Ch 33: To End the Nightmare

Picking up where Alexander left off, Grey displays a new skill. Sensing the battle from afar, Saria feels regret at her inaction thus far. All unaware of Scott's true intent, only Alexander suspects.

            Forming his twin swords to use his Accelerate, Grey thought, “I won’t make it!” Yet as he fell, Alexander chanted, “Iacio!” Bursting from a giant blue rune circle that formed from his sword stuck in the sand, water swept over the sand and the spikes sank, tilting to the side and allowing Alexander to barely land safely with a splash. Staring down at him in fury and disbelief, Grave muttered, “Why won’t he just DIE?!” As Grey and Scott rushed over to him, Alexander weakly said, “You’re a little late.” Kneeling down beside him and seeing his clothes tattered and wounds bleeding, Grey angrily said, “Damn it, how could you let this happen?! No matter how late I am, you can’t go and die on me and Saria! Do you hear me?!” Laughing despite the pain it caused him, Alexander said, “I’m not sure if I should be touched or offended…” 

Then noticing Scott, Alexander’s eyes narrowed behind his shades as he sarcastically said, “Well, well, look who came crawling back.” Able to tell he was less than thrilled from the tone of his voice, Scott said, “Sorry Alexander. I know I probably caused a lot of trouble.” Standing up for Scott, Grey said, “Alexander c’mon! He just saved my a*s from Alastor back in the forest! He’s been manipulated by Dr. Nova, they had him locked up all this time! Are you seriously gonna hold a grudge after everything he’s been through?” Alexander didn’t respond, but he thought to himself, “I’d never hold a grudge against Scott, but I don’t buy this. Ala Morte’s betrayal and Scott’s return, these two things happening at the same time is far too suspicious.” Trying to sit up, Alexander quickly gave up because of the pain. Turning his head to look at Grey, Alexander said, “Right now let’s focus on the enemy. His weakness is water, use it to disrupt his sand and his armor. You’ll both be on your own until I can heal my injuries and regain some strength…”

            Suddenly Grave called out, “You won’t have the chance!” Seeing Grave’s coffin drop over the edge towards Grey and Scott, Alexander shouted, “Back, both of you!” Both Scott and Grey quickly moved away as Grave’s coffin landed right side up where they had stood. Seeing the door was facing him, Alexander quickly raised a hand, and as his sword reappeared in his grasp, he chanted, “Nox Curator Sigilli!” An impenetrable shell of darkness formed around him just as Grave burst out of his coffin and struck with a katana of green spirit energy. Striking the dark shell, as he saw his attacks would be unable to break through, Grave glared at Alexander through the shell and said, “Mark my words, I will kill every last one of you no matter what spells you use! You have to come out sometime!” Leaping high into the air with an arcing back flip just as Scott lunged and swung his halberd at him from behind, Grave landed a safe distance away and said, “Until then, I’ll let you watch these two die slowly!” 

Walking over to stand between Grave and his coffin, as Scott joined him, Grey said, “Keep dreaming! Void Energy, Level 3!” His aura of True EDE erupting around him, his Void Energy unleashed, Grey chanted, “Gemina Indelebilis, Verus Aqua!” As his blades gained the power of True EDE and became enchanted with a water based enchantment as well, Grey dropped into his battle stance and glared at Grave with his now silver colored eyes as he said, “Nobody hurts my family!” Dropping into a battle stance as well, as the devices on his wrists spun and crackled with electricity, Scott said, “I’m more than ready for you this time Grave!” Rolling his eyes at their display of confidence, Grave followed suit and readied himself for battle as he muttered, “Stupid brats…”

            Making a futile attempt to command the sand around them, Grave confirmed that the water from Alexander’s spells had seeped into the sand around the general area. Eyeing Grey’s blades warily, he thought to himself, “The blades that defeated Alastor, and now paired with water to boot.” Raising a hand at them both, Grave unleashed multiple chains at Scott and Grey, who quickly broke away from each other and charged at their foe from both sides. As Grave’s chains wrapped around his target, his spirit coffin, he pulled it across the distance as he retracted them. Grabbing hold of it as it arrived, Grave raised the coffin as a shield just as Scott reached him, charging his now pure lightning halberd with more voltage to increase its size and striking powerfully with it. Blown sliding back on his feet across the wet sand by the attack, Grave thought, “He’s considerably stronger than before!” 

Then rushing past Scott and leaping into the air, Grey sailed into the skies above Grave and shouted, “Whirlpool Thrust!” Shooting down at Grave with a blade aimed down at him in a thrusting strike, Grey spun like a spinning drill as water streamed from the blade and spiraled around him. Not expecting the new attack, Grave had no choice but to raise his coffin as a shield again, and as Grey’s spinning thrust struck, its power punched a hole through the coffin. Staring at Grey’s blade, which had stopped inches from his face, Grave thought to himself, “Damn these brats! Just how did they get so strong?!” Planting his feet against the coffin and pulling out his blade, Grey flipped backward off the coffin, landing on the handle of Scott’s halberd. Pushing off the halberd, he jumped over Grave to land on the other side of him, and together Grey and Scott struck from both sides. 

Grave quickly used his damaged coffin to block Scott and his spirit katana to block Grey. As Scott charged Levitas Curator up with more electrical power and continued to push against the coffin, he staggered back as it suddenly burst open and a skeleton’s upper body leaned out of the darkness within. The spook quickly punched him in the face powerfully with its bony fist, knocking him away before retreating back into the coffin. Letting himself be distracted for a moment to look and see that Scott was alright, Grey left himself open and Grave raised his foot and fired a thrust kick into his gut. As he staggered away, Grave hefted his coffin and hurled it at him. Struck hard by the heavy coffin, Grey was laid out on his back, and leaping into the air above him, Grave brought his spirit katana down for the kill. 

Grey raised his swords and barely blocked the ghostly blade in time, and as Grave pressed his blade against them with all his strength, Scott recovered and rushed to Grey’s aid. Glancing behind him to see Scott close in with his halberd ready to strike, Grave muttered, “Shadowstep.” Disappearing like a shadow, Grave reappeared up on top of the roof again. Letting his katana dissolve, Grave raised a hand and called out, “My sand may be ruined, but I can still use this worthless world itself as a weapon! Stone Fury!”

            Walking the road out of the forest with Fenrip, Saria stopped and looked back, feeling as though she could sense the energies from the battle at the mansion. Noticing she’d fallen behind, Fenrip stopped as well and said, “You can sense them I take it?” Feeling shy again now that she was alone with someone she hardly knew, Saria simply turned to him and nodded. Chuckling to himself, Fenrip said, “Excellent! Your mother had to work hard to develop her abilities, and it wasn’t until she met Alexander that she developed her wind affinity. I asked her once whether she took up the training to help her with her work as a hunter, but she told me she simply wanted the strength to protect what was important to her.” Seeing her look of interest at his story slowly turn to a look of regret, Fenrip walked over to stand before her and said, “You’re starting to feel the same way, aren’t you?” 

As she looked at him in surprise, Fenrip smiled and said, “As long as you feel that way, you’ll find that strength when you need it most. Until then, there’s no shame in relying on the others. After all, they’re also fighting to protect what’s important.” A bit of admiration for Fenrip growing within her, Saria found herself feeling grateful that he had been her mother’s friend as she merely smiled back. Suddenly getting the feeling that someone was creeping up around them, Fenrip quickly turned about and withdrew the sketchbook from his art kit as he said, “Who’s there?!” As Ala Morte assassins stepped out of the trees and surrounded them, Rend stepped out as well and said, “No one a village bumpkin like you should get yourself mixed up with. We’re here for the girl. Leave her with us and I might let you walk away…” Flipping open his sketchbook, Fenrip grinned and said, “You’ll find I’m much more than a mild mannered artist! Saria, stay close to me!” Flexing her claws, Rend said, “Gonna play hero? Alright then, let’s play!”

            Pouring EDE into the open pages of his sketchbook, Fenrip said, “Come forth, Tonitrus!” A flash of light momentarily obscured the vision of Rend and her subordinates, and as it died out, a massive thunder tortoise now stood tall before them, its shell lined with bumps and its head adorned with a pair of horns. Riding on its back sitting in a saddle affixed atop its shell were Fenrip and Saria, and holding a set of reins, Fenrip said, “Now Tonitrus! Thunder Spin!” Lightning crackling in Tonitrus’s mouth, it lowered its body to rest on the bottom of its shell and used its feet to spin itself like a top as it exhaled lightning breath. The destructive lightning breath rained out as it spun, blowing away everything in the surrounding area, including the Ala Morte assassins. Having leaped up high to avoid the breath, as Rend stared down from above to see her forces wiped out, she thought, “Damn you Nova! You didn’t warn us about THIS!” 

Clinging to Fenrip, slightly dizzy from the spinning, Saria thought to herself, “Amazing! I’ve never seen a real thunder tortoise before!” Landing on Tonitrus’ shell, Rend rushed up the shell at Fenrip as she angrily shouted, “You have no idea who you just crossed turtle man!” As Fenrip activated another page of his sketchbook, what looked like the back end of a rifle rose from the page, and he quickly took hold of it and withdrew an EDE shell launcher. Taking aim and opening fire, Fenrip sent shells of volatile EDE shooting down at Rend, and leaping back to evade, Rend almost slipped off the edge of Tonitrus’ shell as she thought, “Who the hell is this guy?!” Explosions peppering Tonitrus’ incredibly hard shell, Rend circled around Fenrip as she struggled to gain ground. Swinging her claws through the air, she fired nature energy blades up at him, but Fenrip shot them out of the air with pinpoint accuracy. 

Then bursting out of the smoke from the blast in a daring leap, Rend came down at Fenrip with her claws and shouted, “Don’t screw with me!” Raising his weapon, Fenrip flashed a grin as he aimed and fired, striking her at almost point blank range. Blown sailing through the air and over the side of Tonitrus’ shell, Rend crashed hard on the ground with a thud. Picking herself up off the ground, she barely managed to jump away as Tonitrus came down with an earthshaking stomp. Aiming down at her, Fenrip called out, “Pretty good for a ‘village bumpkin’, eh?”

            Suddenly Fenrip’s eyes went wide, and he turned to look to the side. As she came sailing past him through the air, he briefly saw Magus’ masked visage staring back at him with her multicolored eyes. Then before he could react, her scarf tails wrapped around his neck and pulled him from his seat on the saddle as their master continued through the air. With Fenrip in her grasp, Magus sailed over the edge of Tonitrus’ shell and willed her scarf tails to slam him into the ground as she landed gracefully. In terror, Saria shouted, “FENRIP!” Moving to stand before the spot where he laid in the crater made by the force of his body’s impact, as her scarf lifted Fenrip up to dangle there like a rag doll, Magus quickly snatched his sketchbook. Flinging Fenrip hard into the trunk of a nearby tree, Magus chanted, “Caecus Lancea.” A spear of arcane magic forming in her hand, Magus hurled it at Fenrip and it stabbed through his shoulder, pinning him to the tree. 

Watching as Fenrip grimaced in pain, Saria’s mind buzzed in panic. Then something in her mind snapped as Fenrip’s words rang in her ears, “As long as you feel that way, you’ll find that strength when you need it most.” Drawing her bow out, Saria hopped out of the saddle and slid down the side of Tonitrus’ shell, thinking to herself, “Ever since Scott was hurt, I’ve been so scared of being involved in all this! I just wanted it to end!” Leaping over the shell’s edge, as she sailed towards the battle, she thought, “But that’s how everyone feels! They all want this nightmare to end, and that’s why they fight! I won’t just sit here hoping that everything turns out alright! I’ll make it happen with my own two hands! Just like Mom, Dad, and Grey!” Landing on the ground and drawing back the string of her bow, as an arrow of wind appeared, Saria let it fly and shouted, “STOP!” 

Turning with eyes wide in surprise as the arrow grew into a massive, pointed mass of piercing wind, Magus quickly called her scarf tails to her defense, raising them up like hands to block it. Struggling against the mighty wind arrow, pouring arcane energies into her scarf to reweave it as the arrow began to tear it apart, Magus thought to herself, “This girl is dangerous!” The arrow finally dissipating, the tails of Magus’ scarf were torn and ragged from blocking it, and lowering them cautiously, she called out to Saria, “Impressive, however do not forget I have your friend at my mercy. Stand down or he’ll pay the price!” Drawing the bowstring again, Saria replied, “I won’t let you!” Suddenly finding Rend’s claws at her neck, Saria heard her voice in her ear, saying, “I’m starting to like you kid, but seriously, it’s over. Drop it.” Saria did not comply, a look of frustration on her face as she stubbornly refused to give up, but then Fenrip called out, “I’m sorry Saria… She’s right, just do what they say. Don’t get yourself hurt over me…” With a defeated expression, Saria let her bow fall to the ground.

            As the ground began to tremble, rocks from out of the ground beneath burst through the sand layer over the garden and rose into the air at Grave’s command. Ranging from giant boulders to tiny pebbles, they all began to swirl around the area like they were caught in the pull of a tornado, the larger rocks moving much slower than the smaller ones. Dodging the medium sized rocks as they did their best to ignore the smaller rocks that began to periodically strike them or draw shallow cuts in their exposed flesh, Scott and Grey chased after Grave, leaping from rock to rock towards where he stood atop the roof of the mansion. Leaping from the roof onto one of the larger rocks, Grave began raining down spirit bolts on them from his hands. Weaving through rocks and spirit bolts, Scott converted Levitas Curator into lightning and absorbed it. Forming his Thunderfury Bow and charging it with Levitas Curator’s electric energy, he said, “Weapon Fuse!” 

Meanwhile, making his way to Grave, Grey swung his blades and sent energy waves of water and True EDE after him. Grave leaped to another rock to avoid and unleashed chains that slithered through the air and began grabbing hold of some of the rocks flying about the area, quickly flinging them all at Grey. Dodging and deflecting, Grey leaped up and smashed the last of the rocks to bits with a Void Charge kick, and then swung one of his swords as he shouted, “Ein Soph Aur!” Leaping to another rock as a mighty energy wave cleaved the large rock he’d stood upon in half, Grave lashed out with a chain that wrapped itself around Grey’s right arm. Pulled from his feet and sailing through the air as Grave swung him into the side of a rock, Grey absorbed his right hand sword and grabbed the chain. Anchoring himself to the rock by stabbing his remaining sword into it, Grey mustered his strength and turned the tables, pulling a surprised Grave from the rock he stood upon using his own chain. 

Falling through the storm of rocks, passing stones knocking him about as they collided with him, Grave detached the chain Grey held and grabbed onto the side of a large rock. Taking aim at Grave, Scott pulled the string of his bow back and unleashed a torrent of lightning arrows at him as he shouted, “Thunderfury!” Seeing the arrows spread out and stop in the air around him as he was pulling himself up the edge of the rock, Grave pushed off the rock with his feet and flipped back onto a different one as the arrows became yellow rune circles and halberds of deadly lightning shot out of them, obliterating the rock he’d been on.

            Beginning to move from rock to rock again, Grave firing spirit bolts at him in retaliation, Scott converted his bow to lightning EDE and absorbed it, forming Levitas Curator and using Weapon Fuse once more. Signaling at Grey that he was going on the attack, Scott set off to close in on Grave as Grey simply nodded in acknowledgement and chanted, “Cesso, Susicivus Pluvia Eversio, Vultus Fulmen Quod Aqua!” Instantly the effects of the water based Susicivus activated despite the delay for the main spell, and Grey was granted three orbs of water that circled around him in the air. Forming spirit knives as Scott leaped towards his position, Grave hurled them up at him, but Scott simply deflected them and came down with a mighty lightning charged strike from Levitas Curator. As Grave narrowly avoided, the halberd’s axe blade drove deep into the hard rock, and quickly Grave unleashed chains from his sleeve to take hold of the mighty halberd. Pulling the chains back, Grave yanked Levitas Curator from Scott’s hands and flung it over the edge of the rock. 

Closing in, he launched a barrage of spirit energy enhanced punches and kicks, but Scott blocked and dodged skillfully, then knocked him back with a lightning charged roundhouse kick. In anger, Grave empowered his fist with phantasmal darkness and lunged back at Scott as he shouted, “I’ll give you another taste of the mighty Blackhand!” Sidestepping the punch, Scott grabbed hold of his arm and unleashed electrical energies into Grave’s body as he said, “Lockdown!” Grave standing there stunned in his grasp, as Scott finally stopped pouring out voltage, he followed up with a lightning charged punch to the villain’s face. Staggering away as cracks ran through his Sandstone Armor, Grave raised his hand to stare in disbelief at the fact that his Blackhand had vanished, and he clenched his fist in anger as he growled, “What have you done?!” As Levitas Curator flew back to his hand as a bolt of lightning, Scott smirked and said, “Sorry, but thanks to my Lockdown ability, that Blackhand that you’re so proud of is basically out of order!”

            Pressing a button on Levitas Curator’s handle, the handle separated into segments connected by a conductive wire as the halberd took the form Scott’s Lightning Lash weapon, and he swiftly whipped it around and lashed out at Grave with it. Ducking and dodging the Lightning Lash as it swiped at him, Grave dove aside just as the axe blade at the end of it slammed down where he’d stood, and as waves of lightning radiated from the axe blade across the surface of the floating rock, Grave leaped to another rock and unleashed more chains to grab rocks again. Hurling rocks desperately at Scott, Grave thought, “If only I could use my sand! Curse it all, I don’t know what modifications Nova made to its Binding method, but I am not losing to these fools! I don’t care what he says, I’m through waiting! I will use Scorpio Via if I have to!” 

Whipping his lightning lash about, Scott decimated every rock that came near him. Then as he activated his Thundering Wrath, he gained lightning speed and leaped across the distance at Grave, reverting Levitas Curator back to halberd form as he charged it with great amounts of lightning. The halberd becoming pure lightning and increasing in size once more, Scott swung his weapon and sent Grave crashing into the side of another floating rock. Hanging in the impression made by his impact, Grave was suddenly hit by an orb of water that exploded in a blast of pressurized liquid. Having hurled one of the floating water orbs that orbited around him, Grey hurried down to join Scott, and both of them prepared to deal the finishing blow. 

Activating his delayed spell, Grey exclaimed, “Iacio!” Unleashing the stored energy of his bow with Weapon Fuse, Scott raised Levitas Curator as he shouted, “Thunderfury!” Shooting from Grey’s blade, a storm of lightning arrows shot out and were guided through the storm of rocks by Grey’s telekinesis. Joining them as Scott opened fire, an enormous bolt of pure lightning destroyed every rock in its path as it drove onward towards Grave. Raising an arm out before him and gathering a mass of EDE in his hand, as their energy attacks came at him, Grave growled, “You’ve really done it now!” As the lightning arrows struck, he vanished in blasts of electricity, their brilliance only to be eclipsed as Scott’s Thunderfury struck as well, blowing the entire rock to pieces in a mighty blast of electrical energies.

            Watching the dust clear as the fragments of stone joined the swirling rock storm, Scott and Grey soon saw it was not the end. Wrapped head to toe in a long chain that emanated a green, menacing aura, a human figure floated in the air. Then as the chain began to unwrap itself, Grave was revealed unharmed, now wearing a black, high tech mask with no eyeholes but instead an eye-like purple camera lens. He had a sheathed katana with a black handle strapped to his back, and the chain he had been wrapped in was coming out of his sleeve, spiraling in the air around him as though it were alive. Some sort of cylindrical device was connected to the end of the chain, which resembled a handle with a button on it, and Grave reached out and took hold of it as he slowly descended to the surface of another floating rock. 

Pressing the button on the device, the top end slid out to reveal some sort of mechanism. As Grave poured spirit energy into the device, the mechanism hummed with power and began to generate two large sickle shaped blades made of ghostly green spirit energy that both curved in towards each other, making them look like pincer claws. Staring down at Grave’s new weaponry, Grey muttered, “Damn, a Grand Anima Weapon?” Nodding, Scott sounded certain as he replied, “Must be. He told me before that his coffin was the regular one.” Raising his free hand up, Grave shouted, “Warden of Hades!” Rising out of the earth from the four corners of the grounds around Alexander’s home, towering archways appeared. Rising high into the sky, green ethereal energies swirling within them, they looked like ancient gateways to another world. Watching as strange wisps began drifting out of them and circling around the area aimlessly, Grey exclaimed, “What the hell is this?!” 

After a brief bit of sinister laughter, Grave said, “The portals I’ve summoned are connected to one of the places we mortals are sent to when we die, and the entities that have begun to surround us are its denizens, the souls of the damned.” As Grey and Scott watched the spirits guardedly, Grave slashed one in two with his claw-like sickle and said, “They aren’t any danger to you the way they are now. Without a body to house their essence, they can’t interact with the physical world on their own.” Then holding the sickle out and letting it go so that the chain it was attached to slid into his hand, once he’d given it enough slack, Grave grasped the chain and began to twirl it at his side, the sickle blades becoming blurs of green light as it rapidly spun. As a dark aura erupted around it, the damned souls began to get absorbed into the spinning sickle, and Grave said, “But they can still serve as fuel for my power! Now feed Scorpio Via, feed and obey your master!”