Arc 4: What families entail
Athens had ended. Because of hate. Of fear. Because of personal history.
Lincoln: "Beauregard, your fathers name, right?"
Lilith: "It's like his strength lives on through him."
When Lilith had Beauregard, Lincoln and her were still fighting in the Demi-human war. It left him alone with maids, left to be taught with nothing else to do. He didn't train, was kept as far away as possible from battle, and stayed with Stern Garly more than anyone. As King, Stern tried to make up for his parents absence by doing the best he could to keep him company. But Beauregard was scared of the large looming Garly, just as much as he was scared of watching the Warriors train. He liked to sit, to read, to watch over Athens in silence. And he was content with that. But as he grew, as the Demi-human war approached its end, two things happened that changed his life forever.
First, the birth of Leo, born on a battlefield. And next was a few weeks after, when Beauregard had been taken by Stern to meet Leo for the first time. They stayed in what was supposed to be a protected town in Walgonia, where even Musashi, Gotsu, and Jasmine stayed to rest. In order to help Lincoln protect a hospitalized Lilith, choking up blood due to her disease after using so much energy giving birth to Leo. But even still, the next night that town was filled with flames. Attacked by Zone Gravestone himself, Moro's father, along with a few thousand soldiers.
Lincoln: "GET BACK!"
Lincoln threw punches that took down entire streets worth of soldiers, Musashi moved so fast he was invisible to the hundreds of Demi-humans he was instantly cutting down, they were all going to push them back without a problem. But they were still inside. The buildings were still burning, the town still crumbling under the power of these gods, and Beauregard was running through it holding his newborn brother. Almost six years old he sprinted, crying, screaming, trying not to be caught in the burning nursery he was surrounded by. Until he saw it. The thing that made him absolutely despise Demi-humans for the rest of his life.
Beauregard: "Oh oh my oh ah aaAHH AHGGHA UGHAHA -
He almost instantly passed out due to fear. As he watched a half dead Demi-human surrounded by dead children, with a crying baby in his teeth. He was absorbing their blood to stay alive, ready to take down Beauregard and Leo in an instant. Covered in hard grey fur, the face of a bull-like wolf, glowing red from the blood bursting into pure mana for healing, and smiling with hundreds of teeth covered in intestines. And he lunged.
Leo: "---
Leo had begun to cry, and unleashed his Mark of providence for the first time. Surrounding them in a burst of lighting that pushed the Demi-human back, just in time for him to vanish into a paste.
Lincoln: "Are you okay?"
Lincoln had already burst through the man before Beauregard could process anything. He was frozen, shaking, hardly able to breathe. And he stayed like that for days, then for weeks, then for years. Leo trained and trained, gained friends and went up ranks, but Beauregard just sat in his room. He went to school from the Tower, he did everything in that tower. A life bleeding away. But almost five years ago, in the dead of night, when Lincoln was out drinking again because of Lilith's death just a few years prior, the darkness that's consuming this country appeared. They were always there, in the alleys, in the towns and forests, like horror stories slowly taking in the broken. But it all happened in an instant; the cloaked Lower Pillar attacked Stern in the top of Athens tower, and killed the sick Stern before he could react.
In just a few seconds Lincoln had burst through the front of the Tower, having jumped almost half-way across the city after sensing Stern's death the second it happened, and he struck the anarchist. It was a woman, with brown skin covered in snake-like scales. A disease of her own, one that would corrode and corrupt your body into a Spirit Beast over the course of six months, permanently kept at bay by her corrupted mana. An OD that constantly and instantly healed her body. She was in her thirties, with long white dreadlocks, smiling fiercely at Lincoln. But Lincoln wasn't angry. He wasn't sad either. He just looked at Stern's lifeless body, his slit throat, and moved. Right through the anarchist, forcing her to regenerate from her body parts.
Hope: "I am a Lower Pillar representing the Sect of Anarchy, Hope, first of the two daughters of Prometheus! I -
And then he broke through her again. Again. Again. He didn't destroy the tower. He only used outside wind pressure to push the Warriors and Elites trying to help away. Leo and Toll were off on a mission with Garly, only Beauregard was there the day to hear the news. But he had seen it himself, from atop Stern's office overlooking the room. As Lincoln broke Hope, shattered her, until he finally had enough. He took her, and vanished. Without saying a single word to anybody. Unknown to everybody else in the world, he went to Mount Yelira. Threw her body into the intense Spirit Lava to erode her body forever, and stayed up there. From the moment Beauregard was born he feared strength, what he didn't have. He feared anything he saw as a monster. The day Leo was born, he never chose to speak to a Demi-human again. Garly and Toll when Leo forced them by him, anybody else because he had too, but he always did it with immense disgust. It wasn't until the Sect took Stern, until his father gave up completely, that he was able to finally do something about his hatred. And yet, through these years, it's all come back to the fire. The hate.
From Beauregard that started this war, from Athens that had this hatred brewing since its creation, from the Sect. And now everybody in Athens, from the thousands of screaming civilians or roaring soldiers, froze in fear like Beauregard did that day. Like Lincoln did. Like any broken person would. And fell to the wave of despair that connected the life of Athens, under the loudest Earthquake they'd ever heard. Like the roar of the Great Dragon, in all its anger.
Beauregard: "LOOOOK ATT WHATT YOUU'VEE DONNE!"
The entire island shook, causing so many of the destroyed buildings across Athens to finally collapse. From the Coliseum City, to Panzer, to Cretan, and especially the Capital. It was deafening, caused so many people to be crushed, it even froze the battle against the pirates. With confusion, fear, and the deep horrible feeling within that they knew what was happening. That they knew their time was up. But all Beauregard could do was scream at a beaten and bloody Leo, and tried to jump over the wreckage in his office to tackle his brother. With the pit inside of Leo's heart, he froze, and was punched across the face by Beauregard. And for the first time, it actually hurt, but that was the last time. Because Leo instantly grabbed Beauregard long lanky arm with his non broken one, and almost crushed his forearm before throwing him in front of the massive and shattered window overlooking the crumbling and collapsing capital.
Beauregard: "IF YOU WOULD HAVE JUST LET US WIN THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED! IF YOU JUST THOUGHT FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE! REALIZED THAT NORMAL PEOPLE LIKE ME ARE SCARED OF MONSTERS LIKE THE DEMI-HUMANS!"
Inside his screams were the sounds of explosions inside of the crying earthquake quakes. Roaring, singing like whales, getting smaller and wider in longer and longer intervals.
Beauregard: "OF YOU! OF OUR FATHER! I JUST WANTED FOR ATHENS TO BE SAFE! I DIDN'T WANT THINGS TO COME TO THIS! I DIDN'T WANT CAESAR OR THE SECT TO WIN!"
Beauregard was screaming, he was red with rage, but most importantly, he was drowning in tears. But Leo had a face similar to Lincoln's when he faced Hope, of complete focus. Of such an intense bloodlust. A sheer hatred. And as he stepped over where Stern's body lay, where Lincoln crushed Hope hundred of times in just a few minutes to break her brain, Beauregard felt more fear from Leo than the screaming earth. The constantly cracking, straining, wobbling Tower of Athens.
Edward {___…—, eh?}
The deafening noises awoke Edward from within the safe he hid in during the explosion of Moro's ship, triggering him and his Warriors Spirit back into overdrive. He smashed the warped and broken safe open, and leapt through the surrounding fire. Onto the large wooden platform made up of the collapsed ship, while the debris floating around lit as a flaming barrier. Edward looked up, toward Mount Yelira, all while he crawled across the battlefield trying to stand.
Calgary: "PAY ATTENTION TO ME DAMMIT!"
On the other hand, Rosemary was struck across the face in her moment of hesitation. Calgary pushed the fourth stage, trying his best to blast Rosemary back through the hall with his intense wind pressure. But Rosemary took the punches, pulled her leg back, and sent out a torrent of her own might. Forcing Calgary to stop mid-rush, and stay open for her to tackle him across the shattered hall. He headbutt her, she let out a quick jab. He kneed her, so she elbowed his head. He attempted to hold her down and throw her, but she grabbed his leg out from under him to flip him instead. Before grabbing hold of his arm and leg, spinning and spinning, before slamming him further into the tower threw the stone, brick, and wooden walls behind them.
Rosemary {He's stronger, he's older, he can use more of the stages than me! But you weren't trained by the top Goldenwinds! You aren't the daughter of the Captain! I just have to use what they beat into me! What Musashi and Gordon drilled into me! What I've been breaking myself for so long to achieve!}
The quakes consuming Athens grew stronger together, denser, hotter. Louder, like lightning strikes about to burst from beneath the earth. Even the air felt sharper, lighter, fainter, as the spirits in the air prepared for what was about to happen.
Rosemary {Use everything I have! I'm smarter than him! I've got more resolve dammit I know I do! I'll fight, I'll fight and I'll win and I don't care what happens to me! Hit me! Try and hurt me again!}
He flipped and rolled through a few halls, wider guest rooms, before rolling into a spare two story meeting room filled with old paintings of Athens, the great Dragon, and various Warrior displays of armor. The chairs and benches were instantly sent away into the walls with their mixing and clashing air pressure, while the large circular desk in the center was shattered by Calgary falling into it. He stood, attempting to spin and circulate a large blast of air pressure, but Rosemary quickly fired flicks of wind from her finger. She used her ring finger three times before it burst with bloody cuts, breaking, and then she just used her pinky for one more. They shot out like bullets, focused streams, blunt punches that hit him all over the front of his body. Pushing against his bright blue stages from the cracked seals on his armor, causing it to flicker gold on and off as he pushed it to resist her attack. But he was carving the stone floor as he blocked, and when she jumped forward, he tried his best to counter with an upper cut.
Rosemary {Like Soku!}
She used that same pinky to flick pressure against the floor, pushing her out of the way and onto the floor to pivot and dash right behind Calgary. Using his trick of gathering a torrent of air by pushing the fourth stage's power in her leg as she twisted and kicked. To keep and always build momentum like Musashi said, to have complete control over your body and the world like Toll and Garly. To kick Calgary in the back, and send him flying into the air. He jumped against it, breaking the wall and walkways behind him. Rosemary, filled with a surge of pain, was stuck and frozen under his speed. Forced to be hit, to be grabbed by the face and slammed through the cracked stone floor, far down into a wide and empty bathhouse. A dark stone barley lit by red crystals to create a cozy feeling, long lost when Beauregard closed it off, as it was made for the Demi-humans. With far larger and longer tubs Beauregard wanted to remove for the space they took up. And it led to Rosemary's fall being a bit longer, giving her the chance to turn and kick off Calgary mid-air. Slamming him down into the tub while she was forced out, and landed on the floor safely.
Rosemary {He's not using the fifth stage yet! Is he waiting for me to break myself!? I'm already over using the fourth stage to keep pushing him back! Maybe I'm not healed enough!? Did I use too much strength in the Capital!? AND WHY IS EVERYTHING SO LOUD!? WHY IS IT ALL SHAKING!? WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING IN THIS CITY!?}
At the bottom of the now broken tub laid Calgary, holding his bandaged arm and whittling Dragon Stone armor. Filled with the same fear Rosemary had for the roars of Athens. The same fear as everyone.
Toll continued to bulldoze through the ocean of Elites and Warriors around Athens tower, unable to stop so many rushing inside, screaming and roaring, unable to feel the shifting world around her. But the soldiers, Red Arrows included, were slowing down. Athens shaking so heavily made them realize the pain they were in, the war they were in. With even more of the Capital falling atop them, cracking and shattering, breaking their opponents to show who they were really fighting, the harder it became to continue. Confusion, fear, fear fear fear, that's all it was becoming. The looming demise that was yelling to the heavens, so loud the ocean began to tremble, that the South West coast of Walgonia felt a bit of worry.
But the man who set it off, he was still smiling. Laughing. Crying at what he had just done. In his hands was the Sects communicator, and when he activated it, the many explosives stolen from the Red Arrows and their own, the many fire magic users ready to give up their life, mixes of elixirs and dark magic. That button pulled the trigger. At the start of this battle, the Red Arrows blew up their own base and cracked the center of the Capital. At the same time the Gravestone Pirates base lit up in flames from another explosion. Again with Moro's ship. And now, one last eruption. Man made, bigger and more destructive than any other so far so deep and spread out under the tunnels of Mount Yelira. The core of Mount Yelira. To activate the biggest explosion possible to top them all off.
Gray {Is this real?}
Gray looked on, at Caesar, at Mount Yelira, listening to the deafening echoes. The overwhelming panic inside the city, the spirits, the rampaging Spirit Beasts forced the Spirit sense out of his mind. He had a face of absolute terror. Of that same, constant, repeating fear. He saw all of his mistakes. He saw everything he had done. The mindbreaking fights and training, all of the broken bones, the crying, to inspirational speeches. It didn't matter. Musashi saving them, Ophelia dying, Al, resisting the Sect on his first day in this world. All of his crying, his losses, his victories, all amounted with this? The idea of being a Hero was lit in flames. The idea of being Gray Kyojin, of doing the impossible no matter what, the idea of his third chance, went into the darkness. It's where he went too. Where he saw his parents, his world, himself.
He was sweating and about to cry and lost to shock and about to vomit and twitching tight over and over sweating so hard his jaw dropped twitching again grinding his teeth letting go biting his lip scratching his arm -
Caesar: "Now what kind of Hero does that?"
Without thinking, without seeing what he was doing, he had pushed out mana. He had taken in Spirit mana. And his Cloak had shot out into four separate, tight segments that wrapped around Caesar's still spread arms. But Gray had already attacked, his hand had already thrown his heart. But Caesar only turned his head around to see Gray's blank, ghost-like face, and sigh. Gray got kicked back right after into the stone railing behind him, and slumped to his feet. Slamming his hands on the floor, before hitting his head, screaming out, and drug Caesar through the air with his Cloak to slam him against and throw that same railing. Then around again back through the railing again, through another, and then reeled him into his grasp. All so Gray could hold him by the throat against the shattered stone, screaming out with all of his drowning rage.
Gray: "WHHHHHHHHHYYYY!??? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS WHY!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU WHO ARE YOU!? WHY ARE YOU ALL LIKE THIS WHY ARE YOU ALL FUCKING MONSTERS! WHY GOD DAMMIT ANSWER ME! WHAT WOULD MAKE SOMEBODY DO THIS WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS WHHHY!? CAESAR! UUUGH I DON'T! WHY I! UAH! PLEASE JUST! JUST! NOOOOOO!"
In Gray's actions Caesar had lost his heart, broken his shoulder, a few ribs and his arm, then his neck and spine, then his other arm and right hip, before his skull smashed in on that last railing. But it had all stretched, wiggled, sunk back together. It was steaming as it healed almost instantly, leaving Caesar melting in pain. But he smiled, unable to feel it at all. He just laughed into his rushing tears, forced to get his windpipe broken and broken under Gray's constant and hardening grip over his throat. He couldn't breathe, he was in a daze and shouting passed out due to the lack of blood flow or oxygen, and yet his body kept him alive. Kept him awake. Leaving his eyes red, his soul and psyche crying, while Caesar bashed his skull against Gray's thick flow of leaking mana.
Caesar: "Athens was corrupted since the first Valentine died! And even a few years ago it was drowning in crime! You see my skin tone, you hear my voice! Do you know how hard it was to get a job in Athens under Beauregard!? The Sect reached their hand endlessly to me like we do to you know! I understand it's scary! But look at what I'm doing! A massive end! Quick! Restarting to make a better -
Gray couldn't let Caesar finish before hitting Caesar so hard against his face that his jaw tore with his first, opening Caesar for Gray to cut his throat open with his wrist talon, and then force Caesar against the stone floor by smashing both his legs down and inside of his chest. Caesar was physically weaker than the average guy, just like Gray was, but with Gray's incredible and growing might Caesar was nothing but paper. And yet his jaw grew and snapped back into place perfectly, keeping the scars over his mouth and all. His throat closed as Gray cut it. And Gray's legs were forced out of his stomach, but it only let Gray get the footing to throw him up into the air.
Gray: "YOU'RE JUST A PSYCHO PATH LIKE ALL THE OTHERS! A DAMN FREAK!"
With the Cloak around Caesar's arms, Gray snapped him down. Soaring through the sky so smash into a puddle on the stone. And he picked himself back up and together, piece by piece, like he was reversing and regrowing at the same time. Before he stood up a few moments later back inside of his clothes.
Gray: "I KEEP TRYING TO SAVE EVERYBODY JUST LIKE YOU SAY YOU DO! BUT YOU'VE KILLED THEM ALL! YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL EVERYONE AND I WON'T LET YOU! I DON'T CARE WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO STOP YOU! GIVE UP JUST QUIT! YOU WON'T WIN I WON'T LET YOU I WON'T!"
Gray sounded like he was losing his mind. And, truthfully, he kinda was. He was resisting, screaming, crying, bleeding. And yet he didn't feel pain, he wasn't thinking about his mana. And the Cloak was growing, taking the spirit mana he was slowly absorbing to get thicker. With its presence, the spirit mana that usually turned his corrupted purple mana blue, turned into a brighter purple. Even Azalea, sleeping soundly within their OD opened her eyes, as she felt the Cloak truly breathe. As she felt Gray's soul lighting on fire even brighter than the Cloaks current power. It was empowered by him, it was helping him, he was so much more angry and sad and explosive than it could ever make him right now. However, it latched around his arms, it began to break and wiggle with tendrils under his screams and flashes of mana. It even snatched his match back onto his face to hide his tears, and block out what was really happening in this world.
Caesar: "YOU CAN'T STOP WHAT I'VE DONE! WHAT I AM! JUST TAKE MY HAND INSTEAD OF BREAKIN IT! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BROTHERS! HEROES TOGETHER! LET ME SHOW YOU THE WAY BEFORE YOU HAVE TO DIE!"
Gray went to step forward, and yet Mount Yelira let out such a loud screech he had to freeze. All around Athens more than half of the Spartans had dawned Sect like robes and masks, some torn or without all of the components, but still they had turned. Yet the Gravestone Pirates, the Red Arrows, even Leo and Beauregard were silenced. The constant winding earthquake finally reached its peak. The maze of tunnels deep under Mount Yelira Edward ran through filled with Spirit Beasts and ore, the many deeper tunnels and mining tunnels, the torn open and stolen earth collapsed in on itself. As oceans of magma rushed through. Violently, blasting, and emerging. From the sides of the great mountain were enormous streams of lava, cracking down through the entire mountain and around the thick forests. Everybody in Athens froze under ordinary fear. From a child running to catch up with his frozen family or the World's Strongest man, they felt the death of it all. Of themselves, of their home, the war. The Red Arrows and Warriors, even the Anarchists couldn't fight under the weight of reality.
And before the covered top of Mount Yelira blew off into the black sky, the centuries of built up spirit mana inside came through. Athens had used Valor to hold back Mount Yelira, and even if Bearguard tried to check up on it Caesar had stopped it. When he met Bearguard that day it was already set in stone. The Sect had the perfect tool to end this country alongside Walgonia. As Mount Yelira wasn't a normal volcano, which still held immense spirit mana, it was considered a Spirit Volcano. They ranged from something like this, or a massive country sized Volcano in Gaia that could take out an entire continent. But the immense mana, the almost nuclear wave of pure and bright orange and deep red mana that was erupting out from the mountain and into the sky, was more dangerous than the lava itself.
So dense, so extreme, that all of the trees with low spirit mana levels instantly combust with it. First the grass lit, then the wood from the inside burst open, if not the trees lit aflame and spread to others that managed to resist. The small but plentiful spirit biomes in Athens filled with various types of Spirit Beasts, even some one of a kind monsters were left running and roaring to safety. It wasn't a bomb, it didn't break anything, it was not simply a wave of fire. It was more dangerous. It was a natural born spell, as its mana became so dense with itself that it empowered, grew larger, grew more complicated. Grew more corrupted. Like nature itself had a plan to take the land, to recreate itself, to restart once and for all. It moved incredibly fast, including the NorthWest and the Coliseum city first.
The mass fire spread and spread like a biblical event, and once it hit the broken city, that too lit aflame. Corroded to black stone. But the many Red Arrows and Gravestone Pirates battling in the forest, along with Crevasse, Peter, and Dema all had to brace. Dema didn't waste a second, forcing through her pain to push Peter atop her back before taking off as hard as she could into the sky. At the same time Crevasse jumped on once again, not to knock her down, but to get a free escape as Peter screamed in absolute terror, unable to do anything but annoy Dema. Down below Soku fell to her knees, losing absolute focus on Ju'stone to scream to the sky.
Soku: "NO NO NO! WHAT IS THAT DAMMIT NO WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!"
She began to let out wind without thought to protect her while Ju'stone dove for the water. Edward simply braced for impact. And all of the fighters in the camp began to run for the hills. Desperately swinging, clawing, flying, jumping away from each other. As the battle lost all meaning anymore. But then it hit them. Those half dead with wounds were engulfed in a burst of flames, and anybody with deep wounds felt a deep horrid burning feeling across their entire OD. It left a third of the remaining soldiers on the battlefield bursting with fire through the eyes, mouth, stomach, and heart. Corrouding them into black husks, stone statues forever lost. Edward managed to resist the wave with only intense pain, something that woke him up, while Soku was thrown backward into the ship from the force. That ship began to rush backward with the boiling ocean, slowly backing away off the coast while she tried to sit up.
Leo: "WHAT IS THAT!? DAMMIT WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
Beauregard: "DAMMIT YOU'RE SO STUPID! THAT'S OUR GRANDPARANTS! OUR PARENTS! VALOR FOR GREAT DRAGONS SAKE! THEY KEPT IT FROM ERUPTING FOR CENTIERIES! THIS IS WHAT WAS MEANT TO HAPPEN RIGHT!? IF YOU WERE FATED TO STOP ME, THEN ATHENS WAS FATED TO END HERE! TO THE SECT, NO! BUT TO NATURE! TO ITSELF! THE ONLY PEOPLE STRONG ENOUGH TO STOP ATHENS HAS ALWAYS BEEN ATHENS DAMMIT!"
Leo had Beauregard by the throat, and yet, he let go. He just sat down, and stared out at the coming wave. As it stretched out through Athens, slowly growing weaker, the quakes returned. Louder than ever. Moments away from the final blast.
Beauregard: "What are you doing!?"
Leo: "Nothing. If we're gonna die, I don't want my last act to be killing my -
Beauregard instantly leapt forward, taking out the serum Salazar gave him and prepared to inject himself with the same serum Frank took. And then, under the rumbling tower, Leo moved forward. And stopped Beauregard with an old fashioned hug.
Leo: "Can't you just be my older brother for once!?"
Beauregard froze, and then he smiled -
Beauregard: "QUIT SCREWING WITH MEEE!"
Beauregard took out a blade from his coat, and then came the remnants of the flaming wave. Scorching them over their ODs, and only Beauregard screamed in pain, while Leo screamed in sorrow. And attempted to crush Beauregard in his grasp, tighter and tiger, crying with so many others.
Leo: "I love you man! I just wanted to know you! I wanted you to like me, and you just hated everything I did! You did all of this!? Why!? Why would you take our home man!? Moms body! Dad is here, he's alive too! Just give it up just, JUST LOOK OUT THE DAME WINDOW! LOOK AT WHAT WE DID! WHAT WE DID TO EACH OTHER! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? JUST TAKE MY HAND AND WE CAN RUN! WE CAN LEAVE! TAKE AS MANY AS WE CAN WITH US! START A NEW ATHENS, THE TWO OF US! OR IT COULD JUST BE US! WE COULD END THIS! WE COULD HELP WALGONIA, WE COULD TRY AND FIX OUR SINS! WE -
Beauregard bit Leo's shoulder as hard as possible, between cracks left by Raylice, tearing out a small chunk of flesh to get Leo to leg go. Before he put his all into kicking Leo away, without realizing Leo took the vial with him.
Beauregard: "WE CAN'T FIX THIS! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!? I KNOW I'M A MONSTER I KNOW! THE DEMi-HUMANS, HUMANS, WE'RE ALL MONSTERS! YOU DAD MOM! EVERYBODY WE'VE EVER BEEN TOLD TO LOOK UP TO! THAT'S WHY IT HAS TO GO IT HAS TO GO! I'LL ADMIT IT AND SAY YOUR RIGHT! IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE!"
He reached for the vial, maybe the only thing left that could give Beauregard the edge over Leo, and it was immediately shattered. Dripping to stain the floor just like Stern's blood.
Beauregard: " BUT IF I'M GONNA DO ANYTHING IT'S GONNA BE LEAVING MY MARK ON THE WORLD! AT LEAST THEY'LL SAY I WAS THE LAST KING! AT LEAST I'LL MEAN SOMETHING! AND YOU'LL DIE BEFORE YOU MEAN ANYTHING! I CAN FINALLY BEAT YOU! I DON'T NEED THAT! I NEVER NEEDED CALGARY OR IRSA OR ANYBODY! I JUST NEED MY BARE HANDS!"
It felt like the world was ending for everybody, that the end was here.
Rosemary {Stay back!}
Rosemary desperately blocked a rapid barrage of punches from Calgary, using the wind to blast Rosemary threw floor after floor.
Edward {NOOO!}
Behind the wall of flames surrounding Edward was a massive shadow that smacked Edward across the floating deck with ease. Moro, walking, covered in deep burns on top of all the wounds Edward left on him. Injuries that slowly, then quickly began to fade under his rising fur. The steam. Regenerating it all, as he began to stand using his arms and legs. His Demi-human transformation, making him far larger, bulkier, all of his teeth larger with bore tusks, and taking most of his deeper thoughts away. All of the pain away, the rage he felt toward Edward, so he could tear him apart.
That Walgonia was never going to be saved. They were never going to win. And it was all going to fade away in a bang. As Caesar was screaming to Gray since he pressed that awful button, "He had already one."
Gray: "LIKE I WOULD EVER LET THAT HAPPEN!"
Gray pulled back his fist, and smashed it against Caesar's chest. In his rage, trying to do anything, he let out a burst of Spirit mana he couldn't control when he punched. And that wave of Spirit mana was truly spiritual, because it reached Caesar's spirit. On his chest. On his OD. Caesar felt it, and froze for the first time since Grays met him. He froze in panic, and Gray's eyes lit up with something else than a complete bloodlust. Yet it was silenced as the trigger was finally pulled.
Caesar: "Prometheus might make me an Upper Pillar for this."
From the tunnels deep under Athens rushing with magma, to the core exploding upward, and the screaming quakes reaching another peak, it happened. The sides of Mount Yelira cracked open with its immense pressure, while large spouts of lava shout out into the skies like giant guizers. One two three, multiplying again again again, while the ground began to crack open into large and small revenues. They were opening up to the rising magma and lava filled tunnels all under the island. And then the top of Mount Yelira finally went away, in a massive blast of flames and lava shooting through the clouds to light the black sky. It almost made Gray pass out, along with a lot of others passing out. Leo and Beauregard just cried. Rosemary is too busy trying to dodge Calgary, punch, duck, kick and jump up with that force to smash him down, to care. And Edward was about to face Moro for the last time.
Gray: "I'M NOT DEAD YET DAMMIT!"
Gray leapt off the massive wall without fear, right over the edge, and pushed off at the last second to fly toward the falling Caesar. He grabbed hold mid-air while the Cloak went toward the nearby tower without a thought, allowing Gray to twist around mid-air and throw Caesar across a lower roof. Then, flipping mid-air, he began to take in more and more Spirit mana. Fueling the Cloak, his mana, and the inside of his body. Lighting his insides aflame with surges of pain, but through it all, he was still managing to regulate his power below a Full-Power attack, let alone OverDrive. The extreme enhancement to the control, strength, speed, reaction was all the Spirit mana inside his mana and his body enhancing him and his mana; he wasn't gonna fall anytime soon, and after all of this, he was really growing stronger. In the face of sheer death, Gray was shining the brightest, aiming for the darkest end. Not to save, not to save himself or run toward Rosemary. He was completely lost, on killing Caesar for what he's done. After everything he's done to not kill. He felt like he lost control of himself.
Maybe it made him irredeemable, insane, but he's not pure. He never was no matter how much he lies to himself. He was the type of Hero that would do exactly what he thinks is right, a Hero on his own terms, one that would fix this world, instead of make it happier. But he didn't want this. He hated this. Maybe he could get away with it because of what Caesar had done, because Caesar could heal through the brutal attacks, but he didn't care. He didn't think he could ever believe he could really be a Hero. That he could save Walgonia. Right now, Vengeance was all he could focus on, even after all he said to Edward. But Edward himself was holding his blade, facing and roaring as loud as Moro while Mount Yelira erupted behind them. Flying nearby was Peter, Dema, and Crevasse, heading toward a cliff edge overlooking some of the outer shore away from the camp. And Soku ran across the ship to try and help Edward, before Ju'stone burst out from the center to surprise her.
It was all ending. Their efforts were all burning away. And even when Soku tried to help a friend in the end she was forced to dodge and throw the send moment to get to Edward as a blade. Peter, who wanted to use Dema and help save the others, was instead screaming while they headed toward an open cave entrance trying to shake Crevasse away. Rosemary had to take a hefty hit to the shoulder just to force an opening, and smash Calgary in the stomach and blast him down the hall. When all she wanted to do was see her family. Leo had to hold down his brother while screaming to stop. And Gray roared through the streets while he hunted Caesar. The lava hadn't even finished blasting upward, they still had enough time, but there they were. Some couldn't escape, but if they put their all into it, it was possible. However, right now, the war was still ongoing in their hearts.
Gray: "SCARED!? I GUESS YOU'RE FEELING THAT HUH!?"
Gray pulled Caesar by the leg through the air, right into place for Gray to punch Caesar's chest with another discharge of spirit mana. As Caesar slid back, coughing a spurt of real damage into his hands, Gray used the Cloak to hold him down. So he could punch, punch, punch, until the ceiling caved in on them to allow Caesar to kick away, roll, and throw out daggers the Cloak caught itself.
Caesar: "Damn that thing's a cheat! No wonder Azalea was so strong!"
Gray: "SHUT UP! THERE'S NOTHING MORE YOU CAN SAY! UNLESS YOU STOP AND HELP YOU HAVE TO BE STOPPED!"
He leapt through the debris, only for anarchists to rush out with them. The Cloak twisted onto itself, into tendrils just like Azalea's, and pushed a few away. Gray jumped over, kicked away, spun and slashed the others back, before jumping and shoulder bashing Caesar in the chest with a burst of spirit mana. Completely in the zone of battle. Ready to win, to truly win, after a life of failures.
Gray {He's from Earth just like me, and he said he's got a lot of mana! If he's never trained then he hasn't adapted to his OD at all! I'll crack and crack it! I'll break his OD open! There's no way to survive that! AND HE KNOWS IT!}
In desperation Caesar splashed himself with a few potions, lighting himself on fire to push Gray back. He quickly regenerated around it, yet the flames persisted for a while, long enough for him to try and fight back. Yet he missed the potion he threw at Gray with a swift dodge to the right, a punch with another quick dodge to the left, and got punched with the largest surge of spirit mana yet. Leaving him crashing out of the tower to the alley a few stories below to try and run from a man who already leapt to chase him.
Caesar: "EVEN IF YOU KILL ME THE SECT LIVE! MY ANARCHISTS ARE JUST A HANDFUL, MOSTLY NEW RECRUITS I GOT LEFT TO CONTROL! HELL MAYBE I'LL REINCARNATE SOMEBODY LIKE HOPE DID FOR ME OR AZALEA DID FOR YOU! EITHER WAY KILLING ME ONLY SUBMITS YOU AS A FALSE HERO! A SUPER VILLAIN, DUDE! WHY DO YOU WANNA GO OUT AS THE VILLAIN!?"
Gray: "THIS ISN'T A DREAM WORLD! A FANTASY WORLD! THIS WASN'T MADE FOR US TO GROW OR HAVE A POWER FANTASY! THIS IS REAL LIFE! SUPER HEROES, VILLIANS, THIS IS JUST CHAOS! THIS IS JUST REALITY DAMMIT!"
Gray swung low, smashing into Caesars back to slide across the alley and into a group of running Warriors. Where Gray punched, ducked, stomped, crushed, desperately breaking Caesar. When Ceasar punched Gray effortlessly dodged, before returning the favor. Threw his chest, breaking his ribcage over and over again. Only for it to peel back together, to morph and fuse, before returning perfectly to be broken again.
Caesar: "WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND HOW USELESS THIS ALL IS!? HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE BECAUSE YOUR HERE FIGHTING ME, WASTING TIME! HOW ROSEMARY!!!???"
Mid-sentence, as Caesar desperately backed away after each quick jab to his chest berated with discharges of constantly influxing Spirit mana. Gray's eyes were cracking through the spirit sense, his white pupil once again splintering that seal. To burst and burst with bright mana, slowly growing as he took in so much more. Gray's punches were laced with Spirit mana on top of the mana he was sending through Caesar's own spirit. Breaking him open easier and easier, leaving him completely silent, completely broken, as Gray unleashed everything he had. It was stuck at a Mid-level flow, as the world crumbled and shook and screamed, as so many Warriors and Red Arrows fought around them, and yet Gray kept it there. He wouldn't break his body, not until he had won at least.
And behind them rose the lava, rocketing, while other torrents continued to burst and flow out of the sides of Mount Yelira. Draining down and down like an ocean, tearing through it all, around one single man crying into the grass. Staring into the sky with his home's ashes in his hand, in his mind.
Lincoln: "What…what have I done to you?"
All of the fighters were still roaring under the pressure, and its strongest hadn't even lifted a finger yet. He slowly stood, as Edward took his final breath to face Moro. As Rosemary and Calgary bashed each other through walls, with Rosemary desperately on the backfoot as Calgary continuously sent out a massive torrent of pressure. Soku, sending out as many quick fire wind slashes as possible while soaring around a raging Ju'stone. Julius, continuously clashing his rapier against around above to all sides around again, confuse discordant overwhelm, and spin kick Irsa in the stomach.
"RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIVES!"
The people of this country, those holding their families and things sprinting on foot or charging past by carriage and wagon, were the only people actually reacting. The thousands of people left in this destroyed country were all screaming for their lives. Moving in large groups, scattered lines all across the country. Most fled to the shores, trying to avoid the massive wave of people trying to bulldoze their way across the Great Bridge and into Percilies of Walgonia. Sadly, a lot of people didn't know about the Sect taking over; thousands of refugees were going right into an even larger warzone. Cretan was filled to the brim with people charging from the east side of Athens, at the farthest spot on the island from Mount Yelira. The docks are now empty with ships, forcing people to use personal ones or try and use elemental magic in groups to cross. That was impossible, it was all looking impossible, and even they were starting to feel the growing heat of a country ready to blow.
Gray: "DON'T YOU EVER SAY HER NAME AGAIN! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT LIVING! I WOULD RATHER DIE A HUNDRED TIMES THAN EVERY HELP THE SECT! HOW COULD YOU BE SO BROKEN TO DESTROY THE LIVES OF OTHERS FOR FUN!? WHY -
And the Capital still fought. Toll, breathing incredibly hard as she sprinted through the Elites and Warriors. Most of the soldiers continued, even if more people were leaving by the second under panic. Blocking the gates with what used to be soldiers, and now just regular people. Humans and Demi-humans stepping over each other or even extending a hand to help them. Their armor, their beliefs made groups, but with their injuries and Mount Yelira ready to destroy them, they slowly mixed in small portions across the country. Even the Spirit Beast fled with them. Running on all fours, two legs, with their wings, leaping or tunneling, to escape the collapsing lava. The breaking earth opens up to magma.
Caesar: "I'M NOT ARTHUR, I'M NOT A PSYCHOPATH WHO LOVES THIS!"
In between Gray's attack, inside the micro strain points where Gray slowed or froze due to the stacking pain, is when Caesar slashed with yet another hidden dagger to force him away. He kept pulling them from inside of his long coat, from the pockets, or the many small blades he had stabbed into himself to hold. But then came the Elixir he tried to take, one that would explode his strength so much his muscles would rip out, until Gray slashed it open with his Wrist Talon.
Gray {I CAN'T LET HIM OR ANYBODY GET A SINGLE HIT IN ON ME! I JUST HAVE TO WIN I HAVE TO I HAVE TO I'LL DO ANYTHING I'LL KILL YOU I'LL KILL YOU DAMMIT! JEREMIAH, CHARLIE, THOSE FEW ANARCHISTS! THEY DIDN'T DESERVE IT, THEY COULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN A CHANCE AT LEAST! BUT YOU DON'T DESERVE ANYTHING! IF I'M JUST MY MISTAKES, IF I'M GONNA DIE HERE, THEN DAMMIT I'LL DO SOMETHING ONCE IN MY LIFE! I'LL REALLY WIN!}
Caesar: " AT THE END OF THE DAY, AFTER A HUNDRED YEARS, THIS LAND WILL BECOME SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL! SAME WITH WALGONIA, SAGA! IT'LL ALL BE SO MUCH EASIER, SO MUCH LESS BLOOD WILL BE SPILLED IF YOU JUST STOP FIGHTING AGAINST THE INEVITABALE!"
In the center of the street, after so many strikes and screams, Gray let out another hard strike. One that sent harsh ripples throughout all of Caesar, that caused his eyes to go red and his mouth to leak blood. And then he felt it. A crack. So he struck again, again, harder and harder, no matter how much his own knuckles were bleeding under the pressure. Another small crack, another, all tiny ones that slowly connected. Caesar's body began to burn too much as it healed, other perfectly fine spots opened like burnt cuts, opening and closing randomly. Caesar was trying so hard to laugh, as all he could think was that same mutual fear. Watching as the masked Gray, the Phantom Knight beat him over and over. The first person to truly break Caesar The Immortal.
Caesar: "THE SECT IS A FAMILY DAMMIT! YOU UNDERSTAND THAT! HOW IMPORTANT IT IS!"
Strike.
Caesar: "IT'S WHY WALGONIA IS FIGHTING, WHY THIS WAR HAPPENED, WHY EVERYBODY IS FIGHTING! THE SECT WANTS TO CONNECT THE WORLD!"
Strike.
Caesar: "TO MAKE ONE GRAND FAMILY THAT WOULD NEVER BREAK ITSELF! THESE NOBLES AND THEIR POWERS, MAGIC OR SOCIAL!"
Strike.
Caesar: " IT'S ENOUGH TO CHANGE PEOPLES LIVES ON A WHIM! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW UNFAIR THAT IS!? HOW MUCH THAT BREAKS PEOPLE! YOUR PEOPLE!"
He reached his arms out, the Cloak immediately snapped forward and wrapped around it to tear it off. When Caesar blocked up close, he cut right, threw his weak arm with his Wrist Talon before pulling back his fist and slamming it forward. Accidentally snapping the blade of his Wrist Talon off, as he'd drug and forced it into and out of Calgary's sternum. Leaving him stained with so much of Caesars refilling blood. Caesar hadn't trained but all of the fighting he had been through, all the terrible injuries he constantly healed from in his harsh four years of war had still adapted him to his OD a bit. And still, like Gray had done to himself, he had truly begun to break Caesars OD open. The constant spiritual pressure slamming against it, again and again, was going to shatter it. On top of that, Caesars OD being corrupted made it so the purifying spirit mana burned against it. Slowing his healing, ripping it open.
If Ryo or a more skilled Spirit Knight had tried this they'd have done it far quicker, but only a few might have even thought of that. But it meant he had his win condition, that the condition was already ready and about to burst just as Mount Yelira had. And when Caesar's anarchists tried to help, the Cloak once again snapped out in thin, long separate tendrils to swing and throw them through the streets. Only for Gray to grab hold of Caesar and send him crashing into the sides of a few shops, sliding across a street facing the large looming wall, and only gave him enough time to look up in absolute fear before appearing overhead. Swinging right into his chest, bursting Spirit mana, and flipping right onto his still sliding body. Gray was so, so angry. In so much pain. But his eyes were bursting with spirit mana. His body was glowing a bright blue. He was outputting too much mana.
But after everything, his victories and his failures. With Mount Yelira surly to end him. He didn't care anymore. He just wanted to make things right the only way he thought he could. By bashing Caesars chest in over and over, forcing him to quickly but not instantly regenerate under his simultaneously erupting skin and muscles.
Gray:" YOU KILLED ROSEMARY! SOKU! EDWARD! JULIUS! EVERYBODY IN THIS FUCKING COUNTRY! THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE ALLOWED TO LIVE! THAT THE SECT GETS TO WIN! I WON'T LET YOU WIN EVER EVER AGAIN DO YOU HEAR ME!? DO YOU HEAR ME!? YOU'RE NOT LISTENING YOU'RE NOT YOU'RE NOT!"
His words had been rambling from the disorientation, the sense of dread and death, the betrayal. But it really seemed like dying, being forced to accept a fate he didn't decide himself, being forced to lose everything all at once because of his mistake, had broken him. He may have been a small flame when he got to this world, one that died out and lit again far brighter. But that flame that had grown smaller yet again didn't matter. The husk, his name, Conner or Gray. That was all over for him. In the end, he felt like he had to be a Knight. A Hero, who stopped him even when everything was lost. He just held down Caesar with his Cloak and bashed his hands against him over and over and over. Forcing those cracks to connect, to grow larger.
Caesar: "GET OFF MEEE!"
Caesar outputs as much mana as possible just like Gray does, and uses his own Mana Overdrive to send Gray flying back. Caesar even managed to output more than Gray's body lets him, as his entire arm had blown off and slowly regrown. But all Gray did was freeze, cough, spit out some blood while his mask fell to the floor, and stare Caesar down. Imbedding fear into his crumbling, burning, screaming OD, and went to strike.
Gray: "WHY DID YOU MAKE ME DO THIS! WHY COULDN'T WE HAVE JUST BEEN FRIENDS DAMMIT!"
Gray pushed as much of the Spirit mana overflowing from his body as he could into his left arm, even more by pulling in as much as possible. It was a dense, flaming blue light encasing his arm. It was about the size of his half-power flow, but incredibly dense, like a shining sky. One that blinded Caesar as Gray slid close, and hit Caesar's chest with all he had. They stood still, with Gray's arm once again through Caesar's chest, while the already broken street around them rushed with a short wave of wind pressure. Causing Caesar to cough up blood, slide off Gray's arm, and collapse to the floor.
Gray {...Did I do it? Did I -
Caesar's wound still healed, his OD still healed, and he was still ready to stand. And a large torrent of lava that was falling from the sky, rushing through the villages and farm land. Smashing and eating away at towns got closer to each other. It was smashing into the Coliseum city, crushing its walls instantly. Getting closer to the NorthEast bay, closer to the Capital. Caesar lived. Rosemary was struggling to stand against a smiling Calgary. Moro's massive form was so much more than his base. Leo and Beauregard had nowhere to go. Julius was losing pace with Irsa, And Soku was straining herself by the second against Ju'stone.
That didn't matter at all. Because they all saw it. As the rising torrent of lava taller than Athens tower multiple times over, rushing to fall as a massive tsunami over the Capital, vanished. It exploded with a blast of wind pressure so strong it ravaged past a few spirit biomes, roads, and towns to crash into Athens west wall so hard it cracked the western most gate. Sending Gray, Caesar, many Red Arrows and Warriors, Cultists, and buildings flying backward. It was a single strike, from the strongest man in the world. Ready to fight Mount Yelira, ready to beat a Volcano in a fight. It was so much that it made Beauregard scream in rage, made Leo tear up with a smile, made Edward gasp in disbelief. And it made Lincoln happy, for the first time since he last spoke to his dear Lilith.
Lincoln: "BRING IT ON ATHENS!"