The four warriors plummeted from the top of Centrepoint Tower, and sunk their blades straight into the behemoth. The creature crashed to the ground under the force of their superhuman inertia, unleashing a shockwave of air and heat that upended cars and sent bystanders flying. It let out a grunt before falling still.
The group moved away and glanced around.
“No way it’s that easy,” said Soul.
As if he’d jinxed their luck, the behemoth struck the ground with a clenched fist. It pushed itself to its feet and roared.
“Spoke too soon,” said Xiaolang. He drew a paper charm and unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts, which dinged harmlessly off the behemoth. It paid them no notice, and took a bite out of the corner of a nearby building. It’s mouth lit up with small purple flashes, and Maka gripped her chest.
“Maka, what’s the matter?” exclaimed Soul.
“It’s devouring the souls of the people!” cried Maka.
“Coyote!” bellowed Astrid, who raced toward the creature. Xiaolang drew another paper charm and summoned a gale to Astrid’s feet. She soared toward the behemoth and cleaved across its shoulder blades. The beast roared with dismay and swatted at her. She landed on the other side and ran away. Maka got the same idea and charged forward. She used Soul’s scythe form to pole vault into the air. She somersaulted, bringing Soul’s scythe blade through the creature’s calf.
Atop the toer, Nathan marvelled at their teammates, while Sakura shuddered at the behemoth.
“That kind of coolness should be illegal,” said Nathan. He tapped Sakura. “Let’s find Moonface!”
They found an entrance hatch in the floor nearby, and passed through it into the viewing level.
Moonface stood in the midst of a cacophony of tubing and humming devices. The sweat pouring down his brow told them he was concentrating very hard. His malicious grin announced that he loved every second of it. Nathan wasted no time and charged forward. With a raucous yawp, he brought his lance down on Moonface. He struck something harder than diamond, and the recoil sent him head-over-heels.
“Tsk-tsk-tsk, I expected more from a larval Victor,” muttered Moonface. “But it’s good that Shaula’s magic holds against you. Nothing can stop me from harvesting the souls in this city!”
“Stop it!” screamed Sakura.
“Never!” Moonface gleefully chirped. He pressed his hands to the pedestal, into which his Arms Alchemy broach had been inserted. He focused all his mental energy into the device.
Suddenly, dozens of energetic bolts blew from cannons linked to the pedestal. They took shapes similar to that of the behemoth. Yet they were much smaller, ranging between half and twice the size of a grown man. They sprawled across the rooftops below. The screams and wails of civilians reached Sakura’s ears and she began to pant with terror and panic.
“My minions are reaping, and the Silver Key is charging,” muttered Moonface. “When these etheric capacitors are filled, Shaula will activate the key, and the new world shall begin!”
“No!” screamed Sakura. She ignored Nathan’s warnings, and unleashed the Flare Card. The air between her and the force field ignited, but the invisible shield did not budge.
The blast launched Nathan and Sakura faster than a bullet from a gun. Dazed, Nathan glanced at Sakura and saw she was unconscious. He grabbed her quickly, and held her above him, just in time to take the brunt of the impact. His back seared with tremendous pain, much like when he had his heart ripped out by his homunculus English teacher.
He finally came to a stop and lay back with a long growl.
“Ouch,” he groaned. His Kakugane-induced healing factor sealed his wounds quickly. He was relieved to find his special shirt hadn’t torn that much. Then he turned to Sakura, who still lay on top of him. “Sakura, wake up,” he urged.
The girl woke with a start and scrambled off him. She staggered around, unable to get her bearings. She blurted things in Japanese, which Nathan couldn’t understand. She fell against a wall, covered in disintegrated plasterboard and mortar, and breathed heavily.
“Sakura, calm down, you’re alright,” said Nathan.
“I can’t breathe!” she gasped.
“Slowly,” said Nathan, guiding her through an exercise to calm her. She came down from her anxiety attack, only to break down into tears. Nathan moaned, “Sakura, I need you to focus. We’ve still got a job to do.”
“No! I can’t do this!” she wailed. “I didn’t want this. I didn’t ask for this! I’m not a warrior. I do gymnastics at school. I’m bad at math and like music. I didn’t want the Clow Cards so that I could fight life-sucking monsters!”
Nathan grabbed her shoulders and held her tightly, but struggled to contain her thrashing. “Sakura, that doesn’t matter. You’re here, so you have to do it.”
“No! I want to go home! Let me go home!” screamed the girl.
Nathan rolled his eyes.
Don’t hate me for this, he silently begged any goddesses that might be watching. He then slapped Sakura over the head, and she fell silent.
“Look, I get it,” said Nathan slowly, looking right in her eyes. “Two years ago, I was just a regular kid with recurring nightmares about cricket balls. I didn’t ask to be brought back to life with powers. And I certainly didn’t want to be a soul-sucking zombie boy. But that happened to me, whether I like it or not.” He pointed to what assumed was south. “About an hour’s drive that way is my home town,” he went on. “I have to use my powers to protect my friends there. My friends are probably watching this now, and counting on me to win. So I’m damn well gonna. And it’ll be hard, but if I have to, I’ll do it without you. You wanna run home, I’ll get your boyfriend to come and get you, and he’ll take you outta here.” Then he picked up the Star Wand that had clattered nearby, and thrust it in her hands.
Sakura looked between the wand and him, flummoxed and overwhelmed.
“If you want to do what’s right,” Nathan went on, “You’ll get your arse out there and kill these things. And you’ll goddamn win.”
Sakura panted with dismay, “I didn’t want the Clow Cards to kill things. I can’t believe I killed those homunculi. They’re people.”
“Were people,” said Nathan. He stood up and sighed solemnly. “You can protect the people still alive. And that’s all you can do.”
He neared to the front of the empty shop into which they’d fallen. A sheet of corrugated steel obscured a view of the outside, but they could hear growls of monsters and wails of victims. He looked over his shoulder at the trembling girl huddled in the corner.
“Run if you want,” he said. “I won’t blame you, but you’ll blame yourself, trust me.”
“How do you do it?” exclaimed the girl. “How do you fight without being scared?”
Nathan scoffed with amazement and held out his gloved hand to the girl.
“Feel my hand,” he ordered.
She grabbed it, and felt his trembling within the magical gauntlet.
“I’m scared shitless,” he said. “I'd just rather be scared than guilty. Some things we mustn’t ever do, even if it means death; and some things we have to do, even if it kills us.” He pointed at her fixedly. “Fight or flight. You tell me which is which.”
Then he sliced through the steel sheet and burst into the street. The sounds of the monsters’ growls gave way to their screeches. With every grunt and yell from Nathan, the monsters’ howled more and with greater agony. Their wails grew fainter as did Nathan’s yawps, until all Sakura could hear was distant crashing.
She sat there, alone and immobile in the wrecked shop. She gripped the Star Wand, but could not find the energy to stand and move. Every sound she heard from outside drained her more. She clenched her eyes closed and prayed that the battlefield would just go away.
It did.
Sakura opened her eyes and found herself in a familiar field of stars. She stood up and looked around. She didn’t see her mother, fuelling a cold floe of disappointment. She looked up and found herself gazing into the face of a man she’d seen in Eriol’s mind.
“You’re Clow,” she gasped.
The bespectacled man of Chinese descent, with long hair and a flowing blue robe, nodded kindly. He held out his hand, and Sakura shook it absentmindedly.
“Thank you for looking after my little kids,” said Clow’s voice, though the man’s lips did not move. “What do you think of them? My Kerberus and Yue.”
Sakura stammered a moment, before blurting, “I love them! Of course, I do! They’re such wonderful people! And the Cards too!”
“You sacrificed much for them,” said Clow. “No one could be more grateful than I.”
Sakura clenched her hands around the Star Wand. She trembled with indecision and fear.
“Do you rue the day you found them?” asked Clow.
“No,” replied Sakura emphatically. “But I didn’t do it so that I could kill monsters. I’d rather just use it to help people in difficult situations.”
“Sounds to me like this battle is right up your alley, then,” said Clow.
“I’m not strong enough!” cried Sakura. “I couldn’t break that barrier, so I can’t stop Moonface from controlling those monsters. If I were as strong as you, I’d be able to do it. But I’m not you, Clow!”
Clow crouched to her level and stroked her dusty hair out of her face. He wiped away a tear and said, “Of course, you’re not me. I am Clow, and you are Sakura. You have a different power from mine.”
“It’s not enough,” retorted Sakura.
“It is more than enough, if you know what to look for,” said Clow. “Do you not remember what Feiwang Lee said?”
Amid her haze of rattled nerves, Sakura recalled standing before Xiaolang’s father. There was an altar, with Clow Reed’s nameplate sitting separate and solitary from the others.
“He stands alone on this wall because he stood alone in life,” Feiwang had said. “Do you stand alone, Lady Kinomoto?”
At that moment, Sakura thought about the people with whom she had entered this battle. Nathan, Astrid, Maka, and Soul were all such nice people, once she got to know them. And Xiaolang was the love of her life.
I’m not alone, she concluded, though it was blatantly obvious.
“Because of that, young one, you stand more powerful than I could ever have hoped to be,” proclaimed Clow. The man grinned. “You have one more weapon, don’t you? Your ultimate, unbeatable spell.”
A fog of indecision still billowed in her mind, yet a shining light had started to shoo it away. With a deep breath, Sakura opened her eyes and returned to the wrecked shop. She stood, her Star Wand in hand, and the Cards waiting at the ready.
“I’ll definitely be alright,” she said.
* * *
Maka darted around the behemoth, slashing Soul’s scythe blade against its knees and tendons. It did slow the beast, but only by a small amount. Any cut she, Xiaolang, or Astrid made sealed too quickly.
“Maka, let’s go all out,” said Soul.
Maka gauged her surroundings and retorted, “It’s too tight here. We’ll end up damaging most of the buildings.”
Astrid had been listening over the radio. She dodged a swipe from the behemoth and landed on a rooftop nearby to catch her breath.
“You sound like you got an idea,” she said. She turned to see a bunch of minions charging her and she quickly decapitated them. Whenever one of them died, she heard a ping from Centrepoint, signalling the re-spawning of her slain enemy.
They’re like Moonface, she thought.
“Soul thinks he and I should resonate and use a Witch Hunter attack,” said Maka into the radio.
“I’ve heard of that technique,” panted Xiaolang as he magically upended a car on a prone minion’s head. “Would be enough to put the behemoth out of commission long enough to do something about Moonface.”
“Trouble is, there’ll be a bit of collateral damage, and Soul and I need time to charge,” said Maka.
From her vantage point, Astrid looked out over the city skyline. About three streets south, she saw an open area.
“Druitt Street, two streets south,” she said. “Go there, and charge up. Coyote and I’ll lure it there.”
“Copy that,” replied Maka. She then raced down the road away from Centrepoint. The behemoth saw her and moved to chase her, only to have Astrid pluck out one of its eyes. Xiaolang slashed through its cheek with his sword. The beast’s attention locked right on them.
Maka pole vaulted over a stack of ruined cars, dodged panicked bystanders, and sliced through minions. She caught sight of the Druitt Street sign and saw a three-lane wide road between two antiquated-looking buildings. She smirked with excitement as she raced to the centre of the street and faced north.
“I’m in position,” she announced into the radio.
“Hold it, right there!” snarled an Australian man. Maka swivelled and saw a jittery police officer, his gun aiming right at her head. “Drop the weapon and put your hands on your head.”
“Get as many people as you can away from here,” retorted Maka.
“Drop the weapon!” screamed the terrified man. A minion suddenly pounced on him, and he shrieked as the gold-scaled monster bared its fangs. Maka hooked the scythe blade into the creature’s sternum and hefted it off the man. She brought it clear over her head and smashed it into the asphalt. The monster disintegrated before the befuddled man’s eyes.
“I’m not your enemy,” yelled Maka. “If you’re a man, you’ll do something useful, like evacuate everyone. Get them as far away as you can!” The confused man looked back up at her, and then glanced at the evaporating minion. The message must have gotten through. He nodded resolutely and scrambled away, barking orders into his radio.
Maka sighed, and focused on her resonance with Soul. Another roar interrupted her, and she saw a dozen minions coming at her. She swung the scythe around to destroy most of them, and the ones she hadn’t seen, Nathan swooped out of the air to promptly eliminate.
“What’s the story with the tower?” asked Maka.
“Shaula put a force field around Moonface,” said Nathan. “It looks like he’s controlling all these things.”
“Shaula’s not there?” asked Maka. Nathan shook his head as he caught his breath. “I can’t sense her either. It’s as if her signature’s coming from every single direction.”
“Wanna resonate again?” asked Nathan.
“We’re supposed to focusin’ on chargin’ for a Witch Hunter attack,” Soul interjected.
“Witch Hunter?” asked Nathan.
“It’s gonna be cool,” said Soul, his grin reflecting in the sheen of his scythe blade.
“Where’s Sakura?” asked Maka.
Nathan shook his head and sighed. Maka scoffed with dismay and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
“I knew she shouldn’t have come along,” she moaned.
At that point, Astrid and Xiaolang appeared around a corner, two streets to the north. In hot pursuit was the behemoth, and it was angry. It cleaved through buildings and crushed the asphalt road with its footfalls. Astrid and Xiaolang leapt over the upturned cars and debris, and reached the others before the behemoth fully emerged around the corner.
“Ready with the Witch Hunter?” asked Astrid. Maka nodded, her eyes focused on the advancing monster.
Xiaolang noticed his girlfriend’s absence, and inquired. Nathan was about to tell him to go take her home. Suddenly, a soft ping echoed through the streets, and one of the behemoth’s arms exploded. It howled in pain, and with its good arm it lunged for the thing that had attacked it. That winged pink blur shot southward. It flew over their heads and landed on an upturned car behind them.
“Sakura!” exclaimed Xiaolang. “Are you alright?”
“Definitely!” replied Sakura. She glanced at Nathan with a grateful nod, and then looked expectantly at Maka. The blonde smiled, and then turned to the behemoth. The monster broke into a run. When it was two buildings away, Sakura unleashed Gale on its legs, tripping it. It hit the ground hard and slid the rest of the way, uprooting the road like paper mache.
Maka stepped forward, her mind honed to the deadliest edge. Soul’s reflection looked outward from the scythe blade and winked at the rest of the group.
“You’re about to see a real Soul Resonance,” he said.
Then he and Maka let out a unified roar. His blade turned silvery blue, and grew to over ten times its normal size. The light mesmerised every onlooker, who gasped as Maka brought the gargantuan blade down, right through the behemoth’s head. The monster’s body curled upward, spurred by its lingering momentum, until its neck snapped and its body completely detached from its immobilised head. It landed with a crash behind the group, disintegrating in an unceremonious puff of blue smoke.
Soul assumed his human form and stretched, while Maka stood tall. Nathan, Astrid, Xiaolang, and Sakura marched forward and stood in formation.
Moonface was frustrated, and his minions expressed that aggravation with a ruckus of howls and shrieks. They stomped and champed at the six heroes, who just stared back at them, their weapons cocked and ready for battle.