CHAPTER X: OUR GREATEST ENEMY
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While Ishgard continued to burn and the battle waged onward, those in the courtyard continued to watch the unanticipated scene unfold.
Turning his attention to Marcus while brandishing his blade, the black armored knight spoke, his voice a loud and malicious tone.
"Chaos is now at it's peak. Anger, hate, sorrow, and fear have all finally come together. Those who dwell in the abyss will either control the darkness or be ultimately consumed by it. The unrelenting. The unceasing. The merciless... and the nightmare. I am everything you are. Tell me, Marcus, do you remember how the power of the abyss saved both your lives?"
The knight took a stepped forward, bringing a clawed gauntlet to his face and rolling it into a fist.
"After you two and the dragon fell into the canyons below Ishgard, there you both were, though triumphant with your kill, you laid broken and dying. But no, you two didn't want to die. You both refused to die. Everyone you cared for and loved met death only because Marcus and Xydane did not have enough strength to stop it. And then ironic as it was, you two were to succumb to the same fate. My soul crystals stopped that. I gave us power. I gave us strength. I granted us what you begged and with it, we carried on with destroying everything in our path under the power of the abyss. Yet now, we are defeated by a simple... mere... arrow!"
The black knight opened his fist, black mists began to emerge from his palms. Xydane began to cough loudly and looking at his wound, the seeping blood was now replaced by the same black mist.
"Rise, Xydane! This is not our fate!" roared the knight as he threw his fist down. Using his sword, the knight pointed at the brother's weapons. "Your weapons. Pick them up. We shall now see if we are truly worthy."
The moment Xydane and Marcus had already reached for their swords, the knight had already closed the distance within seconds. With his free hand, he grabbed onto Xydane's face and tossed him aside like a rag doll. His blade was pressed into a firm lock with Marcus' and before Marcus realized what had happened, the knight had already broken his sword's defense, kneed him in the stomach, and smashed his head with the hilt of his blade.
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Lord Viarre couldn't believe what he had just saw. 'A being emerged from thin air within a few feet of the Vale Brothers only to save Xydane... in order to fight both brothers? What was this about power? What is going on?!' Viarre's head was filled with nothing but questions as he ran to Falorgeant and Clarielle. Clarielle's heart raced and her sadden features grew as she aided Falorgeant upright. Blood continued to trickle down the dragoon's lips and his face began to pale in color.
"It all makes sense now," said Falorgeant weakly as he turned to stare into Clarielle's eyes. "Everything that has happened... what they have done."
By this time, Viarre was already on his knees desperately trying to stop the dragoon's bleeding. After a moment, he stopped and realized the outcome as he and Clarielle sat in a pool of Falorgeant's own blood.
"Falorgeant, you must hold on! Help is on the way!"
The dragoon grinned and slowly lifted a finger to point at the fight that ensued in front of them.
"Dark Knights... is what they have become."
Lord Viarre felt both horror and disbelief at the dragoon's words.
"Why would they... no... I... I should have known."
"Falorgeant, please hold on. Don't talk anymore, you need to reserve your strength!" Clarielle's cheeks were covered in tears and she grabbed Falorgeant's right hand and placed it on her face.
"There... there is still good in them. Please, Clarielle... I don't want to see you cry anymore." Falorgeant smiled and slowly closed his eyes. The last thing he saw was the beautiful face of a woman that he had always dearly loved.
"Falorgeant? Falor-"
Viarre slowly closed his eyes as Clarielle brought Falorgeant closer to her heart and wept.
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"I am what we desired to be! I am everything that we have ever felt incarnate! Come!"
Marcus recovered and engaged the Dark Knight in combat. The Dark Knight roared and brought his helm inches from Marcus as they locked blades. "I sense your anger! I feel your strength but it is not enough!" Marcus yelled defiantly and as he pressed his weight forward, Marcus broke the Dark Knight's defense and slashed him across his chest plate. The Dark Knight staggered back and held a clawed hand to feel the cut in the armor.
"Yes! This is true power! Our true power!"
The Dark Knight sprinted, elbowing Marcus in the stomach and knocking his sword away. Sensing Xydane charging behind him, the Dark Knight turned and blocked Xydane's aggressive blow, swiping him off his feet, and stomping on his chest, pinning him onto the ground.
Xydane spat out blood and the manifested rage grabbed him by his hair, lifting him into the air by his skull. "Unworthy to save anyone!" Marcus ran to his brother's aid but before he could attack, the Dark Knight had stabbed his blade into the older Vale's shoulder. "Argh!" The tip of the sword had pierced completely through Marcus' armor and the Dark Knight began dragging both brothers towards a burning building.
"Is this it?! Is this how weak we truly have become?!"
The Dark Knight roared furiously, throwing both brothers into the building as it continued to incinerate. Marcus was thrown into the window, shattering it to pieces as he crashed onto the floor. Xydane smashed the front door and the impact forced his body through the wood by sheer momentum.
The Dark Knight slowly stepped in, walking over fire as he approached the brothers.
"We were not strong enough to save our parents. We were not strong enough to save Rosette. Nor Sigmund. Nor Joellaut. Not even Viarre's own son! How can we master our enemies if we cannot even master ourselves?!"
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Outside, the battle between the heretics and the Ishgardian knights had ceased. The heretics began to retreat and as Viarre rushed back to his men, a heretic ran pass them yelling "Lady Iceheart has returned to us! Retreat! Nidhogg is dead! Retreat!"
A knight of House Durendaire shot a puzzled look at Lord Viarre while he fought to catch his breath.
"Wait... what? Nidhogg is dead? Does that mean... the war is over? The war... the war is over!" While the knights began to cheer, Viarre returned his attention back to where the Vale Brothers and the Dark Knight were. Seeing that they had disappeared, Viarre scanned the area, desperate to find his knights.
"Three of you will come with me! The rest of you, tend to the wounded and someone go to the dragoons!"
The commotion inside one of the buildings finally caught Viarre's eye. Inside the building, he could see the fight remained between Marcus, Xydane, and the twisted black armored knight. The flames became bigger and the building slowly started to crumble.
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The Dark Knight snarled, holding Marcus's sword in one hand and locking Xydane's blade with his own weapon. "Only by defeating me will prove that we are worthy of mastering this power! What are you two waiting for?!"
"Enough!" shouted Marcus as he sliced the Dark Knight's hand. "I've had enough of this!" Marcus pulled back and with all his might, he thrust the blade into the Dark Knight's chest. The Dark Knight's attempt to block the attack failed and when he moved his weapon to parry off the attack, Xydane saw the opening to land a blow on the Dark Knight as well.
"It is over!"
"This... this is what we wanted!"
The Dark Knight roared in defiance, dropping his sword as both brothers and their abyssal form was engulfed in black mist.
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Xydane slowly opened his eyes. Marcus stood to his left and the brothers were in pitch darkness. They were in the abyss - the same abyss that called to them and the same abyss that tormented them. Walking casually towards Marcus and Xydane was their emotion and power embodied in physical form. The brother's fear, their hate, their rage, and their grief.
The Dark Knight stopped and turned his head sideways as though he was looking at something behind him.
"This is the thing we must remember. We cannot master our enemies if we cannot master ourselves. Interesting this outcome. Interesting the abyss. Come... we have much more to do."
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The wooden pillars have already begun to give way to the flames. As Viarre and his men sought a desperate way to get inside the building, the amount of debris and the heat of the flames denied that wanting. Viarre and the knights screamed for the brothers but the roaring of the flames muted their shouts and pleas.
Both Marcus and Xydane sat weakly on chairs with a table dividing them both. Xydane leaned back on his chair, resting his head on a pillar as the fire continued to burn all around them. Marcus crossed his arms, his eyes closed and his features relaxed.
"Do you remember when we use to sneak over to the chocobo farm at night and ride the things until the farmer chased us away?"
For a moment, Marcus did not respond.
"I remember... I finally remember it all."
"And how we tried to sneak back into the house without waking up mom and dad?"
Marcus grinned at the thought, his eyes still closed.
The flames had ate away at the wood and the roof started to cave in. The flames rose higher and as the building collapsed onto itself, black smoke ascended into the night sky.
"Yeah... I remember that too."
Xydane and Marcus laughed.