The Great Monster Troupe Chapter 13
All for Naught?
By Limited Moon
Zero made his way to another room, it was large and had more than enough room for fighting, but the thing that really made it stand out was the green crystallite wall holding a blue crystal in the middle. As he looked closer, he saw the princess encased in the crystal, and gasped. Forage appeared in front of the crystal and smiled at Zero.
"Yes, that is princess Ruvelia, beautiful isn't she?" he said in a mocking tone, "she will be the embodiment of all lucavi soon, and it is before her that I must prove my strength. Are you prepared for the void, Zero?"
Zero drew his daggers and got into a ready position, Forage simply laughed and brought his bow up, from it, he released a beam of light. Zero jumped out of the way, and tossed a Ninja knife at Forage.
Pesos, MD, Boco and Kupu eventually made it to that room by following the newly colored carpet. Once they opened the door, they saw Zero fighting Forage.
"Man in black...helping us?" Pesos said, "I thought he was bad."
"Vat an odd vall, never saw such a design in all my life AND afterlife," MD commented.
"Should we parade on their party kupo?" Kupu said.
"WARK!" Boco said quietly, pointing her wings at the crystal.
"What Boco....! Ruv-e-lia?! She's in that crystal!" Pesos said.
"Vell then, vy not crash this little party, eh?" MD said, laughing.
They crashed through the door, effectively getting Forage and Zero's attention, Forage teleported to the second floor balcony of the room, and looked down upon the new members of the group.
"Zero, I thought you were a little more honorable, 5 against one, oh well, nomatter, Eri-gi-na-su!" Forage yelled, and beams of light began to rain upon the group, Zero was easily able to dodge them all, but it was much more difficult for the monsters.
"You cannot escape death! It is Providence!" Forage yelled. He laughed in enjoyment as he watched the group jump all over the place dodging his rays. Then he felt the air get colder, and several ice blocks fell on him, cracking as they landed, his concentration was completely broken, and the spell ended. Forage turned around to see Cidolfas, holding his sword towards him.
"I don't know what you are, but i'd suggest you leave my friends alone," Cidolfas said.
Forage held his bow towards Cidolfas, "what happens faster, your spell, or my arrow tearing your body into two halves?" he said, with a smile.
"Asu-mari-ho-ka!" Melchior yelled, releasing a Holy Explosion at Forage.
"Enough!" Forage yelled, "enough of this foolishness! Mother, I will destroy these humans for you!"
Forage held out the Zodiac stone of Libra, holding it high he concentrated, "I shall be the first human to combine with TWO lucavi! I will risk my life to protect my mother!"
"Stop it, Chancellor! Put the stone down!" Cidolfas yelled.
"I WILL NOT! BROTHER, HEAR THE CALL OF A FELLOW LUCAVI, JOIN ME!" Forage screamed, a white mist encircling him in a vortex.
Pesos was hammering at the crystallite prison as much as he could, but even the monster's combined strength couldn't break it. Just as Pesos was about to give up, he noticed the commotion on the balcony, and his eyes widened.
Forages body grew larger, and more muscular than it even was in his centaur form. Two wings sprouted from his back, and a snake appeared around his body. The snakes head loomed over Forage's shoulder, and Forage held it's head to ensure it's cooperation. The Saggitarius and Libra stones flew away from him, and fell to the ground. Then, a new sign became etched in Forage's chest, looking like an odd mix of the two previous signs.
"I AM SERPENTARIUS!" Forage yelled, "I AM THE BASIS OF ALL POWER, ALL LIFE! I COMMAND YOUR VERY MAGIC POWERS!"
Forage demonstrated by pointing at Cidolfas, "Asori hikto!" Cidolfas yelled without control, he slashed his sword toward Melchior and a blade came out of the ground, taking Melchior by surprise, and leaving him with a bad arm wound, "what...did you DO to me?!" Cidolfas yelled.
"As Serpentarius, I am the controlling force in all humans, I can even change feelings!" Forage said.
"That you shall not, Serpentarius," came a female voice, the materia flew out of Pesos' jacket and the goddess materialized from it, "I cannot let you become any stronger!" she yelled, firing a beam into Forage. Forage was knocked back severely but countered with a dark version of her own beam. The goddess only winced and threw a meteor at Forage to counter. Forage dodged it successfully, and blasted the goddess with another dark beam. Cidolfas used another Stasis Sword on Forage, and Melchior was able to get off a Lightning Stab before he collapsed. Cidolfas ran toward Melchior as he fell to the ground, "Melchior!" Cidolfas said, "what's wrong?"
"I've lost far too much blood, Cidolfas, unless it is covered, I might die," Melchior said.
"Hold on, i'll get a scarf to cover it, hang on Melchior!" Cidolfas said, looking in his armor.
"I wont blame you for my death, it wasn't your fault, just please, become a great man...never give in to the powers of darkness..like Lesath, and Forage," Melchior said, wincing.
"Please Melchior, hang on!" Cidolfas said, finding a scarf and tying it around Melchior's wound. Melchior smiled at Cidolfas.
"That is the man I hoped to see of you, Cidolfas, you actually care, but it is still too late, I will die if I don't...," Melchior said.
"Shh, don't talk like that, BOCO!" Cidolfas yelled, "You WILL be okay, I promise you!"
Boco flew up to the ledge, and warked in surprise to see Melchior wounded so badly, he began to flap his wings and heal him.
"Boco, see to Melchior, remember to keep healing him!" Cidolfas said, "I have someone I need to deal with!"
Forage and the goddess were at a draw, they were equally wounding eachother, and it seemed there would be no winner to this battle. Then, however, Cidolfas began to repeatedly cast Stasis sword on Forage in a rage. Forage, surprised, let his guard down, "you fool, you shall die!" he yelled, only to be knocked back by the goddesses beam. He tried to summon the strength to fight her, but he couldn't, Forage exploded in a blast of light. All that was left of him, was a new zodiac stone, it sparkled as it fell to the ground. The goddess smiled, but then the castle began to shake with an intensity that even an earthquake couldn't bring.
"Ragnarok," the goddess said, "she is awakening, I...I'm too weak to help you, you must flee!"
With that said, she returned to the materia, and the materia fell to the ground.
"Ragna....what? What's going on?!" Cidolfas yelled.
A crack soon formed on the crystallite, and it began to grow. Pesos and the others backed up as the crystallite began to break up, slowly. Then, it exploded, with a fierce intensity. Soon, all that was there, was a wall of spirits...
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