82.
Sign of the Zodiac
The dark grey clouds had long since depleted their final drops of rain as
Zeigfried tightened his hand around Azuka's quivering neck. Devastated, not an
ounce of psynergy remained in the captain's body as she lay sprawled out on the
black highway. Off to the side lay the crumpled, still bodies of Ravi and Kamo.
"You never stood a chance against me, Azuka," Zeigfried explained.
"Nor does anyone who attempts to defy the Lord. Now, I advise you to repent,
ask for forgiveness, and truly accept God as your savior in these last precious
moments."
"If God’s really on your side," Azuka spat, "he must be
one hell of an asshole. "
Zeigfried smiled wanly. "So be it. If you desire divine judgment, heretic,
then I will bestow it upon you!"
As Zeigfried squeezed his fist around Azuka’s neck, a huge wave of citrus
psynergy from an unknown source suddenly washed over the entire area. The aura
was so intense and special that Zeigfried's body instantly froze. His concentration
shattered, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"The clock..." the Apostle gasped. "It's resonating..."
Zeigfried brought his hand up from Azuka's neck and withdrew his mist
tendrils back into his body. If Azuka had had the strength to sense any psynergy
at that moment, she too would have paled in awe at the golden magnitude.
"A Clock? And this aura...it must be the Daughter!" Zeigfried
marveled.
Without another word, Zeigfried jettisoned into the night sky, leaving
two hot vapor trails in his wake.
Not a drop of relief passed through Azuka's body as she watched him head
toward the tournament complex. I failed them all...
Azuka closed her eyes, trying to hold back her tears. The ground
trembled as a spire of psynergy erupted in the distance, washing bright orange psynergy
*************
across the dark sky. Within the arena, dozens of spectators stood up
and cheered.
"Eden Gardener has claimed the clock!" Trunculo's voice echoed
through the night sky. "Congratulations on winning the 13th Belmarcian
Tournament!"
From the lofty committee room, Roufas and Grayson watched divine psynergy
spill out from within the chamber. The holographic screens displayed the upper
half of Eden's body as she stood before the clock on the pedestal. Her hands
clutched the vessel, eyes wide with awe. Slowly, the clock ticked to life, and
as its psynergy resonated with hers, its hands began to move faster and faster.
"It’s freed..." Grayson leered, pushing a long strand of
blonde hair out of his menacing green eyes as he watched her. "The time has
come."
"For what?" Roufas sighed.
Grayson paid no attention to Roufas and nodded his head toward his other
ally. "Van Kaen," he commanded. "Kill."
The monstrous assassin made his way over to the five shivering committee
members. The dim neon light trickling out through the room made his blade-like
hair and grotesque scars gleam eerily with every lurching step.
"What?!" Roufas shouted. "Van Kaen! Stop! What do you think
you're doing?!"
Grayson smirked. "It's no use. He's been under my control for
quite some time now."
"Your...control? What do you mean?!"
"Come now..." Grayson fingered the lens of his glasses. "You
really never suspected it, after all this time?"
Roufas studied Grayson's eyes, trying to assess the man's cryptic statements.
"Or perhaps you were just afraid to believe that I possessed
greater power than you could ever fathom."
Roufas ignored Grayson's taunts and called out once more to Van Kaen, as
the monster flexed his stitched-up hands. "Van Kaen, stop this immediately!"
"Kill...now," Grayson stated calmly. "Slaughter
those pigs."
A high-pitched scream erupted through the room as Van Kaen slashed his hand
through the fattest committee member's thick neck.
"No!" one of the elderly women screamed, trying to crawl
away. "Why are you doing this to us? We didn't do anything to you! This is
morally wrong!"
"Indeed," Grayson answered. "I'm far beyond the scope of
your morals, you abhorrent wretch."
Van Kaen dug his claws into the woman's leg and ripped it straight from
her body like a child destroying one of his toys.
Grayson grinned as he monitored the bloodshed. "You see, my system
of ethics tells me that it is my God-given duty to lay waste to putrid maggots
like you."
As Van Kaen ripped the rest of the woman's limbs from her body, her
cries of pain soon turned to pleas for mercy.
"Look at you now..." Grayson continued. "Is your money
coming to rescue you? Is your high status instilling fear into me? Is all the education
you received coming in handy? Or...have you finally started to realize just how
pointless your entire life has been?"
Van Kaen pounced on the remaining three members of the committee like a
dog, gnashing his teeth and ripping them into jagged, bloody pieces.
"Stop it!" Roufas screamed. "If we do this...the Church will..."
Before Roufas could finish his sentence, Grayson shot across the room
and wrapped a hand around Roufas' neck.
"The Church will do what?" Grayson seethed. "What happened
to your confidence, Roufas? You really have gone downhill these last few years.
In fact, as of now...you're completely pointless too."
"Unhand me!" Roufas growled.
Roufas dropped his violin and struggled to pull Grayson's vice-like hand
from off his neck. But no matter how much he pulled, no matter how much of his
potent psynergy he channeled through his hands, for some reason, the Snake's grip
did not budge.
"Grayson! How dare you?!"
"See?" Grayson moved his free hand up and removed his glasses.
"You can't even move to strike down your best pupil. Sadly, I never intended
to follow in your footsteps..."
Rage radiated out from Roufas's inner depths as he stared into Grayson's
eyes. "After all we've been through..."
Grayson's green orbs pulsated with a sinister aura. "From the very
day I met you, I had you in my sights. I knew you were powerful, but it was
your sad loneliness and conceited desire to gain followers and sympathizers that
allowed me to step into your life. It was so easy to make you into a tool and
feed off your desire for admiration, old man. For over a decade, you’ve been an
obedient puppet, just like the others who came before you. If anything, your humanity
was your downfall."
Roufas gave up trying to remove Grayson's hand from his neck and shot
both of his own arms out toward his partner’s head. The opal psynergy emanating
from his fingers was powerful enough to topple a fortress, and he knew his aim
was true...yet somehow, for some reason, the Rabbit's hands never reached their
mark. Instead of slicing through Grayson's seemingly defenseless throat, his
psynergy curved away from the man and missed him entirely. Frozen in disbelief,
Roufas's arms fell to his sides as he was lifted off the ground.
At that moment, a dark green fear crept into Roufas's heart and took hold.
He knew that he should have tried again, but he also knew that something was very
wrong with the entire situation. The dread rising in his heart suffocated him, and
he realized he was not in the presence of the Grayson he thought he knew – but
a terrifying being who possessed an impossible power.
Midst his horror, Roufas felt a dark voice invade his mind.
You cannot escape. You will die here...for Grayson exists on a level of
reality far above your own.
"Do you understand, now?" Grayson's voice echoed throughout
the room. "My sole goal for the Dark Zodiacs was always to find the strongest,
most damaged people I could, bring them together...and enslave them to do my bidding."
Roufas looked up to Grayson with hopeless eyes. "But...why?"
"After I collect the clocks, I am going to destroy this world,"
the Snake spoke softly. "But I won’t stop there...I want to kill God, the
Devil, and whatever else lurks beyond the realm of man. This universe shall be punished
for its banality, brought to annihilation, and then I will continue my
destruction into whatever lies beyond."
"But..." Roufas croaked. "All those nights we spent,
talking about rebuilding the universe, creating a better world...was it really all
a lie? I thought you understood me, Grayson. I thought you and I were of the
same mind..."
"Yes, I'm sure you did," Grayson continued. "A man like
you would, if constantly fed exactly what you wanted to hear. Unfortunately for
you, Roufas, I have no intention of living on in this universe. It disgusts me,
and even killing has become a chore as of late. It’s no longer worthy of me."
Roufas shook his head. "Why, Grayson?! How can you be so selfish?!"
"Of course I'm selfish," Grayson replied. "Would you
ever honor a gnat more than yourself?"
"Unbelievable." The white-haired violinist shivered. "Th-there's
not a speck of humanity within you at all..."
"Indeed...for I am no human."
Saying that, Grayson dropped Roufas, but the Rabbit was no longer able
to stand on his weak legs. As he sunk to his knees, he stared down at the
floor, and Tao’s face flashed into his mind.
This is my punishment, isn't it? For my hubris...and my own blind ambition...you
were right, Tao. You were right all along. But I was too small a man to let you
be right.
"Can't move, can you?" Grayson asked. "Of course not. Your
soul is completely under my influence now, Roufas. I've worked on you for so long.
Ever since you first laid eyes on me, I've been waiting for this moment...waiting
to crush your very soul simply with my eminence."
Roufas felt trapped within himself, as if his heart was twisting into a
knot. And slowly, as he felt his consciousness begin to crumble, he acquiesced to
the sharp pain of defeat swelling in his soul.
"Whether it was God or the devil," Grayson went on,
"someone has given me these powers to use as I see fit – and I shall use
them...until there is absolutely nothing left to erase."
As the founder of the Dark Zodiacs faded into darkness, his final thoughts
were of a tall, raven-haired woman whom he had antagonized out of jealousy and
fear.
Perhaps that was my greatest mistake. We foolishly cast out the one person
who may have become our beacon of hope...
Grayson watched as a tortured masque of agony stretched onto the
founding Zodiac's face. "I see you've finally awakened to your plight, Roufas
Ernst. You are truly worthless. There is no longer any reason for you to exist,
and you know this. That's why I don't even need to kill you with my bare
hands."
The Snake placed the bow to Roufas' violin in his shivering hands.
"Go. Release yourself from this world you so despise, dear friend."
"You're right," Roufas spoke. A new, powerless voice emanated
from his throat as green psynergy invaded every pore in his body. "Death is
what I deserve."
And so, Roufas channeled psynergy into his bow and slashed it swiftly across
his neck. As his body fell back onto the blood-soaked carpet, a soft smile spread
over his face: the look of a mortal in pain who finally achieved peace through
his descent into the beyond. Reflected in his empty eyes was the pale glow of
the Snake's pupils, staring down at another used-up tool.
Grayson put his glasses back on and turned his back on his ally.
"What a bore you were, Roufas."
Covered in blood and guts, Van Kaen turned from the corner and ambled
over to the Rabbit's corpse.
"Rip him to shreds," Grayson ordered. "Make it look as if
he was stabbed up by a bunch of long knives...then throw him out."
The Dragon obliged and tore into Roufas's body with his claws, mixing
efficiency with ferocity to meet Grayson's specific demands. When he finished, he
carried the body over to one of the many holes in the wall that the other Zodiacs
had created earlier in the day and tossed it out into the night.
"Well then." Grayson adjusted his suit and tie. "Shall
we be off?"
Turning to the window that faced the arena, Grayson held up a hand and
shattered the reinforced glass into microscopic shards
*************
of metal and trash littered the hallway within the tournament complex.
Moving as fast as their feet could carry them, Edward and Frank dashed toward
what they thought would lead them outside.
Trying their best to ignore the loud booms that quaked the entire foundation,
the two Earthlings soon reached the lower gate that led to the grassy field surrounding
the clock’s chamber. Luckily, the armored security guards had already run
outside to address the unusual commotion, so Frank and Edward made it out just
in time to see Trunculo pick himself up from the ground.
One guard helped the announcer up. "Are you okay?"
"Get off me!" Trunculo jumped to his feet. "We have more
important things to worry about...like those guys!"
Frank followed Trunculo's finger over to the northern side of the arena,
which was now charred and smoking with psynergy residue. Strutting out from the
destruction with green and red psynergy rising from their bodies were Grayson Lee
and Xarles Klavier Van Kaen.
"Where are the rest of the guards?!" Trunculo shouted.
"I’m not sure, sir..." one guard answered. "We noticed
many guards missing from their posts in the rear wing, so we’ve been trying to
contact them, but they won’t respond..."
"Something isn’t right here! I’m initiating a code red!" Trunculo
fumbled with a mobile device. "We need back up, now!"
Instantly, an airbus flew up above the complex. Armored guards hopped
out from both sides, crashing down around Grayson and Van Kaen with psynergy-shielded
feet
"Who are you two?!" Trunculo shouted. "You’d better
explain yourselves!"
Grayson took a broad step out and sliced his palm up through one guard’s
body as if it was paper. A fountain of blood stained the Snake's suit, and he
continued forward, unfazed. Seeing that, the crowd began to flee, trampling and
desperately shoving past each other like a herd of frightened animals. As they
floundered, the tops of all four corners of the tournament arena opened up to reveal
four shielded gun turrets.
Grayson looked over to his associate. "Van Kaen."
The turrets opened fire, raining down colossal psynergy blasts on the two.
Grayson leapt into the sky and performed a series of kicks on each piece of ammunition,
sending it all back from where it had came. After he destroyed each of the turrets
with their own blasts, he alighted on top of the clock's chamber, just as Van Kaen
finished ripping his way through the horde of guards.
"It doesn't matter how many people you kill!" Trunculo called
out from the ground. "You two aren't going to leave Enmetropolis alive!"
Helicopter propellers roared as a group of robotic sentries shaped like
killer bees appeared from the horizon. Simultaneously, the psynergy barrier around
the arena powered down, proof that the tournament staff had also begun to flee
for their lives.
"Take care of those...things," Grayson called out to Van Kaen.
"I have other matters to attend to."
Van Kaen's metal heels acted as jet propellers and kept him suspended
in the sky as he darted about. Instead of using attacks, the Dragon merely charged
his body straight through the murderous mechanisms, detonating them in the sky.
Paying no attention to the black-and-yellow rain scattering across the cityline,
Grayson stepped off the chamber ceiling and moved toward the frightened bodies of
Edward and Frank. His long blonde hair swished delicately behind him as he sauntered
forward.
"Why, if it isn't the two Earthlings." Grayson lifted his
left hand up to his head, removed his silver glasses and revealed his swirling,
evergreen eyes. "What a coincidence. I have something I wish to show you."
Next: Snake Eyes
