Act 5 - Chapter 5, Part 2

The orb of darkness surrounded them and then vanished. Walbur's grip loosened as Ardel's eyes widened. The sounds of conflict, the clashing steel, the blasts of logorite cannons, all of it came to an abrupt stop. Vincent pushed himself off the ground and looked around, Henry's tree-like body dissipated as his spirit bloom came to an end. Reygar teleported out of the building, he looked left and right at the empty road full of smoke.

"What..." Reygar uttered with a shocked look. "What happened... Where did they go?"

"Agh!" Ajal was pulled by his feet, a hand grasped around his torso and neck and lifted him up.

"What did you do!" Ardel shouted, Walbur's massive hands squeezed Ajal's neck.

"Ah-" Ajal skipped a breath but breathed in. "Haha!"

"Meddling cretin! Answer me!" Ardel screamed.

"They're gone... Over a hundred miles away, on Hiria..."

Ardel's eyes widened, and his jaw slowly lowered.

"You... You..." Ardel uttered with wide eyes before the tendrils on the left side of his face spread open all at once. "You bastard!"

"Ah-" Ajal winced as Walbur's whole form left the shadow and drove him into the wall.

The giant with a skull mask on its face gripped Ajal's much smaller body tightly.

"Where did you take the angels? Answer me!" Ardel shouted.

"No?" Ajal replied groggily as he shook the dust off his head. "Woah-"

Walbur threw Ajal straight upward, he crashed into the wall of the building before soaring above it. 'Agh-' Ajal looked down to see Ardel's monstrous form, the tendrils on the abyssal attached to him pointed at Ajal. 'Dark Assault!' Ajal conjured six black scythes around him. He grasped one and spun as Ardel fired a white beam of light from the tips of the tentacles. Ajal blocked it with his scythe but was forced back. 'Wait...' Ajal glanced behind him, he was close to the circular ship. 'Dark Passage!' A white flame lit up on his hands, spreading to the scythe.

"Heh... This is one way of getting up there!" said Ajal.

Ajal spun and threw his scythe as high as he could. The spinning white flame soared through the night sky. 'Dark Passage!' Ajal teleported above the ship and grasped the scythe. He looked down as he fell, stabbing the blade of the scythe into its wing and holding on. Ajal pulled himself up and looked off the ship.

"You think you can run!" Ardel screamed almost rabidly.

Several more white lasers struck the ship. Ajal started to sprint across the wing of the cruiser, then ran off the back side as his third eye started to light up. As he reached the edge he peered off the rear end of the ship, and to his surprise, there were no thrusters. Ardel's monstrous form rose in the night sky. Ajal's third eye stayed locked on the floating wooden creature, however, he pondered at the same time. 'Where the hell is this thing's thrusters?! ' Ajal ducked under a beam from Ardel, the beam struck the ship.

Ajal looked left and right, each wing of the aircraft only possessed weaponry. The spherical chassis the wings surrounded didn't have any sign of a thruster. The front of the ship flashed purple as it cast another purple shield on the battlefield. A pulse of energy rippled, it felt similar. 'Hold on... That energy... That feels like mine...' The front cannons fired, and an explosion in the forest stirred the violent winds.

"I have to hurry..." Ajal knelt down and entered a shadow.

Ajal moved through the shadow of the wing, towards the core of the ship. 'There has to be a way onboard... But... I've never seen a ship like this-' The entire aircraft started to move forward seamlessly, smoothly, almost as if nothing pushed it forward. 'What the?!' A volley of ballistics was released all at once, creating a shockwave that echoed through the sky. Ajal fell onto the spherical chassis of the ship, sliding down the slope.

"Rgh!" Ajal's torso hurt, and he quickly slipped into a shadow.

Ajal held his chest, and the wound he suffered against Oaraun ached, it was made worse by Vincent. While that side of the ship was in the shadows, within the shadow world there was a small tunnel 'A vent?' Ajal glided through the shadows, entering the vent and zooming through. 'It's hard to navigate through here... And it's a narrow shadow...' Ajal turned to the right and continued down the path, another vent that led to a large space within the shadow. He left the shadow and fell feet first onto a soft bed. The mattress was very loose, he looked around the room.

Two beds, an empty shelf, a cabinet with two drawers, and a mirror. All built into the room itself. Ajal quickly adjusted to the white and gray interior. He crept towards the door and opened it, peeking out and observing a curving hallway with multiple rooms on either side.

"Rooms?" Ajal whispered to himself, the lights turned on as he poked his head out further. "This technology is almost on par with Imperions..."

Ajal hurried through the hall, listening to a strange noise that came from somewhere else on the ship. He could hear the fans cooling the inside of the ship down. All of a sudden, he heard a metal thump behind him. Ajal stopped in his tracks and turned, only to see Reygar looking around and taking in the surroundings. Reygar glanced at Ajal and grinned, his spirit bloom was still active.

"One thing about my Spirit Bloom, people tend to really underestimate how easy it is for one of those petals to fall on you and go completely unnoticed," Reygar snickered.

"Aw, man... Could you just teleport back to the ground before your Spirit Bloom ends? I was going to crash the ship..." Ajal explained.

"Haha, worry about yourself!" Reygar chuckled as he took a stance with his sword, then lunged forward.

Ajal's third eye opened and he dodged backward, 'I know I'm much stronger than him, I outpowered him with just my fingertips... But, I can't afford to take damage.' Ajal conjured a scythe from their shadows and spun it, deflecting Reygar's sword and then swinging down and slashing his arms off. Ajal then swung his foot up, struck the knight captain's breastplate, and launched him flying backward through the hall. Before Reygar could hit the ground, he flipped and landed on his feet. The severed arm lifted back to Reygar and reconnected.

"Spirit Ignition!" Reygar dashed forward with gritted teeth.

The longsword slammed into the scythe, and Ajal's feet dragged backward, however, he pushed forward and forced Reygar back. The knight captain ran forward as Ajal stepped back quickly. 'He's fighting differently...' Reygar suddenly took two steps off the wall and then made a heavy downswing. Ajal flung his scythe up with an underhand swing, and Reygar clashed with the spinning black scythe instead.

"Huh!" Reygar grunted.

'He- He has nowhere else to teleport... And I don't think he has much room in this hallway!' Ajal dashed behind Reygar, jumping, spinning, and bringing his leg around. Reygar flew down the white hall, crashing against the ground. Ajal kicked his scythe back up into his hand and reengaged. Reygar bounced to his feet, his metal boots clanging against the ground, he ran forward and swung down. Ajal exhaled as he stopped just short of the knight captain's range. Reygar flipped his grip as he got ready to swing upward. However, before he could, his eyes widened as Ajal thrust the scythe forward and struck him in the chest. 'Triple Ignition!' Reygar squinted as he felt three ignitions at once, the force launching him even further through the hallway. Ajal walked down the hallway as the knight captain tumbled over, the black scythe faded out of his hand.

"Damn! This is tough!" Reygar spat as he stood back up and clutched the handle with both hands. "Huh-"

Reygar paused as he noticed Ajal's scythe was gone, however, the divine being still ran forward. Reygar swung horizontally. Ajal quickly rolled and swept him under the leg. Reygar jumped over Ajal's foot, pointed the blade down, then stabbed forward. Ajal quickly moved his head passed the blade, caught Reygar's wrist, and then spun him in the air. Ajal tried to grab Reygar's head, but his hand phased through, instead, he grabbed the back of the knight's collar and slammed him into the ground.

"Agh!" Reygar bounced off the ground slightly.

Reygar swung wildly, however, Ajal jumped back through the hall again, right in front of a large door. Ajal breathed out as he took a stance, Reygar got up with a much different expression.

"You're no joke... I can't even hit you..." Reygar huffed. "Even with my gift..."

"Let's fight again sometime, I don't like this spot..." said Ajal.

"Huh-" Reygar stuttered. "What?"

"You're at a disadvantage in this hallway, we should fight in a better spot... You can't even use your Spirit Bloom properly here..." Ajal said nonchalantly.

"What?!"

"What?"

"I'm the third strongest of the druids! Don't you dare underestimate me!" Reygar charged forward.

"I'm not..." Ajal tilted his head.

The knight swung once, then pointed his blade. Ajal read the feint but didn't expect Reygar to jump from that spot. The knight spun, swinging his sword down. Ajal stepped back as Reygar crouched, he lunged forward and thrust his sword. Ajal dodged to the left and stepped down on the blade, closing the distance and backing up into Reygar's shoulder.

"Rgh!" Reygar swung his blade.

The golden sword dragged through the ship's wall. Ajal ducked once again, taking a stance with both his arms pulled back. 'Dark Passage!' Ajal lit his hands and feet up with black and white flames.

"Dual Cannon!" Ajal roared as he pressed both his fists into Reygar's breastplate.

"Agh!" Reygar grunted with grit teeth, his mouth coughing up blood.

'He took more damage than usual?! I can damage him with Dark Passage?' Reygar looked at the blood on his hand and was surprised to see it. Ajal didn't give him time to think, grabbing his arm and pulling him around towards the door. 'This seems like the right way to go... I sense a lot of spirits on the other side... And... Something powerful...' Ajal stepped on Reygar's foot with one leg.

"Ahagh! What the! Why does that hurt so-"

Ajal spun and kicked Reygar in the chest mid-sentence, smashing it open and revealing the upper part of his torso. Reygar flew through and slid into a large room. Reygar looked up as he wheezed for air, the knight captain could barely move anymore. However, he was suddenly focused on something above him. Ajal walked into the room and looked up.

"Huh..." Ajal froze as he saw it, he had no idea what to make of it.

An orange crystal spun between two pillars in the middle of a giant open room. The orange crystal spun fast, it created the illusion of two overlapping circles of a similar color. Multiple catwalks and elevated pathways lead around the room. The insides of the circle that didn't overlap were pitch-black. The strange symbol floated in mid-air, and a whirring noise came from it. 'What is that... The energy coming off of it is... Unreal...'

"Hey! How did you get in here!?" a voice shouted from below.

Ajal looked down to see angels on the lowest level of the room, they looked up at him with gold masks covering their faces. Among the guards were many angels who wore simple blue robes, similar to the one Ajal got from Angela. They stepped back slowly, none of them appeared to be armed, and even the guards possessed just polearms. One of them tripped on a glowing wire on the ground. Ajal's third eye focused on the tube that glowed a bright purple. 'Huh...' Ajal's head throbbed, his knuckles cracked as he clenched his fist.

"You..." Ajal's bloodlust caused the angels in the room to freeze. "What do you think you're doing..."

"P-protect the pilots!" one of the guards in a golden mask commanded. "We can't let him near the core!"

Ajal stepped onto the rail, 'I need to conserve my strength for Oaraun...' Ajal's teeth were grit as his fist shook. 'But these bastards really just pissed me off... Spirit Manipulation...' Ajal breathed in as he focused his spirit on his heart, then leaned off the rail before kicking off. He spun through the air and slammed his foot into the guard captain's gold mask. The guard's body bounced off the floor and flipped, Ajal grabbed his leg and lunged at the next angel.

"What the hell! He's fast!" a guard shouted.

Ajal held the angel's leg with both hands as he spun with all his strength, clobbering the next angel and letting go. The guards ran at Ajal as the pilots all ran for their lives. They drew swords and surrounded him, Ajal wasn't even focused on them as he followed the purple tube with his eyes.

"We need Arid!" one of the guards shouted.

"He's here? Good..." Ajal's third eye flashed purple as a white flame engulfed his hands and legs.

"Die!" a different guard ran forward to stab Ajal from behind.

Ajal jumped backward, swinging his leg over and slamming his heel into the guard's head, smashing him into the ground. Ajal lunged forward and planted his foot into another angel, the angel held onto his leg. However, Ajal simply jumped again with him holding on.

"What the-"

The guard panicked as Ajal swung his leg with the angel holding on, his body was flung into two more guards. 'Dark Passage!' Ajal teleported to the body and grabbed the two guards who had been staggered. He hoisted them above his head as he whipped one of them at the guards on the catwalk, the other he threw face first into the other guards.

'Dark Passage!' Ajal teleported to the guard he threw to the catwalk, jumping up and kneeing another in the face. Ajal grabbed their head and brought it down on his knee again, smashing his gold mask into a hundred shards. Ajal glanced back to the level below, 'Dark Passage!'

"What- Where did he-"

Ajal's elbow slammed the guard before he could finish his sentence, then brought his left fist around and punched the guard into the ground. Ajal breathed in and out through his nose, he felt the rage within him calm down as the room full of guards fell silent. The only noise was that of the buzzing orange crystal in the middle of the room. Ajal looked back to the purple tube, they connected to a generator in the middle of the room, above the generator were the strange black overlapping circles. 'Huh...' Ajal squinted as he looked at it again, from the lower angle, he could notice the orange circles spin.

"It looked flat before..." Ajal muttered to himself as he looked back to the purple tubes.

The tubes connected the main generator to a giant contraption that led to the ship's main cannon. 'I knew it... They're using my blood to power those shields...' Ajal walked up to the shield battery and saw pods. There were bodies of children within the pods, they had purple glowing veins. 'I don't sense any spirit from them...' Their blood was being pumped in order to power the ship's shields. Ajal drew a scythe from the shadows.

"Wait!" someone shouted from behind him. "Don't! Anything but that!"

Ajal turned to see Arid Lightbringer. The noble wore a white shirt with the familiar insignia on his chest, resembling a sword with an eye on it. He was sweating, his hand shaking.

"Get away from there... Please," Arid begged with a fake composure.

"This is quite the ship you got here..." Ajal commented as he looked Arid dead in the eye.

"If you destroy that... We cannot rebuild it... Please, we can negotiate..."

"Negotiate?"

"Yes, you want to return to your world, right?" Arid offered. "We can do it right now, we- we have-"

Arid stopped as Ajal glared at him, "You probably should've led with that as the offer last time."

Arid didn't reply, he just glanced at the orange crystal behind Ajal.

"What is that?" Ajal asked with a serious tone.

Arid gulped. "The blood of the divine being of Jalrog... Ragnarok's blood..."

"I didn't expect an honest answer... I thought my blood and Oaraun's were similar, but... This is something new..."

"It allows for this ship's movement... Ragnarok's blood is needed to power our ships... We can do it, the two of us together..."

Ajal tilted his head.

"If you were to kill Ragnarok, Jalrog would be safe again... The angels and demons need not use the non-unified... And you'd go back to your world!"

"You honestly expect me to trust you... Your king tried to murder thousands of hybrid people... The people he's supposed to be allied with... You, Arid Lightbringer, knew it was going to happen!"

"Please, you have to understand-"

Ajal dashed through the shadows and closed the distance, grabbing Arid by the throat and slamming him into a wall.

"Understand what?! The only thing I see are bastards willing to kill everyone else for their own goals!"

"The blood of a divine being requires stabilization!" Arid uttered.

"You're still on about that!" Ajal threw the noble to the floor.

Arid coughed, "Mirror Magic! Distortion!" he vanished and appeared on the catwalks above.

Ajal kicked his scythe into his hand, then raised it towards the shield battery.

"Don't! Please listen! Hear me out!" Arid shouted. "The materials can't be reproduced, and stabilizing the energy is difficult! If you destroy this ship, hundreds of years of research and development die with it!"

Ajal held the scythe above his head.

"We cannot recreate this technology right now! Stop!"

Ajal swung the scythe through the shield battery and split it in half, the purple liquid within suddenly exploded.

"No!" Arid screamed.

The children within the pod's veins still glowed, Ajal lifted one open and touched the toddler's neck. Ajal sighed as the child's cold body didn't even pulse.

"They're already dead..." Ajal muttered.

"You fucking heathen!" Arid roared.

A blue circle of light appeared behind Arid, his voice sounded different, more hollow. Arid raised his palm to attack but stopped as he glanced to the center of the room. Ajal turned towards the orange crystal in the room,

"I noticed something weird about you in our last fight..." said Ajal.

"Stay away from there!" Arid warned, despite it being pointless.

"You're not human..." Ajal looked right at Arid. "Or, I should rather say, you aren't a person..."

Reygar tilted his head as he stood up. "What?"

"So you noticed..." The voice became even louder, echoing off the walls of the ship.

The blue circle behind him rose, 'What the hell...' The edge of the circle crackled as it rose, a smaller circle came into view, but its edge didn't crackle. 'That looks like... An eye?' Arid's eyes glowed blue, he opened his mouth and the circle behind him moved as well. Wisps of blue mist rose off of Arid's body as he looked down at Ajal.

"It's unfair... You divine beings... Your entire existence... What makes you different from us harbingers..." said Arid, however, it came from the being behind him.

"A harbinger?" Ajal repeated. "All of the harbingers should be dead by now... They would have perished hundreds of years ago..."

"Why... Why is it you are blessed with immortality? The ones meant to drive this world toward suffering... While we! The harbingers are cursed with our finite lives, despite our efforts to ensure our people's prosperity!" Arid seethed.

'He's not attacking...' Ajal glanced up at the orange crystal, he looked down and noticed panels and buttons. 'I see...' Ajal turned and ran his finger along the smooth panel of buttons and knobs, one screen showed a number just above one thousand. 'Altitude?'

"Get away from it you meddling fool!" Arid screamed.

Ajal pushed the knob as he looked through the glass and at everything in front of the ship. The mountain in the distance raised ever so slightly. 'It is altitude... Then...' Ajal pulled the knob down, and the entire ship started to fall rapidly.

"What are you- Stop it! Stop it!" Arid panicked uncontrollably.

Ajal put his hands on the dome-shaped controls, they moved slightly, he pressed down on it and moved it upwards. The orange crystal in the center of the room moved, tilting downwards and pulling the ship with it. Reygar hesitated as the entire ship tilted, he started to slide down the floor. The knight captain looked at Ajal one last time before he suddenly vanished, leaving behind wisps of white flames. 'Good... He chose to-'

"Woah!" Ajal slid down slightly, he leaned onto the table as the whole ship rotated forward. "That was fast... Alright..."

"Stop!" Arid screamed.

Ajal pushed another knob forward, and the whole ship thrust forward toward the ground. Ajal glanced through the front window of the ship, the shield crashed into the buildings and pressed them downwards. Arid held on tight as the catwalk broke off. The defense cruiser crashed through the buildings in upper Helios, before colliding with the gateway into the inner city. A torrent of smoke filled the streets of Helios. The ship fell faster than Ajal did, his back hit one of the broken railings and he held on as the cruiser smashed through several buildings in Helios.

"Damn you!" Arid screamed. "Damn all you divine beings to hell!"

The railing snapped from underneath Arid as the ship smashed into the ground.

"Ah- Aaah!" Arid cried as he fell into the smoke.

Ajal held on for his life, the ship eventually came to a stop. He looked around the smoke-filled room, several scars ripped through the hull of the ship. Live wires dangled back and forth as sparks crackled off their tips. Ajal let go of the rail and landed on the terminal he used to move the ship. 'Spirit Ignition!' Ajal kicked off the panel, breaking it further in the process. Upon landing on the glass, he delivered another spirit ignition to it. The glass shattered, and Ajal grasped onto a broken beam. He dangled above the ground for a moment, letting go and landing on the stone of Helios.

Ajal walked forward. As the dust cleared, a large portion of the main road came into view, followed by several buildings that had massive chunks missing. Up ahead, Arid Lightbringer struggled to his feet but continued to fall. A piece of a building separated from the rest, falling and smashing against the ground. The rumbling quake knocked the dust away and filled the area with even more, Ajal walked through the waves of dust toward Arid.

"Why... Why must life hinder me..." Arid stood up, his left arm was broken from the fall.

Arid's clothes were torn and ragged. The noble's eyes were still bright blue, and the circle of energy crackled behind him. Ajal stood up, but he hesitated as he felt a massive spirit come from above. A black knight landed behind Arid. 'There you are...' Ajal could see the round top of his skull helmet as he approached from behind the veil of smoke.

"Because it wants you gone just as much as I do," Oaraun stepped out of the smoke without his helmet on.

Arid turned around, only to be impaled the moment he did. The green greatsword pierced straight through him. Oaraun even lifted him up with the blade in one arm. Arid was shocked, his blue eyes faded to black. The circles of light behind him disappeared.

"Alex... Ander..." Arid uttered weakly.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time..." said Oaraun, he swung his blade and threw Arid's corpse toward Ajal.

The lifeless body rolled to a stop at Ajal's feet. Ajal looked down at Arid's black eyes, they faded slowly as he bled out.

"I hope... That one day... You divine beings will have to die as well, without choice, without option..." Arid uttered in his final moments.

Ajal looked up at Oaraun.

"So, you managed to survive... I didn't expect you to be on your feet so soon... Good..." said Oaraun.

"You could've burned my body to ashes... Stabbed me a few more times... Crush my skull... Why didn't you make sure I was dead?" Ajal asked.

"I don't wish to kill you Ajal, in fact, I'd rather someone as strong as you remain alive so we can fight again..." Oaraun explained. "You may hate me, but I don't hate you, honestly I admire your willpower... You have nothing to do with this conflict, yet I see you've run around the city like the wildcard that you are."

"Uh-huh..." Ajal replied with a dismissive tone. "Where's Jack?"

"You have a much bigger problem on your hands right now..."

"Is that so, well, it's a good thing I don't have to hold back against you..." Ajal cracked his neck, his feet dragged against the ground, and he raised both his fists. "I'll beat the answer out of you!"