Ch 4: Who I Am

Facing off against Malum, the Herald of Nameless One, Grey begins to regain his power and remember what makes him who he is.

            Reaching the clock tower, Grey looked around for any sign of Malum. Then he laid eyes on the church down the street to his right, a neglected looking building that sat in a large lot surrounded by a wrought iron fence. As he started to head towards it though, he heard Pyro call out, “Hey man! Where do you think you’re going without us?!” Turning in surprise to see them all coming down the street towards him, Grey sighed and said, “Why did you have to follow me?!” Irritated by his attitude, Tory turned off his music player and said, “You have to ask?!” 

Turning back to face the church, Grey said, “Guys, I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ll be able to go to school with you after all.” Blinking in surprise, Pyro said, “What? Man, where’d all this come from?!” Walking slowly towards Grey, Marcyl said, “Yeah, what are you talking about Grey?! Didn’t you say you were looking forward to going to school here?!” Clenching his fists, Grey said quietly, “I was…” Pausing in her stride, Marcyl said, “Then why?” Staring at the church, able to sense the dark presence within it, Grey said, “Because in the end…” Gathering twin masses of EDE in his hands, as they crystallized into the twin swords of his Complete Anima Weapon, Grey took hold of them and smiled apologetically as he said, “This is who I am!” As his friends stared in awe, Grey rushed towards the church, prepared to face Malum once and for all.

            Kicking the door of the church open, Grey stepped inside the building cautiously. Lit by dim lights mounted on the walls, the church consisted of rows of wooden benches lined up on both sides of the room before an altar. Set into the wall behind the altar, three grand statues of humanoid figures made of bronze stared out across the benches. Walking down the aisle between the benches, Grey made his way towards the altar and the statues. Stopping before the altar, Grey looked up at the statue on the left and said, “Serius…” Then turning to look at the statue on the right, after staring at it a moment he muttered, “Gabriel, no… Alexander…” Finally looking up at the statue in the center, Grey said, “And…” Rising from a dark vortex behind him, Malum said, “Amanus of the Infinite. Together they were known as Angelorum Lux. However, their time has come and gone…” 

As Grey turned to face him, Malum continued, “The hour of the Nameless One is upon us, and I have been reborn into the world to ensure that it comes to pass. No amount of meddling from our little black sheep Alastor or the troublesome Seeker will stop us. However, you’re one loose end we cannot ignore. I am known by many names, but you may call me Malum, the Herald of the Nameless One. By order of my dark master…” Gathering a mass of EDE into each hand, Malum crystallized them both into his dark Ravenclaw blades, and channeling EDE into one of them he said, “You must be terminated!” With a swing his blade, Malum unleashed a wave of dark energy at Grey. Charging a blade with EDE, Grey deflected it powerfully and leaped into the air, coming down on Malum with both blades as he shouted, “Let’s go you b*****d!”

            Jumping back as Grey came down, Malum lunged back into striking range as Grey’s blades struck the floor, but recovering quickly, Grey brought his swords up and blocked. Locked in swordplay, their blades clashed and clashed. Locking blades with Grey again, Malum said, “Well, this is a surprise! You’ve regained this much power in such a short time?” Shoving Malum back and throwing him off balance, Grey landed a solid kick to his chest as he said, “Whatever it takes to kick your a*s!” Staggering back, Malum tried to block as Grey lunged forward and struck, but the force behind Grey’s sword knocked him across the room to crash into the doors of the church. Landing sprawled out on his stomach, as Malum struggled up on his hands and knees, his mask fell off. Rising with a creepy laugh, Malum said, “You’ve recovered even faster than I had expected!” Grey’s eyes went wide as he saw Malum’s face, and slowly he stammered, “W-what?! No… No way! Why?! Who are you?!” 

Malum’s face was exactly the same as Grey’s except for the glowing red markings across his face. Grinning back at Grey as he stared, Malum said, “When you were reborn by the power of the phoenix stone, the Nameless One’s essence within you was affected as well, allowing me to revive. It couldn’t reconstruct my original body, but with this, the Nameless One finally has a servant that will act in his interests! Once I regain my full power, form will be easy enough to manipulate, and even though you were never fully merged with him, I gained some of your powers through this happy little accident as well!” Dropping into a battle stance, Malum said, “Accelerate!” 

Bursting across the distance between them as a blur of speed, Malum struck powerfully, and even though Grey managed to block him, the force and momentum behind the strike sent him flying back. Moving as a blur behind Grey while he was still sailing through the air, Malum caught him in the air with a spinning kick and sent him bouncing down the aisle. Grey finally skidded to a halt, and as he managed to get on one knee he looked up as he heard Malum chant, “Septimo Spiritus Nox!” As Malum aimed a sword at Grey, dark runes glittered upon its blade and solid concentrations of darkness in the form of dark skulls formed in the air around it, quickly flying forth and closing in on Grey. Grey grit his teeth as the skulls were upon him, and seconds later he disappeared in a mighty blast of darkness.

            Seeing Grey disappear in the explosion, Malum let his swords evaporate and said, “Part of me is rather disappointed. The lingering remains of the person I once was had been looking forward to the day you would surpass the gods in his place. Still, in the end there is no one who can truly oppose the will of the Nameless One…” Moving through the aisle to it, Malum bent down and picked up his mask. Then as he stood, he saw a vortex of silver energy swirling violently where Grey had been, and as it collapsed back into Grey’s aura, Malum saw him standing there once more, determination in his now silver eyes as he said, “Now might be a good time to say your prayers you b*****d!” Channeling EDE into his blade, Grey swung it at Malum as he shouted, “Ein Soph Aur!” Erupting from his blade, a wave of silvery power shot out and tore across the church at Malum. Forming a sword in his free hand, Malum charged it with EDE and blocked with it. As the silver energy wave pushed against his weapon, Malum went sliding back on his feet, unable to hold his ground against its might. 

Digging his heels into the ground, Malum mustered all the power he had and finally brought himself to a halt. Then a powerful dark aura erupted around him, and he at last knocked the wave away from him with a cry of rage, sending it tearing through the wall of the church. Putting his mask back on, panting, Malum gasped, “The same as when he fought Nova… True EDE!” Forming his other blade once more, as Grey leaped across the church at him, Malum blocked his blades as he brought them down and shoved Grey away. Landing on his feet, Grey chanted, “Ego Voco Vos, Verus Acies!” Lunging back into range of Malum as his blades took their True Edge form and shone with radiant silver energy, Grey unleashed a flurry of strikes, and it was all Malum could do to defend himself against Grey’s strength and skill. 

Opening a dark vortex behind himself, Malum leaped backwards into it and disappeared, reappearing behind Grey and raising his sword to chant, “Septimo Spiritus Nox!” Looking back over his shoulder to see the dark skulls shoot out at him, Grey ran up to the wall in front of him and leaped up onto the side of it, pushing off of it and back flipping over the skulls as they chased him. Landing, to Grey’s annoyance the skulls veered away from the wall to turn around and pursue him. Dropping out of a dark vortex above him, Malum brought his blades down on Grey, who blocked and shoved him away just in time to charge his own blades with EDE and knock the skulls away. Charging at each other, both Grey and Malum shouted, “Accelerate!” Their strikes echoing through the church, they clashed again and again at high speed, and then as the skulls came back to strike again, Malum leaped away and fired a wave of dark energy at Grey. Jumping aside to avoid the wave, as the skulls swerved after him, Grey swung his swords at them and unleashed the stored EDE within their blades as twin energy waves, and as the waves struck they blew the skulls away with a blast of True EDE.

            Turning and blocking as Malum appeared behind him in a blur of speed, Grey quickly chanted, “Septimo Spiritus Terra!” Erupting from his sword, a shockwave of sonic power blew Malum sailing into the wall behind him. Striking hard against the wall and falling flat on his face, as Malum struggled up, he muttered to himself, “How can he already fight like this?!” Overhearing him, Grey smirked and said, “It’s just the way I am I guess. Once I’d made up my mind to stand up to you, my ability to fight seemed to come back to me from out of nowhere.” Gathering great amounts of Corrupted EDE, Malum laughed creepily and said, “You truly are mysterious! But as sad as it is, this is the end of the road. I have other business matters to attend to here in Lorem Academy…” Sensing the great amount of Corrupted EDE Malum was gathering, Grey leaped back and gathered EDE of his own. 

Raising his blade at Grey and channeling all his power into it, Malum shouted, “Devil’s Summoning!” As a massive beam of black flames composed of Corrupted EDE shot out from the tip of Malum’s sword at him, Grey channeled True EDE into his own blade and swung it, unleashing the stored power as he shouted, “Ein Soph Aur!” The great energy wave sprang forth to meet Malum’s Devil’s Summoning, and upon striking each other the two attacks struggled in the air between Grey and Malum, power crackling around them. Malum seemed to have the advantage, as Grey’s Ein Soph Aur was slowly being pushed backwards by his Devil’s Summoning. As Grey poured more EDE into his attack, struggling to break through, Malum called out, “So how will you get out of this one Grey? I’m dying to know!” Malum poured out more Corrupted EDE, his Devil’s Summoning became even more powerful, and Grey grit his teeth and thought, “I’m gonna lose if I don’t think of something!” As Malum continued to push back Grey’s energy wave, he taunted, “It’s just as Doctor Nova said! While your True EDE may be incredibly powerful, you don’t understand its secret! Without that knowledge, you can’t defeat me alone! You’ve bitten off more than you could chew this time!”

            Still struggling against the might of Malum’s attack, for a moment Grey wondered if he was right. Then he remembered the words he’d spoken to Marcyl and the others before entering the church, and thought to himself, “I didn’t say that just to sound cool! It’s not like I’ve remembered anything, but I’m here because the kind of person I am just doesn’t like to back down, no matter what’s in my way! That’s who I am, who I’ll always be!” Malum saw a smirk appear on Grey’s face, and then heard him say, “Void Energy, Level 3!” With that, Grey began generating a massive amount of True EDE with his Void Energy, so much that the silver power began overflowing out of his body and swirling around the church like a tornado. Looking around at the gathering energies in disbelief, Malum thought, “Void Energy?! It’s overflowing from his body like in the graveyard! It’s not on the same scale, but he’s actually in control of it!” 

From within the storm of silver power swirling around him, Grey called out, “I hate to break it to you Malum, but I have too many things to remember…” The silvery glow in his eyes becoming more intense, Grey continued, “To waste time screwing around with a circus freak like you!” Suddenly, the True EDE gathered around Grey condensed into an incredibly powerful aura, and with the newfound energy at his disposal, he poured it all into his attack. Against the newly empowered Ein Soph Aur, Malum’s attack was quickly pushed backwards. As he opened a dark vortex, Malum muttered, “It seems we may have to ally with our little black sheep after all…” Jumping through the dark vortex, Malum narrowly escaped as a brilliant explosion of volatile True EDE disintegrated the entire wall behind the spot where he had just stood.

            Lowering his blade, Grey panted as he thought, “I hope that did it… Controlling all that really took it outta me…” Then, his blood turned cold as he heard Malum say from behind him, “Bravo.” Turning about, Grey saw Malum stagger out of a dark vortex. Raising a hand, dark vortexes began to form all throughout the church as he said, “It would seem your ‘strength of the heart’ is a force to be reckoned with, even in your current state of mind. You win this round. I have little strength left to pursue my venture here further…” As another dark vortex opened next to him, Malum stepped into it and said, “We won’t be giving up so easily though Grey. Consider this prior notice of your termination.” 

As Malum disappeared into his dark vortex, creeping from the others appeared strange figures, black feathers poking out of the dark hooded robes they wore, strange hands with dark talons at the end of their wing-like arms. Looking at the hooded monstrosities as they quickly surrounded him, Grey muttered, “What the hell are they?!” Ducking aside as one of them lunged at him, with a horizontal counterattack Grey slashed it in half, and it swiftly disintegrated. Quickly raising his blade as another leaped up high, he fired a silver sphere of True EDE up at it, blowing it out of the air. Whirling about as another charged him, Grey managed to block its talons as it swiped at him, and struggling against its strength, Grey thought, “Damn, how am I gonna get out of this one?!” 

Behind him, one of the monstrosities raised a winged arm, and as its feathers quivered, several of them shot out like projectiles. Piercing Grey’s back, the feathers stabbed deep into his flesh, and falling to one knee as he continued to push back the beastly talons, Grey let out a stifled cry of pain. Suddenly the door of the church burst open, and shooting across the room at the monstrosities gathered around Grey, balls of flame and spinning disks of wind wreaked havoc upon their numbers. Stepping through the door with Tory and Pyro, a razor sharp disk of wind spinning at the tip of Tory’s finger while Pyro held her hand up as though to snap her fingers, Marcyl shouted, “Leave Grey alone!” Staring in disbelief, Grey whispered, “Guys…”

            Ceasing to push against his blade, the monstrosity assailing Grey broke away from him and leaped up onto the wall, skittering up it onto the ceiling and moving across it towards the door as the two other remaining monstrosities charged at Marcyl and the others from the ground. Raising her hand at the one on the ceiling, Pyro shouted, “Oh no you don’t!” Snapping her fingers, sparks shot out and became balls of fire that shot up at the beast upon the ceiling, blowing it away in blasts of fire. Then Tory crossed his arms and quickly formed a swirling disk of wind at the tip of his other extended index finger, swinging his arms out and unleashing both disks at the other monstrosities as they leaped into the air at him. Flying out at the creatures, the disks sliced them in half in the air, their remains disintegrating. 

Rushing over to Grey, who quickly crumpled to the floor from his injury, Marcyl shouted, “Grey! Hold on!” Marcyl quickly and carefully removed the feathers, and placing a hand over his wounds, she began to heal him as her hand glowed with blue light. Rushing over to him as well, Tory right behind her, as Pyro reached Grey, she knelt down and said, “Sorry we’re late man, hang in there!” Watching as Marcyl continued to heal, Tory said, “Will he be alright Marcyl?” Concentrating deeply, Marcyl said, “I’m not sure, the feathers were in so deep…” After a few more tense minutes, Marcyl wiped her forehead and muttered, “Phew.” Seeing Tory and Pyro looking at her expectantly, Marcyl quickly added, “Oh right! I think he’ll be fine now, but he shouldn’t really move around much.” As Tory and Pyro both breathed a sigh of relief, Grey started to come around. Looking up at them, Grey said, “You guys came back for me?” 

Standing and adjusting her hat smugly, Pyro said, “Of course dude!” Nodding in agreement, Tory said, “We’ve been trying to get in the whole time.” Eagerly chiming in, Marcyl said, “Yeah, but some kind of darkness sealed off the door, and then those creepy things showed up! They were coming down all over the city from the clouds!” At this information, Grey started to bolt up, but grabbing him and trying to hold him down, Marcyl exclaimed, “Ah! Wait, don’t do that please!” Grey started to say, “But…!” With a calming gesture, Tory said, “The clouds vanished and the monsters retreated when the darkness around the door disappeared.” Shooting Grey a sly grin, Pyro said, “Guess that means you kicked a*s, huh?” With a weak laugh, Grey said, “Kinda, but he got away.” Shrugging her shoulders, Pyro said, “Hey, a win’s a win. He’d better think twice before messing with our home again!”

            Exiting the church, Tory carrying Grey on his back, the four made their way down the road and turned onto the main street of the shopping center. Signs of a battle could be seen here and there, no doubt the result of conflict between the monstrosities that had descended from the dark clouds and the citizens that were now running about clearing up the mess. Seeing a line of hover cars coming down the street towards them, one a sleek black model and the rest the blue and white of the city guard, Pyro stopped and said, “A little late, but maybe they can give us a ride.” Seeing the hover cars coming as well, Grey said, “What’s going on?” Waving at the oncoming hover cars, Marcyl said, “We called Johnny and told him to get help. That black one is the Headmistress’ hover car! It’s so cool!” 

The Headmistress’ hover car pulled up to the sidewalk, and as the passenger door opened, Johnny stepped out, a cocky grin on his face as he said, “Well fancy meeting you all here!” Rolling her eyes, Pyro said, “We’re the ones who called you Johnny…” Stepping out the driver’s side door, Elizabeth looked over at Tory and Grey and said, “Well, you certainly look like you’ve been busy. I guess it’s already over then?” Nodding, Grey said, “For now.” Laughing, Johnny raised a hand to give Grey a thumbs up as he said, “As expected of my fated rival! Too bad you didn’t call on me earlier though. Whoever was behind this would have fled in terror at the sight of Johnny Spark!” Marcyl giggled, and Pyro simply clutched her head. Clearing her throat, Elizabeth said, “Speaking of which, just who was behind all of this?” With a serious expression, Grey said, “He called himself Malum, the Herald of the Nameless One.” 

Turning his head back to look at Grey, Tory said, “What?!” Eyes wide, Pyro said, “No way! I knew he had to be bad news, but man…” His cocky grin gone, Johnny said, “And you’re telling me you beat him?!” Worried by everyone’s reaction, Marcyl said, “Is this guy really dangerous then? I think I’ve heard of a Nameless One in history class, but I can’t remember…” Pushing her glasses up her nose, Elizabeth said, “Let’s not talk about this here. Will Grey be alright to come to my office, or should we let him rest in the infirmary first?” Glancing at Marcyl with a grin, Grey said, “I’ll be fine. Marcyl did a pretty good job.” Blushing, Marcyl just smiled.