Chapter 325 – The Final Battle (Part Two)

Xeroha held Helio’s shoulder and punched him. 

Argh! He groaned but returned the favor. 

Slam!

Wham!

They kept on punching but it didn’t work. It didn’t work on Xeroha. Helio, on the other hand, was already battered. 

He was recovering but just not fast enough. 

Balls of purple energy were headed this way- but Xeroha just flicked them back.

‘What happened to my healing?’

He grabbed her shoulder and started disintegration. 

But- but it only disintegrated a bit of her armor. And even that part just repaired itself. 

‘Shit.’

Xeroha smiled- kicking him back. She walked slowly towards him. Enira tried to claw her, but Xeroha just flicked her towards the other commanders who were busy crushing Breya. 

“The punches that day kind of hurt you know.” Xeroha stood just in front of Helio. 

Meanwhile, it took a lot of effort on Helio’s part to just stay still. Was something wrong with his body? Did something happen inside?

And why was he getting random glimpses of memories?

Did his damned other self seriously started to break the third seal?

‘Damn it, why now?’ The timing couldn’t be worse. 

He not only felt weak, he was often getting lost in thought and losing focus. 

And in a battle where even a slight lapse of focus meant defeat-

This wasn’t good and he knew it. 

  He tried to punch the girl- as his sword was still stuck to her chest. 

But the girl just grabbed his hand- smiled and slammed him on the ground. The sword fell just meters away. “Well, this is still kind of entertaining… I guess? Maybe?” She hovered her feet just above his head. “As I mentioned. It kind of hurt. So just returning the favor. Nothing personal.” She almost sang the words. 

“Well, it feels personal to me.” Helio also smiled and tried to use his saber; it did not work- no. 

Xeroha made a large plasma ball and held it over her head. She proceeded to drop it straight at Helio’s face- jumping back. She was definitely going to step on him later though. 

Helio closed his eyes- focusing. Hands facing up. 

He had a lot of barriers; he also tried his best to push on the ball but it was too big. 

And the barriers were breaking. 

Enira and Breya were occupied so they couldn’t just come to his aid either. 

‘Well, this was a bad idea…’ 

‘Switch!’

‘Wait- what?’

Darkness started spreading from below him. 

Nostalgic. 

***

And he could hear voices. “I’ll take the right.”

“You-” The shadow was surprised for a moment. “You’re okay now?”

“Yeah… liquid darkness says hi.”

“You and your shitty names.” He chuckled. 

‘I’ll lose control if I get out, so I’m leaving things to you two….’ The third voice resonated within him.

Power surged within Helio and the weakness gradually faded. The shadow and he began to merge and the third seal just broke, all at once. 

The large plasma ball wasn’t forcing him down anymore. Rather, he was gradually standing up.

And the darkness below him was slowly gobbling up the plasma like a baby sucking his mother’s breasts… gentle yet not so gentle at the same time. 

Helio cut through the plasma with his saber- a small explosion resulted but it did nothing to him. 

He came out unscathed. His wounds healed. His healing was back in full form. And some part of his body was black in color, like the black soldiers. But there was a certain pattern on his body- almost like Xeroha’s armor; gold patterns, the same ones he saw when he was about to kill his grandfather. 

His darkness flowed out of his body like flames.

“I knew you’d come around!” Enira yelled from afar- while chewing on the other commander’s head while Breya was just sucking the other one’s blood from his neck- somehow. 

Some feelings evoked in Helio as he remembered that the sisters were in fact his grandmothers…

He proceeded to ignore those feelings. 

“Anyway,” he spoke. His voice and the shadow’s voice resonated. “Where were we?” He taunted Xeroha.

And he also got slightly cockier. 

Xeroha dismissed her spear. Instead, she pulled out massive guns; two guns, almost like RPG launchers. Again, seemingly out of nowhere. And she also made large plasma balls. “Did you know we can survive in space? But- can you?” And she was happy to oblige to the taunt. 

The plasma balls just kept on getting bigger and bigger. 

It was clear what she was trying to do. 

Helio also formed a plasma ball- but instead of going big, he was going small. He was going pure white. 

And he fired it just before she could. 

The two plasma balls clashed, sending lighting and flares everywhere- burning everything down. 

But Helio wasn’t done. “I’ll guide the darkness.”

“And I’ll take over saber and the rest-” The shadow said. 

They were in this together. 

‘I’ll just keep on watching…’ the third one sulked.

They could not help but chuckle. 

If they failed here, the world was going to be destroyed and their friends and family along with it. 

That was the reason why he abandoned everything and came here. He didn’t want them to get hurt. 

And yet, if he failed now- then- was there a point?

“ARHHH!” He just stood below the large plasma ball and used barriers while trying to consume it with his darkness. But as Helio could only guide the darkness- it wasn’t too effective as, perhaps, directly controlling it. 

Xeroha tried to attack him but Enira and Breya were keeping her stalled. Neither party was doing any damage to the other. But it was getting on Xerohas’s nerves and so she just pulled out a broadsword. 

“This is not working…” Helio said. 

“Yeah, that’s not helping!”

“Less talk, more work?” Enira yelled, partially transforming and trying to bite Xeroha. 

“Got any bright ideas, Liquid?” the shadow asked. 

‘You’re calling me that too?’ He almost sounded dejected. ‘Release me for two seconds.’

Helio and the shadow remained quiet for a bit… but in the end, they mentally agreed.. “Alright.”