Chereads / Final Fantasy: Crisis and Tranquility / Chapter 80 - Chapter 77: Resolve

Chapter 80 - Chapter 77: Resolve

Alexander tried pinning down Bahamut, but it was too slippery and kept on releasing potshots at the fortress.

While it was distracted several airships were closing in on Midgar. Shinano released fighters, but it was running low on air support due to using them to evacuate people to Wutai.

The titan saw the puny airships and began cooperating with the fighter jets in shooting them down.

Anti-air guns situated in Midgar also began firing at them. The titan swatted one of them with its hands and it gave off an explosion that was stronger than normal.

The others that were also shot down exploded grandly. Seemingly filled with explosions. The guards in Midgar noticed and they doubled their efforts.

One that got shot down though spiralled out of control and exploded right into the barriers. But it held true. "They're trying to get inside Midgar! Men, defend the city with all you can!"

One of the SOLDIERs barker orders, the elite retinues began firing magic as well so they would explode before reaching the barrier to even try and breach it.

Meanwhile, at another part of the city. A member of Avalanche that had radical views and idolizes Hojo had been presented with an opportunity.

Fuhito, the tactician of Avalanche was a man that wanted every person to come back to the planet in order to save it.

"It is the time to act, in order to save this planet... Every person must come back to the lifestream. Humans will only continue to use it for their selfish desires." He looked towards his followers.

"Ramiel and Alexandra might be progressive, but what of when they disappear? Humans are only mortal, no matter their power. I will do anything for Gaia." His madness was apparent, but the radical part of Avalanche agreed wholeheartedly.

He manipulated them to be good little cultists that would sacrifice themselves for the planet in their own twisted way.

"Come on, today is the day that Midgar will have to fall. We will not have any more chances." He began their operations and the members of Avalanche began to move.

And their targets were the remaining Mako reactors that were offline now, but they are being used to power up the city's barriers.

Huge Materias naturally formed below them and Ramiel thought of just using them to make some barriers. They were all spaced out around Midgar and it was perfect for powering up the barriers if the city receives an attack.

The group stealthily moved to a higher vantage point and they checked what reactor side has the most enemies outside.

Fuhito decided on the side that had the least pressure from the SOLDIERs and guards. Effectively making a back door that will quickly make the enemies spill all over Midgar before the guard could enter.

With their extensive knowledge about the Mako reactors and how to blow them up, they began a raid against their targets. It also had the nice detail of being the least defended due to not receiving as much pressure.

Fuhito's Avalanche group quickly overwhelmed the normal guards, with the elite SOLDIERs shooting down everything that was being thrown at Midgar at the other side.

They quickly planted their explosives and detonated them once they were away. Scarlet and Lazard noticed it a tad too late. One of the Mako reactors was up in flames and the integrity of the barrier suddenly weakened in one part.

"What the hell happened!? One of the reactors exploded!" Lazard immediately called Scarlet who was now the one controlling Shinano to provide support and evacuate civilians to Wutai.

"I'm checking the footage of the reactor now!" Scarlet got anxious and thought that was really bad. She saw some people that Vincent was working with in the past.

"Avalanche... But why!?" She gritted her teeth and went wide eyed when the hordes of enemies that managed to survive the hellfire outside started banging on the compromised part of the barrier.

"Shit! This is bad, really bad..." Scarlet bit her nails and was getting anxious. Midgar was in Lazard and her hands right now.

She immediately gave a distress call to Alexandra and went to the research and development department. She wasn't really a fighter, but she would be damned if she couldn't think of a way to do so.

Scarlet looked at the mech she created and furrowed her brows. "I need to hold them back..." She calmed her heart that was beating wildly.

"Hah. Calm down, Scarlet. Ramiel and Alexandra entrusted their city to you..." She boarded her creation and looked over to the location where the barrier was starting to crack. The fortress summon was busy dealing with Bahamut (pic)

And the titan was getting swarmed by thousands of mutant enemies. They were getting attacked on all fronts and Ramiel was dealing with the strongest threat.

"Lazard, I'll deal with the enemies that will start to pour in. Let the meowfficers and Cid try to connect some stored Materias made by Ramiel to power up the barrier once again." She called one last time and rode her mech to the target location.

"Come on Crimson Mare, let's show these punks why I'm at the top of the weapons research department." She psyched herself up. The crimson mech's arms released two blades as she sped up to the battle.

Scarlet controlled the nearby defense systems and machine guns, rocket launchers, turrets, etc. We're all pointed at the cracks that were starting to increase on the barrier.

She furrowed her brows in concentration, waiting for them to get in. A bead of sweat on her forehead from the tension she was experiencing dropped and her pupils dilated.

"I might not be a supersoldier, but I'm still one hell of an engineer." The blades on the hands of her mech started getting superheated and a hatch closed down on the top of her mech.

The barrier fractured more and more and the last straw was magic that hit it. Monsters and mutants then began to come in, though their numbers were limited due to the small opening.

"Fire!" Scarlet activated the defense systems and the monsters were turned into swiss cheese.

She noticed a couple of few that used their allies as shields and were able to slip away. "No you don't!"

Thrusters fired up from behind her mech and she pointed the blades in front of her to skewer the enemy.

A werewolf looking abomination screeched and clawed at her as she stabbed right onto its chest.

It quickly died as she slashed the blade downwards and cut it in half starting from the chest.

"This is above my pay-grade Ramiel, you better give me a vacation after this." She glared at the enemies that were pouring in, micromanaging the turrets to fire in specific sequences so they wouldn't have downtime.

"Not now Lazard! I'm trying to prevent a break-in right now!" Scarlet got called by him.

"We're going to send in some support after some pressure gets released in the hot zones. The meowfficers said that it would take at least 30 minutes to repair the barrier." Lazard gritted his teeth, knowing what she signed up for.

"Great, when he returns. Tell him that I'm gonna need a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant after this." Scarlet cut off the call to concentrate and continued her endeavors to prevent them from overflowing.

After a few minutes, she was getting the hang of it. Managing the turrets, ammunition, and killing stragglers. It was going really well, but she suddenly noticed that something red was coming right at her location.

With an explosion, one of the stray meteors from Bahamut prime's attacks hit the barrier that had already fractured and more of them came to the fray.

Due to Hojo's ministrations on them, they were smarter than they looked and targeted the defense systems that helped her for the majority of the fight.

Scarlet sighed and thought she had to buy time until Alexandra arrived. "I never thought I'd be the hero type." She chuckled to herself and brandished her blades.

"If you want to come in a lady's house, then you gotta buy some dinner first!" The thrusters on her mech fired up and she charged in.

At another part of the battlefield, Ramiel got whipped by his adversary's tail and he plowed through the molten ground, Bahamut prime was about to release a breath attack but it was hit by his halberd on its chest. Making the dragon screech in pain.

He appeared right on top of its head as his eyes glowed. His hands above his head for a hammerfist.

Ramiel slugged it right on its crown and made the summon crash to the ground. He made his halberd come right back to him and it was in pretty bad shape.

"Tough bastard." He spit some blood on the side, the tail swipe earlier hit him a bit too hard.

He raised his arm in front as a beam hit his location. Bahamut shook its head and roared right at him.

"Ready for more, then how about this!" He teleported right in front of its face and axe kicked it on the head.

Its draconic mug dropped down on the dirt once again and he wrapped his arms right on its neck. Wrestling it down to pin its face.

He started squeezing on its neck with as much force as he could and the scales on it started to crack.

Bahamut prime folded its wings and fire balls were casted at the tips of them. The dragon carpet bombed its own body and he was forced to withdraw.

The skin on his torso suffered major burns, but he was adapting to the heat. His body regenerated, though he frowned deeply when he looked at his state.

'My body is starting to turn into pure Mako. It's even reaching my body now.' He saw his body slowly becoming ethereal.

Overuse of Mako was taking its toll and he was beginning to turn into pure energy.

His thoughts got disturbed, with Bahamut prime flying high into the sky and it siphoned energy.

Thousands upon thousands of fireballs kept him busy as they sought after him. The hellfire in the surroundings got sucked in to its mouth and he went wide eyed at the amount of energy it collected.

He tried getting close to it, but the heat it was emitting outclassed everything from before. Like a nuclear reactor, it gave off immense heat.

"I have to stop it!" He clapped and concentrated tons of energy, ice formed all around him. Two extremes clashed at each other.

A tundra formed at ground level and diamond dust turned everything into ice. While right above the skies, the blue sky turned orange and red from heat and wind that came from the spell turned everything it hit into ash and molten rock.

"It's not enough!" Ramiel started a bit too late and the ice he was creating got overpowered by the massive ball of flame in the skies.

He breathed in deeply and shouted at the direction of Midgar. "ALEXANDER! DEFEND MIDGAR!" Ramiel coated himself with as much Mako he could and prepared to divert the Teraflare.

It was a disaster of epic proportions if it hit the ground, the thing will absolutely turn the western continent into a crater.

Bahamut prime released it right at him and he flew to the skies head on to stop it. He crashed right at the miniature sun and he screamed as it started melting him.

His regeneration tried to keep up and any spell he tried to use burned up because of the Teraflare.

Ramiel roared and pushed upwards, a sun over his shoulders that burned him to a crisp. Spells didn't work, so he began absorbing the Mako inside him.

His body received a massive influx of energy and his cells converted into Mako.

He felt the planet's strongest call to him yet, resisting to return back to Gaia's lifestream.

Gritting his teeth, he endured the burning that felt like an eternity. Bit by bit, he slowly fell back to the ground with the Teraflare pushing down on him in order for it to make an impact on the ground.

His feet touched the earth and he pushed even more with a shout. His legs sunk to the lava, but after a few more moments of his herculean effort. The sun fizzled out, his whole body smoking and sizzling.

"Hah, hah. I guess you're done attacking. It's my turn now. I hope you don't mind, lizard." He panted, his face half burned off. But his azure eyes glowing brightly.

Bahamut prime backed off a bit and was a bit apprehensive, seeing that Ramiel survived and seemingly felt stronger than ever.

He created massive hands made of earth and clapped. The hands followed suit with his telekenises and they tried squishing the dragon between the palms of it.

Its wings stretched and guarded the massive hands, but the dragon suddenly crashed onto the ground as Ramiel smashed it down with the axe head of his halberd.

He discarded his halberd that shattered after its last hit and he followed Bahamut prime's trajectory. Gripping on its tail, he smacked it on the ground and threw it at the sky.

With a deep breath, he felt his insides burn from the Mako he absorbed from it. Condensing it to his own Teraflare, he roared and a beam hit the dragon right on its chest.

It tried dampening the spell with all of its left over magic, but its scales shattered with its barrier and the spell hit it right on.

Ramiel kneeled on the ground and looked upwards, its black scales were torn apart, but it survived due to the natural resistance it had.

"Fuck me." As he stood up and was getting ready for another scuffle, a red comet hit it right on its side and plowed it to the ground for miles on end. Mountains that were on the way crumbling from the massive force.

"You're... Late." He gave a slight smile and he felt a soft hand touch his face.

"Ramiel..." Alexandra stared right at his pitiful form in shock. She felt the massive spike of energy at Midgar, but her absolute trust in him to protect the city made her travel a bit slower after ripping the ultimate weapon to shreds.

She craned her neck so fast at the direction of Bahamut prime that it looked like she snapped it. "Y-you... UNFORGIVABLE!" She flew right at their enemy and brandished her sword.

With her rage and hatred through the roof, she sliced off its wings and limbs. Its scales and shell weakening massively due to the dragon's battle with Ramiel.

She then dragged it with its tail and used it as a club against Bahamut that was circling Midgar. Alexandra rampage all over the battlefield and swept through the enemies like a woman possessed.

__

Back at the breach inside Midgar, Scarlet abandoned her mech some time ago and was swinging one of the blades with her own arm.

Barefeet and panting heavily, she saw the barrier close up. Smirking, she limped towards the last few enemies that were there and shouted a battlecry.

Her exhausted body swung her weapon awkwardly, but it was able to do the job and killed the wounded werewolf filled with bullet holes.

She looked towards the status of her body and propped herself up with her lone arm. One of them got ripped off earlier.

"Hah, hah. That was... Hard." She saw and felt Alexandra rampage outside and because of her, the fortress summon was able to notice the breach, giving it a little boost.

She was about to call Lazard to gloat and tell him what the hell was taking them so long to put in a new power source, but she heard gunshots and she was hit multiple times from behind.

Scarlet looked behind her and saw that a mutant soldier still lived, she gritted her teeth and mustered her strength. Throwing the blade in her hand at it that nailed it right on the head.

She then limped a bit towards her thrashed mech. Dropping right beside it, breathing shallowly from all the injuries she received.

Reaching inside the mech, she wanted to do something. Feeling her vision blur from blood loss.

"Oh boy." She started giving a call to Ramiel, but as expected. Her call was put into voicemail. "Ramiel here, please leave a message as I might be saving the world~"

Scarlet chuckled and thought that was just like him. "Ramiel... Forgive me. I should've joined in with Tifa's training..." She coughed up blood and was feeling tired.

"Don't forget me, please... Tell me you won't. I'm really tired... Forgive me, for everything." She started breathing slower, her lungs hit by the bullets.

She closed her eyes and left everything to Alexandra. Relieved that she was there now.

__

Thank you for reading everyone, ciao.