FFXIII: ROB's Wheel c86

“...So that’s how it works…” Alex dropped the last soldier who returned from his Cie’th state.

“The tattoos are like systems with several layers of usages,” Julis added as she was holding her chin with her hand. She was in her thinking mode.

“Can you remove the brands then?” Lightning asked them as she waited patiently for them to finish the group of Cie’th. Inori didn’t bother as she was sitting on one of the dead feline robots.

“Technically, yes, but I would suggest keeping them after altering a couple of things.” 

Julis explained while looking at her.

“This power allows you to access magic via crystal manipulation and even gain access to a summon.”

The ex-soldier girl frowned at hearing that.

“...I see… since you are done, we should continue towards where Serah is.”

While it sounded impressive, saving her sister is a priority; the rest can wait.

“Sure, then let’s go. We can practise on others if we encounter any of them.” Julis nodded as she looked at soldiers in a vegetable state.

She motioned with a hand, and all of the bodies ignited into piles of flames.

The group continued to walk towards the corridor, which became available after the enemies were defeated. At the end of the corridor, they found a lift that took them to higher floors.

The journey was short, as a couple of moments later, they arrived at another wide hall. However, this time, in the middle of the hall, there was a girl lying on the ground.

“Serah!!!”

Lightning dashed towards her sister. Alex and his group were much more tame in their approach as they slowly walked over.

“This is… such a trap,” Julis mumbled to Alex as they watched how the older pinkette was hugging the younger one.

“Yeah.” The Virus Progenitor nodded at her as they watched the reunion.

“...Sis?” Serah finally woke up as she looked at her older sister.

“I am here!”

“Yes…” she then looked around. She was super sluggish.

“...Can you sense that?” Julis whispered to Alex.

“Yeah, she is overloading with magic.” Alex noticed that, too.

Lightning’s ears perked up when she heard that. She looked at Alex’s group.

“What does that mean!?” 

But at that moment, a male voice loudly exclaimed.

“Serah!”

A blonde guy rushed towards them.

“That oaf! Get away from my sister!” 

Julis and Alex grimaced when they heard how cold the ex-soldier girl was towards this guy.

When the guy approached, the tattoo began to glow on Serah’s left shoulder.

“Serah?” 

“?”

The pair looked surprised as the girl began to float before turning into a crystal.

“No-no-no-no!!!”

The older pinkette exclaimed in disbelief as she tried to reach her, but a magical forcefield held her back.

“So that’s what it looks like.” Julis softly said under breath. It was a fascinating transformation for the Virus Eve.

While she does feel some pity in this situation, it is overshadowed by her curiosity.

“S-She succeeded with her focus?” Lightning realised that.

“There is something we can do! No?” Snow said with a serious tone.

“You! Shut up! You couldn’t protect her!” The older sibling of Serah got extremely snappy before looking at the group with a hopeful look.

“There is something you can do, no? You guys are like living crystals! There is something you can do!”

“Technically, we can. We can remove the crystal, but we have no idea about her mental state.” Julis said with crossed arms.

“She could be in a deep magical slumber; the crystal is keeping her body young. If the crystal is to be removed, she could die much quicker, " the Pink Princess reasoned with her.

“...There is no other way?” 

“...”

“...”

“...Well…”

“She could be turned into one of us.” Inori chipped in from the side.

“The complete change would immediately wake her up as she would be transitioned into one of us.” 

“What are you guys talking about?” Snow tried to understand what was going on. Not to mention the vibe he is feeling from these three… they are not humans… all of them have red eyes, and there is something unnatural about them!

“Shut up! I am trying to save my sister from her eternal sleep!” Lightning snapped back at him before returning to look at the trio.

“...I could work, as the shock could shock her entire system.” Julis nodded at the proposal as she ignored the exchange between Lightning and Snow.

“...”

Alex didn’t comment, just looking from the side at what his two girls were cooking. This was insane what they were proposing…

“Then do it!” Lightning said with a serious tone.

But then the whole place began to shake. The Vestige is being under attack. 

“Damn PSICOM!” She looked around as steel-like rods blasted inside the hall. They were huge compared to people's size.

“Quick! Can you store Serah on your device?” The pinkette realised that she could store Serah in Alex’s inventory.

“Umm, I can try.” He walked over and summoned his phone. Then, he selected the inventory. A white glowing wall appeared above the phone screen.

“What are you going to do?” Snow got in the way, but at that moment, Lightning got enough of the oaf and… kicked him in the side, making him tumble away.

“Not your business, you oaf! You had your chance, but you messed up in Bodhum!”

Julis looked at Lightning with an impressed gaze. The girl is ruthless and does not mind getting physical.

“...ugh! Serah is my fiance. You can’t just decide all the stuff like that!” 

But it was pointless for Snow to complain as the white wall swallowed the crystal statue of Serah.

“...Impressive! It appears people can be transported in your inventory! As long as it is not truly alive in a literal sense.” Julis slowly nodded. She got a couple of ideas on how to transport people now, too!

“We can discuss the kinks later! We need to get out of here.” Lightning got everyone's attention as the place kept on tumbling.

“You are not getting your revenge on the Fal’Cie?” Alex asked her curiously.

“...Since you can fly…” Lightning realised that she could indeed destroy the thing and get to safety to get help for Serah.

“Will you help?” She asked him as her hand went to her weapon.

“Of course.”

“Hah, I guess you are not that bad,” the ex-soldier girl smirked, feeling confident enough to deal with that with his support.

“We are coming with you.” Julis and Inori took a step forward as the pink princess saw the look Alex had. He WANTS to fight this living building’s core. What does he want to test?

“I am coming too!” The blonde guy dramatically clenched his fist.

“If you can fly, then sure,” Alex smirked as his white wings sprouted from his back. He then grabbed Lightning out of nowhere—in a princess carry, no less! The soldier pinkette had no time to react as he flew upwards towards Fal’Cie’s room. 

Julis rolled her eyes as her flaming crystal wings appeared on her back. She followed right after them, leaving only Inori to gaze in confusion.

Why are they flying?

The girl simply dashed through the stairs at absurd speeds.

“...”

“...”

“Damn it all! Ouch!” Snow grabbed his ribs as they were hurting.

Lightning kicked him with absurd force. She was trying to hurt him seriously.

Still, he fought through the pain! He needs to get to Serah!

~~~

“What is that thing? Is this a Fal’Cie’s core?” Julis exclaimed as she looked at a crystal/metal hybrid. It had large metal-like hands swirling around, protecting its crystal core.

“If I was a gambling man, that crystal is the core; destroy it, and the whole thing blows up,” Alex said while letting Lightning stand on her feet.

“A brilliant idea!”

Lightning dashed towards the Fal’Cie. She subconsciously used her Void Weapon to boost her speed as well.

The girl tried to stab the crystal core, but the metal hands created a force field around it, making her attack useless.

‘Damn, so that is your trick!?’ Lightning backflipped as she midair released a crescent-shaped wind at one of the hands.

Causing it to chip away a part of it.

Seeing this from the back, the trio decided to assist, as By this point, Inori was already next to them.

“Let's spam elements at it.” Alex clapped his hands as white and purple lightning gathered between his palms.

“Fine by me.” Julis lifted her right hand as a ball of multicoloured flames began to gather above her palm.

“Once we destroy the hands, you two attack the core!” Alex issued his commands to the two.

“Roger.”

The ex-soldier girl nodded as she backpedalled to make some distance.

“I take the right. You take the left hand.” 

“Alright.” 

As they finished planning Anima, the Fal’Cie stopped protecting itself and lifted its hands, showing its fingers from where the beams were gathering.

‘This whole fight is so fake…’ Albion commented as he knew the Fal’Cie was testing and was eager to die. For the so-called machines, they all want to die. To return to their creator’s embrace, they all got tired of ‘living’.

And this was no different. Not only does Anima have ‘patterns’, but it hasn’t branded the group or tried to brand them.

In other words, this was easy mode.

As the attacks were finished charging, the pair threw them. Alex threw his Javelin, and Julis threw her fireball.

Upon the impact, there was a large explosion.

Lightning looked at this as she clenched her weapon tighter. Sure enough, she saw one melted and the other shattered hand.

‘Nice! It shouldn’t have enough power to cast that barrier!’

Before she could even charge, Inori had already passed her and was in front of the Core. She stabbed both of her hand blades into the core.

This caused the huge thing to screech from ‘pain’.

Next thing they knew… they were transported into some sort of black realm!

The group of four were floating in a boundless darkness.

“Be careful there is a presence here! I sense… a god!”

“Did you just say, God!?” Julis and Lightning looked at Alex’s wings in disbelief.

Lightning, especially as it was double the shock for her as she saw those wings speak!

Sure enough, they saw some sort of light begin to appear before them.

[Pulse]

[The Hollowed God]

[Maker]

[Lv ? (8) God]

‘I-It has no level…’

‘I assume that this is because it's his realm…’ 

They realised that there was a bottom. At the bottom was black water, like a lake or something like that. From the water, a green crystal rose, forming a humanoid being with a half-visible face and the crystal as the core. The rest was some sort of material. The godling had countless tentacle-like arms that looked like cables… something like steel cables used for construction.

What Alex was looking at was a God of Creation. Well, not quite, as this god makes Fal’Cie and controls Earth itself. What makes stuff is actually the Fal’Cie itself.

So, a false creation god.

But it's strong nonetheless.

‘Think carefully if you want to fight this thing! It's at least six levels above you!’

‘Well, I can leapfrog those.’

While Alex knew facing a god in this state was super dangerous, he had this feeling from the new virus ‘gut’. His virus is itching to consume strong opponents, and nothing is more exciting than a god with a crystal core!

Pulse didn’t waste time as it summoned his tentacles and made them rush towards the group. The godling was ready to brand them as his l’Cie, but at that moment, Alex’s eyes began to glow as she spoke a ‘magical word’.

“Dragon…Fication!”

With a huge burst of purple-pinkish aura, a cocoon formed around Alex. By this point, Julis got the pair of girls to pull back so she could fly here.

Sure enough, a strange soul-screeching roar erupted from a cocoon, revealing a black Western dragon with a purple crystalline undertone. The dragon looked purely made from crystal.

The tentacles that were rushing towards them turned into purple crystals. When Pulse saw it, he roared in a strange mechanic roar, and the tentacles were disconnected from the main body and dropped into the water.

“Wrong move, buddy…”

Seconds later, the black water began to lighter as it started to change colour into purple…