Ch 35: Never Give Up On Your Happy Ending

Defensor Clementia in hand, Alexander seems too much for him, but Grave will not surrender. Casting aside all caution, he attacks with his all.

            At these words, Alexander rushed forth to stop him, but as Grave’s aura churned around him, becoming unstable, a shockwave of power knocked Alexander back as he drew near. Flipping in the air, Alexander landed back on his feet and frowned as he thought, “He’s switching all the gathered energy of Scorpio Via that he was using for his shield into attack power?!” Having failed to stop Grave from unleashing his true power, Alexander began to prepare, quickly chanting, “Magistri Alica!” Running his free hand across his blade, it was empowered with runes once again as he cast his Master’s Spell effect. Meanwhile, his aura stabilizing and changing from green to deep purple, Grave lowered Scorpio Via and said, “Prepare for your demise!” 

Powerful energies began to crackle around his katana, and as he swung it at Alexander, a bolt of what looked like purple spirit lightning burst forth. Raising his sword and unleashing the purifying power of Defensor Clementia, Alexander blocked the lightning bolt with his blade, but to his surprise it didn’t get dispelled. Instead it continued to push against his blade as purple energies crackled in the air around it, and holding it off, he thought, “Such a dense concentration! He must have absorbed a ludicrous amount!” Knocking the lightning bolt aside as he mustered his strength, Alexander chanted, “Celeritate Ardentis!” Flames trailing at his heels, he dashed across the rooftop at blazing speed.

            As Alexander charged at him at breakneck speed, Grave fired another bolt of spirit lightning. Barely swerving aside, Alexander dodged the attack, and skidding briefly before regaining his traction, he lunged forward to strike at Grave, chanting, “Signum Vulnus!” Meeting the strike with a swing of his katana, Grave was knocked sliding back by the frostfire enhanced impact. Coming to a halt, he charged back at Alexander to lash out with his blade and they began exchanging powerful blows in a battle of steel, seeming evenly matched in strength and skill. Suddenly deflecting Alexander’s blade aside, Grave quickly thrust his palm into Alexander’s chest as he said, “Pyre Soul!” 

A fiery purple blast erupted from Grave’s hand, blowing Alexander clear over the side of the rooftop. Crash landing in the sand covered garden, having had the wind knocked out of him, Alexander struggled up and hastily leaped away as purple throwing knives of volatile spirit energy rained down at him and exploded. Appearing before Alexander with Shadowstep and raising his hand, Grave gathered EDE, three paper talismans flying out of his clothes as he said, “Substitution!” Appearing from the talismans as they spread out around him, Alexander found himself surrounded by three of Grave’s substitutions, who all held a katana but did not wear the high tech mask of Scorpio Via. Looking around at them a moment, Alexander laughed and said, “Haven’t I met you gentlemen somewhere before?” 

His eyes narrowing behind his mask, Grave said, “Do you take anything seriously? You won’t be laughing your way out of this!” Holding his Solar Champion form Defensor Clementia before him, Alexander showed a confident grin as he said, “I guess I’ll have to change my strategy then! Ultimate Blade Effect!” As Defensor Clementia shined red, a storm of fire erupted around Alexander, obstructing Grave’s view of him. As the firestorm died out, Alexander now not only wielded an additional Solar Champion form Defensor Clementia, but had six more floating in the air behind him, arranged like wings of swords. Upon every sword was what looked like the same effect as the Angel’s Embers spell he’d summoned against Grey in the graveyard battle, red runes flickering upon the blades as fire blazed upon them. 

Caught off guard by this development, Grave watched as Alexander suddenly shot across the distance, becoming a streak of fire and cutting down one of his substitutions before he could react. In disbelief, Grave thought, “A constant version of that ground speed boost from before?!” Turning to another of Grave’s substitutions, Alexander moved as a streak of fire once more, and as the substitution swung his katana and fired a bolt of purple spirit lightning at him, Alexander leaped over it into the air and swung a blade to send a wave of fire shooting down at his opponent. Deflecting the flame wave and raising his katana as Alexander swung his swords down, the substitution was cut down as Alexander’s crushing twin strike shattered his weapon. With only one remaining, as Alexander turned in his direction, the final substitution quickly raised his arm and unleashed chains that shot straight out at him. Flame dashing straight into the oncoming chains, Alexander used his swords to deflect them aside and cut them apart, and reaching his enemy, he thrust his sword straight through the substitution’s chest.

            As the substitution disintegrated into nothing but a burning piece of paper, Alexander took off again, evading as Grave himself shot at him with his blade and carved a line of energy through the air. The line became spirit lightning bolts that chased after him, but Alexander merely sped onward, evading them with ease. Cutting energy lines through the air, Grave chased after him and moved in a pattern to form lines of spirit energy on all sides of Alexander, boxing him in. Coming to a halt and looking around at the spirit lightning bolts forming around him, Alexander stayed calm and deflected them with speed and skill as they rained out at him. The last of the bolts deflected, he dodged just as Grave cut through the air again, and ignoring the bolts that formed, Alexander chased after him. 

Swerving around for another strike, Grave tore through the air at Alexander, and both met with powerful blows. Evenly matched, they stopped each other in their tracks as they locked blades, and then broke away from each other as the spirit lightning bolts from Grave’s attacks rained at them both. As the aftermath cleared, Alexander stared down Grave as he said, “I’m afraid I’m still not breaking a sweat, even with your new power up Grave. You may be barely keeping up for now, but if it comes down to who runs out of steam first, I’m quite confident I can keep this pace far longer than you can.” At that moment though, Grave suddenly heard an electronic beep. To Alexander’s surprise, he suddenly began laughing.

            Unable to deduce the reason for Grave’s lack of concern, Alexander said, “I’m afraid I must have missed something. Care to let me in on the joke?” His laughter subsiding, Grave replied, “Solar Champion, an offensive weapon form which upon use of the Ultimate Blade Effect activates the Angel’s Embers Enchantment, which in turn grants strength and additional weaponry. Solar Champion also enhances that enchantment a step further, giving you a constant version of the temporary speed boost you gain from your Blazing Speed Enchantment.” 

Reaching up and pressing a button on the side of the mask, Grave scrolled down the readout screen and read the rest of the scan results aloud, “As powerful as it is though, it has its weaknesses. While wielding Solar Champion with the Ultimate Blade Effect active, you can’t cast any ranged, area of effect, or defensive Rune Swordsmanship spells, and you also can’t utilize teleportation effects. In other words, if you cannot get within range of your opponent, the only way you could attack is by using basic energy attacks or your restriction ability, Ragnarok, which unfortunately has long wait period and is not very useful against moving targets.” Alexander felt rather displeased with himself as he muttered, “So that’s it. I’d thought it was strange before, but it slipped my mind as the battle went on. That mask, you can use it to study my Defensor Clementia and learn its weakness… To put it to use now of all times though, did you simply forget about it yourself as well?” 

His temper flaring, Grave indignantly shouted, “Of course not! As ludicrous as it sounds, until I drew upon Scorpio Via’s offensive power, it seems like the scanner didn’t even have enough energy to analyze something like this!” His mood growing only fouler as he realized he had basically just admitted the power of Alexander’s Anima Entia, Grave grumbled to himself briefly and then began to channel EDE into his katana as he said, “It’s true that I can’t keep up with you forever. After all, according to the scanner, your Defensor Clementia is more of a support type, with plenty of abilities to keep you and your allies fighting longer and harder. However, the way this fight has become so drawn out has also worked in my favor.” 

Raising an eyebrow questioningly, Alexander said, “In your favor? How so?” As Grave simply raised a hand, chains burst out of the sand around Alexander, who barely leaped out of the way in time to escape capture. Steadying himself, Alexander thought in dire realization, “The sand! It’s dried out enough that he can manipulate it again!” Swinging his katana, Grave fired bolts of spirit lightning at Alexander as he called out, “You could always swap to a different form, but switching between them consumes more and more energy every time. You’ve carelessly shifted twice already, and considering you’ve only just unlocked this power, I wonder if you’ll have any strength left to fight!” Deflecting the lightning bolts, Alexander raced at Grave with his blazing speed. Yet as a wall of sand rose between them, he skidded to a halt and leaped back, chains shooting out of the side of the wall after him. 

Slicing chains apart with burning strikes, Alexander knew Grave was just waiting for him to drop the Ultimate Blade Effect and reduce his mobility, but at the same time he also knew that without water he would never get past Grave’s sand. Attempting an aerial assault, Alexander flew up over the wall, but clearing it he found himself bombarded by spirit lightning. Swerving down through the barrage, just as Alexander closed in and struck at him, Grave simply sank into the sand. Standing there staring at where he’d vanished in mild frustration, suddenly the sand all around Alexander began quickly rising grain by grain into the air, and as he found himself surrounded by a haze of sand on all sides, he watched as the grains of sand all began to turn black. As Grave rose out of the sand a safe distance away, the villain’s katana was glowing with purple spirit energy as he held it before him and called out, “Now you’ll get to see my favorite ability, a power that goes hand in hand with my title! Black Sand!” Glowing with purple energy a moment, the grains of sand suddenly bombarded Alexander at unthinkable speed, and Alexander’s eyes went wide as he felt as though countless blades had sliced into his skin.

            Unable to stay standing because of the pain from the deep cuts that had not only been carved into his legs but most of his body, Alexander fell face first onto the sand. Strolling over to where he laid, Grave summoned up chains to wrap around Alexander’s wrists and hoist him up. Losing hold of his swords, Alexander hung limply in the grasp of Grave’s chains. Seeming to admire his handiwork, after a moment Grave said, “How the mighty have fallen… I didn’t expect it to be so easy. In fact, if I hadn’t been preparing a second wave of Black Sand just in case you escaped the first, you surely wouldn’t be alive right now.” Then turning and walking back out of range, Grave faced Alexander again and said, “This time you won’t be so lucky! I’ve wasted enough time on you and those brats, but I don’t see how Alastor can complain as long as I make sure you never interfere with us again. Now then…” 

As the haze of sand surrounded him again, hanging there limp in the grasp of the chains, Alexander desperately thought, “If I summon the sword back to my hand, I can still switch form, but… in this state, will I even be able to remain conscious afterwards…?” As Grave began to channel his Black Sand, he started to say, “Black Sa-” Suddenly an arrow of lightning shot out and struck Grave in the back as Scott’s voice rang out, “Lockdown Shot!” Knocked face first onto the sand by the blast of lightning, as Grave lay there twitching in front of him, Alexander was suddenly freed as two more arrows of lightning severed the chains. Falling to his hands and knees, Alexander looked up to see Scott staggering towards them, who flashed a weak grin as he said, “You’re not gonna go and let a few scrapes like that keep you down are you? Grey’s still out cold, but if he were here he’d probably say something like ‘No way in hell we’re going down like this, now get up and let’s kick his a*s!’” 

Struggling onto one knee, Alexander grit his teeth in determination as he thought, “I’m still a bit hesitant to trust he’s sincerely returned, but he has a damn good point!” Staggering suddenly, Scott dropped to one knee, clearly in no condition to fight still. Getting back up and turning to face Scott, Grave charged his blade with EDE as he said, “You obnoxious brat!” Recalling Defensor Clementia to his hand, Alexander let the other swords evaporate as he held the blade before him and thought, “Amelia… Watch over me… I swear, I’ll never give up on my happy ending again!”

            Raising his katana to hurl a bolt of spirit lightning at Scott, Grave stopped his attack as he heard Alexander say, “Twilight Harbinger!” Once more the colors and symbols of Defensor Clementia changed, everything returning to the original orange and yellow, the symbols once again a crescent moon overlapping a circular sun. Stabbing the blade into the ground as he knelt there, Alexander said, “Twilight Recovery!” Suddenly becoming surrounded by a faint orange and yellow glow as a black rune circle formed beneath him, to Grave’s great displeasure, Alexander’s injuries healed almost instantly. Rising to his feet as the glow faded and the circle vanished, raring and ready for round two, Alexander’s blade still bore his Ultimate Blade Effect, which now granted him the Master’s Frostfire Edge Enchantment. 

With a grumble of irritation, Grave used Shadowstep to move out of range, thinking to himself, “Now what?! I had him, but he’s recovered completely! Damn that worthless Thunderfury brat! Now I can’t use Black Sand anymore either!” Fixing his scanner on Alexander, he started to analyze Defensor Clementia’s new form as he added, “I shouldn’t let this drag out any longer. Almost all of the power I collected has been spent. If I can’t get rid of him before that other one wakes up, I’ll have no choice but to pull back…” A chill running down his spine as he realized it, Grave thought, “What the hell am I saying?! I can’t go back in defeat after all this, Alastor might actually kill me himself!” Holding his sword out at his side, Alexander concentrated and three black rune circles formed around his sword arm like bracelets, almost as though he was about to use Deathsoul Summoning. His sword remained in hand though, and leveling it at Grave, Alexander flashed a grin and said, “I hope you’re ready Grave! In the words of today’s youth, this is our victory!”

            Seeing the black rune circles along Alexander’s arm, Grave wondered, “Is he somehow using his Defensor Clementia in conjunction with the power of the Nameless One?!” At that moment his analysis finished with a beep, and reading the results hurriedly, he muttered, “Twilight Harbinger, a weapon tailored to his mastery of Rune Swordsmanship. In addition to providing unique incantations, it grants the Twilight Recovery restriction ability and the more notable Twilight Runes. Granting instantaneous cast of almost any spell, one of the three Twilight Runes around his arm will be used up for each instant cast, eventually regenerating over time…” 

Clenching the hilt of his katana, Grave raged, “It’s almost like having a bunch of Grand Anima Weapons rolled into one! Scorpio Via was supposed to be my claim to power, and yet now the world decides to bump Grand Anima Weapons down to nothing more than second rate?! Just why now of all times?! What does he have that no one up until now had?! I refuse to be ranked below some fool who does nothing but joke around and boast about his happy little family of brats!” Suddenly speaking into his mind through telepathy, Dr. Nova’s voice said, “Blindly arrogant as usual I see! Before you die, I suppose I’ll let you know that you’re not the first to fall before that blade. There are records of a Defensor Clementia from the demonfolk war around three thousand years ago, the legendary Defender of Humanity, the Blade of the Sun and Moon. Its powers have more than likely changed a bit to suit the user, but it’s still the very weapon wielded by the hero who defeated the Seeker herself. My Binding process is regrettably still in the development stages, and while you’ve made a useful guinea pig, a second rate ninja like you stands little chance against that Soul Entity!” 

Looking around in surprise, Grave answered in his mind, “What was that?! You twisted b*****d, if you’re around here, then hurry up and help me kill these fools!” Laughing, Dr. Nova replied, “Not a chance! I’ll be the one to kill Alexander with my own hands one day, but for now, this is one finale I wouldn’t dare miss!” Channeling his remaining energy into his katana, shaking with rage, Grave raised his blade at Alexander and shouted, “Don’t screw with me! I’ll kill him and you! I’ll make this whole world BURN!”

            As Grave fired a massive beam of purple spirit lightning at him, Alexander aimed his sword straight into it and activated one of his Twilight Runes, causing it to vanish. Three rune circles formed at the tip of the blade, one red, one blue, and one black, and as they merged together, Alexander returned fire with a storm of tri-elemental energies. Meeting in the air, the attacks grappled with each other until they finally exploded in a flash of violent energies. Leaping through the aftermath, Grave swung his katana down with both hands in a vicious downwards strike, and raising Defensor Clementia to block, Alexander thought, “What’s gotten into him? Any composure he had seems to have suddenly flown out the window!” 

Lashing out in a berserk rage, Grave swung his katana wildly. Blocking him time after time with relative ease, Alexander finally knocked the weapon from his hand with a powerful parry. Disarmed, Grave stepped back as Alexander swung his sword at him horizontally, and charging his hands with spirit energy, he caught the blade as Alexander rushed forward with a downward swing. As they struggled with each other, Alexander said, “Did you happen to spontaneously contract rabies? After that little display, I wouldn’t be surprised if you started foaming at the mouth.” As the spirit energy around Grave’s hands began to intensify, Alexander was suddenly distracted as he sensed a foreboding aura that seemed to be growing. 

Looking in its direction, he saw Grave’s katana stuck in the sand, a dangerous aura surrounding it. Then he turned his attention back to Grave, who growled, “Always with the jokes! Making light of me! Looking down on me!” Sensing the aura of the katana growing, Alexander thought, “His weapon… Is it feeding on his anger somehow?” Then as the EDE around Grave’s hands became dangerously intense, the crystallized EDE of Defensor Clementia’s blade began to destabilize, and Alexander quickly chanted, “Septimo Spiritus Terra!” Erupting from Alexander’s weapon, a mighty sonic shockwave blew Grave sailing away from him.

            Residual spirit energy clinging to Defensor Clementia’s blade, Alexander struggled to purify it, thinking, “It’s not a matter of being dense, it’s the instability of his energy that’s making it so hard to purify. If my guess is correct, Scorpio Via should only be used as a whole, the claw-like chain weapon he was using being the part that regulates the essence it drains. When he shifted all that essence from a defensive shield and used it to bolster the power of his own aura without the regulator, it started interfering with his own essence, causing him and his powers to slowly become unstable!” Flipping in the air to land on his feet, Grave held his arm out in the direction of the katana, and a chain shot out of his sleeve and snatched it from the sand, bringing it back to him. 

Stabbing the blade of the katana into the sand, Grave roared as he poured his aura into the sand itself, and suddenly all the sand seemed to be drawn to him by some invisible force. The sand beneath his feet flowing towards Grave, Alexander flew into the air to avoid being sucked in, and quickly looking in Grey’s direction, he saw Scott flying off using his electromagnetic propulsion, carrying Grey safely on his back. The sand gathering and molding around Grave, it began to take form as a giant of sand even taller than the mansion. Standing upon two legs, its back hunched over, its long arms dangling at its sides, it raised its head to look at Alexander with two holes in its face that were like empty eye sockets, a deep purple glow coming from within them. The sand on the lower half of its face parted and became a mouth full of rows of teeth made from spirit energy, and speaking loudly in Grave’s voice, it called out, “I… AM… DEATH!”

            Flying aside as Grave’s sand incarnation raised its giant arm and slashed at him with sharp claws of sand, Alexander thought, “So he’s animated the sand with his remaining power? Still, seeing as I’ve already learned how to counter his sand…” Seeing Grave’s eye sockets glow, Alexander avoided as powerful beams of purple spirit lightning shot out from them, and then dodged another swipe of Grave’s claws as he activated his second Twilight Rune. Taking aim at the head of Grave’s sand incarnation, Alexander fired a mighty drill of pressurized water at it, which struck it and began drilling into the sand before exploding in a burst of water. Yet underneath the sand was a skeletal head of chains, the remaining sand of the head falling off in wet clumps to reveal it completely. 

Quickly more sand reallocated itself from the rest of the sand incarnation’s body, reforming over the head, and the wheels turning in his own head, Alexander thought, “A hide of living sand layered over a skeleton of chains… Destroying the sand bit by bit just isn’t practical, but if I could somehow incapacitate the skeleton…” Just as a plan popped into his head, Alexander sensed strange energies flaring up nearby. Snapping back to attention, he realized that phantom portals had appeared around him like holes in the sky. Then out of the portals, chains shot out and wrapped themselves around Alexander’s arms and legs. As he struggled in their grasp, the sand incarnation’s mouth opened again, purple spirit energy glowing within as it cried out, “MAW OF HADES!” 

The incarnation began to unleash a titanic beam of purple spirit lightning at Alexander from its mouth, and with all due haste he quickly chanted, “Horologium!” A massive black rune circle coming to life behind him, the runes within it arranged so that the layout and design of it looked somewhat like a clock, it emanated a sound like the ringing of a clocktower bell as a pulse of orange energy expanded outwards from it in all directions. The great beam of purple spirit lightning that was shooting up at Alexander from the incarnation’s mouth was just about to hit, but as the energy pulse swept out and rolled over everything in sight, the beam seemed to stop in the air, frozen in place. The sand incarnation was affected as well, and sat there unmoving, its mouth hanging open with the spirit energy of the beam still pouring out. Not only that, but EVERYTHING had stopped cold, the ancient spell whose incantation translates as ‘Sundial’ having stopped time itself. However, Alexander quite clearly had no intentions of sitting still, grinning mischievously as he alone was unaffected.

            As much as he wanted to take a look around and admire his work, Alexander knew he didn’t actually have as much time as it seemed. Quickly acting to free himself, he chanted, “Magistri Zona!” A blast of frostfire erupting around him, it quickly burned the chains binding him to ashes. Briefly glancing back at the rune circle, Alexander looked to see just how much time he had left. Spreading across the black rune circle, darkness was filling in the spaces between the lines that traced the rune circle as a thin line of shadows being cast from the center of the circle was moving clockwise around it like the hand of a clock, starting from twelve. The shadow hand had already reached two, making it clear that his remaining piece of the pie would not last long. Jumping into a dark vortex, Alexander reappeared on the shoulder of the sand incarnation. Slapping his rune covered hand against the surface of the sand, Alexander chanted, “Cesso…” 

The hand now at five, Alexander ran across the incarnation’s hunched back to its other shoulder as he kept chanting, “Susicivus Septimo Spiritus Aqua…” The hand reaching nine, time was almost up, and he slapped his hand against the other shoulder as he arrived. Quickly sliding down the beast’s hunched back, Alexander slapped his hand against the back in two spots as he slid down it and the hand struck twelve again, the black rune circle resounding with the gong of a clocktower bell again and disappearing just as he finished chanting, “Quod Terra!” 

Leaping off the incarnation’s back and into the air as time began to move once more, Alexander turned to face the monster as it finally finished firing its beam of spirit lightning into the skies where it had last seen him, and then he raised his rune covered hand before him and chanted, “Magistri Circuli, Vena Iacio!” His trap circles activating, blue and dark green rune circles appeared at each point on the incarnation where he’d placed them. Water began pouring forth from them, washing over the incarnation’s body, and as the water seeped into every bit of it, plants of all variety burst into life across the sand, quickly taking root. The sand soaked with water, all the vines and roots binding it to its skeleton so that it couldn’t move, the incarnation stood there frozen in place.