Vertigo made her way very slowly across the floor, toward where her sword lay, stabbed into the floor of the ship. She felt her blood leaking all over the floor, she felt her head lighten uncomfortably.

The sword, she thought. The sword and its power would make everything all right. It had ever since she was a child.

So long ago . . .

"This is honest steel, daughter," her father said, holding the newly tempered blade. Vertigo watched him intently, her silver hair billowing in breeze, her soft white dress buffeted by the heat of the forge. "Once the runes have been cast on the blade it will be the most powerful blade I have ever forged."

"Will I have a sword one day Papa?" Vertigo asked him.

"I hope it's not necessary my child," her father said, taking her in his arms and stroking her silver hair with his hard callused paw. "An angel like you want not meant for death's embrace."

Vertigo blinked. Her father wasn't there, she was just crawling on the floor again. Damn hallucinations, she thought. Can' t. . .afford. . .to die. . .not yet. . .

She pulled herself along the floor, groaning and wincing in pain. The blood was drying, making her stick to the floor, made pulling herself towards the sword that much more difficult, that much more painful.

She reached a hand out towards her sword. It seemed like it was miles away.

* * *

Darken looked over at the wreckage of the Skyshadow, then back at Lanicrus. He was hovering there, the shadowy column of energy expanding. And Darken could feel that this was more than just an assumption of power from a nebulous source.

Phoenix had taught him where the true source of his Soul powers had come from. Somehow he was in tune with the Spheres, but . . .

But this was different, he could feel an imbalance, a malignancy spreading over this sphere, as though the ground were dissipating, growing weaker. Almost as if someone were pulling the life out of the planet.

"Phoenix," he said to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I know what he's doing. He's killing the soul of this sphere to add to his own power!"

"He can do that?" Phoenix asked, looking at him.

Darken looked at him. "Apparently so."

* * *

Lanicrus felt his body repairing itself, in fact, he felt his body re-ordering itself. He was assimilating more power than ever before, and he could feel every molecule in his body organizing itself to handle the power. He was amazed that he could even do this--it was a fact of his creation, but destroying a world. It seemed . . .almost godlike.

Did that make him a god?

The only time he had ever seen power on this scale was during his battle with Phoenix. If he defeated Phoenix, did that make him a god?

He channeled his power to his hands. He would find out.

* * *

Phoenix dodged the bolts of chaos lighting Lanicrus was throwing. She watched one of the bolts fuse the ground to glass and sizzle at her feet. There was something familiar about his power. Very familiar.

"He's calling me out," she said.

"Don't go, Phoenix," Darken said. "His power might be strong enough to destroy you." He put his arms around her waist, to try to stop her.

"I don't think so," Phoenix said, her eyes on Lanicrus.

"He's draining the life of an entire world," Darken said. "I hate to admit it, but that's a bit out of my league. Maybe yours too. Please, Phoenix . . .there has to be another way."

Phoenix turned to him. He was scared for her, and she knew he had good reason to be. He had already lost one person he loved today. He knew he was afraid to lose her--he wouldn't admit it, but she knew it.

She looked into his eyes and pulled him to her, kissing him tenderly and with all the love she had in her heart for him. He returned it, with a longing and passion she hadn't quite felt from him.

After a time, the kiss broke. Something unspoken had passed between them. Darken's eyes set in a mask of concentration. Phoenix set her eyes to Lanicrus and drew her sword.

"I'll take care of Lanicrus," she said. "He wants to fight a god, he'll get his wish and more. I want you to do me a favor."

"Ok," Darken said. "What?"

"There's something familiar, a kind of energy around the ship," Phoenix said. "I noticed it when I grabbed it. Maybe it's the source of Lanicrus' power."

"All right, but if things go badly, I'm coming back."

"I know."

Darken swept himself to the sky, his wings bearing him aloft. He looked at her one last time. "Romanova?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

She extended a hand, as though able to touch him even as he flew. "I love you too."

She watched Darken fly toward the ship, until he was out of sight. Then she drew her sword and summoned her Phoenix aura. A great bird of fire rose up from nowhere and surrounded her. It grew, surrounding her body and she soared into the skies herself.

* * *

"Papa?" Vertigo called. "Mama?"

She walked into the room with the forge. The first thing that struck her was how cold it was. But that shouldn't be, she thought. The forge was always burning. In the winter she would come here to play because it was always warm. But now it was cold. Cold and wet.

Wet?

She looked down and found she was standing in a pool of her father's blood. She almost fell backwards with the shock. She heard movement in the other room. She made her way slowly, as if in a dream, towards the door, and saw her mother, her beautiful mother being dragged away by men in robes.

Nomads, she thought, but she had never known them to be this savage. Papa had chased them off before, and they had always left and never come back but . . .

Before she knew what was happening, she felt an arm jerk her up off the floor by the neck. She couldn't even scream, the grip was so tight.

She looked up and saw one of the nomads, human, but strangely not, and he was holding the sword . . .the sword. . .

Vertigo reached out to touch it but found the sword was still inches from her hand, too far . . .and she . . .was . . . dying. She was hallucinating again too, but the dying was bothering her even more. She painfully looked behind her--the blood she had left was drying, turning black, and there was something more--some strange draining of life, all around her, within her.

She dug the heels of her hands underneath her, hauling herself a little closer. Just a little closer, she thought . . .Papa . . .

* * *

Phoenix soared to Lanicrus' position in the skies. She stopped and hovered before him.

"Lanicrus," she said, her voice calm and commanding. "Stop this now. You are killing this world."

"I would kill this world and an entire universe to destroy you and Darken," Lanicrus said. "Your defeat will earn me godhood, and I will rule the universe in your place."

Lanicrus flung bolt after bolt of chaotic lightning at her. Phoenix was able to dodge some of them and parry the others. She responded by summoning her Crescent Flare spell, sending an arc of white-hot flame towards him.

The fire lashed towards him, into the dark zone around him, dimmed and died. Lanicrus laughed madly.

"Is that all you have goddess?" Lanicrus said, the cold laughter of his voice mocking her. "With the life of this world, I am unbeatable."

"We'll see," Phoenix said, ignoring his taunt. "FIRE STORM!"

A hundred streaks of fire surged forward to Lanicrus, but dissipated.

Phoenix steeled herself, brought her sword to the ready and stormed into Lanicrus' field of darkness.

* * *

Kirone freed herself from the debris that pinned her foot. She had escaped the fall of the Skyshadow relatively unscathed, but the bridge was in shambles. The crew that had aided her was dead. She tried to unseal the doors, but it was a lost cause. The ceiling had also sealed the rupture Lanicrus had put in it when he crashed through it. She was trapped.

She could hear noises outside the room. She recognized the sound--Seraphim weapons. They had broken through to the Skyshadow and they were no doubt swarming through, making their way here even now.

She was alone. The bridge crew was dead, and they wouldn't be any help, even as shields. And Monstructor, ever faithful, was nowhere to be found . . .

There was a gnawing sound and Kirone could feel the floor vibrating. What fresh new hell is this, she wondered? The floor was shaking now, violently, and she adopted a ready stance, summoning quietly the mystical knowledge she would need to repel this invader.

The floor buckled and Kirone almost fell out of her chair with relief. The skittering green insects that now littered the floor were oddly reassuring. Even more so was that Monstructor soon followed them, He looked battered and dirty, but none the worse for wear.

"My lady," he said, bowing. "It pleases me to see you're still alive."

"Thank you," she said. "But we're not totally safe yet, are we?"

"No," he replied gravely. The green insects crawled over his body and he absorbed them back into himself. Kirone's stomach turned as she saw the creature's legs moving under the flesh of his skinny arm. "My cyber-sects were able to stop them for a time, but there is at least a legion of Seraphim creeping around these halls."

"Can they hold them off?" Kirone asked desperately. "We can't possibly have enough Fallen left to turn the tide!"

"No," Monstructor said. "That's why I came here. I knew that even if the bridge were littered with the dead, I could use their forms and their technology."

Monstructor extended his arms wide. Strange blue energy coursed over the room, forming a web around him, around the wrecked technology, around the bodies of the dead. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

Flesh and technology caught in the web began to meld and fuse. Where once there had been debris and corpses there now rose creatures from a nightmare, misshapen, demonic things than crept toward the hole, toward the invaders like a twisted mockery of life.

"That should hold them," Monstructor said finally. "For a time."

* * *

Vertigo was watching her mother die by the sword her father had made. The blood from her body ran in red rivulets down the runes he had branded on the blade. The cloaked nomad dropped the sword and her mother and advanced toward her, a small knife in his hands. Vertigo tried to scream, but the other one held her so tight around her throat . . .

She did the only thing she knew to do. She kicked backward, which shocked the nomad holding her into letting her go. She threw her weight towards the other one, trying to run between his knees, but she miscalculated.

She felt the cold blade of the knife slice through her stomach. She felt her dress get wet, and though she didn't look down she knew that her dress was soaked red with blood . . .

But the nomads were behind her. She felt them grabbing at her, grabbing at her hair, and all she could do was crawl towards the sword . . .bleeding all the way . . .

"AAAAAARGH!" Vertigo screamed, forcing her mind back to the present. Yes, she knew how ironic it was that she was in essentially the same position again, but she needed to concentrate, and it was so hard . . .she was almost there.

Only Darken stood in her way.

Darken helped her to her feet, his mind suspicious. Vertigo needed no real reason for the treachery she committed, she usually just DID it. But he helped her to her feet.

"I knew it," Darken said. "It just had to be you, didn't it? You gave that bastard Lanicrus his power, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Vertigo asked, and then she remembered. "Oh . . ."

Darken looked at her steady herself. She didn't look like a feared warrior, or any of the other things Phoenix had told him she was. She looked . . .lost. Almost pitiable.

"L-lanicrus," Vertigo said. There was no love in her voice, Darken noted. "Yes, I did help create him . . .I even thought . . .never mind. Just . . .look what it got me?"

"He did this to you?" Darken asked.

Vertigo nodded weakly. "He . . .and K-k-irone. Threw me in that machine . . .made me. . .their fuel. . .ripped me in to a million pieces over and over again. . .oh god. . ."

"Why would they do that?" Darken said. That sounded like Kirone, but how could she possibly get the drop on Vertigo? She was too powerful, even for someone like Kirone.

"I was . . ." Vertigo trailed off, then seemed to laugh and cry at the same time. "I wasn't of any more use to them. Can you imagine?"

"Vertigo . . ." Darken said.

"Shut UP!" Vertigo yelled hoarsely. "I'm sick and tired of this, of you, of Phoenix, of Lanicrus, of Kirone, of EVERYTHING! I just want the pain to stop!" She lunged at him and started beating her fists weakly against his chest. "Just . . .want . . .the pain to stop . . ."

She sobbed into his chest, and Darken was too bewildered to do anything but stand there and let her.

* * *

Phoenix tried a sword strike, but Lanicrus was too fast. He swiped at her with his tail and knocked her for a loop. Phoenix sent a bolt of fire back at him, but once again it dissipated before hit him.

"Your power holds no sway here, fire goddess," Lanicrus said, hurling another bolt of chaos lightning at her.

Phoenix parried it with her sword and struck him across the chest. "Give up, Lanicrus, you aren't in my league--I was born a goddess."

"And I was created to slay gods, and angels, and worlds," Lanicrus said, smiling sickly. "And I'll keep killing world after world to cement my godhood. I will kill god and man alike until I am worshipped as the only god in the whole of existence."

Lanicrus grabbed her, sending chaotic lightning surging into her. Phoenix screamed, but focused through the pain. She tightened her grip around the sword, ignored the voltage. She thought of Darken, of all the hopes and dreams they had and summoned her courage.

"NYAAAAAAARGH!" With a great force of will she raised her sword and jammed into Lanicrus' face, smashing through his teeth, his musculature, deep into his black heart.

Lanicrus' world exploded in a miasma of pain. "AAAAAAAAGH!" He muttered something Phoenix couldn't understand because of the sword in his mouth. He thrashed about wildly.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Phoenix said. "And here's some more good news. While we're in this void you're creating I can't use my fire spells but I can channel my power through my sword. Like THIS!"

Lanicrus exploded violently, flinging shards of himself in all directions. Phoenix retrieved her sword and stood on guard. That would have put anyone else down for good, but there was no way to tell with him.

The ball of lighting that began to form at the center of the darkness told her that her suspicions were justified.

* * *

Sachiel led the charge to the center of the ship, hungry for Kirone's blood. But the giant creatures that blocked their way had other ideas.

Sachiel blasted one with a bolt of fire, which destroyed one outright. But that still left more and more, pouring out of the hallway. He didn't dare use his firepower here--it would spread and burn his men.

The monsters began catching the Seraphim warriors in their claws, stabbing them with long wiry claw-like stingers. Spiky rib-like protractions enclosed them and Sachiel watched with horror, as the monsters seemed to digest the Seraphim's bodies.

A now larger and angrier creature, even more horrible to look at, leered one cyclopean eye at him. He rolled to the back as Leiliel threw dart after father dart at the beasts. Liandra did her part as well, her fairies blasting the creatures with beams of pure light. It was a noble effort, but one that to succeed required more power than they had.

"FALL BACK!" Sachiel said. "NOW!" He wouldn't risk any more of his friends or Leiliel trying to force it. They would have to wait for Sandalphon.

* * *

"You don't mean that," Darken said flatly.

"Go to hell," Vertigo said. Her anger seemed to be the only thing propping her up. "You don't know . . .anything about me."

"I know more than you might think."

"You only know what . . . Phoenix tells you when you two . . .sleep together," Vertigo sneered, dying but defiant.

Darken snatched her by the neck before he could stop himself. His voice was tight. "Another word about that and you'll get your wish, you miserable thing."

"Do it," Vertigo said, a smile forming on her lips. Blood trickled from the side of her mouth. "Do it . . .be that killer Phoenix . . .doesn't want you to be."

"Shut up," Darken said. "All you are is a pathetic little child, I can see it so clearly now. You can't bully me with your power, so all you do is tease me, so I'll do what you want. Well, not this time."'

He concentrated, summoning his soul energy. "Shardra," he whispered, sending healing energies into her. Vertigo felt her body's wounds knitting together, she felt her strength returning, but not her power.

Darken held on to her, forcing the life energy into her. Then he let her go. Vertigo was so shocked she almost fell backwards.

Darken grabbed her sword before she knew what was happening. He held it just out of reach.

"Now," Darken said. "Let's talk about you."

* * *

Phoenix watched in horror, as Lanicrus was reborn. The dark energy was forming once again, but the Lanicrus it was forming didn't seem exactly like the war machine she remembered. For one thing, he wasn't such a dark jet black. For another his wings had been ragged metals, not the brilliant purple feathers of chaos flame they were now.

"I LIIIIIIIIIVE!" Lanicrus bellowed. Phoenix didn't waste time with any repartee. She hurled her Talon at Lanicrus, who saw it coming and caught it, letting it spin on one of his ebony claws like a hula hoop.

He laughed. "Surprised, goddess? You shouldn't be. I'm certain you thought yourself very clever, destroying my body like that. How could you know you weren't destroying me, merely freeing me to evolve, to grow that much closer to my final, ultimate state."

"I don't care, Lanicrus," Phoenix said determinedly, summoning more power. The flame of the Phoenix now suffused her being, causing her to glow like a star in the void. "I will stop you. For the lives you've taken, for the damage you've done, I . . .WILL . . .STOP. . .YOU!"

She lunged forward, a flaming kick, just barely missing Lanicrus, who countered with a knee lift that Phoenix was able to sidestep with little effort, he wildly swiped at her with his claws and Phoenix moved between his knee and the claw.

Lanicrus then dropped back. Phoenix wondered why he didn't press the attack.

The Talon, he's thrown the--

"UGGGH!" Phoenix cried, her left arm sliced open by the Talon as it struck her. It was a glancing blow, but it still hurt. She extended her right hand and caught the Talon.

She grit her teeth as Lanicrus laughed at her.

* * *

Sandalphon's troops poured out of the Warlock. He drew his sword and rushed to lead them, his mind already considering the ramifications of having the criminal Kirone in the jails of Imperial City, when a familiar voice broke his reverie.

She is not for your plans.

She is a criminal, Sandalphon thought. I can use her to gather what you claim you need.

She will serve in another capacity.

I want her for my own plans, Sandalphon thought angrily.

There is a way, the voice in his head calmly replied. There is a way to serve both our purposes.

The voice calmly explained this. Sanalphon smiled. Yes, he thought. That would work. He raised his sword high in the air and ordered his legion to begin the raid on the Skyshadow.

* * *

"You see, I watched you grab for this sword," Darken said. "And I know why--it's very powerful. It's also poisoning you. Your body can't handle this chaotic energy."

"I've done OK," Vertigo said. She had no weapons, so she couldn't force him to give her the sword. She flashed back to being a child, reaching for the sword, near-death and calling for the power to save her family . . .but just as quickly drove it from her mind.

"Yes, in a way you have," Darken said. "Because you've never really been away from the sword and totally spent. You need your power fix, don't you? Even though it's slowly killing you."

"And what if I do?"

Darken shook his head. "When we first fought, I respected your power and skill. But now . . .now that I see what's really behind all this--a scared little child who's hooked on a power like a drug. You're just . . .pitiful. You could be so much more. You've got the power, but no vision."

Darken turned his back and threw her the sword. He looked out towards the battle "Out there, right now, Lanicrus and Phoenix are fighting. Lanicrus has poisoned this whole Sphere, draining it of life to make himself a god. Because that's all he really can do. Use things up. Like he used you."

Vertigo watched him, the sword tantalizingly close. But she didn't reach for it, she was too focused on what Darken was saying.

"You have two choices," Darken said. "Take the sword, get your fix and kill me. Shove the blade right through my back. Doom Phoenix to being killed by Lanicrus--at least we'll be together in a better place. Let Lanicrus kill my homeworlds. Go on being the pathetic little Vertigo who just lives for a fight and her power fix. That's the way you would have picked if I hadn't been here, I bet.

"Or you could take the sword, get your power back and help us defeat Lanicrus. It wouldn't be much--sponging over a mistake, but it would be a start."

Darken turned back to her. Vertigo was looking at him. Slowly she rose to her feet, the sword in her hand. She looked at him, looked at the sword.

Darken watched her, not saying a word.

"If--IF--I help you, what happens to me after he's gone?" Vertigo asked, making no effort to hide the vulnerability in her voice.

"I'll let you go, just leave here, leave the Seven Spheres, and leave us alone," Darken said. "And if you're feeling adventurous, take some time to find out what you want out of this life."

"Phoenix won't like that."

"I'm not Phoenix, and I'll see you get a chance to leave," Darken said. The earth beneath them started to rumble. The world's dying, crumbling from within, he thought.

"I need an answer, Vertigo," Darken said.

Vertigo looked at him with bright silver eyes. "I . . .will help you," she said finally. "But afterwards--after I'm gone--no promises."

"I didn't expect any," Darken said, holding her as he flew from the Skyshadow's wreckage.

* * *

"Can you feel it, Phoenix?" Lanicrus snarled, hurling another bolt of energy at Phoenix. "The Ascension Black is nearly complete. I have drawn the marrow from this world, as I shall all of the others. That portal will stay open, the Ascenion will seep its way into the angels sphere, and I will bleed it dry. As I shall you."

Phoenix grabbed at him, channeling her fires into her hands trying to burn him, melt his machinery, desperate to make him let go.

Phoenix, Darken said in her mind.

I'm a little busy here Darken, Phoenix thought back. Momentarily she wondered if linking their minds while she had trained him was good idea. Did you find whatever was behind this?

Darken gave her the short version, which almost shocked Phoenix into losing the fight. Listen, Phoenix, I know how to stop him. He's drawing power from the Sphere, right?

Phoenix agreed. Blow up the planet Romanova, it's the only way.

She put her fists against Lanicrus' chest and blasted him point-blank, it did no damage to Lanicrus but it bought her enough time to fly backwards and draw her sword.

She summoned the most powerful of her spells, channeling the power of an entire galaxy aflame and channeling it into the blade. The blade began to glow. She positioned herself between Lanicrus and Darken, and once Darken flew through the portal, she swung her sword upwards and fired the blade's energy into the skies.

Lanicrus looked up and saw the skies burning. The clouds of fire parted above him, and he saw a brilliant column of flame, hotter than the heart of a thousand suns bearing down on him.

"CELESTIAL NOVA!" Phoenix cried. The column of fire shot through Lanicrus, melting and vaporizing his body. It fired deeper and deeper, to the very core of the sphere. There was a rumbling of fire and thunder and as Phoenix flew through the portal.

And the Sphere of Ladon was no more.

* * *

Darken, Vertigo and Phoenix landed on the edge of the wreckage of the Skyshadow, far from the battle. They watched the backblast of energy surge briefly around the portal, and the portal shrink and dissolve to nothingness.

"We did it," Darken said. "That had to destroy him."

"In that case, I guess you won't need me," Vertigo said.

"What is she talking about?" Phoenix asked Darken.

"Well," Darken began weakly, only to be cut off by the loudest sound he had ever heard.

The space between worlds ripped open. Lanicrus, ebony-black and shining with a halo of chaotic fire, stood before them, before all of them. He surveyed them as a wrathful god would a people he intended to smite.

"Then again," Vertigo began, drawing her sword. "Maybe you will."