"Shall we continue from where we left off?"
A multitude of Legrises, at least a hundred, encircled the allies.
Some of them—like Ana, Beruel, and Aurora—were capable of fighting, but most of the rest were already spent.
Serah and Kuzon had severed limbs, and their Aether levels were considerably low.
Edward, Aloe, and Maria were perhaps somewhere in the middle. They had exhausted a great deal of their energy, but they weren't in a spot that was too dangerous.
Jerry was down for the count, and even if he wasn't, there was no way he could handle a threat this massive.
Especially when he had barely been able to defeat just one!
Ciara was unconscious, completely out of commission.
All of them trembled at the overwhelming presence thag Legris posed, already aware of the kind of scary existence he was.
Well, ALMOST all of them.
"What in the world?! Is that Legris? What is he doing here? How did he… hold on, none of you are surprised? Don't tell me… he's the reason you're all like this?!"
While everyone was on their guard, sweat dripping down their faces, Lemi was completely bewildered by what she was seeing.
'He can make more than one version of himself appear in reality? That's different from what we know of him! How was he able to infiltrate this place? What are the Constellations doing? Or… has he found a way to block them out?!'
Lemi's mind was going into instant overdrive as she tried her best to fit in all the missing pieces of the puzzle so she wasn't lost in the context.
By the time she was able to overcome her initial shock and understand at least the rudimentaries, a few seconds had already elapsed.
'Hold on… he was able to put Serah and Kuzon into such states?' Lemi looked at Serah's severed legs and Luzon's severed hand and leg.
She couldn't help but gulp heavily.
'Look at how everyone is looking at him. He's clearly very dangerous! Damn… this is bad!'
If all of these people, some of which were definitely stronger than she was, could arrive at their conclusion, who was she to dissent?
Before she realized it, beads of sweat were already forming on her face as she joined the others to look above them at the myriad of Legrises that they would soon face.
"Hahaha! This is fun!"
"Entertaining!"
"Amusing!"
"Watching all of you like this…"
"Without Jared or Neron to save you!"
"It's perfe—!"
"Shut up, coward. So you finally admit that either of those two would mop the floor with you, huh?" Kuzon yelled, a defiant smile forming on his face.
Legris' gaze tightened a little, but his smile did not vanish.
"I can't imagine that was easy for you to say. Hope your ego wasn't too bruised when you let that out." Legris responded.
"Try to distract from the point all you like, Legris. It doesn't matter."
This time, it was Serah who spoke, her voice reverberating in defiance.
The fact that it was the two most injured people that stood up to Legris first caused even the rest to step forward in resistance.
One by one, they tightened their fists and narrowed their gazes.
It was so contagious that even the frightened Lemi gave Legris a nasty glare despite how her heart pounded uncontrollably.
"Despair? Hopelessness? There's no such thing here…" Kuzon took a step forward.
His arrogant smile oozed nothing but sheer determination.
"Bring it on!"
The instant Kuzon made this challenge, silence erupted.
No one said anything. There was just a silent wave of approval from his allies, and the quiet surprise that Legris gave.
Rather unfortunately, this decorum did not last long.
"I see…" A Legris spoke, a small sigh escaping his lips.
"It seems I've been too lenient on you." Another uttered.
Slowly, the legion began to close in on Kuzon and the rest. Darkness creeped in, dimming the light.
Even with their bold words, it was clear how little their chances of victory were.
With Legris fast approaching, so was their demise.
"This time, I'll show you all… the true meaning of—"
Suddenly, all the Legrises stopped in their tracks.
They all glanced at each other, as if confirming something. And then after a second, the horde seemed to have a consensus.
"Let's end this here for today. I'll be retreating now…"
Shock filled the faces of the clearly disadvantaged lot.
Why would Legris choose to leave now, especially when he had just expressed confidence over eliminating them all just earlier?
It meant only one thing!
"Looks like I'll soon have company." He whispered.
Dark holes manifested in reality, and the Legris variants began to slip back inside.
No one dared to interrupt this process.
Not only did they lack the proper means to eliminate all the Legrises, but doing so would yield no concrete results.
Legris could not be killed.
~VWUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSHHHHH!!!~
As if piercing the darkness with their overwhelming light, the twelve Constellations suddenly appeared amidst the retreat.
Time seemed to pause the moment they arrived, and all things in the realm stopped moving.
"You won't be leaving this place. None of you." Aquarius declared, stretching her hand towards the lot of them.
A few more Constellations budged a little as well, and Legris gave a resigned smile, as if already knowing what was going to happen next.
"Looks like I was too late, huh? I wasted too much ti—"
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!~
In a mere flash, all the Legrises exploded, transforming into pure light.
Just like that, all the variants were eliminated.
The ones within that dimension… the ones that remained hidden in the other dimensions… so long as they existed in the Constellation Realm, they were all eradicated.
"Begone… tainted one." Aquarius whispered, almost in passing.
Silence filled the dimension after that, and the massive Constellations slowly turned to the battered group beneath them.
There was a lot to say, and a myriad of things to discuss.
They all understood that.
*
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading, everyone!
This ends the invasion. Damn… this could have been an entire Arc, considering how long it spanned for.
I hope you all enjoyed it, though I know it felt dragged out at some point.
Looking forward to the next one!
