by Andrew Jones
Drakkar frowned, "The building of this New World has shown me that the Humans are weaklings, that is why I needed Ciphereverie so I may be able to change their free will!"
"You think Humans are just puppets for your own desires!?" Nova shouted as she lunged toward him.
She landed a few strong attacks until Drakkar grabbed her by the neck and begun strangling her.
"Yes, Humans have no place in reality," Drakkar spoke calmly as he looked directly at Nova.
As he strangled her, Nova's body began to turn black. Her veins began to pop out as well as they changed into a black color. She shut her eyes and kicked her legs around as she tried to break out of his grip. Blaze gasped as she dashed into Drakkar, but he immediately swung his blade into her and made her fly back across the graveyard. She screamed, and she kept screaming as she tried to get on her feet. The darkness that had latched onto her from Drakkar's blade was trying to slow her down as well as leech away her life. She began to feel weak, but she took her battle axe out and swung it all around her to swipe all of the clinging darkness off of her. Nova's face was growing red as the darkness began to cover her face, but Blaze came out of nowhere and cut Drakkar's arm off then she kicked him across the graveyard as she catches Nova and helped her onto the ground.
Drakkar was wounded as he stood up and stared at the ground as his black blood poured out from his massive wound, "Y-You assholes will rot in hell's eternity!"
"Blaze!" Nova shouted to get her attention.
Nova held her hand toward her, opening it. Blaze looked at her hand for a moment before taking it. Her body began to glow in a light aura as Nova raised her blade toward Drakkar. The same circle with the six symbols materialized as Nova charged her power with the assistance of Blaze's energy. She shot a powerful light beam at Drakkar.
The beam hit him as he screamed and fell to the ground. A few moments later, all three of the Dragoona dove down and stood in front of Drakkar, holding out their massive wings to protect him.
"Drakkar, get the hell up!" Zephyr shouted at him as he roared at the two girls.
Septimus scoffed, "Yes. You can't expect us to take them on, can you?"
Drakkar gasped as he fell to the ground, "I-I can't... I feel so powerless now..."
Bastion looked down at him. He extending his little hand and placed it on top of Drakkar gently as he shut his eyes.
"He still has the power brewing inside..." Bastion announced, "I'm tired of this waiting!"
Zephyr narrowed his eyes at Nova and Blaze, giving them an intimidating look as he looked down at Drakkar and quickly ate him. Nova and Blaze gasped and had their eyes open as they saw the Dragoona eat him. But after, Zephyr began to glow and laugh while Septimus and Bastion shut their eyes and shattered into millions of dark pieces. The pieces entered into Zephyr as his eyes went from black to red. The Dragoona began to grow bigger and grow four arms. As it stood high and clearly overshadowed Nova and Blaze, it roared loudly into them.
"I am Xevadiah, God of Rage!" Xevadiah shouted, "Your friend, Drakkar has offered himself as a worthy sacrifice to create the key to the New World. He surrendered his soul, so he now cannot see his precious family he so treasures. This New World needs a true leader."
Nova frowned, "Drakkar may have been our enemy, but I know he still deserves to see the ones he loves! And as a Nawx, I will destroy you and create not a New World, but a Perfect World!"
Xevadiah looked up and laughed as thunder and lightning erupted from the skies above, "A mere machine dares to threaten the strongest of all Gods? I shall see this as an introduction to this world!"
Nova aims her light power as she aimed her blade at Xevadiah while Blaze dashed into the powerful Dragoona. She stabbed her spear into the Dragoona's scales but her spear only bounced off.
"Ugh, physical attacks are not useful!" Blaze shouted.
Nova frowned as she shot a beam of light directly into the scales of the Dragoona. Somehow the light was able to disable the armor for a limited amount of time, so Blaze quickly attacked the vulnerable area. Xevadiah roared in pain, which made the skies rain down infinite amounts of lightning strikes. Blaze quickly dodged each of the lightning strikes while Nova contained multiple lightning strikes with her light barrier and shot it back at Xevadiah. He fell back, but it only staggered him. Nova shouted as she dashed into him and strung up a large combo of powerful hits, with Blaze following behind.
But as Xevadiah stood up, he raised his arms up and shot a wave of hellfire out of his body and into Nova and Blaze.
"Mere mortals, the desperation for a perfect world could only result in self-destruction!" Xevadiah roared into the now raining skies.
Nova shook and she slowly stood up, though Blaze was more damaged from her previous battles. She leant her a hand to help her up, but Blaze could barely move.
"I-... I can't..." Blaze whispered.
Nova tilted her head, "Why? Why can't you fight!?"
Blaze shook heavier as tears began to fall down her cheeks, "Because of Augur... Augur is now lost forever inside that dragon!"
Nova looked back at Xevadiah. She frowned and unleashed more of her power into the blades to make them shine brighter than she has ever before, "Kryptonite, look after Blaze. I'll deal with Xevadiah."
Kryptonite nodded his head as he jumped to Blaze. Xevadiah looked down at Nova and opened his mouth, unleashed multiple balls of hellfire into her. Reacting rather quickly, she spun her two blades in front of her and completely deflected each of the balls of hellfire into Xevadiah.
"This power! Is this the true power of the Nawx?" Xevadiah roared as a result from the hellfire damage.
He stomped on the floor and created an ice layer throughout the graveyard. There were ice and snow just about everywhere, and the ground had a big pile of snow necessary for making Nova slower to attack him. He grinned as he shot strong and thick icicles from his nose at Nova. She swung her blades and reflected each of them except one that only cut passed her cheek, which left a scratch on her cheek that would start to bleed. Xevadiah frowned and growled as he started to get frustrated, he blew a strong wave of ice, but Nova used her power to shoot another light beam into the ice. It would freeze the beam, which Nova picked up and swung at Xevadiah, dealing a powerful light and ice attack on the Dragoona.
Xevadiah roared from the immense pain, "Why must you resist!? You're a Synth, you're supposed to protect the machines!"
Xevadiah stomped on the ground and made all of the ice disappear. He held his head up high and charged up a powerful beam that had all of his power entwined. Nova frowned and did so as well- she aimed both of her blades upward and charged her light powers. They both aimed at each other and shot their beams at one another. As the beams hit one another they both used all of their strength to overpower the other. Xevadiah chuckled as he saw Nova fall to her knees as she looked to have no energy left.
"Surrender, Nawx. You were never meant to save Humanity. You are no God like myself!" Xevadiah shouted.
But Nova felt someone hold her hands. She looked to her left and saw that Blaze had dragged herself to Nova and placed her hand on Nova's hand as she held onto her blade. She then looked to the right of her and saw a faded Atreyu who had his hand on her hand. She smiled, then frowned as she looked back at Xevadiah.
"I may not be a God, but I am still more Human than you! A mere Human can accomplish more than a God can, especially one who has to forcefully take over an innocent Human just to take over the world!" Nova shouted.
Her strength tripled and now Xevadiah was struggling to keep his power. If he were to fail, both Nova's light beam with the support of Blaze and Atreyu as well as his own beam would deal deadly damage to him. Nova shouted as she unleashed more power into her beam. Xevadiah's energy gave out as he would roar at the sight of the beams quickly going back into him.
As the beams hit him, he shook and his Dragoona scales began to melt away. He roared loudly but no power had been released from him, it was like his dark power- th
e Ruse he had gotten from Drakkar had been destroyed. He was literally melting into a dark ooze, perhaps the dark mass that Ruse was made of. Nova, Blaze, and Kryptonite watched as Xevadiah melted into the dark mass. The screams of both Drakkar and Augur were heard as the dark mass began to disappear. Blaze started to cry as she heard the screams of Augur, but as Nova placed her hand on her shoulder she shut her eyes and avoided the crying.
Suddenly, a bright light hit them and within a few seconds, they were back in their old world. Izequin, the old corrupted world. They landed back at the sight of which used to be Amaya's village before the machine swarm came in and destroyed the village.
"Huh, I guess we're back..." Kryptonite muttered as he looked back at Nova and Blaze, "Never thought it would feel so good to be back here, am I right?"
Nova and Blaze both look at each other.
"I think all of this is over. We killed both Lilith and Drakkar... Ciphereverie and Xevadiah, the two light halves of the Humans... Now I can create the New- no... The Perfect World..." Nova sighed and spoke nervously.
Kryptonite rubbed the back of his head, "Well if that is it... Then my time here is up."
Blaze looked down at him and frowned, "Huh?"
"That means it is time for me to depart. I've told you that I've had many adventures before meeting you... This is just another adventure I can tell travelers I meet. Tell 'em all about the legends like you I've met." Kryptonite explained as he jumped and grabbed Blaze's hand, which made her gasp and bend down to him, "But I definitely won't ever forget you, Lady Blaze."
Blaze took her hand away from him and chuckled, "Yeah... You were something special, Kryptonite."
She got down on her knees and hugged Kryptonite tightly. She shut her eyes and heard the struggles Kryptonite was having because she was clearly crushing him.
"O-Oh... Sorry..." Blaze muttered as she let go of him.
Kryptonite smiled as he panted, "It's fine."
He reached into his pockets and pulled out a hat and a heavy-looking backpack. He nodded his head at Nova.
"It was nice meeting you, Nova," Kryptonite spoke.
Nova laughed and nodded back at him, "Right back at you... But what will you do out there? It is an empty world."
"I'm not considered a being. Once your Perfect World is created, I'll find my way there." He smiled as he turned back and started walking out of the destroyed village.
Blaze sighed as the two watched Kryptonite walk away. This was the moment when she knew this was all ending. She looked down at her hands and formed a fist.
"Nova..." Blaze whispered.
Nova looked back at her, not saying a word.
"I... I need you to kill me." Blaze whispered, sounding hurt as she spoke.
Nova frowned, "I can purify your soul so you can enter the Perfect World..."
"No!" Blaze yelled as she faced her, "I... I am the corruption of this world! I was the reason why the corruption was created and why it destroyed this world... I know because of that... That I won't enter the Perfect World... But it doesn't matter if Augur won't be there." She turned away from her as she looked down to the ground, "I guess... My story was supposed to have no happy ending after all. So please, just end my story for me..."
Nova stared at her with a tear running down her cheek. She was at least happy that she would be able to see Atreyu in the Perfect World, but as a different person. But Blaze and Augur were not able to enter the Perfect World. Their souls were made of corruption. There was no way she could cure their corruption.
She held her sword softly. Sighing, she raised the sword up slowly but she quickly stabbed it into her back. Nova held Blaze's shoulder so she would not fall, but all she could hear was the blood splattering from the stabbing. Blaze's voice shook from the pain, but Nova allowed for Blaze to fall to the ground.
"T-Thank you..." Blaze whispered as she fell to the ground and looked up at Nova, "Death... Is my resolution... It is what will... Set me free from... Myself..."
Nova watched Blaze speak, but when she stopped talking Nova dropped to her knees. She started to sob and cry harder than she had ever before while pressing her face into Blaze's stomach.
"No... Thank you..." She shouted into Blaze's stomach, pulling her head away after, "You... You were more than you thought you were..."
Nova whispered as she stood up and dropped her weapons. She looked around and realized that she was now alone. All Humans and machines were now dead. Realizing that, she shut her eyes slowly and allowed herself to glow in a divine light. The light was so great that her skin was burning and hurting her, but she had to stay calm and focus. As she held her eyes shut, she appeared in this holy world, a world inaccessible to anyone else but the Nawx, the Savior of Humanity. She was forced to the ground by invisible chains, and some unknown force scratched her eyes out so she may not see ever again. The divine light penetrated her skin and created these sacred marks all around her body. She was not able to move at all in reaction to the great pain she was in.
Though by the markings lighting up, she was starting to create the Perfect World through her power of light and through her own sacrifice. The markings began to glow brighter and bright, which made Nova shout and scream in pain.
Down below on Izequin, Kryptonite was traveling through the Land of Ruin. He was following a confusing map and grumbling about its misleading directions. But he felt an odd sensation which made him look up. The dark and red skies of the once corrupted land began to glow and change back into a peaceful blue color. A giant circle materialized high in the sky, as the same six symbols appeared around the circle. With the immense energy from the Nawx, the light power allowed the materialization of the clouds in the sky, something the world of Izequin had never seen before.
Kryptonite held his hat down as a breeze of wind passed him. He looked at the sky in awe as the puffy clouds appeared throughout the sky. He smiled as he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. He unfolded the piece of paper looked down at the page as a tear ran down his cheek. He sighed and shook his head as he wiped away the tear as quick as he could.
"Get a hold of yourself, bear! She could be watching you!" He shouted at himself.
He gave the page another quick glance, the page was a drawing of the group he had drawn back at when they were all together, the night of the campfire. He had drawn Nova, Blaze, Atreyu, Xanadu, Shalya and himself all sitting around the campfire and looking happy. He folded the page back up and placed it carefully in his pocket as he begun to walk in an aimless direction once again. Every step he took, the landscape has begun to look more beautiful, flowers began to blossom from the ground, and bugs were being created throughout the wilderness. It was a slow process, but the Perfect World would truly be the beautiful world all the Humans and machines deserved.