Chapter 21: The Mystery of Bladework
(This section will focus on Sephiroth as the speaker) When it seemed our mission was complete upon cornering Hojo at the foundation’s highest floor, it turned out everything was far from over. Once human, Hojo exploited the powers or Mother’s cells and small parts of the Reunion’s Prince’s bladework wings, using the power of both on himself with the fusion machine; also one of the foundation’s works that Mother and myself are especially proud of. But regardless, me and Cloud couldn’t back down; even if this greater threat truly is stronger than us, letting him roam free would mean crisis for the entire kingdom, and threaten the legacy itself. So here we were, standing before cetra Hojo, and as prepared as we could be to take him out. Hojo snickered “Even for someone truly brilliant like you, Sephiroth, defeating me will be impossible now. Try if you must… though I find it rather distasteful to be forced to slay Shinra’s greatest specimen other than JENOVA…” Cloud scolded him “You shut your mouth, Hojo! Sephiroth and JENOVA are living beings with emotions of their own. They aren’t your personal playthings to do whatever you please with!” I replied “Forget about him, Cloud. There’s no reasoning with him; just fight.” Hojo laughed “The two of you will never defeat me now, but do as you wish… I’ll rip and cut the both of you to shreds with my own wings!” He threw his arms forward as if aiming at us, and several large black blades came at both of us. I managed to fend them off with my masamune, and Cloud also did with his sword. However, he threw another one at us; I clashed with it, jumping in front of Cloud to shield him, but I felt myself beginning to slide “No… I wont lose like this..!” I heard Cloud cry out “Stop it! Leave him alone!” I heard a loud crashing noise nearby, and Hojo’s force against me stopped completely. I carefully backed away, and gasped in disbelief as the large blade made a hard landing on the ground before me; I realized Cloud has mysteriously cut right through Hojo’s bladework “Unbelievable..! He cut its arm right off…!” Hojo reacted furiously, angry about his mishap “What?! Why you little..!” He grew another replacement, aiming directly at Cloud; he knocked him down, hitting him while he was flying in his cetra form. Hojo launched several large blades at him, all coming from his back, and pinned him down. Cloud dropped his sword and tried to get away in the process, but couldn’t “Ahh, shoot..!” Hojo knocked him down, and hit the ground around Cloud with his bladework, preventing escape. Cloud cried out in frustration, and I felt paralyzed by fear and mental predicament; I was afraid Hojo would get me too if I tried to attack, but I remembered Mother’s words about why we needed Cloud so badly. I panicked under my breath “Gah…! He’s too strong!” I heard Mother’s voice in my head “Sephiroth, help him. You can do it. I know you can!” Feeling nervous, I said “Right…” I heard Tifa shout “Sephiroth, do something! Don’t just stand there and watch, help him!” Loz worried “Big Brother…” Hojo prepared to finish Cloud, and laughed “Sleep well, inferior specimen.” I bolted my black wing and flew towards him, raising my masamune to go right down on his bladework wings, feeling a sudden rush of determination “I’m not letting you win this time, Professor! Go rule another planet!” He noticed me closing in on him, but his reaction was too late; my masamune quickly turned green, followed by traces of black, and it cut right through his blades as if they were paper. I landed immediately thereafter, carefully relaxing my wing. There was a lot of smoke after I attacked him, and I hurried to find Cloud to make sure he was ok. I heard him cough and when the smoke cleared, I saw him getting up. He noticed me immediately and looked surprised “Sephiroth, thanks… you did it…” I replied “Yeah, but how? You didn’t cut through Seffi’s bladework wings like that, did you?” Cloud retrieved his sword and shook his head “Not even close… I don’t know how I did it, or how you did, but we got him…” I looked where Hojo was, and there were numerous large severed black blades in the room, and Hojo was gasping for breath. He tried to act tough but sounded weak “I’m not done yet… I’m just getting… agh!” He held his head with both hands and shut his eyes tight, wincing from pain that seemed to be in his head. Cloud asked “What’s his problem?” I replied “He’s probably exhausted his JENOVA cells from using the bladework wings too many times in a limited time span. And since we severed most of them, a vital circulation of his JENOVA cells was cut off as a result. He’s probably hearing a loud static sound in his head. It’s a common symptom cetra show from JENOVA cells exhaustion, usually one of the first signs that you’ve used too much power too quickly.” Cloud sounded concerned “But that means he’ll die! We weren’t supposed to kill him!” I shook my head “It’s not our fault, Cloud. He got reckless during that fight and that’s why he’s suffering now. The same thing happened a lot to my Little Sister during the war against Shinra… she was so reckless during big battles…” Cloud ran over to Hojo, who had let go of his head and crashed “No! Don’t you dare die..!” Cloud returned to his human form, and picked up Hojo, then walked back to me. Cloud asked “He isn’t dead, is he?” I placed my hand on the damaged base of his bladework wings and felt a mild JENOVA cell reading “No, he’ll be alright. The man is weak, but cetra with the power of the bladework wings have a rather high Reunion rate, so I don’t believe his life is threatened. Very few of our kind are blessed with the bladework wings, but thanks to learning from Mother in my much earlier years, I know all about them.” Cloud nodded “Alright. That sounds like positive news, at least. But look at this lab, this entire room… it’s a disaster.” I noticed that ruined machinery and broken computers, and many other damaged equipment and sighed “You can thank Hojo for that. Using those wings indoors is obviously not very smart. They can turn a clean room into a pigsty within seconds.” I turned back to Cloud “But we’ll deal with cleaning up after we report to Mother about our success. I also want you to tell Mother why you suggested leaving Hojo alive.” He nodded and turned grim “Yeah, I know… I’ll probably get in a lot of trouble for not killing like she asked, but that’s just how it goes, I guess…” Tifa and Loz approached us, and Tifa worriedly said “The bladework wings… I’ve never seen such horrific power… I see why almost none of us are born with them…” Loz agreed “Me too. I wish I had those, but more than that, how did you two cut through them like that?” I answered “That’s another important topic I have to review with Mother when we report. The answer could be very crucial to protecting the kingdom from their deadly potential. With Seffi out and about, we’ve already had numerous casualties from him entering a berserk state. And now that Hojo also possesses the same power, we have another wielder of the bladework wings in the kingdom. I cant say for sure, but it could be these wings themselves that affect the mind of the user…” Cloud worried “If that’s true, then we’re in a lot of trouble with just two people that have them. The whole kingdom could be in danger because of them!” Loz complained in fear “Oh man, I hope youre wrong!” Tifa seemed sad “But Sephiroth, if that’s really the truth, then the only way to protect the kingdom would be to remove the wings from them… that’s so cold…” I shook my head “You cant remove those without killing the user. The bladework wings are deeply rooted into the cetra’s body. If you even try to pull or dig them out in any way, you would kill them. The bladework wings are tied directly to the cetra’s main center of their JENOVA cell complex within the body. Even the slightest damage to that will kill you.” Tifa said “Oh no…” I shook my head “But, let’s not tie into that too much… I still don’t know for sure if that’s true or not.” Everyone else nodded, and I led the way out of the room to focus on meeting up with Mother to give the report.
To Be Continued…
(This section will focus on Sephiroth as the speaker) When it seemed our mission was complete upon cornering Hojo at the foundation’s highest floor, it turned out everything was far from over. Once human, Hojo exploited the powers or Mother’s cells and small parts of the Reunion’s Prince’s bladework wings, using the power of both on himself with the fusion machine; also one of the foundation’s works that Mother and myself are especially proud of. But regardless, me and Cloud couldn’t back down; even if this greater threat truly is stronger than us, letting him roam free would mean crisis for the entire kingdom, and threaten the legacy itself. So here we were, standing before cetra Hojo, and as prepared as we could be to take him out. Hojo snickered “Even for someone truly brilliant like you, Sephiroth, defeating me will be impossible now. Try if you must… though I find it rather distasteful to be forced to slay Shinra’s greatest specimen other than JENOVA…” Cloud scolded him “You shut your mouth, Hojo! Sephiroth and JENOVA are living beings with emotions of their own. They aren’t your personal playthings to do whatever you please with!” I replied “Forget about him, Cloud. There’s no reasoning with him; just fight.” Hojo laughed “The two of you will never defeat me now, but do as you wish… I’ll rip and cut the both of you to shreds with my own wings!” He threw his arms forward as if aiming at us, and several large black blades came at both of us. I managed to fend them off with my masamune, and Cloud also did with his sword. However, he threw another one at us; I clashed with it, jumping in front of Cloud to shield him, but I felt myself beginning to slide “No… I wont lose like this..!” I heard Cloud cry out “Stop it! Leave him alone!” I heard a loud crashing noise nearby, and Hojo’s force against me stopped completely. I carefully backed away, and gasped in disbelief as the large blade made a hard landing on the ground before me; I realized Cloud has mysteriously cut right through Hojo’s bladework “Unbelievable..! He cut its arm right off…!” Hojo reacted furiously, angry about his mishap “What?! Why you little..!” He grew another replacement, aiming directly at Cloud; he knocked him down, hitting him while he was flying in his cetra form. Hojo launched several large blades at him, all coming from his back, and pinned him down. Cloud dropped his sword and tried to get away in the process, but couldn’t “Ahh, shoot..!” Hojo knocked him down, and hit the ground around Cloud with his bladework, preventing escape. Cloud cried out in frustration, and I felt paralyzed by fear and mental predicament; I was afraid Hojo would get me too if I tried to attack, but I remembered Mother’s words about why we needed Cloud so badly. I panicked under my breath “Gah…! He’s too strong!” I heard Mother’s voice in my head “Sephiroth, help him. You can do it. I know you can!” Feeling nervous, I said “Right…” I heard Tifa shout “Sephiroth, do something! Don’t just stand there and watch, help him!” Loz worried “Big Brother…” Hojo prepared to finish Cloud, and laughed “Sleep well, inferior specimen.” I bolted my black wing and flew towards him, raising my masamune to go right down on his bladework wings, feeling a sudden rush of determination “I’m not letting you win this time, Professor! Go rule another planet!” He noticed me closing in on him, but his reaction was too late; my masamune quickly turned green, followed by traces of black, and it cut right through his blades as if they were paper. I landed immediately thereafter, carefully relaxing my wing. There was a lot of smoke after I attacked him, and I hurried to find Cloud to make sure he was ok. I heard him cough and when the smoke cleared, I saw him getting up. He noticed me immediately and looked surprised “Sephiroth, thanks… you did it…” I replied “Yeah, but how? You didn’t cut through Seffi’s bladework wings like that, did you?” Cloud retrieved his sword and shook his head “Not even close… I don’t know how I did it, or how you did, but we got him…” I looked where Hojo was, and there were numerous large severed black blades in the room, and Hojo was gasping for breath. He tried to act tough but sounded weak “I’m not done yet… I’m just getting… agh!” He held his head with both hands and shut his eyes tight, wincing from pain that seemed to be in his head. Cloud asked “What’s his problem?” I replied “He’s probably exhausted his JENOVA cells from using the bladework wings too many times in a limited time span. And since we severed most of them, a vital circulation of his JENOVA cells was cut off as a result. He’s probably hearing a loud static sound in his head. It’s a common symptom cetra show from JENOVA cells exhaustion, usually one of the first signs that you’ve used too much power too quickly.” Cloud sounded concerned “But that means he’ll die! We weren’t supposed to kill him!” I shook my head “It’s not our fault, Cloud. He got reckless during that fight and that’s why he’s suffering now. The same thing happened a lot to my Little Sister during the war against Shinra… she was so reckless during big battles…” Cloud ran over to Hojo, who had let go of his head and crashed “No! Don’t you dare die..!” Cloud returned to his human form, and picked up Hojo, then walked back to me. Cloud asked “He isn’t dead, is he?” I placed my hand on the damaged base of his bladework wings and felt a mild JENOVA cell reading “No, he’ll be alright. The man is weak, but cetra with the power of the bladework wings have a rather high Reunion rate, so I don’t believe his life is threatened. Very few of our kind are blessed with the bladework wings, but thanks to learning from Mother in my much earlier years, I know all about them.” Cloud nodded “Alright. That sounds like positive news, at least. But look at this lab, this entire room… it’s a disaster.” I noticed that ruined machinery and broken computers, and many other damaged equipment and sighed “You can thank Hojo for that. Using those wings indoors is obviously not very smart. They can turn a clean room into a pigsty within seconds.” I turned back to Cloud “But we’ll deal with cleaning up after we report to Mother about our success. I also want you to tell Mother why you suggested leaving Hojo alive.” He nodded and turned grim “Yeah, I know… I’ll probably get in a lot of trouble for not killing like she asked, but that’s just how it goes, I guess…” Tifa and Loz approached us, and Tifa worriedly said “The bladework wings… I’ve never seen such horrific power… I see why almost none of us are born with them…” Loz agreed “Me too. I wish I had those, but more than that, how did you two cut through them like that?” I answered “That’s another important topic I have to review with Mother when we report. The answer could be very crucial to protecting the kingdom from their deadly potential. With Seffi out and about, we’ve already had numerous casualties from him entering a berserk state. And now that Hojo also possesses the same power, we have another wielder of the bladework wings in the kingdom. I cant say for sure, but it could be these wings themselves that affect the mind of the user…” Cloud worried “If that’s true, then we’re in a lot of trouble with just two people that have them. The whole kingdom could be in danger because of them!” Loz complained in fear “Oh man, I hope youre wrong!” Tifa seemed sad “But Sephiroth, if that’s really the truth, then the only way to protect the kingdom would be to remove the wings from them… that’s so cold…” I shook my head “You cant remove those without killing the user. The bladework wings are deeply rooted into the cetra’s body. If you even try to pull or dig them out in any way, you would kill them. The bladework wings are tied directly to the cetra’s main center of their JENOVA cell complex within the body. Even the slightest damage to that will kill you.” Tifa said “Oh no…” I shook my head “But, let’s not tie into that too much… I still don’t know for sure if that’s true or not.” Everyone else nodded, and I led the way out of the room to focus on meeting up with Mother to give the report.
To Be Continued…
