OOC: Yay for post fusion. The rest will come tomorrow.
"...Are you sure about this? It IS a god after all." Ellianne remarked as she got to her feet, shooting Lazarus a 'I hate you leaving but thanks for coming back you dolt' look. It'd take a while for that wound to heal. Reid hated to admit it, but she had a point. This wasn't a bandit, an apostle, or even a skill. This was a divine being from above. But... what really made a god a god? It stood here before them in it's massive form, but did that mean it was without weakness? What Reid knew was the most important thing here, was that there was no turning back. This thing, god or no, intended harm upon the world they lived it. That was unforgivable. After all the experiences they had together in that world, it was unforgivable. It was easy to say that they were going to defeat it, but Reid knew they just weren't going to say it. They had come far together, they weren't going to lose. One look at Reid's eyes relayed his decision to Ellianne. "So, I guess it's do or die, huh?"
"I hate to say it, but it looks like die is more probably than do." Rod mumbled, pointing at the dark mist which seemed to be spewing from Tylonstus' body. Reid wanted to yell at everyone to cover their mouths, but it was too late. He fell to his knees along with the others after inhaling the poison. It was draining his energy. He could barely keep himself upright, let alone fight. Dammit.
Lazarus sweatdropped at the look he got from Ellianne. Maybe he was asking too much, but he'd certainly not been expecting such a resentful…
"Shut up Rod," Adela snapped, "If nothing else then it's going to be do then die."
"Yeah, gotta be optimistic about these thing-" Levi's sarcastic jab was interrupted when he slapped his hand over his mouth and nose, "Poi-" His knees buckled. Damn not being a thief anymore, otherwise he'd probably have something against gases on his person. He glanced over at Lazarus, who was practically poison-resistant from being poisoned so many times by his own plants. His face looked terribly pallid, as he scanned the floor for what Levi guessed was probably a seed.
Rasch sat down immediately, not being one to fall ungracefully if he could prevent it, while Dieter frantically waved the mist away- of course, to no avail. Rasch watched the futile attempt without saying anything- mostly just sitting in awe at Dieter's sheer lack of problem solving skills. Maybe Rod… Rasch furrowed his brow. What did none of these people register that mist was simply particles of water in the air? Did nobody realize that fire sucked out air- thus effectively removing any poisonous fumes in the air leftover, and that a continuous flame like Fionus would just dry up the water? "Fire, Dieter!" Rasch finally barked out when he was starting to feel woozy. Dieter, who was "lounging" on the floor sat up for a second before making a face of enlightenment.
'Retard.' Rasch thought irritably.
Dieter pounded his fist into the ground, a pillar of swirling flames erupting from his hand as it spread through the mist without much care as to what direction it was headed in.
"HOT!" Levi yelled, ducking and shooting up a gale of wionus to deflect the stray flame that had lilicked at his bandages. (Good thing that side of his face had already been burned anyway.)
The god seemed frightened as the light from the fire shone, it's shadowed head turning to look away from such a bright radiance. "Auricia! Cast Lionus!" Reid barked at the skill, who was quick to shoot a ray of light up near the dragon's face. It let out a horrid shriek as it's foot stomped down onto the ground, creating a heavy tremor that sent Reid to his butt after releasing a barrage of arrows while the god was distracted. Unfortunately, the arrows passed right through the shadowy bulk, Ellianne's bullets having the same result. Okay, so not that promising of a result... Wait, Ophelia was his enemy, right? That meant the Core and faels should be more effective. But... how to use those things as weapons?
"What? Am I not good enough to ask for help?" Mistral murmured from Reid's side. Wait, his side? The boy had to look over again to see his other self, standing in translucent green. "Oi oi, don't look so surprised. This is an ability you gained thanks to your core. This ugly bastard is responsible for the deaths of Rosaline, Sven, Flaire, and countless others, right? Then what are we waiting for? Let's kick it's ass?" He was about to ask her how, when he noticed the god backing off slightly at the sight of Mistral. Was it scared? No... it was motivated. To it, the true enemy had appeared. That belief was affirmed as the sky seemed to open up above them, revealing a clear night sky. Well, you know, clear aside from the huge ray of purple energy falling from above. It struck the entire group swiftly, and Reid, for a short time, fell into darkness.
When the darkness cleared, he was still standing where he had been, and like the rest of the group, he was unphased by the attack. The strangest part was the number of materialized faels. Ellianne's had appeared, along with Ashton's. Were they reacting to the God, or simply to their reila's will to live?
"As expected..." The monster growled, "Ophelia's spawn are as annoying as I expected."
"Yeah? We're annoying?" Jazrelli cackled back at Tylonstus in a new form, long blonde hair, teal rimless shades, and a coffee pinstriped suit. A polished black shoe sat on top of the collapsed Levi's back, a signal of Jazrelli's long awaited dominance over his stupid Reila, "Well I always thought God's were supposed to be high beings of good or something, but you're just a little hypocrite, ain't cha?"
"Don't make things worse." Xaviae scratched the back of his head before looking down at Adela, who stared up at him in surprise. He smiled, giving her a thumbs up, "I can kick as much ass as Jeckt. Don't worry."
Adela blinked, jolting back to reality, "I.. wasn't really thinking that…"
Lazarus sat back, blushing at Hyacinth who had thrown herself onto Lazarus in a tight tackle hug, "What an honor to be able to see you in person, Master! Orcha will be absolutely green with envy!"
"Shouldn't you… be worried about that, Hyacinth…?"
The gothic Lolita plufael blinked, looking over her shoulder but not releasing her grasp on her reila, "… He looks like he might mess up my hat though."
"Yeah, so this is great and all, but now what?" Tsukasa murmured as he rubbed the back of his head. This 'god' didn't seem to be as straightforward with his attacks as he had at the beginning. Did that mean they had actually found a weakness? What really WERE Tylonstus and Ophelia? Did gods actually have weaknesses? But maybe the question deserved to be more along the lines of 'what makes a god a god?'
Mistral sweatdropped. "I thought you were the bright one? Didn't ya notice?" Tsukasa lurched at the thought of being insulted by Reid's - of all people - fael. "The Ophelian Core is a part of me, much like it is a part of Levi and Ashton's faels, which means-"
"It materialized with them." Reid finished his faels sentence. Mistral nodded, and held out her hands, her white sundress dancing wildly in the wind the rain-less storm was creating. A small orb was radiating a white energy in the palm of her hand. Ashton's fael revealed a similar orb in her own hands.
The dragon reacted in a none-too-pleased manner, it's shadowy bulk and spinning clockwise until a vortex seemed to open up before them. "Everything begins and ends with darkness. From the moment you're born, until the moment you die, darkness is always there. Can you really escape it?" The wind seemed to intensify, drawing the surroundings into the vortex. Reid didn't know, nor did he intend to find out, what was on the other end of that thing.
"If it's for the world we care about, the people we care about (he glanced back at Adela at this point) then yes, we'll make sure we escape the darkness." Reid then looked over at Mistral, who dropped her core onto the ground. Ashton's fael did the same, and the orbs seemed to be absorbed by the soil, a great white light appearing beneath the group. It was difficult to describe what happened next, as that rainbow coloured ball of mahstion appeared above the group, but it felt like a part of him had been taken into the light. Mistral faded away as the ball appeared, and he lost her presence. It was the same for the others and their faels, as if the other beings themselves were becoming the lance that would be thrown at the opponent.
Jazrelli took a few steps forward, wind kicking his blonde hair up around his face as he swirled his index finger through the air. "Man without this it'll suck. Good thing I'm gonna get all busted up after this." He turned his finger to point down at the ground, and Jazrelli's core was engulfed by the soil. He spat on the ground, to his left after it disappeared, scratching the back of his head as his appearance began to change. Not in the grotesque way a skill would, but as though an illusion were melting away, and when he spoke his voice was that of a headstrong teenager with an attitude problem. Female, of course. "Man that cameo sucked. I hate being the plufael sometimes. Listen up, y'dolt." She pointed a finger at Levi, who saluted mockingly, watching in awe as Jazrelli turned into a slender, vivid pink haired girl, his, or more accurately, her transformation ability gone with the core. Her clothes were average punk rocker, fishnets on her arms and under her ripped pants, "We're even now, got it? Means I can go out and kill anyone I want next time your body is mine!" Before Levi could deny her permission, she disappeared. (Not to much anyone's dismay.)
Xaviae laughed lightly at Jazrelli's snide comment. He kind of reminded Xaviae of Jeckt. Xaviae's hair turned bright orange as he stood on the side, watching Mistral. He looked down at his feet when she disappeared, unsure of what to do or say anymore. Because he'd failed to do or say anything before she was gone. It was hard to swallow that that would be the last time he'd see her. It was hard to really accept.
Though worry was written over her face, inside, Adela was smiling to herself. He'd looked back. After mentioning people he cared about. It was… sweet.
Levi took a deep breath, watching the lance intently, "Well I'm not good with weapons." He said, looking towards Reid and ignoring Ashton as a possibility entirely. After all, this was Reid's fight.
"Kind of makes you wish you had faels, doesn't it?" Dieter commented to Rasch, also watching the lance. His eyes did not agree with the lack of sunglasses, and his system didn't agree with him taking his cigarette out and crushing it under his foot.
"…Not really." Rasch replied, shaking his head very slightly.
"Escaping the darkness huh?" Levi played with a flash bomb, sending it from one hand to the other, "You know, I think it's more like we're just gonna get rid of the guy who's making the little seed of resentment in people's head sprout, more than actually escaping it entirely. Everyone's gotta have some kind of anger, or something. That's what living means. But you don't go around poking the fire, like you. If you don't poke the fire, you escape, good as that. So yeah. I think we got this escaping business down." Levi nodded as-a-matter-of-factly. Damn he would probably get some kind of divine punishment for being so rude to a God later. Oh well. He'd be getting divine punishment at one point in his life for other things anyway.
Ellianne pondered for a moment as Reid took hold of the spear. "Maybe people aren't meant to escape the darkness. Maybe what has to be done is to accept the darkness for what it is, instead of fighting against it. At least, the darkness in their own hearts. I won't forgive something that killed my friends and a countless number of my people!"
The boy twirled the glowing spear in his left hand as he looked it over. Never had he seen so many colours gathered in one place, not even in a rainbow. In it, he could feel the hopes and wishes of his friends, as well as the presence of the faels. "I don't really know what defines a god. If it involved slaughtering the people who believe in you and striving to take over the world, however, I doubt you'd be a god at all. Before today, if you had asked me if I was happy with my life the way it is, I would have said yes. But after today, after all I've seen and heard, I now know I would be lying to myself. All of the pain and suffering I've endured was not my fault, but rather YOUR fault. I can't say I lived a happy life knowing full well I've been used as a pawn in some bastard god's game. That's why I'm going to live past today, memories or no, and make a better life for myself. Where no bastards like you will ever touch me again!" With that, the spear left the boy's hands, before colliding with the shadowy mass. Unlike the other weapons, however, this one didn't pass through the vortex, but instead lit up on impact, the light evolving to consume the entirety of the strange, underground location, and eventually sending the heroes into darkness.
---
When Ellianne awoke, she found herself laying on the couch of the living room in Melody's house. She glanced around the room, taking note of everyone that was there, asleep. How long had she been out? Why couldn't she sense her faels? Where were Reid and Melody. But then she remembered, Reid was going to have some sort of operation when they got back... was that where he was?
"Tchoooo…" Levi sighed, messing up his hair while he looked up at the ceiling, having been awoken earlier by the strange silence of not having Jazrelli and Devitell bickering left and right in his head. "I kind of don't want to go home after all this…" The very reason in which he'd restrained from kicking everyone awake is because he was starting practice. Practice of being civil, and restraining oneself. And boy was it boring. He tilted his head to the side, cracking his neck and flopping back down onto his couch. Screw sitting upright. He looked over at Ellianne, who seemed to have woken up as well. "Morning sunshi- well." Levi reconsidered his words. For one, 'sunshine' probably wouldn't be accepted to well by rich stiffies. For two, Lazarus seemed like he was about half-concious at this point. "Morning Ellianne." Levi put his hands behind his head, "Y'think we should wake Adela? I mean, maybe she wants to… y'know, say something or two, before Reid kicks his memory?"
"Well…" Lazarus' groggy voice came as his tousled bed head appeared over the edge of the armrest. The eation user propped his head up, using his chin as support as he tried not to fall asleep again, "They're already gone. Maybe we should just…" Lazarus yawned, obviously not a morning person, "Let her get some sleep." Lazarus thought about adding the reason, because he thought she might be a little torn up afterwards. But at the thought, he glued his lips together and glanced at Ellianne, looking somewhere between awake and unsure. Ellianne would be sad, if Reid forgot her. Lazarus took a deep breath before sinking back into the couch, closing his eyes. Forget it, he commanded himself. Getting all heated up about the attention she gave Reid wouldn't help anything. As obviously demonstrated by Violette, when she'd declared that she was leaving.
Adela hid her face in the corner of the couch, having been woken up by Levi's not-so-discreet voice. They were gone already anyway, like Lazarus had said. Which meant that before Reid came back… she had to go. So that she wouldn't have to see Sanako. A Sanako that didn't know who she, or Armon was. A Sanako that wasn't the real Reid. She furrowed her brow, swallowing a lump in her throat. It wasn't fair.
