Two minutes before the battle
"This should work. I've conjured up a scheme and divided everyone here into one of four groups where they should be most key to our set win conditions." Keeping a cautious eye on Tiamat's movements and the black waters creeping at her feet below the clouds we glided above, Merlin communicated with us his plan, marking us each with a number.
One, huh? Okita, Nezha, Serenity, and Shiki share the same numeral with me.
"As mentioned in our previous meeting, since both Beasts are active we'll need two groups to combat them. Squad one will focus on buying time and slowing down Silva until squad three can complete their objective. Needless to say, it wouldn't hurt if you and Okita tried to talk him down as you fought, Nero. I know you've remarked that you tried separately already, but you and Okita together might be able to spark a reaction from him."
"Likewise, squad two of Quetzalcoatl, Jaguar, Ishtar, and Ereshkigal- the servants with more knowledge concerning Tiamat shall confront her, alongside the possible threat of Kingu should he be by her side."
"Assigning only four people to Tiamat... is that truly the best plan of action to be called?" Ishtar challenged Merlin, resting on Manna to his immediate right.
"I agree it's not ideal, but the greater amount of people we have assigned to Silva, the quicker our problem with him has a chance of being terminated. If Ana or Tomoe was still around I could've split the teams even... since they aren't, I had to prioritize the likelier bigger threat. You'll just have to do your best until assistance arrives."
"I'm aware. I wasn't criticizing you caster, just venting my pre-battle frustrations." Ishtar deflated, continually performing her task of sorting through her gems.
Readjusting his attention to team three composed of Atalanta and Jeanne, Merlin persisted with relaying his strategy.
"I doubt there's much I can tell you both about what your task is. With the primordial sea no longer contained in Hell but flowing across Uruk, your duo needs to await somewhere safe from the throes of battle until you spot it floating in the waves. Retrieve it then find a way to transfer it into the hands of someone on team one, where you'll stay and aid them in suppressing Silva."
"Then what lies in the purpose of team four?" Mash raised an arm, revealing a faint purple number glowing on the surface of her dark armor.
"Yes, on the subject of that... you, me, and Fujimaru as the final team will be venturing down to the underworld to handle some small business while the war rages above, Mash."
"What are you traveling to the underworld for then Merlin? Is this business detrimental when you just told team three they had no reason to step into Kur?"
"Hmm... Let's sum up and say there's a... sleeping force that's waiting to meet our dear last master so it can awaken. That's all I can say for now, Ereshkigal."
"You're making us take a huge gamble leading master deep underground away from the vast majority of us. I hope what you're setting out to do is truly worthwhile."
"I won't be leaving without helping in some manner, Serenity. I'll cast spells on both groups- a particular spell that'll help in healing your injuries and levitate you when the need arrives so neither party one or two will have to worry about being swallowed by the sea while engaged in battle."
"I can understand why some of you are off-put by my notion to travel into the underworld, even so, I need you all to trust my intentions. Fight with everything you've got until the three of us return. Do that, and the power gap should diminish... and if he shows up, then we may even become close to matching them in strength."
Around him, the faces of the group transformed into expressions of those deep in contemplation, mine included.
Having master absent from the battlefield for a while would keep her safer at the cost of the magic energy we received being decreased. It was a high-risk strategy that could bring about an equally promising result if Merlin's words proved true. Yet, any talk of evening the odds would hardly matter if we were wiped out before they returned, leaving no protection for master.
It was a vexing situation and yet...
"...You must have great faith in whoever is waiting for you, Mage of Flowers. Just... make sure to keep Ritsuka safe if things spiral uncontrollably out of our hands."
Yet everyone came into agreeance at once, sharing sentiments with Quetzalcoatl who'd spoken up first as the voice of the group.
"Now then..." Petting the head of the wyvern she rode, Quetz careened her head down to glance at the gigantic axe her pets carried, shooting the other three wyverns in the formation a look flushed with concern.
"I think it's about time we head into battle. If not, we may end up plummeting from the sky without a moment's notice; I'm afraid carrying my axe for so long has left my wyverns weary."
"Why ever did you request we head to where it was kept and bring it here in the first place again?"
"You haven't figured it out, sister Ishtar? Whenever fighting such a terrifying force of nature, you need something equally as devastating to bring them down, no? Just watch as I stagger Tiamat with a single throw of this weapon!"
Blowing a commanding whistle, Quetz's wyverns gave a vigorous roar in unison and lowered us below the clouds, flapping us in the direction of the two beasts.
★ ★ ★ Back to present ★★★
Falling in a clear arc, the claymore's rapid descent left no window to alter course.
Crap!
Calling Aestus to my hand, I swung up, trying to redirect the attack off-course as the blade neared our heads... only for it to vanish alongside the threat of disaster it would have brought us had it hit.
A feint!?
Feeling the gentle brush of wind blow behind me, both Okita and I were sent flying from our ride's back by a smack coming from a club composed purely of air.
Witnessing the others in our group rush to our aid as I and the sakura saber skid to a stop in an area not ailed by Tiamat's ocean, our opponent proved to close the distance before they could reach us.
Seamlessly teleporting to appear before my eyes, Silva swung his makeshift double-sided blade into Aestus.
The metals sparked against each other with great ferocity, further igniting the conflict we were locked in.
Meeting the eyes of Okita approaching from the side, I pushed back harder, urging my feet not to bury under Silva's unrelenting strength until the ground gave out, shards exploding into the air as cracks formed beneath where we battled.
Gaining enough space, I cut into the air at the same time as Okita, dispersing the dust cloud with our simultaneous swing.
"I like the effort, a shame how it's wasted."
Passing cleanly through his form, our blades met no resistance instead cutting through nothingness as Silva ceased to be after mocking us with a laugh.
Predicting what came next, another draft of wind blew against me as Okita and I turned, interlocking against Silva- two of him, both of us battling against our own as another scoff echoed in the air around us.
"Now, let's see the fun begin."
At the signal of his voice ending, eight Silva's came into existence floating in the sky directly above us, each figure sparking a different spell in their hands as they readied to launch them.
Is this... his afterimage technique from way back then?
An overwhelming light encapsulated the dry plains, searing the area with me and Okita in the direct path of whatever was ready to come to fruition.
Unsuspecting the surprise that came next, the sword clashing against mine, unraveled back into simple chains constricting around Okita and me. Together we were wrapped as one.
The new restraints buried deeper into my skin, my body feeling as though it was being ground to dust. Concentrating on fading to spirit form, the chains emitted a hum in response, keeping me tangible in its hold.
I can't... transform...
"...Man, what a pain this is turning out to be."
A delicate voice carried by the wind, the chains and afterimages of Silva dispersed without the trace of a single cut; the predicament averted.
Any sound absent from their movements, Serenity and Shiki dropped in front of the pair of Okita and me protectively, their dagger and kunai glimmering within their hands, as they officially made their entrance into the fight.
"What are you two doing? Didn't Merlin say not to hold anything back? You're all but going to get yourselves killed at this rate." Shiki calmly stated, aiming her gaze at me."
"I know. I was momentarily taken by surprise. It's been awhile and all his techniques I know about have evolved. It's the same for you right, Okita?"
"Yeah. We'll get used to it in stride though."
"Oh, I'm all but convinced you will, Okita. I do wonder who will catch onto whose's tricks quicker though."
Rebrandishing Aestus on steady feet since the fight began, Silva mysteriously answered in kind to Okita.
"So afterimages won't work with Serenity and Shiki around. Seems you both possess some degree of presenting your targets with an instant death... very much like Thanatos. Looks like I'll have to make my actual appearance into this fight quicker than anticipated."
Warping into the space across from us, our sides stood in silence as the grass thrashed softly at our legs.
The sky crackled with great defiance, lightning striking the earth harder than any time before it. Flickering into his hands a rainbow flame in each, Silva sat and placed his palms together, beckoning us forward as he went silent.
Shooting in various directions, the four of us split to close the distance, warily watching for whatever may pop from the shadows.
What is he doing, some sort of meditation? I've never seen this technique, and from Okita's level of alert, neither has she.
...Regardless of what comes next, I need to keep my mind sharp... Goblet of Wealth.
My keen mind sharpening and focused, I carefully blitzed a path to Silva while my minor scrapes healed. Less than ten feet away, I took another powerful rush ahead as the unsettling feeling something was off increased from a mere warning to shouting in the back of my mind-
"Pierce. Burn. Devour."
The cries of all four of us present rang like a sorrowful melody across the plains. Lightning, flames, bombardments from the air, and even piercing attacks that drew our blood randomly fell and consumed us until my sight was overtaken by the massive explosion that took place as the torrent of attacks reached its climax.
"I wasn't expecting the power behind that attack to be so destructive."
Catching me by the foot before I had the hope of hitting the ground, Silva's emotionless expression filled my vision once sight became possible.
"It truly does pain me to see you getting hurt considering all the times I healed you in the past whenever you got injured. Why not stop this nonsense and stand aside-"
Driving Aestus up, the tip soared by centimeters off the mark; nothing aside from short strands of hair coming off Silva as he casually leaned back from the strike without a single sign of worry.
"Always so thick-headed."
Knocking Aestus free of my hands, rapidly the scenery around me flew by. I was hurtling down from Silva's throw, the shrunken items below appearing larger ever faster. The boreal tempest thickened the further I plummeted, whipping at my clothing and pressuring my lungs, until the storm stopped and the wind reversed the way it was flowing.
This is bad...!
Flailing around until I faced the crimson sky I brought my arms up protectively before my chest as a tiny twinkle shone in the atmosphere.
"Tempestal Extinction."
Sinking the very land itself, the trees, soil, grass, and everything else lying on the surface near-instantly flattened, surrendering to the power of the condensed squall as an elemental pillar of wind, thunder, and darkness rammed into me with gravity ten times that of earth's own.
The unsavory taste of iron flooded my mouth- blood escaping my lips with a path trailing well past my chin. The gravitational force excruciatingly persisted for minutes. For the duration, it felt like my body was being crushed into itself, all the while, another separate stream of red emanated from my ears as the ability to hear thinned beyond recognition until all that greeted me was boundless silence. The distant quakes of this very world being brought to collapse mute to my tone-deaf ears as Silva's attack destructively floored the land.
An unbearable chime ricocheted around in my head. Soil piled up under my nails. Lacking any spare strength, using what I had to weakly claw myself free of the human-indented hole I'd left from being weighed into the ground, I buckled from the numbness still afflicting my legs.
A messy and unsightly heap on the floor, my only way to move was crawling on all fours as I dragged myself ahead. Among the hazy blurriness where I couldn't even see what lay onward, the contours of my mouth refused to close, gasping hungrily for what little air was left in the atmosphere.
Mellow sensations filtered into my crushed eardrums as the deafness inflicted upon them slowly receded, picking up distorted muffles of wingbeats.
A wall of wind slammed into my face, and several fissures formed in the dirt, shifting mounds of it aside. Hinting that something was brought down with uncanny force.
Seconds of holding out against the massive current, the veil hiding the mystery cleared at last- Aestus just ten yards out of my reach was struck in the earth, held within Silva's grasp as he kicked it to me as though showing how harmless he considered me.
"You won't be healing from that. Not like I imagine you're hoping you will. All your allies are in the same state. Probably should've used a different spell though, Meltryllis likely isn't happy I took out her prey."
Their guard lowered, Silva's light, pillowy footsteps made not a sound in the soil on his approach towards me.
"Wha... What are you..." What was meant to be a heavy punch to his chest with all I could muster, struck and bounced off with the harmlessness of a playful slap as Silva, unbothered by my antics, placed a hand under my chin and brought my face closer to his until less than a centimeter remained before the tip of our noses touched.
"Every sense of you... could start corroding away any minute. Thanks to more of my power becoming unsealed after obtaining my memories from Hell, I was finally able to access the ability in my eyes- The Nexus of Origin."
"It's why I can tell you've been reduced to a weakened state. From what I can tell your master abandoned you all to fight Tiamat and me by your lonesome... which begs the question... What could be so important to attract her attention elsewhere? An answer, I bet you know, Nero."
"In fact.." Pushing his hand to my chest, it rested directly above my heart as though listening to every slow beat it gave. "I think I'll have this tell me, instead of shuffling through your memories. I need only to rewind to your conversation in the sky I'm betting. It was nice of me to let you guys conduct it even after I spotted your wyverns."
Emitting a weirdly unsettling shockwave from the hand kept over my heart, a chance to protest was missed with my mouth never getting the time to open.
Echoing around the cavern, reverberations of my beating heart bounced and reflected off the walls while the voices of everyone at the meeting were relayed to Silva's ears.
Time felt like it was paused just for us until the entire conversation replayed in full, divulging everything in full to Silva. Having what he wanted, Silva backed away from me, and sadly once more my body slumped to the ground. None of my energy seemingly recovered.
"I see. So Mash, Merlin, and Chaldea's master are in the Underworld, and probably the ones least affected by my attack. Meanwhile, Jeanne and Atalanta are benched until they find the third orb, the entire root of how you plan to subdue me."
"Haphazard is far too much of an understatement in describing your strategy considering you don't know what memories might be contained within it... Unless you've discussed that possibility already... in a previous meeting before the one I just heard. I see, so you had another strategy talk prior to the one atop the wyverns. Seems I'll have to find that conversation so I can see what you think those memories are."
No... if he finds out about Sephira then... we'll lose the only element of surprise we have left!
Already closing in on my heart for the second time, I made a desperate move for Aestus which lay a few feet discarded from my prone body after Silva dropped it earlier to hold me.
Entangled in chains within an instant, my partner was tugged from my reach before I could get any part of myself around the hilt as I was plucked from off the floor again with Silva snatching a hefty clump of the neckline of my dress.
"Be at ease. Don't worry, after this, I won't have to listen to your heart anymore. Just let me hear what it has to tell me this one last time."
Not minding my struggle in his grip, Silva's hand obstinately kept straight on its path for my heart. Chomping down on the opposite hand helplessly holding me in the air, anxiety built up inside me as Silva's focus remained undeterred regardless of how much harder I buried my teeth into the skin and bones of his hand or how intensely I tried to garner his attention by calling his name.
All my fighting was pointless.
Sorry, Kosmos. Sephira...
Making contact with my chest again shortly, I waited for the eerie sensation of the shockwave to come over me, having said my apology.
"ENOUGH OF THIS INSOLENCE!!!"
Even with my eyes closed, the instance it happened I could feel immense heat before me. Fluttering open my eyelids, I took in the sight of building-sized bolts of pure light striking the ground, the waves of blasts caused by them freeing me from Silva as I fell back on my butt.
Gazing emptily at his vacant hand as seconds passed in silence in the space we shared, Silva firmly closed his palm like he was gripping something physically in the air... his boiling fury seemingly stemming from a problem unrelated to the fact I'd slipped from his grasp.
"I had a hunch you switched sides seeing that you haven't returned to hang around my neck in hours. I would've been fine had you betrayed me and not shown up, but here you are, and in that body nonetheless. I guess I just naturally attract traitors and tragic events."
Turning my attention to the mouth of the cavern where Silva's watchful look stayed locked on, a radiant figure walked through the settling smoke, waving the remaining traces of puffs away with a flourish of their hand.
Their phantom-grey hair spiked at the ends in rage levitated powerfully behind them. Pale green almond-shaped orbs visually clashed with Silva's own amethyst eyes from afar in an intense staredown as the respective aura belonging to each soared and continued to rise with no signs of stopping. A female with a build similar to mine stood brazenly before the powerful halfling.
Breathing heavily with dismay in their sigh, the girl shook her head without saying much and teleported, reappearing while standing next to where I sat.
"You truly are going too far, or perhaps I'm not going far enough to stop you from hurting those only trying to help you, kid. I haven't held up your mother's wish for you at all. Even after all those battles we won, you never did find any happiness, and now you're beating down on friends who wish to see you find solace..."
Drawing her weapon, the mallet twinkled brilliantly near the area where she gripped the handle as the female sent me a somber smile from over her shoulder, continuing to hold the keen stare she had on Silva.
"Apologizes kid, but I'm gonna have to beat you down all so your mother can smile as she watches over you from above."
As the sun quit reflecting its showy glare off the handle of the girl's bronze hammer, my eyes slowly spelled out what the engraved words read.
Trailing my gaze over every detail of the mysterious warrior once more, their name naturally slipped off my tongue in great surprise.
...Typhoon?
END
Next: Harbinger Of The End: II
A/N
Hey, author-san back again! A rather one-sided start to the final battle, but that's intentional. Not to worry, things are going to become more even before long.
Also, Morgan dropped in NA! How are your guys' rolls going? Or just your summer?
Anyway, I hope you all are doing well and I'll see everyone next chapter.
Author-san out! ✌🏼