Chapter 23

The Destroyer

Astra led her army down the road into the Citadel courtyard. A team of about five dozen soldiers poured through the gates of the castle. She stopped in the center of the yard with the rest of the Champions behind her.

"Kaiser!" she shouted.

The Dark Lord was waiting for them all at the peak of the stairs. He sat between a pair of lions, sculpted from stone, standing guard before his stronghold. In his hand, he held the Keystone that he stole from Astra. He did not seem at all fazed by his enemies entering his domain, even after witnessing the gods descend on the city. He just sat on those steps and watched all the death and destruction like it was a regular ball game. That was what all this was to him: a game. Everyone was just a pawn in his gladiator deathmatch, and he got his dark jollies out of watching them all suffer.

"I'm surprised you were able to make it this far," he said humbly. "I had hoped my Riders would've dealt with you long before this. Either way, I still got what I need. You brought all the other Stars right to me."

"Don't think it'll be easy to take them!" Astra argued. "They're now in the hands of the Goddess herself!"

"My dear girl, who do you even think you're up against?"

"We all know what you are! You're a servant of the Destroyer! An apostate of Zadon!"

"Well then, you don't know the real story."

Kaiser began walking down the stairs, keeping his eye locked on the Champions through the entire descent.

"You already know that me and my team had rebelled against the Ark Knights. Though I was the only survivor, I was all but victorious against them. With no other choice, the last Knight banished me to Darkrelm to spend an eternity. I spent years wandering through the endless void alone until I met him."

"The Destroyer."

"Yes, at least what was left of him. His defeat centuries ago left him all but broken. While his mind was gone, his spirit remained, and so I claimed it for myself. Now he exists to do my bidding."

"So now what?" the Princess asked.

"Now?! Now you're finished! You're weak, and you have nowhere to run! No longer shall I be a slave to the gods' will, and especially not yours! It's my world now!"

The Dark Lord crushing the Keystone in his hand, turning it to dust that fled with the wind. With his arms spread out, Kaiser's thunderous voice gave him the appearance of a dark preacher. He was the prophet of Armageddon itself.

"If you want our world, you'll have to kill us first!"

"Oh, I won't be the one fighting you."

Kaiser slouched before them as he became shrouded by a dark aura. Everyone braced themselves for battle, for they knew what was coming. Though nothing could've prepared them for the horror that was coming for them.

Kaiser had vanished with the shadows, and from them emerged a colossal, humanoid demon with four muscular arms and the wings of a dragon. Everything beneath its pale face was covered in black, mutated flesh. Its head was crowned with two dark horns, fiery, red hair, and a third eye surging like a black hole. It carried a golden spear in one hand and a black sword in another. This cosmic demon was the scourge of the planet, the King of Darkness, the God of Destruction.

"Zadon," Jaden said with crippling horror.

The entire army flinched at the sight of the deformed deity. Some of them were too frightened to even breathe. The Destroyer let out a primal roar that could be heard all throughout Newtown. The shockwaves were strong enough to make even the earth beneath them quake with fear.

Zadon's third eye burned bright with immeasurable power before releasing it all in a beam of red light.

"Get out of the way! Hurry!" Jaden shouted.

Everyone scattered as the Eye of Zadon tore through the yard with its destructive gaze. Unfortunately, some of the soldiers were too petrified to react in time.

The soldiers were incinerated immediately, leaving only a trail of flaming rubble. The Champions were shocked at the Aeon's explosive display of power, which tore a trench through half the city.

"That was one blast..." Jesse uttered.

"We are so screwed!" Darek exclaimed.

Zadon hammered its tail against the ground before leaping towards them. He began cutting down the Astrean soldiers, one by one, with incredible savagery. Men were sent flying as he moved them down like they were mere weeds. They were all dead before they even hit the ground.

Before Zadon could slaughter another fighter, Revan rushed in front of him to defend his comrade. Using his gauntlet's power, he created a crystalline that instantly stop the Destroyer's attack. Revan showed no fear in the face of the God of Destruction. But the deity's strength proved itself too overwhelming, having shoved the Prince aside like a rag doll.

The Destroyer continued his murderous rampage, starting with the soldier Revan failed to protect. As he swiftly roamed around the battlefield, Jaden struggled to find an opening to attack. His behavior was too erratic to predict; he seemed to be fighting with no strategy whatsoever. Jaden knew that they weren't just battling a god but a wild animal driven by pure instinct.

Jaden anxiously tried to devise a way to attack the berserk deity, but he could barely focus with the soldiers' screams filling the air.

"AAAHHHH!"

The sight of Zadon killing those innocent men filled Jaden with fear and rage. One of them was standing right in front of him when the Destroyer approached him. His helpless cries shook Jaden to the point that he couldn't take it anymore. With no actual plan in mind, the Ark Knight bolted forwards in a desperate attempt to protect him.

"Watch out!" Jaden got between him and the dark beast and caught the Destroyer's sword between his own.

As Jaden tried to hold the evil god back, he found himself caught in his Eye's line of fire. Fortunately, Astra got behind Jaden and forged a barrier with her magic. She, too, struggled to protect them both from Zadon's relentless onslaught. Just as her shield was about to break, Astra forced him away with a wave of golden light.

As the demon stumbled backwards, Revan came back and drove him away with an explosive blast.

"If we all hit him together, we may have a chance," she stated. "Are you ready?!"

"Yeah," Jaden responded. "Let's do this!"

Jaden and Astra shined bright, powering up to their limits before flying towards Zadon. The Destroyer swung its enormous sword at the Ark Knight, who barely managed to sweep under its lethal edge. Sliding behind the great devil, Jaden sliced his draconic tail clean off his body.

Zadon roared in agony before hurling his spear at Jaden like a lightning bolt. The Ark Knight sidestepped away from its enormous edge and slashed the Destroyer's chest.

The blow stunned him long enough for the other soldiers to join the fray. They dug their weapons into the behemoth's dark flesh, causing him to cry out in anguish. This only seemed to fuel his anger, which made him even more powerful. Within seconds, an aura of scarlet light built up around his body. Then, like a star exploding into a supernova, Zadon released a wave of destructive energy that vaporized everything in its path.

Darek shielded Jesse and Kaylah as they stood just outside the blast zone.

"Damn you!" Darek shouted furiously.

Everyone backed away as the Destroyer flapped his wings and rose to his feet. While their attacks succeeded in harming the deity, Zadon's oozing skin quickly sealed the wounds all over his body. Even his tail grew back, like nothing even happened.

"I need an opening to shoot him with my Light Arrows!" Astra shouted. "That's the only way we can stop this thing from regenerating!"

"Coming right up!" Jesse declared.

He then rolled under the beast and sliced his foot, causing him to fall to his knee. Revan brought out his shield, and Darek hopped on top. He was then thrust into the air, where he hammered his blade into the Destroyer's head. Revan followed that up with a slice through the demon's chest. As Zadon hunched over his wounded torso, Kaylah swiped her spear across his face before impaling his right eye.

The wild deity roared at the Champions, the right half of his face covered in black blood. Before he had the chance to counterattack, Astra shot a Light Arrow in Zadon's chest, paralyzing him with its purifying energy. She and Jaden then energized their blades and charged the great devil. The two of them combined their strength into a strike that blew the Destroyer into the stone wall of the Citadel. Standing victorious of the ancient devil, they both sighed with relief.

"All right, we got him!" Jaden exclaimed.

"Thank God..." Astra added.

But to their disbelief, Zadon crawled out from the rubble without a scratch on his body. Just like before, all of his wounds had healed almost instantly. He maliciously glared at the Champions, his right eye having regrown.

"Oh, son of a bitch!" Revan muttered.

After charging itself once again, the Eye of Zadon fired another destructive blast at them all. Jaden jumped in front of them and took the full force of it with his shield. The Ark Knight's body skipped across the yard like a rock on water.

The dark god focused his power into what looked like a dwarf sun that formed between his hands. He then launched his fiery sphere towards them, but the two siblings intervened. They combined their strength into a blast to drive back his attack. The sphere finally imploded, setting off an explosion strong enough to send everyone flying. The shockwave itself brought the wall around the Citadel crumbling down.

The whole courtyard was torn apart, and many of the other soldiers were hurt by the blast. Kaylah was hurled against one of the guard towers, and a sharp pain quickly burrowed into her spine like a string of needles. As her aching body slipped to the ground, the tower behind her began to topple from the shockwaves.

"KAYLAH!"

Jesse screamed out as he and Darek hurried over to protect her from the falling tower. The latter used his shield to hold up the collapsed structure with all his might.

"Jesse!" she cried out.

"Don't worry, Kaylah! I'm right here!" he said.

"Come on, help me with this!"

Hearing Darek's plea, Jesse and Kaylah joined him in trying to lift the wreckage off of them. But even with their combined strength, it was still too heavy to lift.

On the other side of the field, Revan and Astra were on all fours trying to breathe.

"Did we get him?" Revan asked.

"Yeah, I think we got him!" she said with relief.

Bolts of dark lightning shot through the haze, striking the two of them on the spot. The two siblings collapsed as the spark had immediately shut their bodies down.

Zadon's blood-red eyes pierced through the smoke until his wings flapped it away. The beast stood over his fallen prey among the fiery ruins, howling to proclaim its dominance like a wild ape.

Jaden knew that none of them were strong enough to defeat this thing. Clinging to his sword for dear life, the Ark Knight struggled to pull himself up.

The Destroyer soared into the air with its mighty wings, hovering amongst the city skyline. He forged another flaming sphere in his hand, which grew to the size of a meteor. Its scarlet light bled into the sky, capturing everyone in its sinister gaze. The red sun was going to engulf them all, along with the entire city. With no hope of escape, everyone braced themselves for the end.

The dark beast unleashed his cosmic flare on everyone, opening what seemed like the gates of Hell. The crimson star descended onto the earth, emitting massive shockwaves that ravaged the field. But it stopped before it made contact.

With one hand held high, Jaden held back the Destroyer's sphere with the energy he had left. All his power beamed up into the comet just above his head. With his other hand, the Ark Knight continued to drive it back towards Zadon. But with a wave of his hand, he forced the sphere closer to the ground.

Seeing destruction just over their heads, Jesse, Kaylah, Darek frantically fought to free themselves from their stone prison.

"Come on! Come on!" Jesse shouted.

"Push! PUSH!" Darek yelled.

But it was no use. The three of them weren't strong enough to break free. But Jesse already knew that if that blast hit, they were all done for.

"Jesse, what do we do?!" Kaylah asked.

He didn't know how to answer. He couldn't lie to his sister, and he couldn't think of a way to tell her that they were about to die. Instead, he took his sister's hand and grasped it tight. Jesse looked into her tearful eyes to let her know he was right there. Kaylah focused on her brother's face, wanting that to be the last thing she saw.

While his friends prepared to embrace oblivion, Jaden continued fighting to hold back the falling star. Though he was overwhelmed by Zadon's wrath, he refused to relent in the face of Armageddon.

I won't let him beat me! I won't let him win!

Like a wolf baring its fangs, he howled at the beast and poured his heart out into the eternal flame.

"RRRAAAAHHHH!"

With a sudden burst of power, the Ark Knight drove the Destroyer's blast right back into his face. The beast cried out to the heavens as he was swallowed by his own attack. A cosmic storm exploded from the infernal sun and ripped the skies open.

A sea of golden light spread out against the sky. A cascade of shining particles drizzled down from the clouds like liquid sunlight. The Astreans all stared up at the sky with alleviating dread, hoping that the Destroyer was finally dead.

* * *

Everyone in Ramon's war room was awestruck by this massive light show, which had miraculously reached their cameras way up in space. All their monitors flickered rapidly, nearly blinding them all as they flashed their wild rays at them.

"What in God's name was that?!" Alderic asked.

"That energy spike, was that Jaden's?!" Ramon asked.

"That was his signature, your Highness," one agent confirmed. "That was the Ark Knight."

As they spoke from the safety of their war room, energy continued to leak from Jaden's body back in Newtown. His whole body was so wrought with pain, it was on the verge of going as limp. He felt like one of his aunt's old dishrags, worn out and devoid of color. Ramon anxiously watched the screen, waiting for the video feed to return, hoping that Jaden and his children were all right.

But as he stood, one of their monitors picked up another signal. Another life form made its presence known with its incessant pinging.

"Your Highness," another agent said, "it's still up there!"

* * *

The smoke above the Champions had scattered, and Zadon had emerged, alive but mutilated. The right half of his body was scarred to the point that it had warped into a black, pulsating ooze. Even one of his horns had been blown off. He finally had him on the ropes, but he knew he couldn't let him regenerate.

"Gotcha!"

The Ark Knight shot into the sky and swung his sword at the demon's face. But the Destroyer blocked his attack with his own enormous blade. Jaden clashed with the deity's sword at lightning-fast speed until he repelled it. Before he could deal a blow to him, Zadon caught him in his hand and put him through the wringer. Jaden cried out in anguish as he literally squeezed the life out of him with his magic.

He then launched himself towards the ground, dragging Jaden down with him. In a spark of rage, his energy exploded into a mighty wave, freeing him from Zadon's grip. Jaden flew away from the beast as it struck the ground in a fiery outburst. He could see the devil's sharpened face twist with surprise. Enraged, the Destroyer powered himself up for another attack. Too weak to fend off his attacks, Jaden desperately prayed for a miracle.

Please, there has to be a way to stop him! Something! Anything!

The Destroyer shot another solar blast up at the Ark Knight, who braced himself for impact. Before his infernal gaze could turn Jaden to ashes, an enormous light burst forth to defend him. At that moment, he sensed a strange power resonating inside the Astral Sword. It felt like it was talking to him, telling him what he needed to do. He could hear it speaking to him in an ancient tongue only the divine could comprehend. But then, his father's rang through his mind, uttering the same words he said when he was just a child.

"Jaden! Wake up! The time has come! The time has come for you to awaken..."

A vision of a heavenly dragon then flashed before Jaden's eyes. As Jaden stared into the light of its shimmering wings, he could feel an unfathomable power pouring down above him. This light opened his eyes to the truth as he quickly realized who and what this being actually was.

He knew what he had to do. He then held his sword straight up towards the sky and summoned the spirit of the blade.

"Awaken, Arkaeon!"

A streak of celestial energy shot down into the Astral Sword. His whole body shined like a star in the night sky. He could feel new strength surging within him, taking the form of an angelic knight with blazing, red eyes raging with a draconian spirit. He could feel the heart of the God-King beating as he had risen once again. This was the will of Arkaeon himself.

A glorious aurora rained down from the skies that tore through the darkness above. The force of Arkaeon's immeasurable power echoed through the clouds like an angelic choir. The Astreans stared up at the Aeon in awe of its holy presence. Only a few of them helped Jesse, Kaylah, and Darek out of the debris, giving the trio a clear glimpse of the great spirit.

"What is that?!" Jesse asked.

He and the other Champions were baffled by the deity's sudden appearance. Not even Astra could believe the almighty power that had just been roused from its slumber. As she stared up at the spirit above, she simply whispered-

"It's Him."

With the sword's divine light, the Ark Knight sent a storm of energy blades raining down from the sky. Zadon was trapped in the cage of swords piercing into his demonic flesh. Furious, the deity unleashed a beam of light that tore through the air in pursuit of him.

The Destroyer's searing blast burned into Jaden's arm as he fled his gaze, sending him spiraling into the ground. Seeing their friend in peril, all the other Champions hurried to his side.

"Jaden!" Astra cried out. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he assured, "but we need to hit him with everything we've got!"

The Champions heard the Destroyer thrash around as he tore out of his magical prison. Before he had the chance to retaliate, a rocket exploded in his face. They looked up to see the projectile came from none other than Jaden's friend, Rex. He was late for the battle as he had to aid his allies on the other side of the city. But now, he stood on top of the wall with a few more gunmen shooting down at the demon king. The rest of their remaining fighters took out their rifles and joined in the onslaught.

"Go! Now's your chance! We can't hold him off for long!" Rex shouted.

Seeing their chance to strike, Jaden looked up at Arkaeon still floating over the Citadel. Through his adamant helmet, the God-King stared down on the Ark Knight and spoke into his mind, once again telling him what he had to do. Nodding at the god above, Jaden pointed the Astral Sword to the sky, and Arkaeon's spirit returned to it, now filling Jaden's body with his divine power. The other Champions also prepared their weapons before making another assault on the God of Destruction.

Zadon discharged more bolts of lightning at them, which they were quick to avoid this time. Jesse and Revan let out a storm of projectiles into the devil's face. The Destroyer countered with another blast from his evil Eye, but Jaden and Astra zoomed around him in a circle of light. Both Champions emerged from that cosmic cyclone spiraling towards the beast for a sharp slash across his chest. The deity produced vines of electricity that shot in the air in pursuit of them both.

Jesse and Kaylah jumped up high and swung their blades at the Destroyer's face. Darek was flying behind them as he then hammered his blade into the Eye of Zadon, effectively cracking it. Driven into a corner once again, the beast began to fill himself with more devastating power.

"Not this time!" Astra declared.

She then shot a Light Arrow into Zadon's Eye before it could fire again. His body was injected with holy lightning, preventing him from fueling his engine of destruction.

Astra's radiant body bloomed with golden wings as she soared towards the Destroyer. She repeatedly drilled her shining rapier all across the devil's body. Glowing wounds were scattered across his black, scarred torso like a cluster of stars. She finished off her assault with an electrifying strike through the demon's chest.

"Jaden, now!" she shouted.

Leaping high above the Destroyer's head, the Ark Knight thus unleashed a stream of shining waves from both his swords. Jaden shot a beam of light straight through Zadon's heart, causing him to howl with primeval madness. For his final attack, the Ark Knight dove towards the beast like a bullet fired from the heavens. With all his power focused into this one strike, Jaden drove the Astral Sword deep into the Eye of Zadon.

Beams of red and blue shot out of Zadon's head as Jaden forced his blade deeper into his skull. The dark beast roared in agony, flailing around as the remains of his life and sanity fled him. And then, he just stood there, petrified by the power of the Astral Sword.

Seizing her opportunity, Astra stretched out her right arm and focused all her sacred power into the palm of her hand. She summoned a sphere of golden light that grew to consume Zadon's entire body. Jaden leaped off the deity's head as his dark shape disintegrated like coals in a pyre. As the last of the demon's body burned away, the light around him continued to grow before vanishing instantly.

The Destroyer was no more.