Light flared as the Shell Bullet Burst struck the beam, sending blazing rays of golden power everywhere as the two forces clashed. Even as the armor tried to propel him forward, the energy wave was overtaking him, engulfing him. R.D. grit his teeth as he struggled, his armor burning and melting around him.

It was, unfortunately, futile. The power swept over him and smashed him back into the ground, fracturing his superheated armor even more. The only way he survived was his quick channeling of water and ice energy through the armor to cool it and to create a cold barrier in front of him to ward off the attack, even as it threatened to incinerate him.

The beam narrowed in strength and size as it hit, dissipating completely after dissolving the barrier of cold. The panel broke apart, reverting back to particles of light that streamed toward the prismatic sky.

***

Now Matt could see R.D. on the ground, hurt, nearly defenseless. He watched Hugo run toward him in shock. What the HELL was going on?! He had to get out there and help-he struggled against the miasma surrounding him, dammit, why couldn't he MOVE?!

***

Helena's wings flapped hard, straining as she increased her speed. R.D. was in trouble, if only she got to him earlier-! Her mind began reeling-Core Genesis was too powerful, what if they couldn't defeat him?

She landed on the glass and skittered toward R.D. as Core Genesis raised its fingers.

Renewal will begin, it spoke. Accept your fate.

The streams of light lanced forth again, aiming toward R.D.. Before they could tear him apart, Helena's mass slammed into R.D., knocking them both away from the beams explosive impact, knocking them toward the edge of the crystal island.

***

Helena! R.D.!

Matt grit his teeth, and struggled. DAMMIT, let me GO!

More fragments of his armor was chipped away as Helena slammed into R.D.. Despite the pain of being bodychecked by a dragon--even one of Helena's relatively small stature--he realized that he would've been "renewed" by Core Genesis's attack.

His fist struck the dirt as he pushed himself up. Much of his armor showed signs of melting, bits of it warping back. A lot of it had been broken away completely, revealing the strange white material beneath it that adhered to his body. The cracked visor was now partially broken, showing a visible green eye framed by blood. The amnesiac teen glared angrily up at the imposing form of Core Genesis.

The beast was unstoppable. How were they supposed to beat something like this?

She shook off the pain, she HAD to. They were too close to the edge of the crystal island, if they got knocked off-

"Matt, I don't know if you can hear me," Hugo hollered, "but if you can, now's the time to come out!"

There was no immediately reply as the Mettaur began to ran over to his two friends, chambering his weapon.

***

"I can hear you, Hugo! I'm trying to get out!"

Then the Mettaur ran off toward Helena and R.D.. "Get BACK HERE, you asshole! Didn't you hear ME?!"

No good. Maybe he didn't hear him. But Helena and R.D. were in trouble, he had to-!

***

"Come on, R.D.!" Helena growled, her voice weak. "We've got to move, now!"

Another wave of light ran up the hand of Core Genesis, and it fired the waves of light again.

Exerting what strength she had, the emerald dragon leapt away, toward the direction of Hugo.

Seeing the light streak in, filling his vision, R.D. immediately channeled wind energy at Helena's retreating back, using the wind at her wings to move her out of the way, and then he himself leapt away, using his shield to cover himself. Instinctively the shield opened up and emitted the barrier, catching the edge of the beam with it. Lightning crashed all around as the shield was forcibly ripped away from R.D.'s arm, and he didn't look back as the armor piece was blown clear off the edge of the island.

He staggered as he ran, trying to get as far from the destructive energy as possible. The arm cannons on his arms activated as he ran, as did the boot thrusters, allowing him to escape even faster. When the amnesiac teen got a fair distance away, he skid to a stop and turned to face Core Genesis, aiming one of the arm cannons at the titan's head. His good eye narrowed and he was breathing heavily, trying to keep his aim steady.

Helena's wings captured the wind, and she attempted to rise.

Her eye caught the beam of light as it slanted upward toward her.

***

Matt felt the beam come in before she did, and he finally raised his hands to press on the miasma before him. "HELENA, WATCH OUT!"

***

The stray beam sliced through Helena's lower body, producing no sound.

She felt herself freeze, all feeling lost past her waist.

Blood exploded into the air.

"HELENA!" Hugo cried out.

---

They were waiting for her, the sun rising behind them. Father and R.D., Hugo and Matt.

She smiled, and began to run toward them. She was coming.

---

The dragon's upper body hit the floor with a sickening sound.

Shock flooded him. Green eyes widened in horror, staring over at Helena's body through a broken helmet. His breath caught in his throat, and blood pounded in his head. His heart clenched.

No.

It couldn't be. This can't be happening.

He couldn't move. Couldn't feel. The world was nothing. Helena dead? It just couldn't be real.

The shock and the horror filled him with cold. The thrill of battle was gone, the crushing despair of Core Genesis's absolute might flooded through him. But, that shock gave way to anger, and barely contained a scream of pure rage, hate-filled eyes slowly turned back to the crystalline titan that floated in the air, hand still outstretched. His fist slowly clenched, and Lumiya's might blazed through him.

Dear God.

Hugo just stared at the lifeless half-corpse lying a distance from him.

He had seen people die. He had to kill to protect himself and others. Sometimes he enjoyed causing pain.

But it was always so fucking stupid in the end.

He wished Matt was still asleep.

***

No.

No, no, nononononono, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, he wouldn't accept it, it was some kind of lie.

But there she lay.

"HELENA!"

Matt raised his fists, bashed them uselessly on the blue miasma. "HELENAAAAAAAAA!"

Tears stained the world around him. "HELENAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Why? Why did this bastard...

Why did this BASTARD KILL HER?!

"YOU BASTARD...

I'LL KILL YOU!"

***

Core Genesis paused out of concern, a rare thing.

Something was happening.

At once, a tremendous blue light, shining brighter and brither with each passing second, built with the chest of Core Genesis.

Something was wrong.

A tremendous burst of blue exploded from Core Genesis, tearing a huge, jagged hole through its form, sending shards of crystal raining down upon the Eternal Sanctuary.

Edited by The Helldragon on September 7, 2007 at 23:29:49.

He had had enough. He was done with it, done with everything. R.D.'s eyes narrowed further, pulsing with raging gold as he took aim, ready to pour as much destruction out of his body and into Core Genesis. Energy gathered and condensed, burning through him, desperate to escape. He was a hairsbreadth away from pulling the trigger. His heart pounding in his ears, R.D. made the move to strike.

And then everything everywhere stopped.

And then, everything went to Hell.

A blazing inferno of light erupted from the chest of Core Genesis, blinding everything. R.D. stopped, the Fifth Cipher energy ripped form his control. The blast tore away the remains of his helmet, and he crossed his arms in front of his head as the winds threatened to fling him into oblivion. A awful, anguished and hate-filled cry echoed in his ears.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

In days later in life, R.D. would find himself regretting that he ever looked up at what he would see. He wouldn't like remembering what would happen next, wishing he could just forget.

He looked up into the blaze of light, and what he saw was seared into his memory forever.

Hugo's gaze tore itself from Helena's body to throw itself up at the blue surge above, and Matt's hateful words filled his audio receptors.

Uh oh.

This is impossible. Core Genesis shielded the gaping wound it had earned while pointing a finger at the blue surge. The vessel must be recovered before renewal can begin.

As the wave of force shot outwards to disrupt the blue surge, within, Matt gathered violent red energy in the shape of a firebird that grew to tremendous size as he lifted his flat hand over his head.

"J-QUATH!" he shouted, thrusting his straightened fingers at Core Genesis, releasing the firebird of immense power. As it tore through the insivible force, it smashed into the crystal entity with explosive impact, causing it to actually reel with the blow. Segments of crystal exploded from its frame, damaged by the attack.

As Core Genesis recoiled, Matt landed, and ran over to Helena's corpse.

He lost his footing halfway there, and landing on his face and stomach, scrambled over to her the rest of the way.


In death she had regressed back to her human form, blood splattered along her pale skin and brown hair spread hapazardly over her shoulders. Blood dribbled from her open mouth, matched her blank eyes.

Words tried to form but they were quiet, incoherent, near madness. Now on his knees, he grabbed her shoulders, pulled her up a bit so he could look at her.


"...oh, Jesus..." he finally managed, his voice broken.


Core Genesis slowly aligned itself.

"Helena...!"

It raised its hand to attack.

"You BASTARD..."

He raised his head toward Core Genesis.

"You're DEAD, YOU HEAR ME?!"

Lasers of light curved toward him and her.



"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!"



Emerald fire exploded around Matt Willard in a huge radius, engulfing him and the body of Helena Hiroshi amid his terrible scream.

***

Across the Multiverse, across every Earth and beyond, all heard a scream, a scream about a girl, and the tremendous hate and sorrow that followed.

Edited by The Helldragon on September 8, 2007 at 0:12:13.

The entire island rocked with the force of Matt's rage. R.D. staggered, barely remaining on his feet, and he tried to shield himself from the terrible flames that erupted from his enraged friend. He shouted out to him, but his words were lost amidst the roar of the flames of sorrow.

===In Japan===

Alasea looked about, keeping silent while she thought on what to do should the chance to free Lee arrived. She tuned out what Mercy, Awai, and Riul were doing, needing to concentrate.

It was then that she heard it. It started out as a slight ringing in the back of her mind, but it quickly filled her ears and her mind. Pain lanced through her as foreign emotions filled her heart. She collapsed to her knees, clutching her head as she screamed.

"Shit!" Kalmar intended to dodge the Devil Guardian's bite, but as Blazen's attack hit it, he saw an opportunity.

Suddenly he heard a faint cry, the noise quickly growing louder until it filled his mind. The pain and sorrow that accompanied it slightly shocked him.

I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!

Kalmar faltered as the voice filled his head, the emotions of the owner of said voice rushing through him.

He barely missed slamming into the Devil Guardian's neck, instead veering off to the right. He regained his composure and dropped altitude, landing below the creature as he gathered corrupted energy.

The Devilhand ignited around both hands as he held them high, the energy he gathered appearing as a massive reddish-black ball above his head.

If he wasn't interrupted, he would gather as much energy as he could muster and blast the underside of the creature, hopefully injuring it enough to give the pair enough time to recover. And hopefully formulate some kind of plan.

Edited by Fallen on September 7, 2007 at 23:03:58.

Meta felt a sudden surge, a strange force jerking at her body, which felt weird to her after having been pushing and pulled through narrow holes and tunnels of flesh by the muscle of Hydro's body moving around her. She did not know where she was within the great Beast's body, but she realized that she was, at least, not within the creature's mouth anymore.

Where am I?

An answere never came. It was likely she would never receive one either. She felt as if something was gnawing at her body, eating away at her, as if she had been thrown into a pool of acid. The feeling was even more lively as she actually felt something liquid engulfing her, and when a drip of it entered her mouth, she tasted it, a taste she knew.

Blood.

She grimaced.

Dammit.

A current started to pull away at her, and finally she was wholly released from the fleshy pull that just now released her leg. She tried to get a hold of something as she held her breath.

Am I going to drown??!

Then she heard an agonizing cry that made her head spin both figuratively and literally. The cry resounded through her mind, and she repeated the words slowly, and then she knew.

No.

I am not going to drown.

Her face grew grim.

I am going to kill you.


Edited by Morphman on September 8, 2007 at 10:07:45.

Riul closed her mind as best she could. Mental barriers were something she could do, and she began to block off her mind from the battle. The pain would be unimaginable if someone got dangerously hurt or even died. Then it came, as swiftly as a when a light goes out, darkness shot at Riul's mind like a snake to the neck of its victim. The barriers that had been forming were struck incredibly hard. She felt like she had a hangover and was inside the largest bell in the world. The light barriers held though. The pain didn't make it as far as it could go and was repelled off. Something terrible had just happened. Unfortunately, the barriers had repelled the ability to be able to see what had happened, a decent price to pay instead of possibly going into shock.

When she opened her eyes she expected the other two to have felt something, but not as severly as she had. However, she was wrong. Although Awai and Mercy were immune to the feeling, Alasea obviously was not. As she screamed in pain, Riul was about to go help Alasea when something appeared behind her. It happened quickly, and for Riul's aching mind she could hardly keep up with it, but something grabbed Alasea, who was then teleported behind Awai by Mercy.

Riul's eyes widened in horror at the look of the thing, and she took a step back out of instinct. She still felt a lingering feeling of dispair and wondered if she would be able to fight if she had to.

Alasea found herself moving rapidly over the wind, and suddenly was behind Awai. She stopped screaming, the pain having subsided for now. However, the hateful cry still echoed in her mind, and she was horrified at how familiar it sounded. She clutched her head with one hand, breathing heavily as she looked past Awai at what had grabbed her.

"Wh-what happened?" she muttered under her breath, massaging her temple. "What's going on?" she continued, rising up with a louder voice.

Hugo found himself unable to move. Shock arrested his system.

All he could do was stare at those emerald flames of hate, and feel the human emotion of fear slowly register within him.

Matt and Helena's forms were cast in the blackest silhouette within the rising pillar of hellfire. If one could strain against the growing heat and steel themselves against the raging winds, they found her body being reduced to black ash and rising around the vessel, spiralling, spiralling, until they seemed to join with him.

The shadow changed, transformed into a shape of power and hate and fear, with jagged points forming from the head, arms and legs growing heavy and angular. From behind, strips of black rose, caught in the force of the hellfire, until they spread into looming wings of magnitude.

This is unexpected.

Cracks exploded along various points of Core Genesis from the sheer power.

This is unexpected.

Hugo finally recoiled as something invisible hit him, hard, knocking him over. His left eye failed to register any visuals.

It was growing stronger, pushing him back. Knowing that if he didn't react quickly he'd be blasted away by the flames and the winds and the rage, R.D. quickly activated the matter converter in the cuirass and began siphoning the power of the Sanctuary to restore his armor. Before the absorbed material could regenerate his helmet and shield, the blaze intensified and an invisible force struck him, and he felt himself being repelled, his armored frame pushed back by the escalating winds.

Struggling to move, R.D. opened one eye slightly while lifting his head to peek over his shielded arms, staring at the black shape forming in the hellish green flames. As he watched, terror creeped through him, seizing his heart as he stared in shock and horror.

Edited by RisingDragon on September 8, 2007 at 19:11:47.

From within, the fire was dismissed, and the pillar of flame exploded into bolts that rained across the Eternal Sanctuary. Crashing into Core Genesis, the titan reeled with the power of the impact, and those others in the way of the flames had to scramble or risk immolation.

Amid the fires that still burned along the crystal floor, the shape borne from within the flame stood.

Its body was black, layered with emerald armor, large and angular around the forearms, curved and round toward the shoulders. Mechanized, draconic wings of silver and emerald trim flexed to their full length, in a snapping motion that released another short burst of wind. Flat spikes spread from its head in a long crest, curving backwards.

Face shielded by metal, it glared with red eyes that matched the gaze of Core Genesis.

Hugo scrambled to his feet to witness the new sight. What the hell was that thing...?

Renewal must be completed. Readjusting itself, Core Genesis aimed its fingers at the new creation. The vessel will be recovered. Renewal must be completed.

The same lasers that tore through Helena streaked at the emerald being.

The creation cut the air before it with a clawed hand, knocking away the lasers away from the island with an explosive burst.

R.D. finally found himself free of resistance, and carefully lowered his arms to stare upon the revealed form. Eyes widened slightly in surprise as he took in the armored being that stood amongst the dying fire. Of his bespectacled friend and Helena's corpse, there was no sign.

There was a shockwave of incredible force as the being struck Core Genesis's attack away. The raw power it radiated with the single movement seemed to overwhelm R.D., and instinctively he stepped back.

What... what in God's name...?

He opened his eyes. The sky was gray. His mind was empty, memories gone. The world was cold, dark and desolate, but there was a tower in the distance. Tall and ebony in the eternal dusk.

He shrugged and set off for it.

Thrusters along the creaton's wingspan flared, emitting green propulsion, and it shot toward Core Genesis with incredible speed, creating a sonic boom that passed after its movement. Almost instantly it was upon Core Genesis, thrusting a clawed hand at the crystal entity's chest. Untold force lay within the attack, exploding in waves underneath the glass and causing large shards to fly everywhere. Once more, the entity recoiled.

This is unexpected. Core Genesis lifted its arm to lash at the attacked, who promptly slashed across its hand with emerald claws, packing the same explosive power as its first attack.

Once more R.D. was forced to shield himself as the armored being moved, the winds released by the boom forcing him back once more. They threatened to knock him over, and only him bracing himself by putting a foot back did he stay upright.

The amnesiac teen activated his right hand arm cannon, the ring of light appearing as the energy pistons extended backwards. However, he wasn't sure who to aim at... Core Genesis, or the... thing... that was attacking it.

Hugo tried to scan the new creation as it attacked Core Genesis, but with only one working eye, it was troublesome. He had only managed to save one good picture of it, and as he ran toward R.D., his AI was already creating a data log to classify this new being. It was a habit of his, something that took care of itself immediately, and even now, in what he thought was a frightening time, it gathered what data he knew and would continue to add to it as he observed it further.

The log demanded a name before continuing.

Instinctively, Hugo thought how much the pillar of emerald flame and the resulting armor reminded him of Matt's Dragon Drive. However, it was incredibly more powerful than the normal Drive, even more than that of Dragon Drive Beta. Was it the final, ultimate version of the Dragon Drive that was unlocked with Helena's death?

The log now had a name, and the Mettaur repeated it with hesitation, to make sure he'd never forget it.

"...Log created. Classification...Dragon Drive FINAL."

Dragon Drive FINAL reared back and roared-an unearthly, pained sound. Extending its arms backwards, violet energy surged toward its claws-Hugo recognized it as the beginnings to Kaiser Wave, remembering how well Rugal used it against them.

His aim kept switching from entity to entity. He couldn't decide. What was the danger? There was Core Genesis... the true form of the Omega Core, ready to completely destroy the Multiverse to "renew" it. But there was this monster who was tearing the entity apart. Didn't that mean it was on his side?

But what was to say that this thing wouldn't turn on him next?

He saw Hugo running up to him and he closed the distance, still keeping his eyes on Core Genesis as it was about to be assaulted by...

What!? Kaiser Wave!? he thought frantically. But that was... oh god.

"Hugo?" he asked in a wavering voice to the damaged Mettaur, "W-what is that thing?"