Chapter 20

Cloud and the man looked around themselves and realized that they were surrounded by many nasty looking monsters. The monsters are red in color, had the height of a man, stood on two powerful legs and had two arms that have claws. Cloud took a simple glance at the number of monsters and was sure that there are more than twenty of them. Cloud and the man readied their weapons, waiting for the monsters to strike.

After a short moment, three monsters spotted Cloud and rushed towards Cloud, with their claws ready to strike at any moment. Cloud just stood still, waiting for the right moment to strike. One of the monsters was now right in front of Cloud and stuck down with it’s claw. Cloud swiftly ducked underneath and the monsters missed by an inch. The other two monster struck at Cloud but they missed Cloud by inches too. Cloud seamed to let this happen on purpose.

All of a sudden, Cloud pushed his sword in front and the sword went right through a monster. Cloud then pull out the sword almost instantly and skilfully turned the sword backwards, and stabbed the monster right behind him. Before the third monster even realized what was happening, Cloud pulled his sword side wards, cutting right across the second monster and the sword sliced the third monster into two pieces. Cloud draw back his sword and stare at the dead bodies. To him this is just a piece of cake. All that training he went through really made him a really powerful swordsman.

The man, like Cloud was also under attack by three monsters too. But the monsters didn’t even manage to get close the man. The man flashed three short blades like boomerangs at the monsters and the blades cut off one of each monster’s arms. The monsters cried out and fell onto the floor and before the monsters could recover, the blades turned back and cut right through the monster’s chest. The monsters cried out for a moment more, and then fell on the floor, not moving.

Cloud and the man seemed too powerful for the monsters. There seemed to be no problem for the two to finish off all the other monsters but the Jenovian doesn’t seemed to be worried at all. He looked like he is confident that the two will have a hard time killing all the monsters.

The Jenovian was right. The two will really have a hard time killing all the monsters. Only a short moment after Cloud killed the three monsters, the three monsters started moving again. Cloud could see that their wounds started to heal and they were crawling up again. Cloud took a look at the third monster which he sliced into two and saw flesh growing at an astonish rate, forming two monsters! Cloud was shocked to see this and took a look at the man. The man seemed to be bother by the situation, as the three monsters that he killed are also reviving. This is bad.

“Regeneration ability…”

The man murmured while looking at the bodies healing. Cloud drew his sword and stabbed at the monsters that were reviving but wounds immediately healed up right after he attacked. At the same time, Cloud felt that others monsters were already coming his way, and he fear that the other monsters are the same too. Cloud looked at the man but the man was at the position he was standing at. Cloud felt something behind him and saw the man dashing towards him.

“This is how you do it.”

The man snatched Cloud’s sword from his arms but to Cloud’s surprise, the man left his two short fighting blades in Cloud’s hands. Cloud looked at the man and saw the man dashing at a row of monsters, with Cloud’s sword turning into fiery red. The moment the man is in front of the monsters, the man had Cloud’s sword burning up with intense red flame and slashed across those monsters. The monsters cried out from that hot burning flame, with some already in flames already. The man then stabbed the sword right into the ground, and the fire that burn the monsters turned more intense, burning the monsters into charcoal and then into ashes.

Cloud realized what the man was trying to tell him. These monsters are afraid of magic, especially those that will destroy them, completely. Cloud held each of the man’s short blade in his hands, and then he channelled energy into the blades. Two monsters charged towards Cloud but easily, Cloud fired two fireballs at the monsters and the monsters burn up in those flames, not being able to fight. Though Cloud’s favourite weapon is none other than his Ultima Weapon, but he learned how to used the man’s short blades when he was training with him. He found that those two blades are easy to channel his energy, and thus becoming an awesome long range magic weapon. With this weapon, Cloud continued firing fireballs at the monsters like shooting two pistols and the monsters scrambled for safety. With the magical powers of these two fighters, even the regeneration ability of the monsters are no match for them.

While Cloud and the man are fighting the monsters, the man observed the way the two fight. He is starting to worry that the two will overcome the monsters in no time. He is also starting to suspect whether he could defeat the two. The two are way too powerful.

Cloud looked around him and realized that it may be a waste of time to destroy all the monsters this way. Cloud quickly finish off the monster nearest to him, and then he raised his hand into the sky. Cloud concentrated and thought about ice. He recalled a spell Sephiroth used on Aeris and Tifa and this spell might prove effective against these monsters. As he expected, small pieces of ice started to surround the monsters and then forming larger chunks of ice. The chunks of ice circle the monsters and all of a sudden, the chunks of ice combined and then freezes the monsters in huge ice blocks, immobilizing all the monsters.

Cloud and the man looked around and saw that all monsters are trapped in ice blocks. Cloud threw the two short blades towards the man and the man did the same with Cloud’s sword. The two grabbed their own weapons and prepare to fight the Jenovian conjurer.

The Jenovian conjurer realized that all the monsters are not able to fight and this leaves only him and the two. The Jenovian conjurer charged up and he prepared for this battle.

“Return Aeris to us!”

Cloud shouted out at the Jenovian but the Jenovian seemed to ignore this. Cloud understood that the Jenovian will not hand over Aeris without going through him and Cloud quickly dashed towards the Jenovian and readied to pull a few strikes. The Jenovian shouted out and instantly Cloud was forced backwards by an invisible force. The man fired a few fireballs at the Jenovian but all of them are absorbed. The Jenovian had a smirk on his face. Now the two have to think of a way to work through that barrier.

The Jenovian, behind his safety barrier, slowly charged up a fireball. Cloud and the man tried to penetrate the barrier with whatever attacks they have but it seemed to fail. The Jenovian, with a fully charge up fireball in his hands, suddenly threw the fireball towards Cloud and the man. The two dodged the fireball but the fireball hit the ground behind them, where the monsters are trapped in ice blocks. The fireball burnt intensely and the ice that held the monsters melted. The monsters are free. But this isn’t all. The Jenovian then pulled out his partner’s saw-edged sword from his back and charged towards the monsters. Without mercy, the Jenovian slashed his own minions into many pieces and all of them grew at a high speed into more monsters. Cloud and the man looked behind them. They have company, way more this time.

“Attack them!” The Jenovian commanded and the monsters that have been revived immediately charged towards the two.

“I will take care of them. You go for the conjurer.”

The man said and then started fending off the monsters. Cloud acknowledged the man’s command and fought his way through to the Jenovian. The Jenovian, with a sword in his hand too, powered up his sword and then slashed in front of Cloud, leaving a trail of flame. Cloud duck forward and managed to perform a counterattack but the barrier that protected the man was still there. Cloud continued to perform a few more attacks but they failed too. The Jenovian struck when he had the opportunity and Cloud blocked with his sword. The Jenovian then kicked Cloud with his foot and sent Cloud flying away. But as this is happening, the Jenovian saw something, a bottle, flying over his head.

“Now!”

Cloud shouted and the man turned around although he had a lot of monsters in front of him. The man quickly flashed a blade towards the bottle, and then resumed his battle with the monsters.

The Jenovian was shock when he found out what they were up to. The Jenovian turned around and saw the bottle right over Aeris’s statue. The blade that was flicked broke the bottle and potion burst from it, raining down at Aeris. The Jenovian tried to stopped it but it was already too late. The potion touched Aeris and the stone surface on Aeris slowly dissipated. Aeris opened her eyes and now she is moving. The Jenovian stared in horror, as he knew that Aeris’s assistance can really help the two. Aeris, still not knowing what is going on, saw Cloud that was blown off his feet. Aeris shouted out and she lifted her staff, and a green Aura surrounded Cloud, herself and the man. Cloud that should be crashing onto the floor landed slowly. The monsters that are fighting with the man now couldn’t hurt the man a bit. Aeris had just cast her own barrier spell.

“Why you…”

The Jenovian turned around and lifted up his sword, readied to attack Aeris. But Aeris lifted up her staff again and murmur something. The Jenovian was suddenly forced backwards, and was sent crashing onto the ground. Cloud that just got up from his fall, was now already in the air, with his sword in his hands, readying for a deathblow onto the Jenovian. The man, after finishing off the last monster in the place, saw Cloud perform this deathblow. The man quickly jumped into the air and went above Cloud. He charged up and then he released a strong bolt spell striking Cloud’s sword. Giving it extra killing strength.

The Jenovian saw this and he readied to push himself away when the attack came. Aeris spotted this and then she chanted again. The word ‘haste’ shocked the Jenovian. Immediately, Cloud that was charging towards the Jenovian at high speed appeared right in front of the Jenovian after Aeris cast a haste spell on him. Cloud’s sword went right towards the Jenovian and the Jenovian block with his sword. A loud sound was heard when the sword punched right through the barrier with it’s amazing amount of force, and again a loud sound was heard when Cloud’s sword broke the Jenovian’s saw-edged sword. The sword slashed right through the Jenovian’s chest and the Jenovian coughed out blood, indicating internal damage.

Cloud, now with his sword still in the Jenovian’s body, looked at the Jenovian. The Jenovian looked so pitiful now, and was in total lost. He tried to talk but he couldn’t. Cloud slowly pulled out the sword from the Jenovian’s body and then looked at Aeris and the man. The man had successfully killed all the monsters without Cloud’s help, and Aeris is still puzzled with what that was going on. Cloud walked away from the man and Aeris and the man followed. They are going back to Kalm, after this tiresome battle.

“It’s…not…finished…yet…”

Voices were heard from behind and Cloud turned around. He saw that the Jenovian is now standing up, holding his chest to stop bleeding. Blood was dripping from his mouth when he was saying this.

“We…are…going…to…die……together…”

The Jenovian fell down the moment he said this. Cloud is figuring out what the Jenovian meant. The man stared at the Jenovian with horror, as if he knew what was coming.

“Run.”

The man spoke softly. Cloud and Aeris looked at him.

“Run!!!”

The man said and pushed Cloud and Aeris towards the exit and stepped backwards towards the exit too. Cloud couldn’t help his curiosity and turned around to look what was happening. He suddenly saw a red material bursting out from the Jenovian and it was spreading all over the place at a rapid speed. Everything in it’s way is quickly decayed, steel and metal instantly dissolved. This looked like some sort of biological destruct mechanism. Looks like the Jenovian wanted everybody to die with him.