Shake and Oddity's CYOA

Beoulve Castle Crono rested a hand on the hilt of his katana and looked meaningfully at Vivi before turning back to Id and walking forward a little bit. Raziel caught the vibe and moved back and a little to the side to clear a path for the spell. Next to Vivi was Samus who readied herself for the inevitable and next to her was Orlandu who did the same. Crono’s eyes were cold, “You’ve lost your pride and your power, Id! You are nothing to us!” He withdrew his sword and held it out to the side as Vivi let forth a blazing inferno. Crono glanced at his sword as it absorbed the spell and then quickly turned his attention back to Id. In the brief moment his eyes had left the undead titan Id had already closed half the distance. Crono’s eyes widened as he wondered if his Fire Sword would be ready in time before Id made it to him. The Rainbow Katana finished its absorption and Crono had just started his swing when Id’s fist crashed into his jaw. With all the force of Id’s mad dash behind that single blow Crono stood no chance, he knew only darkness as he was sent flying. Crono’s Rainbow Katana hurtled out of his grip and landed right under Samus’ feet. Without Crono to hold the incredible energy inside, the sword erupted, releasing the hellish inferno in a fiery blaze of glory. Orlandu’s quick reflexes allowed him to attempt a leap out of the way, thus he did not suffer the full brunt of the blast. Vivi and Samus disappeared in a cloud of searing flames. Raziel charged Id with his mighty light empowered Soul Reaver. He used mighty strokes of his great blade, endeavoring to return Id to his eternal rest. But Id easily dodged that glistening blade, swipe after swipe missed him as he danced around the pillar of light. Raziel was sure of his victory when Id froze suddenly, the Reaver flew towards Id with a thirst for his blood. Faster than the eye could see Id raised his heavily armored arm and blocked it. With his other hand he gripped Raziel by the throat, and grinned malevolently at him. It was all a game for him... Id tightened his grip on Raziel’s throat as he hurled the poor warrior into the air. Raziel was still gasping for breath when he was impaled on the fence through his chest. The Soul Reaver dropped from his strengthless fingers and buried itself into the merciless dirt, the last tribute to a great warrior. “Armor won’t help the heart stay sharp! Shellbust Stab!” Orlandu’s eyes burned with a raging hatred. He would see this abomination destroyed for what it had done to his friends. His sword was pointed at Id and it glowed with a violet light. Id’s armor was also now glowing with an amethyst radiance. The fell warrior’s dead eyes met Orlandu’s burning ones and he charged at the mighty sword master. Thunder God Cid was unbelieving, Id had to be going through incredible pain right now, pain like no man could imagine. That was how the spell worked, but he wasn’t falling to the ground in agony, he was actually still coming. Even as the pain intensified Id didn’t seem to feel it. Id reached Orlandu just as the spell came to a staggering crescendo and burst the armor off of his body. This was the point where the pain supposedly reached its peak, but Id paid it as much mind as a gnat while burying his fist in Orlandu’s face. Orlandu didn’t go down so easily, he swung his mighty blade at the undead powerhouse. Id never felt the bite of that steel as he kicked Orlandu in the stomach, causing him to drop the sword and clutch his stomach in pain. Orlandu’s body was riddled with blows from Id’s powerful hands before the beast leapt into the air and performed a roundhouse kick to the Thunder God’s head, sending him reeling into unconsciousness. The unstoppable juggernaught had barely finished Cid off before he was enveloped in a hellish conflagration of fire. Vivi was prepared to take Id down by any means necessary. He sent another spell of fire hurtling into Id as the pale warrior charged at incredible speed towards him. Vivi prepared to put as much power as he could into one last fire spell. He let it forth with all of his fury behind it, praying that it would stop Id. As the inferno raged, he lost sight of Id totally. Then Id came out the other end of the fiery death still charging at full speed. Using his mighty boot he punted the tiny mage into the tower the group had just left. Vivi crashed into the wall and then plummeted to the ground with an audible thump. He did not rise. When Samus, having finally recovered, saw this her fury was great. She shot missile after missile into Id’s back. In the middle of the sea of fire created by Samus’ missiles, Id was feeling the pain. All the punishment he had taken was catching up with him. When next Samus could see him, he was on his hands and knees, still conscious, but just barely. I’m losing... Id thought to himself as blast after blast from Samus’ blaster plowed into his back. Something inside him stirred at this statement of defeat. Something that Kefka thought he had crushed when he killed and then resurrected the monster. Samus watched as Id’s aura briefly flashed red and then returned to blue. Id... the true Id... was waking up to retake control of his body, he refused to die. I never lose.... This time Id’s aura stayed crimson, the color of blood. Seeing Id’s ruby aura brought terror to Samus’ heart. The memories washed over her from that initial encounter with Id. The casual lethality about him was clearly evident as he rose from his knees He’s returned.... She retreated immediately and aimed a ceaseless barrage of missiles at Id. He dodged skillfully and began to rush her head on. Damn it! Only one missile left, I’ll save it for later when I can’t miss. So she began her retreating battle, desperately trying to bring Id to the ground with her energy blasts. He dodged her blasts effortlessly as he came relentlessly on, an unstoppable messenger of chaos. As Id neared Samus, she sprang into the air, thinking to jump over him and then shoot him in the back. But Id was much too wily for that, almost at the same instant she jumped, he jumped as well to intercept her. His fist shattered her visor and slammed into her face, hurtling her towards the ground where she lay, hovering. As she was recovering his fists crashed into her suit: the chest, the arms, the legs, everywhere. He pummeled her, taking all of his rage out upon her helpless body. When he was done with his surge of rage, he tore the remains of her helmet off and lifted her up by the neck. She saw her death in his malevolent eyes as he put his other hand on her left shoulder. Then her world exploded in pain as he pulled at her head with the force of a freight train. He’s going to rip my head from my body... she realized He won’t outlive me... Slowly, through the rippling waves of pain, she began to raise her blaster, aiming it right at Id’s black heart. She smirked as she pulled the trigger for her last missile. And then quickly knew the true meaning of despair as it malfunctioned. Her suit had just taken too much damage, the blaster arm was no longer communicating correctly anymore. As the pain began to overwhelm her, her thoughts turned to Snake. The irony struck her very powerfully And here I was worrying about him.... The pain reached a staggering crescendo as Id tore her head from her body in a bloody display of savage triumph. Dropping both the body and the head to the ground with cruel indifference, he laughed and reflected on his own fate. Kefka, you think you have me trapped.... but I don’t care, I’ll still kill you even if I die without your magic to animate me.... Raziel lay on the spikes, a fallen saint martyred in battle. However, Raziel still breathed, most men would be dead by now. Most human men at least... but Raziel was a quite a bit more than human, by sheer will he still lived. He knew he would die, but he couldn’t release himself from this mortal coil without knowing what was going to happen to his friends. However, his life was fading too fast, and he was losing himself to darkness. Then a cruel laugh resounded through his brain, he looked up and saw Id’s final triumph, with Samus dead before him. He could sense the sadness coming from her soul; and he could see it floating above her corpse despairing that it could do nothing more on this world except move on to the next. And then he knew what he must do, though he hated himself for it. With what little strength he had left he pulled down his scarf, opening up the void to consume Samus’ soul. The glowing ball of brilliance, visible only to Raziel, that was Samus’ soul turned towards him, sensing the void’s opening. She was still too far away to be pulled in against her will though. The flaring blue orbs of luminescence, the windows of her soul, seemed to radiate an aura of forgiveness as she drifted over to Raziel. That just made it all the more painful for him as she rushed into the soul consuming void. Raziel felt a thrill rush through his body as it floated up into the air, extricating itself from the spikes. The experience was exhilarating but at the same time shaming. Samus’ pure soul gave him an extreme rush, all his senses were on an entirely different level now. His old instincts came back to him, taking hold of him with crushing power. He thirsted only for blood. The rational mind of Raziel fought to reassert control over his raging hunger, but as he looked at Id, he couldn’t help but feed his insatiable lust for combat. Raziel plucked the Soul Reaver from the ground and charged it with holy energy. However, Raziel realized that just wasn’t going to be enough for a warrior of Id’s caliber, so he also charged the sword with fire. Holy flames licked at the blade, ready to bring divine judgment to the wicked. To charge the blade with elements required a certain amount of concentration, charging it with one was really quite simple. But when Raziel charged it with two, the effort required to keep both elements on the Soul Reaver became too much to keep up and still fight at maximum effectiveness. But in his hyper-aware state, this extra amount of concentration lost to the blade was a very minor thing. The divine fire screamed for release into the tainted flesh of the wicked. Id, meanwhile, was casually strolling towards Crono. He sneered in contempt at the warrior’s prone form Weaklings have no place in this conflict. Id’s boot hovered over Crono’s head, ready to crush his skull like a ripe grape. But before he could go through with his execution, searing pain erupted on his back as holy fire shot from Raziel’s sword collided with him. Id was launched well past Crono’s body. When he got up and turned to face his attacker, Raziel’s cold, hungry eyes were there to meet him. Black fate decreed that Id should land right next to Crono’s Rainbow Katana. As he picked up the deadly blade, Id grinned. Id’s eyes smoldered in the darkness, “Do you think you can slay a god with that flimsy blade? I can tell you right now that it would be a simpler task than facing me.” Raziel’s cold features were illuminated only by the light of the celestial flames engulfing his sword. In Id’s burning eyes he saw his own destruction, without having dealt a single blow he could sense that Id was the superior fighter. Raziel lost himself to the ravening hunger that was consuming his soul. All that was left was the desire to destroy as he sped towards Id. Blade met blade as their bitter struggle began. Raziel’s sword was a blur of cruel slashes and broad strokes. But despite his enhanced reflexes and strength, he was still not able to match Id. Id felt not a scratch as he calmly returned Raziel’s every blow. The foul creature didn’t offer up any offensives as it analyzed him, sizing up his skill. When Id seemed satisfied that he knew his opponent he pulled out all the stops. Suddenly Raziel was hard pressed to launch a single offensive to Id’s two. Cuts started appearing all over Raziel’s body as Id showed his blinding skill with the katana. Raziel steadily gave ground to Id as the monster’s onslaught continued unabated. Finally Raziel was trapped against the fence and he grew desperate. Then Raziel grinned maliciously, Id had finally made a mistake. He had put too much momentum into a single stroke and had left Raziel with an opening in the beast’s defenses. Raziel committed to one final blow, fully intending to cleave Id in two. Id grinned as Raziel launched his killing blow. With a speed that defied comprehension Id leapt back as he cackled malevolently, “You’re so weak.” Id landed just beyond the slash’s radius and he smirked as the Soul Reaver passed within inches of his flesh. His smug sneer showed Id’s utter contempt for Raziel’s pitiful attempt at an assault. Id prepared his own final attack. But Raziel’s smile never left his face. In the blink of an eye the soul-charged lunatic redirected all of his force from a slash into a daring lunge, impaling Id through the monster’s black heart. Throughout the whole battle Raziel had not once attempted a thrust or a stab of any kind, all along his plan had been to lull Id into a false sense of security. Id could only stare down at the wound in shock. Raziel leaned in close and whispered, “No man, divine or mortal, can stand up to the edge of my Soul Reaver...” With that Id burst into white flames. The heavenly blaze consumed his sinful flesh with greedy vigor. Id’s flesh disintegrated in the holy justice meted out by the Soul Reaver. As the ashes fell to the ground Raziel’s thirst cried out to be sated. His left hand went to the scarf that covered up his soul consuming maw. Then his eyes fell on Samus’ headless corpse... and his hand fell away. Tears sprang to his eyes and he quenched the Soul Reaver’s celestial inferno in the cold dirt as he thrust it into the ground. Raziel collapsed to his knees and rested his head against the cold blade of his Soul Reaver. As he stared at the unforgiving earth, the full weight of what he had done hit him like a ton of bricks. I swore I’d never consume another soul once I obtained this blade. I thought I had finally left my lower nature behind. I thought that maybe... just maybe... I had expelled that damning hunger from my being. How wrong I was... I took her. She deserved so much better than that and yet when the opportunity presented itself, I never hesitated to consume her, beast that I am. And I enjoyed it. He examined his hands—his murderous hands. My sins are so heavy.... I do not think I can bear the burden any longer... Grasping the hilt of the Soul Reaver, Raziel prepared to kill himself for the innumerable sins that he had committed right before his gaze fell upon the Rainbow Katana. Crono’s blade brought the Alliance into his thoughts. They are so idealistic, so full of hope; everything that I strived so hard to be. Raziel’s eyes found Crono. No revolution can go forward without sacrifices... sins that must be committed for the greater good... New resolution filled him. There is only one purpose left in my life. I will help bring these people into power. And along the way my bloody hands shall take all the sins from their shoulders and when it is all over... then I shall separate myself from them and finally find the death I so richly deserve. Raziel gazed up at the merciless stars. Authors: Shake & Oddity Back Home