[guncannon109]

Part 3: Rider vs Rider

Far off in another tunnel underground, Tara was hard at work trying to pull Cole out from a pile of rubble. She struggled to lift the unconscious dark skinned male out from the rocks and laid him down on the stone ground that she had woken up in.

“Cole!” she shouted with a slight tremble in her voice, slapping him in the face trying to wake him, “Cole, come on wake up!”

“Try all you want, that boy ain’t getting up,” a voice cackled from the distance.

Tara jumped to her feet, “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

Slicer stepped out from behind a pile of rubble, “You don’t need to fret little miss, it’s just me.” the sound of metal scraping against metal erupted behind her, “Well, just me and my hubby I should say.” she cackled as Corroderon walked up from out of the shadows and took his place beside her.

“Why…” Tara cried holding Cole tight within her arms, “Why are you doing this?”

“You ask why?” Slicer smirked under her helmet, “To reach paradise, nothing more.”

“You five stand in the way of the gate,” Corroderon proclaimed stepping forward in front of Slicer, “for that alone you must fall.”

Tara pulled out her Gale gaia memory and jumped to her feet, “NO!” she shouted as Kree flew down from above and landed on her shoulder. Tara then held out her wrist as Kree twisted around it becoming her driver, “I don’t care what your reasons are, if you’re going to do harm to innocent people than there is no way I can allow you to succeed!”

She held up her memory and hit the button below the label, “Gale!”

Tara’s heart began to race as she stared down her opponents, “Henshin!”

She slammed her memory into her driver, “GALE!” her driver shouted as a tornado rushed over her switching her into her bright yellow bird like armor, her blue visor flashing brightly for a moment.

Slicer chuckled, “Do you wish to die that badly?”

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Tara shouted back at her slamming her fist into the palm of her open left hand, “I don’t care if I die, just so long as I take you lot down with me!” She whipped out her flail with her right hand, struck her left leg forward and shot her left open hand out towards Slicer and Corroderon, “A mighty Gale to tear down all,” she whispered to herself taking in a deep breath, “As I charge to glory... all foes shall fall.”

---

Vulpurgiest stood atop Ardent Tower overlooking the city, the Xtreme memory in hand with Fata and Laurentia standing just behind him.

“Finally…” he said to himself looking down at the device in his hand, “everything I have desired is within my grasp.”

“It appears to be that way,” a voice called out from behind the trio. Vulpurgeist turned around to see Carter standing by the door to the rail of the tower, “but tell me, now that you have it what do you intend to do with it?”

Vulpurgiest chuckled, “So you’re still alive… Kamen Rider Ryu-O,” he asked back turning his whole body to face Carter, “You’ll be dead soon anyway so I guess I might as well tell you. I plan to use this to destroy what’s left of you and this city, then open the gateway into paradise.”

Carter pulled out his Ryu-O memory as his driver materialized around his waist, “If that is your intention, then I’ll have no choice but to stop you.”

Valpurgeist laughed, “You’re one of Vainglory’s dogs, what reason could someone like you have to protect the people living in such a hollow shell of a city like this one?”

“I care not for the people of this city,” Carter returned holding his memory up to the three riders that stood before him, “However, you hurt Thea and it is for that reason that I can not allow you to live…” he took in a deep breath then hit the button below the label of his memory.

“RYU-O!”

“Hen… SHIN!” Carter shouted before ramming his memory into his driver.

“RYU-O!” Carter spun his driver as a wheel of fire erupted from it quickly evolving into a roaring inferno that covered the boy from head to toe. As the fires died down, Carter stood before the trio in his crimson armor, the amber eyes of his mask illuminating furiously for a moment like a bright candle flickering wildly in a violent breeze.

Valpurgeist smirked under his mask, “Laurentia,” he spoke up turning his attention to the rider of water, “keep this one busy will you.”

Laurentia nodded, “As you wish my lord,” he said stepping forward between Carter and his commander, drawing his sword as he did so.

Valpurgeist looked towards Fata. Fata nodded and wrapped her arms around the dark rider, a pair of violent demonic wings spreading out from her back and lifting the two up into the air out of reach from Carter.

“I honour your spirit Ryu-O,” Laurentia spoke up grabbing Carter’s undivided attention, “let’s see if your skill with a blade can match.”

Carter said nothing and snapped his fingers together igniting a flame which formed into his buster blade.

Laurentia raised an eyebrow, “Not talking?” he asked not expecting an answer. He put one foot forward and raised his rapier to Carter, “how interesting… I’ve been looking for an opponent like you.”

---
Back underground, Alex and Shiore were in a heated battle with Gamma-Ray. Shiore was in her standard rider form and Alex had switched into his Blade Kicker combination for it’s added defensive capabilities which at this point in time were very much needed as Gamma-Ray was hurling everything he had at two riders, focusing one of his whips on Alex and the other on Shiore.

The two riders deflected both whips with their blades then linked back up with one another standing side by side, Alex keeping his eyes on the whips and Shiore Gamma-Ray.

“Holy shit…” Alex panted trying to catch his breath, “This guy is tough.”

“I noticed,” Shiore put bluntly, “I can’t even get close to him with those damn whips in the way. Rather clever in all honesty,” She eyed the whips wrapped tightly around the entirety of Gamma-Ray’s arms, “he keeps in enemies at a distance while still being able to attack from far away. He can hit us all he wants, but we can’t even give him so much as a scratch.”

“Yeah, no kidding…” Alex panted before regaining his footing, “doesn’t help that my memories are useless against something like that. I can’t get in close to slash him with Blade, and if I try and shooting him and he’ll just block it.”

“Are you two cuties just about done talking?” Gamma-Ray asked weakly swinging his whips around and letting out a sigh, “I’m beginning to go rather limp over here.”

Shiore’s eyes shot open, “I’ve got it!” she said with a snap of her fingers. She pulled her Yuki memory from her driver and handed it to Alex, “Here, try using my memory with one of yours.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure? How do you know it will work?”

“Just do it,” Shiore instructed, “before I change my mind.”

“Alright…” Alex pulled his Blade and Kicker memories from his driver and put in Star in the right slot than Yuki in the left, “but, what about you?”

“I didn’t want to use this, but it looks like we have no other option,” Shiore reached into her belt and pulled from it an pale icy blue gaia memory with an S that resembled a skull with a wolf’s main atop it’s head. This one however was unlike any gaia memory Alex had seen before as it had a massive chunk of metal on the end of it in the shape of half a wolf’s skull.

“We’ll have to be quick… ready?” Shiore looked over to Alex, he nodded, “good… IKUZE!”

Alex split the slots of his driver apart as Shiore slammed her new memory into her’s and flipped the wolf skull shaped chunk of metal over onto her wolf head shaped buckle making it look more aggressive.

“Shira! Star! Yuki!” Alex and Shiore’s drivers shouted as a wave of wind and ice rushed over the two from the ground.
Shiore broke out of the ice in armor similar to her standard Yuki form only now adorn with white spikes on her helmet and chest armor. The blue kimono with a white trim she wore under her armor had it’s colors reversed and the kimono itself extended to resemble more of a long coat with a jagged look to it at the front. Her sword was now primarily white with two blades on the end of its guard instead of only one and a chain with three kunai knives hanging off the other end.

Alex on the other hand emerged from the ice storm in his standard Star Runner armor only with a few key differences. The red had now been replaced with blue and the black bit of his shin and arm guards along with his chest and shoulder armour as well as the sides of his mask had been switched out with white. The red x pattern stamped across his chest plate was changed to that of a deep purple y and spikes of the same shades of white and purple now lined his shoulder armour, gauntlets, and mask where appropriate. A blue gem adorn his now v shaped head crest.

Gamma-Ray laughed, “So you changed your armor, so what? I’ll still going to rip you two apart, but not before having a little bit of fun with the two of you of-”

With a flick of his wrist, Alex whipped out a pair of wrist mounted kunai blades and hurled the one attached to his left wrist by a cable at Gamma-Ray, jabbing him in the shoulder. He then grabbed the cable and pulled Gamma-Ray towards him ripping him from the ground by force.

As Gamma-Ray soared over the two riders, Shiore took her now dual bladed sword and slashed Gamma-Ray across his chest knocking him down on the ground. Before losing the opening, Shiore grabbed her sword with her back left hand and leapt over to Gamma-Ray slashing him at him twice while he was still down.

After a couple of slashes, Gamma-Ray caught Shiore’s blade with his bare hand taking it’s full impact seemingly unphased. “The pain… it tickles me…” he chuckled, “I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve had this much fun… and the blood feels so nice against my cold, dead… hands...” he wrapped his fingers around one of the blades of Shiore’s new sword, “but unfortunately… this is where you get off. You can’t do anything while I have my hold on your blade.”

“So you think,” Shiore said softly. With a quick motion she moved her thumb to a clip on the grip of her sword and broke it open causing her sword instantly dividing in two with one blade to each half, the chain on each end linking the two together.

Shiore grabbed the other sword with her right hand and jabbed Gamma-Ray in the gut below his armor before he had time to even blink so much as react to Shiore’s attack. He pulled the sword out of his gut and jumped back, winded from the blow.

“You sneaky little bitch…” he grunted holding his wounded gut where Shiore had stabbed him, “How did you… do that?”

“It’s simple really,” Shiore proclaimed holding her sword up to Gamma-Ray, “This blade you see here, is really a pair of twins linked together by an endless chain. The name of this sword,” she looked up to Gamma-Ray with a cold fire igniting within in her eyes, “is Yuki no Shiratani.”

“Gah, to hell with this crazy shit! I’m blowing this place!” Gamma-Ray shouted at the top of his lounges. He swung his whips and a pipe just above the group cracking it open before jumping up to the ceiling as water rained down upon Alex and Shiore, “Fry assholes!” He shouted before ripping the whip off his right hand and hurling it into the water below.

“Alex! Move!” Shiore ordered as the two jumped up to a landing just a few feet out of the water. Shiore looked around for Gamma-Ray but to no avail as the electric rider had already hit the road, “Damn it!” she shouted stabbing the ground with one of her swords, “He got away!”

“Then lets chase him down,” Alex called out.

Shiore turned around to face him, then smirked under her mask, “Now you’re starting to speak my language.” She pulled out her scanner and switched it on, ten dots appearing at once. Two representing them along with four others that were close by, another three far off in the distance with one stray heading towards the trio, “I think I’ve got him, he’s on the run heading back to daddy.” She raised an eyebrow, “Hang on… that’s not right.”

Alex looked at the scanner, “What’s not right?”

“There are ten marks on the scanner,” Shiore pointed out, “Excluding the four of us and Ryu-O that should leave six others, yet I’m only picking up five on here.”

“It’s probably just an error or something,” Alex suggested, “One of them could just have their memory switched off for all we know.”

“Even if their memory were switched off I’d still be able to see it on the scanner,” Shiore explained, her brow furled and lip perked up in annoyance, “This just doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“We’ll deal with it later, but right now we have bigger fish to fry,” Alex gestured to a passageway that lead out of the rubble, “Now let’s go nab Gamma-Ray before he gets back to his boss.”

Shiore sighed and put her scanner away, “Fine, but let’s be quick about it.”

---

Back in the other underground tunnel, Tara was thrown into a wall on the far side of the room. She cried out in agony before falling down to the ground.

“Seems to be that you’re all bark and no bite,” Slicer cackled walking over towards Cole, “Pity that the mighty Gale turned out to be nothing more than a declawed little mutt.” She raised her foot and pressed it down on Cole’s face, “Ah well, perhaps Rock Boy over here will prove more of a challenge.

“DON’T TOUCH HIM!” Tara spat at Slicer making her way to feet, “Back the fuck away from him you hear me!”

Slicer laughed at her, “Is that a threat?”

“NO!” In a fraction of a second, Tara dashed over to Slicer picked up Cole with both her arms and leapt over to the other side, “It’s an order you bitch!”

“You want me to handle this?” Corroderon offered taking a step forward.

Slicer put her hand infront of him, “No my love,” she said with a smirk, “this is starting to get interesting.”

Slicer stepped over towards where Tara stood as the yellow wind rider pulled out her slicer and look her opponent in the eye. The two swung their blades at one another several times, each strike from the two fighters clashing with that of their opponent’s.

After a while of repeated clashing, Slicer blocked Tara’s blade and pulled over to the side before kneeing her in the gut causing the young rider to collapse back to the ground using her slicer as a crutch.

“I say, you’ve gotta admire the engineering behind these gaia memories. Don’t you agree Gale?” Slicer asked not really expecting an answer as she pulled her memory from her driver and held it up to the sky, “sure does make me rather sad that they’re wasted on people like you though.”

Without saying a word, Tara looked over her shoulder to see Slicer’s memory unguarded and in plain sight.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Slicer chuckled, “Oh well, not like it will matter in a few moments now will it?”

Slicer went to place her memory back into her driver, however at that very instant, Tara removed her Gale memory from her own driver and slammed it into the hilt of her blade, “GALE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!” her memory shouted as a loud charging sound erupted from her slicer.

“Maria! Look out!” Corroderon called out to his beloved.

Slicer looked down to Tara, Gaia memory still held up to the sky as Tara hurled her weapon in shuriken mode at Slicer’s wrist that she held her memory with knocking it from her hand resulting in it shattering to pieces before it could touch the ground.

Slicer stood frozen for a moment then fell over backwards onto the ground, her rider form shattering upon impact.

“MARIA!” Corroderon cried out running over to the side of his lover picking her up in his arms.

Tara then threw her slicer aside and dashed over to Cole, “Cole! Cole are you alright?”

“T-Tara?” Cole whispered as his eyes slowly began to open, “Where are we?”

Tara’s eyes filled with tears and she, without saying a single word, wrapped her arms around him and broke down crying.

“Hey hey hey,” Cole laughed patting her on the head, “What’s gotten into you?”

Tara sniffled burying her face in his chest, “I’m just glad you’re alive!”

“Maria!” Corroderon cried out huddling over Slicer, her skin becoming a dark grey with the texture of ash and her eyes a bloodshot red, “Maria speak to me! DON’T DIE DAMN IT!”

“Isaac…” Maria called out as her vision began to blur reaching out her one hand and touching her beloved’s face, “I guess… that beaten up old mutt was too much for me… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say stuff like that!” Corroderon cried grabbing Maria’s hand, “You’re going to make it out of here… You’re going to live dammit!”

Maria shook her head, “I’m afraid… this is where my ride comes to an end my love,” she sat herself up and kissed the mouth piece of her beloved’s helmet before collapsing in his arms once again. Her eyes closed as tears began to pour from them, “Be strong for me… my love.”

With those last few words, Maria’s body turn to dust in Corroderon’s hands leaving only her empty clothes and driver behind.

Corroderon balled up his hands and gritted his teeth, panting heavily in anger, “YOU!” He screamed rising to his feet at staring down Tara, “YOU MURDERED HER!” he threw his shield to the side and pulled another, smaller sword from a secondary sheath on the back of his belt, “You killed my Maria… NOW I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

“Tara, stay back,” Cole instructed as he rose to his feet, “I’ll take care of him, you just get out of here alright?”

“NO!” she shouted back to him, “I’m staying with you,” she said grabbing a hold of his hand, “no matter what the odds.”

“There isn’t any way of get through that thick head of yours is there?” Cole smiled at her then pulled out Rock memory as his driver formed around his waist, “Alright then, let’s beat this guy together,” he looked back to Corroderon, “Henshin!”

---

Ryu-O clashed his blade with Laurentia at the top of the tower with such force that would knock any normal person flying backwards into a wall, however the water rider did not move an inch from where he stood no matter how much force Carter put into the edge of his blade.

Carter broke his blade away from Laurentia’s and jumped back a few feet. As he jumped he shot a blast of fire at the other rider only to have it deflected off into one of the outer walls of the tower. Carter panted while Laurentia remained as stoic as ever as if he hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“You’re skill with a blade is impressive,” Laurentia proclaimed running his hand along the length of his sword, “but you still have a long ways to go.” He whipped his sword to one side then thrusted it toward Carter who in turn jumped off to one side, Luarentia keeping a close eye on his opponent.

Carter landed with both feet on the ground, “This fight is getting us no where. Now tell me,” he aimed his blade at Laurentia, “who the hell are you people!”

Laurentia lowered his sword and stared down Carter, “You really want to know?” Carter said nothing and simply glared back at him, “Tell you what, if you defeat me in battle I will tell you everything… deal?”

Without a single word Carter dashed over to Laurentia and slashed him across his chest, he then readied for a second strike which was then blocked by Laurentia this time causing his arm to buckle a little under the pressure. The water rider smirked under his mask, “That’s more like it.” The two swung their blades at each other putting more lethal force into each blow than the last.

After breaking from a parry, Carter shot his arm out at Laurentia and began to charge up a fire blast with enough energy to burn the two of them alive if need be however before he could fire it Laurentia kicked Carter’s arm down to the ground causing the boy to fire in the floor melting it and several floors below it instantly resulting in the pair falling down to the first floor of the tower.

The two riders climbed out from the rubble and looked each other in the eye as they both panted rapidly as they attempted to raise their swords to one another.

“I don’t suspect either us has the energy to keep this up for much longer…” Laurentia panted as he reached for his driver and pulled out his gaia memory, “How’s about we finish this with one final strike at our maximum?”

Carter glared at him but then did the same before quickly placing his memory into the hilt of his sword as Laurentia followed suit.

“Ryu-O! Maximum Drive! Laurentia! Maximum Drive!”

Violent flames constricted around Carter’s sword as pink quills of light shot out from Laurentia’s armor. Carter held his sword with both hands and brought it to his right shoulder as Laurentia struck an elegant fencing pose preparing for one final strike.

At that exact moment, the two dashed towards each other and struck their opponent with their blades firing off their finishing attack. Once fired, the two stood on opposite ends of one another in dead silence. After a few moments, Laurentia’s mask split in half.

Laurentia smirked, “Well played,” he said as his sword cracked and fell to pieces in his hands leaving only his gaia memory which was starting to fall apart. He turned to face Carter who in turn faced him, “I had been searching for an opponent like you, and now I can rest happily knowing that their was someone out their strong enough to defeat my blade.”

Carter raised his sword to Laurentia, “A deal is a deal.”

Laurentia smiled at Carter, “Right right, I know.” He turned to him and looked him dead in the eye, “We are a group of riders who have been experimented on by META. My comrades came to destroy this city and I out of habit tagged along, but in truth I do not wish to see innocent people suffer while monsters rampage. So please, do whatever you must to ensure this city’s safety.”

Carter nodded, then raised an eyebrow “Why are you asking your enemy to defeat your comrades?”

“Because you are not my enemy, I am only a warrior looking for one last fight… now that I’ve found it I can rest easy,” Laurentia proclaimed with a grin. “I meant what I said, I respect that you were strong enough to defeat me. But it wasn’t your body that was strong.” He held his memory up to Carter as it began to crack, “The five of us are tied directly to out gaia memories, destroy the memory and you will destroy the rider. Use this information to protect this city and those who you care about, and above all… never, at any cost, give up your freedom.” He cracked his memory within his hands and broke it to pieces, “Good luck… Kamen Rider Ryu-O.”

With those simple words, Laurentia turned to dust and blew away in the wind leaving only his driver and the few remaining fragments of his gaia memory lying scattered on the ground. Carter walked over to the driver and kicked it, he then turned his attention upward to the whole running through several floors leading up to the top of the tower.

“One down,” he said to himself clenching his sword within his hand, “two to go.”

---

Fata stood at the top of the tower holding up a violet orb of fire with her hand. Four balls of light floated around within it before one of them went out leaving only three remaining.

“Slicer and Laurentia have fallen Vulpurgeist,” she called out the black rider who stood on the edge of the tower looking down at the street below, “this isn’t looking very good for you… I’m beginning to think you and your followers don’t have what it takes to-”

“SILENCE!” Vulpurgeist shouted at her silencing her, “Gamma-Ray and Corroderon are still out there, besides I know what I’m doing.” He held the Xtreme memory in his right hand and his spear in the other, “It’s time to put the final phase of my plan into motion.”

He placed his Vulpurgeist memory along with another that was marked with an N with a wormhole in the middle of it into the slots on his spear before placing the Xtreme memory over top of it and splitting it apart.

“Vulpurgeist! Nocte! XTREEEEME!” the three memories shouted as a shroud of dark fog spewed from the xtreme memory as it darkened in color, the x in the center becoming a sickly green color.

Fata stepped away from Vulpurgeist as the shroud enveloped him entirely. Maniacal laughter began to erupt from the shroud as a pair of demonic black wings shot out from it with a quick swing of his spear the shadow rider whipped the black shroud off of him revealing him in armor similar to that of Alex’s ultimate form only his helmet, arm guards and wrist guards remained the same and a orange trim marked his armor instead of red.

The shroud quickly clung back onto him as it began to constrict around his body, shadowy black teeth could be seen eating away at various parts of his body.

Vulpurgeist whipped his spear around and fired off three spikes shrouded in a dark aura which jammed themselves into the ground at three ends of the city, their aura quickly beginning to spread.

“This power…” he cackled holding his hands open, “after the years I’ve spent dreaming…” he smirked and balled his hands into a pair of tight fists, “Now it’s real!”

---

Back underground, Corroderon slashed the ground between Cole and Tara splitting it open as the two jumped off to either side of him, Cole to the left and Tara to the right.

“WHY!” Corroderon shouted at the top of his lounges ripping his sword from the ground, “WHY ARE YOU TWO STILL LIVING WHILE MY MARIA ROTS IN THE GROUND!”

“This guy has completely lost it,” he thought to himself resting his weight on his hammer. He swung his hammer around to one side and smash it against the ground, “We’re going to need to make this quick so he doesn’t cause anymore damage.”

“Hey Kurodon!” Tara shouted at him, “It was her own fault she died you idiot!”

Corroderon glared at her then dashed over to her, grabbing her by one hand and twisting her arm around her back before pressing the edge of his larger blade against her throat, “So you want to die first now do you?” He raised his sword preparing for a killing blow, “Watch carefully Rock! This is what happens when you take the life of someone’s lover!”

At that instant, Cole smacked Corroderon in the face with his hammer sending him flying across the room releasing Tara from his grasp.

“Are you alright?” Cole asked Tara running over to her side.

Tara nodded, “never better.”

“You two make me sick…” Corroderon cackled picking himself up off the ground grabbing both of his swords grasping them tightly in his hands, “All me and Maria wanted to live in a perfect world…” he added as it sounded like he was beginning to cry, “IS BEING HAPPY WITH THE ONE YOU LOVE REALLY THAT BAD A CRIME!”

“This guy just doesn’t want to stay down,” Cole pointed out, “surely there must be some way to take him down.”

Tara tilted her head, “Hang on a sec,” at that instant she noticed a small glowing crack beginning to form in Corroderon’s driver as well as a few others on various parts of his armor. She jumped to her feet and whipped out her flail, “he seems to have cracks all over him… like he’s falling apart.”

“Are you sure?” Cole asked.

Tara nodded, “I’ve seen those marks before, I couldn’t possibly forget them.”

“Alright then,” Cole picked up his hammer with both his hands and held it tightly in his grasp, “if that’s his weak point, let’s hit it with all we’ve got.”

Tara smirked under her mask, “I like the way you think big guy.” She slapped him on the shoulder then grabbed a couple rocks from the rubble by her feet, “You handle the
finisher then, I’ll keep the guy busy.”

Cole nodded, “got it.”

She began hurling rocks at Corroderon before jumping up and down waving her arms in the air, “HEY TREE FREAK! YOU SUCK AND YOUR WIFE WAS A WHORE!”

Cole was stunned speechless, “What are you doing?”

“Making him angry!” she shouted before jumping off to one side and throwing yet another rock at Corroderon.

Corroderon blocked the other rocks just as he did the other ones before charging at Tara and grabbing her by her throat before pinning her down to a wall at the far side of the room.

“YOU ANNOYING LITTLE BRAT!” Corroderon growled at her tightening his grip on her throat, “Do you want me to kill you now!”

“Hmm… nah,” Tara shrugged, “I’d rather you fell before I did.” She stretched her neck out to one side and shouted, “NOW COLE!”

Corroderon looked over his shoulder to see Cole standing directly behind him placing his gaia memory into his hammer and switching it into it’s axe mode.

“Rock! Maximum Drive!”

Before Corroderon had anytime to react, Tara had slipped out of his grasp and jumped out of his reach as Cole swung his axe at him shooting of a blindly green blade of light which slashed his driver directly destroying his memory upon contact. He fell to the ground stunned by the impact as his armor shattered and he returned to his civilian form.

Tara jumped over to Cole’s side and raised her hand to him, Cole in turn raising his and slapping it against Tara’s.

Corroderon, now simply Isaac, clawed at the ground and stumble to his feet. He raised his hand in a claw shape at Tara and Cole before taking one step forward and falling back down to the ground.

“Looks like I’ve failed once again,” he said with a smile as he began to cry, “I’ll see you soon… Maria.”

With those last few words, Isaac’s skin became as grey as ash and he crumbled into a pile of dust on the ground.

Cole took his arm and wrapped it around Tara, Tara placing her hand overtop of his.

Cole then looked over to her and patted her on the back, “We should go, we still have things we need to do.” Tara nodded.

---

Up on the surface, Gamma-Ray climbed out of a whole in the ground and rested his hands on his knees in order to catch his breath, “Thank god I got away from there,” he looked up to the tower as a shroud of shadows began to form around it, “Well well,” he said with a smirk under his mask, “it looks like this little game is finally coming to a close.”

End of Part 3