Suzume AOGAMI
Space - Overlooking Earth
Final Battle
"Hard feelings? None at all, you always saw my worst sides... Call it selfishness, but I'd like to be remembered a bit more for my heroism than my many possession incidents."
A casual voice that shows no fear.
While Aya had always come across as somewhat dark and tormented, a woman that had been born with a cursed destiny and had ultimately succumbed to her tragic fate, the temporary form of her that appears now is even willing to smile in the face of an opponent that cannot be defeated by anyone. It may simply be the result of her no longer having to fight off outside influences, or because something she would consider a 'happy ending' for her loved ones has finally manifested on the horizon, but whatever the case...
Reborn as her truest self -even if only temporarily- the girl's figure is not unlike that of her surviving lover; it's a hero's silhouette, one that will stand up even when the highest powers demand that humans fall to their knees.
While asking her to approach that God would seem like a suicide mission to most, there is no hesitation present in her heart.
She is already dead, a simple spirit, but she would manifest her will one last time in order to clear the path towards tomorrow-!
"...Tsukino Aya. I see."
Of course, even a hero's will becomes hard pressed when paired against that of a God; while it had seemed content to simply match and exceed whatever actions you took against it up until now, the appearance of the Dark-Haired ESPer is one that gets an interesting -if impossible- reaction from the once motionless God, who remains so still in it's approach that it's more like the universe and everything inside of it had moved towards it rather than the other way around, yes...
It immediately strikes to kill, it's stolen body flickering into existence right before your eyes, so fast that no obvious transition exists within it.
"-!"
Disregarding both your troops as well as it's own, it is a casual strike on both 'hero' and 'king' that was designed to end the match in a heartbeat; while your instincts screech to life in that same instant, it is a brazen, ruthless attack that is simply designed to scatter the enemy leader in a single blow, and the prevailing factor for your escape over Aya's, is simply that she prioritizes your safety in this instance, as her own movement is less something meant to 'save herself' and more a backwards tackle to get you out of the line of fire.
As insane as it is, even being near the act of it throwing out it's fist is enough to blow away anyone even vaguely in front of it, as the world itself contorts and explodes with what seem to be shock waves; the most horrifying part is that the amount of spirit power inside of it is negligible, and yet it is a blow that would cleanly pierce an ESPer's body straight through, if not outright shatter everything they are in a single blow.
---While only her back can be seen, the sudden 'lurch' in that other girl's body, as well as her form shooting crashing back into a rock, all make it clear that she had just taken that shot straight on, a clear kill-blow that ends things in an anti-climax, or at least that is how it seems to have ended originally, but as it 'phases' it's way towards her destination again, intent on finishing her off now to prove the point of your powerlessness-!
"Don't get so carried away, I'm not dying that easily this time. You're gonna have to work for it."
The swinging arm is casually cut off from it's body.
The culprit is a series of strings the dark-haired girl had created as a barrier in the final moment, fashioned from the 'mud' of humanity's curse, that incarnate negativity had become her shield against the insane physical force of the highest God, a net of wires that had not only kept it's fist from truly reaching her body, but wrapping around the God's arm of their own accord, and severing it at the elbow a 'moment after' the first successful strike.
The easiest part of it was the timing, as the God was clearly faster than anyone else when it felt the need to be, she had simply ordered the mud to strike the moment it was touched; it might be able to outpace her reflexes in some regards, but that same difference in speed also meant that it was impossible for her to ever parry something too early-!
---If you didn't give all you had against this thing, you would just die right there anyway-!
That same knowledge has her bursting forth from the crater as a wave of black flame and mud, God or not, as it was clearly using that body to fight, the sudden loss of an arm is something that should inhibit even something of it's caliber, but-!
"...Hmph. Very well, I will put forth more effort for your sake."
A rain of thrusts is countered with only a single hand and a heart of clear water. While it's expression had shown surprise for a fraction of a second after having it's arm removed, it's an emotion that had never extended past that body; the spirit powering it has never once lost their sense of resolve, or rather, there is nothing that anyone can seemingly do to this thing that will actually 'perturb' it.
It acts with a perfect confidence that is almost like that a machine.
It has a task it needs to accomplish, and it is 100% confident in it's ability to see that task through without fail; in comparison to humans it's a perfect will, even the most egotistical of humans have at least a shred of doubt somewhere inside of themselves, and thus their 'beliefs' can be thought of as imperfect, add onto that their own inclinations for not getting along with each other, and the race as a whole is far, far weaker than what their 'infinite potential' would have one believe...
But this God lacks that problem, it's faith is clad in diamonds.
It comes across as both alien and robotic, but also... Driven in a way that is reminiscent of people, and even fighting in a way that a human could replicate in theory, it's strange but-!
With Aya unable to set the others free, the task to do so must fall to someone else-!
Thankfully, even though the enemies continue to multiply, the call for a friend is met with an interesting response; while your telepathic link with the other ESPers was giving you a 'rough idea' of how this particular power seemed to work, Joanna Cross does not appear to you as a phantom, no...
---Instead, her presence is that of a golden light that descends on the battlefield. Calling it a light is perhaps too simply, it is more like a familiar golden flame, the essence of her power as a 'Demon,' or rather, a different form of energy that her soul was able to take-!
For Jeanne Da Arc, that fire and herself are inseparable; it is an embodiment of her will, a flame that will only harm that which she believes must be harmed, and thus, in terms of a 'battlefield with soldiers'...
It is a fire that can easily carry one side to victory.
Defensive and Offensive power, a flame that will not harm allies, and will not allow enemies or their attacks to get through unopposed; while those that have been eaten should be beyond saving at this point, the descent of that flame is one that can reach them wherever they are, a fire of hope that burns brightest in the darkness. While she is technically the 'demon' of Liane Cross, this is a battle that will decide the fate of the world, and just as the world was entrusting itself to them, so too does she entrust her own powers to others, naturally-
"Oh?"
-They free themselves.
Golden swords carve open a path from assimilation, and the spreading black flames soon wind up in their hands as well... There is no danger to it, or rather, the world that has already faced that darkness a number of times now is no longer afraid to hold it in their hands; there is a point where the darkness becomes too thick to handle, but to let it get to that point at all was foolish...
Negative emotions were just as valuable as positive ones, each defined the other, and throwing away one made the other meaningless as well... To accept it right from the start, to face their darker sides without looking away or denying it, and channeling that power towards a brighter future, as long as they can hold onto that idea...
Then there was no reason they couldn't use this dark flame as well; it may only be a replica, or perhaps it is simply what that curse was like before becoming something overwhelmingly corrosive and toxic, but...
Holding both "Hope" and "Fury" in their hands, the artificial ESPers finally begin to turn the tables on their strange opponents, but-
"..."
Just as you had feared, there seems to be an 'infinite' supply of them, so many that for every one that is burned away, three more appear to take it's place; the sheer quantity is slowly making it more and more difficult to process the various battles visually, and-
"Weak."
Completely unphased by both 'flames' the God simply makes it's presence known by smashing Aya across space, reducing a number of nearby meteors to nothing as she is apparently stunned from the impact, and...
"..."
---Over a hundred swords appear from the darkness, spinning out as if from nowhere to target your form like homing missiles, each following a different arc and tearing through anything that gets in their way, as if forgoing the concept of weak points entirely by simply targeting every part of you that exists. Sixth sense filled with the Devourer's overbearing power, the spiritual signature of these swords is somewhat foreign by comparison, as if they had been made by something other than the Devourer itself, but-!
Behind those approaching blades...
It's gathering up power for something...