The Grand Battle [Game Over!]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Konka Rar laughed.

"How foolish. Do you understand what you are trying to do? I am a mental projection. I have no true physical form - even if you were to somehow destroy me, Eximo would simply conjure me up again." The lich's artificial eye gleamed. "You, on the other hand, are quite physical. If you are destroyed, then that is final."

Aeon paused for a moment, taking in Rar's words. Suddenly, he smiled.

"So why haven't you attacked me? You've left the dirty work to Eximo, I noticed. And I somehow doubt it's because you're reluctant to kill." He swung his sword at the lich, but Eximo moved forward suddenly, grabbing the blade in two of its hands. Aeon simply let go of the weapon, and it disappeared. He leapt away as Eximo swung a knife, and turned back to Konka Rar as the machine turned its attention to cutting the string still caught between its wheels.

"Even now, you're not defending yourself from me- Eximo is. You're powerless. You only stopped Aegis yourself because he was a mental projection too. That's how it works, isn't it?"

Konka Rar's face, despite its featurelessness, seemed to grow angrier.

"Perhaps I lack the power of the genuine article. But my power over Eximo is very real. Simply put, it is afraid of existence without me. And so, even though it knows I am not truly its master, it will not let me come to harm, and it will not disobey me." His skeletal grin seemed to grow more intense. "Eximo! Destroy him, now!"

The string on its wheels snapped. Eximo was able to move normally once more. It advanced towards Aeon, knives in hand. It still seemed to be holding back, but less so.

It occured to Aeon that the machine hadn't said a word in some time. Was it simply reducing itself to a servant of this manifestation, too afraid to resist? He couldn't allow that. Eximo had proven, over the course of this battle, that it deserved a better existence than as a mere tool for a cruel overlord.

And that gave him an idea.

"Something happened to you in this battle, didn't it Eximo? Something happened that made you realize you could be more than just a blindly loyal machine." A wide smile crossed Aeon's face.

"Why don't we go and find out what it was?"

The silvery metal around them swirled, and the void changed. Aeon, Eximo, and Konka Rar found themselves outside a familiar abandoned house in the woods. Eight figures appeared suddenly. Eight very familiar figures. One of them spoke.

"So, this is it! We are just waiting for who to go first! Hehheeh! Hehehaahahaaa!!!"

Konka Rar turned to look at the assembled group, then back to the real Aeon.

"This will achieve nothing, you fool. I command Eximo now. I will not allow it to cooperate with your little guided tour of its past."

Indeed, Eximo was still advancing on Aeon. But he was ready. The imaginary 'players' moved just as they had before, with 'Eximo' making a hole in the wall to begin cleansing the house.

Aeon ran for the hole, the real Eximo wordlessly following. Konka Rar simply stayed where he was, and faded as they moved some distance away, which Aeon noticed.

He disappeared because Eximo is being obedient, Aeon realized. It's only when he disobeys that his loyalty manifests itself - it's fighting back.

I can't get rid of him - Eximo has to do that. But if he shows his ugly face again, it means I'm making progress. I need to remember that.