[center]Chapter 16: The Black Waltz[/center][/b]

Vivi Orunitia was doing pretty well.

His plethora of spells kept enemies guessing what would come from the charging purple aura around him, though they were much most costly than his allies' magic. That fact caused feelings of guilt within the Twilight Town native magic user. He was the one who had their Ether supply down to a quarter new, mostly.

"Slow!" An orange and pink sphere of magic surrounded a Banshee as two interlocking chains of blue, ethereal energy surrounded the sphere, slowing it down greatly once the spell dissipated. A barrage of multicolored magical rockets from Donald, his Comet spell, destroyed the vessel.

"Fira!" A large portion of an incoming Phantom  was surrounded by flames. Still, this was not enough to destroy it, so he tried a new tactic as Donald did the same one.

"Thundara!" Electricity enveloped the Phantom as lightning rained from the sky, causing the carrier to explode in a blast of plasma.

The two more offensively oriented of the less fatigued mages turn their attention to a pair of incoming Banshees.

"Blizzara!" One of the planes was frozen solid instantly, and it's engines cut out, sending it on a crash course with the ground.

"Stop!" Vivi's spell caused a sphere of darkness to surround the Banshee, with white sigils spinning around it in a circle, before the ring dissipated. Left behind was a Banshee that did not move, frozen in time. Another Comet from Donald knocked it from the sky to be sure.

After some time firing his many lower power spells, Vivi was finally hit by a burst of blue plasma gunfire.  He was severely weakened by the hits, but managed to let off one spell aimed at the Banshee driver who had fired at him.

"Sleep...."  A ring of soft light drew itself around the vehicle accompanied by several twinkles of light around it.  The aircraft dipped down, its driver dozing off until it crashed in a blue explosion.

Only then did Vivi fall on his back, holding his burns beneath the robe in agony.  Yes, he could let out a large amount of spells.  But stamina and health were not his strong points.

Aerith called to Donald over the gradually diminishing din of battle.  "Hold my position!"  She then ran to Vivi, and let out a quick succession of two spells, with only a brief time in between them to charge with a white aura around herself.

"Cure 3!"  And his health was brought back as a flower bloomed above them, the shower of green returning him to fighting condition once more.

"Regen!"  A white aura shone around them, giving Vivi some health regenerative abilities for some time to avoid needing more healing soon.

Not long after, Vivi was back in action alongside the others.

However, the Black Mage was forced to duck out of the fight again not long after to take another Hi-Ether.  As Ele fell to the ground, unconscious from the strain of continued casting fter her impressive display of power earlier, he was concerned, but was forced to yell, "I'm going to get another Ether!  Cover for me!"

He ducked to their supply, and chugged the liquid before the voice of Seifer came over his radio.

[i]"Vivi, I found Hayner."[/i]  Well, that was good news!

"So, you're both okay?" he asked.  "You don't need help?"

[i]"Yeah, we're good.  You just-- [b]What?![/b]"[/i]  The cause of his annoyance was probably Hayner, if Vivi knew him as well as he thought.  His next words were uncharacteristically terrified, and therefore terrifying.  [i]"Vivi, everyone! We need a distraction, backup, anything! That huge dragon's coming right for us!"[/i]

Vivi turned sharply to see the monster destroying their air support, and watched as it swooped by a building.  Immediately after, the radio fizzed out, and he yelled into it, panicked.  "Seifer!  Hayner!"  Nothing.  They were dead.  That....[i]thing[/i] had killed them.

The others looked to him, concerned.  They could hear the radio, and understood his terror, his confused emotional state.  Donald spoke in between spells.

"Vivi...are you going to be okay?"

Said Black Mage felt a powerful surge of emotions all at once, internal chaos.  His friends were dead.  That caused his grief, his shock, and his sadness.  This army was killing them all.  That was the reason for his rage and terror.  But what could he do?  He was just one person.  A Black Magic master, for sure, but still just one person.  That was the source of his confusion and helplessness.

From this chaos, paradoxically, came inner peace, a kind of trance.  Vivi Orunitia felt everything and nothing, heard the battle and was deaf.  Saw everyone at once, and his singular target.  From this came his physical transformation.

From the Twilight Towner came a bright flash of light, one that dimmed to a glow around him, but did not fade.  When he was visible once more, all of his clothing was white, including his straw hat.  Rather than black, the shadow under the hat was a solid blue, his yellow eyes within replaced by white orbs.  The disturbingly calm, young mage mumbled names repeatedly, almost seeming to not even notice Aerith Gainsborough or Donald Duck as they gaped at him in complete surprise.  "Seifer..... Hayner...... Sora...... Greg...... Hawk....."  He went on, listing all who had died for their cause, repeating again and again in different orders.  The list digressed, changing to being only the repetition of the first two, as his anger rose in his inflection.

It was then that the beast, Armitael, seemed to notice him from afar, banking and starting to fly in his direction.  Bahamut was not its true test, its real battle.  This young mage was.

"Meteor!" The word seemed to be said by two voices simultaneously. The sky turned red rather quickly, and a pair of very large crimson meteorites crashed down from the sky, tearing the Assault Carrier that Demi and Kynthia had attacked into three uneven pieces to be certain it could not be used. That was a good experiment, enough to show himself his capabilities in this state.

"Poison! Bio!" Both of the spells seemed to be said at the same exact time as Vivi raised his arms. A transparent sphere of purple light surrounded the hybrid creature, poisoning it in a way that would gradually deplete its health.  Simultaneously, a green sphere also cane up, causing nonelemental damage and quickening the health loss. The beast roared, speeding its approach as the spheres disappeared.

"Drain! Osmose!" A stream of pink light came away from the monster, health depleting further for a short time as the rosy light came into Vivi's right hand, the one holding his makeshift staff that was his new bat. At the same time, many small orbs of white light also were drawn from it, the magical energy known as MP depleting from Armitael and entering the entranced Vivi through his open left hand. Then both stopped, the Black Mage rejuvinated as the monster was further weakened before it could get into combat range.

"Fir[i]aga[/i]! Thun[i]daga[/i]!" A large fiery explosion occurred at the position of Phantom's powerful transformation just as he was also hit by an electrical surge, both causing him serious damage and forcing him back a bit with a pained roar.

"Bliz[i]zaga[/i]! [i]Water![/i]" A group of thick, icy stalagmites stabbed up into Armitael, not managing to freeze him. They didn't have to, as a large orb of water smashed inti him directly after, both together causing a large amount of damage, but allowing him to press on regardless.

Two Banshees, the only ones remaining on the side of Omega, flew in from two sides to aid the future of Ron Rivers. Little did they know, they would instead help his enemy.

"[i]Death[/i]! [i]Break[/i]!" Behind one Banshee appeared a figure in a mysterious brown cloak, swinging a scythe at the back of it several times before disappearing. A purple line appeared where the scythe moved. As this Grim Reaper disappeared, the driver, whatever its species, was dead, the vehicle on a crash course with Armitael. The other Banshee was petrified, turned completely to brown stone, but also remained on its course. Both hit the dragon-beast simultaneously, causing more harm with the plasma explosion and rocky collision.

"[i]Comet[/i]! [i]Demi[/i]!" Armitael was ready this time, though weak. He dodged the comet that fell from the sky, blue flames surrounding it from its atmospheric entry. But, as a beam of darkness aimed at Vivi was finally charging in his mouth, the second attack hit. A Phantom, affected greatly by the increased gravity of its darkened aura caused by the Demi spell, smashed down on top of the combined form of the Sacred Beasts, forcing it downward. As the beast rose one more time, it was directly in front of the Black Mage, point blank for the last strike.

"[i][b]Doomsday[/b][/i]!"

As soon as the word was said, there was a light in the sky.  Above the World That Never Was, tons of space rocks coalesced, forming one massive asteroid.  As soon as it finished forming, the asteroid began falling, heading right towards the world below.  It crashed through the flagships above, cutting through as easily as a warm knife through butter.  It lit up in the atmosphere, some of its mass being burnt up, but its mass was hardly diminished.

And it slammed right into Armitael, even its gigantic frame miniscule under the gargantuan asteroid.  The asteroid didn't stop with hitting the beast, though: it began carrying him all the way towardsthe ground.

"[i]Haste!  Run![/i]

Vivi suddenly disappeared, these spells having been cast on [i]himself[/i].  In less than a moment, he was on the very back of the beast being pushed by the Doomsday asteroid.  Living on the beast's hid, like some horrible parasites, were creatures of the Darkness, tentacles of the dark sprouting from its skin.  Vivi was not worried about these, though.  They wouldn't be an issue for much longer.  Instead, he raised his arms, and the direction of the asteroid responded to his commands, changing direction slightly to angle away from the heroic combatants.  As it did, the massive rock crashed through building after building, none slowing down the asteroid's descent, but in fact falling under its might, toppling onto what remaining troops there were below.  A large explosion came from one of them, it's extreme heat vaporizing the top of the building and setting Armitael on fire.

His job done, Vivi disappeared from Armitael's back again, just before the asteroid crashed into the ground.

What was left was a massive crater in the center of the city, the ruins of buildings left in its wake.

The only thing that there wasn't anything left of was Armitael.

Reappearing back with the other mages, Vivi again flashed brightly.  He staggered back, and fell, not seeming to be conscious.

"Wak," Donald stated flatly.  His brain did not appear to be working properly after such a display of magical prowess.

No-one noticed a shadowy raven fly off, away from the battle. The Raven Lord was uncaring of this struggle, and preferred to survive.

Aerith ran to Vivi Orunitia once she recovered from her shock, and shook him quickly.  "Vivi!  Vivi, get up!  We need you to wake up, Vivi!"

Nothing.

Donald walked to him, poking at him with his staff.  "Vivi....." he sighed sadly.

A thumbs up with the right hand from the Twilight Towner.  "I'm good. I'm okay."  It didn't seem heartfelt, but was honest.

Then, another call came over the radio.  This one was from Angel!  [i]"Would you guys mind telling me what just happened?!"[/i]

Donald spoke.  "Vivi blew up the dragon thingy!  Kablooey!  How are you okay?!"

[i]"I don't know.  We might have some time magic on our side.  I found Hayner and Seifer."[/i]

Aerith this time, who was checking Ele to make sure that she was still alive, a truth.  "They are alive?"

[i]"Yeah, they are.  Why wouldn't they be?  They killed the Brute leader, looks like."[/i]

Laughter from Vivi.  Relieved, happy laughter.  He was okay.  They were okay.  Armitael was dead.  And he had been the one who destroyed it completely.  "Hehehe..... I did it...."

Then he passed out, happy once more with the skies safe and his friends still with him.

---

Kaith smashed into the top of the Memory Skyscraper, denting the rooftop and losing his helmet in the impact. The soldier couldn't find the strength to stand, much less fight, as Reaper landed before him, power-sapping Blood Sword in hand as he stepped closer.

"You will [i]die[/i] for crossing me, semi-SPARTAN!  Not me!  I will win this time, and begin my rule of the worlds!"

The response from the trained soldier was....a chuckle?  He was laughing at his fate?

"What is so funny?"  Still laughter, so the weapon was raised.  "[i]Tell me![/i]"

"If you insist."  With a smirk, the downed man continued. "You're [i]pathetic[/i]."

"No matter what you do, you never move forward. People have been trying to figure out the meaning behind this war, the fighting and corruption, torture both psychological and physical. But I know what it is. What would be the point in telling them? I figured it out about a few hours ago, after some of my team, my past and Kynthia's, told me what your reign is like. You keep looking for more worlds to bring under your wings, into the grasp of yourself, Rivers, Jessica, and Kynthia. I have to hand it to you, though. That idea to kidnap us and re-corrupt her a third time? Not bad as far as planning goes. I don't like it, but it was good work as far as your schemes go. Still, there's the issue of what your goal actually is.

"There is none. You never thought that far ahead, did you? Never really accomplished your goals to the fullest before. I was always there to stop you, or my [i]friends[/i] were. Do you even know what those are? Aside from that multiple-attempted rapist Rivers, who actually cares about you besides your corrupted allies, knows you as more than your power alone?

"The way I see it, you'll always just be my little brother, Isaac. Never able to be better. Always looking for more. Trying to be one better. I have something, you want it or want better. You try to stay a step ahead, but never can get there.

"So that's the story."

Reaper had had enough. He raised the Blood Sword, preparing the killing blow. "If you ever thought scolding me would work to save you, I would say you are mistaken. Say hello to father for me."

"Far from it." Kaith smirked, but could not move much still. "After all, I'm not the real hero here."

The demonic leader of Omega, its last member beside the soon-to-arrive Old Machines, was confused. Then he had no reason to be. His armor's back was hit by a blast of pure light, exposing a tank of quarter-way depleted blue EVE with a needle reaching through to his left arm for injection when necessary. At the impact of the light, he heard the Darkness scream. There was a flash of light, and a large quanitiy of pain almost directly after.  The screaming and light attack were one thing.  The sword that skewered him almost directly after was the bigger problem.

The Blood Sword was almost dropped as Reaper staggered forward, looking down at the blue blade that was sticking out of his chest. How was this possible? Nobody could have climbed up the Skyscraper in so short a time frame. No flight-capable heroes could have managed this. Except...

The man pulled on the Blade of Olympus with a Demon Arm, yanking it out of his back with one hard pull. The wound, the gaping hole, was slow to heal. That cursed god-forged blade...

He turned to face his assailant. But when did he...?

"I told you. I promised that at the height of your glory, with all of your ripoff armies and bound souls, I." The man picked up the Blade. "Would." Its weight was tested. "F***ing." Untold rage in those hazel eyes. "Kill you."

He stomped forward, dead set on his target. "Might have been a little late, but it's time to make good on that promise."