Vertigo felt the power suffuse her, even as the purple fire surged around her body. It'll protect me, she thought. Make me strong enough to get past him, but then it's gone. I have to finish this quickly.

She laced her hands together and charged at Lassius. Lassius stood there, refusing to give an inch to her. She slammed her fists hard against his armored jaw. Lassius recoiled a bit, stunned by the force of the blow. His surprise, however, was short lived. He swatted at Vertigo with the back of his hand. Even protected by her chaos fire, Vertigo felt her head snap back. Blood filled her mouth--she could taste it. She fell hard to the ground, her mind dazed.

Lassius tried to follow that up by crushing her under his heel like a child would an insect. Vertigo was able to roll out of the way in time, but the shockwave from his foot jostled her. She got to her feet and kicked him, using her fire. To her shock, it caught him in his exoskeleton, breaking a rib off.

Lassius roared in anger and lunged for her, but Vertigo leapt out of the way, rebounded off of a nearby pillar and kicked him hard again, this time in his face. The bits of crystal from the Seraphim's shield were driven deeper into his eyes, causing him to lash out wildly. Vertigo smiled. This was just what she had wanted.

Lassius charged and Vertigo vaulted over him. He crashed hard into the wall of the citadel, rubble nearly burying him. For a second, Vertigo felt a rush of triumph, then an urge to run.

But in a matter of seconds, her hope was lost. Lassius threw the debris off of him, eyes bleeding from his injuries. Even in his simple brain he could form one thought, and that thought was to kill Vertigo, no matter what.

* * *

The fusillade of energy bolts from Adamov's weapon barely missed Darken who rolled underneath the stream and knocked his arm aside with the Dive Spear. Adamov retaliated by knocking the Spear out of his hands and kicking him, sending to the deck of the ship. He then tried to slash him with his crystal wings, but Darken rolled out of the way and breathed a stream of fire into his face.

"UUUGH!" Adamov said, more shocked than anything else. He lashed out with his claw-arm out of desperation more than anything. Darken grabbed it and sent lightning into it. Adamov repelled it easily, unimpressed by the tactic.

"You dare to trifle with my feelings?" Adamov asked, leveling an accusing finger at Darken. "How dare you pretend to know loss as painful as my own!"

"I do," Darken said. "I saw Kirone kill the woman I loved with her bare hands. And she liked it. I know how you must feel."

Adamov launched his claw at Darken again. It tore through the bulkheads of the ship. "If what you say is true," he snarled. "Then why has it not turned you into something like me?"

Darken re-summoned his spear and spun it in front of him, blocking Adamov's shots. "It nearly did," he said. "But I had something to believe in! Something to hope for! I found the will to live inside myself!"

"Shut up," Adamov said. He launched a volley of missiles at Darken, who tried to fly away and avoid them. The missiles impacted on the deck of the ship, driving debris and smoke into Darken's path. Darken stumbled as he was taking off and fell back to the deck, just in time for Adamov to slam his boot into Darken's back. Darken's wings extended with pain. Adamov seized Darken by the hair and was wrapping something around Darken's neck.

Obviously, Darken thought, his throat feeling the bite of metal. He found the whip. His eyes began to bug out as Adamov pulled back, smiling broadly.

* * *

Vertigo smashed one of the heavy chunks of rock over Lassius' head. She was fighting wild now, thought not for the reasons she has before. As she threw another chunk of rock at him her mind drifted back to where it all began.

She had taken the sword's curse into her to save her life, when desert nomads had murdered her parents. The chaos-fire had been enough, of course, but it had also been so powerful it made her addicted to it. And the rush of the power her drove her ever more berserk.

That was how she had come to encounter Phoenix, a half-mad adversary looking to prove herself against a goddess. Phoenix and her had fought to a standstill many times, never really proving anything. It wasn't much, but it had been enough for awhile.

Until Darken came along, she thought.

She kicked another column, bringing more rubble down on him. It wasn't working, Lassius seemed to be getting stronger as the fight wore on, and he seemed to enjoy the challenge of her.

Vertigo challenged her power to her hands and struck him twice in the face again. It had worked before, why not now.

Lassius retaliated by driving his fist into her stomach. Vertigo felt something tear inside her. The power had shielded her from her spine breaking but not by much.

Lassius kicked her hard in the side, bouncing her off the wall like a ball. She hit the ground hard. Her armor, not in the best of shape was either strewn over the battlefield, broken irrevocably. She coughed out blood, looking at how it stained the ground.

Oh my god, she thought. The power's fading.

* * *

"Must we really fight?" Liandra asked Sarene.

"I must defeat you," Sarene said, summoning her Hydra. The nine heads roared and slithered around her. Through her fairies, Liandra detected the subtle hint of pain in Sarene's eyes.

"You won't," Liandra said.

Sarene grit her teeth and pointed towards. Liandra. With a mighty roar, the hydra lunged forward. Liandra's fairies took the image in. Though the moment was a handful of seconds long, it seemed to last an eternity.

Liandra calmly stepped through the Hydra as if it weren't there. She felt cold terror, like a million icy razors through her, but it was gone as soon as she passed through.

"HOW?" Sarene demanded.

"Your power is despair," Liandra replied. "Despair has no power over me now."

"I can see it in your mind!" Sarene insisted. "I know how you've been hurt! You should be crushed by now, your heart should be breaking!"

Liandra stopped, regarding the strange god before her.

"I can't lose! Not to you!"

"You haven't lost, because I'm not fighting you," Liandra said. "The only person who is succumbing to despair is you. I won my battle against despair a long time ago. It has no power over me."

"NO!"

Sarene hurled an azure bolt of energy at Liandra, who sidestepped it like it had never been fired. Then she ducked the next, and the next. She started moving towards Sarene again.

"Fall, damn you!" Sarene said. "I can’t afford to lose!"

"So you keep saying," Liandra said, walking forward. Sarene summoned her Hydra one last time to defend herself, then sunk to her knees.

"Kill me," Sarene said. "I have failed. As a god, as a Dark God, and as your enemy. I can't even provide myself an appropriate death."

Liandra paused. Then she summoned her Soulsword again. She raised it high above her head and drove it deep into Sarene's heart. The Hydra that had been protecting Sarene was blown apart by the release of energy.

It's so bright, thought Sarene.

* * *

Vertigo seized the remnants of the spear and met Lassius' charge head-on. She wasn't going to meet him with force, she just needed to get close enough. She sidestepped his sharp ribs and, her fingers running over his armor, found a crack large enough.

"YEEEEEEEEARGH!" Vertigo cried, driving the spear deep into him. His warm black blood soaked her gray gloves. Lassius threw his arms wide and fell backward, hitting the ground so hard he made a crater.

Vertigo looked at him for a moment then nearly fell over. She felt the heaves coming and made no effort to restrain them. She wiped the blood from her lips and limped away.

She thought about when her life had changed. When Darken had entered her life and made her question everything.

Darken, she thought. Without you, would I have stayed the way I was, the berserker that longed only for the thrill of the fight, yearned to kill Phoenix and prove my superior might?

She smiled weakly. I even told him I loved him, she thought. And I do-- the silly bird. But not like how Phoenix loves you, sweet midnight angel. I do hope she'll forgive me for kissing you . . .

She was nearly a yard away when she heard stirring behind her. Rocks were sliding away. Like a slow avalanche. Or someone rising from one.

Lassius arose, slowly and unsteadily from the debris. In his simple mind were very few thoughts. Only that finding someone able to hurt him made him very happy indeed.

Vertigo looked at him, felt her power, much weaker now than it had been. Then she smiled, and laughed her slightly mad, crazy laugh. Then she drew herself to her feet standing tall.

"You won’t stay down," she said. "And you won’t let me go, will you?"

Lassisus advanced towards her, seething with anger.

"I thought so," Vertigo said. Her fists clenched. "It appears that to begin a new life, I must become the berserker one last time. If that is my only way . . ."

Vertigo charged into battle once again.

* * *

Phoenix slashed through another group of reinforcements. She felt herself tiring. Why am I weakening, she wondered. Is it because of the Dark Gods? Do they know I'm here? And that I know why now is the perfect time to strike them?

Her Talon destroyed a skiff full of undead Angels and returned to her. She threw it at a squad of Metalhawks a few yards away.

Her eyes narrowed on the towers in the distance. That's where you are, she thought, stopping to destroy another Metalhawk. I know your secret. You haven't adjusted to this plane of existence. You’re vulnerable. You can be hurt, even killed. And you have to be, if anything good is to survive in this world.

She fought her way through more of the armies, decimating their numbers with frightening ease. Her heart was heavy. Every one of these poor souls deserves better, she thought. The undead deserve to rest, and the Metalhawks deserve to have their souls taken out of these hateful machines.

I can't bear this anymore, she thought angrily. This war, this never-ending conflict. It has to end, and I will end it!

She threw her Talon straight ahead. It began to catch fire, expanding until it was a huge wheel of fire. It ripped through the enemy force, burning skiffs full of troops and Metalhawks, which exploded and took even more of the reinforcements with her.

They won't retreat, she thought. They can't, because they're forced by magic or technology to continue. This is so wrong! That I must kill so many to secure life's ultimate triumph of this death and decay.

* * *

Vertigo was striking wild now, letting the power choose where she struck Lassius. And she was guiding herself through. She understood, in her battle mania, how Lassius fought. She used her agility to slide underneath his arms and strike at his chest, and at his eyes, which were so tender and torn that Lassius could not blink without flooding his eyes anew with his blood.

Lassius was not roaring anymore, it was more a frustrated squeal. He was becoming annoyed now. Now longer was this woman a plaything or a worthy opponent. She was hurting him, and he found that quite intolerable.

Vertigo mistimed a strike to his face and Lassius took her arm in his. He held her there and kicked her hard in the stomach again. Vertigo felt her spine nearly break and a new welter of blood erupt from her mouth as her shoulder dislocated. Lassius lifted her high above his head and smashed her into the ground, as he had been.

He held her there, trying to suffocate her in the broken ground. Vertigo panicked, nearly to the point of death, then relaxed, waiting for him to make his judgement.

Finally, Lassius stopped. He turned away. Something in the sky had caught his eye. Vertigo waited for him to relax just a bit more. Then she seized his leg, and using her leverage brought him down. She rolled to her feet, jerking her shoulder back into place as she did.

It didn’t heal on its own this time, Vertigo thought. Not much time left.

* * *

Kirone threw the last of the Seketha into a pile. She had summoned them in for no other reason than to vent her spleen. She had been watching the battle and despite how well it seemed to be going, she was enraged beyond words.

She panted, trying to regain her composure. Garuda sat on the throne of the Angel King, lazing indifferently.

"Do you feel and better, my love?" Garuda asked.

"A little," Kirone said. "But not much. Garuda, may I say that I have nothing but the deepest, darkest, blackest, most vile contempt for those three misfits you call your brethren?"

Garuda didn’t change expression. His mind tried to find a compelling argument for what she was going to ask him, and he didn't quite feel like going out there just yet.

"They should be out there, helping to crush Darken and his two friends once and for all, and where are they? Even you can't seem to find them."

"There is something about this place," Garuda said, waving his hand lazily. "It interferes with our powers. They . . .aren’t as focused as they should be."

Kirone sneered. "That doesn't help me," she said under her breath. "I think you should go out and lead your Dark Gods into battle."

Garuda looked at her. "If I did, who would protect you?"

"I have managed just fine on my own until now, beloved," Kirone said, gathering her cloak about her.

"Wait a moment," Garuda said, turning his attention to the miasma before them. "It seems the strange one . . .what is his name? Adamov? He has gained the upper hand on Darken. And my son is killing his woman."

"Who's woman?"

"Adamov's."

"Oh dear," Kirone said. "And I promised them a happy life together."

"Such a pity she walked into the wrong place then," Garuda said, walking towards Kirone. His hands found her waist and drew her closer.

"Adamov may be rather upset when he finds out that all his good work on our behalf had bought him only a corpse," Kirone said.

"If he doesn't like it," Garuda said. "I suppose we'll have to kill him."

Kirone looked at Garuda. Then a slow smile crept over her lips. She winked at him, before turning back to the miasma.

"Just as well then, I suppose," she said. "He is getting a little tiresome."

* * *

Adamov, Vertigo thought. God, how I wanted to stay with you, to love you. I loved your gentleness, your kindness. I loved being wanted, and being valued. Why is that gone from you now? Why is it so hard for me to find love? It seems like I wasn't born for it. Not with you, not with Darken, not with anyone. It's so unfair!

Lassius was striking out at her again, but Vertigo had slowed him down. The dust kicked up by the battle was irritating his eyes and, even injured that made him too slow to stop her from gouging at him with every sharp object she could find. His hide's like a dragon's, she thought. Very tough, but vulnerable if you hit it just right . . .

He thrashed his arm at her, she swung on it, and kicked him in the face, making his eyes bleed ever more. Lassisus tried to grab at her with his other hand, but she ducked it.

She felt a burning pain in her side as she sidestepped. Power's nearly gone, she thought. It's not even blocking the pain anymore. Just hold on a bit more, please, just a bit more, let me get through this. Just when I actually need this power, please don't desert me.

The pain slowed her up just enough for Lanicrus to shred her chest armor off and catch her in the stomach with one of the bones on his forearms. Vertigo gasped as she felt the sharp bone enter her. She also felt the last of her power leave her. Lassius pulled the bone out, and Vertigo fell to the ground, holding her stomach.

She felt her blood, hot and sticky flowing from her. This is it, she thought.

* * *

Darken summoned the last of his strength and yanked at the whip. Adamov fell forward, his body weight unbalanced with his foot in Darken's back. He went sprawling to the edge of the deck, using his wings to rise back to his feet. Darken pulled the whip from his throat, the blood from where it had abraded his neck staining his white glove.

Soul energy crackled around Darken, casting deep shadows over his face. His left eye began to glow.

"I've tried to get through to you," Darken said, his voice thick with rage and pain. "But I can't. All that I can do . . . is stop you."

He summoned the lightning that was his to command into his hands. He formed it into a sphere of energy, gathering for a purpose. As Adamov lunged forward, Darken unleashed it.

"ELITE SPARK!" Darken cried. Adamov was hit full force by it, and almost immediately, he felt his systems shutting down. Wings, weapons, everything. He fell to the deck of the ship, unable to believe what he was feeling.

"Look . . .at me, you bastard," Darken said, the soul energy a whirling maelstrom around him. He raised his hands and began to draw the soul energy to him. "SOUL . . .CALIBER!"

Adamov was his so hard by the force of the blast he was physically blown through the ship, down through the skies where even now the charred remains of the reinforcements were falling into the sun at the heart of the Angel Sphere. The beam pushed him into the Imperial City, into the courtyard. Had Adamov taken time to look around--indeed, were he capable of it--he would have seen two things.

The first was Phoenix, battered but no less angry coming to land on the far side of the courtyard. She walked slowly forward, towards Lassius, weapons at the ready.

* * *

The other thing was behind Lassius, who had caught sight of Phoenix as she landed. Vertigo was laying there, bleeding to death, and her mind had drifted back to a curious time. Her first dragon hunt.

For two days on the trail she hadn't found one, then as she slept, one had found her. Caught her so totally by surprise, she had only one chance to kill it before it killed her. And amazingly enough, it had worked.

Oh for a sharp sword right now, she thought. A sharp anything would do.

Her hand closed around something. It felt familiar, not rocks or marble, but bone. His bones, she thought. The ones I broke off.

She tried to stand, but found the pain exploded through her to such a degree it made it impossible. I won’t accept that, she warned herself. I can’t accept it.

She summoned all her remaining strength and leapt to her feet. Lassius' head snapped back around to see what the noise had been, but by the time he could see what was happening it was too late.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHH!" Vertigo screamed. The scream was so loud it seemed to split and ignite the air around them. With the last of her strength, she shoved the piece of bone into Lassius' eye. She felt it puncture, and leaned forward, putting all her remaining weight into it. It sank a bit deeper. Lassius began to struggle and thrash about, but Vertigo just held on that much more. She locked her arms around him, so that the more he struggled, the deeper into his eye socket the bone went.

Finally, Lassius threw her off. Vertigo almost hit the wall headfirst, but was able to put her arms out and steady herself. Lassius took two steps back, shook violently, and fell forward, dead.

Vertigo took one step forward, her legs like water. It . . .worked, she thought. Just like with the dragon. Good thing . . .that monster . . .had a brain I could wound.

Her legs gave out, and she fell to her knees. Funny, she thought. It doesn't hurt as bad as I thought it would . . .

* * *

Darken flew off of the ship as it destroyed itself behind him. The battle and the damage it had caused it were too much for it. He followed the trail of destruction to the same courtyard Phoenix had landed in just seconds ago.

I don’t see Liandra, he thought. I hope she hasn't been killed, but at least Romanova made . . .

He blinked, willing himself to go faster.

No, he thought.

NO!

He came to a landing next to Phoenix. She had Vertigo's head on her lap, and her jacket had been torn to make bandages for her. Darken could tell just by looking at Vertigo she was just barely holding on.

Darken walked close to her, resting on his knees as well, he attempted to use a healing spell, but Phoenix, pushed away his hands, shaking her head.

"It's too late," she mouthed, pulling Vertigo close to her heart.

Vertigo looked at Darken. Darken, she thought. All she could do was think. The strength to speak wasn't there anymore. Midnight angel . . .I'm sorry I couldn't be someone you could love. But . . .I tried so hard . . .to win, to be like you, to be right . . .I hope I made you . . .proud. I . . .love . . .you.

Vertigo reached out to him. Darken took her hand, holding it tightly. Tears began to spill from his eyes like a waterfall. Not like this, he thought. He could feel her soul ebbing away. It wouldn’t be long now. It shouldn't have had to be this way. I shouldn’t have to say goodbye to someone else I care about.

Phoenix took Vertigo's other hand, holding it tightly. Phoenix looked down at her, and in an instant saw everything she had ever seen in those silver eyes, reflected, prism-perfect, at her. At last she understood why Vertigo was the way she was, and how she had resolved to change, despite the fact that it cost her the very life she was trying to change.

Phoenix, Vertigo thought. Fought you . . .so many times, and now, when I try to stand in your shoes, I . . .I . . .don't know. Just . . .take care of Darken. Remember . . .remember . . .what I told you . . .Don't let being a goddess . . .stop you from being . . .human.

She looked at Darken, then Phoenix, Darken was holding her head up now, and she could see both of them. Her enemies, her allies, and at last, at the end, her friends.

Now . . .everything . . .is . . .good, she thought. I . . . am good.

Her hands slipped from Darken and Phoenix's grasp. Vertigo closed her eyes and was gone. Phoenix gently let her rest on a pillow made from her tunic. Darken and Phoenix both were crying too hard to speak.

There were no words. At long last, Vertigo was dead. She had come in their lives as an implacable enemy, but had left it as something quite different from enmity.

They sat there in front of her, for what seemed like ages, trying to find something to say, but there was nothing. No words fit the moment. So they cried over her.

They heard a stirring in the distance. Darken turned to see if Lassius was moving. He lay there, very dead. The movement was coming from farther off. Darken stood up very quickly.

Adamov, he thought. He walked briskly towards them, damaged but intent, his crystal wings cracked and broken. Darken struck a ready stance, but Adamov didn’t seem to see him. Darken beckoned Phoenix to stand up, but Adamov seemed to ignore her too. He stopped in front of Vertigo's body as though he had run into a brick wall.

Phoenix moved towards her sword, but Darken shook his head and motioned for her to stay back.

Adamov picked Vertigo up, his arms, though mechanical, were very gentle with her. He lifted her up, as though he were carrying her off to sleep. Then he walked away from them both.

Adamov felt something happening inside him. Not in the machine parts of his body, but in the parts that had been dead, at least the parts he thought were dead. He was feeling again. And what he was feeling was pain.

He closed his eyes, then blinked, looking down at Vertigo. Something began to interfere with his eyes. He felt something on his face.

Tears.

With the realization came a torrent of sadness. Tears ran from his mechanical eyes like hard rain. Adamov could feel again. And all it took to make him feel was the death of his dreams and the breaking of his heart.