On another part of Xelphia far away from the antics of Beramode and his bride yet another story was coming to a close. This was not a tale of laughter and certainly triumph; merely the final culmination of hatred.
Dias Blade fell from above and sunk his blade into his prey. His trajectory was off for instead of stabbing Adell through the head he had merely succeeded in piercing the dragon’s heart. He landed with a solid thud, his feet supporting themselves against the big man’s shoulders even as the beast of a man spat blood across the pavement. The Dragon prince felt his knees buckle and his body sag forward, but only for a second, then he drove his foot forward and steeled his muscles against the forces of gravity. A fire of fury lit up in his eyes like never before and slowly but surely he turned his gaze upon Dias.
There was no denying that hatred was a strong motivator for Adell. To hate a worthy foe brought the best out of a competitor and for too long Adell had thought he had found that in the Azure Swordsman. The illusion was gone the instant he felt the cowardly blade hammer through his heart…
One of them.
Adell spun around with enough speed to tear Dias’ blade from his hands, using one forearm to knock the dainty swordsman off balance and palming his head in the hand of the other. Then he whipped him down for one hell of a headbutt. What followed should have been a meeting of the minds but when the thick skull of a dragon met with the brittle bones of a mere half-angel mutant the answer was obvious; the impact went off like a gunshot. Dias tumbled backwards with a massive bloody cavern where their heads had meant and Adell bumbled back just a step. Eye swelled shut and blind Dias climbed to his feet just in time to spot the warp flames racing along his threads, evaporating his control over the Xelphia Mining Facility and instantly consuming him rolling horrors that could not be followed with the eyes of mortal men. A wicked smile flew across Laemington’s face.
Adell appeared behind Dias while the Azure Swordsman was just beginning to shriek with pain and he looped his arms about the man’s waist, bent his knees and thrust his hips out, and before the first utter of no homo he proceeded to fling himself into the air. He could feel the flames licking at his flesh and the madness already beginning to tug at the edges of sanity that he was fairly certain he had already lost but he burned that pain and transformed into raw power. Then with all of his strength he threw Dias overhead, pumping him through the air with such calculated perfection that a computer could not performed it better, and all by a man who could personally attest to his hatred of anything remotely close to math. The Azure Swordsman arrived in the perfect epicenter of the brewing storm that was the result of Xelphia and Gaea’s atmospheres colliding, a brief but fierce firestorm before the two worlds kissed, and the Narian arriving just in time to eat the brunt of the impact:
Chidera “Choo Choo” Pendragon -> Adell “Biggie Smalls” Laemington
Trinity Soul Hyper Link
Thomas the Tank Engine no Jutsu: End of the Line x9,000,000,000,000,000,000 World Ending Inferno Super Suplex set to the sounds of the San Francisco Symphony and Orchestra while Kurt “The Wrestling Machine” Angle sheds a single tear of joy (Chug Life Edition)
.tm Phantom
The world went white and the thing known as Dias Blade ceased to exist…
***
When the shaking had ended there was no light to be found. Somewhere in the intervening time Brobdingnag had finished toying with the Gaean star, he had aged it a billion years and then when it was old and weary he had collapsed it upon itself, forcefully creating a black hole. It was a surprisingly silent affair, there was no super nova to speak of, and the hole itself was a weak thing considering that had formed from a star that would have never collapsed on itself without aid. It's pull was a slow inexorable tug into oblivion that would inevitably suck in every planet in the Gaean system but only well after everyone had frozen to death.
The Yggdrasil Crew had fled, no use in dying fighting a hopeless battle when there was still rum to be drunk after all, and those Crimson Knights who did not die in the impact fled to fight and die another day. Xelphia, empty thanks in no small part to Chidea’s machinations, had shattered like glass but Gaea remained sturdy. A good third of the planet had caved in and the crust was steadily flaking away to reveal the broken electronics underneath, it was a shame that the Aesirian people had been satisfied sitting around with their thumbs up their ass while they played with ancient technology but it could not be held against them; it was a failing of many empires to grow complacent that resulted in them losing what it meant to be human and that was to constantly grow.
Beramode had not forgotten.
He sauntered through the wreckage of a world towards the great rent in Gaea’s crust, Chidea hovering behind him and dragging a cadre of frozen corpses behind her. Before him in the lightless night stood Adell with a stolen sword clutched in his hand and silver blood staining his chest.
“Now is hardly appropriate young man.” Beramode eyed him from behind his glasses and Chidea wagged her finger tauntingly.
“What part of me looks like it gives a fuck what you want? You’re lucky that bastard was easier to kill than you but now he’s gone and I’ve got one last thing to go on my bucket list.” Adell stormed forward and snapped a punch which only ended in Beramode gliding around the blow and arriving behind him.
“The part that wants to see this mess come to an end. Don’t I get any credit for helping you, though I suppose I ended up doing most of the heavy lifting in the end.” Beramode laughed as he spoke more to the feminine effigy hanging over his shoulder than to the heaving muscle man in front of him. Adell was not in a laughing mood though but before he could retort Beramode raised a single finger, “But if you insist on flying into a post battle rage then allow me to assist you.” In a tongue more like the hissing of a serpent Beramode uttered a word of power and it was like the gods had clapped their hands over Adell’s ears, all sound became a dull buzzing and the only left in his world was the red curtain of rage.
What followed next would surely warrant an essay of details upon the shifting of bones, the rending of planets, and the fear struck into the hearts of men as Adell made the change from a mere mortal with an exceptionally thick skull to a dragon that radiated like a sun in the lightless void that was now Gaea, silver blood burning the world below, and liquid rage spewing from his mouth. But there was no one around to witness it save for Beramode and he was beginning to grow tired of this entire affair so the details will remain perfunctory at best.
He turned on his heels and sauntered away, leaving Adell to exhume his rage upon more ostentatious targets; Vincent Fiorelli the master mage, Riku Nightmare the demonic swordsman, Loki Beoulve the prodigal son, and Xeta Gaiken the phantom gunman would all have to deal with him themselves. Oh and Lysander Korvein if he could stop getting drunk long enough to apply aid. But that was neither here nor there…
“Why didn’t you kill him?” Chidea purred as she slung her arms around her husband’s neck.
“Because that would take too long and we are on a very strict time limit here.” Beramode arrived at the rent and stared down into the ancient Narian technology that was the framework of the Aesir Empire. Icura appeared beside him with blood staining his smile.
“I would stick him upon a spear, aft to port, and then roast him over an open fire. We would feast for days.” Chidea’s mouth was salivating at the thought.
“Wouldn’t that be cannibalism?” Icura muttered.
“Is there something wrong with that!” she snapped.
“Nothing at all my love but think of it this way, we have another feast waiting for us. Beneath our feet lies a sleeping god, a being from another reality whose dreams shape the world of others and have for too long.” Beramode skid down the slope and with uncanny speed he landed upon the sub dermal dome to a resounding gong. Miles above the surface what was left of Gaea was wracked with explosions. Then sneaking inside he continued to explain, “Without going into the details of it when we entered Aesir Space we unknowingly submitted to being downloaded by a massive existential computer. When he fell asleep so many eons ago he crafted this system to be his ultimate defense, that should anyone press the Crimson Knights too heavily he would unveil the truth and then delete them on a whim, the Eidolons for example are his master control programs and the executors of his will. There are a few other hints here and there, most so unclever that they actually succeed to in flying right under the radar, but the evidence was there; by colluding with my esteemed colleagues I was able to deduce the truth easily enough and therein fashion a sort of defense. I guess you could say that when we entered this system, illegally mind you thanks to young Vincent, we did so as a Trojan virus. The lesson to learn here is that if you try to shove reality into a box it will inevitably break free.” Beramode fished about in his pocket and pulled out a pain of familiar blue eyes. “Gaea is merely the surface and what lies before us is the mother board, the digital equivalent of heaven and of hell, the very center of this universe if you will. And these shall be the final key to unlocking it all."
Chidea cocked her head to side with a confused look on her face. “So we’re going to smother him in his sleep from inside of his dreams?”
“Who is he?” Icura chimed in.
“That’s more or less the jist of it.” Beramode rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “Let’s find out.”
The arrived atop a glowing sphere that was without a doubt an advanced form of a tesseract, an eternal paradox that could not be contained in three dimensions tied down inside of a barrier of pure mathematics. “Yet more stolen technology, is nothing sacred these days,” He said with a sneer, “Once we enter his dreams will turn violent and even I’m not sure what nightmares will be conjured to stop us. Well then, are you two ready?” he glanced back even though he did not need two and saw the horrible smiles they wore. “Good, then let’s go.”
Without another word Beramode sank into the Eternal Sphere.
What happened once our hero laid siege to Naria, Pandemonium, the Yggdrasil Super Computer, and everything in-between? Well some stories are better left to the imagination...
So ends the Battle of Xelphia and begins the Genocide of Gaea.
And with it the end of the Crimson Knights.