Lyn initiated the first attack by leaping into the air to strike Elaina's construct. A swift dash to the side utilizing its mechanical wings ended Lyn's initial attack, forcing her to cling to the walls of the sphere beside her.
Red lasers, located beside the tree's protective shell encased in metal, blasted Lyn and Alfaic, forcing them to retreat toward the ground again where Elaina's construct retaliated in preparation. It swung its mechanical wings down and slammed its rapier toward Lyn, sending her flying back toward the ground.
Lyn swiftly recovered by dragging Alfaic alongside the metal floors. She charged back again, and attempted to attack Elaina's construct again, but no matter how many times she tried, its swift wings would leave itself unscathed. Another miss was followed by Elaina's construct grabbing Lyn by the neck and tossing her and Alfaic down below.
"Whatever you're up to, it's not working!" Alfaic reminded Lyn. "We need to get her out of the air!"
Alfaic released itself from Lyn's grasp and redirected itself towards Elaina's construct, floating around it to distract it from attacking Lyn once more. After circling around Elaina multiple times, Alfaic shouted out as soon as Elaina construct caught Alfaic by the handle in an attempt to escape her swiftness.
"The wire, Lyn! Cut it down!" Alfaic cried as Elaina's construct pierced Alfaic's steel with its own, sending it toppling to the ground.
Lyn dashed forward, catching Alfaic as it descended from the air. She leaped at Elaina's construct once more in an attempt to slice her once more, but after feigning it, Elaina's construct dodged out of pure consciousness and fear of getting struck, leaving the massive wire behind her exposed. Realizing the error of its ways, Elaina's construct attempted to lash toward Lyn again, but she sliced down against the wire in an attempt to sever it.
Severing the wire was nearly impossible; only a thin shallow cut had been made. After Lyn struggled to retrieve Alfaic out of the minor cut, lasers projecting from the tree's source blasted them back out of it. Lyn flipped to the ground and caught Alfaic once more.
"Come! Aether! Gather to me!" Elaina's construct roared, pointing her rapier into the air.
Lyn and Alfaic, unsure of what she had reference to, were stopped by a gravitational pull that was the source of Elaina's distortion. Ravenous energies pouring from the tree's mechanical barrier drew itself towards the tip of Elaina's construct's rapier, forming a green sphere of concentrated energy that gradually increased with each thriving second.
"Constructs! Dispatch this traitor!" Elaina shouted, continuing to charge its aether attack.
Two towering werewolf-shaped mechanized constructs descended from the air and appeared beside Lyn and Alfaic. Their dome-shaped heads opened up, revealing the deceased bodies of Elaina's mother and father piloting the spiritual constructs. Their bloodied parasitic heads extended outward from their mechanized shell, leaving them exposed to a potential attack.
Yet Lyn was overwhelmed. As the Father construct lashed out with its serrated wolf-like claws, it caught Lyn by surprise by spraying its infected acid upon her skin to stun her. The Mother construct clung onto Lyn's skin and began digging its claws in the infection. Lyn clenched her teeth in volatile pain and attempted to escape, but their powerful metal bodies were too heavy to break free from.
"Hold on, Lyn!" Alfaic shouted. "I'm gonna try something new! Just trust me!"
From beneath Alfaic's handle sprouted a new part of the blade that came into contact with Lyn's wrist, attaching itself to her tightly. Two holes from the unknown part opened up around her wrist as well, stealing and absorbing in aether from Elaina's construct. After a few seconds passed as Lyn endured the pain from the Mother and Father constructs, channeled aether from the air ignited a makeshift engine from the two holes around Lyn's wrist.
"Let her GO!" Alfaic shouted, blasting Lyn out of the construct's grasp with the engine. Together, they soared through the air in a circle until Alfaic gently released ignition from itself to let Lyn descend safely. Aether channeled from Elaina's construct surrounded Alfaic's blade, creating a surging red plasma field around it powerful enough to cut through the toughest of metals. Lyn, who looked at Alfaic's new ability wrapped around her right wrist, prepared to attack the constructs with their new proclaimed power.
As the Mother construct rampaged toward the duo, Alfaic ignited, sending Lyn soaring toward it with its plasma blade extended outward. In a mere half second, Lyn traveled at lightspeed, slicing through the Mother construct's parasite in a circular motion, rotating around to wrap back to her original position, and touched down safely. Not only was the Mother construct's parasite decapitated, but its torso, legs, and arms were subsequently sliced off as well. It collapsed to the ground and dissolved into flesh and bone.
Four long rotations in a complete circle, in a mere half second.
"Fast, aren't I?" Alfaic chuckled. "Now we can finish this!"
Lyn dashed at lightspeed with Alfaic's ignition, vanishing and reappearing behind the Father construct's back. With it unable to keep up with Lyn and Alfaic's speed, it could not react in time with Lyn's quick singular slash to decapitate it. Lyn kicked off of it to leave it dissolving before Alfaic ignited again, soaring through the wire connecting Elaina to the tree, severing it from its control. The charged aether remained in the air as Elaina toppled to the ground.
The tree retaliated in full aggression, raining down a hail of lasers from its side down at Lyn and Alfaic until they were trapped and unable to evade on time. Luckily, Alfaic's ignition gave the two enough speed to do exactly that. Not even careful calculation of where the lasers would strike was enough to strike the duo, and before they knew it, the lasers had completely whisked away what little metal remained on on the ground.
"I'll bury you!" Elaina's construct cried, leaping into the air. She gathered the channeled aether hurled it to the ground, collapsing it entirely. Lyn and Alfaic managed to safely descend to the bottom, where another flat ground of metal remained, and a new view of the tree's bottom roots were established. Elaina's construct descended during flight and dove down with its rapier, attempting to dismantle Lyn and Alfaic's new power.
Yet she was much too fast for it, for once Alfaic saw the opportunity to evade, it ignited and vanished Lyn altogether. As Elaina's construct collided with the ground, Lyn and Alfaic counterattacked with multiple slashes to its metal wings. The plasma blade managed to dismantle parts of the wings, weakening Elaina's construct's flight.
"Enough!" Elaina's construct shouted, utilizing aether from the tree to blast Lyn back to the ground. Cethe and Damian's metal constructs collapsed beside Lyn and Alfaic, surrounding them while Elaina's construct flew to the core of the tree. Using her left hand, she gestured for the tree's core to release hundreds of massive mechanized wires, all bundled together. After turning around midair, all of the wires reattached itself to Elaina's construct, channeling aether throughout her body until it began to glow bright green.
"What is she doing?!" Alfaic said.
Lyn used Alfaic's ignition to slice and break through Damian's construct, vaporizing it until there was nothing left. Yet Cethe's construct caught Lyn off guard, snatching Alfaic from her grasp and pinning her flat to the ground. As it wrestled its steel chassis and hulking strength of Lyn's slender body, Cethe's parasite jabbed out of the construct's helmet, attempting to bite Lyn's face with its acidic pincers as she held it back.
"Lyn...!" Alfaic yelled from behind her. As Lyn leaned her head all the way back, she found Alfaic suspended in midair, attempting to escape the swirling vortex of the channeled aether Elaina's construct was amalgamating in its steel body. Elaina's construct, who was fiendishly grinning from the amount of power she drew in from the tree, attempted to separate Alfaic from Lyn by sucking it in with the channeled aether. "I... don't... think... I can take... this any longer...!" Alfaic cried.
Acidic saliva spilled over Lyn's forehead and cheek, burning and wounding the immortal bolstered immunity of her body. She glanced over at Alfaic and Cethe's parasite back and forth rapidly, holding her breath in with her hands wrapped around the stalk of the creature. As she closed her eyes, she accepted the succumbing attack. She allowed for the parasite's pincers to pierce through her shoulder, causing her to scream in agony from the infected's saliva.
Yet doing so freed her hands, and Lyn was able to retaliate with Relámpago, who had been behind Cethe's construct during their battle. The channeled aether pulled in the spare blade and Lyn caught it using her lightning quick reflexes. She delivered a perfect slice around Cethe's parasite and pulled out the pincers from her shoulder, gasping for air as she collapsed to the ground. Her wound was dripping in red blood, instead of her usual gray congealed liquid.
"LYN...!" Alfaic shouted one last time before being taken by the channeled aether. No amount of ignition from Alfaic's handle could pull back against the power of the aether.
Looking up from her wound, Lyn leapt into the air and channeled the last of her strength to hurl Relámpago directly at Elaina's construct. The attack temporarily stopped the channeling, giving Lyn the chance to sprint underneath Alfaic to catch it to safety. Lyn attempted to slice through Elaina's construct again midair, but a well-timed block pushed them back to the opposite side of the sphere once more with Relámpago.
As the channeled aether from the tree finalized itself, it was time for the purging of the lands. The charged aether from Elaina's glowing green body reached its fingertips. It pointed both of its palms toward Lyn and Alfaic and prepared to blast both of them into complete oblivion.
"Don't think... I can dodge that one..." Alfaic weakly stated. "She's going to destroy the lands with that...!
Lyn wiped a drop of red blood seeping from the side of her mouth with her thumb before standing firmly with Alfaic's charged aether edge. "If we cannot dodge it..." She grasped Relámpago and attached the handle of it to Alfaic's makeshift engine. Bundles from Alfaic's aethereal plasma and the power of unbridled levin clashed with one another.
Parts of the golden blade began to merge together with Alfaic until electrifying plasma discharged from the tip of Lyn's blade. Alfaic had now become a gigantic greatsword, worthy of being wielded by a king of lightning, if there had ever been one. But there was no king; it was Lyn, who suggested the opportunity to great and mighty power combined into one.
"Then we match it!" Lyn shouted. "Do it!"
Alfaic roared at the top of its lungs before dispatching a blue electrifying beam of aether and plasma from Relámpago's combined strength toward Elaina's construct, who then retaliated with its own green aethereal beam from the tree, twice the size of Lyn and Alfaic's combined strength.
As Lyn struggled to balance Alfaic as the beams clashed with one another, she wrapped her left hand around her right to focus and generate more strength against the electrifying stings of the weapon burning away parts of her skin and the total destruction of the lands weighing against her responsibility. Searing and agonizing pain began pushing Lyn to the brink of presumed death as she began to lose her footing.
"I can't... I can't hold it...!" Alfaic shouted.
"Weaklings!" Elaina's construct cackled. "Why resurrect humanity when you can have this power!?"
"Lyn..." Alfaic's feeble voice croaked amidst the clashing of the beams. "I can't..."
HEY! YOU STUPID TALKING SWORD! If you give up, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!
Lyn turned her head around to mind the surroundings of the echoing voice, but there was no one there. Her actions almost caused Lyn to kneel to the ground from the overbearing pressure from the clash, but someone from behind her had touched her shoulder and picked her back up.
A glowing angelic white version of Cethe appeared behind Lyn and was the culprit of the sudden gain in strength. She supported Lyn in pushing back Elaina's channeled beam by placing her hands around Alfaic's handle, adding more support to prevent it from flying to the side.
I opened Pandora's Box, and now you decide to be some weak little shit?! Well, I won't have it! Now, do your damn JOB, YOU STUPID SWORD!
"What... stupid sword...?" Alfaic's disgusted voice came amok the clashing of the beams. "Cethe...!"
Cethe's embrace against Lyn's hand, inspired her to join in, imitating her in order to purposefully irritate Alfaic. "That's right, you stupid Blade!" Lyn shouted, in return. She reminded herself of the only time the stars seemed so beautiful bright that it created an uplifting of her inhumane spirits. "Your name I shall never forget!"
"Lyn...?" Alfaic voiced softly.
"There are many like you, but you are mine!" Lyn cried.
Listen to her, damn it!
"You are the only one that I need!" Lyn repeated.
Cethe's mother, father, and Damian appeared behind Lyn and gently pushed both Lyn and Cethe forward to support the two of them. Light sources from beneath the two of them began to rise up from the metal grounds, embodying them with pressure from the afterlife. Spiritual ghosts that resembled members of Stravia's village began gathering behind Lyn and Cethe, all holding their palms outward to support the two with their spiritual strength.
"What...?" Elaina's construct was disenchanted and fouled among the sudden appearance of its traitors. "All of you... how have you returned? How is this... possible?!"
Elaina, if you're in there, listen to me! You were wrong! Humanity hasn't given up, so why should you!? Fight the tree! Fight it! FIGHT IT!
"No... no...!" Elaina's construct muttered, shaking its head violently. "Useless! Useless words, all for long lost past!"
I never gave up on you, so why do you!? You said it! You wrote it in your journal! You know it! We've always wanted you back! So keep at it! KEEP FIGHTING!
"NO!" Elaina cried. "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!"
I've known for a while now
That being alone
In a land of deceit
With infallible hearts
Is a land of no being
Therefore,
I await you in my ivory tower
Awaiting
The ender of my decrepit tolerance
"AND THE ARRIVAL OF MY FORTHCOMING!" Elaina shouted at the top of her lungs before grasping the ends of the wires attached onto her back that generated the aether. Utilizing the last of her strength, she pulled the wires, detaching the tree's corrupted connection unto her.
As her aethereal beam collapsed after Elaina's construct released its power source, Lyn, Alfaic, Cethe, and all of Stravia's citizens generated the final push to destroy the remnants of the corruption endowed upon Elaina.
ELAINA! The villagers shouted in unison.
The beam collided with Elaina's construct, vaporizing its metal wings and the aether pumped into its body. The beam passed through it, shattering the metal sphere suspended in midair to reveal the crimson sun gleaming down upon them. Elaina's construct grinned as it struggled to fight back against the inner feelings of its original owner, buying itself enough time to survive the final blow. It laughed maniacally as it pushed its left palm down, colliding with the beam to sustain itself one last.
Cethe, Damian, and their parents gave Lyn one final push.
NOW!
"BLADE, WITH ME!" Lyn shouted with all her might before releasing the grasp on the overbearing beam. She ignited Alfaic one last time, blasting off toward space with the rest of Stravia by her side. As she charged with her blade, the overbearing aether seeped through Lyn and Alfaic's resolve, imbuing overwhelming amounts of channeled power. No matter how strong the beam pushed Lyn and Alfaic back, they traveled at lightspeed against the pressure.
one final charged slice through Elaina's construct. Repercussions from the single slice began to nestle in. The metal sphere surrounding them was cut in half. The sky's clouds divided among itself, and the mountains nestling in the far distance with the sun beating against them shook as a result of the aethereal energy. The tree was sliced in half as well, piercing through its metal bulwark until half of it toppled slowly to the crimson dew below.
Elaina's construct, as a result of the final blow, began to dissolve after defeat. The amalgamation of the accusations and voices toward the innocent child came to a halt. Yet before dissolving completely, the construct's chest exploded in a mass of radiant energy, blasting Lyn and Alfaic back into white nothingness surrounding their perimeter.
You... really did remember me. After all these years? Cethe? Damian? Mother? Father?
You don't understand... how sorry we are... my Elaina. My Elaina!
Elaina!
Good olé Cethe thought of it herself, didn't she?
The brave soul!
Cethe... my Cethe... you...
I never forgot about you, sister. And I never will.
Hey, hey...! Are we... flying?
We're like angels!
I guess we're going a little further. Even if it takes us nowhere.
We'll come with!
Yeah!
Over the coast!
Like the birds in the sky!
There won't be anymore monsters!
I'll scare them all away, Elaina!
"Cethe..." Elaina's voice giggled. "I will never forget you. Even if..."
Even if I am just a memory in the sky.