Chapter Eighteen: Serenity and Serenity’s Bane

*With Miles Tails Prower and Cream the Rabbit (along with Cheese the Chao)*

Tails was feeling incredibly helpless right now.
And if there was one thing he hated, it was feeling helpless.
The young fox was pacing the underground room he and Cream were in. They could hear multiple explosions outside, mostly from G.U.N.’s battle with Devabrawn and Consumar. It was infuriating; it was impossible to tell who was winning the fight. He could occasionally hear a faint scream (which usually meant one of Devabrawn’s blades that exploded shortly after stabbing an enemy were being used), and it made him run his hands through the fur on his face, growling softly in frustration…
His friends were out there, for crying out loud! Without him, in the middle of one of the most important battles they’d ever fought! And Tails was stuck here, with Cream, being totally useless!
“Tails? You okay?” Cream asked softly. “You seem kinda anxious…”
“Well yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Tails muttered. “We’re being treated like poor defenseless babies, and they need us! We can fight! Heck, even Cheese is a good fighter!”
“Chao!” Cheese said with a firm, agreeing nod.
“I know Tails, this stinks…” Cream said sadly. “I’m… I’m worried about Amy and Mr. Sonic and the others…”
“Yeah, me too Cream…” Tails said with a sigh. He stomped his foot on the floor, and picked up his electric-pulse-firing gun, which he had first used when they had all found Emerl the Gizoid several years ago, and had used it more recently when they had all assaulted Mephiles’ starship.
He wished he could be using it right now.
But, reflecting on it, what could they do to help? The Lost Ones were powerful, and if Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and everybody else hadn’t taken down the ones up there, what could he and Cream (who could fight, but not even as proficiently as Tails could) possible do to help?
Still, Tails had to do something, or he’d go mad.
Then, suddenly, he had an idea…
He and Cream could make a difference, if they were smart about it.
Luckily, Tails was officially a genius fox.
“Cream! Do you see that place over there?” Tails said, pointing. The young rabbit nodded. “It’s part of the underground subway” Tails went on. “We can use it to get through the sewers, get behind the Lost Ones, and flank them!”
“Really?!” Cream said, excitement flashing in her big, luminous eyes. But some fear crept into her features. “But, they’re so mean and dangerous… what are we going to do?”
“I’m not sure… but I’m coming up with a plan right now!” Tails said with certainty. “Follow me; I’ll have one before we get there.”

*Central City: With Shadow the Hedgehog*

If Shadow ever in his lifetime got to write a dictionary, he would put ‘Mephiles’ in as a synonym for ‘pain-in-the-ass’.
Mephiles’ power with the Sword of Chaos was unmatched: Shadow had never fought a foe as powerful as this. At least, not when he wasn’t in Super-form.
Mephiles shot out blasts of energy that shattered skyscrapers like a child destroying Legos with a baseball bat. Shadow’s speed, strength, and Chaos Powers – even amplified as they were by Dark Burner – were barely enough to continue the conflict. And Mephiles’ powers that he’d had before acquiring the Havoc Blade were greatly enhanced.
Shadow leapt high in the air, just as Mephiles did. When they met, they both cried out ferociously as their blades clashed with a sound that rang throughout the city. After they passed each other through the air, Shadow spun around to face Mephiles and fired a spray of Chaos Lances out of Dark Burner as easily as he could shoot a Chaos Spear from his hand. Mephiles gestured with the Havoc Blade, and at his command, a huge, gaping maw of dark energy opened up and swallowed the deadly energy.
Mephiles was getting stronger.
Shadow continued to fight on, though; he knew that if Mephiles was defeated, then his massive armies and the Lost Ones wouldn’t matter anymore: without his power and leadership, many of the monsters wouldn’t be able to sustain their own presence, and those that did would live only if at least one of the Lost Ones survived. And if more than one Lost One survived, they would fight each other for leadership. By the time the battle would be over, only a tiny fraction of Mephiles’ armada would live.
Then again, as long as one Lost One lived, they were all in danger. Only by wiping them and Mephiles out would the planet be safe.
Every single living warrior under G.U.N., Eggman, the Black Arms, and Mobius were all going to convene at Guardkaku, the ultimate fortress, to prepare for Mephiles’ main attack, Shadow reflected. This battle in Central City was primarily for wiping out most or all of the Lost Ones so they couldn’t spearhead the assault on the army. This way, they could defeat the Lost Ones without dealing with Mephiles’ standard troops at the same time.
And, if they defeated Mephiles here and now, all the better.
But that didn’t look like it was going to happen at this moment.
Mephiles launched an enormous blast of Chaos Energy from the Sword of Chaos whilst blasting an inferno of black fire out of his other hand, hoping to trap Shadow with one attack and destroy him with the other.
“Humans don’t deserve to live!” Mephiles snarled. “They have been tainted with evil since birth, even your most self-righteous humans!!”
“Even the evil ones deserve a chance for redemption, fuck-head!” Shadow yelled back, deflecting the Chaos energy with Dark Burner and then warping away from the blast of dark fire.
“Redemption?! So that they may yet live to commit further heinous acts?! FOOL! The only solution is to erase all of this, all of it, until there is nothing left to be evil!” Mephiles shouted, slithering over and reforming himself in front of Shadow so fast the hedgehog barely blocked the blow from the Havoc Blade, which Shadow could hear literally humming with power.
“The Creator of all life banished me to a life of misery and damnation. So I shall erase all He creates, all He loves and protects…” Mephiles whispered, and a green fire burst from his eyes that blasted Shadow into the nearest building.
“…until His hands are drenched in blood” Mephiles finished, and resumed the blade-to-blade combat.

*Central City: With Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna, Silver the Hedgehog, and Blaze the Cat: G.U.N./Black Arms fortification*

The battle was going horrible.
Now that Nadrina was destroyed, the Lost Ones had decided to come together and destroy the encampment of human, alien, Mobian, and (in Eggman’s forces’ case) mechanical enemies. Now Devabrawn, Consumar, Hurratore, and Sparxan were all attacking their hapless foes without mercy. Hades, meanwhile, was searching for Shade, Rouge, and Omega, who had apparently split up.
Occasionally, Silver and Blaze would unite their powers and stave off the attacks long enough for Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy to rush in and engage Sparxan, Hurratore, and Consumar. G.U.N. and the Black Arms and the few remaining Shadow Androids would try to find the best cover they could and fire all at once at Devabrawn. But Sparxan would always rapidly project horrible scenarios and nightmares into Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles’ head, and Hurratore would blast them all back, and Consumar would rush in to hold off Silver and Blaze before they could do anything more.
The battle continued, and slowly, humans, aliens, and robots died.
Once they were all dead, there’d be nothing to stop the Lost Ones from moving in and crushing the Mobians.
Silver picked up an armed missile (sparked with artificial Chaos Energy), and hurled it with his powers into the mass of Lost Ones, spraying them all with lethal energy. Sparxan and Consumar, who had taken the brunt of it, took cover behind Devabrawn. The huge Lost One, while he had been hit many times, took much more Chaos Energy to kill than most of his brethren. His wounds slowly healed, and by the time they were hit again, he barely felt it.
Soon, Sparxan and Consumar healed up again, and they fired surges of energy at their enemies, sending a few soldiers flying dozens of meters into the sky. Devabrawn had practically destroyed the entire area they were in, and was getting ready to unleash a bomb-like attack that would level every building in a 500-yard radius.
“Sonic!” the Black Arms C.O. shouted. “We need to move to an area that’ll provide us with more cover! Can you hold them awhile?!”
“Sure thing!” Sonic shouted back with a thumbs-up. “Just cover us a few more seconds…”
But suddenly, Consumar cried out in pain as something blasted into him from the back. His body sizzled from the back, indicating he’d been hit by Chaos Energy.
Sparxan turned back to see what it was that had attacked…
And he saw Miles Prower and Cream the Rabbit with Cheese the Chao.
Before Sparxan could even say a word, Consumar shoved past him, growling viciously, and charged the two young Mobians.
“Cheese, get him!!” Cream shouted, pointing at Consumar. Cheese glared at the incoming Lost One, and shouted: “CHAO-CHAO!!” With that, the brave, little blue Chao flew right at Consumar, and smashed into his head.
The impact knocked Consumar off of his feet as Cheese continuously blew off and bashed into him. Consumar flailed his arms about in an effort to kill the blue creature, but to no avail.
Sparxan was about to aid his brother, when Knuckles and Amy attacked him in unison, sending the Lost One flying and crashing through a nearby building. Devabrawn, meanwhile, had just been knocked flat on his back by a powerful Homing-Attack to the head from Sonic.
Finally, Consumar seized Cheese, and threw the little Chao off of him. Consumar was about to slay the little creature when Tails suddenly flew into him, bashing him with his strong, high-velocity tails (ha, ha). Consumar snarled in hate, and kicked Tails with amazing strength, sending him crashing into a bolted-down mailbox so hard the mailbox was de-bolted and crashed. Cream then smashed into Consumar, flew in the air using her huge ears, and kicked Consumar. Though she was young, her Mobian strength was still potent enough to send Consumar flying about ten meters to land roughly on the street.
“Take that you awful monster!” Cream cried, but Consumar suddenly blasted Cream high into the air with a surge of energy.  She smashed into a building, and moaned in pain as she began to fall…
But Tails jumped up and caught her gently. Then, they turned their attention back to the vicious, parasitic Lost One. Consumar formed a stone-blade on his right arm, and charged them.
“Cream, flank him!” Tails whispered, drawing his electric-pulse gun, and shooting Consumar dead-on in the head.  The Lost One slowed his charge from the blow, but roared in rage and charged on. Tails got two more shots in, and just as Consumar was going to skewer him with his blade…
Cream and Cheese seized Consumar by the head, and flung him across the street. Without hesitating, Tails fired his gun again and again at the Lost One…
But the blaster overheated.
Sensing the pause in the attack, Consumar forced himself onto his legs, and charged at them again.
“Tails! Think of something quick!” Cream squealed. Tails looked at his gun which was hot to the touch, knowing that it contained a good deal of Chaos Energy, and glanced at the charging Lost One, who was glowing from the heat of Tails’ previous blasts.
Then, Tails smiled, and hurled the gun with all his strength right at Consumar.
The blaster hit, and the explosion knocked Cream and Tails off their feet. When they looked at Consumar, he was on fire, slowly melting…
But alive.
“Y-YOU!!!” Consumar roared. “Y-You…. DIE!!!” And he was about to rise up for one final attack, and now Cream and Tails were defenseless…
But then, Cheese the Chao flew right through Consumar’s soft-as-tissue head, and landed on Cream’s shoulder.
Then the three of them watched as Consumar’s remains bubbled up, and exploded.
“Yes!!” Tails cried, and he tightly embraced Cream, grinning. “We did it!!”
“Chao! Chao-Chao!” Cheese cried in shared joy, hovering off of Cream with his wings.
Cream giggled and returned the hug. “We sure did, Tails!” she said happily. “Mother will be so proud! Come on, we still need to help the others!”
“You’re right, let’s move!” Tails agreed, and they took off to join Sonic and the others.

*Central City: With Shade the Echidna*

The red-and-black echidna was now running as fast as he could, seeking out the place where Shadow was battling. Between the noises Devabrawn’s brawl with the Mobians, G.U.N. and the others, and Hades’ vengeful attempts to destroy as much of the city as possible while searching for him, it was difficult to distinguish which noises would indicate where Shadow was fighting.
Suddenly, he heard the roaring-noise of Hades’ approach. He quickly dove into a nearby building, and ran for the back of it, and ducked behind a counter. In the back of his mind, he noticed he was in a television store.
“COME ON OUT, VERMIN!!” Hades shouted, spraying several missiles out of his arm. The explosion blew in all the glass in the building Shade was in and destroying about twelve others across the street. “FIGHT ME, PRINCE OF TRAITORS!!” Hades yelled again. He then drew one of his flame-ridden blades, and sprayed all the buildings to his left with black fire. The flames were ten-times hotter and more intense than normal fire, and was impossible to put out with normal water. Hades shot one missile directly at the store Shade was hiding in, destroying every single television on display and sending a 24’ flat screen shattering onto the counter that Shade hid behind. The echidna slowly drew his claws. He didn’t have time to fight Hades, but if the Lost One found him, a brawl was inevitable.
And if he killed Hades quickly and still got to Shadow, all the better.
But Hades seemed convinced that Shade, had he been hiding here, would’ve revealed himself by now. So the Lost One blasted off into the sky to look elsewhere. Shade wiped a bit of sweat off of his forehead, and quickly walked out of the shop. Then, he resumed his search.
Suddenly, he hard a huge explosion that he recognized: somebody had used Chaos Blast.
Shadow was near, and so was his old master, Mephiles.

*Central City: With Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega*

Rouge (who was carrying Omega’s detached arm) and Omega could finally see where G.U.N. had set up their latest holding position. Devabrawn was still shooting the hell out of them, and Hurratore and Sparxan were right there with him, forcing back anybody who tried to directly engage them (usually Sonic and Knuckles).
Not too surprisingly, Rouge noticed Tails and Cream among them.
That kid had about as much guts as he did brains, Rouge reflected with a smirk.
“ALERT: LOST ONES HAVE THE ADVANTAGE” Omega suddenly stated. “THEY HAVE MORE FIREPOWER THAN THE BLACK ALIENS AND G.U.N. RECOMMEND WE EVEN THE ODDS WHILE WE HAVE THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE.”
“Yeah… but it’s too risky, Omega” Rouge replied. “You only have one gun-arm. I don’t want to put you at risk.”
Omega faced her, and as ridiculous as it sounds, Rouge could almost see skepticism in his red-light eyes. “RISK? CORRECTION: RISK IS SOMETHING WE DO NOT USUALLY WORRY ABOUT. WHY START NOW?” Omega amended.
Rouge had to smile at that. “Ah… alright, we’ll do things your way” she said. “Any bright ideas?”
“AFFIRMATIVE: WE FLANK THE LOST ONES. I WILL FIRE UPON THE LARGE ONE CALLED DEVABRAWN. WHILE I DO SO, YOU ENGAGE THE SMALLER LOST ONES SPARXAN AND HURRATORE. WHILE WE HAVE THEM DISTRACTED, SONIC, KNUCKLES, AMY, AND THE OTHERS CAN ATTACK THEM MORE SUCCESSFULLY FROM THE FRONT, AND THE LOST ONES WILL BE OVERWHELMED.”
Rouge nodded. “Simple, but it makes sense” she admitted. “Alright, I’ll just have to be careful with your lost arm. Let’s move!!”
So they did. Devabrawn was still relentlessly blowing up G.U.N. and Black Arms forces. Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Silver, Blaze, and even Tails and Cream were exhausted, covered in soot, and they had at least one cut each. They would have to move again soon if something didn’t happen; there was barely anything that hadn’t been reduced to useless rubble by Devabrawn’s barrage. So long as Sparxan and Hurratore watched his back, nobody was going to do anything.
Suddenly, Hurratore used his manipulation over the air to send a cloud of debris flying right at his foes. Knuckles jumped in and smashed the bigger bits of debris away and Silver froze the rest and threw it back (to little avail).
“We’re not getting anywhere!” Sonic yelled out, wiping some dirt from his sweaty face. “Damn, I wish-”
But suddenly, they saw Devabrawn reel from an explosion to his back, and they all saw E-123 Omega- with only one arm- firing at the weapon-toting Lost One.
“RESUME FIRING!!!” the Black Arms commander screamed, and everybody fired non-stop at Devabrawn, now that his attention was elsewhere. Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Tails and Blaze all leapt to engage Sparxan and Hurratore while Silver assisted in trying to damage Devabrawn.
Sparxan turned to see Knuckles running at him, and blasted the echidna aside casually with a burst of energy. Amy charged at him right then, but Sparxan slammed his fist into the ground and unleashed a blast of fire right at the pink hedgehog. Amy rolled to the side to dodge it, and threw herself at Sparxan. But before she could make contact, the Lost One drew his multi-whip weapon and swiftly spun it around to knock her hammer out of her hands.
But then, Rouge the Bat flew down in a dive-kick and smashed Sparxan’s face dead-on into the ground. Rouge quickly helped Amy up, and looked to see Sonic and Blaze dealing with Hurratore.
Hurratore had a shield of flames around him now, which Blaze was trying to punch through (as she was almost completely immune to burns). Sonic then had an idea that he’d seen in a movie once. The blue hedgehog started to run faster and faster in a circle around Hurratore, actually creating a small vacuum with his velocity and sucking up the oxygen.
No oxygen, no fire.
Hurratore’s shield quickly died off, but as soon as it did, he drew a blade and slashed at Blaze. The warrior cat leapt out of the way of Hurratore’s blade, and then spun around and kicked him. While the Lost One was in the ground, Sonic body-slammed him in his rolled-up form and drilled Hurratore into the ground. Then, Amy and Knuckles slammed hammer and fist together in a sandwich, completely crushing Hurratore’s head flat.
Then, the Lost One keeled over and exploded.
Devabrawn, meanwhile, wasn’t doing too good either.
He was being hammered from both sides by dozens of weapons. Even with just one arm, Omega still had quite an arsenal. And now that Hurratore was dead, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy started attacking the Lost One as well while Rouge and Blaze held off Sparxan.
Devabrawn snarled at this and, trying to ignore the pain he felt, he kicked at the Mobians around him and shook Knuckles off of him like a dog. But while Knuckles was falling, he punched Devabrawn dead in the center of his chest. Omega noticed the wound the red echidna made, and fired a long energy-beam attack (similar to a Chaos Lance) at it. But Devabrawn stepped out of the way, and his chest only received a glancing blow from Omega’s attack.
Blaze, meanwhile, noticed the wound as well, and while Rouge held off Sparxan, she made her move. Blaze leapt up, and used her fire powers to launch herself like a drill into Devabrawn’s chest.
Blaze immediately jumped out, and noticed a huge, glowing-hot hole in the huge Lost One’s chest.
Devabrawn clutched feebly at the wound, and fell over onto a damaged building. Everybody backed away just at the Lost One’s huge body exploded.
But Sparxan didn’t stick around when he noticed the battle was now going horribly wrong. He kicked Rouge out of the way, leapt into the air, and took off.
“That’s right; run you little bitch!!” Sonic yelled after Sparxan, holding his middle finger up at the fleeing Lost One.
Blaze brushed her shirt off, and smiled slightly at Rouge and Omega. “Nice timing, you two” she said. “If you’d gotten here much later, it might not have mattered by then. Thanks a lot.”
“AFFIRMATIVE. WE ARE SIMPLY FOLLOWING SEARCH-AND-DESTROY PROTOCOLS, NO MATTER HOW FUN THEY MIGHT BE” Omega replied.
Rouge patted Omega’s broad metallic shoulder. “No problem, guys” she said to Blaze and the others. “When trouble’s around, we’re usually not too far behind.
“Where’s Shade?” Silver asked. “Didn’t he go with you to draw the other Lost Ones off?”
“He did, but I sent him off to go help Shadow battle Mephiles” Rouge replied. “We destroyed a Lost One, by the way. Nadrina, I think was its name.”
“Excellent!” the Black Arms commander said, stepping down from the barricade he’d been behind. “And we just took out Devabrawn, Hurratore, and Consumar as well…”
“You did?” Rouge interrupted. “Good work, guys! How’d you do it? I mean, no offense, but you seemed kind of at a standstill until we came along.”
“Uh, well…” here, the Black Arms commander’s demeanor grew embarrassed. “Well, it would seem I, ah, underestimated Mr. Prower’s and Miss Cream’s fighting prowess. They teamed up and eliminated Consumar not far from here. And Miss Cream’s Chao helped out too, I hear.”
“Chao-Chao!” Cheese replied enthusiastically, flexing an arm for show. Cream laughed at this and patted her Chao on the head.
“So, Nadrina, Devabrawn, Consumar, and Hurratore have been destroyed. You defeated Izar back in the ancient temple, and Shadow killed Xar on the way here…” the Black Alien leader said thoughtfully. “That just leaves Sparxan, Hades, Bane, and Mephiles himself! Where is Bane, however? He have no reports of him engaging anyone in this battle…”
“Probably chickened out” Knuckles scoffed. “‘Bane’, oh, what an original name! Give me a break, he’s probably his own bane if anything.”
“He’s a deadly warrior who killed thousands of Black Arms civilians and soldiers many years ago before you were born, echidna” the Black Arms commander said coolly. “My own great-grandfather died facing him, and need I remind you he has killed plenty of your human allies as well. He is not to be underestimated: he must be hunted down with extreme caution and prejudice!”
“AGREED” Omega said eagerly as two G.U.N. agents were busy trying to re-attach his arm. “COMBAT IS LOVELY, BUT THE STALKING OF A DESTRUCTABLE TARGET IS PREFERABLE IF THE TARGET PROVIDES SOME MEASURE OF THREAT.”
“He has ‘lovely’ in his vocabulary?!” Sonic murmured in shock to Amy, who chuckled a little.
“So… what now?” Tails asked, holding a new blaster G.U.N. had given him (and he had modified). “Are we going to hunt down the last Lost Ones, or help Shadow?”
“Both” Rouge said with authority. “Omega and I will head for Shadow: we have Shade’s coordinates on my communicator. He’s probably almost found Shadow by now. The rest of you, stay close and get ready to attack Hades or Sparxan or whatever else you can while Omega, Shade, Shadow and I try and take down Mephiles. Commander? Where is the air-support we were promised?”
“The first wave will be running a strafing run on the ranks of Mephiles’ monsters that have up trapped here, particularly their anti-air defenses” the Black Alien leader replied. “They should be here in about one minute. The second and third waves are dedicated to attacking the Lost Ones. The fourth and fifth will continue to assault the monsters that have us trapped. Then, they’ll send ships to pick us up and head to Guardkaku, the fortress of G.U.N.”
“But if we defeat Mephiles and the Lost Ones, would that really be necessary?” Silver asked. “I mean, without his power and that of the Lost Ones, his army wouldn’t be able to sustain itself, and it would crumble. We could easily hunt down the other Lost One Mephiles didn’t bring and destroy him. Then, his army would be completely annihilated, and all the civilians we evacuated can go home!”
“Yeah! It’d be almost like nothing happened!” Tails said cheerfully.
“Easier said than done” Rouge said seriously. “So let’s make it happen! C’mon people, Shadow needs help!”

*Central City: One minute later; with Shadow the Hedgehog*

The battle with Mephiles was, at the moment, a stalemate.
A stalemate which, Shadow reflected with frustration, was an improvement.
Even with Dark Burner’s power, the ebony hedgehog was truly no match for Mephiles’ wrath when he wielded Serenity’s Bane. So, to compensate for that, Shadow used his head. One of the first things G.U.N. had taught him was that the brain was truly an agent’s greatest weapon. It helped one strategize, analyze enemies for weaknesses, memorize the attack patterns and find an opening, think about what the best course of action to take would be. Shadow was able to counter Mephiles’ moves, counterattack, and feign attacks so he could land the real attack while Mephiles was distracted.
But of course, Mephiles used his mind as well, which proved to be quite powerful.
The dark being soon picked up on Shadow’s feints, counters, and dodges. He was able to draw Shadow into using false attacks and then not take the bait, and he’d be ready for Shadow’s real attack.
It was like chess, using strategy over brute force, luring the enemy pieces into traps. Only the pieces were white-hot blasts of energy, flashing, fiery blades, fists, whips, and explosions.
Now, nobody was getting anywhere. The two powerful beings were locked in deadly combat, and it looked like it might last until Central City was nothing but rubble.
Shadow backflipped on top of a car, and blasted several Chaos Spears at Mephiles. The dark being dodged it, but it gave Shadow time to retreat to the top of a nearby building, giving him the higher ground. Shadow sliced off a huge chunk of cement, and used Chaos Control to freeze time long enough for him to send the cement flying at Mephiles’ frozen form.
Unfortunately, the Sword of Chaos was so powerful it shattered the time-slowing field Shadow had created. Mephiles slashed the falling debris so that it shattered into a million pebbles, and flew up at Shadow.
The ebony hedgehog smirked, at waited.
At the last possible second, Mephiles lashed out with both the Sword of Chaos and a stone blade on his left arm. But by the time half that second had elapsed, Shadow warped away, and with just .20 of a second to spare, he fired a Chaos Lance dead-on into Mephiles’ back, blasting the dark being into a wall on the upper-building that had stairs that led down into the building.
While Mephiles was recovering, Shadow moved in quickly, and briefly overwhelmed Mephiles with lightning-quick slashes which were fueled by Shadow’s vigor at gaining the upper hand. Finally, Shadow found an opening in Mephiles’ parries, and took it, slashing the dark being so hard the blow knocked him flying a few meters away.
But Shadow made a crucial mistake: if you keep your eyes solely on the king during chess, you may forget that there are other pieces that will stop at nothing to save the king. So, Shadow failed to notice Hades fly by and land on the top of a building across the street from where he was.
Mephiles leapt up to attack Shadow again, but Shadow had adrenaline going through him, thinking that the battle might finally end here and now. The ebony hedgehog dodged Mephiles’ lash with his whip, blocked the Sword of Chaos, and then kicked the weapon out of the dark being’s hands so that it clattered away from him. He dove for it and grabbed it.
But just as Shadow was about to go after him, he heard the screaming noise tear the air, and turned to see a black, fiery missile coming from Hades’ direction right at him.
The missile hit the building, and it sent Shadow flying to crash into the same wall he had crashed Mephiles into.
The ebony hedgehog groaned as he rose to his feet, but Mephiles was upon him immediately. The dark being seized Shadow by the throat, and slammed him repeatedly into the wall, and then tossed him to the ground, and stepped on the hand that still grasped Dark Burner.
“This has been a most enthralling duel, Shadow” Mephiles said, grudgingly but sincerely. “Truly, I doubt any of my brethren could survive a one-on-one encounter with you, not even Hades. But even though you are the strongest of my foes, I am the strongest of my kind, and you cannot best me. This will be over shortly, Shadow. The end is nearing.”
“Not our end, but yours!” Shadow snarled. “Shade is still out there, and so are millions of men and women who oppose you! They can defeat you!”
Mephiles chuckled at that. “It is a marginal chance you speak of Shadow, and you know it” he replied. “Certainly, Shade can wield the power of Chaos, and your allies are certainly competent enough to do serious damage to my armada’s numbers, and even the Lost Ones However, none of them can wield Dark Burner, and only that weapon can give one the strength to even face me without fear of total defeat. Or perhaps not. No matter Shadow, I have serious questions for you now.”
“Fuck you! I’m not telling you anything!!” Shadow snarled, fire blazing in his red eyes at the being he hated most in the world.
“Indeed. I doubt painful interrogation would gain me your true cooperation: your will is too strong. Perhaps a reward?” Mephiles mused.
“You’re an idiot! You have nothing to offer me!!” Shadow spat.
“It’s only one question Shadow, now listen!” Mephiles growled softly but coldly. “I need the Master Emerald! Where is it?!”
“Why do you need it?! You’ve got a powerful enough source of Chaos power right there!” Shadow growled, as if he thought Mephiles was a complete dumbass.
“I need to rip a hole through space and time to reunite with Iblis, the Flames of Disaster, as he no longer exists in this dimension” Mephiles answered. “As you know, the first time I returned, I required most of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald to do so. If I have the Master Emerald and the Havoc Blade, it shall be more than equivalent. Now, tell me where it is, and I shall let your family live!”
Shadow’s eyes narrowed into deathly, fiery slits as he glared into Mephiles’ eyes.
He knew that if he and Rouge and Luna all died, they’d be beyond Mephiles’ grasp, and he would kill them anyway once he and Iblis reunited.
Besides, Rouge and Luna were both beyond Mephiles’ grasp at the moment.
“KISS. MY. ASS!!” Shadow growled, and spat on Mephiles’ face. A low growl emanated from Mephiles, and he suddenly hefted Shadow off of the ground.
“Have it your way, then!” Mephiles growled, and threw Shadow off of the building, and then propelled him with a surge of energy.
Then, Shadow began to fall fifteen stories towards the street, completely disoriented.