Chapter 25: From Hauntings to Hunting
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When Kain had rejoined the group, he didn't seem like his old self, he
didn't seem like his new self, in fact, he seemed like someone who had
watched their own death in some eerie prophetic dream.  But what could he
do to help his best friend when he could barely help himself?  Less than
a day ago he had been under a spell which had made him betray his
friends.  What would Setzer say when Cecil took back the Falcon?  What
could he himself say? ("Oh, hey, Setzer, sorry 'bout stealing your ship
and bruising you up pretty bad--I thought you were some sorta dead
guy...")  No, Cecil was pretty sure he had his own problems to sort out
before he could think clearly enough to help Kain.
        A familiar voice called to him inside his head, "Cecil, can you
hear me?"
        "Cerebratan!  Yes, Yes, I CAN hear you!"  For the first time
since Cecil had been freed from his mind control, the spirit that
inhabited his helm talked to him.
        "Cecil, Elanya's spell trapped us and prevented us from helping
you.  You MUST not let that happen again..."
        "Sorry, I didn't have much of a choice..."  Cecil already felt
bad enough, he didn't need a lecture from Cereb...
	"Yes, well anyway, now that I can communicate again, I think you        
should know that the final spirit is near...his name is Aretian."
        "But I thought you said Guardian was the next spirit..."
        "Yes, well, he's not.  I know what you're thinking, and before
you ask how I could forget his name, the answer is I wanted you to have
the Guardian Sword and Aretian both...but there's no time to get Guardian
now.  And Aretian is being held by...."
        The whole tunnel shook, breaking Cecil's concentration on Cereb.
He *was* leading the group, along with Sabin, and they were the first to
see see what was ahead.  Not that either of them could have told anyone
what it was that they saw, just that there was *something* waiting for
the party.
        Sabin yelled, "Everyone, get back, NOW!"  He started forward,
following Cecil who already had drawn his Obsidian Sword.  Something BAD
was up ahead, they were both sure of that.  A smell caught in their
noses, one that reeked of evil and decay.  Their torches would not
penetrate the inky blackness that seemed to drain the very darkness
itself.
        Cecil held out an arm, stopping Sabin, and whispered to the       
Martial Artist.  "Now would be a good time to prepare that Aura thing
that you hit me with, but wait until I try something."  Cecil pull the
Orb he carried from it's protective pouch and recited the words to the
sight spell.  In his mind, he saw the path they had come by, and should
have seen the path before them, but it was as if the magic itself was
being eaten as the light from the torches had.
        "No good...well, Sabin, wanna try that Aurabolt?"
	Sabin smiled as if to say, "What the were you waiting for?" and
a blast of pure energy issued forth from his hands.  For a second, the
darkness abated, and what the two heros saw, what their companions saw,
were the writhing forms of the denizens of the deepest pits of hell.
        "Oh shit" was all the Paladin could say.  When he, Rosa, Rydia,
Edge and Kain had gone against Zeromus himself, Cecil had not been so
terrified.  Sabin found the creatures more repulsive than Kefka's mutated
body.  The rest of the companions felt similarly.
        And then, evil was upon them.
        Cecil sprung into action first, his aged body showing none of its
years.  It was as if he was drawn to the demons with a righteous fury.
Even Sabin's speed was hard pressed to match the vigor in Cecil's
attack.
	 And then Kain was in the fray.  What demons of the tomb       
possessed his soul and mind were gone now, warrior's instincts taking
over.  Or perhaps it was that the demons ahead were a physical
manifestation of those that plagued him.  Having taken Drathanar back
from Kuralov, he was a force to be reckoned with.
        A imp-faced, lion-winged, succubus fell prone to Kain's attack,
just as did its fellow did against Sabin's Aurabolts.  Cecil himself
cleaved to heads from the shoulders of two.  Others feel in simialr
fashion, until there was but one left.
        "This one is mine, Sabin, Kain, he has my sword."  Cecil's voice
was steely cold, and even the heros were struck by it's forcefullness.
Before Cecil stood a hideous beast of a humanoid creature.  But it wasn't
the visage that provided respect, it was the hundred hands, and each held
a sword.
        "Ah, ssssooo, seee grreeeaaaattt paaalllidiiinn haaattthhh
coooommmeeeetthh.  Heeee shhhaaaallll nooottt leeeeaaaavvvveee
allliiivvvee."
        "No, my enemy, YOU SHALL BE BANISHED TO HELL!"  Cecil was now
infused with adrenaline, and, as Sabin and Kain would say later, perhaps
even a little, a LOT, of holy energy.  It was almost frightening the ease
by which Cecil dismembered the demon, but even more so the almost glee he
achieved as well.  within seconds, the demon was gone, faster, it seemed,
than the party combined could have done it.
        "That demon should has killed us all, and Cecil...." Ciara's
voice trailed off.
	Cecil pulled from his neck the Genji Medallion, held it and his       
obsidian sword before him, and watched as the sword he had been seeking
twirled in the air with his own.  In a flash of light, the two swords
united, and then darkness overcame them all.
        But through the darkness came a voice filled with power and
purpose, "Now we shall extinguish the Madness before us.  Heaven help
those who stand in our way..."