Davin, Marcine, Pearl, and Stine reached the main deck after leaving Kyle and Zarela in the bridge, which could been seen through the panoramic view port behind them. The skies seemed clear and no sign of Doom Gaze could be detected. "Maybe the Excelsior killed it with its weapons?" Marcine offered. "I'll believe that when we see its corpse in the middle of a crater in the ground," Pearl said while she looked over the edge of the deck to the clouds below. Davin and Stine went over to look with her when they all suddenly leaped away from the edge. Davin grabbed Marcine by the hand and rushed back toward the bridge while waving his other hand wildly at Jil and mouthing "Move it!". ----------------------------------------- Final Fantasy Legacy: Knights of the Round Begun by /the/ Brian Stricklin Continued herein by NovaSeaker Chapter 54: Demons and Dragons ---------------------------------------- "Evasive!" Jil Fallensand called back to the main deck as she swung the Excelsior in an arc that tossed crew members into walls all through the ship. Everyone who was out on the main deck was flung into the bridge as they rushed to get into the door, falling to a heap on the floor. Out the front view port of the bridge, beyond the main deck, the dark shadow of Doom Gaze streaked across the sky, narrowly missing the airship. Pearl clung to the person under her, then opened her eyes to see Davin. She looked over and saw Marcine on top of Stine. "Hmm... Something about this situation strikes me as wrong..." "You mean other than the ancient monster bent on our utter destruction?" Davin said as he helped her and himself up. "Yeah well, that's a given, considering present company." Davin just gave her a crooked grin and turned to Marcine to see if she was okay. He met Kyle there as they both helped her up. Marcine blushed a little before thanking them. "All right, we have to come up with a battle plan here. Doom Gaze has an advantage because he's a lot more maneuverable than us in the air." Kyle stated. Davin nodded, "Right, if only we can ground him." "Maybe if we could make a large gust of wind... with magic." Kyle pondered, as he turned to look at Marcine. Marcine nodded shortly. "I'm pretty sure I can find something in the Manakyr tome Master Benedict gave me," she said while fishing through her bag for said tome. "I can help with a Kamaitachi," Davin added. "This one believes she can be of some help." Everyone jumped slightly as the young ninja seemed appear out of nowhere. She held up a steel bladed hoop with Ryukin symbols etched on it's surface. "This Half Moon can distract the beast as you two gather energies." Kyle nodded. "All right, sounds like a solid plan in theory. I'll be out there directing Jil since I'm more experienced in air combat," he turned to Jil, "Keep my radio line open, I'll be telling you where Doom Gaze is coming from and try to tell you where to go." Jil grinned. "Aye, just like a lookout in a crow's nest." Kyle grinned along with her, somewhere in the back of his mind liking the idea of being a member of her crew. "All right, everyone else stay inside where it's relatively safe, I'm not sure you can do much in this situation. Being the lookout is about as much as I can do, because a Boost Jump would be too risky out there." They all nodded in assent. "Well, Captain," Davin said, emphasizing "Captain" in a friendly way, "When do we start?" "Right now." ***************************************** He stood looking at probably the most breathtaking scene in his entire life. The sky was crystal blue and stretched unbroken to the horizon. Under him, the clouds zoomed by like mountains made of cotton. Every now and then a break in the clouds would reveal expansive planes of grass and forest, or vast shimmering fields of water. It was a shame he couldn't enjoy it. "Jil, starboard!" Kyle shouted into his prototype portable radio and moments later, the massive bulk of flying metal tilted slightly and curved toward Kyle's right. To his left, the horrifying visage of Doom Gaze flew toward him and scored a glancing blow to the Excelsior. It took nearly all of Kyle's strength just to keep from being thrown off the ship. Behind him, Davin and Marcine were struggling just as much, and although Shizuka was probably having just as hard a time staying on her feet as they were, she did not appear too. "Winds of the west, winds that carry the stench of death, gather here and become a tornado... the perfect storm! TriAero!" It must have been the fifth or sixth time Marcine chanted the same phrase, and she was beginning to feel slightly tired. The massive brown cloud of wind in its most raw form twisted and swayed wildly toward Doom Gaze at a deceptively slow pace. Though, for all it's power, the tornado was torn apart as the ancient monster batted it away with one of his powerful wings. Since nearly it's conception, the monster has been flying non-stop. The wind and air was its domain. A few blades of made of solid wind met with a similar fate. "Our attacks are just too weak!" Davin shouted. "Can you not summon more spirits to your aid at once?" Shizuka offered, catching her Half Moon on It's return trip after missing Doom Gaze by a hair's breadth, "This one believes a Kamaitachi large enough should ground the beast. Unfortunately, Miss Cavanaugh's spell cannot get any more powerful than it already is." Davin nodded. "It will take a while though, and I'll need complete concentration. Meaning I can't do it if I have to be struggling to stay on my feet." Kyle looked back and frowned. "Well you can't do it if the Excelsior is split in two by Doom Gaze." "We'll just have to hit it before it hits us, instead of dodging," Marcine said, more to herself than anyone. He set her jaw and gripped her Phoenix Staff tighter. "Alright. Marcine you take port, Shizuka, starboard," Kyle ordered, "I'll try and spot him farther off." He took a deep breath and then switched on his radio. "Jil, we're going to try something else, so try hovering in place for now. Try not to make any sudden moves that will throw us off our feet." "Aye," came the answer on his radio. With that, the people on the main deck took their places. Davin moved to the back, near the view port of the bridge and stretched his arms out wide, drawing the air spirits into him. His arms seemed to fade into wisps of clouds that slowly grew more dense. He spoke to the spirits, pleading with them to help him get rid of the foul monster that ruined their sky for so long. They gladly accepted his plea. Meanwhile, Kyle was shouting orders to Shizuka. "Shizuka! Below you!" Almost immediately after Kyle opened his mouth, Shizuka let loose her Half Moon below her. If flew with deadly grace toward Doom Gaze's form and nicked his left wing. As the Ryukin symbols on the Half Moon glowed, the weapon arced back toward its owner, trailing a purple fluid behind it. Doom Gaze roared and stopped its ascent toward the Excelsior and veered off. Kyle frowned, "Shizuka, if that weapon is powerful enough to do what a high level spell can't, why didn't you use it before now?" Shizuka caught the Half Moon perfectly, avoiding having her hand cut off at the palm. "This one was taught never to use more force than was necessary. This one thinks that in this current situation, the Half Moon is not unnecessary force." Kyle frowned again, not quite understanding the Ryukin philosophy of restraining your power, but he shrugged it off. He had more pressing matters to attend to. He glanced back at Davin, who now had his eyes closed. He could see his mouth moving up and down as he chanted. His arms seemed to be made of dark thunder clouds, and he could have sworn he saw lightning arc inside them. Something in his mind told him to stop looking at Davin and look forward, and when he did, he saw Doom Gaze high above the Excelsior apparently flying in place. "Davin!" "Spirits of the vast and endless skies," Davin called, "heed my call and spread my words... Blade of wind, shear the threads that bind spirit and flesh!" At that moment, Davin opened his eyes and immediately focused on Doom Gaze. "Kamaitachi!" Davin brought his thundercloud arms together and clapped his hands in front of him. Beginning at his shoulders, his arms seemed to turn back into flesh as the energy seemed to be pulling out of them. The energy condensed into blade form in front of his fingers and rocket off toward Doom Gaze, growing in size exponentially as it went. It seemed for all the world ready to slash Doom Gaze in half vertically... But then Doom Gaze caught it. His twisted perversion of a face seemed to grin as he held it with two claws. With a roar he broke the blade and hurled it back at the Excelsior. With the blade broken, the immense energy contained within was released back toward the airship in the form of winds exceeding gale force. Marcine and Shizuka were flung back into the bridge's view port, causing the glass to turn into a spider web of cracks. Davin, having been standing directly in front of the view port received the same treatment, but at a less damaging level. Kyle had enough sense to use his Boost Armor to boost against the wind, only loosing a few yards of ground. He turned behind him and saw his friends, his comrades, his family pinned against the glass. As the wind died down he cut his boost and saw them slump to the ground. He looked up at Doom Gaze who seemed to grin back at him. Kyle straightened and took his Ashura Lance off his back. Jil must have saw him because she started yelling on the radio. "Kyle! What do ya think yer doin?! I might not be able to catch ya if ya boost!" A pause. "I trust you." With that, Kyle ran toward the bow of the Excelsior and leapt off it. He boosted immediately and rocketed up toward the monster, tightening his grip on the Ashura Lance. "Reach... reeeach," he said to himself as Doom Gaze grew larger in his vision. All his focus was on one single goal. He knew he was the last hope the Excelsior and its crew had. Marcine and Shizuka probably needed medical attention, and Davin couldn't help anyway. They all needed him. He readied the Ashura lance holding it with both hands over his right shoulder. He couldn't risk throwing the Ashura Lance since it had Shale's Heartstone in the hilt. He was getting close enough to see the Heartstone embedded in the monster's forehead. He was going to make it. He closed everything out except two things: Doom Gaze and the steady hum of his boost engines. He didn't dare look back, he didn't want to know if the Excelsior was under him. Kyle narrowed his eyes, scanning Doom Gaze for a weak spot and decided his throat was it. He was making steady progress.. until he noticed Doom Gaze shrinking. At first he was confused. He so completely believed he was going to make it. He knew he was. But his boost engine overheated. He heard it sputter and cut out completely, leaving his ears full of deafening silence. "No." He failed them. "...No." They were going to be destroyed by Doom Gaze because of him. "NOOOOOOOOO!" Kyle roared as his entire body seemed the burst into light. His decent halted immediately and then he blasted upward, streaking light behind him like a comet. Doom Gaze grew closer faster than before, and soon Kyle passed him. He look down at the beast and the beast looked up at him, the twisted look of amusement completely gone. Their eyes met, and they both instantly knew which one of them would come out of this alive. Doom Gaze roared. Kyle Cavanaugh smiled. "GROUND ZERO!" ***************************************** Jil Fallensand watched in awe as Kyle seemed to explode into light. What she saw just didn't make sense. She saw him falling, she was ready to try and catch him, no matter how dangerous the maneuver was. Somewhere in the back of her mind she recognized the fact that Marcine, Shizuka, and Davin were brought into the bridge, but in a part of her mind even further back, she didn't think it would have mattered. But after all was said and done, there he was, rocketing past Doom Gaze. He seemed to stop at the apex of his jump longer than would make sense, and then he came down. Jil could have sworn she saw the Ashura Lance's blade come out the other side of its head, but the blinding light that flashed into her eyes at the moment of impact made her look away and shield them with her arm. When she looked back and blinked the spots out of her eyes, she panicked. Kyle was gone. This seemed to be more important to her than the fact that Doom Gaze was gone too. She lurched the Excelsior forward into a near suicidal dive. She felt slightly comforted as she saw Kyle's form rise over the bow of the ship as she dove. He looked like a rag doll some giant flung down toward the ground. People were screaming and yelling all around her but she turned a deaf ear to them. She realized deep inside that the only thing that mattered at the moment was Kyle. She needed to save him, because he trusted her. "I trust you," he said. And she'd be damned if she'd let him down. The Excelsior pulled out of its suicide dive after shooting through some clouds, scooping Kyle and Doom Gaze up as if the main deck were the concave part of a spoon. Kyle was falling behind Doom Gaze, so his body crashed into it as the Excelsior suddenly replaced the ground under him. He rolled off the monster's body as the Excelsior leveled off, and lay unmoving next to it. "Medic! Someone get a Medic!" Jil ordered as she looked out to the main deck, failing to notice the medics that were already treating Marcine and Shizuka. Kyle was breathing heavily, although by the way he fell and landed, Jil knew he was unconscious. What she failed to notice, however, was the Ashura Lance run completely through Doom Gaze's head and halfway into its chest. Its face was still impaled on the Ashura Lance's pole, Shale's Heartstone resting under its chin. And the Heartstone of Sun shimmered on its forehead. ***************************************** One of the many mountains west of Yahl Russa was home to a quaint little dwarven village. Though the caverns and tunnels were usually filled with sounds of mining and forging, they occasionally rang with different sounds. Such as on holidays, or festivals, where the adults drank and made merry, and children ran giggling through the stone halls. Or, in this case, when dwarves were being ripped from limb to limb in a senseless fray of violence. "Where Is Your Champion Now?!" Diablos roared as he picked up a dwarf. When the dwarf took a moment longer to answer that Diablos liked, the ancient demon tossed him into a wall. These dwarves had never seen anything quite as horrifying as Diablos. Sure, they had all heard the stories of an ancient evil trapped in the Starsilver mine, but some even doubted if it was true. But when a gravity well caved the roof of their village in, exposing it to the harsh sunlight, and the pitch black visage of Diablos descended upon them like a plague, they all had enough sense to run. This was aggravating Diablos to no end. He had been searching for the Dwarven Champion ever since his release. He figured she wasn't from the Starsilver village because of the funny way she spoke. He wanted revenge, and he wanted it now. But these stupid dwarves wouldn't give him the information he wanted. "Enjoying yourself, I hope," the sickly thin voice of Blight said. Diablos looked up and saw the old man standing at the edge of the hole he made earlier. "What Is It?! I'm Busy!" "The time has come to take the Legacy. We'll decide what to do with her later..." "I Told You I'm Busy!" "Odds are the Dwarven Champion would be with her. Lately, all sorts of champions have been gathering around her." Diablo paused. That seemed logical... "Where Is The Legacy?" just then, a blinding flash of light illuminated the sky. Moments later, a black sliver in the sky dove below the clouds, then leveled off, and ascended above them. "That should be the Legacy and her Champions right now..." Blight murmured as he walked off. Diablos grinned ferally and launched into flight, soaring toward the clouds, ready to wreak his revenge. Oh yeah, and get the Legacy. ***************************************** Author's Notes: Whee! This was a lot easier than my first time. Maybe because I was only focusing on one story arc until the very end. First off, I would like to make it very clear. Doom Gaze is DEAD. Now that that's out of the way, some minor notes. First, Marcine and Shizuka's injuries aren't too severe. I was picturing a mild concussion or something. They should be fine. I'd like to thank Brian Stricklin, Yonjuuni, and Demota for prereading as I wrote. And Charles for more or less writing the introduction to the Diablos scene.