My Fire Witch was already active. James was at his full strength, and Ness had copied James’ Power Overdrive. Combine that with his tactics, and yeah, this was not going to be an easy fight.

I began the assault. I quickly ran towards Ness, trying to get in close to him. But, as I did, he quickly spun the knives in a circle around him. He was acting like a giant Super Conductor, just keeping them in position, stopping me from getting closer. I quickly charged up a Nova in my right hand and threw it right at him, but he just grabbed it out of the air and absorbed it into himself, just like I did with Dee so long ago.

-I know all your tricks. You always rely on these- As he said this, he summoned multiple Novas around him and spun them around himself, almost looking like a solar system -puny little things, despite them not doing much damage- As he finished saying this, he shot all the Novas at me. It was like fire raining down on me that pushed me back heavily. Fire Witch kept me awake after it, but those attacks hurt like hell.

James went right after me. He quickly charged right at Ness, hitting his knives out of the air with his sword before attempting to hit Ness. But, Ness quickly grabbed his sword with one hand, shattering the fire blade, before hitting James right in the face, throwing him to the floor. As he hit the floor, Ness quickly kicked him back towards me

-Now I see why both of you abused this form- Ness said this as he looked his hand over, summoning a couple of Novas to float around him again -This is incredible. So much power flowing through my veins- He started to laugh a little, his demeanor changing, from calm, to almost happy.

-This will make it so easy to deal with you, traitor-

As he said this, Ness dashed towards me, quickly hitting me with all of his Novas, pushing me to the floor. As I hit the floor, he quickly stuck knives into my hands, trying to leave me on the floor. As he focused on me, he got distracted from James, who quickly used the chance to kick him away.

-What the hell is his deal? How is he this much stronger than us?- James shouted this as he took the knives out of my hands, helping me stand up. The overflowing energy from Fire Witch closing the wounds.

-I guess he just copied what he’s already seen us do, so he knows how to counter it. We need new strategies- As I said this, I got my balance back. I still felt really weak, but I needed to keep fighting. I’ve come this far, and I wasn’t going to back down. 

-If what we need is new stuff, there is something I’ve been practicing with. You think you can keep up?- James said this as he raised up his arm with the Anima bracelet, typing down something. 

-Yeah, I do. I didn’t think I would need to bring it out now, I really wanted to keep it a surprise for some other time, but I guess it’s a push comes to shove moment- I fully regained my balance as I put my hand on the bracelet, ready to trigger my armor.

-What, did you two get a second wind? Do you really think you can win?- Ness shouted this as he saw us preparing. His voice was now a lot more excited and happy about what was going on… almost chaotic -Come on, whatever you do, I’ve seen it! You can’t stop me!- As he said this, he began rushing towards us once again

As Ness reached us, both I activated the witch armor, while James finished typing out what he was looking for.

For a moment, all the energy that was exiting out of me due to Fire Witch became physical, keeping Ness at a safe distance as the armor materialized on me. The armor fully covered my body, but it didn’t feel heavy at all. It felt like nothing. All the energy that was being released from Fire Witch was now being trapped by the armor itself, fully functioning as a power up. My body felt faster, stronger, and a lot more agile in general. 

For James, something different happened. He created a weapon, but instead of creating the fire and ice double buster, a pair of bladed tonfas appeared on both his hands, still in the same elements. I guess, just like me, he realized how inefficient his weapon really was. This one looked a lot faster than before, and it looked like it really suited him as something similar, but different, more experienced than me. 

As the energy finished being released from me, Ness uncovered his face. His mannerisms changed as he saw us, now being more on guard.

-Oh great, the “prodigy” and their brother have new toys to play with. Just because you got new weapons and forms, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to stop you!- As Ness said this, his voice sounded a lot madder, and something about the aura surrounding him looked different. Instead of flowy and calm, it was starting to look more erratic. Almost like…

-Hey, we might not have to keep this up for long- I said this with a smile, not visible under my helmet

-What makes you say that?- James responded, looking at me

-His Power Overdrive isn’t keeping up. I think it might be slowly switching into Power Lust- I said this as I prepared a couple of Fire Novas in my hands

-Oh great. Another corrupt human- James chuckled, as he prepared himself -This is going to be fun-

-Oh shut up!- As Ness shouted this, he once again rushed towards uS, the circle of knives still around him. As he reached us though, I quickly put my hand with the Nova right in the circle of Knives. They immediately melted away. James used the opportunity to quickly rush right next to him, slashing his side with the ice blade. A giant opening on his armor popped out, but it was quickly frozen over, limiting his movements. I quickly punched Ness’ head, to knock him on his side, launching him far away. Ness quickly stopped himself as he landed, and charged his body with fire, melting the ice, and evaporating the water that was on him.

-You really think a simple cheap trick will knock me down?! I don’t think so!- He quickly charged up a bunch of Novas of all the elements and quickly began to launch them at both of us. James cut through the Novas with his bladed tonfas, which I quickly charged a Nova on my right hand, using the Fire Witch energy to make it bigger to absorb all of the Novas. I then quickly launched it towards Ness. He tried his best to catch it in order to absorb it, but as it flew, I quickly rushed behind Ness, almost in the blink of an eye, and punched his back, knocking him right into the Nova.  

Ness quickly got absorbed into it, followed by a big explosion of energy coming from it. Once the smoke that came up from the explosion settled down, Ness was still standing. The aura of the Power Overdrive was a lot more erratic than before, and they were breathing really heavily. While he didn’t feel pain, his body was definitely taking a toll from all the attacks. 

-Ness, give up! You can’t win this!- I shouted this at him. -If you keep going, you will die!-

-Shut up!- Ness shouted this while covering his ears, as he looked at me -I’ve despised you since you left. I thought “There went the one actual reliable teammate I had” I thought I could trust you, and you went and betrayed me twice!- He swiped his hands outward, with his aura slowly beginning to turn red -I won’t forgive you, and I won’t let you get away. Neither you, NOR YOUR BROTHER!- As he said this, the aura surrounding him quickly turned red, as he quickly charged a gigantic Nova, turning his body around and launching it at James. James quickly went around the Nova and rushed towards Ness, quickly doing an x-pattern slash on Ness’ chest. Despite the big wound Ness stayed standing, and used this chance to grab James by the throat and raise him up in the air, before throwing him down to the ground, making a crater. He kept holding him by the neck, as he materialized more knives in his hands, using them to hold James to the ground by his hands and feet.

-You didn’t get to see how Iago died did you?- Ness said this, as he raised both of his hands, as Light and Darkness Novas appeared on his hands -Well, get ready to find out!-

As he finished shouting this, he tried to aim his hands down to shoot the Chaos Nova at James…

But, I stopped him. I used that lightning fast speed I had in order to reach Ness, holding his arms up, letting all the Nova shootout to the sky. Once it was done shooting, I punched him right in the stomach and used both of my hands to hit him to the ground. He tried to get up, but I held him down with my foot, keeping him on the ground. 

-You know. I would’ve left you live if you had just surrendered.- I pressed my foot harder against him, pressing him more into the floor -And I might’ve let you live if you had attacked me- I pressed harder again. Ness’s red aura disappeared, and he screamed in agony as I did

-But you just had to go and attack James-

As I said this, I turned off my armor, letting all the energy from Fire Witch begin to leak out, and aimed a Nova at him, doing the same my demon did when we fought Martha. I channeled all of the energy that was leaking out of my body into one powerful Nova, all aimed at Ness’s head. 

As I got ready to shoot, Ness turned his head to the side to be able to speak, almost holding in the pain from the attacks. The only words out of his mouth were.

-I knew it was a mistake to bring you back to the team-

At that moment, I shot the Nova. I aimed lower than I was intending. But instead of aiming it at his head, I shot it at his back. I was fully intending on killing him, but something in me just stopped me. Something told me that killing him here would only prove his point. 

Once the Witch Nova ended, I turned off Fire Witch. I quickly buckled to the floor. I was still conscious, but that attack took a lot out of me. I still tried to stay conscious enough to remove the knives from James. Once his knives were out, James deactivated his armor and Power Overdrive. It seemed like the pain didn’t affect him anymore, even out of Overdrive. He quickly got up to help me stand.

-So, is he…- James said this, looking towards Ness’ body on the floor.

-Dead? No. He lives- I chuckled a bit after saying this, while also turning my eyes towards the body -If I had killed him, I would’ve gone down to his level. Plus, I want to talk with him one last time-

-I mean, if you’re sure, but I don’t think that’s the safe option- James just said this with a concerned tone, but he didn’t pry into it anymore -Are you doing okay?-

-Yeah, I’m just tired. Both this fight and the fight with Iris just left me without any strength-

-I’m honestly surprised you’re still standing after all that. You gonna collapse when you get back to your base?- James said this last part with a laugh as we started walking in the direction where Martha and Lumina were fighting.

-Oh, absolutely. At least it isn’t as bad as when you beat me up in the desert- I chuckled a bit with this, as we kept walking. 

-Hey, I was also pretty banged up. Power Overdrive really is a…- He stopped, as he looked to the front. As I turned my head to see what he was seeing, I understood his fear

There before us stood Lumina, carrying Martha by her neck, with her sword sticking right through Martha. Martha was struggling, but she clearly had very little energy left. 

Lumina had her mask again

The moment I saw her, it was like my fight or flight response was triggered. I quickly got out of James’ arms and activated Fire Witch, rushing over to Lumina to quickly punch her in the head. She flinched a little, but didn’t let go of her

She turned her head towards me and hit me with her left hand, pushing me away. She then began speaking, in a double voice

-This isn’t any of your business. Go away- I could recognize that previous voice I had only heard sickly, but it was overshadowed by a more sultry, demonic voice, resonating at the same time as hers.

-It is my business when you’re hurting my teammate. Let her go!- I quickly tried to activate the Witch Armor, but as I did, it felt like my body was burning up. I had used up too much strength, I couldn’t handle anything. But I tried to push through, quickly getting Martha off of her grasp, and hit her once more, now stronger since now Fire Witch was working at its full strength. This punch was able to push her back a lot more, but she didn’t even seem hurt.

As she was pushed back, a portal opened behind her, as if to give her a chance to escape. But, she didn’t go through it. Instead, she started walking towards me

-You look really tired. Your breathing is heavy. Your movements are sluggish. I think it might be easy for me to just end you right now- Lumina said this, still with her double voice. But, as she finished saying this, James quickly rushed over to her, and took off her mask. As he did, the Jacket that was over Lumina’s armor, along with it’s more refined look, vanished, leaving only the base armor. As it did, Lumina was pulled back, looking over at James

-Hey, give that back!- Lumina’s voice was back to what Martha and I had heard when she was teleported out. 

-No. You’ve done enough. You weren’t supposed to attack her. And you’re definitely not going to attack him- James said this with a stern tone, almost in a brotherly way

Lumina pouted as her armor disappeared. She was wearing a dark purple jacket with a green undershirt, alongside a pair of jeans. Her face, while being obscured by the Anima Helmet, still showed one of her eyes having turned completely black from her mask’s corruption, with her hands almost looking like claws at this point, with a black palm and red fingertips on them.

-Ugh, you know how that mask makes me act. I lost all my senses- She laughed a bit after her pout -But, oh well, guess we’ll have to fight again some other time before the grand finale- She began to walk towards the portal, crossing it with a happy step behind her.

-Colin, we’ll talk later.- James said this as he crossed the portal, almost disappointed with how the mission went. He didn’t even say goodbye.

I quickly deactivated both Fire Witch and the Witch Amor. My arms looked burnt to hell, except for my hands, which were protected by the gauntlets. I quickly picked up Martha, without removing the sword from her stomach to avoid more blood loss, and quickly rushed back over to where Ness was, picking him up too. As the portal opened for me to go back, I ran like hell through it. 

I took both Ness and Martha to the infirmary, where I laid them down on separate sides of the room. Just as I finished, I quickly sat down by the wall. My body was barely holding on, and I felt like I was on my last legs. As soon as I sat down, my body lost consciousness.

END OF CHAPTER 38