Chapter 7 (Strong World Arc Finale 3/3): Blaze of Glory
Beta'd by Leon89.
Soundtrack: Sword of Promised Victory (Fate / Zero). The casting of the final Blast Bomb was written with this in mind.
---
"Vice Flare!" Amelia cried, pitching forward a fist-sized orb of blue that expanded rapidly as it cut through the air. Green flames rushed forward to meet it and the two forces struggled mightily, unleashing waves of sweltering heat that vaporized the snow cover. Twisted spires of ice and blackened craters in the bedrock told of countless prior clashes.
Amelia took a step back, breathing hard from exertion. They had reached something of an impasse; while her own spellcasting prowess had saved her thus far, the pressure from clown-scientist's constant attacks were keeping her from casting any of her more powerful spells.
"No matter how great your power may be, as long as it never gives up and fights with all its strength, justice will triumph!" Amelia declared. A much needed confidence boost, to try something daring. Repeated exchanges at long range was not the hero's way after all; a true ally of justice ended battles quickly and decisively. Invoking a Visfarank, Amelia covered her fists with solid orbs of white and directed her Raywing forward.
"Piro piro piro! Getting desperate little girl?" Dr. Indigo taunted. He gestured with a hand and the green lights that danced around his figure like Will-o-Wisps were sent hurtling forward.
Amelia swerved through the barrage, the ground a white blur as she raced at her foe. Avoiding one fireball, Amelia found herself faced with another that entered the protective sphere of condensed air. She raised a fist, wrapped in white astral energies and scattered the projectile. The instant of hesitation was all her opponent needed. Dozens of fireballs now spread before her, a veritable wall of flame, for it was all Amelia could do not to be forced back. And with each one she deflected, some of the radiance surrounding her fists bled away. Septic green flames rose up faster than the Raywing could blow them away them, fraying Amelia's clothing and stinging her skin.
"Elmekia Lance!" Amelia cast in desperation, throwing a dagger of white through the fusillade. No mark appeared on Dr. Indigo's skin where it struck, but he stumbled back and his eyes glazed over momentarily. The orbs circling over his head flickered like candles. He gesticulated wildly to fire but the projectile simply quivered in his hand, unmoving. With a frustrated growl he tried again, and this time the fireball detonated with a dull roar. The wave of flame washed over the others, setting them off and engulfing the doctor in a toxic green conflagration. Amelia pumped a fist into the air and cheered.
Dr. Indigo rolled out of the flames, arms flailing, desperately trying to extinguish the flames clinging to his lab coat. Burning fragments drifted from the scientist's hair and his pale skin was marred by burns. His eyes were bloodshot with rage but trembled also with a tinge of fear.
"Hmph, you think you can take care of me?" Dr. Indigo blustered, "And for what? To protect this insignificant little sky island? Who gives a damn if it gets destroyed? I know I wouldn't!"
Curtains of amethyst flames rose up around him, hissing where they touched the ground and setting the air screaming. An omnidirectional burst, a formidable defense that left no point unguarded. Amelia's mind raced as she sought the way to victory until the realization hit her. It was so obvious. Her Elmekia Lance, cast in desperation at the time, had not flown between the fireballs; it had gone through them. As a spell that damaged targets only on the Astral side, it would encounter no resistance from purely physical objects.
"Though you cower behind your walls, no force can protect you from my righteous fury!" Amelia shouted down as she finished her incantation. "Now, feel the hammer of justice!
Rah Tilt!"
A bolt of sky blue flames raced down, piercing soundlessly through Dr. Indigo's barrier. The wall of flame quivered and collapsed, contracting in on itself before erupting outward with wild, unchecked power. Amelia turned her back to the explosion, allowing her face to be thrown into shadow, and struck a dramatic pose.
"This is the fate of all those who stand against justice!" She declared.
---
"A smokescreen is the tactic of an assassin." Zelgadis said slowly. The soft hum of his Raywing spell was drowned out by the buzzing of countless insects, a cacophonous droning static that sent patches of loose snow tumbling down from the peak high above.
"And if that's what you have to resort to in an open battle, then you're already losing."
A sphere of compressed air issued from Zelgadis' outstretched palms, slamming into the wall of insects with a dull roar, throwing up a shower of torn limbs and membranous wings. Despite the damage, the obscuring swarm remained intact, new members filing in to replace those that were lost. Zelgadis scowled; unlike Lina, he prided himself on his efficiency, defeating opponents with the minimum amount of force necessary. He quickly reminded himself that his friends were in danger as well, and that he needed to finish his battle and go to their aid.
"Wind which blows across eternity..." Zelgadis closed his eyes to concentrate, beginning the incantation for Buday Wind, the strongest spell in the air shamanistic school.
When he opened them again, he paused. In response to the first attack, the swarm's behavior had changed; the seething cohesive mass was splitting apart, budding into dozens of subdivisions that drifted across the slopes. Zelgadis' eyes darted to and fro; any of them could be concealing Tomie, and he could no longer catch them all. With a roar of determination he aimed at the largest pocket and unleashed his attack.
The obliterating hurricane summoned by the spell smashed into the mountainside, blasting aside the thick snow, snapping trees like kindling, and flinging boulders through the air like so many grains of sand. A stretch of snow slid down the slope, but it came to a halt before it could build into an avalanche. Zelgadis covered his face against the backblast and peered through his fingers; only a few aimlessly fluttering insects from his target had survived, but Tomie had not been uncovered.
The surface of a distant swarm parted, belching forth a wave of attackers. Winged beetles the size of dogs tore through the air, long curved mandibles gleaming in the dim light of the lava-filled sky. As Zelgadis watched, the swarm concealing Tomie quickly merged with several others, then the conglomerate divided again to keep him guessing. With no choice but to follow the only lead he had, Zelgadis flew in his opponent's general direction and invoked a Dark Mist. Thick black fog filled the air, so dense that Zelgadis could barely see his hands.
The steady hum of the Raywing spell was replaced by a high pitched screech as something broke through its boundary. The intruder slammed into Zelgadis' gut, sending him tumbling. He looked down to see one of the beetles perched on his midsection, clicking its mandibles, then plunging them into his skin.
A white-hot current of pain coursed through Zelgadis' nerves as twin daggers pierced his abdomen, tearing out chunks of gravel-like flesh to be flung away by the beetle's scrabbling legs. Zelgadis drew his sword and swung it across the beetle's back; his eyes went wide as the blade glanced off the creature's smooth, black carapace. Cursing in frustration, Zelgadis jammed the blade's tip into the gap between the beetle's head and thorax. This seemed to have an effect; the creature's vice-like jaws loosened, though only a bit.
A second beetle appeared from the fog, its wings a blur of motion. It settled onto Zelgadis' right arm and tore at it in a frenzy. A streak of pain lanced into Zelgadis' back as a third began its attack there. The metallic taste of blood flowed over Zelgadis' tongue and a trickle of it leaked from the corner of his mouth. Another beetle latched onto his leg. And another. Zelgadis spiraled into the snow, crying out in pain, hands flailing desperately at his assailants. If he didn't think of something, anything to get these terrors off, then he was going to die here. An image of Amelia flashed into Zelgadis' thoughts. If he didn't defeat Tomie here, she would surely be killed next. Zelgadis swallowed his hesitation.
"Digger Volt!" Zelgadis cried, touching the tip of his sword to his chest. A stuttering groan escaped from his lips as seething arcs of lightning coursed through his weapon and tore into his body. His fingers convulsed, his cape caught fire and blood leaked from his eyes and nose as capillaries were heated to a boil. The remaining droplets of sludge slathered over Zelgadis by Tomie's first attack boiled and withered to ash. At last, the beetles fell away, their legs still twitching from the residual charge.
Zelgadis slammed into the ground, then climbed unsteadily to his feet, pressing a palm to the throbbing wound on his midsection. A warm white glow suffused his hand and the burning pain faded to a dull ache. Granite-like flesh flowed into the gap and a new layer of pebbly blue skin covered it. Zelgadis fell to one knee; the Recovery spell had drawn heavily from his reserves to facilitate the healing. There was no longer room for extravagance.
The conjured fog began to dissipate, a black curtain pulling away to reveal a familiar scene. Looking down, Zelgadis realized he was standing knee-deep in loose snow, the remnants of the snowslide triggered by his attack. Yes, something like that would work.
Zelgadis raised his hands, forming his fingers into an approximation of a protractor. He nodded to himself as he noted the thick slabs of slow hanging precariously from the summit. A few vibrating blasts at the right spots-
Zelgadis' head snapped back down as Tomie launched her next attack. Spherical masses of webbing flew through the air, several landing near him. On impact, each globule unraveled, releasing a swarm of spiders, a living black carpet of skittering legs and wicked fangs. Zelgadis grimaced. If he took to the air, the appraisals he had already done would be erased. No, he would bear it and place all his faith in the plan.
To his surprise, the spiders ignored Zelgadis utterly, crawling around and even over him, still searching for their quarry. Zelgadis wisely remained motionless, and he smiled inwardly. The insects had been able to attack him unerringly even when blinded; it must have been scent, the scent of the substance deposited by Tomie's initial attack, that had lead them to him. A small measure of gratitude for Rezo welled up within Zelgadis as well, followed by a silent condemnation. To these insects that relied on smell, without any external factors to aid them, Zelgadis may as well have been a stone.
The final calculations settled into Zelgadis' mind; the angles of attack, the amount of power necessary, and the probable paths that would result. There was enough snow to cover most of the mountainside and sweep through every one of Tomie's swarms. The swarms were relatively slow moving, so if Tomie jumped to avoid the danger she would expose herself to attack.
"Damu Brass!" Spheres of red flew up the mountain, impacting at a dozen points near the peak. Zelgadis watched with bated breath as the summit seemed to shudder, slabs of snow coming loose with a low rumble and flowing down the slopes, growing into thundering walls of white as they gathered more and more substrate. Traveling down at such a steep incline, an avalanche could achieve velocities of over two hundred miles per hour. Ensconced within her living cloud, Tomie could neither see nor hear it coming.
Suspended safely in the air, Zelgadis watched intently for motion as each mass of snow came to a halt at the base of the mountain. A hand broke through the surface and struggled to gain purchase. Zelgadis moved to intercept, striking at the snow with a barrage of fiery spears.
Zelgadis smiled as the flames dissipated, revealing the pirate, paralyzed and helpless within a small pool of meltwater. The snow was not tightly packed; water was leaking out through gaps in the 'bowl', leaving Zelgadis without enough time to cast a Rah Tilt. He drew his revolvers, still clad in the red glow of the Astral Vine. The cracks of gunfire echoed between the peaks.
---
Milina leaned forward on the branch she was resting on and pressed a softly glowing hand to a deep puncture wound on Pierre's hind leg. She closed her eyes and concentrated, shutting out all outside stimuli. Gan Fall held his breath as the entry hole began to contract, relaxing when the penetrator, a round metal pellet, was forced out before the wound closed fully. Milina caught the projectile before it could fall to the ground and rolled it between her fingers.
Pierre gave an enthusiastic shriek, accompanied by a grateful nod from Gan Fall as the two leapt off the tree branch that they were perched upon. Milina peered through the leaves as the awkward pegasus spread his wings and flew back toward the battle. It must have seemed to the pirates that their foes were immortal.
"Not one step back!" A pirate captain howled over the din of combat. "Fight together and push forward to the Golden City!"
A blur of motion descended from the trees, slamming into the captain's chest and sending him flying. His panicked subordinates waved their guns and fired wildly, but the few shots that were on target were deflected by the assailant's upraised shield. Darting behind trees only to appear from another unexpected direction, stopping just long enough to give the pirates but a glimpse, the 'Berserker of Shandia' fought like a stalking predator, hounding and corralling his prey before rending them all to shreds.
"I don't even need my gun to take your heads." Wiper growled. He sucked in a last lungful of pungent tobacco smoke and allowed the cigarillo to drop from his lips. The glowing tip hissed as it landed in a puddle of blood.
The Shandian warriors followed their leader and surged forward. Dial-based weapons shattered the ground and belched flames into the invader's lines but the pirates gave no ground, forcing the onrushing Shandians to break like waves upon rocks. On the shores of the bay behind them, over a dozen pirate ships were anchored, the spearpoint of the invasion and the salvation of the invaders. Even in the midst of battle, the pirates feared certain death more than probable death.
A rumbling noise echoed through the trees, heralding the arrival of yet another one of Shiki's beasts. Both sides drew back and hid for the moment, for the monsters held no allegiances.
A great cheer went up from the pirate lines as the creature revealed itself to be a red-furred gorilla, dressed in a pink suit tailored to fit its inhuman proportions. The defenders exchanged confused glances but Milina gave a knowing frown; Scarlet was different from the others and somehow seemed to hold a high position on Shiki's crew.
"Be careful!" Milina warned, leaping from her perch and landing among the Shandians, "That's a member of Shiki's crew."
Raising one massive paw, Scarlet pointed in Milina's direction and uttered a series of grunts. The pirates seemed to understand, or at least the meaning was simple enough; they charged with weapons drawn and guns firing. Scarlet himself lead from the front, barreling through trees and tossing boulders aside. Within seconds the ape was nearly upon them.
"If you get desperate in battle, that's when you lose." Wiper scoffed, his face taking on a slightly crazed look. He raised his cannon to shoulder level and with a crack of thunder, a cannonball tore through the air straight at the great ape's face. Milina covered her eyes against the flash and followed the retreating Shandians as they retreated to the edge of the expanding dust cloud.
Rapid, heavy footfalls erased the smile from Wiper's face, giving but an instant of warning before a massive arm shot out of the smoke and batted him away. Milina opened her mouth to cast but a second mighty paw reached out and wrapped itself around her, pinning her hands to her torso. Scarlet leapt upward and the ground pulled back, the world a vertical blur as the ape raced through the canopy with its prisoner.
An explosion of debris was visible from atop the trees where the serpent Nola had intercepted a monster that approached too closely to the Golden City. Scarlet glanced at it for a moment before turning back to Milina. Though the ape's thick jaw was bloodied and one fang was chipped by the blast, it grinned delightedly, puckered its lips and pulled Milina close for a kiss.
---
"Wow..." Gourry said slowly, "This is the first time I've seen a manmoth."
Luke groaned and covered his face with a hand. Though Dozle said nothing, the ground trembled as he turned to face the blonde swordsman, his thick trunk rubbing a shallow cut on his faceplate.
Gourry lunged, sword flashing a silver arc in the dim light. Dozle responded with a wave of threads, their tips compacted into spearpoints, and Gourry hewed at them, each strike swifter than the last.
Luke strafed to the side, placing Dozle between himself and Gourry, and with a roar of
"Bram Gash", he flung a dozen invisible blades of wind at the hulking pirate's back. Animated hairs condensed into dense, twisting cables that flawlessly intercepted every missile and dispersed them with muted booms. Two that had been intentionally thrown high to cut off Dozle's escape were utterly ignored.
"What the-" Luke mumbled in dismay.
Ahead, Gourry's assault had come to a halt, and he was just barely holding his ground against endless waves of strands. A cut stained his cheek and dozens more marred his clothes and limbs. Seeing an opportunity, Dozle swung his trunk at Gourry's side with stunning speed, aiming for a lethal strike with the serrated blade in its grasp.
With Dozle's tendrils positioned to cut off easy escape, Gourry had no choice but to brace himself, stabbing his sword into the dirt. Even so, the impact sent him skidding along the ground, cutting a groove where his blade dug in. The corners of Dozle's mouth curled up in a vicious grin as Gourry's weapon was caught between the serrations, allowing one of the blade's teeth to bite into his side.
"I've got you!" Dozle roared. Taking a step back, Dozle retracted his trunk, the serrations of his weapon catching Gourry's sword and wrenching it from his hands. A grunt escaped Gourry's lips as each tooth ripped into his side in rapid succession, tearing away with bloody strips of flesh dangling from their tips. The blonde swordsman hit the dirt, rolled away, and stumbled to his feet, one hand clutching his bleeding wound. It didn't look immediately fatal, but they couldn't afford to let this battle drag on. Gourry's sword clattered to the ground, well within the reach of Dozle's waiting tendrils.
Luke pulled his own sword from its scabbard and eyed his weaponless ally. Though Dozle had turned now to face Luke, every twitch or step Gourry took toward his dropped weapon provoked a response, forcing him back every time. Luke briefly considered throwing his weapon to Gourry, but extinguished the thought as he remembered how easily Dozle had intercepted his spell.
"Ruby Eye Blade!" Luke called, releasing his stored trump card. A torrent of energy exploded from his blade, a blood red sun casting all into shadow. Then, the nimbus collapsed, compressing into a crimson aura molded tightly around his sword. Lina wasn't the only one who could draw power from Ruby Eye Shabranigdo.
Dozle's raised his weapons protectively, somehow knowing he couldn't afford to be hit. The ground rumbled as his countless threads gathered into a massive conglomeration, an avalanche of brown that swept down upon Luke as he charged.
A single swing parted the wave, disintegrating every thread within a ten foot radius, buying Luke a step forward before Dozle attacked again with renewed force. Like the lone mariner, cutting through the storm, Luke advanced violently, relentlessly. As long as he held Ruby Eye's power within his grasp, no thread could touch him, and Dozle's rate of regeneration was slowing as he tired.
Beneath his metal faceplate, Dozle's eyes harbored a glimmer of fear for the first time since the battle had begun. With one arm, he swung a cleaver from the side, its blade aimed to split apart Luke's head. It was sliced apart, the two halves melting into formless piles of slag. With his second blade he made an overhead attack; this too was brushed aside, and at last, Luke stood before his foe. He leapt into the air, sword at the ready, eyes painted on Dozle's remaining weapon; the serrated cleaver that had wounded Gourry during their previous clash.
Dozle tilted his head and veins bulged on his massive forehead. Then, from the corner of his eye, Luke saw the pirate's left tusk extend, its tip shooting out on a trajectory that would have it punch through his chest.
Luke's eyes widened in surprise and he jerked aside reflexively. Instead of spearing him through the ribs the tusk stabbed into his arm and sent him spinning through the air. Panic pulsed through Luke's mind as his sword slipped from his grasp, and the crimson aura around its blade evaporated. Luke hit the ground and the shadow of Dozle's blade fell over his body.
A rumbling cry of pain entered Luke's ears, jolting him back into awareness. He scrambled away and glanced back over his shoulder, noticing that pirate had turned away. A long red line now marred Dozle's back, though it was still relatively shallow compared to his transformed bulk. Gourry stood on the other side, bloodstained sword held in his hands.
"Looks like your prediction thing isn't perfect." Gourry answered Luke's question as he was forming it. "When Luke got close, you got scared and stopped watching what I was doing."
"That was very dangerous." Dozle conceded. "But your trump card is spent." He raised one massive foot and brought it crashing down down upon Luke's sword with a metallic crunch. Luke fought down a wave of dismay at the state of his prized sword as Dozle paused, expecting a reaction.
"So why do you still stand up to us?!" Dozle roared. "What do you think you're gaining by joining and betraying us?!"
The words were spoken to Gourry, who gave no response but to grip his blade more tightly. The pirate turned instead toward Luke.
"We didn't join you because we wanted to!" Luke roared. "Your captain said he would take the fight to the government, that he would take over the world." The words just poured out, carried by a flood of memories that he had thought long forgotten. "But Milina put her life on the line to get me away from that!"
"Now because of me," Luke's shoulders trembled, "because I wanted to look for treasure in the cave at Bezeld, we ended up here and got caught by your captain. He says he cares about his crewmates, but crewmates taken by force are no better than slaves right?!"
"I don't want her to live the life I've had! And now, if I can't beat you, then you'll kill her! So I'll fight. I'll fight until she is safe. I'll fight until I get back what your captain took away!"
With a defiant roar, Luke launched another Bram Gash at Dozle's towering body.
---
Milina swallowed her nerves and kept both eyes on Scarlet's huge slobbery lips as she whispered her spell. Below the canopy, the battle was raging anew; she would have to face her foe alone.
"...let the power hidden in my soul be called forth from the infinite. Garuk Ruhard!" Milina shouted the chaos words loudly enough for ape to hear.
A rippling wave of distortion appeared around Milina, frozen in time for a moment before propagating outward. Though the trees were left unmolested, the effect it had on the gorilla was clear. Scarlet clutched his head in pain and his posture sagged, allowing Milina to pull free of his grasp and take to the air.
A touch of lucidity returned to Scarlet's eyes and he stretched out a hand to recapture his prize. Milina swerved away from the clumsy grab and drifted higher, out of the ape's immediate reach. Scarlet leapt upward in another attempt to recapture his wayward prisoner, and again Milina dodged to the side, this time avoiding him by mere inches. The ape was recovering rapidly from the astral attack and Milina wouldn't have time to fire her trump card.
A instant before Scarlet was due to land, Milina hurled a flurry of icy daggers at the canopy beneath him; unable to change his trajectory, Scarlet was struck at the precise moment of landing, his legs frozen to the branches. His violent attempts to free himself simply tore the branches from their attachments, loosening his footing and giving Milina time to act.
Milina released a Rah Tilt, and a column of silent blue flames erupted around Scarlet. The ape quivered, his eyes rolled back into their sockets, and white foam dripped from the corners of his mouth. He staggered as his muscles slackened, falling back, sinking into the forest canopy. Sharp cracks could be heard as he plummeted through the branches, followed by a final dull thud.
Milina's moment of contentment was pierced by a needle of panic. The Garuk Ruhard that she had used to free herself had a wide area of effect, and her allies were closer. She dropped to the forest floor and rushed to the battlefield.
"It's been over twenty years since I've seen someone do that." Gan Fall mused when he noticed her approaching. Many of the defenders had been rendered unconscious by the spell, while those who resisted, both Gan Fall and Wiper among them, were halting and unsteady in their movements. A number of pirates had been knocked out as well, while the rest could be heard fleeing in the distance.
"What happened to the rest?" Milina gestured aimlessly as she took a seat on a protruding root. Only a few pirates had been caught by her spell, so the numbers should have tilted in their favor.
Gan Fall gave a knowing glance, which was met by Milina's confused expression.
"They fled when you used the power of the conquering king."
---
Even without being able to read the expressions of Dozle's transformed face, Gourry could tell that Luke's words had affected him. The mammoth pirate prediction ability failed and Luke's wind blades bit deep into his face and chest, sending him staggering back with a roar of frustration. Gourry saw the opportunity, so he ignored all the cuts and bruises he had already received and darted in.
Tendrils of hair lashed out to fend him off, but now they lacked the precision, the surety that had suffused their attacks before. Gourry made careful note of the new attack pattern even as he weaved through it; gone was the coordination, the attempts to cut off his predicted avenue of escape and force him to improvise. Leaping away from a spear-tipped thread, Gourry rolled to his feet and connected with a series of slashes, finishing with a downward swing into Dozle's leg that caused him to stumble and fall to one knee.
Gourry raised his sword again but Dozle recovered quickly. He wheeled about in a fury and struck out with sledgehammer fists, pulverizing the ground with every blow. Gourry was forced back by the frenzied assault, narrowly sidestepping a blow that would have shattered his skull.
"Abyss Flare!"
Luke's spell set Dozle's back ablaze with a carpet of crackling flames. Dozle howled in pain and tried to smother the flames but the spell stubbornly refused to be extinguished. Luke pressed the attack, pelting the pirate with a barrage of flare arrows that left blackened pockmarks on his skin. Gourry wrinkled his nose at the acrid smell of burnt hair as he made a leaping charge, and planted his sword up to the hilt into Dozle's gut.
"Not yet." Dozle boomed. A trickle of blood flowed from his mouth, filtering into and staining the fur on his chest. Fur that was erupting outward once again, advancing in a massive brown tide fueled by what must have been the last of Dozle's stamina. Gourry abandoned his sword and vaulted back.
The ground beneath Gourry cracked and split as tendrils of hair slithered out, reaching for his legs. Dozle had generated such a massive wave to conceal the limbs that he had sent underground! Gourry twisted and kicked but it was to no avail; the tendrils seized his legs, pinned them to the ground, and snaked up his torso. Without his sword, he didn't have the strength to pull himself free.
Dozle transferred his remaining cleaver to one hand and drew back to swing, aiming to decapitate his opponent in one blow. The pirates mouth moved, as if to say something, but Gourry heard only the ringing of the blade as it sliced through the air toward his neck.
Damn it-
Gourry gasped as he realized he was lying on his side, freed from his restraints.
Huh? Though Dozle's expression had changed little, his grip on his cleaver loosened, and he staggered one, two steps, and collapsed. And on his back was Luke, a blade of energy held between his hands, thrust directly into Dozle's spine. Dozle did not scream or even cry out as his body was corroded by the malevolent energies; just laid there, staring.
"The one who stands in the end is righteous. Fitting for your final words." Luke uttered at last. He released his grip on the scarlet blade, allowing it to fizzle and fade. He jumped down and strode next to Gourry, favoring one leg as he walked but with a victorious spring in his step.
"Come on, let's go find Milina." He nudged.
Luke trudged past, but Gourry remained behind, looking into the face of his dying opponent. They had fought together, sparred with one another, but there was something deeper there as well. Here was another man who had found a purpose, something to do with his life, something that he would give his life to protect.
Staring into Dozle's eyes, Gourry could see that the violent rage that had filled them at the battle's beginning had burnt out. As the pirate's gaze lost focus, the mask fell from his face, revealing a symbol seared onto the skin of his forehead. A circle with four points arrayed around it, resembling a claw-mark made by some strange beast, forever marking its bearer as less than human.
---
Xellos and Shiki were moving so quickly that Lina could barely see them, a black blur clashing against gold. Xellos flickered in and out of sight, parrying and stabbing with the point of his staff. Dozens of tiny black cones swarmed around him like locusts, seeking weakness during every clash and covering Shiki with tiny cuts from every angle. His killing intent thickened the air into a stifling, choking fog.
Weathering the storm, Shiki launched attacks with all four of his limbs, striking with overwhelming speed and ferocity. Golden air-slashes crowded the space around Xellos, forcing him back again and again. Great boulders orbited the battlefield and whenever Shiki cleared some distance he would fling them inward in twos and threes, trying to crush his opponent between them. Lina's eyes widened as she noted that Xellos wasn't undamaged either; patches of static marred his body, glitches in the fabric of his physical form.
A wind blade struck one of the bubbles of water clinging to the side of an island, separating it from the main volume. With a gesture, Shiki took control of the falling mass, pulling it into eight winding streams, eight serpentine bodies tipped with roaring lion heads. Xellos' jaw dropped in surprise as they coiled around him and compressed into a sphere, leaving him suspended helplessly in the center.
"I don't know what kind of Devil Fruit you're using, but every ability user has the same weakness!" Shiki howled in delight. He directed the water to move Xellos closer to the surface and hurtled forward, sword-legs extended.
"Xellos, just how useless can you get!" Lina cursed. She began the incantation for the Zelas Brid; it took a while to cast, but now that she'd seen Shiki fight seriously, it was the spell that had the best chance of hitting.
With Shiki's blades just inches from his throat, Xellos vanished and reappeared in the open air. He chuckled quietly as Shiki plunged into his own trap, the pirate's face morphing into an expression of shock. Lina beat herself a little on the inside; she had fallen for the act too. The sphere of water lost cohesion as Shiki's powers were neutralized, but enough contact was being maintained as they fell to render the pirate helpless. But it was a long way down to the cloud sea, and the mass would disperse soon enough; even if he did fall in, Lina couldn't be sure that this strange cloud-water would have the same debilitating effect.
Xellos seemed to be thinking the same thing, and warped himself down to Shiki's level. He dismissed his staff and began to build up energy in his hands.
"I can't recall ever mentioning that I was an ability user." Xellos tapped his chin. "Really, what could have given you that idea?'
Xellos unleashed his attack at point blank, midnight missiles detonating in explosions of white. Lina released her own spell, sending the ribbon of energy snaking into the chaos. A stunning amount of blood poured out from the nadir of the blasts.
"Well, I think that tidies up loose ends." Xellos said. He glanced with mild annoyance at the still-orbiting field of boulders around them before his face shifted back to its normal, disarmingly friendly expression.
"Those will make for a great story for the descendants of these people to tell." He nodded. "Anyway, I can take us safely through those." Xellos held out a hand for Lina, the air already warping around him as he prepared to teleport.
"Don't think you're done with me." Shiki's voice growled from within the remnants of the explosion. Lina gasped, but Xellos was unfettered.
"Oh, still alive after all that? I guess I can see why your crew calls you a legendary pirate." Xellos remarked flippantly. He summoned his staff and drifted forward to deal the finishing blow.
One of the orbiting boulders fell inward, and with a dismissive look, Xellos prepared to defend himself against it. As the boulder curved and missed the Mazoku by a wide margin, Lina realized that it was heading straight for her. She summoned a barrier but the impact jarred it, sending her tumbling through the air. Then two boulders fell in, then four, then eight.
Realizing what would happen, Xellos appeared at Lina's side and raised his own barrier, which smoothly repelled the first wave of projectiles. The second wave followed heedlessly and smashed against the inviolable wall. The third wave was so thick as to blot out the surroundings and the tension of maintaining the barrier was beginning to show. By the fourth wave, more glitches had appeared on Xellos' body as he strained against his limits, tears that revealed the emptiness beneath the surface. Shiki was apparently not bound by such limits; his Devil Fruit could suspend huge islands indefinitely in the air, and he could draw substrate from them endlessly.
"How the tables have turned. Quite a bad situation we're in, right Lina?" Xellos smiled, his voice clearly audible despite the pounding of the rocks. Lina recoiled as she watched a crease form over one of his eyes.
"Well? Well?! What do we do!?" Lina practically shrieked into Xellos' ear. "What about the Blast Bomb? It worked last time."
"Oh dear." Xellos held up his hands diplomatically. "I'm afraid if you did that, I may be gravely injured. You must remember that I'm confined to the physical world for the duration of our stay here. You wouldn't want to hurt a good friend like me right?"
Lina snorted. Xellos still wasn't really a friend, but he was protecting her, and would probably be helpful for the foreseeable future. She considered and discarded the idea of trying a Dragon Slave; if she aimed wrong hit a boulder, the resulting blast would definitely finish off Xellos, and it would leave her without enough time to cast again.
"Well..." Xellos began, "if you feel you're up to it, you could try the other variant of the Blast Bomb by modifying the incantation as I taught you. I can adjust my barrier to let your spell through, and then you may be able to push back this assault. What do you say?"
"Well, you know what I like to say." Lina nodded.
"And what would that be?" Xellos inquired curiously, disturbingly nonchalant even as his staff and cape eroded away.
Lina gave no response as she lifted her arms high and called upon the Demon Kings, entreating them to grant her their power once more. Flames gathered around her, condensing into a blinding brilliance that flooded through the gaps between the boulders, a radiance that would not, could not be constrained, transcending fire and becoming like the sun.
On the highest summit of Merveille's central island, Amelia stood with Zelgadis, watching the light that shined through the falling snow, flickering and dancing on the mountain slopes.
On the shores of Upper Yard, Milina's looked up at the unfolding climax, even as she pressed a glowing palm against Gourry's wounds.
On the surface of the water, Wiper lowered his bazooka, rendered utterly silent by the sight of such radiance. Even the fleeing pirates, crowded onto a handful of battered ships, could do naught but stare at the clash between supreme powers.
"In a battle like this, you can do, or you can die!" Lina smiled. She swept her arms outward and the gathering light condensed into countless luminous sparks.
"Blast Bomb!"
In an instant the pinpoints flew outward, expanding into fist-sized orbs of flame as they left the boundary of Xellos' barrier. A pandemonium of explosions devoured Shiki's boulders, burning them to cinders and clearing the line of attack.
"Hey Shiki!" Lina shouted, calling through the smoke and fire, and over the cacophonous blasts that roared around her.
"This is my decision! This... is my justice!"
With a gesture, Lina directed the remaining fireballs forward in their thousands, and wherever they struck, all resistance was swept aside and made as nothing.
---
From within a floating fortress of stone, Shiki sat wordlessly, listening to the explosions thundering against his walls. He thought back to his first defeat, twenty two years ago, by a pirate from East Blue. East Blue, where he had forcibly recruited this gaggle of miscreants, who he himself had made into pirates.
Am I going to be defeated again by a pirate from East Blue?
As all matter in his fortress was annihilated and his vision filled with white, it was all Shiki could do to howl his name.
"
Roger!!"