The Grand Battle [Game Over!]

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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“Soooo… what's your name?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“No reason.”

There's a reason for everything. Aeon thought. He ran past a corridor, climbed some stairs, and stopped for a breather in a hall. The mysterious robed man ran right behind him.

“Who are you?”

Nopor Puss thought for a moment before answering. He had no reason to withhold this information. But then again, he had no reason to tell the truth, either.

“Fuller Rhysen, at your service. I, ah, seem to have stumbled into this castle while, uh, sorting out an issue involving a glacier and a fire dragon.”

Aeon shot “Fuller” a brief look of disbelief, and continued down the hall.

“Hey, aren't you going to tell me who you are, then?”

“All you need to know is that I need to get a safe distance from the owner of this castle and his vacuum cleaner, and buy enough time.”

“You mean the old coot? Jeez, you shoulda told me earlier you were running away from that guy.”

Ignoring Fuller's ramblings, Aeon climbed one more flight of stairs, and found himself in the middle of a library. While not matching the vastness of the Library of Lies, Aeon had already grown tired of fighting in a library. He removed a book from an arbitrary shelf, and flipped through the contents.

Or lack thereof. Searching through the bookshelves, Aeon saw that, although the books looked as though they contained plenty of useful information on the shelf, they lacked titles and every page was blank. It was easy to deduce the reason: Eximo never bothered to read any of them—its job was merely to wipe the dust off and stack them neatly on the shelf.

A sound came from the door, and Aeon instinctively dived behind a bookshelf. Fuller followed suit.

“Come out! These books are worth more than your lives!” Konka Rar bellowed, storming into the library.

***

Amethyst looked out an arched window, deep in thought. There was only grey haze outside—Eximo hardly bothered to pay attention to things outside of the castle, after all. But there was something peculiar about this grey haze, something that Amethyst had felt ever since her image was created.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the familiar, yet distorted, voice of a teenager. Amethyst turned around to meet the image of Nathan, already under the demon's full control.

I don't have time for this, Amethyst thought as she readied her armband.

***

“Psst.”

“What?”

“See that shelf over there? Pull the red book. The one with gold trimmings.”

“Why?”

“It'll open a way to escape! I've used it countless times to escape from this guy.”

Aeon took a moment to weigh his alternatives—it did not take long for him to deduce that he didn't have any. He leapt from cover and grabbed the red book from its shelf. Surely enough, the bookshelf shifted and revealed a stone staircase leading down. In any other circumstance Aeon would have thanked Fuller and ran down the escape route. This time he simply replaced the book and leapt out of the way.

But it was too late. As soon as the bookshelf opened, Lutherion saw him. Within moments, the bookshelf exploded into millions of splinters and shredded books, as Lutherion barged into the library on top of his skeletal steed.

“You!” Konka Rar yelled, as he aimed a laser towards him.

“Me!” Lutherion cackled, as he charged at Konka Rar.

***

“Well?”

Eximo did not reply. It was already significantly damaged by Emily's spells, and its supply of knives was finally beginning to dwindle.

“You can't say anything, can you? Of course—you're still a machine. Despite everything, you are still bound to your original purpose, and you must obey your programming.”

Image-Emily's face shifted from a scowl to a mild look of pity.

“The real Emily used her final moments to attempt to heal Lutherion, and possibly to cure and free him of his insanity. Despite her failure, it seems there is only one course of action now.”

Emily kneeled down and placed her hands on Eximo's armor. With a few inaudible incantations, energy poured into the machine.

“Unknown force affecting this unit's systems. Sensors indicate source of force is lifeform Emily. Requesting that lifeform Emily cease and explain current action.”

“Long story short? I'm giving you a soul, Eximo.”