Kaiden made the first move. He charged towards Lyn at lightning speed, nearly crushing her from the impact with his gauntlet hand pressing against her chest. He shoved her toward the entrance of the lord's chamber until they collided against it. Lyn was pinned between his gauntlet's force and the force crushing behind her.
Chuckling maniacally, Kaiden primed his gauntlet's cannon. Energies mixed with the air around his massive aura, charging his fist with killer intent. After Lyn desperately struggled to escape Kaiden's pressure, she caught her infused blade with her left hand and perforated Kaiden's left knee, causing him to release her.
Lyn held a deep breath before sending a piercing kick towards Kaiden's stomach, sending him soaring toward the golden throne. He collided with it, shattering it into pieces. After making a quick recovery, Lyn's lightspeed agility met with Kaiden's face as she lunged at him midair, eyes dilated in spiteful rage.
Kaiden raised his gauntlet in time, clashing with Lyn's blade. The two of them held their positions, pressing down with intense power to send shockwaves across the chamber. Lyn and Kaiden clenched their teeth altogether as Kaiden's gauntlet reared itself upon again to send a violent blast of golden flame, knocking her back once more.
"I'll tear out your heart, Lord SLAYER!" Kaiden shouted, charging towards her once more with several fast punches in succession raining toward Lyn's bodyframe.
Lyn managed to block the first few attacks with her blade, but nothing could outmatch the raw power of Kaiden's infused gauntlet. After catching her stuck on the ground, left knee pinned toward the force of his strength, Kaiden slammed his gauntlet down at her blade even further to add more pressure. She rolled out of the way as Kaiden shattered a portion of the ground beneath her.
Seeking the failed attack as a retaliation tactic, Lyn charged forward, hoping to pierce through Kaiden's back, yet Kaiden was swift. He rammed his gauntlet outward toward Lyn's chest, sending her flying away towards the ground once more.
As Lyn coughed up blood and clenched her stomach in pain, she gritted herself and looked upward, watching Kaiden leap at her with his gauntlet primed midair. Without enough time to distance himself from him, Kaiden fired a golden cannonball, nearly the size of a watermelon, toward her. The cannon struck Lyn directly, sending her tumbling past the ground and destroying the entire establishment's ground altogether.
While the cannon struggled to blast Lyn's entire body into pieces from the raw amount of energy, she managed to free her hands and slice the cannonball into halves. As she reached a lower level of the palace, Kaiden continued to pressure her by reaching for her head with his left hand. A quick seize of her head gave Kaiden the confidence to lift her in the air as debris from the palace collapsed beside them.
"What's wrong, Lord Slayer? I thought you were better than this!" Kaiden taunted.
A swift upward kick sent Kaiden's arm outward, which ultimately released his grip on her. Lyn dashed back, realizing her condition was sloppy and poor against her second METIS Lord. Kaiden wiped the side of his mouth with his arm, smiling at her with a barbaric commitment to destroy.
"I must thank you, Lord Slayer," He began. "I've never fought as strong as you before. I've never felt more entertained, more alive!"
Without Alfaic, Lyn was at a disadvantage. But she couldn't let his absence control her fighting prowess any longer. She had to strategize a way to defeat Kaiden by exploiting a weak spot that she continued to notice; his slow speed and the center of his cannon. A single penetration through the cannon with her blade would suffice to transform the lord into a regular human being.
"Scared, are we? You're not living up to what you did earlier, Lord Slayer!"
Lyn dashed underneath Kaiden and slid past the two of his legs, leaving him exposed from the rear. As she sought to stab through his stomach from the back, she anticipated his counter-swipe from his massive gauntlet and hopped over him once more, seizing a firm grip onto one of the gears on his gauntlet. She stabbed through the hole where his cannon would empty itself, striking Kaiden directly into several nerve endings.
"AGH!" Kaiden's shrill cry made the cannon detonate in energy to shove Lyn back once again. "You absolute wretch!"
Placing his cannon on the ground once more, Kaiden detonated several tremors on the ground to destroy the foundation they stood on once again. Lyn clenched her teeth and leaped to the side of the wall to hold on, but Kaiden had been watching her the entire time. He jumped up with her and reached out with his left hand to grab her head once more.
Yet Lyn was fast. She spun around Kaiden's hulking body and grabbed redirected force onto the back of his head, pushing the both of them down multiple stories of the palace until they reached the pinnacle of the underground. Kaiden screamed in pain as Lyn's eyes closed slightly to cover the debris they ran into. At last, they reached the lower most level; an abandoned section of the palace that was dedicated to ceremonies for up and coming soldiers and priests.
The two found themselves clashing with each other once again after Kaiden escaped her grasp, shoving the two of them back. Kaiden regained control of his body and stood up, transforming his cannon into a mechanical gauntlet, which seemed colossal enough to break boulders with a single flick of a finger.
"Let the world know this..." Kaiden spoke slowly. "I am the absolute strongest, and this world is MINE!" He leapt into the air and dove down into the ground with his gauntlet pressed downward, disappearing into the weak sands below and hidden from sight.
Tremors shook the foundation of where Lyn stood. After a hasty, yet impulsive leap in the air, Kaiden's large gauntlet raised itself from the sand and snatched Lyn's leg. He slammed Lyn multiple times on the sand, leaving her no time to recover before tossing her against the wall.
Lyn squelched in pain before struggling to grab her sword on time. She spat out more blood before quickly seizing it, but not before Kaiden snatched her leg once more from underground.
"This is your burial ritual, Lord Slayer!" He pulled Lyn underneath the sands, intending to drown her like quicksand, but Lyn was desperate. After holding her breath while Kaiden stared directly into her suffering soul, she snatched control of another gear his gauntlet and revved it back, igniting a flame that seethed deep in the sand between them. The two separated, but Kaiden vanished upward while Lyn was left to drag herself out.
After escaping, Kaiden sent his leg toward Lyn's stomach to kick her back on the ground. Without a blade, Kaiden reared his gauntlet back, intending to crush Lyn's skull as he promised.
But it was all part of Lyn's initial plan. She tackled the gauntlet head on, reaching her left hand outward towards it. As the gauntlet shattered her bones beneath her hand, which caused her wrist to curve outward, she seized control of one final gear in his gauntlet and yanked it outward, causing the weapon to seize out of control.
"NO!" Kaiden shouted, struggling to maintain his weapon.
Lyn, knees on the ground, readjusted her wrist from her healing abilities and took the opportunity to strike his gauntlet. She sent a powerful slash toward his gauntlet, but before it connected, he transformed it into a smaller cannon, leaving her to miss her attack.
"It's OVER!" Kaiden bellowed, slamming his cannon against Lyn's stomach against the ground. Lyn clenched her teeth as her entire body was trapped in the sands. The heat from the cannon seared her body, leaving her powerless to escape.
Yet before he could fire the final blow, a bullet struck the left of his weakened forearm, stunning him in agony. A swift glance from above revealed Ardine, arriving to the battle just in time to save Lyn.
As both of their gazes met each other for the first time in years, Kaiden's unbridled rage for Ardine distracted him from his current target. Lyn, who escaped from his pressure and the sands below her, snatched control of her blade and plunged it into Kaiden's knee. As he collapsed to the ground, Lyn rolled forward with her blade and intended to execute him by decapitating him, but a desperate call from Kaiden pushed her back with his bullet-shot arm.
The structure above Ardine collapsed as the airship conflict underground began to take its toll on the palace. "Lyn!" He called just as he disappeared from the vicinity.
Lyn met her final match on the ground, laid flat on her stomach. Her blade was in arm's reach as Kaiden was about to make one final push off the ground with his impaled knee. Her pupils dilated as the adrenaline to make the final blow reached her. She sprinted toward and snatched her blade, but she was too late to reach for his head.
A forceful final swing delivered from Lyn sliced directly down the middle of his lower wrist, severing his gauntlet-protected hand off of Kaiden's body. The force of the swing was so mighty that it sent Lyn tumbling toward the ground, breathless from the battle. Kaiden, left awake in despair from his severed limb, screamed in absolute torture as scarlet blood spewed violently from his cleanly cut arm.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Kaiden screamed at the top of his lungs. He collapsed on his knees as Lyn looked up at him, too weakened to even execute him further. She only continued to witness Kaiden's agony, painting the collapsing walls and ground with his non-stop bloody torment. "MY HAND! WHAT DID YOU DO? I'LL KILL YOU!"
The memory of Alfaic being taken away by the Krins blotted Lyn's mind. She was blinded by her vengeful attitude, which ignited the fire inside her body. She pulled herself up like a living corpse and throttled her right hand toward Kaiden's neck, strangling him as his hand continued to bleed out. She pressed all of her strength down upon him and sat directly on top of his hips, intending to murder him by strangulation.
"I won't ask again," Lyn's gruff voice took control of her bitterness. "Where..."
"Is..."
"MY..."
"BLADE!?"
"TEIZE! SINK ALL OF THE CITIES, NOW!" Kaiden bellowed with the last of his thriving voice.
Teize, who had been watching their battle from afar, reappeared behind Lyn with her continuous impish smile. As she floated above the air to seemingly grant his punishing request, Ardine and Dorothy's airship crashed below the foundation of the ground, sending Lyn, Kaiden, and Teize soaring down to their deaths. Teize had activated the Sand Sinker without remorse, and all three of them watched as miles below where they once stood revealed the Sand Sinker in person.
It was a drill the size of nearly a single supernova, carried and operated below by multiple Rot combined with a single wrapped tendril. The Rot's tendril was infused with the drill's power to send world-shattering shockwaves through currents in a tunnel system. As Teize activated the Sinker, the drill began to power on, but to no avail, the amount of debris that crashed down below prevented it from fully activating.
Before Lyn could fall to her indefinite death, Ardine grabbed her hand from above their airship, with Dorothy and Scabs piloting it to try and escape the underground. Yet the force of the sands sinking below with the movement of the drill created an invisible gravitational pull that prevented them from doing so.
"I've got you, I've got you!" Ardine shouted, struggling to pull Lyn up. Her blade fell down to the drill below, ridding her of any weapon to defend herself.
Lyn reached for his second hand with her weak arm, but Kaiden, who had been below their airship, dragged her down with Teize beside him. All three of them were fighting for their lives, attempting to escape the sandstorm.
Kaiden, who was holding on with a single hand, watched as Ardine attempted to provide him support.
"Give me your hand, Kai!" Ardine bellowed, reaching for him with the world's force pulling them both down.
"I can't... I can't hold this position for any longer!" Scabs shouted.
"We have to go!" Dorothy cried.
Teize closed her eyes. "Kaiden, my love," She said. "I cannot hold onto this travesty any further. I have sunk all the cities, like you asked. I promised you everything, and I have given you everything. But I cannot-"
"No, don't say anything!" Kaiden pleaded. "I will save you, Teize. I will!"
"Kaiden, I..." Teize said before releasing her grip on Ardine's airship. Lyn and the others had witnessed it as well.
"TEIZE!" Kaiden yelled, watching her fall from the force of the Sand Sinker. Before she reached the drill's spinning blades, she opened her crimson eyes and smiled one last time. Once her body met with the sinker's drill, her body was ground to a bloody pulp, leaving nothing but just a memory to the others who unveiled her death.
But you are more than what you are.
Kaiden said nothing before looking up at Lyn and Ardine, who struggled desperately on saving him.
There is an untapped power within you, my warlord. And I am here to awaken it.
Kaiden released his grip on the airship, wanting to meet the same fate as his lover.
All you must do is sacrifice your body to Mother, and she shall give you everything.
Dorothy's piercing gaze met with Kaiden's as Ardine was pushed back by the force of the sands. She reached for Lyn's hands successfully and attempted to pull her onto the ship.
Give yourselves to Mother, and give yourselves to me... and you...
Kaiden was only inches from being ground to dust.
Will be...
But he opened his eyes, one last time, as they rolled back to reveal a giant pool of crystalline blue covering his irises. He grunted one last time to gather his final bit of strength.
A LORD OF METIS!
His lifeless body collided with the Sand Sinker as it exploded in a fit of raw, untapped energy. The tendril of the Sinker vaporized altogether, along with the Rot that powered it below. An explosion of fiery energy rattled the worldwide destructive device, sending nothing but chaos in its wake underneath Lyn and the others above.
Yet strangely, the final impact of the blast suddenly froze, and all objects underneath were suspended indefinitely in time. Silence followed soon after, leaving Lyn to look down below at the unknown freezing of time. Chunks of rock stayed midair. Debris, corpses, fire; even the drill itself froze midair, and nothing could disrupt it.
And now, time began to reverse, pulling all of the fire and the debris from the Sinker into the epicenter of where it once stood. One final shockwave disrupted the gravitational force, leaving rocks suspended in midair. The Sinker had vanished altogether, replacing it with an unknown figure in the center drowning in energy so powerful, so mighty, and so valiant that it contained the untapped power of a nuclear explosion.
Ardine recovered from his fall and reached out for Lyn again. "Grab my hand, Lyn!" He shouted. A single teardrop fell from his eyelid after watching Kaiden's demise.
Lyn shook her head and denied their request. After releasing Kaiden's thoughts from her head, her body began to naturally heal once more, and her stoic attitude returned after her mind calmed. She was no longer alive; but rather, her usual self in the moment. But a brief glimpse of energy burst from her, making her final decision to join and stop whatever was brimming in the center of the Wastes.
"I have to go down there," Lyn said. "I have to stop it."
"No, damn it, don't! We have to go!" Ardine shouted, attempting to yank Lyn up.
Lyn shook her head, ponytail flailing in the winds. She smiled at him before reaching with his other hand toward Ardine's other hand. But she did not have the intention to pull herself up.
Instead, she shook his head in honor, much like how he had taught her when they had first met.
"I promised an honorable death," She reminded him. "And I have to keep my promise." She said, using Alfaic's words to push her forward.
And without another word, Lyn released both of her grips on Ardine, allowing herself to fall toward the center.
"No!" Ardine shouted.
Dorothy looked down at her, appearing mystified. Scabs joined along with her.
Lyn flipped over and instead landed on the floating rocks suspended in the air. Her initial collision sent the one she landed on toppling towards the other rocks, chaining a domino effect of collisions. But little by little, she managed to break her fall by hopping from one rock to another until she made it to the center, revealing a large black sphere trapped in time, unable to move.
As Lyn approached the sphere, a memorable figure returned behind her to greet once more. It was Teize, who had apparently survived despite her absolute death.
"It's good to see you again, sister." She greeted.