088

 

88.  Nothing Safe

 

Edgar let out a low moan and took a shaky step backward from the developing portal. Tears welling up in her eyes, Eden frantically ran around the room, gathering up as much of Madeleine's pink slime as she could. Still standing in the center, Vance stared Grayson down.

 

The Snake's suit was frayed and in tatters, his hair and face were singed, but the gold-and-green aura that burned from his body was ever potent. In the Snake's arms, he held the tattered remains of Averyl's black cloak.

 

"Averyl," Vance sputtered. "Where's Averyl?!"

 

"Dead," Grayson said, as he tossed the cloak to the floor. "He was far too weak."

 

Vance snapped. In an instant, all the confidence and hope he’d built up through the tournament had all been shattered – and it wasn’t fair. Consumed by an uncontrollable rage, Vance lunged toward Grayson and threw out a punch. Grayson caught Vance's right fist like a baseball, then flipped the Albavitrean around in the air and administered a sharp kick to his stomach. Vance's flesh ripped apart in an explosion of blood, and he went skidding backwards across Edgar's kitchen floor.

 

"I don't feel like playing around with more trash right now..." Grayson sighed. "But I suppose I should give you at least one chance to prove yourself worthy, considering how feisty your mother was."

 

"What?" Vance coughed, as he pulled his reeling body up. "What did you just say?"

 

"You heard me," Grayson said coldly, as he approached the fallen boy. "Now, what will it be? Are you a failure, or will you be of some use to me after all?"

 

"Don't listen to him! He's just trying to upset you, Vance!" Edgar rose to his feet and dashed to the back of the room. "I'm going to go call Wendy! She can help us!"

 

Vance winced as he brought himself to his feet, but never took his eyes from his foe. "I don't care how strong you are...I'm going to stop you right here and now, Grayson. I'm going to wipe you off the face of the universe!"

 

Grayson raised a glowing palm. "Go ahead."

 

Vance spread his arms and summoned as much psynergy as he could muster. After a few moments, he thrust his arms out and unleashed a huge purple blast toward Grayson.

 

The front half of the shack was demolished as Vance's power exploded into the atmosphere. Once the smoke cleared, Vance could see Grayson standing perfectly fine in the center of the room. A condensed, paper-thin aura of green psynergy protected his body.

 

"Here." Grayson appeared in front of Vance in a flash. "Let me show you how it’s really done."

 

The Snake's fist shot into Vance's stomach and exploded through the other end. He smiled as he felt his fingers rip through Vance's flesh, then slid his hand back out. Vance fell to the ground in a bloody heap, and Grayson stepped forward, digging a dress shoe deep into the boy's wounds.

 

"Edgar J. Caskett," he called out. "You're nex–"

 

An explosion of citrus psynergy sent Grayson's body through the side of the shack. Tranforming into a shining ball of orange psynergy, Eden pursued her target immediately, refusing to let him stand again. With another explosion of power, Eden knocked Grayson's body through the wooden wall and into the ground below.

 

Behind her, a large mound of quivering pink goo pulsated with the remains of Eden's healing psynergy. Slowly, a piece of it transformed into Madeleine's face.

"You put a Graymatter chip inside me..." Madeline murmured. "After all I did to help you create them..."

 

"Look on the bright side," Grayson snickered, dragging himself out of the dirt. "It's gone now."

 

"But how?!" Madeliene shouted. "There's no way you could have done it on your own!"

 

"Of course not." Grayson adjusted his torn-up suit. "Phileas learned a great deal from observing you."

 

Unable to wait any longer, Eden shot out once again toward her enemy. The Snake let out another bellow of pain as Eden's never-ending flow of psynergy burned deep into his flesh. This time, however, he reached an arm down and fastened his hand around the blazing orb. Eden's psynergy easily ate through the barriers around his fingers and burned his flesh, but Grayson did not falter. Grayson's hands boiled, but a dark smirk still resided on the Snake's face. His green aura was now strengthened with a thin golden glow.

 

"You can't stop me..." Eden's voice echoed out from her soul. "I'm not going to let you hurt any more people, Grayson!"

 

Grayson continued to smirk and let his psynergy aura explode. Green and gold psynergy seeped into Eden, molding her orb of light back into her body, utterly against her will. Furiously, she pushed back, letting her aura rage against his. Grayson's fist flew forward, green and gold psynergy burning through her citrus until his fist finally connected with her face. Stunned and confused, Eden’s full body finally phased back into view. Grayson fastened a hand around her neck, holding her dangling body in a clenched death grip.

 

"God gave me powers too," Grayson murmured with glee. "And it looks like they trump yours."

 

The Snake punched Eden once more, knocking her unconscious, then threw her onto his shoulder. Vance remained on the ground by the entrance, sputtering in pain. The Snake walked back up and slammed his foot down onto the boy again, causing him to let out a bloodcurdling scream.

 

"Oh, does that hurt?!" Grayson shouted. Sweat poured down his forehead, and a large vein on his forehead pulsated. "Are you in pain? Well, too bad. You failed your test, Vance. And now you're going to die."

 

As Vance gurgled out an incomprehensible response, Grayson turned his eyes to the far end of the room, where Edgar was fiddling with a strange contraption. With a flick of his wrist, green psynergy burst out from the Snake's fingers and destroyed the mechanism.

 

The blast knocked Edgar backwards into a shelf, and he scrambled to stay on his feet. As Grayson approached, Edgar rummaged through his things and wrapped his hands around another small device.

 

"I already got what I came for," Grayson called out, "but I can't miss this opportunity to stamp out another troublesome insect. Just be grateful I let you live this long."

 

"You think I wasn't prepared for this?" Edgar growled, raising the miniature detonator. "I'm not afraid to die! Not as long as I can take you with me, you devil!"

 

"Devil?" Grayson mocked him. "Soon, I will be more powerful than every devil who has ever lived. The same goes for all the angels, and even that useless 'God' of yours. All will fall before me!"

 

As Grayson neared him, Eden still paralyzed in one hand, Edgar moved his thumb up to the button that would send his entire cabin up in flames. As he did so, his eyes drifted between Eden and Vance.

 

I can't... he suddenly realized, as tears began to fall from his eyes. They're the last gifts she left us. I can't do it!

 

That single moment of hesitation was all that Grayson needed. In the next instant, a beam of green psynergy exploded through Edgar J. Caskett, ripping his body to pieces. The archaeologist splattered to the ground, never to rise again.

 

Grayson looked down on the mutilated remains of Victoria's ally. "Even with all your wisdom, there was one simple fact you never seemed to understand: no one can stop me."

 

Vance slowly pulled his head up from the pool of blood that gushed out from his body. As his eyes began to blur, he watched Grayson slice a finger through the air, creating a dazzling golden portal of light.

 

"I know you're out there somewhere, Madeline," Grayson called out with triumphant glee. "But rest at ease. I don't want to kill you. Not just yet."

 

With that, Grayson carried Eden into the shimmering nothingness with him.

 

"No..." Vance cried, feeling his life slip away. "Eden..."

 

As his gore poured out into the empty shack, a painful claw of loneliness gripped his heart and sent tears gushing from his eyes. He felt so phenomenally sad, sadder than he had ever been after his mother died, sadder than he had felt on that fateful night in Pittsburgh. For the first time, he truly felt as if everything he had done had been utterly in vain. He had no one left to protect him, and all was lost.

 

Tears mixed in with blood as Vance cried, mourning his existence. I’ve failed everyone...Averyl, Eden, Mom, even Mr. Caskett...they trusted me, and I let them all down...I’ve always been too weak...I’ve always been inferior...

 

"Damn...it..." Vance whimpered, as he continued to die. "I'm so...useless..."

 

"No, you’re not."

 

Averyl's voice drifted into the shack as he crawled through a dark void and shut it behind him. His black bodysuit was charred and torn, and blood covered his entire body. As he slowly made his way over to his nephew, Madeleine slowly continued to piece herself back together.

 

"I didn't know..." Madeleine croaked. "Really, I swear...if I'd known, I would have never..."

 

Thin tears rolled down Averyl’s face as he tiredly crept over to the gored body of his nephew. Vance’s eyes were closed, and the blood had drained from his face. His soul was separating from his body, and within minutes, he would fall from the plane of mortality.

 

"Madeleine," Averyl wheezed. "I think I can make one last portal and take us out of here. So please, I beg you...help me keep Vance alive!"

 

"He's lost a lot of blood," she said. "But he's still breathing."

 

"Vance must survive..." Averyl grit his teeth in agony as he scrawled a new void in the ground. "No matter what it takes...he’s all we have left..."

"What haven’t you told me?" Madeleine said nervously, as she did her best to slide Vance’s body over to the portal. "What’s so special about him?"

"He’s the best chance we have of beating Grayson, " Averyl rasped. "And only because of what his mother did to him. She sacrificed so much, all for this chance..."

 

"What did she do?"

 

"Something no mother should ever have to do," Averyl whispered, as he slid through the floor into the void. "Deep within Vance, Grayson’s blood flows."

Next: The New World