies turned allies, not only is that part and parcel for the pirate gig, but I happen to be a card-carrying member of the same club."

Ceja practically snarled at Veriguno. "I think I'd rather eat a Fuliet Sauron's excrement than fight alongside that traitorous piece of filth. I will leave it to Sir Tierras. He's the one she stabbed in the back deeper than anyone else, so he should get the final say."

Everyone turned to Jalab at that. He regarded them all calmly, before he looked back at Veriguno and gave her the same expression. Only now, however, did the sorceress look back and seem to be genuinely invested in an answer.

After a time, he looked out to the others again. "You know as I know…even at worst, Lady Veriguno never speaks lies."

Cryder turned his head with a shrug. "He's got a good point. Even at her worst…"

"I trust her words are true."

Ceja still looked irritated, but accepted it. As for the others, while they gave the burly sorceresses some uneasy looks, they gave their ascent. Quaren exhaled as he looked about. "Alright, I guess that's settled. That just leaves what we came here for…"

"I don't think we have to look far," Taraketh answered as he pointed. "It seems Cybus' final attack did our work for us."

The others turned and looked. Sure enough, in the course of the tsunami she had summoned, Cybus had destroyed everything else in the area except one of the thicker support columns. And now that all of her illusions were gone, the group was able to look upward and see, suspended high above them, a console mounted into the thick columns. And arranged in the walls around it were the same maturation vats that had been far below, each one bearing the likeness of one of the new fiends inside of it. Just as before, one was being teleported out while a fresh one was growing in another.

"Alright, let's take this thing out for good," Cid answered, reaching for his sides…only to find a lack of tools. "Um…uh…Lady Faerio? Could I get a boost? I think all I have left are my wrenches and hammer…"

"Don't sweat it, Cid. I'll handle this one."

Smirking, Faerio held up both of her hands and dual-casted, generating an intense ball of fire in one hand and a freezing sphere of ice in the other. Grinning from ear to ear, she unleashed both together at the column simultaneously.

Both spheres swirled about each other for a few fateful seconds until they both struck the target area at once, at which point their mutual thermal shock resulted in a new, piercing magical explosion that instantly annihilated the console and the column completely. If that wasn't all, it sent out cascading fragments to instantly pierce and smash the maturation vats around it.

When that happened, each one burst and began to leak its fluid, and the fiends that were contained within spasm-ed and gave final cries of agony before each one slumped over and began to dissolve in their own juices.

Faerio blew on her hands like they were guns and dusted them off. "Not too shabby! I really a need a new title, like…Faerio the Antipode! Eh, but that can wait. Looks like we got even more backup coming soon…"

While they focused on not getting vaporized from the sudden barrage, others were seeing the barrage in there face suddenly lessening up.

At the moment Bahamut and Tiamat had just finished noticing their last kills seemed to have been "permanent". They looked about, but there was nothing left now except the piles of remains they had accumulated between the two of them.

Tiamat flashed his teeth. "Well now…did they finally get the message?"

"I doubt it," Bahamut responded. "More likely that their regeneration was cut off at the source."

"Huh? Why would they be stupid enough to do that?"

"I don't think they did. And Ezan was too busy focusing on Sephiroth to worry about it. That means mother's group must have done something."

"Well, either way," Tiamat answered with a grin, "all I know is that means I finally get to kill something I want to see dead. Let's hurry up and follow him."

However, just as the two prepared to go into the tower, they were interrupted by a rumbling. Both looked down below, wondering if they had missed one of the earth fiends, before the ground exploded. Bahamut braced himself for some sort of volcanic attack, but something much larger than that appeared.

A giant winged mecha, seemingly composed of a lower quadrupedal half and an upper half in the shape of an armored warrior, emerged from the ground and flew into the sky to face both of them.

Tiamat snarled. "More trash puppets…"

Bahamut was more hesitant. He tensed on recognizing the shape of the newest monster. "Be careful. This one isn't like the other WEAPONs. It looks like what Omega became…"

The Guardian Force had scarcely finished speaking before a new hologram projected to unveil the pilot. This time, it was Rufus himself.

The President of Shinra narrowed his eyes. "Correct, dragon. I was not about to let my employees take our best work. In this revised Omega Weapon, I'll settle things myself. You may have been a king in the past, Bahamut, but I'm the king now, and there is no place for you or any other who denies me what I deserve in my kingdom."

Rufus in the Omega Weapon was about to fire, till Masaki, the Gundam's, Voltron and others barraged him on all sides as Masaki roared out, "Hey the people living in this land have something to say about that jackass! Guys get to your friends, we will handle this punk!"

Barret was among the group, riding on the Cybuster before he aimed right for Rufus with grim resolve." King Vermin shows up himself eh? You have a lot to own up to asshole!"

Tiamat was rather surprised at Barret firing at Omega Weapon, before he let out a chuckle. "Aw man…you stole my fun."

"Forget him," Bahamut answered. "We don't have time to waste with him anyway. Shinryu is still up ahead. We have to reach mother and the others."

"Hey! Don't forget us!"

Both dragons turned to the sound of the familiar voice, before a flash of ruby light emitted. When it cleared, they saw Leviathan in all of his great serpentine glory coiled up in midair. However, in spite of being in his true form, the sea serpent looked a little out of sorts at the moment.

That was because Carbuncle in his own true form was grasping one of his coils with his tiny paws and seemed to be struggling for all he was worth to keep himself and Leviathan hovering.

Between gasps, he called out. "Could…we get…a ride…or at least…a hand…?!"

Leviathan grimaced. "Learning to levitate in my new body always just seemed so…unnecessary to me."

Bahamut sighed as he quickly moved over to let Leviathan slither onto his backside and Carbuncle hop onto his shoulder. Tiamat snorted at the sight but shrugged. "Why not? We could always use some more flesh shields to distract that golden worm long enough to land a hit…"

His sibling frowned back, but as soon as the others were on he faced the tower. "Let's go. The true battle begins here."

Both dragons spread their wings wide and took off like bullets—thundering for the opening in the defenses and vanishing inside in moments.

"How are the rest doing?" Bahamut called out over the wind.

"They're as tenacious as the ones in our universe. Most of the Shinra Corporation's executives are defeated now. But where are the others?"

"Hopefully where we're headed. Now that we're getting nearer, I'm starting to sense them in the structure."

"Yeah, along with much bigger and not-as-pleasant auras…" Tiamat snapped back.

Carbuncle sighed. "That's our Dael…always getting her neck in trouble and needing me to come bail her out. But you know what? I'll be happy to handle that. You two can take on the mountain-sized dragon…"

"In any event, I'm sure their struggles have been worse than ours by far," Leviathan murmured. "We have to hurry and catch up."

Little did they realize that the two that already went in the portal were thinking the same thing.

As we catch up with Ezan and Daigo they were delayed by frequent bursts of energy. At the moment Daigo looked around, saw he was surrounded by a swirling sphere of fire surrounded by emptiness before he winced." Hey Ezan, we are on the right track? If we got blown off course we could be in trouble."

Ezan looked around before he sighed." It's ok Daigo, this is Memoria... A place of memories. Zidane went through something like this, and this is the collective memories of the whole planet. We just have to keep going to where the energy is, no matter what we will get there before the end."

As the two prepared to move on they head a moogle's voice cut in with a mocking," Oh its far to late for that Enji! Kupo!"

Zoth appeared in front of the two before he tipped his hat." Are you ready for the final countdown Kupo! Because that's what time it is!"

He suddenly pulled a electric guitar out of his hat and sceamed out,"

We're leaving together, but still, it's farewell

And maybe we'll come back to Earth, who can tell?

I guess there is no one to blame

We're leaving ground

Will things ever be the same again?

It's the final countdown

The final countdown

Oh-oh, we're heading for Venus

And still, we stand tall

'Cause maybe they've seen us

And welcome us all, yeah

With so many light years to go

And things to be found

I'm sure that we'll all miss her so

It's the final countdown

The final countdown

The final countdown

Oh, oh-oh, oh-oh-ohh, Kupppo!"

The final countdown, oh, oh

It's the final countdown

The final countdown

The final countdown

Oh, it's the final countdown

We're leaving together

We'll all miss her so

It's the final countdown oh

It's the final countdown

Yeah, Ku, GRAHH!"

Ezan showed how little he liked the moogle's singing as he instantly unleashed the Amaterasu on him and hissed out," You're a fool thinking you could do anything but waste my, huh?"

The two saw the sky glow before Zoth rolled around in pain and snickered darkly." Oh…I'm just the distraction Kupo. Time for the party to begin!"

Daigo saw the very sky crack, before it split open Daigo saw it feel like he was suddenly smashed by a river and was smashed around. He tried to stabilize himself, but by the time he flipped back he saw he was that he was suddenly on the highest point of an whole island before he yelled out in anger." Oh man that better not have pushed me all the way to the start! I, huh?"

He saw that the water was both pitch black and static, almost like data before he winced." Man these guys really are messing up this world hard. Huh?"

He saw a flash of light before Zoth appeared again and laughed." Oh man, you're a Digimon and you don't know Kupo? This is not Cetra, this is the Digital World Kupo! Figured you should at least die in your own world so we caused a " Digital Shift" to split you buddies up to proper ! The Gan Knot World was partly digitalized from all that's going on, so we had a spot just for you!

This is Infinity Mountain of File Island. This is where the first Digimon hero's in the Multiverse came from, and where the last will be put down!"

Daigo looked to the right and saw that the ocean looked pitch black before he winced." This a place where they dumped a ton of oil into it or something? I can't even see through the water!"

"Heh, that's because it's the" Dark Ocean" silly. A realm that has the power to bring twisted thoughts to life, magnify and corrupt them, and invert the natural order of things. Its normally its own realm, but it's consuming the Digital World, because darkness is consuming everything so its time to consume the last Digimon along with it!"

Daigo grasped his fist tightly before he cracked his neck." I'm not the last anything Zoth! Wherever the place is, your not beating me!"

The ground started to shake before Zoth's eyes glowed red." Maybe alone that's true Kupo, but I brought a few buddies for you to play with. Akemi Suedou, its time!"

Shinryudramon was about to attack till he heard growls, and looked around to see dazzle camouflage before squid like monsters burst out to swarm him.

As he felt his energy being drained he heard a laugh, before a lanky, older man who had a hunched stature walk up.

He had silver, middle-part, bowl cut hair that is shorter in the back than in the front. Suedou had small, violet irises, pencil-thin brows, and is usually seen with a rather venomous, curled smirk.

Under his black trench coat, he wore a lavender suit with a white collared-shirt and white tie tucked under. He was wearing black, wrist-length gloves that matched his trench coat as well as a purple scarf.

This Suedou clapped before he gave a mocking bow. "Greetings…thanks for taking part in the reformation of humanity! With you absorbed into King Drasil's procesing power, his expanded omnipotent calcuations combined with the Eater's high, no, ultradimesional data transmission functionablity, will at last give us the tools to complete the final job! At last we are going to rebuild this flawed Multiverse so I can finnaly erase everything that's crooked, ulgy, or sad!"

"Sorry but unlike you I don't think I'm god!"

"I don't, but he is!"

Shinryudramon raised a eyebrow before a light came in the distance, and a is a pristine crystalline sphere on a similarly-formed plinth descended. Suedou laughed before he made a beckoning gesture." That is King Drasil, is the mysterious host computer who rules over all of the "Digital World" on one Server of the Network.

He was being assimilated by my precious Eater's to become the Mother Eater that will make things better, everything together to create a new world without sorrow! I'm so glad that the Infinite Victory and Conquest Corporation is so ambitious! If you're a Digimon, you to will be part of the process!"

"Hell no! I'm never going through that again!"

"Then your fellow cohorts will help you see the light! Right Akihiro Kurata?"

Everyone heard another demonic roar, before the ground burst open and a giant brown and black demon Digimon with goat horns and demon wings emerged. As it gave a roar a human face was on its stomach, which just looked at Shinryudramon with annoyance." It's showtime! You think you're a tough guy eh? While I'm in the body of Belphemon Rage Mode so you got nothing on me!"

"You want to bet jerk? I don't know you but making a Digimon your body is messed up! Wait, I remember now, I think Robotnik said someone named Kurata was one of the Zeon guys that almost found me before Ben and James! I'm glad that's not what happened, I would have been a monster being raised by you!"

"You think your fated for anything else? Please…peace and harmony between us? That'll never happen. Digimon exist to serve their masters…and you will serve me! Lampranthus!"

The new enemy had casts black flames from the chains coiled around its body before lashing its chain at the Royal Knight Digimon. However, Daigo had enough and had his aura erupt before he caught the chain." You may be big and bad but your not blowing me down! Huh?"

He saw King Drasil glow, before it dragged down a giant polyhedron the size of a planetoid down from the sky. Zoth laughed as giant metal claws on dual helix chains appeared before he got on top of it." Oh we don't have just one or two evil Digimon, we got all of them! This hear is Apocalymon…the sum of all the darkness of the Digimon in the Dark Ocean, and we got them all!

Lucemon: Satan Mode… Millenniummon, time to break this fool in Kupo!"

Two roars were heard before to the left a giant purple dragon with a golden crown, eight demonic wings, and a sphere of raw darkness in its arms floated out of the Dark Ocean before it unleashed a roar that caused a shockwave." Kneel to Lucemon…or be destroyed! The light is merely an illusion, the true power lies in the shadows!"

From the other side of the water burst out a gigantic four-armed dragon with the aura of another dragon around it, and its "Psycho Blasters. " on its shoulders. Its eyes glowed red before this Millenniummon yelled out," You…I did not think you would have this kind of power. Ryo…even this is not enough compared to me! Heheheh... The world does not need two beings with the same power. Now... come to me!

Dimension Destroyer!"

Daigo saw his new enemy fires superdreadnought-class energy waves from its two cannons before he tried to block the blast with his shield and he yelled back," If you have to make it like that, then you're the one who has to go. Even if you really can destroy dimensions with this attack, is it not going to be enough to destroy me that, easily? Ah nuts."

He saw Lucemon Satan mode fly to him and yell out," You will not stand in the way of my utopia! Prepare for paradise!

Purgatorial Flame!"

The giant purple dragon unleashed a huge flame of darkness from its mouth to light the royal knight Digimon on fire. Daigo screamed in pain and fell to his knees before he yelled out," If this is your paradise…I'd hate to see your hell. But, I been burned worst, I'm not giving up!"

Zoth sighed before his eyes turned red." Then your one really stupid Digimon Kupo! Enough of this!"

He suddenly roared, before his eyes became six and he transformed into the same demonic state he was in when he fought Bowser and Dedede before. After giving his own sinister roar the transformed Moogle hissed out," YOU'RE A DEAD MAN WALKING KUPO! ALL OTHER DIGIMON ARE SLAVES TO THE IV&C! SOON…EVERYONE WILL BE PROPERTY OF THE IV&C AND ITS TIME YOU GET WITH THE PROGRAM!"

Suedou laughed before he clapped his hands." Think carefully now. It will just take one more contact to bug your compromising data, destroy it, and erase it!"

Zoth nodded and had veins form in his eyes before his muscles expanded…and more eyes opened up all over his arms and chest. Those eyes all fired laser beams to barrage Shinryudramon further before Zoth licked his lips." EVERYONE YOU FOUGHT FOR IS DEAD…YOUR BUDDY EZAN AND THE REST OF THE LAST ENJI ARE GOING TO DIE REAL DAMN SOON! YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT…BUT TO BE PART OF ME!"

He charged in and prepared to devour the royal knight Digimon, before two powerful energy blasts collided into him to blast him back. As he rebounded with a snarl, a voice bellowed out at him and all the others.

"I think you'll find his options aren't quite so narrow as all that."

With a rush of wind and a flap, Bahamut alit on Daigo's left, instantly rising afterward and flexing his newest set of muscles and wings. Leviathan and Carbuncle quickly dismounted and spread out behind him at the ready. A moment afterward, Tiamat practically punched the ground as he landed as well, making sure to vent flames from his mouth and brandish his teeth and claws when he leaned up.

His serpentine eyes glanced about, practically ignoring the fell Digimon and looking more at the bizarre landscape. "…What the hell is this place supposed to be?"

Daigo let a weak chuckle. "Sorry, this is not how all Digimon are…this jackass just dragged the worst of the worst out for one really nasty party."

Zoth snarled before getting back on its feet before laughing smugly. "LOOK WHO'S LATE TO THE PARTY KUPO! YOU MIGHT BE KING WHERE YOU ARE FROM BAHAMUT BUT YOU'RE JUST A PAWN TO ME!"

Carbuncle somehow managed to raise an eyebrow at Zoth in spite of his black, beady eye. "Uh…what orifice out of what demon did that thing come out of? He looks like fanart of a moogle by a deranged psychopath."

"Judging by the bizarre energy signature," Leviathan bluntly responded, "I will assume that we have our first look at a genuine servant of Sieg, as opposed to some fool who believed his empty promises."

Daigo let out an uneasy chuckle before he nodded." Yah, that seems to sum up jerks from the Negaverse in a nutshell."

Tiamat snarled. "Just what I need…more toadies wasting my time getting back at Shinryu!"

Lucemon flew at Bahamut, and growled as he saw the dragon. "Another subject? I am your ordained ruler with absolute power over your very existence. You will serve me as you were born to do. You will give me my every desire, even yourself."

"None can command me with idle words alone," Bahamut plainly retorted. "Yet even if you were to best me in battle, I would never serve you or any other minion of the IV and C."

Lucemon roared out, "You are my inferior, it's your destiny to serve! Tide of Despair!"

He unleashed a barrage of hellish flames, but Bahamut responded just as quickly. With his new speed, it was nothing to him to spread his wings and take off into the air like a shot; easily clearing the others and getting into the open. His own maw cracked open wide as he did, and no sooner had he stopped than he let a Sun Flare fly for the unholy Digimon even faster than his own attack.

It connected a heartbeat later, proceeding to blow away a chunk of his target. Unfortunately, that meant little for it regenerated in seconds before Lucemon roared louder. "Out of chaos, I bring order!

Annihilation Maelstrom!"

With that, he unleashed a fiery light of annihilation from the seven magic crown symbols above its wings.

Bahamut quickly took to the wing again, and soon had to fly much harder than before the evade the newest streams of attacks. However, this time, as he evaded the strikes, he didn't bother to counterattack again right away. Instead, he gazed upon his opponent's own expression and actually became thoughtful.

It's almost strange…this dragon is clearly accustomed to being the most powerful being in its respective world. I wonder…would I have been the same if I had let my pride consume me? Now that I think upon it, he seems as dismissive of me as I was of Cecil, Rydia, and the rest of their group when they humbled me on the moon. I got what I deserved…wallowing in my own failures for so long I let myself grow lazy and stagnant as humanity kept ascending…

It probably would not be too much of a stretch to assume pride has left this one with a similar weakness…

Bahamut continued to examine his enemy as the light beams began to die down, but noticed something in particular. For all of its size, power, and numerous wings, it seemed to forever be clutching and even curling about the giant sphere in its talons. An idea came to mind…

As the attack finally ceased, Bahamut suddenly dropped back to the ground—landing right next to Carbuncle. The smaller Guardian Force gave a jump before wheeling on him. "H-Hey! I thought I told you I'm leaving the dragonfolk to you and Tiamat!"

"I need your help," Bahamut flatly answered, before giving a chuckle. "Never thought the day would come when I would be the one doing this…but when I give you the signal, use your Ruby Light on me."

Carbuncle looked a little dumbfounded, but Bahamut didn't give him the chance to think about it any longer as he took off again—this time sailing straight for Lucemon. His jaws opened wide, this time summoning the power of his Megapyren. As soon as he was in close enough range, he cracked open his jaw wide and let the monstrous series of nuclear fusion powered fireballs rage for his opponent.

Lucemon didn't take it this time. Rather, his wings spread in front of him and overlaid themselves, and seemed to intercept the attack directly—halting it as it came inward. A moment later, the wings flexed, and the attack was smashed right back at Bahamut.

However, the dragon didn't bother evading. His tail gave a swish toward Carbuncle, and he simply stood there and waited. A moment later, to Lucemon's surprise, a shell of iridescent light enveloped the Guardian Force, which lit up gloriously as the Megapyren sank into it.

An instant later, the blast erupted from it again, redirected now and faster than before, with enough force to not only make contact with the sphere Lucemon was holding but to smash it completely.

Bahamut's eyes twitched as he sensed an opening, and his new speed instantly took off. He dove directly for the explosion even as it was still dying down, and as he neared he found his target—an angelic-looking larva with a total of twelve gold-feathered wings and a ring on his stinger. Seeing himself exposed and the powerful dragon headed for him, the Larva being screamed out, "NO! You won't stop my paradise! RAH!"

Bahamut dodged the blast from Lucemon Larva Mode's stinger with ease, letting out a dismissive snort. "I may have just met you, but if this form cloaked by lies and deception is what you truly are, then you're a fragile excuse of a king. Farewell."

He opened his mouth and discharged a second Sun Flare at point blank range. The faux innocent form gave out one final cry before the light of Bahamut's attack carbonized him before annihilating him completely. In response, Lucemon Satan Mode acted like he had a stroke and quickly collapsed and writhed on the ground.

Bahamut soon landed on the ground next to Carbuncle again. The smaller esper whistled and snickered at Lucemon's remains. "Wonder if that big ugly moogle thinks you're worth Shinryu's time now?"

"I don't really give a damn if he does or does not," Bahamut flatly responded. "He's not stopping me from facing him again. For the sake of the Multiverse…and defining my own fate apart from him."

At the same time Tiamat was dealing with his own new threat. The site of Millenniummon caused Bahamut's brother to snicker.

"Are you sure you're feeling 'up to fighting', dragon? I don't know whether to pity you or laugh at you. Your throat must be raw if you're resorting to artificial cannons."

The Digimon's eye twitched. "You, are you Ryo's new partner? So many have tried to get in my way, butyouare different. You are the only random element that makes the impossible possible. Heheheh... The world does not need two beings with the same power."

Tiamat sneered. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're blathering about, idiot."

Millenniummon roared in response, looking suddenly so erratic and unhinged that even Tiamat blanched at it. "You can't fool me! No matter what you try, Ryo…I will always be superior! No matter what, no one will be superior to me! You and I...have a existence that cannot be seperated. I exist to take my revenge on you Ryo! Each defeat...has made my revenge stronger! Now... come to me! I'll show it to you! True fear! I'll blast you beyond time! Killer Light!"

He unleashed a blinding flash. Even in the instant Tiamat looked at it, the light was so piercing and strong that it seemed to dive right into the core of his brain and burn. He cried out in anguish as he slammed his eyes shut and covered them with his wings afterward, but even that hardly seemed to help.

After a precious few moments, he opened his eyes and nearly shut them again, because he still saw the same blinding light. However, he realized at that point he wasn't feeling any further pain. Much to his rage and anguish, he knew the attack had blinded him. He nearly threw a violent fit, thrashing about and exhaling his deadly breath everywhere…

Before he felt something cool and refreshing spread over his eyes. The gleam died down, and slowly the world once again became defined and he once more saw his digital surroundings and his maddened opponent.

Tiamat blinked, both in recovery as well as confusion, before he realized where the source of his sudden cure had come from. He turned and saw Leviathan coiled up nearby, but with his whiskers pointing at him and now relaxing.

"Careful. Our enemy is unstable at best."

Tiamat turned back, nearly snarling at Leviathan to tell him something he didn't know, when he realized the hunched-over Digimon was already on him. He pivoted out of pure instinct, and he was lucky that it just so happened to coincide with dodging Millenniummon's charge. Yet even then, he saw the pure madness…the pure hate…the obsession with blood in his eyes as he glared at him.

Until now, the Guardian Force had never before experienced in his life what it felt to be like on the "receiving end" of vengeance—save for the brief moments he had pushed Bahamut to the breaking point. He had never seen what it meant to have nothing but pure bloodlust and desire to kill. To the point where logic and reason was gone and madness was all that remained. Where the hate was the only thing one not only lived for but all that the individual was.

He knew well the feeling, but not the look.

And somewhere, deep down in the core of his powerful, unshakeable, wrathful being…he felt a twinge of unease to see it. Perhaps even what might have once been called fear.

And realizing that, Tiamat's face suddenly filled with fresh wrath as he dodged further slashes. Yet it was no longer born of hate or his personal anger. It was born of disgust.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you fool?" he snarled. "Giving yourself fully over to this vengeance of yours…this obsession? You think it gives you power or strength? It's made you lose your senses completely! You don't even know what you're doing right now, do you? It's revolting! It's…it's pathetic!"

This only caused Millenniummon to go fully berserk before snarling out, "You think you can talk like that to me?

CHRONO DIMENSION DESTROYER!"

Both of the cannons were brought fully to bear. Tiamat saw them and, more importantly, sensed the massive amount of power that was being charged inside of them. However, in spite of his own new revulsion, he studied the cannon carefully for a moment. He actually stood there patiently, letting it summon its full power to bear. However, right before it could fire, he finally glanced back at the Digimon.

"Power you're too mad to even control properly is more than worthless…"

Cracking his jaws open wide, he fired not one of his more massive breath attacks but a relatively lighter Flare. It collided not with the main body but with the cannons, and when it went off it was enough to knock them askew, flip them over themselves, and redirect them to aim them for Millenniummon's own back.

"It's downright dangerous."

The attack fired, and instantly ran into an immobile object. The end result was a terrific explosive implosion of a kind as the blast completely backfired. The mad Digimon barely got off half of an aborted cry before its body was simultaneously blasted apart and ejected heavenward.

As Tiamat watched the remains of his enemy fall to the ground, he sneered one last time before spitting on them. "Maniac of a creature… There's more to a pride in one's own might than just being a stubborn ass."

Once that was said, he paused, then turned slightly behind him to look at Leviathan. The sea serpent calmly remained there. Tiamat looked away, before he grimaced and grumbled, then looked slightly back again. He muttered something.

"I think that sounded like a 'thanks', but my hearing isn't as good on land," Leviathan answered. "But understandable. I think this is the first time you've ever had to thank me for anything in our entire lives. After all, I'm just the little 'water worm' Bahamut started talking to after you were gone. To be honest…I'm a little surprised I intervened myself. I forgot we were supposed to be siblings myself long ago."

Tiamat scoffed and turned away again. "You always did talk too much…" A pause. "But I guess you're someone worth respecting at least."

Another pause.

"A little."

As they were dealing with their threats, Daigo was still being bombarded, though less so thanks to the other dragons diverting some of the enemy. Even so Zoth snickered at his target's defiance before his many eyes widened." HOW MANY HAVE TO DRAG THIS OUT KUPO? ITS PATHTHIC HOW MANY HAVE DIED TO SAVE YOUR WORTHLESS, HUH?"

He was about to try and go at Daigo, till the Mega Digimon had his eyes glow." No…NO ONE ELSE IS DYING FOR ME! Zoth…I'll show you who the joke is! Here we go again! Shinryudramon mode change to…Judgment Mode!"

As the Digimon went full power and broke out of his chains, Belphemon staggered back before the human head on its chest flinched at the anger in Daigo's eyes." No…stay away!"

He lashed out with more chains, only for the transformed Digimon to shatter them with a wave of his hand. The giant demonic had its nails glow green and unleash a enhanced slash, only for Shinryudramon to shatter that as well.

Belphemon staggered back before the human head hissed out," No…you can't do this! Eternal Nightmare!"

The demon fired a massive black and green energy blast from his mouth before Daigo narrowed his eyes." No…the nightmare's ending now! Dividing Quantum Slash!"

He slashed right through the attack, and charged on to slash Belphemon in half. As he got through his enemy, he saw Zoth coming for him as the Moogle yelled out," NOT GOOD ENOUGH KUPO! SHOCKWAVE,"

To his shock his target had his aura flare up as he shouted out," Verus Zenith Ray!"

He fired his projectile before the Moogle could attack, blasting him in half. Daigo landed on the ground and saw the two severed enemies and shrugged." Maybe you were made to just act out your boss's sick games Zoth, but this is not a game for me. Everyone I care about's counting on me, so I'm not giving up no matter what."

Zoth laughed bitterly before narrowing its eyes." YOU THINK THAT MATTERS KUPO? I SERVE THE MASTER OF ALL…HIS SHOW IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR FRIENDS! ALL WILL BE BOUND TO THE ABSLOUTE! ALL YOU DIGIMON ARE JUST FULE FOR ME KUPO!"

He had tentacles burst out all over his body, before he had one batch absorb Belphemon, the other absorb the unstable Lucemon, the other absorbed Millenniummon, while one came for Suedou, who just laughed at the sight." This is…quite a unique breakthrough. AH!"

As he was absorbed, the other arm absorbed Apocalymon, and another one to absorb the eaters before he became larger than File Island itself and grew extra arms as the heads of many Digimon came out of his body.

Carbuncle came over to Daigo, looking partially out of a desire for protection at this point, and increasingly unsettled at the sight of Zoth. "Uh…are all Digimon supposed to do, er…that?"

The royal knight sighed." Sorry…Digimon combine but he's making it look real wrong."

Zoth laughed as he hissed out," HOW IS THIS WRONG KUPO!? THIS IS JUST WHAT DIGIMON WERE MEANT TO BE ALL ALONG!

DIGIMON AND ESPERS ALIKE ARE IN THE END JUST SERVANTS MEANT TO AID THERE MASTERS! THIS IS PART OF ULTIMATE EVOLUTION! NOW AS ZEED ZOTH I'LL END THIS AND CATCH YOU ALL!"

"Deformed freak!" Tiamat snarled back. "Pick one of your new holes and shove it up it!"

Cracking open his jaws, he let out one of his much larger Meganukes. He aimed it with the intention of blowing one of the new Digimon making up his appendages clean off. However, moments before impact, the flesh oozed and squelched before a crystal erupted from Zeed Zoth's shoulder. On contact with the breath attack, it absorbed it much like a Reflect spell would, gleamed momentarily, and then erupted it back at Tiamat.

The draconic creature quickly crossed himself with wings and arms to take the attack, and, fortunately, had enough reserves to withstand it. Carbuncle, on his part, waved a tiny fist at him. "Hey! Get someone else's gimmick!"

In response, the fleshy body of the mutant shuddered and made horrendous noises as various heads appeared from all over it.

"I meant one!" Carbuncle instantly corrected.

Zoth laughed. "I DEVOURED ALL OF THE DIGIMON'S SOULS…ALL THEIR POWERS ARE MINE! METAL SEADRAMON…SHOW THEM YOUR RIVER OF POWER! GET IN THERE WITH YOUR PUPPET PUMMLE PUPPETMON!"

The head of a metal sea serpent came out of its left shoulder and fired a wide energy beam, while a humanoid puppet came out of its chest and fired bullets from its hammer before Shinryudramon yelled out, "Don't think just because you have a few other baddies in you it means you can beat me! Digimon are not Pokemon damn it, you can't just make us your pets by throwing a ball or something! And even if Digimon and Espers alike aide humans, we will never just become slaves to monsters like your boss! Verus Explosive Barrage!"

As he fired a barrage of blasts to blow away the mutated transformed Zoth back, his target hissed out, "NOT JUST A 'FEW' BAD DIGIMON…I HAVE YOUR HEROES…YOUR GODS…EVERYTHING! HERACULES KABUTERIMON…BIND HIM WITH YOUR GIGA SICCSOR CLAW! ROSEMON…TIE HIM UP WITH THORN WHIPPING! THEN BURN HIM WITH YOUR DESTROY CLAW DAN DEVIMON WHILE YOU TIE HIM UP WITH YOUR CABLE CRUSHER DIABOROMON! AND TO TOP IT OFF KNOCK THAT LIP OF HIS Merukimon MERUKIMON WITH YOUR THOUSAND FISTS!"

A giant Beatle came out to tackle Shinryudramon with its pincer claws as a woman with a rose for a face came out and lashed out with her whip. After that a giant devil with four arms punched at Shinryudramon with a glowing claw while a demonic humanoid bug jumped out and tripped up its target by extending its arms like webs as a giant man with a lion like outfit also burst out and unleashed a lighting barrage of punches from his target's back.

As the Royal Knight tried to hold off the attacks Zeed Zoth narrowed his many eyes. "AND IF YOU THOUGHT I WAS LYING ABOUT THE GODS…THEN WAKE HIM UP HUANGLONGMON WITH YOUR YELLOW CIRCLE!"

A giant golden dragon came out of his chest before trapping Daigo in a gigantic typhoon of an earthflow on the scale of a natural disaster.

As Daigo struggled to break free Zeed Zoth laughed." WHO'S THE JOKE NOW KUPO? ALL THE WEAKER SCUM CAN DO IS DIE RIGHT Death-X-DORUgoramon?

Metal Imp"

Just as another demonic dragon came out of its chest to try and launch another attack, Tiamat flew up and fired a second Meganuke to destroy the forming Digimon. "Is this the best you can do, you oversized rat?" he bellowed. "Throw up your old meals at us?"

Bahamut also used the moment, as well as Zoth's ungainly size, to swoop in and deliver a smaller yet still potent Megaflare to Zoth's head. As a result the jewel on the mutated Moogle's forehead sparked, causing Zoth to grasp it in pain. As Daigo got on his feet he looked at Tiamat and nodded. "Thanks…this punk just won't stop spitting out attacks."

"Well, I don't feel like letting you embarrass yourself by getting killed by a moogle of all things," Tiamat retorted.

Daigo chuckled bitterly. "Yeah…this is not how I wanted it to end either. Just got to figure out how to take this guy out without blowing up my body again."

"If I may…"

Leviathan's voice sparked both Daigo and Tiamat to look to him, and he quickly slid over and indicated to the still-staggering Zoth.

"I may not be up to date on Digimon biology, but he's clearly not using those as body parts but is commanding them directly. Ergo, the absorbed souls still have a degree of sentience he is having to bring under his control. And based on the disproportionate result from Bahamut's breath attack, it seems like the gem on Zoth's forehead is the key to that."

Daigo saw the jewel was indeed glowing before he widened his eyes. "Hey, you're right! Since he's so big it's easier to notice. Well I got a idea now. Not sure it will work but worth a shot. Just cover me!"

Zoth saw Daigo charge for him and laughed erratically. "YOUR KIND IS ALREADY DEAD! AND THE HONOR OF YOU 'ROYAL KNIGHTS' IS EVEN MORE DEAD, KUPO! SO JUST JOIN YOUR BUDDY'S IN MY BELLY ALREADY! HELP HIM OUT CRUSADERMON! FIST OF ATHENA!"

A pink knight came out of his arm and attacked Shinryudramon with its glowing fist before Zoth yelled out, "AND PILE IT ON WITH BREATH OF WYVERN DYNASMON!"

A white humanoid dragon knight slipped out of his forehead and unleashed an aura of a gigantic wyvern before Daigo yelled out, "No matter how much you pile on me you're not keeping me down!"

As the royal knight burst out of the attack Zoth had its eye twitch. "YOU DON'T REALLY THINK YOU CAN SAVE ANYONE, CAN YOU, KUPO? WE ARE ALL ACTORS FOR THE STAGE…AT LEAST I KNOW WHAT I AM! ALL RESISTING YOUR DESTINY HAS BROUGHT YOU IS SUFFERING KUPO!"

"Maybe." Daigo shouted back defiantly. "But I only knew what I really am by fighting. I have a lot of regrets, but still being here is not one of them! Do you even have any thoughts or just what V-day tells you to think?"

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING DIRECTED BY THE NUMBER ONE WINNER IN THE MULTIVERSE, KUPO? IT'S THE WAY TO THE MOST EFFCIENT WAY TO LIVE! ALL THAT MATTERS IS THAT ALL THAT GETS IN THE WAY OF LIFE BEING AT PEAK EFFCIENTY IS DELETED! Lodsam hanti, we are the chosen ones. Cahanna risone hanti, we are the fortunate ones. Sabbatha hanti, sabbatha hanti, sabbatha hanti. We are the True Knot and what is tied mayneverbe untied!

"DIE KUPO! VANQUISH DRIVE!"

Zoth opened his jaw, before all of the jaws of the faces from the beings he absorbed also formed spheres of energy and they combined into one giant sphere.

Bahamut snarled in disgust. "Have it your way, then! Be the first cog in your master's machine to be broken loose!" The air around him thundered with black lightning, streams of light gathered into his jaws, and he cracked his mouth open wide to again unleash his improved breath. "Gigapyren!"

"To Hell with you, your master, and his machine!" Tiamat roared out. "Share the fate of all prideless sycophants and turn to ashes! Giganuke!" With that, Tiamat's own head snapped back with the tremendous force of his own enhanced breath attack.

The blasts hit the Vanquish Drive Projectile, but in spite of being focused beams all they managed to do was stall it. Zoth laughed. "YOU THINK YOU TWO COMBINED ARE BETTER THAN ME? THAT'S ALL FOLKS! HUH?"

He saw Shinryudramon was above him before the Royal Knight Digimon declared, "Maybe…but they just have to hold you back so I can do…THIS!"

He punched Zoth right through the forehead, causing Zoth to yell, then growl before licking his tongue. "YOU THINK YOU CAN KILL ME THAT EASILY AFTER I ABSORBED THAT MANY SOULS? YOUR JUST TOO STUPID TO…HUH?"

He saw his forehead was glowing, and also saw his opponent's arm that punched him was glowing before Shinryudramon narrowed his eyes. "Since you don't even know how the power in your body works! But I can sense that all the Fractal Code, which is the data that makes up a Digimon, is here! And a Digimon like me, can absorb that data!"

Zoth saw Shinryudramon's aura increase before he widened his eyes. "NO…YOU CAN'T TAKE MY POWER!"

"ITS NOT YOURS!" Shinryuudramon yelled back. "These Digimon have a choice, so let's see who they want to be with!?"

"NO…THEY DON'T GET A CHOICE! TERRA HOMING!"

He tried to fire a barrage of blasts before a flash went off in front of Daigo. When the light cleared, it revealed Carbuncle with both paws on his own ruby.

"If there's one thing that really pisses me off, it's buttheads who only got powerful because they stole it from someone else! All sales are final, 'Ugly Madeen'!"

His Ruby Light emitted bigger and stronger than ever—enough to catch all of the Terra Homing spell and powerful enough to send the attack right back into Zoth's face. As he screamed in pain, Daigo was able to absorb the data from his enemy, and grasp the mutated moogle by the face. "Zoth…I don't know if you ever had free will…but my pal Moz was stronger than you.

"Even if his 'power level' never came close to yours, he stood by me and the boss, Ben, even after half the universe hated him for failing to stop Doug from breaking heaven. Doing something because you want to, even though it's hard, because you think it's the right thing to do! Someone like you who does not get that, IS NOT GOING TO STOP ME! Game over Zoth! With all the data…I can do this again…Mode change…Superior Judgment Mode!"

He transformed to become as big as Zoth, before he yelled out, "Infinite Verus Flare!"

He uppercut Zoth into the air and unleashed a massive energy blast. Zoth was consumed by the blast before screaming out in pain. "YOU'RE DESPICABLE KUPO! MASTER V-DAY…THE SHOW'S NOT OVER! SAVE ME…PLEASE SAV…RAHHHH!"

Zeed Zoth had fear form in his eyes before he was vaporized. As the explosion rocked the entire pocket reality, Shinryudramon sighed. "That's all folks. Even if the only thing in common with Moz was being a moogle, it still sucks that Sieg treats, well, everyone this way, but the only way to stop it is to stop it. Still, thanks for the help guys."

Leviathan laughed. "Still happy that old beasts like me can contribute even at the worst of times."

Carbuncle plopped down next to him and tried his best to play it cool. "Eh, I've handled bigger. Uglier too." After a beat, he exhaled. "They got any beer in the Digital World? I'm spent…"

"I never doubted you for a second," Bahamut coolly answered as he alit nearby. "Your power clearly came from time, training, and your own sweat and blood. Respectable power is always superior to ill-gotten theft. Aside from that, I was honored to help you slay that abomination."

"Yeah, well…" Tiamat half-muttered as he landed on Shinryudramon's other side. "Don't thank me that hard. I just wanted to hurry and shut him up so I could get to Shinryu. That human better not have already taken care of him…"

"Now that you mention Sir Zeon…" Bahamut spoke up again. "Where is he anyway?"

Daigo looked around. "We got separated before the fight, but no matter who they throw at him he won't be going down that easy, now more than ever. Knowing Ezan he would want us to catch up so let's get, ugh!"

Shinryudramon winced before he turned back to his normal state. He saw the others alarm before he let out an uneasy chuckle. "It's fine guys…just using that form takes a toll. I absorbed a lot of data so I don't think I'll explode but, just need to sit down for a moment."

Tiamat snarled. "There's no time for you to sit around and have yourself a 'breather'." He hesitated after saying that, glancing back to Bahamut, before he let out another mutter. As if he was pulling his own teeth, he crouched down to all fours and turned about.

"Just…get on…" he practically murmured. "I'll carry you as far as the next fight, at least."

Bahamut, Leviathan, and Carbuncle all stared at Tiamat as if a frog had come out of one of his ears, put on a hat and cane, did a little song and dance, and then went back in the other one. Daigo saw Tiamat looked serious before he shrugged. "You ok with that?"

"You helped me, so I'm helping you. Now shut up and get on before you waste any more of our time."

Carbuncle was about to quip about that, but Bahamut, recovering from his initial surprise, held out a claw to silence him. "He's right. Let us be gone." Giving Tiamat only a nod, which his brother rolled his eyes at, he lowered himself so that Carbuncle and Leviathan could quickly get on his own back before preparing to take off with the others.

Daigo nodded before he took a deep breath. "Aeris…hang on a little longer. Nothing is going to stop us."

Authors Notes: I know we have another hyper-stuffed chapter but wanted to give everyone their due.

First, the Omega Weapon Rufus used is a modified one based on Dirge of Cerberus.

The fused Weapons were inspired by the combo of the mechs of Lordgenome's four generals at the end of Gurren Lagann the Movie: Childhood's End

Apocalymon is from season one of Digimon, as is File Island and Infinity Mountain, wanted to tribute where it all started from Digimon I suppose.

The Dark Ocean is from the second season of Digimon

Lucemon Satan mode is from Digimon Season 4, AKA Frontier.

Akihiro Kurata, King Drasil, and Belphemon are from Digimon Season 5, AKA Savers.

The Eaters and Akemi Suedou are from the Digimon Cyber Sleuth game.

Millenniummon is from Digimon Adventure: Anode Tamer and Cathode Tamer…he's also from the 2020 reboot but I'm not using that version.

Hope you all like how things progressed, Ezan, Aeris, and the rest will be followed up on next time. So for now thanks for the reviews as always, hope you liked what you seen to give more, and see you then.