Leo Simon
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Taking Up The Xenoblade Chapter 3
🕑 Added 2023-10-08 15:02:56 +0000 UTC"Where are all these things coming from?! I kill one and two more take their place! Why are they multifying like this?!" Reyn questioned, but he was probably being rhetorical. Especially considering that Shulk didn't know the answer, just where were the dozens of spiders coming from?!
He and Reyn had continued on the path out of Tephra cave, but right as they appeared by the entrance, an army of arachno's ambushed them. They were relentless and never-ending. Shulk was honestly contemplating simply running away, because the situation didn't seem winnable.
Despite the situation, Shulk retorted." The hell am I supposed to know! Monado Cyclone!" He stopped talking as he screamed the name of the Monado Art. Whilst he fought, he noticed that yelling the name of an Art gave the move a tiny bit of extra oomph. It wasn't much, especially considering the breath it took, but it was interesting to say the least.
A group of them surrounding him and Reyn were blown away, giving them a moment to breathe, but Shulk groaned in annoyance when a wave, twice the size of the last, rapidly scuttered their way. It was disturbing how relentless and fearless of death they were, like they were begging to die.
Shulk raised his sword up, but he was already starting to feel tired, and his fatigue only made his desperation grow. Even if they could deal with the monsters, their stamina was sorely limited, and they'd be overrun soon enough.
He just ahead of them, behind some stray arachnos, and to the light of the cave's exit. They didn't have a choice.
"Reyn, this is a losing battle, make a run for it!" His words carried an order that left no room for debate and, after a moment, Reyn nodded in agreement.
"You're right. These bastards are just wastin' our time anyway."
The two of them began to run towards the exit, determined to outrun the army on their tail, but just before they managed to reach sweet freedom, Shulk was overwhelmed by a vision that made him halt his advance as events passed through his eyes like a movie strip.
Shulk ran by Reyn's side, just about to pass through the tunnel that would give them their escape, but right before they were given the chance to pass through-
A massive figure descended from above the cave, crashing onto the floor and picking up dust, which made Shulk and Reyn shield their eyes, and when they finally peaked through they were taken by the sight of a massive queen arachno, huge enough to likely eat them whole, loomed over them high enough to cast a shadow over the two of them, with their mandibles clicking menacingly and their rocky armour-like skin shifting in an unnatural way.
By the time they reacted, it was far too late. The massive beast raised a sharpened leg above their head, poised to skewer them through the chest, and Reyn reacted before Shulk managed to move an inch.
The auburn haired young man acted fearlessly and without hesitation, he shoved his friend harshly out of the way, but was left vulnerable and unable react as the monster shoved it's leg forward and attacked him.
Reyn's chest gave out instantly under the pressure of the sharp limb. He coughed up blood as his eyes widened with pain and fear as he stared down at his chest with horror. He raised his hand, to do what exactly he probably didn't know, but wasn't given the chance to do anything more than that as the giant spider ripped it's leg out of his chest. Leaving him to fall limply to the ground.
"Reyn!"
Shulk let out a panting breath as his vision ended, he felt a sudden urge to throw up, but ignored it as pure fear clouded his mind as his best friend . Reyn was about to die.
He might not have been the real Shulk, at least not totally, but one thing he did know was that he cared about Reyn. They'd known each other for a very short amount of time, but they were close. He had so many good memories from the old Shulk because of Reyn, he felt them. They might not have been his, but he felt what Shulk felt in that moment. He knew who Reyn was like no one else.
Reyn was kind-hearted, cheerful, energetic, and selfless. Reyn cared about him like nobody else. He didn't want him to die. He didn't want to lose his best friend.
"REYN!" He screamed with desperation in his voice, not noticing as the Monado clutched in his right hand activated with blue sparks pulsing off it's glass hilt. A new symbol appearing in the hilt.
Reyn looked backwards at his words, not noticing the monster which loomed menacingly above him, clicking and stuttering creepily, until it charged downwards, making him turn around and come face-to-face with the giant arachnid which held it's leg up like a spear ready to run him through.
He closed his eyes as he moved to shield himself with his driver, but Shulk wasn't taking any chances as he ran forward with all his strength and speed, screaming his lungs out all the while, as he put himself between the beast and his friend, not noticing as the Monado shined a brilliant white and the sword dissipated into pure light and coiled around around his arm like a snake.
The monster shrilled as it brought it's leg down, expecting to cut right through it's prey, but was forced backwards as the Monado sprouted like a flower on Shulk's wrist and transformed into a sturdy looking red shield, with a pane of glass dead in it's centre, that easily parried against the incoming strike and he roared with adrenaline in his veins!
Reyn looked up from his driver, shocked to see his friend wielding a shield, but reacted quickly and put himself right besides Shulk, who also looked surprised with his sword's transformation.
"What happened to the Monado?!" He questioned, but looked behind his shoulder for a second and grimaced at the reminder that an army of arachno were still charging their way." You know what, that's a question for another time! We need to deal with these pricks first!"
The queen arachno was still reeling back from the previous parry, courtesy of his shield, but in just a few moments it'd snap back into action. He needed to react before that happened, or they were doomed.
Shulk glanced at the shield attached to his arm, which seemed to shrink down a good bit when he lost focus, with interest and confusion. He had no idea what happened to the Monado, but it had transformed into a shield for some reason. It was convenient, considering that he wouldn't have been able to block that attack otherwise, but he couldn't exactly stab something with a shield! He needed his sword back goddammit!
Shulk snapped into action and quickly jumped over a blow sent by the arachno, which had regained it's stability, and his mind raced at a hundred miles an hour as he raised his shield, which seemed to expand and grow to block a second follow-up attack.
A shield was good for defence, but he needed to counterattack at some point, so he needed to change weapons. Surely it wasn't as simple as just thinking about his-
His shield flashed and seemed to deconstruct itself into the classic sword form of the Monado, which activated instantly to unleash it's light blade
-alright, that works too.
He charged forward, using his smaller and swifter stature to rapidly slash and hack away at the giant spider with extreme ease and precision, as though his arms were being guided as he swerved and danced around the creature, it's screams and roars of pain filling the area as he cut away at the flesh of the monster.
He panted with exhaustion, but that didn't do anything to dissuade him, in fact Shulk just picking up the pace as blood spilled everywhere, but was forced to stop when he was thrown backwards by a desperate charge from the creature, who was littered with cuts and leaking blood everywhere, that advanced on him whilst he was thrown to the ground and exhausted.
Shulk gritted his teeth as his legs shakily brought him to his feet, but he was just able to raise his sword to defend himself when the queen arachno lunged at him with it's jaws open wide, clearly wanting to swallow him whole.
But, that proved unnecessary. Reyn suddenly jumped over him and landed in front of Shulk, his driver positioned to hold the creature back. He was stopping the massive monster from advancing with nothing but his own human strength!
"Shulk, things aren't ending here! Like you said earlier- argh! A bunch of stupid bugs aren't gonna be the end of us!" Reyn spoke, but his own grunts cut him off as he struggled to hold strong, with his legs skidding backwards towards the young man behind him.
He stared at the Monado and grit his teeth, something sparking inside him that renewed him with strength, and he jumped off his feet as his eyes narrowed and the Monado pulsed with a familiar symbol. He landed on the arachno's head, the creature letting out an almost comical grunt of surprise, before pointing the light blade right at the arachno's eye as he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"DIE!"
Then, without any hesitation, he shoved it into the creature's eye... before it expanded and punched through the colossal spider's skull with Monado Buster!
The brutal move left the creature able to do little more than give a brief, and pained, cry of horror before it went completely limp and collapsed under it's own weight. Reyn looked completely shocked at the display of brutality, but nobody was more shocked than him.
The Monado de-activated, blood spilling out of the wound when the sword stopped blocking the hole through the corpse's skull, as Shulk let out a tired gasp and placed the sword on his back after he looked behind his back and saw that there were no other enemies behind them. They finally had their peace.
Well, as much as they could considering what he just did.
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You know, in his entire life Shulk never really had a moment where he felt small. He'd seen big animals, buildings, even some massive landmarks. However, he could say, at that moment, he felt so insignificant it was almost nauseating.
"Geez, I am never gonna get used to seeing this." Reyn's voice carried an uncharacteristic seriousness as both of them stared upwards, their gazes piercing through the clouds and taking in the true majesty of the Bionis.
He felt puny in that instance when he compared myself to the terrifying size of the two Titans. He could hardly even make out the Bionis head, yet the horn and far more sleek overall appearance made the organic humanoid look even more imposing than a regular human.
It was insane that something so gigantic was truly... well alive wasn't quite the right word. In the end, Bionis was just a vessel for Zanza. Without Zanza the Titan was just an empty husk. A body without a soul.
Shulk frowned as he grabbed the Monado off his back and stared at it for a moment, the glass sheath reflecting the thoughtful expression he had stuck on his face. Zanza's Monado was something that he required to complete his goals, yet he also didn't much want to be manipulated into doing Zanza's bidding.
However, much of what he'd need to do when it comes to slaying the Mechon happens to coalesce with what Zanza wants. The god wants to kill Mechonis, he had to fight Mechonis. The god wanted Egil dead, he had to beat Egil.
He had to free the Monado, Zanza wanted the Monado freed. That last one was a big problem for Shulk, since he couldn't stop Egil's murder spree without the full power of his Monado, yet freeing the Monado by killing the body of that giant in Prison Island would likely give Zanza a higher degree of influence over him.
Then again, he really didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to live. Plus, the sword likely wouldn't be able to control him complete-
The Monado activated and sparked wildly without warning, a new symbol appearing in the hilt, and after a second Shulk's eyes flashed blue as a series of flashes passed through his eyes.
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Shulk could only pitifully attempt to rise to his feet as his voice carried the full weight of his desperation." Juju!"
He glared hatefully at the bronze robot as his normally blonde hair was dyed dark red, the colour of blood and oil." I bet they all had things they wanted to do as well!"
Dunban glared firmly as he pointed his sharp steel at the cornered form of Metal Face." A monster like you could never defeat the likes of us! No matter how many times you kill us we will rise once again! Others will rise in our memory stronger than ever! Because, we are Homs, and you are nothing compared to us!"
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Shulk fell to his knees in exhaustion as the Monado de-activated and returned to it's hilt, his breath shallowed and uneven as Reyn approached his side.
Reyn's voice was full of concern and confusion as he noticed his friend's state." Hey, Shulk! What happened?! Why are you so exhausted?"
He grabbed Shulk's shoulder in concern, and received a few words from his friend in response." It's- it's nothing. The Monado just showed me a vision, but it was draining me this time. I'm just tired is all."
Those words made Reyn back off a little, though he did ask." Have they never done that before?"
Shulk shook his head before elaborating." No. They never sucked the stamina out of me like that before, in fact they usually energise me. But, this one was like-"
The blonde got back on his feet, shaking off Reyn's concerns with his arms as he stated." We should keep walking. We aren't going to make the Mechon pay by standing around here doing nothing."
Shulk was about to keep moving, however Reyn was having none of that as he grabbed his friend's shoulder strongly." What did you see in that vision Shulk? Was it anything really important?"
He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to explain what he saw." It's... hard to explain what I saw without context. I saw a red haired boy named Juju, another Mechon with a face, and then there was Metal Face. In that last one we were fighting him with Dunban by our side."
Reyn was satisfied with the answer, so he let Shulk go and crossed his arms." Sounds like you saw quite a bit. Not exactly a lot to go off of, but it's better than nothing. We'll walk for a bit longer, then we'll take a rest once we make it near the lower thigh. Have you got the energy for it?"
Shulk paused for a moment, considering how much energy he had, and nodded." Like I said, I'm alright. If I get tired then I'll tell you."
The burly redhead smirked at that." You better. There's no way I'm carrying you like a bride if you collapse on the road."
Shulk snorted at the jab." I guess I'll just have to keep up then. I'm not gonna defeat the Mechon if stamina is my main problem."
Though, despite the banter they were currently trading, Shulk was trying very hard not to think about what he'd seen in that vision. About what he hadn't mentioned to Reyn.
The sight of a dead boy's body.
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On the deck of the Monoceros, two pairs of Drivers and Blades were fighting with everything they had, swing after swing was sent each others was, and both of them could tell that the other was aiming for blood.
Malos' face contorted in annoyance and rage as yet another one of his slashes was met with equal force by the red Aegis Sword." You're annoyingly persistent, you know that, boy!"
Rex just smirked at that as he jumped back to put some distance between them." I've heard that one before, but tell me this. Just who are you, and why are you after Pyra? Might as well be honest with me."
Malos didn't seem amused with the question though." Why the hell would I tell you, because you asked nicely? Get real, kid. I'm after the Aegis because she has something that belongs to me! Something I've been missing for five hundred years! And I'm taking it back right now!"
He threw a powerful cut of wind ether through the sharp end of his blade. Rex rolled evaded the attack then he held up the Aegis Sword, the emerald crystal in the hilt shining brightly as flames built up along the blade, before he thrust it forward and unleashed a stream of flames that were aimed straight for Malos.
The black warrior just scoffed though, countering the fire by throwing a punch infused with dark ether directly in front of the fire. The force from the blow was enough the counter the attack as darkness met fire and cancelled each other out leaving nothing behind but an annoyed looking Malos, who was getting more pissed off by the minute.
Rex was considering his options carefully as he allowed himself to breathe. He was matching Malos for the moment, however with the way the winds were blowing, their smartest move would have been to wait for the opportunity to retreat. One he knew was coming.
Glancing to the side briefly, Rex could see that Pyra was keeping Sever distracted, whilst Nia and Dromarch were merely observing. The same as Jin. He could likely make his escape with Pyra and the other two when-
"Don't take your eyes off me brat!"
Rex immediately turned his head, only to instantly raise his sword when Malos went flying at him and he moved to block a strike from his tonfa, only to jerk to the side when a hand full of dark ether swiped at him. He didn't know what that would do exactly, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be good.
Malos sneered with distaste as he followed up with several blows whilst Rex was forced onto the defense. He was ranting with anger as he pushed Rex backwards." You humans are all spineless little pests, you kill each other like you swat flies and run to oblivion like headless chickens! Even you, brat! You probably think that you're hot stuff because the Aegis took pity on you and saved your worthless life! Well here's a reality check-"
Malos followed up by slashing the red great sword aside, then he raised his free fist and threw it forward right at the salvager's guts!
Rex, in response to this, managed to hastily raise his arm to block the attack, but the impact of the blow sent him reeling back with pain as he once again tried to let himself catch a breath. But, Malos wouldn't allow that.
Shifting his tonfa into a sword, Malos' eyes shined with satisfaction as he prepared to thrust the sword through Rex's guts and kill him in one move.
"Dromarch!"
Malos' brief satisfaction was cut short, because the white tiger unleashed a powerful blast of water ether that would have struck Malos directly if it weren't for the sudden intervention of Sever, who cast an ether barrier in the way of the attack. Malos lost focus when Dromarch used an attack, this opening enabled Rex to counter slash and regain his footing in their duel by using another Art.
"Double Spinning Edge!"
Shaking in barely contained rage, Malos shouted out in frustration as his opponent spun like a shuriken, casting his sword aside with ease, and in the second slash the great sword his him right in the centre of the chest and tore his chest plate right off!
"Bastard!" Malos yelled out as his temper finally snapped with the armour which was thrown off his body. He jumped backwards to Sever's side, a hand concealing his Core Crystal protectively, but it was too late to hide it from his foes.
Rex, having caught sight of the core in Malos' chest, taking a moment to catch his breath as Malos finally gave him some breathing room, decided to drop a few words." The hell his up with your Core? Why is it smashed like that?" Of course he knew, though he wasn't going to let on that he did.
"That would be my doing." Pyra answered as she protectively placed herself in front of Rex, frowning as Malos glared at them." Though, apparently I wasn't thorough enough with ending you before. Maybe this time you'll stay down, Malos."
Malos' grey eyes narrowed dangerously as he clenched his fist over what was left of his shattered Core Crystal and hardened his eyes as he reigned in his anger." I'm afraid the only one dying will be you, Mythra. Don't think I've forgotten about that Driver of your either. It looks like you've bonded with another piece of human trash. How pathetic. We're destroyers, so why don't you give me back my powers and let me pick up where I left off five hundred years ago?!"
Pyra, unfazed by Malos' ranting, only set her gaze on the other Aegis with determination." No way! Three Titans have already died because of this power, and I refuse to let any more perish! This power won't be used, by you or by me!"
Malos sneered, disgust clear on his features, as he spat out his next words." Pathetic. It's bad enough that you won't let me use our powers, but you're even weakening yourself because you're afraid of hurting a few humans! What a useless Aegis you are!" After uttering out those words, Malos set his glare on his next target." And, don't think I haven't forgotten about you, Nia! You'd side with the enemy and betray own for some boy you hardly even know! Have you gone mad?!"."
Nia bristled from her position on top of Dromarch, and yelled out with anger in her voice." You're the one who's gone soft in the head! Wailin' on a child and talking about murdering a whole ship of people! Where the ell' do you get all that nerve from?!"
Malos' face contorted in fury as his voice carried a violent threat under it as he gave his verdict." Fine, if that's really how you feel, you can just die with the two of them!"
Almost following his commands, a massive ship suddenly rose out of the Cloud Sea. Rex cursed internally as several powerful looking cannons locked right onto them and fired two missiles that shot straight for them!
Rex jumped backwards as he yelled out." Pyra, block it!"
The red haired Aegis easily did as she was told, holding her hand up to cast a yellow comb-like shield that spanned across the air in front of her hand, and when the missiles were launched they exploded against the barrier, yet it held strong and sturdy against the barrage.
The same couldn't be said for Nia. Dromarch put up a barrier, copying Pyra, however the results didn't protect his Driver. Nia was sent flying off her Blade's back and off the side of the ship, and would have fallen into the Cloud Sea were it not for Rex.
"My Lady!" Dromarch yelled, however he wasn't able to run after her because of the unrelenting volley of missiles he had to block with his ether barrier. Instead, Rex was forced to pick up the slack as he ran with powerful strides towards the soaring Gormotti girl.
"Nia!" He yelled out as he threw his sword backwards, knowing that Pyra might need it, and jumped overboard to grab the cat girl's arm before shooting his grapple into the side of the ship, stopping them from descending further.
Rex felt the his arm strain as he suddenly stopped falling, nearly losing his grip, yet he didn't let go of Nia as he grit his teeth, only to curse when the cannons pointed themselves at him.
"Oh shit." He could only let out those two words as his mind raced. His limited options became apparent, and he even considered just letting Nia go to die so that he would have better odds of dodging the missiles, but he instantly threw that option out the window, being too disgusted by the thought to even consider it.
He didn't want to just let Nia die like that, he wouldn't even be her murderer technically speaking, he'd have just failed her. Yet, it felt wrong to abandon her like that to save himself.
Rex was cut out of his thoughts when a few balls of fire suddenly crashed onto the pair of cannons locked onto him and Nia, and when he found the culprit he couldn't help but smile in appreciation.
The giant dragon-like body of Azurda flew through the smokescreen created by the fireballs as he flew past Rex and circled backwards towards both Jin and Malos, he proceeded to unleash several more blasts of magma to distract them before he flew downwards towards the many humans that were in need of an escape.
"Rex, get on boy!" The Titan's words were commanding and booming as he passed the Salvager by and angled himself for the boy to land on his back.
Pyra, seeing this, mounted herself on Dromarch's back and the tiger ran swiftly towards their Drivers, leaping off the boat as she called out to Rex with her hand outstretched." Rex, grab my hand!"
He grit his teeth as he lugged Nia onto his shoulder, noting how she seemed smaller than him for some reason, and placed his feet on the side of the boat before pushing off to grab Pyra's outstretched hand and being pulled onto the back of the flying Titan. Where Rex's old home supposedly laid.
Rex landed on Azurda's rough back and placed Nia on the ground to be looked over by Dromarch, and afterwards he thanked the red haired woman right next to him." Thanks, Pyra."
The red haired woman was about to respond, however the boom of missiles cut them off as they all fell and were given no choice but to hold onto the Titan's back for dear life as he rocked violently under the ballistic assault as the makeshift home on top of Azurda fell apart like a house of cards.
Nia very nearly slipped off, however Dromarch managed to grab hold of her hood with his mouth and drag his Driver back onto Azurda's back where he prioritised her safety by protectively pulling her unconscious form onto his back to hang off his fur.
Meanwhile, Malos could only curse out as they flew away." Shit! They gave us the slip! Jin, turn the ship around we need to go after them!"
However, instead of appearing angry or frustrated, the masked man merely remarked." There's no point. Azurda is faster than our ship, we'd just be wasting time going after him."
Malos seemed to consider his words and calm down, he placed a hand over his shattered amethyst core as he looked down at his hand, before he set his eyes back on the place where the Aegis had escaped." You're right, Jin. But, we'll need to go after them again soon. I don't intend to wait another five hundred years to get my powers back."
The white haired man turned around, starting to walk away as he just stated." You won't. The Aegis is awake, right now that's enough, I'll just have Akhos hunt them down. It won't be long now, so turn the ship around."
The dark haired man accepted that easily enough, turning to join Jin's side as Sever followed behind him." Yeah, you're right."
Malos gave one final glance over his shoulder before he walked away to join his friend's side, and proceeded to complain about his exposed core.
"I need a new chest piece. Hopefully one that won't break so easily."
