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A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Heh.. Ha...Hahaha!"

Yzeira's beam began to break through Jenso's final defenses.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Yards turned to feet; Feet shrank to inches, Jenso's beam was being pushed back, until torrents of blue energy were surrounding him and his allies from all sides, his energy being deflected away by the superior power before him.

"YOU CANNOT OVERCOME CHAOS! IT IS A NECESSITY FOR ALL REALITY! AN IDIOT, TO THE VERY END!"

_{He's... ri..ght...}

Jenso felt one last hand, balled into a fist, strike him right in the gut. It made him flinch, but there was nothing there. The voice resounded through his entire body like a fleeting echo. Reality was bending. Red splotches of energy were starting to bleed past his beam, directly into his hands, but he wouldn't fall here.

"You cannot defeat chaos."

"It is necessary for all life."

"But you can push for peace."

"You can push for balance."

The voice flickered in and out of reality, a familiar presence placed its hand against his chest and straightened Jenso's posture.

"You cannot defeat chaos, Jenso."

Suddenly it became clear to him. Yzeira was tainted by the very emotions that he had repressed this entire time. His energy was more powerful than Jenso's now because he'd unleashed the wild, unkempt maelstrom of feelings in his soul. Yzeira knew more pain, more torture, more love, and more loss than Jenso could ever know. It was all true. But the way he handled it all up until this point, it all had one crucial weakness.

"You cannot defeat it like this. You cannot defeat it merely by shouting. You must understand fully, and embrace it."

Jenso could not overpower Yzeira's energy. But he wouldn't have to.

"I was wrong."

He wouldn't have to.

"You can attain peace, your way."

He wouldn't have to!

"You know what you must do. End it! Jenso!"

"A loss is only a loss if you let it consume you, kid!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Jenso's energy rushed through the chaotic swirling mess like a knife through butter, growing closer and closer until it ground to a halt merely a few feet from Yzeira, stopped only by a sudden burst of power that he'd been saving for just this moment. His smile returned while he slid one foot back and pulled away from the beam, suppressing it with a barrier of energy.

"It just might be."

With a thrust of his arms, a sudden rush of hyper-focused energy tore down the center of Jenso's attack, pushing away his energy as it quickly cleared the distance between the two of them. It looked as if there was no chance of stopping it. For a moment, hope was not enough to keep the heroes safe.

A large hand clasped around Jenso's other shoulder and imbued him with a sudden surge of power. Zios stepped up once again, and empowered Jenso's energy so that it was just barely able to stop the oncoming surge of power. But his Meta energy wouldn't hold for long. Zios felt his soul being torn apart as the seconds slipped away.

"You must defend it all, you mustn't fall!" He roared.

All of Jenso's friends stood at his back while Yzeira's beam continued to grow and grow, quickly becoming too powerful to overcome through raw might or precise control, too strong to trick or avoid. It looked like this was the end.

"Do you see it now!? Staring helplessly into the abyss that will force the very fabric of this pathetic little world into tatters, a torrent of malice and pain that will allow the void to flood inwards?! Tell me, Jenso, tell me in your simple way!" Yzeira's beam pulsed again and again every few seconds, matching a ferocious rhythm that fueled his passionate anger. Tears welled down Yzeira's bare face, and the tattoo below his eye hummed with inner might. "Tell me what you SEE!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

It was working. Yzeira's beam did not falter, but the distance between the center of the energy and where he stood was shrinking gradually. His smile faded, shrinking to a scowl.

"What do you know of Rage? What pain could you have born through such trivial trials in such a short lifespan? They are infinitesimal, insignificant, immutable scrapes!" Yzeira's beam grew wider, and more chaotic, bringing Jenso's advance to a halt with a far less dignified form that resembled smoke more than raw light.

Jenso felt something pushing at his back.

"Do not fear it Jenso. He is desperate. Use that. Push harder, now!" Bruce shouted over the noise that engulfed them.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Yzeira cringed, but his smile didn't fade. His beam halted Jenso's advance, evening out once again in an even more powerful, more focused display. Now the effects it had on reality were beginning to shine through even more viciously. Physical cracks of light began to form. Small, almost invisible to the eye, but dangerous enough to destroy anything that got too close to any of them.

"Haha, we're doing it, Jenso. Together. You'll be accountable for the end, just as much as I am."

Jeff held a firm grip on Jenso's shoulder and pulled himself closer to his friend's ear.

"Distort it, Jenso! If you match his power, it were merely expedite the process! You gotta make his energy flee!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios struggled against the power that suppressed his energy, but couldn't muster anything to aid Jenso. Instead he gripped his foot tightly and shouted as loudly as he could over the beam.

"Don't panic Jenso! Remember your training! Focus your power!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Seconds passed. The struggled remained even. Space warped all around them, bending the very ground that either side stood on. The air itself began to contort, looking as if it could rip apart at any second. Streams of purple energy crackled out like lightning from where the beams met, adding further destruction to their surroundings. But that only lasted for so long. Yzeira's eyes kicked into effect. Suddenly, his beam shrank down until it was slightly smaller than Jenso's, pushing his energy aside and slowly closing the distance between them.

"Even now you will fall prey to your utter lack of control, Jenso!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 217 ~

_{Chaos Armageddon}

The two beam-like attacks clashed at the center of the tower's rooftop, crating a schism between the two forces of power that not only rend the tower in two, but threatened to shatter the very fabric of reality. Yzeira stood his ground, channeling more and more power into his attack while beginning to chuckle absentmindedly to himself. There was no grace to his energy like before. No precision. It was fueled by an internal conflict that he didn't quite understand himself. This was the power of chaos.

The beams seemed even at first, projecting enough sound both ways to nearly deafen their casters. A battle that the universe's very existence hinged on was going to be decided right here, right now. But in the process of fighting against the man who sought to destroy their work, Jenso was inadvertently contributing to a power source that could rend the fabric of space time much faster than Yzeira's magic ever could.

From behind, Jenso felt a hand on his shoulder. Then one on his foot. Another on his neck. Afourth on his back, and the encompassing presence of Zios all around him.

"You're matching him Jenso.." Zios' voice echoed.

"It's enough to keep him from destroying us, but..." Bruce moaned.

"That energy! It's starting to tear a hole in space time!" Jeff warned.

"If you keep this up for too long..." Alvios worried.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

---

~ End Of Chapter 216 ~

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Yzeira's mask tore away completely - piece by piece - to reveal a vicious smile. "I see it, the determination in your eyes. I see it now, different than before. But you possess nothing that I have not already conquered." He began to laugh as the energy around his fingertips crackled and burned brightly, darkening more and more until it was condensed into a single sphere of chaotic energy. "Those... Feelings, those... Emotions! Alexis knew it from the very start. They are the downfall of all who wish to attain power! They are a limiter, nothing more than a hurdle. But you embrace them so foolishly!" His eyes went wide and pulsed with streams of crimson power.

"OH HOW I HATE THAT LOOK OF YOURS!"

The cascading energy at Yzeira's beck and call vibrated and pulsed across the entire battlefield, cracking the ground that they stood upon and forcing it apart. Jenso's allies flinched, but kept steady despite their prone positions.

"I W I L L E R A S E I T!"

There was a flash, and the energy was unleashed in an overwhelming torrent of blood red catastrophe.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"I've cut off your friend's restorative energies," Yzeira howled, his voice growing more irate by the second. "This is your last chance." His eyes narrowed to a pair of eager slits. "No," He muttered, "This will be my last chance." Energy began to whirl around Yzeira's hands in a typhoon of madness and desperation, so brightly that it nearly blinded Jenso's allies. "My last chance to reclaim solitude."