[QUOTE=Airen;2925211]Alone
Space - Overlooking Earth
Final Battle
"Reject it all you like, the fact that this story has already ended is not something you can change."
Already ended? Even with the sternness, that total lack of malice - it's clear to me now. There's no way for me to change her mind. There's no way for me to weave a new tapestry of tomorrow inside the veins of someone so far gone.
Too many people have responded to her already. Am I... am I really going to let them down!? Am I really going to be the only one who has no possible response to such a thing!?! Even if I'm weak... Even if I'm not strong enough...
That's fine!
A grin carves itself across my face as I hear the chants of a hundred thousand souls inside of a Sea that scarcely exists, a remembrance of those who had already fallen in Yagami's mind.
Even if I fall, I will definitely carry on.
Even if it's hard, I will definitely stand up.
So...
If the entire world is against me, then I'll just have to turn that world into allies! If all the stars in the sky are my enemies, I'll rip the tapestry of the heavens into something more workable! This world is dead. So?! It doesn't matter!
As Elizabeth appears, as the Sea of Souls rages in absolute defiance of the enemy before me, as impossible power flows through my veins --
I can't help it.
It's really okay, isn't it?!
It's definitely okay!
Even as I catch my breath as Elizabeth's blows are parried, blocked, dodged, twisted, turned away, I can already tell.
"Tch..."
This is a battle we can win.
"It's meaningless, Elizabeth. Even the "Strongest Human" cannot change this world's fate."
The outcome will not change.
That's untrue.
"You more than anyone else should be able to understand. Humanity's nature affects far more than this small world, it cannot be allowed to progress any further than this, or a simple curse will be the least of existence's problems."
I changed the outcome of Ryota Yagami's beliefs already.
"I'm going to kick their asses when they wake up."
I changed the outcome of Nakamura Auron's dreams already.
"So I really don't have time to lose to you-!"
I changed the outcome of Mark's fears already!
"..."
Humankind cannot be changed. This is true.
"I told you. It is meaningless. You can't change anything, neither can your Goddess."
But as the hiss of fire bursts in my Sea of Souls, there's one fact that is infallible --!!
"...Yeah, maybe. Good thing it's not just me then, huh?"
"...?!"
Humankind can always surpass itself!
Even in times of difficulty, they'll always strive harder!
It's time. I can feel it in the soulfire that I've wreathed my entire body in, that after Kae's attack, we have to fight back -- !!
"Now, let's go-!"
"...Not bad. I even felt that a little."
"Falling for the oldest trick in the book, and you're still pretending you're omniscient!?"
"But no amount of power you can manifest can destroy me."
I glare at her, with a single fist clenched.
"Fate is far too heavy for you to throw off. This is humanity's limit."
Death approaches.
I can feel it crawling up my spine.
But even so --!!!
"Get over yourself! Limits?! You think humanity has those!?! Don't you dare underestimate the power of the human spirit!"
A hundred thousand souls whisper in my mind, as I grasp at the impossible, a way to counter an unblockable attack. As I look at the god before me, I can feel it in my heart, in every fire that runs through my veins.
This next attack is 'undodgeable'.
"This world... it's more then just the sum of it's parts!"
It's only me and her in this reality.
Let's change that.
"Everyone here is against you! You think that sanity, that the belief that we can't win, ever remained for an iota of a second in our souls?! Do you really think that any of us wouldn't use our all to take you down!?"
An arm that isn't mine splits reality in two with an axe that laughs maniacally in my head, as I clench my fist, staring at it for a moment, closing my eyes.
Death comes.
That's fine.
My eyes open, silver flames flickering inside, as I grasp at power that I shouldn't --
Every second is a trial.
"One hundred souls. How many it takes to become an Eclipse Diver."
Every moment tears me in half.
"Ten thousand souls. How many were waiting in Yagami's soulspace."
That's fine. All I ask is that -- !!!
"How many souls, do you think are sitting inside the Sea of Souls right now? How many souls, waiting for their chance at a strike at you?"
A grin covers my face, as flames erupt over my fist and fire wreathes itself around me like a cloak of silver --
"
One hundred thousand times that!"
Just keep my heart pounding until the very end, Lilith!
The worst vessel. The one who can barely utilize the full extent of her ESP Ability.
That's Hitoshira Nagi.
I tear open the floodgates that hold back the endless stream of souls, already so many that exist inside the Sea of Souls, feeling a million whispers in my mind, a hundred thousand arguments, and ten thousand cheers as souls I've never seen, and people I've never met wreak havoc in my soulscape, Lilith's fond smile watching over everything as she carefully coordinates too many people into a single space, into a single moment in time, as I clench my fist --!!
"Hey."
Certain death approaches, I can feel it in my gut as the dangers before me enhance themselves, expand themselves, and my axe laughs like a hyena in my mind. I take it, and give it a command - to grow, to shape itself, to counter an unstoppable, immovable force of death with its own, to carve death asunder like it carves reality in half.
"HEY!"
The being before me is fighting a dozen battles at once, a dozen last stands at the same time, and every person here is giving it their all! So, it's time for me to give it my all too-!!!
"Don't you dare focus on someone else during our fight! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!"
My ax goes up, the laughing reaching a fever pitch in my mind as every soul in the Sea urges me forward, to strive harder, to reach higher, to fight with all of my will and all of my mind --
"If certain death awaits me, then I'll just make my own future! A future where tomorrow is brighter then today! A future where everyone can definitely be happy, even in the face of adversity! That sort of future... That's what it means to be a human! That's what it means to be a demon! That's -- !!!"
-- What it means to find the final destination.
"Constantly moving forward, even when you can't! That's what an exodus is! Crawling out of a hopeless past, to find the beauty of tomorrow! That's what an Esper does! Fighting against all odds, in order to save the world --"
My axe smashes down a blow that can change the wheels of fate themselves, carving its way out of the reality in which 'Hitoshira Nagi dies' into one where 'Hitoshira Nagi lives'!
"That's what the Exodus Nine is!"
I prepare myself, slipping into a Sea of Souls thats far too bright and large to grasp at something intangible, as my ax grows larger and larger, to match a blow that I myself cannot, the laughter it has ascends and ascends, reaching a fever pitch, as I prepare to match an unstoppable blow with an immovable object -- !!!
"You want humanity to end!? You say this story is over!? And yet here we are, turning page after page, looking deeper and deeper into the reality of fate itself, showing that no matter what -- humanity is carrying on! Even in the face of adversity, even in the face of despair, we reach higher, move further, and try even more desperately! So what if you're a god?! Who cares about the Kyuubi!?! This is our story, you bastard -- and it's one where the heroes..."
Lilith's face flickers next to my own, and I glance at her with a smile.
"One where the heroes will definitely win!"