"I really couldn't have done this without you," Kirone said, stepping over the unconscious forms of Gailion and Sandalphon. She spared a little time to kick Sandalphon hard in the ribs. Her eyes tried to absorb the site before her, and failed miserably. "I mean, I could have done it, but you made it so much easier, Sandalphon. That's sweet . . .really, it is."

Blood of my ancestors, she thought. The Mother Machine is mine. I have the key and I could control anything in the Spheres. It would be so easy to kill them all . . .so easy to destroy the Spheres and make a new world from the ruins.

But if I did that, she thought, producing a small object the size of a book from a pouch in her cloak, I couldn't very well bring my beloved Garuda to this world.

She smiled a bit, placing the object into the control deck. More machinery thrummed deep in the heart of the Sphere. "Mother," Kirone said, smiling wide. "I want the location of the four keys. Download it to the book."

"THAT INFORMATION IS PROHIBITED."

"Not to me," Kirone said. "I hold your key . . .you have to do what I say."

She heard the machine cycle. Processing, verifying, determining the truth in her words.

"STANDBY FOR DOWNLOAD."

Kirone smiled. Not long now, she thought. She looked around. Ironic, she mused. This was the place where Darken and I began our rivalry. It seems so long ago now . . .Oh, if here were here, that would make things so perfect . . .

"AAAAAAAAGH!" Darken screamed . . .He felt like he was on fire, and he was . . .Phoenix had done something to his . . .sent her fire aura into him--yes, that was it--and he felt himself nearly overloading with power.

He lunged back, a corona of flame enveloping him. His wings burned, but the burning was not painful . . .his eyes began to glow with the fires of the goddess he loved.

And she was with him . . .In his mind, in his soul . . .It was the only things that kept the pain from overwhelming him. Darken, she could feel her saying. It's all right. Relax. I'm here with you.

What's happening? Darken asked.

It was the only way, my love, Phoenix replied. I had to make you one with me. It's the only way we can stop her.

Stop who? Darken asked. Then in answer to his question he saw her. Israfel was marauding down on them, hurling bolts of Phoenix's own fire. She didn't see Darken until it was too late.

Israfel saw a huge blast of fire--like her fires, only more powerful. Her crystalline armor cracked under the first salvo. She felt to the metal of the Sphere, it softened from the heat of her. She looked again, and saw something she could not name.

A man, a god, she didn't know. She felt awe of it, it was like a burning vengeful angel, seeking retribution. She felt afraid . . .even with the nagging madness to fight that Kirone had put there, she felt it.

Then the madness returned. She dragged herself to her feet and charged up her fires, coronas of flame forming around her hands.

"You soul's in turmoil," Darken said. His voice was like a heavenly choir. He sounded like a god . . .and he could feel that he was one as well. "We do not have to fight."

He felt afraid. Not of Israfel, she was nothing to him. He feared the power he felt in him, the power he could see arcing off his body, the power reflected in the shining, dented metal of Israfel's armor.

Israfel blasted him with all her power. She was thrown back by the force of it, and the already-soft surface of the Sphere was further melted. . .she sank as she was pushed back, making ruts in the surface.

Darken held out a hand, and the heat dispersed around him. The hot wind that was the last of it blew through his hair. He felt no fear, just power, and a peace he could not name.

He stared at his hand for a moment.

Was this what gods feel? He wondered. This power, this exhilaration?

Yes, Romanova replied. Darken flinched inwardly. He had forgotten they were linked. For second, this had seemed like the most natural thing in the world. That scared him more than anything.

Israfel activated her fire wings and bore down on him again. Darken saw the madness in her eyes and knew what he had to do. And yet, he hesitated. Phoenix plead with him to do what had to be done.

I can't! Darken exclaimed. I won't take a life!

It's her or us, Phoenix replied. I know you don't want to, but I won't let you die, Darken!

Darken felt his body moving of his own accord. He felt power collecting in his hands, much like when he summoned his Soul Calibur. But this was something different. In his hands he wielded the power of a god.

Closer and closer Israfel came. Darken felt a cry in his voice as the power burned him from within, bloody tears ran from his eyes. Fire surged around him like the prominence on the surface of a sun.

"VALKYRIE . . . FIRE . . .REVOLUTION!" Darken yelled . . .a column of fire and soul power surged towards Israfel and in an instant, she was gone. She tried to absorb it, as though it were her own fire. It wasn't.

When she brought it into her, it was as though she had tried to take on the power of a whole galaxy aflame. Her armor, already shattered by the first salvo ruptured from within. With one last scream and a sound like the shattering of a window, she exploded, her fire snuffing itself out with barely a rumble.

Darken felt his power receding. Her also noticed a trace of red on his gloves. He was bleeding. He became a bit frantic, and so did Phoenix.

There was a flash of fire--the firebird aura waved it wings, and soon there were two again. Just in time for Darken to fall to one knee, exhausted, yet . . .not.

Phoenix ran to him. Holding her arms around him. Her mind drifted back unconsciously to her conversation with Vertigo, and how she had sworn to never make Darken a god, not to take his uniqueness away. A tear fell down her cheek.

"Darken," she said. "Please . . .there was no other way."

Darken put his hands over hers. His gloves were red with his blood.

"Give me the girl," Adamov said. "I can see she is your enemy. Give her to me and I will dispose of her. I have no enmity with any of you."

"This girl is not yours to have," Liandra said. "I sense what you are. Like me--a feeder on the living. I will not give her to you, and have her suffer that fate."

Adamov advanced on her--despite the pain he was in, he still carried himself with pride and arrogance. "I saw you fight her," he said. "Why do you protect her now?"

"She deserves a chance," Liandra said, her fairies charging themselves up. They turned to look at Sachiel and Leiliel. "I want you two to go . . .find Sandalphon and Gailion. Take Tigerhawk and Tralesta with you."

"But Alecto's still here with you," Sachiel said.

"Alecto is my responsibility," Liandra said. "But you would not be able to fight with him. He was good--once. But his soul is blighted, and he decays everything around him. You must not succumb to that. Tomorrow depends on us."

Adamov took another step. "I grow tired of diplomacy," he growled. "You may stand and die, or run and die. Either way, I shall feed. Either way, I shall be reuinited with Vertigo and take my vengeance on the halfling who stole her from me."

"What is he talking about?" Liandra said.

"Long story," Sachiel said. He held out one of his scythe-swords. "Take a weapon."

"No," Liandra said. "Unneccesary. Just. . .GO! NOW!"

Liandra launched herself forward as Sachiel and Leiliel grabbed Tigerhawk and Tralesta and ran down the corridor. Liandra pushed Adamov back further down the corridor in the opposite direction, trying to put as much distance between Alecto and Adamov as possible.

They tumbled like lovers as Adamov crashed into the wall. He backhanded Liandra, who felt her jaw pop with the force of the blow. "Foolish child!" Adamov said. "Why are you so eager to die?"

"Why do you refuse to live?" Liandra replied, tossing him back into the wall. She felt the fatigue in her limbs. She was trying not to show it to Adamov, but she was tired.

Liandra raked at his face with her claws, Adamov screamed under the scraping of his face. He shoved her off with his feet.

"AARGH!" He said, holding his face. "What have you done?"

Liandra didn't answer him. She readied her fairies and blasted him with twin beams of light. They burned deep into Adamov's arms. The wounds cauterized themselves, but Adamov recoiled in pain, all the same.

A small part of him was relieved. After all, he hadn't been sure he could feel pain anymore.

Adamov had had enough. He pounced on her, forcing her to the ground. She could feel the strength in his hands. Her shoulders felt like they were going to break. She couldn't get close . . .couldn't get any leverage. Trying to put the fairies between them was useless also . . .no room to do anything.

Panic filled her body. She felt powerless again, just as she had when Macabro tried to rape her, when he gouged her eyes out with his short blade.

I'll make you pay, you little bitch, Darknova growled in her memory, raising his blade. She could see him. . .not through her fairies, but here and now. . .

Not again, she thought. Not again. . .notagain notagainnotagain.

"Why must you do this to yourself?" Adamov said. A smile cracked over his bleeding face. "I fight for love as much as you. My love is the key to my life. Now you will die for yours. I'll make you pay for your impertinence!"

"NOOOOOOO!" Liandra said. Before she knew what she was doing she lunged at his throat. Her fangs plunged into it, tearing flesh and circuits. She bit and tore and bit and tore like a wolf.

Adamov threw her off him, clutching at his throat. Liandra hit against the wall, her fairies watching him thrash about . . .the glowing green ooze pouring from his neck was nothing like blood she had tasted . . .it was much worse. She spat out as much as she could . . .until she retched, convulsing with disgust at what she had done. . . .

Her chest heaved. She threw up for a time, then her chest heaved on reflex. She could barely breathe. The stench of death, and . . .something else hung in the air.

Adamov slumped to the wall. The metal frame of his wings making the merest clank as he did. Liandra was nervous. Was he unconscious, she wondered. Was he dead? Could such a thing be possible?

She looked at him, through her fairies. They stood on shoulders, shells-hocked by what they had seen. Then she looked inside herself. There is what I must never become, she thought, wiping his blood off of her purple shirt. But I had to become him to stop him.

Am I doomed to become him?

She looked at him, as if she expected an answer.

Adamov could offer no answers, and neither could she.

She sighed and turned away, her footsteps echoing through the corridor.

Sachiel and Leiliel had to fight their way back down the corridor. A group of undead angels had flocked to the control room's entrance and had killed the retinue Sandalphon had come with.

Sachiel swung his swords with fatigue in heart and reluctance in his heart. He didn't want to do this--it wasn't right. He had always wanted to rule his people justly and fairly, not to destroy them.

But when he learned what Sandalphon had in mind, he knew what was required. He would have to risk destroying his own people to save them. He honestly hadn't known if he could do it.

Father, he thought, I am almost glad you didn't see what has become of your child, and your subjects.

"We have to kill them," Sachiel said. "We have to give Tigerhawk and the others time to recover."

"A good idea," Leiliel said, burying feather darts in the skull of one of the undead angels. "But they're very hard to kill!"

Sachiel slashed one of them in half. "We have to," he said. "Or we'll be next. We've come this far, we can't stop now."

One of the undead angels tried to bite through his armor. The shock caused his swords to slip from his grasp. He snarled in anger, and before he knew it, he had summoned his fire wings.

"REGENCY FLARE!" Sachiel shouted. Fountains of fire surged from his hands, immolating the undead. They went up like flash paper, leaving not even ashes.

Sachiel stood there, hands still burning. He wasn't angry, he was sad.

This is what it's come to, he thought. This is what I have come to.

He cried, but his flames burned so hot his tears evaporated.

Kirone took the book from the machine and smiled. This would make it very easy, she thought. Garuda, my love, I'm coming for you.

Two Seketha walked through the door. "We still have Sandalphon and Gailion to deal with," they said. They picked up the bodies on the floor of the control room.

"Sandalphon I left to you," she said casually, not looking at them. "As for Gailion, bring him with us. I want him to be there when we unleash the gods he's feared for so long. I want to see the expression on his face. Put him with our dear Vertigo and take them both back to the Morgana."

"As you wish," they said. Kirone smiled. She had no idea what they had in mind for Sandalphon, but it couldn't be pleasant. "And what will you do about Darken Blackangel?"

Kirone cocked an eyebrow, then composed herself and waved them away.

They dragged the two unconscious warriors away. Kirone had an inkling of what they were going to do. She ahd heard what they had done to Sandlaphon to keep him alive. That was bad enough.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer person, she thought. He felt so superior, so confident his Angels were the chosen people. The fool. Now I've taken his land, his people, and now I'll take their god.

She looked at the key, still in the control panel. An idea crossed her mind.

She smiled wide, exposing her fangs. She walked over and turned the key counterclockwise, sinking it deeper into the control deck. Machinery whirred, relays were thrown. She sank lower, down to the heart of the Mother Machine.

She felt a tingle in her body. Exhilaration.

This is my chance to end it with Darken, she thought. Right where it began.

"Kirone," Darken said, his head snapping up. He had felt a flash, an intuition, something. "She's here. In the machine."

"How do you know?" Phoenix said. She was a little confused. Darken had good instincts but not this good.

"I . . felt her," Darken said, standing up. He summoned his Dive Spear. "She's in the center of the Machine. I think she's going to destroy us all."

"Oh my god," Phoenix said. "She can do that?"

"I don't know how," Darkens said, walking to the crater Vertigo had blasted in the Sphere. "But from what I remember about the Machine Sphere, she could very easily order it to destroy itself."

"Liandra's down there," Phoenix said.

"All of our friends are down there," Darken said sternly. He took wing with a near effortless motion. Phoenix watched in awe. The merging had healed him, she thought. But something else happened. He was always unsteady taking flight before. Not this time. I wonder . . .

She summoned her firebird aura and followed him down. There wasn't a lot of light, except for what Phoenix's aura cast on the walls and corridors. Darken had no trouble seeing, because his angel eye enabled him to see in the darkness.

His mind was clear, calm. He wasn't even really there. He was here, but he was younger. He was with Maryna. Maryna was beside him, bound, being strangled by Kirone's taloned fingers. Kirone was smiling, laughing, raving.

Leave her alone!

Why should I? She obviously means something to you, and anyone who interferes with me . . .dies!

Darken watched Maryna's eyes roll back in her head and she slumped to the floor, unconscious.

That's what you get, Kirone had told him. He felt her slap him arrogantly, like a stupid child. You can't stop this. This is my time, my world. You can't stop it any more than you can the turning of the day . . .my day, of course.

Then he had fallen, unconscious--struck by the butt of one of her servitor's weapons.

She left me alive, he thought. So I could wake up, and see my heart, my soul, dead in this cold, alien place.

Never again.

Darken beat his wings faster, pushing on so fast Phoenix was actually having trouble keeping up.

Adamov slowly pulled himself to his feet. The pain was indescribable, but he was alive. He grimaced at the irony, which only caused more of the ichor to drool from his mouth.

That bitch, he thought, trying to spit. Ripped my throat out. Foolish girl . . .I cannot die. Not even by this. And I promise you this. . .soon I will have my revenge. I'll make you hurt so bad my suffering will seem a tiny bit of anguish.

He stumbled forward, blonde hair matted with sweat. His hands still clutched at his throat. Futilely, he knew, but he couldn't help himself.

He tried to activate his wings. He would return to the Morgana for now. There was always tomorrow. For now, his search for Vertigo, for the love that would save him from this pain, would have to wait.

Sachiel nearly tripped when he saw Sandalphon. He stood, hunched over, his back twitching in a manner that seemed strange to him. He held his scythe-swords at the ready.

"Sandalphon," he said, letting the rage that had brought him to this resurface. "For my father, for the people you have killed, for the degradation of my people, I will kill you!"

"N-no ," Sandalphon said. A strange noise, muffled cracking became audible. Sachiel wondered where it was coming from. "Please . . .you don't understand . . .and . . .n-no time. K-kill me . . . NOW!"

Sachiel hesitated despite himself. What was this? He thought. Was he trying to fool him?

"P-p-please . . ."

"Sandalphon, what--"

"T-too late . . ." Sandalphon said. His back bulged. Skin warped, bones cracked and Sandaphon exploded. In his place was something like the robed insect-beings he had seen. But this one was larger. And it seemed more aggressive. It reared back on his hand legs, its tail thrashing like a scorpion's

Sachiel felt the icy touch of fear. Then he steeled himself and raised his swords again.

Father, he thought. I fight this evil in your name.

The elevator returned Kirone to the control room. She was smiling like a schoolgirl. At last it was done. Darken would never escape in time, and the last few people she foresaw actually opposing her would die. Victory, finally.

And she would be the chosen one. The only chosen one

Ohhhhh, she thought, her chest heaving with a deep sigh of satisfaction. After all the setbacks, all the disappointments, all the alliances made to deny me what was always mine, and here I am.

I'm going to rule these Spheres, she thought, feeling the rush of power. I will rule beside sweet dear Garuda.

She took a look around. A frown crept across her mouth.

"Pity," she said quietly. "I'm reducing my kingdom my one Sphere. But it's worth it, to finally be rid of Darken Blackangel and his little band."

Kirone took two steps forward and saw her world explode in pain. Darken stepped out of the shadows and kicked her hard in the face. She fell backwards, dropping the book and looking up at him, wiping the blood from her mouth.

Her eyes darted from Darken to the woman to his left. Kirone didn't know her, but she seemed somewhat familiar. She felt a warm trickle in her mouth, tasted the coppery scent of her own blood. She cut her eyes to Darken again.

"Darken," she snarled. "You bastard . . .you . . .you hit me."

Darken didn't say a word. His face was a blank slate. His eyes held the rage of a broken heart. They twitched, and a solitary tear ran down his cheek. He raised the dive spear above his head.

Kirone grit her teeth. I should have killed him the last time we were here, she thought ruefully.