97. Madness
to Bite
Madeleine watched as Rose slammed the massive turtle with as much water
as she could muster. The turtle howled in pain, but the assault seemed to only
enrage it further, rather than debilitate it. After a few seconds of flailing,
Rose's body flew off Xuan Wu's rampaging body and slammed into the mirrored
wall. She could feel herself scrambling to run to her ex-teammate's aid, although
she didn't completely understand why. Rose was just another hypocritical human
who let emotions string her along, yet for some reason, it now hurt her to see Rose
in pain.
As she ran, Madeleine transformed into the body of Bruce Wernhart in order
to move faster and gain the size she needed to adequately defend Rose. Xuan Wu
towered over Madeleine, and soon both Zodiacs were seconds away from being crushed
under one of the tortoise's stump-like legs.
Madeleine picked up Rose in her arms and barely jumped out of the way
as Xuan Wu came crashing down into the rock.
"Bruce..." Rose was delirious in the shapeshifter's arms as
she struggled to stay awake. "Honey...you came to save me..."
In silence, Madeleine distanced herself from the monstrous God Beast as
much as she could. A sour twang pulled at her heart, and for once, Madeleine found
herself able to push aside her negativity and comfort her ally.
"Don't worry," Madeleine spoke through Bruce's mouth.
"I'll keep us safe."
Blinded and furious, Xuan Wu continued rampaging in a sloppy circle. By
this time, Madeleine had made it to the opposite part of the room, far from Saffron
as he continued to clash with both Bai Hu and Zhu Que.
"Look," Zhang Guo pointed out. "Even your allies desert you.
They have seen how futile this battle is, how its conclusion shall bring nothing.
Even so, you continue. Why?"
"Conclusion?" Saffron grunted and parried another one of Bai Hu's
assaults. "My hunt is amaranthine."
As the phoenix closed in on the Dog from behind, he spun around and
sent Rosencrantz rocketing from his wrist like a javelin. The cord connecting
Saffron's wrist to his blade's hilt that had once been used against Vance began
to unravel, and the heavy blade jettisoned upwards. The nimble phoenix dodged
in time, yet its size left it little leeway. Saffron's weapon ripped through the
edge of one of its massive wings, and he yanked it back. Mildly crippled, Zhu
Que flapped in a desperate attempt to stay airborne.
"Forsooth, they 'scaped with right reason," Saffron decided.
"'Tis all for the better, lest I injure such friable maidens."
"What do you seek?" Zhang Guo pressed. "What could you
possibly desire in this painful reality?"
"Pain is my principality,"
Saffron replied, as he skewered the white tiger with Rosencrantz. "My
progress for which I perpetuate my prosperity
in this phantasmagoria. I enlisted with the Dark Zodiacs to consume and
elicit bloodshed – for no other purpose do I breathe life, Zhang Guo!"
"Then die."
Fuming, Zhang Guo released a massive shockwave of psynergy aimed straight
toward the swordsman. Saffron flared up his own aura in return, and the tails of
his wild hair reeled in deep fluorescent light. Madeleine did her best to
shield both herself and Rose as the the shockwave hit the swordsman straight in
the chest, drawing more blood and rocking entire the cavern.
"Survived have I through death and thunder, with mine hands rout an
empire asunder, slit the throat of my mother and trampled my father...and lastly..."
Saffron's eyes flashed, expelling Zhang Guo's energy in all directions as his decimated
body swirled in a riptide of dazzling power. "I dueled the last Albavitrean...Vance
Darcouver!"
"Impossible..." Zhang Guo gasped. "You've taken so much
damage, yet your aura is only escalating..."
Saffron leapt back at the remaining beasts in a frenzy of blood and psynergy.
The phoenix with a broken wing had no time to escape, and soon lost its head.
As Saffron retracted his weapon yet again, he heard a thunderous noise behind
him.
"Yes!" Zhang Guo cheered. "Devour him, Xuan Wu!"
Saffron twirled his body just in time to see the jaws of the huge turtle
open wide before him. The swordsman's body was swallowed into the monster's
hooked mouth, and the chamber grew quiet.
The three bloodied heaps that remained of the god beasts had long since
vanished. Zhang Guo concentrated deeply, waiting to feel the soft tap of
Saffron's aura extinguishing. Xuan Wu wheezed through the extreme pain from its
critical wounds, while also struggling with what was turning out to be a very hard
meal to stomach.
Then, just as sudden as the brief silence, there was an explosion from
the bowels of Xuan Wu. A sphere of scales, innards, and brains went splattering
in all direction, painting the mirrors black with bile, blood, and death. In the
center of it all stood Saffron, bathed in the fruits of his violent efforts.
The Hellflower merely stared up at Zhang Guo with a mad grin, gripping his
fractured blades with white knuckles.
"You have done well to make it this far..." Zhang Guo hopped
down from the platform at last. "But you can do nothing. The world will
come to an end – and your life, with it. All your efforts are in vain. Why can you
not see that?!"
"I care not," Saffron grunted. "I only wish for us to cut
each other up."
As the monk's golden staff jangled on the ground, Saffron lashed out
*************
at Bruce's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of the ex-Zodiac before he
could put up any flames in defense. Dark psynergy exploded from Vance's arm, and
Bruce was sent backwards across the platform. The Tiger quickly launched a
couple of large fireballs out in retaliation, but they were easily dissipated by
the young man's violet aura.
Bruce dove forwards, and soon the two men were engaged in a rapid fistfight,
sending sparks of purple and titian psynergy crackling into the air. The rock
below his feet split as Bruce stomped down to ground himself.
Vance blocked Bruce as best he could, but had no time to strike back.
With every blow they exchanged, the frustration within the two men only burned stronger.
Realizing that his opponent was as irritated as he was, Bruce's face erupted
into a sadistic grin as he continued his conflagration. Slowly, but surely, Vance's
barrier wore thin. Bruce's flames pushed him back to the edge of the platform,
and he frantically tried to get a hold of himself, sifting through worry,
frustration, and atomic anger.
Bruce pulled his hammer-like fist back and prepared to deal the finishing
blow. "Die, you little runt!"
Seizing what he thought might be his last chance, Vance's eyes flashed
and he dove forward into Bruce's chest. He didn't care how bad it might hurt – he
was only focused on moving away from that deadly precipice. Bruce stumbled backwards,
defenses downed by sheer surprise, while Vance continued to push forward.
As Bruce struggled to catch his balance, Vance shoved harder, digging into
the Tiger's heavy muscles. Bruce bore the pain and wrapped his massive arms around
Vance, giving the Albavitrean the perfect leverage to bring his legs up and
kick off Bruce's stomach with a loud crackle of violet psynergy. Vance fell
back, as did Bruce – blinking madly as he tried to steady himself.
Bruce did not stop swaying. Vance watched in surprise as the Tiger's body
swerved, teetered, then fell straight backwards off the north side of the platform,
disappearing into the molten depths below.
Winslow used his psynergy to blow out the rest of the flames on the platform
and neared his ally. "There's no way he'd let himself fall like that..."
"I know." Vance slowly moved over to the edge and peered
over. "He's probably planning to sneak up on us."
"But between the two of us, we should be able to restrain him, right?"
Winslow asked.
"I don't know." Vance caught his breath and surveyed his bruised
limbs. "Not only is he super-strong, that fire he uses makes it nearly impossible
to hit him."
"We could–"
Suddenly, a noise thundered out from below. A humanoid mass of magma
and lava rock exploded up from the depths and stomped onto a platform across
from them.
"Shit."
From within the hulking armor, Bruce let out a deep, guttural laugh. His
psynergy mixed in with blinding white flames around his body until it was impossible
to tell where his flesh ended and the stone began. Coated in molten lava and
rock, Bruce’s arms, legs, and torso had all become more destructive than before.
"I call this the Efreetian Exoskeleton," Bruce growled.
"You idiots actually thought you could stand a chance against me on my own
turf?"
Winslow took a step back, but Vance’s mind was elsewhere, looking past Bruce
to Eden's equally blazing aura, which drew ever nearer.
"Now die!"
With a pitcher's swing, Bruce sent a line of fire crashing down onto Vance and Winslow's
platform, cleaving it in two. The young men leapt in opposite directions as the
ray of destruction continued onwards, charring everything in its path. They managed
to grab onto outcroppings from neighboring platforms and climb up just as Bruce
canceled his attack and repositioned himself.
"Vance!" Winslow shouted across the burning pit. "Catch
this!"
Keeping his eyes on Bruce, Vance swung a hand out and caught what Winslow
threw at him: a heavy metal bracer. "What is this?"
"Just put it around your wrist!" Winslow commanded, then
started channeling his psynergy.
Bruce brought down his arm a second time and sent a torrent of white flame
spiraling out toward Vance. Before the Albavitrean could even prepare to jump,
his body was yanked up into the air. Guided by Winslow's metallic psynergy, Vance
swung away from Bruce and landed on a safer platform in the distance.
"Save your psynergy for attacking!" Winslow called out. "I'll
handle the rest!"
Vance warily equipped the accessory. "I can’t believe I’m saying
this, but...I'm counting on you!"
Despite having his body jerked to and fro, Vance tried to calm himself
and channel his power. The moment Bruce let his next flamewave loose, Winslow
swung Vance's body to the side and placed him at a perfect angle to attack. Seizing
his chance, Vance released a cylindrical stream of violet power, but Bruce blocked
it easily with one of his gargantuan arms.
It's no use, Vance
realized. Kicks, punches and psynergy aren't going to work on him. He's just
too strong. I need something special!
Vance felt Winslow’s power
swerve him to the side as a geyser of magma exploded next to him. The void
that destroyed Saffron's sword was the only reason I won that battle. The people
I fight are only going to get stronger and stronger from here on out. I need to
counter them with something special!
Vance looked over to Winslow.
Sweat poured down the ex-Zodiac's forehead as he carefully manipulated his magnetic
pressure.
Winslow's power is the only thing
saving my ass now. Why couldn't I see this sooner?!
Vance's body swerved to the left, once again dodging Bruce's flames.
Then, as the Tiger prepared to launch his next attack, Vance noticed that his body
wasn't going anywhere. He shot his head to the side, only to see Winslow's eyes
widen.
"Shit!" Vance shot a psynergy blast and propelled himself to
safety just as another fireball singed his feet. "What is it, Winslow?!"
"Can't you feel that?!" Winslow's eyes flitted around. "Something
impossibly huge is coming at us!"
Then, Vance felt it too: a massively expanding aura that was so large it
had been utterly beyond his scope of perception. It felt bright, shining, and insurmountably
powerful.
The entire right wall of the
cavern disintegrated, swallowed up by blinding light. Vance, Winslow and Bruce all
covered their eyes at once, frantically charging their psynergy to keep themselves
from sharing the same fate as the bedrock.
As soon as the initial shockwave
subsided, they brought their arms down, curious to see what the source of the cataclysmic
attack had been. Beyond the wall
they saw nothing but hollowness spreading as far as the eye could see, darkness
where rock should have been. Everything had been vaporized by the shining being
floating in the middle of it all.
She turned her corona head to the side, and Vance recognized her, if only
from texture of her aura. His mouth gaped open.
"Eden?"
Next: Black Hole
