•Serus' P.O.V.•
I finally broke out from the dome of illusions.
"Are you ready, Phoenix?" I asked the Phoenix within me.
"Whenever you are, Serus." it answered.
"Let's end this." the Phoenix and I flew with fiery wings to the battlefield as fast as we can.
"Help us!" I heard a scream from a city under the skies. A voice of a little girl. I descended and gave some time to help the girl.
"Is everything alright?" I asked the girl.
"My mother.....needs help in there....." she said as she points to the collapsed building.
"Stay here. I'll be right back." I swiftly propelled inside the building while the girl waits outside.
"Is anybody here?" I yelled.
"Help....me." I heard in the near distance.
I looked at the ceiling, and there the woman was tied tightly.
"I'll get you out of here." I sliced the cords that tied the woman.
"Who tied you up there?" I helped her get down and asked.
"A....monster." she fainted.
"I can't sense any monster now though. Maybe it already went away, but why would it leave its victim tied, if it can eat it already? Well, I'm glad it didn't eat the woman." I thought to myself.
I went outside with the girl's mother.
"Mother!" the girl approached us with tears falling from her eyes.
"She had a lot of injuries. What happened?"
"It was all because of me." the girl cried.
"What?" I asked.
"I'm the monster that almost killed my mother. I can't help it, there are too many soldiers trying to abduct the people, and I had no other choice but to release it."
"The girl isn't lying, Serus. There is indeed something within her. A creature from the dark depths of her being. I can sense its aura." the Phoenix told me.
"Don't cry anymore. You're safe now, and your mother too. I'm sure your mother will understand your being someday, but for now, you should go home and rest. You're not a monster. You're human with extraordinary abilities, so instead of calling yourself a monster, control yourself." I told the girl, while wiping her tears.
"You think so, mister?" the girl asked.
"Oh, I know so. You have a great gift and you are a great person. Wanting to save people isn't a normal desire for anybody. Well, before I leave, I think you never introduced yourself yet." I said.
"I am Faun." she replied with a smile.
"It's good to meet you, Faun. Now, before you go home, I want to give you a gift." I handed her the gift.
"What's this red feather?" she asked.
"Let's just say that it can help your mother heal faster."
"Thank you mister.....what's your name?"
"Just call me Serus."
"Thank you mister Serus! We'll go home now." she said, walking away from the city.
"Well, it's time to go too. Let's go." I flew away with my wings again, and headed to the sound of war.
I traveled from a long distance, and what I see now is the Fatum family's incoming demise. Nothing can be greater than my rage right now.
I flew in the scene, and pushed the enemies back.
"Serus...." Beatrix fainted. I see Lycino at the side of the Telum clan, but I feel his hesitation.
"Beatrix, hang in there. I'm here now." I said.
"WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE. TO THEM?!" my aura exploded with a gigantic fire twirl surrounding me.
"You must be 'Serus Desperia'." an old man uttered. He must be the leader of the Telum clan.
"This is madness. This war isn't about you winning it. This war was made to destroy both the Telum and Fatum clans!" I yelled.
"Nonsense! I made this war happen." the Overlord replied.
"Give up, Serus. You're wasting your life. Why don't you join the winning side of the war." sir Ryan----Mnemos uttered.
"You're the one who made this war, aren't you Mnemos?" I asked in a sarcastic way.
"You're the one who started it. You told me a while ago, while I'm dying that your main goal is to rule the world after the Telums and Fatums destroy each other." I said. The Overlord gasped.
"Is this true, Mnemos?" the Overlord furiously asked the Alpha King.
"I wish it wasn't true." Mnemos pulled a blade just from the air, and attempted to kill the Overlord too. The Overlord bled his heart.
"W-Why, Mnemos?" the leader asked.
"You are all fools, and I am beyond all of you. Everything that happened here were because of my power. The power to change events, and make them to your own desire." Mnemos replied.
"You're one, greedy man!" I approached Mnemos fast, and punched him in the face that pushed him far away back.
"Take your leader and heal him along with the Fatums." I told to the soldiers of the Telum clan.
"Who are you to order us?" one of the soldier said.
"Right now, do you think my identity is important? You leader is dying, and there's a madman on the loose, do you think knowing me and how you can trust me is still important?" I asked them calmly.
"...Gather on the faraway ends of this city, and take the Fatums. Cure them accordingly." the soldier said.
"Thank you." I replied.
"Serus!" Lycino called me.
"Lycino."
"I want to help. What I did can't be helped. The Telums were about to crush our----" I stopped him at those lines.
"I know, but it's fine. You can make it up to the Fatums later, but for now, help the soldiers to defend the place where they are gathering." I said.
"Alright." he said with a sight of confidence.
"Now where were we? Oh yeah. Mnemos!" I called upon him.
"I killed you once, and I can kill you twice." he propelled to me swiftly and tried to stab me again.
"Stabbing me on the back once is a good strategy, but twice is a failed attempt." I blasted him with my fiery hands.
"How did you get this strength? I'm curious how you did it." we were giving our punches and kicks to one another. A battle of power of some sorts.
"You will not get away with this Mnemos! Leviathan, release!" I changed my mode from the Phoenix to Leviathan. From fire to water.
"Face the rage of the oceans!" I shaped the nearby oceans into a circular prison that trapped Mnemos inside, then froze it, for him to be immobile.
But it wasn't enough to hold him back. He broke the big ball of ice he's in just by looking at it.
"You truly underestimated me, my dear Serus. But I can play with you a little more." he laughed.
"He's been holding back the entire time? Well, this'll be fun. Ready, Leviathan?" I asked the creature within me.
"Always a pleasure." it replied.
As we battled, I learned that Leviathan has an advantageous power of the mind. He can see the thoughts of other and know what they'll do on their next move. It helped me know the next movement of Mnemos.
"Such power. I can't help, but be amazed of your power, Serus. No wonder Duskaea chose you." he said.
"Never mention his name, you creep." I uttered angrily.
"Fool, don't you know that I'm the reason you are that powerful right now? Better show some gratitude, boy." he hit me using an unseen force. Similar on how he broke the ice prison a while ago.
"You're just a mere puppet." he held me by my shirt and threw me, then hit me several times with his unimaginable strength.
"You're useless against me, Serus. Those efforts you did there are a mere child's play to defeat me. And I think this is getting boring. How about we spice things up?" he spoke.
"What are you doing?" I said, my body bleeding.
"Keeping your people at their place." he said.
I heard the ground crumbling. I looked at my surroundings and there appears a lot of galaxy-colored monsters. Some looked like dogs, some are humanoids with great height.
"These are the results of Rhys' experiment, the Typhon residue." he explained.
"What did you do?" I asked furiously.
"Can you imagine what will happen if you put it outside of Earth? This happens. A load of universe-like monsters. They're called Stargazers. They gather their powers from galaxies scattered in the universe. They can control matter and manipulate any kind of element. You can already call them my inferiors." he laughed.
"Are you still going to stop me, or are you going to save your beloved people?" he asked.
"You bastard!" I propelled as fast as I can towards the Telum and Fatum clans.
I saw a giant, silver wolf with three snakes as its tail. It has an insignia shaped like a moon on its chest. It growled against the Stargazers. There are also trolls defending the place from the monsters.
The wolf growled its rage, and released an overwhelming, glimmering shock-wave that destroyed all of the Stargazers. Is this...Lycino?
"Follow him, Serus. We got this." Lycino spoke.
"Okay." I followed Mnemos to wherever he is going.
"Huh. You still followed me. What a fool you truly are, Serus." Mnemos uttered and blasted to the place where the Fatums battled Lycino before. Maroon Bells.
"You picked the right place to stop you, Mnemos." I said.
"Stop me? No, I picked this place for one reason. THIS IS WHERE I BURIED DUSKAEA'S LAST MOMENTS!" he replied.
"And I'm going to do it again." he continued.
He sliced the mountains and threw it at my location.
"Leviathan Host: Ocean Cutter." I cast the large body of water to slice the incoming attack.
"You're useless against me, Serus." he smacked me back and forth from place to place. It's like he exist in different places simultaneously. He finished his combination of attacks by knocking me to the ground hard.
"Stop this, Mnemos."
"I can't. I'm on the verge of reigning the whole world, then you will tell me to stop? You're a fool to tell me that, Serus."
"I know, I know."
"Then you also know that these will be your last moments. For real this time. Since you already remembered your memories, the Phoenix within you will revive you whenever you want. Let me take that power away."
"Ahh!" he stabbed me in the heart...again. But this time, I can't feel the Phoenix's power.
"This time, your power will be sealed forever."
"Serus, my power....I'm...dying....." the Phoenix within me is slowly fading away.
"No!" my rage burst out and the Leviathan's blue aura roared furiously. It boomed Mnemos out of my face. But I'm still bleeding out. Right now, my body is just able to fight, because of the willpower of Leviathan. The fight still went on, clashes and smashes exchanged. But I didn't last that long.
"You're strong, Serus, but not enough to defeat me. Goodbye again, Serus Desperia." the last words I was supposed to hear, when a lightning cracked and shocked Mnemos away from me.
"Agh!" Mnemos was pushed away too far that he crashed into a mountain.
"A lightning strikes where you don't expect it the most." that female voice is familiar. It's.
"Alicia?" I said.
"Serus, calm down, I will bring help." she said.
"The Phoenix....is gone." I uttered, fainting. All I feel right now is pain, agony, sorrow, rage. Rage. RAGE.
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•Alicia's P.O.V.•
"Serus, don't let go. Serus!" I yelled, repeatedly slapping his face to wake him.
"What a nice greeting, Alicia." it's him, the Alpha King Mnemos. I put Serus on an electric force field, in which nothing can touch him.
"Mnemos, what have you done?!" I screamed at him.
"I just destroyed the obstacle to our future. The future of the Telums." he uttered his pitiful lies.
"Spare me your lies!" I released a massive electric wave from the atmosphere, and shocked his body.
"Such power mustn't go to waste. Join us." I know that he's just playing with me, but at least, I'm buying to time for the others to help Serus.
"Why do you continue such actions for a miserable being?" he continued asking his question and dodging my attacks.
"Play time's over, time to finish my work." he rushed to our location, and attempted to strike Serus.
"No, you won't mister." I crashed his chest with my electric punch.
"Lightning is fast you know." I uttered with radiance.
"I think I underestimated you, Alicia. That's why you'll get what you deserve. My full power." the area surrounding him went black and white.
"See my true form!" he absorbed those colored areas. It transformed him to a black-and-white humanoid that has an absolute power over events. His hair glowed white, and black.
"So, what about it?" I dashed to him and stroke him with multiple lightning rays.
"Useless." but he just absorbed it all.
"This is not good." he released it, but now it was combined with some kind of other-worldly energies. Like an energy from different dimensions.
"Stop!" he quickly rushed and hit me. He punched me multiple times, causing me to bleed. He's too powerful that I can't hold him back. Alector can't be here, when I felt something's wrong, I went to Serus, then he went to the camp site of the clan survivors.
"Get off me! I won't go down without a fight." I unleashed my powerful attack. So far, this is my ultimate power.
"Grand Discharge!" I released multiple waves, particles, and lightning strikes to Mnemos. He didn't have the speed to dodge those.
"You!" he approached me, angrily.
"You should've thought twice." I told him confidently. I never really made this far before with this attack, but I know it'll hurt a little.
All of the electric power I released a while ago was just a decoy, the real attack is from me. I absorbed all of those electrical energies, and exploded it into a massive radius. It surely hit him, but also me. I got a bit tired.
"All of that effort just for this little wound on my arm? Pitiful." Mnemos thrashed me into the sky then to the ground. Blood fell through my mouth. I can still survive. I believe I can.
"Those....weren't...for.....you." I said.
"What?"
"Agh!" I heard he's been hit by something.
"Hey!" that voice. They're here, full on life again.
"The Fatums?!" Mnemos was shocked.
"We're here to take back what's ours." Beatrix said.