The Northern Crater.
Sephiroth looked down at his hand, curling it into a fist, then spreading his fingers again. He had almost fully adapted to it now. This body was under his control.
And now, he had only one goal left.
Originally, his purpose had been to reclaim the world of the Ancients and drive out humanity.
The ridiculous part was that he had no Ancient blood in him at all. What had been fused into him were, in truth, the cells of an extraterrestrial life-form.
He had learned that truth from the information carried within the alien life-form that had been given the name Jenova.
That thing had tried to seize the body he was constructing as well. To move again as quickly as possible, it had also lent its strength, which was why this flesh had recovered so rapidly.
But no matter what, two wills could not exist within a single body.
Sephiroth would never allow another will to remain inside his body. Naturally, that meant the other will had to be destroyed.
The two of them had torn at each other in a mental battle, devouring each other's minds, and in the end, Sephiroth had taken control of this body.
After learning the truth, he had lost all interest in carrying out any plan to destroy humanity.
His greatest interest now was killing himself.
More precisely, killing Jenova, the thing that had cursed him with such a miserable fate.
It was Hojo's obsessive research into Jenova that had led to Sephiroth being born into this world.
And he was Hojo's son. What a joke.
What kind of madman carried out such inhuman experiments on his own son?
It was also Hojo's misunderstanding of Jenova that had given Sephiroth the absurd belief that the Jenova specimen—the source of his misery—was his mother.
Now, Jenova's will was afraid of something. It wanted to flee the Lifestream, and for that, it needed a vessel. So it had set its sights on him.
It had tried to devour his will and take his body, only to fail.
But that did not mean Sephiroth had successfully erased Jenova's will. At best, he had swallowed it, fusing it into himself.
That was not the outcome he wanted. He wanted to kill it completely. Otherwise, he had the feeling that one day, he would be assimilated in reverse.
When that day came, he would no longer believe himself to be Sephiroth. He would believe himself to be Jenova.
That was unacceptable.
The problem was that he could not kill himself.
No matter how badly he damaged his body, it regenerated. Even when he destroyed the crystal embedded in his chest—the one containing an immense amount of Lifestream energy—it restored itself just the same.
Of course, if he kept destroying it and continuously drained its energy, sooner or later he could kill the body.
But only the body, not the will.
So his gaze settled on one person.
The person Jenova feared. The person he had fought that day through a copied body.
That man should be able to kill him on a spiritual level.
He should be able to kill Jenova.
And so Sephiroth conveyed his challenge to a duel through the people watching the Northern Crater.
He would not hold back in this duel. He would not stand there without resisting and let himself be killed. He would fight with everything he had.
If the other man could not kill him, then he would make this planet die with him.
That was how twisted he had become.
Perhaps that was the influence of Jenova's will. Or perhaps his own heart had already become hideously warped.
Hm?
His eyes narrowed.
Less than an hour had passed since he sent the invitation, and the other man had already arrived to answer it.
Fast.
He had come in an aircraft Sephiroth had never seen before.
From that aircraft, Sephiroth sensed a powerful threat. It possessed the power to destroy him, but only the power to destroy his physical body.
The other man descended.
It seemed he had no intention of using the flying craft. Apparently, he meant to face him "fairly."
That man was Kain.
There was no conversation between them, nor did there need to be. If there was to be any dialogue, then its form would be battle. Slaughter.
...
Night had fallen for the third time.
Darkness swallowed the entire Northern Crater, leaving almost nothing visible.
Yet sparks flickered eerily through the night, flashing just long enough to drive back the dark in some small patch of space, only to be swallowed again a moment later.
Those sparks were born without any pattern at all. No one could tell where the next flash would appear.
At times, they burst repeatedly in the same spot, illuminating that area for a little longer.
Only then could a few details be seen.
The so-called sparks were actually the scattering fire produced when two weapons collided.
At other times, strange explosions of light and heat erupted. Those were the result of the two fighters' psychic powers clashing.
"Hm?"
Yuffie suddenly jolted awake, only then noticing that Aerith had draped a coat over her.
"Damn it, I fell asleep!"
"Don't worry. Mr. Kain won't lose. Yuffie, you should get some proper sleep."
"No way!"
Yuffie pulled the coat off, exposing herself once more to the frigid air.
She had never imagined this duel would drag on for nearly three full days.
Neither side had rested. They had been fighting without pause the entire time.
On Sephiroth's side, his body had fused with Jenova, and he also had a super materia serving as an energy source. He could regenerate endlessly and had no concept of fatigue.
As for Mr. Kain, he was keeping himself going by constantly using that panacea-like medicine.
At this point, the battle had turned into a contest of attrition.
Which side would give out first?
Would Sephiroth's super materia be depleted first?
Or would Mr. Kain run out of medicine first?
"Is there enough of that panacea, Tifa?"
"There's enough."
Tifa was certain of that. Miss Saeko Busujima had more than enough to supply Mr. Kain's personal space.
But no matter how much that medicine could heal the body, the strain caused by nonstop battle placed an unimaginable burden on the mind.
That was what worried Tifa. Despite herself, she looked toward Aerith, because Aerith had said this battle would end in Mr. Kain's victory.
Aerith had seen the future.
But had she only said that to comfort her?
"He really will win, Tifa."
Aerith could tell what Tifa was thinking from the look in her eyes, and her voice was firm.
She really had seen that this battle belonged to Mr. Kain.
She simply did not know how long it would take. She only knew the result.
So watching the battle continue for so long hurt her as well.
If the goal had not been to remove Jenova more cleanly, Mr. Kain could have simply used his mecha and other heavy firepower to blast Sephiroth to pieces.
But if he did that, completely erasing Jenova would become much harder. Once Sephiroth was reduced to fragments, Jenova would be more likely to survive in some hidden remnant.
By fighting this way instead, Sephiroth would remain a relatively intact individual until he had almost exhausted the materia's power.
Then Mr. Kain would be able to deliver a killing blow and completely destroy Jenova.
Hm?
Her pupils widened.
Something had shattered.
At first glance, it looked as if the materia embedded in Sephiroth's body had been broken again.
But this time seemed different.
It did not look as if it had been struck and shattered. It looked as if cracks had appeared from within.
Did that mean the materia's power had finally run dry?
It seemed the battle had finally reached its conclusion.
(End of Chapter)
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