The air froze between them. When the tension reached its peak, Jair and Lovel shouted their commands in the same breath.
“Go!”
“Take him down!”
Obeying their Tamers, the two massive Golems charged. They kicked up clouds of dust and dirt in their wake, and the ground shook with a deafening roar. Giants so huge that Cliff had to keep his head back to see their heads, clashed face to face in the space between Cliff and Jair.
Aru swept the tip of Sephiroth’s spear away with his hand. Sephiroth blocked Aru’s fist with the spear handle. Silver sparks flew with every hit, ringing out in cold, earsplitting chimes like a broken bell. Aru steadily closed the space between them while repelling a volley of storm-like thrusts.
“Aru, kick!” Lovel shouted. Aru, in turn, redirected the momentum of his forward charge to whip his leg into a crescent arc, striking Sephiroth from the side.
Sephiroth flew backwards with an explosive boom. The over four-meter tall body of silver arced through the air as it flailed, and crashed into the building behind. The impact shook the building down to its foundation as innumerable cracks sprung across the outer wall.
“Wow, he’s incredible…!” Cliff exclaimed despite himself. He was awestruck by Aru’s big frame and deft movements that transcended Golem limits on every scale.
Lovel shook her head beside him. “Our enemy is just as incredible.”
Cliff’s eyes widened. Sephiroth had drilled a hole through Aru’s abdomen without Cliff noticing. He must have driven his spear through him in the split-second Aru executed his crescent kick.
“That’s the Golem Ouka and his team devoted their whole lives to after all!” Lovel acknowledged. Jair flashed her a faint smile in return.
Sephiroth wielded his spear once more. He approached Aru more prudently this time, sliding his feet across the ground to keep his body completely stable.
“…Lovel, can I leave the battle here to you?” Cliff whispered in her ear. Lovel nodded. She understood what he planned to do.
“I’ll be just fine! You take care of Jair!”
Cliff took her words to heart and hopped onto Dram’s back. “Go, Dram!”
Dram broke into a run with Cliff riding him. He shot past Sephiroth’s legs to the other side.
There was no question Aru could stand his ground against Sephiroth. But defeating him was another matter. They had no means to destroy the cube in Sephiroth’s chest. It’d be too difficult for Aru’s crude metal fists to penetrate Sephiroth’s silver chest plate.
So I have to be the one to do somethin’ about it! Cliff thought as he directed Dram to run toward Jair in front of the Great Bell Tower.
“Pin him down, Dram!”
Dram lunged for Jair at Cliff’s order. Without stepping out of the way, Jair caught Dram’s face in his palms.
“How?!”
Jair had intercepted Dram’s charging leap with both hands. The ground gave way under his feet and he slid back several meters, yet he held his ground and kneed Dram in the chin.
“Whoa!”
The kick sent Dram, along with Cliff, into the air. Cliff hit the ground first, and Dram’s heavy amber frame fell onto his outstretched arm. He heard a disturbing crack.
“AAGGHHH!”
Searing pain coursed through his elbow. He ordered Dram to move off him and saw his right arm wrenched at an absurd angle.
It’s broken…!
Enduring the pain that threatened to empty the contents of his stomach, Cliff looked up at Jair from flat on his stomach. Jair stood there with cold detachment, as though nothing had happened.
Cliff heard something slam down behind him, sending the ground quaking under him. He looked over his shoulder to find Aru splayed on the ground.
“ARU!”
Sephiroth ran straight for the shrieking Lovel. Sephiroth caught her without giving her a moment to escape.
“AAAH!”
Sephiroth’s left hand closed around her neck and yanked her off the ground. He drew back the spear with his right hand and thrust it toward Aru.
“Protect your chest, Aru!” Lovel choked out.
Aru guarded his chest with his hands. The spear pierced into his hands with a sharp squeal. Sephiroth leveraged the weight of his body to press down on the spear, and it ate into Aru’s chest with a shrill grinding noise. Agonized moans escaped Lovel’s lips as Sephiroth’s other hand clenched tighter.
“DAMN YOU!” Cliff shouted at Jair. “Dram, get him!”
Dram dropped back on his legs and sprung toward Jair. Cliff dragged himself forward at the same time. Dram swooped down on Jair with his fangs bared. Jair caught the jaw between his hands yet again.
“A futile attempt, no matter how many times you try—” Jair’s remark was cut short. Cliff slid headfirst and swept out Jair’s legs with his left arm.
Jair fell face-up and Dram pinned him down. Cliff saw Jair’s face right in front of his eyes. On the ground, Cliff grabbed the front of Jair’s shirt and yelled at him.
“Master Roche! Please stop Sephiroth!”
Jair’s chest, right hand, and legs were pinned by Dram, sealing his movements.
“What good comes of destroyin’ that bell tower?! We won’t be able to make Golems on this island anymore if you do that!”
“That’s a good thing. This archipelago doesn’t need worthless Golems.”
“Lies! That’s not something Master Roche would say! Master, didn’t you once tell me we’d become amazing Golem Tamers someday?”
The conversation took place around the time they had first met. Cliff had been carving some driftwood he picked up into the shape of a Prime Body. While he worked, an older boy came over and struck up a conversation with him about Golems. They became quick friends.
Cliff had been with him ever since that day. He thought they would be reunited even if they lived apart. He believed they would both become magnificent Golem Tamers and meet again inside the Academy’s lavish garden.
“I was able to persist in making Golems because I met you. I could keep working hard at it, until today, because you told me I have talent.”
“…I have no memory of that.”
“I will never forget it, even if you have! We wanted to become Golem Tamers! This is the archipelago of Golems! The islands of Golem Tamers! This may be an unreasonable island created by the Church, but I love this archipelago, where all my best and worst memories were made!” Cliff shouted, feeling like he was about to cry. “Please, Master! Please stop doing this!”
He had no alternative but to try and talk him out of it. Cliff never wanted to consider killing him as a means to stop him. Jair shook his head regardless of Cliff’s pleas. His left hand shot to his pocket, and he yanked out an object and buried it in the ground beside him.
“…Master, what are you—”
Struck by the realization of what that action meant, Cliff pulled back from him. He knew full well what Jair had buried.
“My name is Jair! In the name of the 72 gods, I give thee the name Adamah! Live as one with me and return to dust with me. I order thee to remove that Amber Golem!”
Within seconds of Jair’s incantation said in a single breath, the ground where he buried the cube glowed, and a hand made of dirt burst out.
“No!”
The dirt hand grabbed Dram’s torso and the two-meter tall Adamah rose from the ground, lifting Dram up with it. His limbs now free, Jair sprung to his feet and locked his eyes on Dram’s forehead.
“Crud! RUN, DRAM!” Cliff shouted, but it was too late. Jair drove his elbow into Dram’s forehead. “No…”
Cliff watched, helpless to do anything about it. The elbow strike accurately erased the “e” from Dram’s forehead. A fleeting click reverberated through the Amber body. Pieces of amber fell like snow on the ground. Dram had been shattered to pieces with a single hit.
Jair walked over to Cliff as he weakly called, “Dram…!” Faster than he could climb to his feet, Jair’s kick sunk into his chest. “Gah!”
Cliff’s ribs broke with a muffled crack. Intense pain shot through his brain.
First my arm breaks, now my ribs! Cliff stubbornly hung on to his fading consciousness. He clenched his teeth to brace himself for the next hit.