Xyder Zephyr - POV;
"Fenix..." I muttered, never breaking eye-contact with the enemy.
"You're helping us?" Dagan enquired.
"Heh," he chuckled, "Don't be fooled, Zephyr. I just would never be satisfied with an ending like that. That bastard stepped over a line he never should have. Our battle isn't over yet, Xyder Zephyr. The one who gets the most hits on that bastard before he eats the dirt, wins!"
"Oh?" I smirked, "For the first time I have to say, I like the way you think, Zacharias Fenix."
"Imbeciles!" Zephyrus bellowed, bounding towards us with his wide, pounding steps. However, we were not only ready, but were now fully determined and confident that we would prevail.
Zacharias, in his demonic form, and I shot towards our foe, flanking him from both sides. Unsurprisingly, he blocked our strikes simultaneously with his limbs, yet we were unfazed. After all, we'd planned for it... at least subconsciously. When he halted our limbs, it allowed us to lock him in place for a moment; just long enough for Dagan to appear, driving his arm into the unprotected abdomen of the Vessel at maximum force.
Neo-Zephyrus pitched across the field haphazardly, somewhat catching himself just in time to steel his body against the earthen, arm-like construct which emerged abruptly before swatting at him powerfully. He extended his elbows fully, catching hold of the giant, dirt palm as I, having bolted to him, attempted to land a solid knee to his obliques. His experience shone through when he effortlessly raised his left leg to parry my movement perfectly, but it left him only a bit vulnerable for what was hardly a few seconds. Zacharias capitalised on this, striking the man's jaw with a flying uppercut that gave him tremendous lift.
Seeing the opportunity presented, Zacharias immediately took off after our fazed opponent with Dagan, whom had flung himself skyward with his element, at his side. They struck out simultaneously at the man from both sides in an attempt to confuse him, however he was above such tricks, twisting and redirecting their series of punches away from him. In the end though, he proved to be distracted just long enough for me to appear behind him and unload a combo of swift kicks which drove him earthbound, head first.
I had already been preparing for our next move, catching Dagan's hand as he rose past me and hurtling him in the opposite direction before giving chase myself in a bolt of Lightning. We caught up to Neo-Zephyrus amidst his spiralling descent, aiming to further his unfavorable odds of escaping with minimum injury from the fall. We didn't even anticipate his next desperate move, intentionally dislocating his shoulder temporarily so he could reach behind him enough to seize our throats and wrench us forward to break his fall. We were inches away from being planted into the floor when Zacharias appeared beside Neo-Zephyrus and pulled off an arching left hook to our foe's temple, causing him to spin off violently from the momentum, parralel to the base of the arena.
I twisted my body in such a way that I slowed my descent from a combination of drag and the lift from my Wind Element. The instant my shoe grazed the grass, I blasted after the dazed Primordial Vessel alongside Fenix's Regulus Heir. In a near synchronized motion, we swooped down and caught him just beneath both arms and, momentarily, held him upright as Dagan drove his Corundum forehead into the man's skull.
Neo-Zephyrus collapsed with such force from the blow that upon contacting the sand, his body bounced back up some four feet. Barely even catching their breath, Zacharias and Dagan went to work again, catching Neo-Zephyrus by the mandible and pelvis respectively before driving him down onto my waiting knee with all of their body's power and weight. I could feel every grind and snap of his lumbar and thoracic spine as it shattered from the grueling impact. However, this wasn't the end of our assault.
Setting us up for a true finale, I charged my right fist with the swift, descructive capabilities of Fire, Lightning and Wind which I slammed into him, catapulting his limp person. We followed him airborne once again where we continuously and relentlessly poured out a volley of attacks onto his now defenseles self for what seemed like an eternity.
This would ultimately culminate in a unified, devastating blow wherein our unanticipated trio ascended, swirling in a confluence of my elements, Zacharias' demonic energy and Dagan's shimmering gemstone before simultaneously bombarding the First Vessel. The resounding explosion of unprecedented power echoed well beyond the walls of the Colosseum, seemingly rippling through the atmosphere itself in a series of shockwaves that rocked this district of the metropolis.
Neo-Zephyrus pitched dangerously at insane speeds, cleaving a path through the air and dirt in his way. His trajectory shouldn't have mattered much, however in a moment of confidence we had gotten carried away and became complacent. It was only now, in this brief second of rest, that I'd noticed he was flying towards my sister's, still body.
"Evelynn!" Dagan, whom had also noticed, and I shouted in unison.
We looked on helplessly, hesitating as he came within an inch of her.
"Whoosh!"
Burning brightly, yet as a nigh incomprehensible blur, a figure whizzed past, seemingly disappearing just as Neo-Zephyrus barreled through.
Dagan and I rushed closer in a confused panic, Zacharias not far behind. As we laid eyes on the kneeling figure however, we took a sigh of relief. Where the blur landed, Ignatius now gently cradled Evelynn's body. As it seemed, he had sprung into action upon realizing the situation, grabbing her and pulling her out of the way of Zephyrus' destruction.
"She was a wonderful person. Her beauty, skill and genuine personality were unmatched. She shouldn't have died like this," Ignatius lamented.
"You...." I murmered. His left shoulder poured blood from a sizable gash where a chunk of flesh had been carved out, merely from the graze of our foe as he flew past earlier. This man... only minutes ago we had fought yet now he risked his own body to protect and respect my sister's legacy.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I can help you in this battle. No one has ever pushed me to my limits like Evelynn did. But, don't worry about your sister. I won't allow any harm to come to her, even if it means my life! You have my word," he swore, before glaring at the concrete stands, within which Zephyrus had disapeared into from our impact, "You just focus on beating the hell out of that piece of shit until he can't even bear to live any longer!"
Almost as if answering his call, the cracks left in the surface of the entire Northern Wing of the Colosseum began to spread outward exponentially. It seemed that the hurtling of the Vessel into it was the final push needed for its structural integrity to fail entirely. The unforgiving tonnes of stone and cement collapsed inwards, bringing down an eight of the stadium onto our enemy with a resounding crash. Buried and without air, we were certain he had or would soon meet his end.
"Hyaaaah!"
Our attention was wrenched to our rear as a man, one of Blaze's goons who had stealthily approached us, drove a flaming blade aimed directly at my chest. I barely had time to react with how close he'd gotten to me... but as fate would have it I needed not even raise a finger in that instance. Accompanied by rolling thunder, a spear of raw lightning ripped through him before taking him away. Simultaneously, a war-hardened woman formed beside us from the residual electrical charges that danced around in the air.
"Sorine!" Dagan called out to the girl. She smiled at us for a moment but her face swiftly fell as she laid eyes on Evelynn in Ignatius' grasp.
"You were the kindness and support that got me through many a pain. You saw me through my most difficult time in these last few months when no one else even noticed my suffering," Sorine whispered as she cleched her fists and shivered in rage, "You were too pure for this world. Why? Why do good people always suffer the most? I've done too many inexcusable things. If someone had to die, it should have been me. Don't worry now. Think about yourself for once and sleep soundly, sister. I'll take it from here. I won't let these assholes get away with this!"
"Xyder!"
I barely had time to process Sorine's arrival before Cheryl appeared and threw herself at me bodily. Her small frame latched tightly onto me with her desperate hug.
"Xyder, I was so worried! I rushed here as fast as I could! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!" she ranted, glaring at me with deep concern.
"Y-yeah," I answered in an unsure tone.
A chilling hail of snow circled around us for a moment, forming a humanoid female on touching the ground. Seconds later, a darting shadow streaked across the field and peeled itself off of the Earth, forming a familiar ally.
"Winter! Disas!" I blurted out their names.
"Guys!" the Epitome of Umbra choked out tearfully.
"Are you all okay?" Celes shouted to us as she dropped down in a cyclone of wind.
"Celes..." Dagan said softly. He looked at her momentarily before his eyes grew wide abruptly. Staring past her he exclaimed, "Jacqueline?!"
Not far away, Jacqueline was inching her way towards our group all while leaning against Satella for support. With them, propping each other up, was none other than the Fenix trio of Shula, Etna and Adara.
"Oi, what are you girls doing walking around?!" Zacharias boomed, rushing over to his three allies.
"Come on, you know I wouldn't get put out of commission that easily," Etna grinned coyly. Without warning, her knees buckled, causing her to fall forward. Zacharias instantly lurched forward, catching her halfway, and doing his best to break the fall of the girls she brought down with her.
"O...okay... so maybe... Zephyr's actually pretty strong. Whaddya know?" Etna joked through her panting breaths.
"You idiot," he hissed, holding his dear cousin closely.
"Aww, that's sweet," Jacqueline noted as she watched the scene unfold, "Maybe Fenix isn't that bad after all."
"Jacqy..." Dagan trailed off as he stepped towards her in a daze.
"Hey, bro-" she began.
"Jacqy!" he cut her off, squeezing her in a powerful embrace as he bawled into her shoulder, "I thought I would never see you again! I thought I'd lost you forever! I thought... I thought..."
"S... stop it... You stupid... stop... you'll make me cry too," she wailed, emulating his grasp.
The rest of us stood by, bottling in emotions that words could do no justice. We were together. After all this time... we were finally a unified group once more.
Satella hobbled over, her attention also trained on the pink-haired girl clinging to me. Cheryl noticed her approach and, to my surprise, she slowly released herself and took a step back. They glared at each other for some time before finally, Satella broke the ice, "You're alot stronger than I expected."
"You were great out there yourself," Cheryl responded.
"I think... I think we have alot of things to talk about... when all of this is over," Satella suggested.
"Yeah, you're right. I think so too, and I'd like that," Cheryl agreed.
"And Xyder..." Satella turned to me quietly as a warm smile crept up on her face, "It's great to have you back."
"Ella... Do... do all of you remember?" I pressed. One by one, my allies nodded in affirmation.
"I see. I did you all a terrible disservice for these past months. I plunged us all into a painful and uncalled for choas. I don't blame you if you've lost faith in me. I'd understand if you decided to walk away from this," I stated regretfully.
"It wasn't you and you know it," Jacqueline chimed in.
"If we should hate you for being under Tenebrae's control, then the same should go for those of us who were too. It's the same," Sorine grunted.
"No. I knew what I was doing. I wanted to do all of it. It was me," I insisted.
"Even if it was, you're still the one who fixed this, right? You're the one who made everything right. The rest of us were already..." Satella trailed off.
"Besides," Disas picked up where she paused, "As bad as it may have seemed, those days were a great blessing in disguise! Those who were captured by Blaze were being left behind in power and we all know that even we were pushing our limits just to barely keep up with the other clans. Heck, our team couldn't even do that."
"In fact, I think we could argue that you, Evelynn and Sorine were the only ones who were truly up to par. You three were dragging us all forward," Dagan spoke.
"But look at us now. Because of what you did, we were able to grow... evolve. Now look at us," Winter called my attention to her arm which slowly shifted into a mass of snow, "We've all achieved unbelievable strength. The Epitomes became Deity Vessels and we all perfected the art of fighting as a unit. We gained so much progress in seemingly no time at all. For the first time, we all have a definite chance at victory!"
I mulled over their words in silence for what felt like an hour before eventually lifting my head to look towards them, "Then stand with me my friends. We'll show them how far we've come. We aren't the same rascals they thought they could mess with! Fenix, I'm sorry for what I did to you."
"Sorry? What are you talking about? It was a battle. We were all prepared to be damaged," Zacharias declared.
"Zephyr," Ignatius chimed in, "There's something different about all of you... but especially you Xyder. I sensed a forbidden malice in your Elemental Energy before, but it has faded away with the passing moments. When we entered our battle, I saw Evelynn as our true threat. As you are now however, you've achieved her level... nay, you've surpassed it. I don't know what happened, but you all clearly do. It's safe to say that we aren't on the same page as you."
"Fenix doesn't remember..." Dagan thought aloud.
"I figured as much," I told him.
"Then who does?" Sorine put forth the question on everyone's mind.
"That's a great question."
"Hey. Before we figure this all out, shouldn't we find the rest of our friends?" Winter spoke up, "Storm said he was coming here ahead of me but he's still missing."
"Alva, Rydia and Fira too. Where in the worl-"
"BOOM!"
With puffs of undulating, billowing, black smoke, two large holes erupted from the North-Western wall with a tremendous crash. Two trails of ash diverged toward opposing sides of the field, arcing sharply as it plummeted towards the ground. From the sizzling shadows, two recognizable figures came into vision.
"Storm! Fira!"