The Final Blow

 

 

This is it. All or nothing.

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All. 

   Or. 

      Nothing. 

 

You breathe, 

maybe your last breath. 

 

Who knows… 

 

You’re weightless over the ocean. Surrounded by every element that’s been thrown back and forth while angry aether energy buzzes around you. It’s nobody’s environment, but you make it yours. 

 

You grab it by the throat and you make it yours. Defying all odds. Not even a god can stop you.

 

WARNER strikes first, yelling out over the sound of the black hole. His GOD SLAYER mirrors his movements, reaching to grab THE ABSOLUTE. 

 

BASTIAN thinks fast, thinning the air around the GOD SLAYER to help it move effortlessly. Maybe he’s been quiet. Maybe he’s been in the background more than others, but it doesn’t make him any less important. Without support, it doesn’t matter how strong a fortress is. He knows what it is to die, and preventing as many other deaths as possible is enough. 

 

GOD SLAYER wraps its massive arms around the creature, holding it back with all its strength and leaving it vulnerable to attacks. For once, WARNER’s creation is his own. For once, it won’t haunt him. He’s come so far from the man that he used to be. Fear won’t hold him back this time. He is in control of his monsters now. 

 

Despite the heavy blows that HEKTOR has taken from his own element, he refuses to give up. He refuses to let another thing playing god defeat him. He is the master of his own fate, and he is nobody’s tool. 

 

INNA steps up to help HEKTOR. The quiet man uses his gifts granted by another creature who attempted to use him, turning them against it. He’s far more than someone who can be controlled for self-gain and he’ll make it known as he brings in the heat of the sun to sear THE ABSOLUTE’s surface, weakening it further.

 

A white hot flash of lightning lights up from HEKTOR’s body, momentarily showing the silhouette of his skeleton before the lack of gravity flings him back. The lightning hits the water below, sparking like livewires around THE ABSOLUTE and stunning it. He gives it no room to move, and he makes sure it stays that way.

 

LUCY floats high above the creature, looking down on it. She’s surrounded by water, but there’s no escape from the air that she controls. Some say that there are limits, but to hell with that. Air will never be weak as long as she has something to say about it. She reaches out toward THE ABSOLUTE, moving the air around it until it affects the waters. A whirlpool begins to form. 

 

RUE uses nearly everything she knows to work with LUCY and BAILEY, bringing forth a violent, boiling hot wave with their combined efforts. She throws it at the whirlpool with shards of ice and lost blood, creating red ribbons in the water. Despite all she’s been through. Despite all she’s lost. She pushes herself to keep moving, and proves that she is the master of every aspect of her element. Not even her own limits will stop her. 

 

BAILEY feels the heat of the boiling water, fingers curling as the bubbles rise. It’s not enough, so he makes it enough, heating the water further until it's steaming like an overflowing kettle. He’s not the kid he used to be, but he’s the hero he dreamt to be, and he’ll make sure to live to tell the story.

 

The whirlpool begins to rise.

 

Having to be grounded to properly use his element has never stopped KAMEN, and it won’t stop him now. He’s had his feet in the air before. He’s resourceful, and knows that he has far more talents than just special powers. Combining them makes him unique. He knows who he is, and he’s never been ashamed of it. Sometimes you don’t need fancy techniques to get things done. Sometimes you only need a couple of strategically aimed explosives and teamwork… KAMEN uses whatever momentum he can, steering his planes with some help from his abilities to send them into RUE and LUCY’s vortex. 

 

The planes explode, creating bright flashes around THE ABSOLUTE like fireworks, and bubbles in the vortex, adding shrapnel into it that tears two of its arms to pieces.

 

VIC reaches to the energy within THE ABSOLUTE. The same energy that now resides within him. He grabs it, getting a firm hold on it. He won’t be manipulated any longer. He won’t be used and abused. A gift should not come with strings attached, and he’s fully set on throwing it straight back at the creature. 

 

THE ABSOLUTE’s form wanes. 

 

AZELVIA blows her whistle, commanding the sea beast, TAFARI as she summons a wave, surfing through the air with her sword in hand. She’s a force stronger than gravity, and nothing can stop her. The wave slams into THE ABSOLUTE, throwing TAFARI at it. He bites into one of its remaining arms, tearing it off. 

 

More metal surrounds AZELVIA’s blade as MORTIMER sends it her way, sharpening it until it’s deadly enough to slice steel like paper. Maybe he’s lived with physical weaknesses. Maybe who he really was never truly fit into the family he came from. But it doesn’t make him any less strong, and the puzzle that is Talcord would never be complete without him.

 

GEN stays clear of the water floating up into the air with him. With POPPY and VIC beside him, he knows that everything will be okay. He knows that as long as he has his people, he can be immortal. That’s something that THE ABSOLUTE doesn’t have. Taking the autonomy of others doesn’t make you stronger. GEN surrounds AZELVIA with flames, making her blade grow red hot as she swings it for THE ABSOLUTE’s head. Slashing, slashing, slashing until its vile blood spills in splashes of glowing cyan that float into the air like the water that surrounds it.

 

THE ABSOLUTE’s halo of spirits is released. 

 

JEHIEL plants his feet on a piece of what used to be Bonham. He’s not afraid of his element anymore. It doesn’t make him who he is. It’s an extension of him, and it’s what he does with it that makes him good or bad, just like anyone else. It doesn’t matter where the power came from. The monster is right in front of them all. He closes his eyes, thinking about all the friends and family that he’s fighting for and continues to fight for. Who he will always fight for, and he knows now will fight for him too. No longer will he fight alone. 

 

HUO surrounds JEHIEL with a storm of his fire, standing by him. Now, more than ever he knows who his family is. Despite rough patches, despite having a taste of death, he’s here. He won’t take his second chance for granted. His flames remain cool to those around him, protecting his people and his husband. Only a danger to those who stand in his way. 

 

KAMEN’s TECHNO carefully calculates JEHIEL’s trajectory for the others, spitting the coordinates out to help them know exactly how to aim.

 

ASOL and POPPY gather all of the potential energy that they can muster, gathering it around JEHIEL’s feet. The bright white, pink, black, and purple energy glows bright, swirling around him. ASOL won’t let their exhaustion stop them. Besides, she has LANGLY there to make sure she’s okay. They know that they’re just as powerful as the universe itself. The stars know their worth, and she is a star. Endless, infinite. Even death her energy would still be there. 

 

POPPY stays close to who she loves. Despite everything, her heart has stayed soft. It’s part of the glue that holds everyone together. What is a family without love, after all? The world has been a wild, fucked up circus, but now she is the ringmaster and her efforts will always be enough. She holds her energy with ASOL until she can’t anymore and lets it explode outward, finally launching JEHIEL straight at THE ABSOLUTE.

 

Flames and aether surround him as he shoots through the vortex, the GOD SLAYER, and the chest of THE ABSOLUTE at the speed of light. The combined aethers make it possible to tear SHERRY from the heart of the beast and he flies into the ocean with him in his arms, pulling red strings of aether with him, snapping them and leaving red flakes of energy gently falling into the water.

 

THE ABSOLUTE is left with a hole in its chest. It gasps, for once in fear, gripping at its life with the one arm that remains. 

 

It knows that it has lost.

 

VALERIA, nears an aloneness that she never wanted to experience again, and all due to the creature that promised all things good. No more false gods. No more false promises. No more losing everything in this cursed awful world that she loves. She will take it all back with a vengeance. She pulls the power of the sun and flames, forcing energy that she doesn’t have. The pain doesn’t matter anymore. She throws everything she has at it. A burst of flame and poison flowers hits it in the chest, exploding into bright white light. 

 

The vortex of water, earth, air, fire and aether consumes THE ABSOLUTE. It cracks, breaks and it explodes, firing elements off in every direction, tearing it apart until 

 

there’s 

      nothing 

             left.

…

​

The elements eventually settle, but gravity still leaves you floating gently through the air. It’s quiet. A silence that you never thought you’d get to hear again. Beautiful shards of light and energy float with you. 

 

You’re alive.

 

A smaller, bright cyan blue form much like the spirits from the halo floats limply in the place of the creature that once was, with the red one that SHERRY had been orbiting slowly nearby. Their forms flicker in and out. The white eyes of the blue one blink open just barely and it hums.

 

“You’ve done it… You’ve surpassed me…” ZADKIEL says. He chuckles tiredly, knowing his own mistakes. It’s not devious in nature. “In all of my lives. I couldn’t be more proud to lose…”

 

As ZADKIEL’s form begins to fade, so does any aether in the bodies of his former followers that he’d given to them. Limbs, eyes, scars. It doesn’t mean you can’t replace it with your own power, however. ZADKIEL is no longer needed. 

 

ZADKIEL reaches out and holds the arms of SHERRY’s form gently in his hands, letting him float along with him. 

 

SHERRY barely opens his eyes. “No… Please, don’t go…” He breathes. 

 

ZADKIEL touches his face, tilting his head to the side before looking to you again.

 

“Energy cannot be destroyed… Maybe you’ve won, but whatever way you may kill me, it will not matter… It never ends…” White tears of light escape ZADKIEL’s eyes as he lets them flutter shut. “It will never end…”

 

“Goodbye.”

​

The energy around you swirls around gently as ZADKIEL’s form slowly trickles away into glittery dust, being carried by the wind. You feel the intense energy surrounding you that you didn’t even realize was there release. Gravity goes back to normal, slowly lowering you into the ocean. 

 

DREW, EVIE, NED, JESPER, MIKEY, JULIUS, and CARLYLE peek out from the support tent after hours and hours of working to keep their allies alive. They’re exhausted, but their hard work paid off. There’s still hope for all that has been lost, and all who have been lost.

 

The sky becomes still. The world becomes still.

 

And just like that, it’s THE END…

 

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For now, at least…