Fate and Freedom XXIX: Edge of Darkness

A strange place greeted the hunters and Descendants as the blackness they had been smothered by when they jumped into the Abyss had cleared. Large chunks of stone, all shaped like clockwork cogs, or clock hands, floated in cluttered heaps, as if gravity had been suspended, phosphroescent bluelight on their smooth, broken edges, as if it was slowly devouring the stonework. A large, round platform, made of the same drab stonework they had seen in Yukikaze, floated in the same purple space as everything else. In the middle of the vast expanse of entropy was Shinkaiyami, encased in a transparent violet forcefield. He floated with his legs very close together and his arms bent to the sides, with his claws curled around a ball of energy that was an even lighter shade of violet, the position of his body making him look similar to a "T". Thin strands of balck shadow curled and bent in from nowhere, seeping through the forcefield and into the ball of energy that the Wyrms was generating.

"He's powering up..." Makoto noted slowly, all gazing at the spectacle as if they'd already lost.

"Well then how do we stop him?" Mizu asked urgently.

"...Why don't we all blast him? Like, with our powers!" Roux said, lighting up as if it was a novel idea. Murmurs of approval resonated among the group, but Nina stayed silent and slowly closed her eyes, frowning ever so slightly, as if she was thinking their plan foolish.

Mizu let loose a stream of water, while Gigas loosed blots of searing flame and Altair produced a gust of wind from his left hand and a beam of dark shadows from his claqwed right hand. Makoto couldn't add her efforts as her power was earth, and she couldn't manipulate earth where there was none. The elements simply made contact with the shield, nothign more. They had no effect, and to boot, Shinkaiyami ignored their erstwhile efforts entirely, fervently focused on channeling the dark energies of his Abyss. The Descendants slowly and reluctantly ceased their efforts, sighing with frustration and dissapointment.

"Our powers ain't doin' shit!" Gigas grunted, kicking his Agnablaster, which he had placed on the ground to fire his flames, aggressively, accidentally causing it to roll off the edge of the round platform and topple into the air around them. It fell for a while- but becuase of the force Gigas had kicked it with, not gravity- then floated impassivley.

"Your abilities will not dispell his shield, not even if I try: that forcefield is made of sterner stuff," Nina remarked solemnly. "Observe."

Nina outstrecthed her hand gently, aloowing tendrils of serene light to flow gently from her fingertips. They snaked thier way to the shielding, then dissipated upon contact, the field unfazed.

"Our powers cannot breach this barrier. There is only one thing that can," Nina said flatly. All of a sudden, her next sentecne was interruped as large clusters of Afflicted appeared in vblack puffs of smoke, littered around the large stone circuit.

"You must realize now that you cannot hope to stop me with your limited power," Shinkaiyami seethed confidently.

"Well, be that as it may..." Shinji murmured, "...There's no reason we can't try."

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(unfinished)