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??/??/???? (Legend of Legaia)
After weeks of travel, Gala, Noa and Vahn finally made their way to the temple of Tieg, Uru Mais.
The journey was... stressful. For all of them.
Vahn, always quiet, spent days at a time without saying a single word.
Noa, normally so energetic, would often stare into the distance, her eyes trailing towards the northern mountains and what lay beyond.
Gala... did his best. He was the oldest and, while both of his fellow heroes were incredibly powerful and capable people for their ages, he should have been the one that was responsible for them.
And he constantly felt as though he was failing the other two. The same way he'd failed Songi.
Gala was a peerless martial artist, diligent and talented, powerful and, according to his teachers, wise beyond his years. But he did not understand his peers.
In the Biron Monastery where he'd been raised, that hadn't presented a terrible issue. So long as one completed their chores and practiced as they were instructed, many a long pause or a few too many awkward silences could be forgiven.
They'd all learned things throughout their journey. They'd all learned about their own histories, how they shaped each of the heroes into who the were, who they are.
...Noa had met her parents. The girl had admitted that she'd dreamed of hearing a woman's voice calling out her name since she'd been a child. And they'd learned, upon reaching the kingdom of Karisto, that the king and queen had some kind of psychic powers and that Noa's dreams hadn't just been dreams. And then, upon slaying her brother and ending the threat of the Mist, they condemned her family, and her kingdom, to death.
Vahn had watched as his entire village was consumed by the Juggernaut, as everyone he loved and knew was lost in moments.
Gala... had traded words with Songi, the man that orchestrated that horrific event, but he'd long since accepted that the Songi he knew only existed in his perceptions and memories. That Songi, the true Songi, had always been an arrogant man with a lust for power and recognition. That they had never been equals, honing their arts against each other.
That Gala had been naive for thinking so, much as it hurt him to admit.
Arriving at Uru Mais, the shattered ruins of it at least, offered Gala no comfort. It was merely one more step, one more memorial of their failures and the wickedness of the Mist.
Holding out his Ra-Seru, Ozma, as he, Terra and Meta called for aide from their creator had been a humbling experience, however. The absolute faith, the sheer belief that the trio of Ra-Seru had for Tieg was awe-inspiring. That the god answered, that Tieg opened the way between the human world and the Seru-Kai, it left Gala with questions.
Were humans... lacking, in some way? Had they not prayed? Were their pleas for salvation as the Mist sank down upon them simply unheard? Or was it some lesson that humanity as a whole was meant to learn, some form of punishment for their hubris in reaching, unknowingly, towards the realm of the gods?
Traversing the strange, crystalline realm of the Seru, Gala found no answers. Ozma, upon his right arm, remained pensive and silent.
The party was left alone as they traveled the curious realm. Seru flew about in the distance, some were placid, others hurried about, a rare few even stopped to observe the humans within the realm before carrying on, flying about to do whatever it was that Seru did when they were alive and active without the maddened frenzy of the Mist.
It was strange, to pass about freely while surrounded by Seru. Vahn and Noa must have felt the same, judging by the wary tenseness in Vahn's shoulders and the flighty, jittery motions in Noa's body language as the girl jumped and flinched at every passing entity. Gala managed to force his body to act calm, hiding his own nerves as the clenching and unclenching of his fists.
They soon found their way to the heart of the Seru-Kai. The Mother Genesis Tree, the origin of all Genesis Trees in Legaia and the cornerstone that maintained the Seru-Kai itself-
And Songi was nowhere to be found.
Gala had expected the crimson warrior to be standing before the trunk of the great tree, a smirk on his lips and an insult ready to fly. For his Seru, great and bloated and heavy, to be turned on them at a moments notice.
Instead of Songi, however, they encountered a figure in black armor with a ruby sphere within its chest and a pair upon their wrists. A familiar figure, one that they'd met only once before. One that should not have been within the Seru-Kai, not if he were human.
"Alchemist?" Noa asked before she turned to face both Vahn and himself, her arms flapping excitedly. "It's Alchemist! Do you think he brought the egg? Is that why he's here? Can it still hatch? Oh! Who do you think is inside of it?"
"He shouldn't be here," Meta spoke up, a subtle crimson glow surrounding her. "This realm does not permit humans. Not without a Seru bonded to them. The Seru-Kai should have torn him apart."
"Meta's right," Terra agreed, her voice whispering across the connections shared between them all. "For him to be here? Something strange is going on. Be careful!"
Gala nodded at the warning, wariness radiating from Ozma as they approached the armored figure.
"Where is Songi?" Gala demanded once he felt they were close enough to be heard.
Alchemist, his back to them as he gazed up to the crown of the tree, slowly turned to face the party. The heavy plate armor, the eyeless gaze, it was as unnerving on Alchemist as it had been on Gaza.
"Songi was dealt with quite a while ago," Alchemist answered, his head slowly swiveling to look at the heroes. "Perhaps you even saw what I'd made of him. Did Zopu tell you of the infant left in his care when you passed through the monastery? Red hair? Blue eyes? A sour little face?"
"Uh... no?" Noa said, her upper body tilting to the side as she stared at the armored figure in clear puzzlement. "Who's Zopu?"
"That's-! Impossible!" Gala shouted as he flexed menacingly towards the armored figure, Ozma held at the ready before him. "How did you defeat him? How did you remove his Seru? How did you... I have never heard of someone being aged in reverse!"
Rather than immediately answer, Alchemist turned back around to face the Mother Genesis Tree.
"...Songi had aspirations of godhood, whispered into his ear by the corpse he wore on his arm. And it all culminated here, in this spot," Alchemist said, his words echoing in the strange, inhuman emptiness around them. "Here he attempted to consume the life and power of the Genesis Tree. To bring an end to the Seru-Kai, and all that reside here. Here, Jedo's corpse would have finished twisting Songi into a nihilistic fool to facilitate its own wish: To die."
Alchemist turned back around and raised one hand up just to snap his fingers. In an instant, three chests appeared around him.
"I found the entire state of affairs to be offensive. And, to rectify it, I stripped Songi of his Seru here."
The shock that Ozma felt was palpable enough that it rendered Gala silent. He seemed to be alone in his horror, however, as Noa seemed confused while Vahn remained silently resolute.
"Jedo was released from its torment and given unto Death. Songi... I was left with the option of letting the shell he'd become be torn apart within the Seru-Kai or... well. The man that Songi had become was clever, ambitious and monstrous. Perhaps, this time, more care will be taken to keep him on the proper path." Alchemist spread his arms out wide and nodded to the group, once. "Songi as he was is dead. Songi as he may yet be is still unwritten."
"So, Songi's dead?" Noa asked, the poor child sounded terribly lost. "But he's not dead? I don't get it? Terra? What's it supposed to mean?"
Alchemist shook his head as Terra began to try and explain that, just because Songi's body may be alive. And a child. Somehow. His mind had been destroyed and the person he was had died.
It was a twisted mercy and it left Gala feeling sick to his stomach.
"I have an offer for you, Vahn, Noa and Gala," Alchemist said, heedless of the turmoil he'd filled Gala's soul with. "Within these chests you will find the most potent armor and weapons available to you. They are yours to do with as you see fit... but I would ask for Gaza's sword in exchange."
"You can't!" Noa shouted, a scowl on her face as she animatedly waved her arms in denial. "He left that to us! You can't have it!"
"Hah!" Alchemist chuckled, undaunted by Noa's refusal. "You've a good heart, Noa. I suppose I could make a concession; Let me borrow the sword for a moment, and only a moment. It will be returned to you."
The three heroes looked between themselves as they considered the request. It was... odd. But, if what Alchemist said was true...
Gala stepped forward and leaned down to open the chest that Alchemist had placed on the ground. Within, he found... a robe, thigh-high boots, claws and a diadem?
He looked over and saw Vahn holding up a thick, heavy helmet and a club. Tools better suited for Gala than the young, wiry boy. Looking to his other side, Noa had lifted a shortsword out of her own chest.
Vahn turned and met Gala's eyes, then nodded. Frowning, Gala nodded back.
Even if he was looking at Noa's equipment, it was undeniable that it was of exceptional quality, made of exceptional materials.
Vahn reached down to his side and Meta produced the Astral Sword, a thick, heavy weapon that none of them were especially capable of using. The silent boy walked up to the armored man and held the weapon out sideways, presenting the handle to him.
Gala watched with one eye as he stepped over to the chest Vahn had opened and began to examine the equipment within.
A heavy mace. Heavy plates of armor. Still not as much coverage as what Alchemist wore but it would offer significant protection. The monk wasted no time at all in dressing himself.
"What is your goal with all of this?" Gala asked as he twisted and turned the open-faced helmet on his head until it sat comfortably on him. "Why are you arming and armoring us?"
"Because one light yet lingers within the heart of the Juggernaut," Alchemist said as he skillfully swung the Astral Sword in one hand. "And you'll need to be able to reach it."
A crimson glow surrounded the Astral Blade, turning the heavy, wicked weapon into something altogether sickly and sinister in a way that had the hairs on the back of Gala's neck standing on end.
"Now," Alchemist demanded as he pointed the tip of Gaza's sword at the trio. "Defend yourselves!"
-----
Vahn took off like a shot, his feet crossing the distance faster than most people could blink.
He'd been expecting something from this Alchemist from their very first meeting. Something about the armored figure had felt wrong from the start. It almost seemed as though he... believed in them. Had faith in them.
Knew things about them that he shouldn't have known. That nobody should have known. That only Vahn, Meta and their teammates should have known.
The boy leapt into the air and twisted, bringing his foot around in a vicious kick-
That sparked off the flat of the Astral Blade, interposed at the last moment to deflect the blow.
Riding the reversal in momentum, Vahn twisted in the opposite direction, flames coating his foot in another twisting kick-
This time, a pair of black gauntlets wrapped around his ankle and Alchemist twisted, swinging Vahn into Noa, the girl just two steps behind him.
"Aluru!" Gala shouted, still in his original position.
Vahn rolled to the side as Noa rolled off of him in the opposite direction whilst a ring of light formed on the ground. From the ring, bits and fragments formed, swiftly combining to form the floating, horrific Seru Aluru. The beast hovered for a moment before it jerked in place, placing its claws on the ground and lifting the hollow bottom of its 'skirt' to point at Alchemist.
"Final Cannon!" Gala shouted, pointing towards Alchemist with Ozma. A great, powerful beam of light erupted from the Seru, aimed straight at their strange benefactor-
Who held a single hand towards the Seru, purple light forming on his fingertips before a blast of white-rimmed purple, equal in size to Aluru's Final Cannon fired straight back at the Seru. The two beams struggled for dominance for a moment before, to Vahn's surprised eyes, Alchemist's began to win!
As the beams struggled, however, the figure in black armor was locked in place. It was an opportunity that they couldn't lose!
Vahn closed in, blade ready in his off-hand, and prepared to strike when he heard a cry of "Rasetsu!" from Noa, across the beams of light and dark. Alchemist's head jerked to the side, then jerked back when Noa began to unleash a flurry of kicks. "Na-na-na-na-na Yeah!"
It didn't knock the armored warrior over but it did break Alchemist's concentration, leaving him to face the fading light of the Aluru summon.
Vahn didn't wait for the light to fade before he was on the shadowy figure, flames coating his fist as he slammed a vicious, burning uppercut into Alchemist's chin and finally knocked him over.
Then, as Alchemist began to stand up, Gala joined the fray. The Biron monk was the slowest and least agile among them but the man made up for those shortcomings with raw power and magical potency. Alchemist may have been able to match Gala's magic, but...
"Rasetsu!" Gala declared as his fist smashed into Alchemist's face, followed by a kick, headbutt and more before finally culminating in Gala slamming Ozma into Alchemist's chest and unleashing the Ra-Seru's lightning. "Hah!"
The warrior in black flew back, landing prone and exposed. Something Vahn was ready to take advantage of-
Until Alchemist disappeared from where he lay! Vahn had a moment of confusion, something shared between Noa and Gala, before Alchemist reappeared at Gala's side and swung the crimson-coated Astral Blade, slamming the flat of it into Gala's side and sending the muscle-bound warrior-monk flying-
Just to reappear, blade already mid-swing, to send Gala flying in another direction. Over and over again, faster and faster each time, until Alchemist stopped and Gala rolled across the ground.
With a glance between each other and a nod, Vahn and Noa took off. Fire surrounded Vahn's fists whilst Noa pulled ahead, the wind at her back.
Alchemist had a similar idea, it seemed, as he ran full tilt at them as well. Noa dropped into a roll and sprung up, launching herself into the air over the black-clad monster, and turned around to unleash an attack at his back but missed as Alchemist simply picked up speed, heading directly towards Vahn. The blue-haired warrior swung his sword-
*Clang!*
-and sparks flew as Alchemist swung Gaza's Astral Sword. The two traded blows, with Vahn often coming away the worse of the two as Alchemist's greater size and larger weapon afforded him more momentum compared to Vahn's slimmer build and single-edged shortsword.
"Ya-ta!" Noa cried out as frost and wind gathered at Terra's command. The girl brought her hands up behind Alchemist, ready to unleash her Frost Breath upon him-
But was interrupted when Alchemist, in a burst of speed to surpass his other motions so far, twisted hard enough the Vahn was sure he heard something crack and literally grabbed Noa by her face! The girl was lifted into the air and Alchemist twisted back around, swinging her directly at Vahn in place of Gaza's sword.
The two of them rolled across the not-ground surrounding the Mother Genesis Tree in a tangle of limbs and pain until they came to a stop by hitting Gala's groaning form.
"...Why?" Noa asked, blood dripping from her nose as she crawled up to her hands and knees to look up at Alchemist, slowly approaching them with the crimson blade held out to his side. "Why are you doing this? Why are we fighting?"
The man stopped and looked at the group for a moment before he placed Gaza's sword tip-first into the ground.
"...Cort has fused to the heart of the Juggernaut," Alchemist explained before he waved one hand towards the great tree that looked over their battlefield. "You've seen the abomination the Juggernaut has become, Noa. And, steeped in the Rogue's madness, Cort is far worse. If you face him as you are now, you will die. And all of this world's hopes and dreams will die with you."
Vahn shakily made his way to his feet, his left arm cradling his right, and he glared silently at Alchemist with one eye, the other swelling shut.
How did he know what was inside of the Juggernaut? How could he possibly know!?
"Reach out to the Genesis Tree," Alchemist said, his voice softening. "Meta, Terra and Ozma have room yet to grow. Power yet to be unlocked. If you would save this world and the people that call it home? You cannot let such strength go to waste."
Alchemist snapped the fingers of his free hand and Vahn felt his injuries fade. The throbbing in his right arm disappeared and he opened both of his eyes, fully.
"Cort's not dead?" Noa asked, hope in her voice. "He didn't die at the fortress?"
"Cort died ten years ago, Noa," Alchemist said, his words faint as he turned to look up at the Genesis Tree. "What you've seen is the Rogue's will, puppeting Cort's body to fulfill its monstrous desires."
Vahn, Noa and Gala all made their way to their feet. The blue-haired warrior looked to the armored figure, the man that had trounced them, then turned his gaze up to the Genesis Tree.
Alchemist, confusing as he was, had been right. If Vahn would seek vengeance for his village, for his family, he couldn't reject the opportunity to grow stronger. He couldn't let the Juggernaut grow, couldn't let it consume the rest of the world.
As one, Vahn, Noa and Gala held their Ra-Seru up towards the Mother Genesis Tree and prayed. A gentle warmth filled Vahn's soul, the power of Meta was a comfort against the hurt and fear that haunted his nightmares.
Light grew around the trio, brighter and brighter before it coalesced into something nearly solid and flew from them and to the trunk of the giant tree that hovered above them.
The tree itself glowed with internal light and its branches grew, new leaves forming into a thick, brilliant canopy as holy light filled the Seru-Kai...
And Vahn felt Meta grow stronger in response. He felt... something more than just strength. He felt something that was almost like a spell, like the echo of a Seru, but one he knew he...
The one he'd known from the very beginning.
"Now," Alchemist declared as the trio turned to face him once more. Vahn saw that he'd raised Gaza's sword towards them once more, still glowing crimson with whatever wickedness he'd inflicted upon it. "Let's see if you three can do a bit better, this time! En Garde!"
-----
Noa didn't know what the old man meant by yelling at her to be 'On guard!' but she understood his stance just fine.
She ripped forward like a gale-force wind, her arms practically dangling behind herself as she ran to cross the distance. Alchemist shifted as she approached but, where he'd been moving as fast as them before, now he seemed to be moving at half speed.
He was in the process of putting up his guard when she unleashed a flurry of blows at his mid-section, just underneath the red rock on his chest, punching and kicking him with the fury of a Tempest Break!
He slid back across the strange, glowing ground they stood on and Noa noticed as his grip on Gaza's sword tightened. The man took a step forward, his body twisting into a swing when Vahn came in after her.
Her first human friend didn't try to match blades with Alchemist this time. He lashed out with Meta instead, slamming her crimson bulk against the Astral Sword and knocking it aside as Vahn twisted and jumped into the air to land a series of spinning kicks against Alchemist's head!
"Better!" Alchemist's words rang out like a bell. "Much better!"
The man, practically unfazed by Vahn's assault, twisted and punched the blue haired boy with his free hand. The single blow knocked Vahn back and Noa realized that, just like Gaza, Alchemist had been holding back. The man pulled his sword back, the crimson glow around the purple metal turning it almost black, and swung-
"Ozma!" Gala shouted, his magic filling the strange air of the Seru-Kai with an electric potency. At the monk's command, a wall of blue stones shot up in front of Vahn, absorbing Alchemist's crushing blow with barely a chip.
Once the Seru was fully summoned, the rocks started rising up like a curtain, revealing a massive blue torso and a pair of three-fingered claws attach to thick, heavy arms, all supported on a thick, tree-like stalk. The Ra-Seru's true form reached out to grab Alchemist and a trio of spikes erupted from each giant pauldron on its shoulders, blue electricity sparking between them.
"Voltagor..." Ozma spoke, out loud, for the very first time that Noa had ever heard as she backed away. The air smelled like a thunderstorm and lightning danced around the massive summon, ripping through Alchemist who... laughed.
The armored man ripped one arm free and pointed it at Ozma's comparatively tiny head, his index and middle finger outstretched, and responded with the words "Chaos Drive!"
Purple lightning ripped down from the heavens in a thick sheet, scrambling across the platform they stood upon. The Ra-Seru heroes barely avoided being struck, even with their improved speed, but the lightning swiftly covered Alchemist and Ozma.
For a moment, blue electricity battled against purple lightning and Noa expected Ozma to win. It was his element, his specialty!
"...That shouldn't be possible!" Terra whispered in terrified awe, however, as Ozma... froze. As the giant Ra-Seru locked up and froze, releasing Alchemist from it's numb, paralyzed fingers.
The mage dropped to his feet and, for the first time, placed both of his hands on Gaza's horrific blade. The weapon, forged from the flesh of dead Seru, was swung with enough force and speed that it left behind a crimson trail as it carved through Ozma, dispelling the Ra-Seru's physical form!
"Call upon us!" both Terra and Meta demanded. Noa turned and locked eyes with Vahn while Gala reeled in shock, cradling Ozma against his chest. The two heroes nodded, their faces locked in serious scowls.
"You won't win like this!" Alchemist shouted at them as Vahn and Noa raised their hands in the air, their Ra-Seru shining with internal light. "Humans working -with- Ra-Seru are powerful but the distinction between power and flexibility remains!"
"What?" Gala demanded. "What are you trying to say?"
Whatever Alchemist intended to impart upon them was interrupted as two new forms entered the battlefield.
Meta, a massive torso wearing thick, heavy armor and suspended upon a perpetual explosion of flame. There was nothing feminine about her form, just pure, heavy defense and offense with the absolutely massive long-sword in her right hand.
Terra, a thin and lithe figure of green and purple stone that was decidedly feminine. Her arms terminated in fairy-like insect wings rather than hands, and she had another pair upon her back.
"We stand within the Noaru Valley," Alchemist explained, not quite heedless of the danger presented by two manifestations of the elemental demi-gods. "Shaded under the boughs of the Mother Genesis Tree. This place is where the power of the gods was manifested into Life. This place is where the dead pass through to reach whatever rewards or punishments await them. Can you not hear them? Can you not feel them? Open your eyes, open your minds, open your hearts! Think, see and feel!"
Noa wasn't sure she understood what he meant. And both Terra and Meta were too busy to try and explain it...
Terra initiated her actions first. Waving one wing towards Alchemist, a twister formed and swiftly grew as it closed in on him. Waving her other arm, a second twister followed the first-
"Hellwind!" Alchemist declared, pointing towards the green Ra-Seru. Noa watched as his magic struggled to get around the twisters but, when it did, Terra visibly flinched.
It was the same as what had happened with Ozma. The attack didn't seem to cause too much damage, no, but there was something else happening. In this case, that something else was a gray discoloration spreading across Terra's manifested form, even as her twisters hit Alchemist and dragged him up and into the air.
"Queen Twister," echoed around the barren environs, the words whispered by Terra herself as the Ra-Seru folded her thin, lithe body into a twisting mass of blades. She accelerated into Alchemist, slamming into him-
-and shattered, broken bits of gray, Petrified stone littering the floor.
"Ah!" Terra cried on Noa's arm, pain flickering across the connection. "That-!"
Noa pulled Terra against her chest as Alchemist dropped to the ground, landing on his feet and seemingly untouched.
"Well, Meta?" Alchemist asked as he raised Gaza's blade to point up at the crimson Ra-Seru. "Are you ready to join the others?"
"Your affront will not go unpunished," Meta declared as she raised her own blade in response.
Noa watched, confused and hurt but distracted as well.
Think? See? Feel?
Noa knew she wasn't the smartest person in the group. Vahn had his dad to teach him as he grew up and Gala had grown up in a place with a whole lot of books, full of big, confusing words.
But Alchemist's instructions hadn't been full of big, confusing words. Some of them were, when he was explaining things, but what he'd told them to do weren't.
Noa closed her eyes and held the quietly whimpering form of Terra to her chest as Meta brought her sword down-
*Clang!*
-and Alchemist, impossibly, blocked it with Gaza's own.
"Meltdown!" the black-armored figure declared, white-hot fire ripping from his hands to slam into Meta. It seemed ineffectual, at first, but like with the others the effect swiftly became apparent when Meta released a low, keening groan.
Unlike her kin, however, there was more to Meta than just using her raw elemental powers. She was one of the Ra-Seru on the frontlines during the battles between Tieg and Rogue. While rough and simple in comparison to the warriors of Man, she was one of the few that wielded both fury and fire.
So, as Alchemist kept her blade locked with his own, she slammed her left hand, as large as the man's own torso, directly into him. It knocked him back and freed Meta's massive blade, which she brought up for another heavy, overhead chop.
Her blade came down, carving into the ground, but missed as Alchemist... stepped to the side? A maneuver that seemed almost foreign to the Ra-Seru and the heroes wielding them.
The man hopped up, landing on the back of Meta's great blade, and Jumped into the air as he readied Gaza's blade. Meta looked up, the flames in her core dimming-
And Alchemist brought Gaza's blade down, into her face.
Noa did not see that. She hadn't seen any of that, not with her eyes closed as she tried to listen, tried to make sense of... something.
As she listened to the faint, quiet whispers carried on the subtle winds of the Seru-Kai.
"You can do better," Alchemist said, something... sad in his tone. "You must do better! You've touched the hearts and souls of every man, woman and child in Legaia. You! Not Tieg. Not Biron. You!"
Alchemist drove the tip of Gaza's blade into the ground and, even with her eyes closed, Noa could feel the heat of Alchemist's glare upon them.
"Your names are whispered in their prayers. The hearts of the living and the dead are filled with faith in -you-! More than just salvation, you've offered the people of this world -Mercy-!"
Alchemist's words meant... something. They had to have, with the way Terra's pained whimpers went silent. The young girl listened, she paid attention, but... there was something else. Quiet and faint, whispering to her from the tree that loomed over all of them.
The girl opened her eyes, tears welling at the edges as she felt a familiar warmth, one she'd first felt in her dreams and one that had been lost when the giant Seru that had consumed Conkram died and took its prisoners with it.
'...Noa?' a faint, quiet voice whispered. One that Noa didn't so much hear as she felt, deep inside of her heart.
A voice that Noa missed, more than anything else.
"...Mama?"
'Noa!' her mother's voice whispered, resonating deeply through the girl.
"Mama," Noa whispered, tears burning down the sides of her face. "I'm sorry, Mama. I thought- I thought- I thought I could save you! I thought I could save everyone! But you died, and Cort tried to kill us and we killed him and now he's backandpartoftheJuggernautand-"
'Noa...' Queen Minea whispered and Noa felt a cold wind blow against her face, pressing against her tears. 'My brave girl. My wonderful girl. You did everything right. Sometimes, even when we win. We lose. Me, your father, everyone in Conkram, we all love you. We all thank you. We spent ten years in that darkness. Ten years suffering in agony. You freed us. All of us.'
Noa's tears didn't stop as the unseen specter wrapped the girl in a cold embrace. It was comforting, something that Noa knew she'd wanted to feel for years and years, but...
It was also wrong. The girl's skin erupted in goosebumps at the feeling of the living and the dead meeting in a place they shouldn't, in a way that should not have been possible.
'You've helped us. All of us,' Minea continued. 'Now. Let us be the ones to help you...'
Far overhead, the Mother Genesis Tree glowed with a subtle light. Something distant and deep.
Through the Seru-Kai, a cold wind passed, driving the Seru to flee from the environs around the ancient, powerful artifact.
Noa looked up, tears blurring her vision as pink blossoms erupted along the breadth and length of the branches. As power, from the living and the dead, from man instead of god, welled up from the people of Legaia.
Across Legaia, on the tallest mountaintops to the quiet depths of hidden places, the various Genesis Trees, for the first time in all of their creation, bloomed.
Even in a dark, damp and wicked place. Dying, covered in meat and choked in Mist, the Genesis Tree of Rim Elm, hidden within the stomach of the Juggernaut glowed with the light of faith, of belief, sloughing off the flesh that covered it as its branches erupted in life-
And Noa felt something, rigid and absolute, that stood between Terra and herself, Shatter.
-----
Vahn-
Meta-
They looked down at their hands.
The crimson Ra-Seru no longer swallowed Vahn's right arm whole-
Meta was no longer constrained by the limits of her stone-like flesh.
She was him.
He was her.
There was no distinction, any longer. There was no Vahn -or- Meta. They were Vahn -and- Meta. The Ra-Seru was not carried by the young boy. The man he'd become was no longer empowered by the Ra-Seru.
They were... one.
They were... whole.
The gestalt's now-green eyes turned up as Alchemist began to clap.
"Congratulations," the black-clad man said, his tone serious rather than mocking. "The three of you have accomplished, without condemning the world, what both Songi and Cort wished to do."
"...Why?" Gala asked, Ozma's serious tones echoing under his words. "Why would you push us to these extremes? How does it serve your goals?"
"...Do you know why people suffer, why they hurt when they're fused to a Seru in the Mist?" Alchemist asked as he turned his body to look at the Mother Genesis Tree, the pink blossoms drifting along the chill breeze that unsettled the Seru-Kai. "It's unnecessary. It's pointless. What is the goal, the purpose in torturing prisoners?"
Vahn and Meta watched, their eyes narrowed as Alchemist buried the tip of Gaza's Astral Sword in the phantasmal platform they stood on.
"It was the Rogue's own agony," Alchemist continued, his arms crossing across his belly. "Tieg took the traitor's flesh and twisted it, warped it into a prison to contain the Rogue's mind. They suffered, for centuries, and they inflicted that same pain on everything they came in contact with."
"They deserved it," Vahn whispered, Meta's words carrying through the oppressive silence.
"Perhaps," Alchemist said, disagreement in his tone. "But what is right and what is deserved are not the same thing. The Rogue's suffering was a monument to Tieg's will. Killing the Rogue, as you three proved, was not some insurmountable affair. Had Tieg the mercy to simply kill the Rogue after its rebellion was quashed... None of this would have happened."
"You think Tieg was wrong?" Noa asked, voicing Terra's curiosity.
Neither Vahn nor Meta were quite sure what to make of the man's statement. It wasn't wrong, exactly, but...
Who was he to question Tieg? Who were they to listen to such heresy?
And yet, and yet, the gestalt beings fervor was tempered. Pain, suffering and horror had dulled the faith, warped it with cynicism and the youthful need to question authority.
"If Songi hadn't been stopped? The Mother Genesis Tree would have died. And, with it, the Seru-Kai. And..." Alchemist waved one hand up, towards the blossoming tree. "All of the Seru that call this place home. All of the Seru that yet reside on Earth. Including the Ra-Seru. Including Tieg himself."
There was a long, long silence as the trio of newborn gods considered the horrors they'd just heard.
The death of an entire realm...
The genocide of half of creation...
Including the god that had created everything...
"...Mercy is the banner of the righteous," Alchemist said, finally breaking the silence. "But it can only be offered by those strong enough to carry it. You three will defeat Cort, now. And you can finally bring peace to the madness that's consumed his mind."
"Why us, though?" Noa and Terra asked, her hands clutched together in front of her chest. "Why does it have to be us?"
"Because my hands are tied in dealing with him," Alchemist admitted as he began to walk towards the edge of the platform. "But you three have the strength, have the freedom to do what you need to do, now."
The man turned around at the edge of the platform and held his arms out wide-
Then fell backwards!
The three heroes ran to the edge, concern, confusion and fear warring for dominance-
Before they heard a roar. An ear-splitting screech that haunted each of their nightmares!
A blast of air knocked the trio on their backs as a black mass, full of stars, ripped up and into the air. Vahn and Meta looked up, fear filling their hearts as a massive beast coiled about the sky above the Mother Genesis Tree. Four baleful, yellow eyes glared down at them as the massive Sim-Seru tilted its head down to reveal Alchemist, standing between the horns of the giant, impossible Juggernaut.
Vahn and Meta were frozen in fear as they looked up, up and up to the mountain-sized beast that hovered in the air like some kind of impossible Gola Gola.
"Juggernaut!" Gala and Ozma roared as they got to their feet. "How many had to die to make your abomination?! How many did you sacrifice?!"
"Just me," Alchemist said as light began to fill the creature's maw. "Leventhan was made of my flesh, my blood. Not a drop of Mist, not a drop of innocent blood. Now-! Eternal Eclipse!"
Vahn and Meta crossed their arms in front of themselves as the light turned blinding, as the Juggernaut- Leventhan? opened its mouth and screeched even louder!
...And nothing happened.
The gestalt opened their eyes and looked over their arms, to the closed mouth of the Sim-Seru hovering in the air. At the almost visibly amused Alchemist standing atop the creature.
"Just kidding~," the armored figure said, his tone playful as he snapped his fingers-
And the trio of heroes dropped through the ground! Falling through a portal that -hadn't- been made by Tieg.
They landed on the hard, rocky ground before a Genesis Tree.
As Vahn and Meta, Gala and Ozma and Noa and Terra began to stand up, to get their bearings, another portal opened and Gaza's Astral Sword dropped through, now lacking the crimson taint that Alchemist had cast upon it.
"...Where are we?" Gala and Ozma asked as they looked around at the, for Vahn and Meta, familiar scenery.
"Oh! I know! I know!" Noa and Terra cried as Vahn and Meta, with one hand, easily picked up the large, heavy blade. The girls pointed down to the south, to a barely-visible wall set into the mountains next to a river. "We're on Mt.Rikuroa! And down there is the Drake Kingdom!"
Vahn and Meta closed their eyes and inhaled slowly through their nose.
They'd been placed close to home, it seemed.
It was time to finish this. Cort would be brought to justice. One way... or another.
-----
In the air, far overhead, Alchemist appeared through a rift carved into Legaia from the Seru-Kai.
He hadn't spent long there after sending the Ra-Seru Heroes away. Just checking on the infant Yggdrasil sapling. He'd wrapped the little green bud in one of the duplicated ebony rings enchanted with Regeneration and Sustenance before putting the Shrink Collar back on Leventhan and leaving.
He'd reappeared in the plains surrounding the Mist Generator's ruins. The area, heavily suffused with extra-planar magic from his use of Gate to send the Seru back to the Seru-Kai, was now a literal weak spot in reality akin to that found around the Temple of Tieg, Uru Mais.
Which... Alchemist hoped wouldn't cause too many issues. But, while it wasn't a requirement for him to have sent each Seru off individually, it was absolutely imperative that they all be sent back to the Seru-Kai.
The world of Legaia may have been reeling from a decade spent rotting but Alchemist fully expected that, in a few short years, some settlements would see each other prospering and envy would swiftly begin to grow.
And, following that, war would return to Legaia.
He didn't get rid of every single Seru on the planet. He had neither the time nor the information needed to pull that off. Nor did he have any sort of inclination to do so, truth be told. But the Seru that had been inside of Cort's Juggernaut were immensely powerful, each and every one of them likely comparable to some of the early bosses that the Ra-Seru Heroes had fought in their journeys.
That was also a significant part of why he'd dealt with the scientists in Ratayu. Casting Feeblemind on them, reducing them into near-vegetables that couldn't form a complex thought between them was a bit on the nose but, Alchemist swore to whatever gods would care to listen, they'd misused their intellect to inflict immeasurable suffering on the world.
Their fates, as well as the destruction of the Juggernaut facilities under the palace, would hopefully serve as a warning to Van Saryu.
Alchemist doubted that would work, honestly. Some people were absolutely assured of their own cleverness and no amount of warning or retribution would sway them from their ambitions. Whatever horror or disgust the man may have felt for the current suffering of his people would likely give way to some new plans, plots and designs in the near future.
The Juggernaut facilities, after all, predated the discovery of the Mist in Conkram. The people of the far-northern kingdom had been considering hiring Ratayu to build the beast for them to help them win their war with Sol, the tower-city to the south of Conkram.
The mage crossed his arms from where he watched overhead. In the distance, far beyond the limits of human sight, he could make out the trio of Vahn, Noa and Gala sprinting across the countryside. They were crossing distances in mere minutes that had previously taken them days.
They even skipped right past the Drake palace by means of jumping over the dam next to it.
It was... impressive. And, in its own ways, distressing in how much it limited the time frame.
He'd thought they would stop through the palace. Meet with Vahn's resurrected family. Discover that the Juggernaut's evils had been curtailed.
Not just... for them to skip over everything wholesale.
Had Alchemist any lips, he would have pursed them in thought. He'd expected the heroes to take more time, he'd expected more opportunities to do a few more tasks of his own.
Well. Nothing to do but to just buckle down and do it.
With little more than a thought and a flex of his magic, Alchemist cast Bilocation and a second instance of himself formed in the air. Without so much as a nod to each other, both halves split off to accomplish their own tasks.
One Alchemist teleported to the burgeoning fields that the Drake kingdom had set up to begin casting Plant Growth, multiplying the yields of the fields.
The other re-appeared before the door of his demi-plane and simply picked the object up, stowing it in his inventory.
That one literally heard birds squawking in fright and trees snapping. The armored figure turned around and locked eyes with Vahn as the hero ripped and roared his way through the forest around where Rim Elm once stood.
...Alchemist was left wondering if he might have succeeded a bit more than he'd intended. It should have taken the heroes hours to get to where he was, not mere minutes.
Honestly, he didn't know if he'd have enough time to accomplish anything else that he had planned!
Alchemist crossed his arms in consternation. He didn't have time to waste on debating his choices, then.
Rather than snapping his fingers, Alchemist simply ceased existing in one location and reformed in the forests north of the Biron Monastery, where the monks hunted and foraged for food. His other half, already in the process of casting, slipped the Metamagic Rod of Rapid Spell to his other hand-
And Alchemist, rather than immediately casting Plant Growth, used Wraith King instead to create almost a dozen replicas of himself, each holding their own, partially spent, rod.
With barely a blink, they disappeared. Teleporting to the various settlements around Legaia to enact the same plan. Alchemist wouldn't get the experience of casting Plant Growth through them, which was... inconvenient, unfortunately, but the people of Legaia would enjoy a few years of strong harvests and, what they couldn't eat, could be buried back under the soil to enrich the lands.
Alchemist shook his head and focused. The Ra-Seru heroes would already be inside the Juggernaut. He didn't have time for woolgathering!
Holding the rod out, Alchemist first cast Charge and began to cast the spell. He twisted and re-worked the shape of it, slightly, with Spellboost: Expand doubling the size of the spell itself along with his other, passive perks and Faith...
Taking the spell from a 'mere' half-mile radius with a one-year duration and expanding it immensely.
The magic welled and surged, the barely-touched soil awoke as the magic sank into it and the trees swayed in an unseen breeze.
For twenty minutes, Alchemist focused on the magic and just the magic. He ignored the monsters nearby, the angry ostriches, the giants, venomous moths, the massive fly-trap-like plants that lingered nervously around him.
They couldn't do anything to him.
And they knew it.
Finally, the spell completed and a wave expanded out from him, visible only to those who could see the unseen but clearly felt as the various monsters and animals darted away from the mage in fright.
Had the mage lungs, he would have breathed deeply in relief. Plant Growth, cast the way he did, should have taken eight hours. That he could cut it down to a mere twenty minutes was nothing short of phenomenal.
If he could find a way to shorten it even further, he desperately...
Alchemist didn't have eyes, not as he possessed the Incorruptus, but if he did he would have been blinking.
He'd... made a Materia that should have helped with that, actually. One of the new ones that the administrator added to the shop not that long ago, he'd used to create a kind of ultimate support Materia for magic.
Hadn't he?
Distracted, Alchemist opened his inventory-
And barely noticed when a new screen appeared in front of his face and his surrounding changed.
