[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

[tex]

~ Chapter 125 ~

_{Collapse Imminent}

[Necrophage]

As the bridge gave way Jenso found himself plunge only to suddenly crash into a solid barrier. Oz stood resolute, a glowing hand outstretched and a thin circle of translucent violet energy spread beneath them. They were effectively separated from the golems now. "Don't do anything reckless on MY disc now. It might as well be glass. Anything more would be a chore to keep active. I'm sore enough as it is." The disc of energy started gliding casually and gently forward. Waves on the ocean lapped far below them. It was a little disorienting being this high. "You and I are lucky the whole cog system didn't simply collapse on us. My heart is still pounding after that. We won't be outrunning gravity, I'm afraid, so you're fortunate I'm here." Oz conversed. "I must admit. I prefer solid ground."

[Jensoman]

Jenso turned at Oz and smirked. "I have my own ways to avoid falling down, but your help is still appreciated. Our approach will have far less of a chance to be noticed by the golems this way." Jenso said to his companion, looking at the disc of energy beneath him. "This technique is pretty great, though... very well focused. I don't have any focused techniques to remain flying, besides my other forms." Jenso said. He was still in Overheat form, but it seemed that he had no difficulity at all to maintain it. It seemed natural to him. He stood completely still to avoid giving Oz a hard time to maintain the disc. "Let's kick that Geode guy's ass. We have one advantage; He's arrogant. That means that he'll probably be at the most obvious place, at the very center of the Citadel. If not, we can just trash the place. It has to be running on some type of main power source. If we destroy that, we're bound to attract Geode's attention." Jenso began to focus more energy into healing Pij as he stood there.

[Necrophage]

Oz mulled over the idea. "If we do indeed destroy the citadel power source you'd better have some plan of how to get out of here. I don't like the idea of going down with the ship. It's not that I won't be able to live through the event. It's that I have no idea where we are. If what I'm looking at below us is correct we might not even be near land so our heroic victory would be short lived." The disc kept hovering along the broken corridor until they arrived at an intact part of the bridge. Oz put one foot down on it and to test it for stability. Satisfied he stepped down and starting moving deeper.
It was no longer necessary for Oz to focus on the disc. Given a free moment he peered at Jenso, cocking his head from one side to the other like he were about to take measurements. Finally he poked Jenso's white-hot shoulder. "How does that not burn? Your radiance is blinding but you aren't hot. Hmm..." Oz poked him again for good measure.

[Jensoman]

Jenso kept focusing his energy into healing Pij, focusing solely on this task while Oz moved them. As Oz stepped onto the bridge, so did he. "Yeah, we're pretty far out in the ocean. Well, I have a friend that can come pick us up when we're done. I'm not sure if he'd be here in time, though. Maybe I should call him before we face Geode or destroy the power source, so he can pick us up in case the whole thing comes crashing down." Jenso stated. "He's not really the waiting type of guy though, and it might be dangerous for him to be around here with all these golems around." He stated, and turned to Oz as he poked him.

"Awesome teamwork back there, by the way. You're really strong!" He complimented his ally. "Oh and uh...the flames are combined with my Ki and Arcane in this form, so they don't end up hurting me. The ki within them gives me greater control, allowing me to stop them from hurting my friends. I heat them up to an extremely high degree during combat." He explained.

[Necrophage]

"At the least you have some idea of how to leave." It seemed like a solid escape plan. So long as the citadel defenses were down they would be able to escape with Jenso's friend. That was assuming they'd be able to take care of Geode at the same as well. Their timetable might get a bit tight.

Jenso used a mix of arcane and ki. Not so distant from his own power. "I'd tell you more about myself and how I work but I have the feeling we're being observed. This is the enemy's base after all. Now that I think about it I probably shouldn't have asked you. Huh... What's done is done I suppose." Oz started forward down the passage. "We can talk about allies, old friends, techniques or even training when we're done with all this. Let's find that core!" He muttered a little to himself as they went. "I'm going to nap on a sunny hillside when all this is over.. just like old times."

[Jensoman]

Jenso turned to Oz as they moved. "Well, it's possible that Geode can see us through the other golems and not from anywhere else. I've fought enemies like that not too long ago, who adapted to my moves by seeing what I could do through a hivemind. So in this case, it may be the same. Unless he has camera's or whatnot hanging around the citadel, or some other overseeing ability." Jenso said. "We shouldn't show him our strongest abilities yet. He's already seen my Overheat form, some of it's abilities, and Pij, and some of your own abilities, so we should probably try to avoid him from seeing anything new until we reach him." He spoke, and turned to Oz with a smile. "I hope I'll be able to nap like that too one day...assuming I survive this, and my final confrontation with the Order of Chaos..."

[Necrophage]

"Just because he's seen it a little doesn't give him the ability to understand it. My favorite thing in combat is to catch enemies unaware with skills that they think they understood. Sometimes the weakest trick can be used to down the greatest foe if you can find out how to use it creatively and correctly." Oz nodded to emphasize his own statement. "You just need to understand your foe a little first. I'm all guesswork here."

[tex]

Jenso and Oz continued down the path towards what appeared to be the center of the citadel. With all the cogs and pillars floating erratically around the bridges, it was hard to discern where exactly they had to go. But if common sense applied, moving away from where Jenso entered from would eventually bring them to Geode.

The two eventually reached a much larger, circular bridge that seemed to completely surround a floating castle within the massive citadel. It was separated from the massive path but at least a kilometre of open space, which looked down upon the roaring ocean beneath them. The castle itself was a large orb. It contrasted the white brick walkways completely with its golden sheen. It seemed to rotated in place as well, with a single, divided stream of light that spun into a triple helix towards the top of the citadel, where a circular pillar was attached to an over-arching web of steel that connected to the path they stood upon as several points. The helix and the orb spun slowly, as did the entire citadel with it. Was the spinning exactly what kept the citadel afloat? It didn't matter, much. That was the center, for sure.

---

Within his chamber, Geode's eyes spun at the same pace as the citadel. He turned his head towards the wall behind him.

"Oh foo," He complained, "they're a little early."

---

With no direct path to the orb, and no actual entrances visible on the blasted thing, Jenso and Oz were stuck. How were they to get in?

[Jensoman]

Jenso looked at the giant golden Orb castle before him. It seemed obvious that Geode was in there. "Wow, I have to admit, that looks impressive.." He muttered to Oz. "It doesn't seem like there's any way to enter, so I guess we'll have to make one. Trying to destroy it will probably take too much time and energy." He stated. He took note of the distance between them and the castle. "Either way, we'll have to clear this distance first..." He muttered, turning to Oz. "If we can get close to it, we can try creating an opening. Can you do that disc thing again?" He asked. He continued healing Pij in the meantime.

[Necrophage]

Oz peered down the huge gap separating them from the core castle. "I hate to be predictable but it looks like we don't have any other choice here. I have a hunch this core can also be used to attack with. I hope I'm wrong." The wind picked up just a little harder. "Because that's one hell of a distance to try and make up for an error in judgement."
Oz extended his hand just like last time to will the disc into being. This time however he knelt right around the middle of it. He would begin as soon as Jenso joined him. "If my hunch is correct I will do everything I can to protect us but I won't be able to attack back in this position."

[Jensoman]

Jenso nodded at Oz, stopping his increased focus on healing Pij faster than usual. He stepped onto the disc. He got in a combat stance and coated his fists in Arki. He positioned himself in front of Oz. "Concentrate on moving the disc, I'll do what I can to provide covering fire." Jenso reassured his friend. He kept all of his focus on the golden orb before them, paying close attention to what it would do.

[tex]

Without a moment's notice, the orb in the center of the massive expanse spun its outer shell around. A reddish insignia, shaped into a perfect circle, began to glow on its exterior. From within, something emerged. First two arms, clutching to the sides of the would-be portal, and then a head. It was Geode, except now he was much bigger. That, and his eyes were black, without the swirling vortexes that usually sat in his sockets. He didn't speak, hanging from his waist silently. He kept himself facing Jenso and Oz, and his hands began to layer themselves with dark energies.

[Necrophage]

The monstrous version of Geode crawling out of the sphere only confirmed Oz's suspicions."Ho boy! It's times like this I hate being right! You better hold on. I'm going to do my best to avoid whatever it's going to try but no promises." A small collumn of energy phased out of the disc next to Jenso. Enough of a surface to hang on to for the inevitable. There was no telling just what power this thing was going to use. Just to be on the safe side, Oz immediately started swerving the disc to the side and raising in elevation. "When we get close enough I want you to try and hit the sides of that portal. I doubt a direct hit on this thing will be as effective if we have no space to work with. It's exposed the sphere to us, let's see what happens!"

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at Geode as he appeared, and took note of the red insignia that made a perfect circle on the outer shell. He noticed that there was no glow in Geode's eyes, either. "Yeah...and if that doesn't work, we could still try to smash an opening into the orb, since we don't know how durable it actually is." He muttered to his ally. He started out by launching two white flame balls into the portal circle. The flame balls seemed more focused now then they did before, due to Jenso being used to his Overheat form now.

[tex]

Geode's hand rose to combat the incoming attacks. But rather than swatting them away, or using an attack of his own, the dark energy began to spread forwards like a thick mist. The fireballs entered it, clearly visible through the darkness as if it were an open space rather than a dark cloud. It took seconds for the fireballs to lose their flaming form, turning into sparks of Ki before disappearing entirely. The mist stopped spreading and engulfed Geode's false body entirely, covering a large portion of the open space between the edge of the central area, and the golden sphere.

Geode stood inside his domain, humming a tune to himself as he looked at the golden sphere in his hand and tapped it with the opposite in quick succession. "Oh, we almost have enough energy now," he muttered to himself, "Enough energy for.."

"Global Extinction," The giant version of Geode Roared.

---

~ End Of Chapter 125 ~

[tex]

~ Chapter 126 ~

_{A Hopeless Effort, The Power Of Space}

[Necrophage]

"Global Extinction huh? That's just freakin' perfect!" The disc swerved back into a more straight trajectory for the orb. "I'm going to get us on top of that thing. Keep away from that thing's hands. I don't like the prospect of you fizzling away just like that fire." It almost seemed like Geode didn't even consider them a threat, appearing more concerned with using them as a power source than trying to get rid of them. "I don't think he's afraid of us. Any ideas?"

[Jensoman]

Jenso's eyes widened as Geode mentioned global extinction. The situation with the golems was already serious, but now it'd gotten even worse. Jenso turned to Oz. "Looks like he's using that dark energy to stop us from shooting anything through the red circle. We need to bypass that somehow. That massive body of his might be the source of the dark energy, so if we can upset it or distract it, we might be able to get an opening." Jenso stated, glaring at Geode's false body. "I think we should keep attacking both the orb and the body. That way, he might have a harder time to protect himself entirely with the dark energy." Jenso stated. He took aim at the sides. "I'll fire at the sphere, try to keep his body busy!" He said, taking aim in order to launch an Omega saw into the red circle at the side of the giant orb. He made sure to wait before firing however, ready to launch it right after Oz would make his move.

[Necrophage]

"We'll need to split up for this. Take him from two sides. That means I have to drop you on the sphere. Otherwise he'll just use one hand to block each of us." Oz maneuvered the disc around to the far side of the sphere as quickly as he could. G-force ripped at the two of them, threatening to tear them away. "Better get ready! I don't want to come around again." He shouted over the wind as the two of them bolted up the sphere. "We don't have much time left, you'll have to give it everything you've got!" They whipped up to the top and slowed down for just a moment. "Drop! Now!." Oz commanded.
Free of a Jenso to carry Oz forced his will upon the disc, shaping it as he glided in front of the colossal Geode. The disc shrank to a considerably smaller size, much more suitable to a single person. Some of that excess energy wrapped around his legs as he stood up, fixing him to the disc. Satisfied with his mobility he began his barrage of force pulse attacks, swapping his hands back and forth as he pelted the shadowy Geode with weaker attacks that he knew would have no effect. They were going to be nothing more than a nuisance and that was exactly what he needed them to be. There was no point using his full power against something that would just consume it so he needed to pace himself until a real chance was revealed.