[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

[Jensoman]

Jenso landed back on his feet as Sera released him and stared in shock at the phoenix before him. "Pij..?" He muttered. 'No, this isn't Pij...I can feel it. This familiar came from my soul..' He thought. Jenso smiled and looked at the ceiling for a moment. "Even when passing away, you've still found a way to protect me, Lark.." Jenso said in a happy tone, feeling very grateful. He finally realised what Lark had done to him. He could now summon a familiar like Gaians could.

Jenso glared at Sera. He still felt exhausted, but his will to continue fighting had just skyrocketed. He turned towards the flame phoenix. "Since you don't have a name yet...I think I'll call you Pij to honour my friend. What do you think?" Jenso asked the phoenix. The flame phoenix flew up and down excitedly. "Good, then it's settled. Let's deal with this nutcase!" He shouted, referring to Sera. He rose both hands, and Pij flew up and landed on the palms of his hands.

"ONE WITH NATURE!"

A flash of orange light emerged from Jenso and Pij as they merged into one being. As they fused, giant flame wings appeared on Jenso's back. Razor sharp flame talons extended over his gauntlets, solidifying perfectly into place. His entire body was covered in flames now. Jenso was now flying slightly above ground, using his newly formed wings. Jenso stared at his hands and the new form. 'I feel...faster..' He thought. He glared at Sera, and shouted at him. "You're a crazy psychopath, and you'll never hurt anyone ever again. JEFF, PIJ,LET'S FINISH THIS!"

With that, Jenso flew at Sera with incredible speeds, changing into a fast-moving blur. He flew around Sera very quickly and moved behind him, slashing his left claw at Sera's still exposed left theigh. He didn't stop there however, using his insane newfound speed to his advantage to move towards Sera's front while passing by his right side, slashing his right claw specifically at Sera's chest, aiming for the dent in his armour.

[tex]

"A Phoenix?!" Sera cried, completely unable to react to Jenso's speed at first. The skin around his Thigh was torn open, and he felt forward onto one Knee, but as Jenso slashed at his chest, he blocked his attack with his right arm. A few scratch-marks remained, but the attacks didn't go through. Sera stomped onto the ground and propelled himself into the air, towards the ceiling. While in midair, he spun around and crossed his arms. "Not yet! I'm not going to let you abuse this ancient power for evil!"

"Crystal Cross!"

Several crystal pillar shot up from the ground at random angles, one after another, trying to pierce Jenso as he flew through the sky. 5.. 10.. fifteen! They kept coming without delay.

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared down at the spikes that rose up beneath him. He began to move around in erratic patterns, constantly strafing left and right at top speeds in order to evade the spikes. He seemed to have an easier time avoiding Sera's attacks now. 'This form is really fast, but it looks like it doesn't have much power in it's attacks..' Jenso thought, taking note of the fact that his slash didn't pierce Sera's strong crystal skin. He glared up at Sera and flew up towards him at top speeds. He feigned as if he was going to claw at Sera's chest, but suddenly turned to the right and moved beside him, aiming to slam his left wing into Sera's face in order to momentarily blind him or straight up burn his face. 'He'll be sure to target me now...hopefully it'll give Jeff an opening.'

[SuperFlash]

Jeff remained there in awe, these gaians really were something. To posses this kind of power it made Jeff almost feel like he couldn't keep up anymore, but he knew even still that Jenso would be counting on him for aid in this battle. While this new form of his seemed to posses major levels of potential, Jeff knew his lack of knowledge on how the form works would potentially be a problem.
"Dangit Jenso!" Jeff yelled as he forced himself up and his eyes flashed blue once more. "Why you have to be so cool and make my hopes return like this!"

He then began to overcharge his wind cannons flowing huge amounts of wind quickly into them in order to be ready to back up Jenso.

[tex]

Sera was helpless in the air against Jenso's speed. He lashed out with one arm, and missed. The flames of Jenso's wing seared the entirety of his frontal area, melting away small sections of his armour and crystal coating. Sera clenched his arms and fell to the ground, landing on one of his crystal pillars. It sunk slightly, and he aimed his hands at Jenso from below. His breaths were heavy now.

"That form won't hurt me!" He shouted hysterically, "Someone like you will never hurt me!!"
Cry-ca-tal Crush!" Sera closed his hands, and the roof above all of them began to change colour until it was completely shined over with crystal. "CATACLYSM!"

The roof sprouted spikes everywhere. It was completely covered! Sera smiled and grit his teeth. He'd just expended a massive amount of energy for such a wide ranged attack, but the fatigue didn't show. The One With Nature transformation was taxing, but while it was active, the user would not feel or show fatigue.

[Jensoman]

Jenso gazed up at the ceiling and flew down to get a good distance between himself and the spikes. He made sure not to fly anywhere near Sera however, to avoid moving in between Sera and the spikes. He soared below Sera and slammed his left wing into the pillar that Sera stood upon with a precise strike, aiming to damage it and cause Sera to fall. He took note of Jeff's actions as well. 'Gotta keep him busy so Jeff can charge his attack...' He thought. After his attempt to damage the pillar, he began to move further away from Sera. He kept a close eye on the spikes on the ceiling, prepared to dodge while trying to stay away from his foe.

[tex]

Sera almost lost his balance, but jumped up and aimed at Jenso with both of his hands. "Die!" Sera shouted. Spikes began to fall from above, twice as fast as from below, making it even more difficult for Jenso to dodge. They came from every direction once again, aimed to skewer Jenso in a storm of crystal.

[Jensoman]

Jenso's eyes widened as Sera jumped. He expected the attack to be devastating, but not that it would be this fast. He soared further to the side of the room to avoid some of the incoming spikes, and held his wings in front of himself, in order to form a barrier of sorts to shield his body against the spikes that would reach him. The flame wings seemed to get thicker and more solidified as the spikes came at him.

[SuperFlash]

Jeff having no focus being placed on him for these few moments was able to force charge both wind cannons with ease he then took time to wait out for a proper opening while charging excess power and building up two wind scythe tornados in each hand before approaching. He then dodge past the spikes with ease due to them primarily being aimed at Jenso and did his best to sneak up on Sera. He then fired one tornado at Sera from the front and then boosted behind him to fire another.

[tex]

Sera's spikes were able to penetrate Jenso's wings, but not before shrinking to the size of knives, digging into his chest and legs one after another. Sera's smile grew larger and he clenched his fist even tighter, until blood began to leak from between his fingers. His focus was so intense that he didn't notice Jeff until his tornado struck him in midair. Sera was flung back, but couldn't escape, as the second struck him and flung him towards the floor. The spikes above then all fell at once, without being controlled however, the turned and twisted in the air. The wind blast from Jeff pinned Sera against the ground, with his body facing upwards. He tried to move his arms, but he couldn't. And then, the unthinkable happened. In a flash of light, Sera's One with Nature transformation ended, and his body reverted back to how it had been before. "W-What!?" He screeched, surprised by the event. "It had.. A time limit..." Sera's cheek was forced to the ground, and his head was facing Jenso. Sera's body was in utter pain, but he still used his force abilities to fight against Jeff's wind. Without his magic, there was no way he could escape, but with his force abilities, Jeff's technique stood no chance in holding him down.

[SuperFlash]

Jeff seeing Sera revert back to normal became very surprised but not enough to jump out at the form cause part of him and his gut told him that this ability of his wouldn't last. It didn't mater though as Sera still was starting to break out of his tornado and would be back fighting if Jeff didn't act now. It was truly now or never for Jeff to activate his trump card.
Boosting down at full speed Jeff charged Sera from above and pulled out the templar bomb from his gauntlet before using every ounce of force he could muster to rapidly spin several times which followed by chucking the bomb into the tornado that was trying to hold Sera down. To make sure that Sera's force wouldn't deflect it back either he then blasted his left wind cannon behind the bomb to make sure that and force that might attempt to stop it would be made to be useless.

"THIS IS IT SERA! TEMPLAR CANNONBALL!"

[tex]

Sera lifted his left hand and launched a force wave at the Templar bomb in an attempt to knock it back, but as the second wind tunnel struck him, and the Templar bomb exploded, Sera's body was laid completely flat against the ground.

[SuperFlash]

"Jenso now, finish him!" Jeff said as he struggled to keep his wind sage form going at this point. It was clear that using so many big attacks was paying its price.

[Jensoman]

Jenso flew back in the air, cringing in pain as the spikes struck him. He looked at his wings with the holes within, and it seemed like he was about to fall. 'D..darn it..!' He thought. But then, the holes in his wings regenerated instantly, allowing him to remain flying. The injuries on his body remained, however.

Jenso took note of Jeff's efforts and smirked. He realised it was now or never. He flew high up into the air, and soared downwards at Sera with insane speeds along with the gravity. He aimed the tips of his wings downwards and united both wings, launching downwards as he spun around rapidly. He moved so fast that he looked like a fast-moving blur, aiming to ram his wings into Sera's chest. He seemed to look like a drill as he came down.

"PHOENIX DRILL!!!"

He roared, aiming to drill straight through Sera's chest and strike the chestplate underneath the crystal coating.

[tex]

Sera struggled and twitched, lifting his body off the ground for moments at a time before his strength failed and his arms were pinned time and time again. As Jenso appeared above him, his eyes focused on him. "No! Not like this, I won't be defeated by you!" Sera cried out. Suddenly, his hands both flew up and crossed together in front of his face. "Crystal Cross!"

Pillars jutted up from all around him, surrounding his entire body in a protective cocoon. Sera smiled as darkness overcame him, but a flash of spinning flames crashed through the crystals with ease. Sera widened his eyes, and attempted to roll out of the way, but his body lost all functions in that last moment. His arms dropped, and Jenso's attacks smashed against his breastplate. In an instant, it was destroyed, and his entire body was drilled through to the ground. All the crystals in the room immediately melted away, and Sera's eyes went pale. Jenso was now perched over him with his wings pulled back, still in his One With Nature Transformation. In that moment, he felt his hubris drilled deeper than Jenso's final attack. Sera smiled and closed his eyes.

"I was... Wrong... All al-a-a..."

With one final breath, Sera's head fell to one side, and his Ki left his body.

It was over.

---

~ End Of Chapter 81 ~

[tex]

~ Chapter 82 ~

_{Humility Before Death}

[Jensoman]

Jenso was flying above Sera's corpse, and landed beside him. "You were a great opponent." Jenso said respectfully. He was glad that he and Jeff won, but killing a person was never something he enjoyed. He took deep breaths as an orange flash of light occured, and Pij was no longer fused with him. The phoenix was flying beside him now. Jenso smiled at the creature and nodded. The bird flew towards Jenso's chest, and merged with the rest of his soul again.

Jenso turned at Jeff and smiled, taking deep breaths as he cleaned the sweat off his forehead. He had injuries all over his body, and he had trouble to remain standing, pacing back and forth for a moment. "We...we did it..!" He shouted happily, heading over to Jeff despite his injuries. He attempted to high-five his friend.

[SuperFlash]

"Jenso.. where did that power come fro-" Jeff began to ask before his wind sage powers shut off completely and Jeff plummeted to the ground and landed with the most possible grace that could be done in such a moment.... Face first...

[Jensoman]

Jenso looked down at Jeff and frowned. "I think Lark gave me this power before he passed away.." He replied. "We still don't know where Ross is, though...and we were unable to get his energy back.." He suddenly fell on one knee due to the pain he'd been feeling from his injuries and sheer exhaustion, as he finally reached his limit and the adrenaline from the battle vanished. "N...no...not now...!" He muttered. He was unsure if Jeff was even awake right now, and he was unable to move right now. If he were to collapse here, they may have been in serious trouble due to their injuries.

[tex]

Moments passed before the two heroes felt something bathing their body in refreshing energies. It wasn't enough to fully restore them, but their major damages were slowly healed. By the time they were able to move, the two who were responsible were standing on either side of them with their hands crossed. It was the white robed elves that hid earlier in the battle.