Chapter 860 - 859: The Villain Who Didn't Know How Brutal the Power of Friendship Could Be."

Having escaped in time from the flying debris of the city, Claudia managed to get out of the dangerous area and first of all began looking around in search of the others. For the moment Sephiroth had brought down a stone avalanche upon them, their entire group had been scattered to different corners.

The anxious thought that someone might be under the rubble and desperately needing help—especially now, when their opponent had become Sephiroth himself—gave her no peace. She did not fully understand why the black fog that had burst from Sephira's body had taken on the appearance of someone who should not be here.

But of one thing she was absolutely certain: this threat needed to be stopped, no matter what goals he was pursuing. Tightly gripping the Buster Sword in her hands, Claudia tensely listened to the dull sounds of the surroundings, trying to catch even the slightest rustle.

And a moment later a strange whistle reached her hearing, replaced by the roar of collapsing structures. Sharply raising her head in the direction from which the noise was coming, Claudia narrowed her eyes, noticing in the distance a huge cloud of dust rising toward the sky.

At first she thought that these were simply the debris thrown by Sephiroth earlier settling, but in the next second the dense veil of dust suddenly sharply split in two, as if an invisible blade had sliced through the air. Following this another whistle of wind rang out as massive slabs carefully moved apart to the sides, cut with frightening precision.

"He must be there. I need to hurry," Claudia said, frowning, immediately tearing off from the spot and running toward the epicenter of the battle.

Understanding that someone from their group might be fighting Sephiroth right now, Claudia did not waste a single second and raced forward at full speed. Powerfully pushing off from a fragment of a destroyed building, she soared into the air and, using a steel beam sticking out of the concrete as a support, jumped even higher.

Not slowing for even a moment, Claudia virtuously leaped from one fragment of the roadway to another, rapidly closing the distance to the place of battle. The closer she approached, the clearer and louder the sounds of the fierce clash coming from ahead became.

Having overcome yet another obstacle in the form of an entire mountain of piled boulders, Claudia climbed onto the roof of a half-destroyed high-rise and immediately tore into a rapid sprint. But she had not managed to run even a couple of meters when the familiar whistle was heard in the air again—and the huge structure under her feet began rapidly tilting to the side.

Narrowing her eyes, Claudia made several lightning-fast lunges, in mere fractions of a second covering the remaining distance to the edge and pushing off with all her strength from the parapet.

Finding herself in free flight, she instantly assessed the situation, sharply spun in the air and precisely landed on an inclined stone slab. Daringly sliding down the smooth surface of the concrete, Claudia picked up the inertia and again rushed forward—the roar of the battle was already very close.

Continuing to race headlong, she suddenly saw a massive concrete fragment flying straight at her from the dust veil. Not thinking for even a moment, Claudia jumped toward the projectile and with one wide, crushing swing of the Buster Sword sliced it in half.

Slipping between the disintegrating parts of the boulder, Claudia landed heavily on the destroyed expressway and immediately saw Alex and Sephiroth exchanging deadly blows at frantic speed.

Quickly assessing the situation, Claudia squeezed the hilt of the Buster Sword until her fingers cracked and rushed into the attack, intending to deliver a treacherous blow right into Sephiroth's back. Covering the distance with several explosive lunges, she soared high upward, on the fly spinning her heavy blade above her head.

But at the very moment when the weapon was already ready to crash down on the target, Sephiroth suddenly turned toward her with a cold, contemptuous smirk on his lips and smoothly stretched his hand in her direction. In that same second Claudia felt as if the weight of an entire mountain had crashed down on her shoulders.

An invisible press with monstrous force slammed her into the concrete, forcing her to fall to her knees—the pressure was so inhuman that she could barely take a breath, let alone rise. With enormous difficulty overcoming this crushing pressure, Claudia fixed Sephiroth with a hostile, icy gaze.

"As always predictable. None of you ever change," Sephiroth said with a cold smirk on his lips, continuing to hold Claudia with the pressure of Gravity Materia.

"Just like you yourself…" Claudia forced out in a constricted tone, casting a tense glance behind Sephiroth's back.

"Don't get distracted, you idiot. We haven't finished our dance yet," Alex's cheerful voice rang out right behind Sephiroth's back.

Hearing the voice behind him, Sephiroth instinctively raised Masamune in front of himself as a shield. Seeing this, Alex only smiled and delivered a crushing blow with the hilt right against the blade, considering the opponent's attempt to block the attack rather amusing.

From the collision of the hilt with the blade a deafening ring of metal rolled through the surroundings, followed by a powerful clap of a shockwave—Sephiroth was instantly thrown aside into a pile of debris. Sephiroth at enormous speed slammed with his back into the wall of a destroyed building, and fragments of concrete immediately rained down on him from above in a heavy cascade.

Contemptuously smirking, Alex spun on his heels and turned to Claudia, from whose shoulders the suffocating pressure of Gravity Materia had finally fallen. Stepping closer, he extended a hand to her, offering help.

Raising her head, Claudia looked at Alex's palm and immediately tightly seized it, sharply rising to her feet. Straightening up, she continued to squeeze his fingers with such force that, had Alex been an ordinary guy or even a hardened SOLDIER fighter, the bones in his hand would have long since cracked.

Before her inner gaze still stood the horrible picture of how Sephira's blade had pierced his chest through. At that moment it had seemed to her that she was once again forever losing a dear person. And even having learned that this entire nightmare had been merely a staged performance for the sake of luring out the true enemy, Claudia still boiled with rage at Alex for such a reckless trick.

Looking into Claudia's cold eyes, Alex without difficulty read all her thoughts without any magic. He perfectly realized that he had significantly overdone it with this theatricality, and with gloomy anticipation understood what retribution awaited his ribs when this mess finally ended.

"If you continue looking at me with such a gaze, I might think that you've finally decided to kiss me," Alex said with a light smile on his lips, feeling how Claudia's fingers squeezed even more furiously.

"You're still joking?" Claudia hissed in an icy voice, looking at Alex without any amusement in her eyes.

"I'd gladly continue this discussion, but our new friend seems to have already come to. Let's first deal with him," Alex answered with a soft chuckle, carefully freeing his hand from Claudia's iron grip.

"Hmm… We're not finished yet. As soon as this situation is resolved, we'll continue," Claudia promised, coldly snorting and shifting a hard gaze to the pile of debris where Sephiroth was still hiding.

"Only on the condition that a coveted kiss awaits me at the end. You already owe me more than ten of them," Alex winked, pulling a new thin cigar from his pocket and striking a lighter.

Hearing Alex's words, Claudia cast a fierce gaze at him, clearly intending to declare that after everything she had experienced what awaited him was not a coveted kiss at all but a full-fledged concussion—exclusively as an educational measure for all those tricks he had pulled.

But the moment she opened her mouth for a retort, the space shuddered from a new roar and pieces of concrete flew in all directions. Deftly slicing the fragments flying at them, Alex and Claudia saw Sephiroth emerging from the dense cloud of dust with a cynical smile on his lips, carelessly shaking a layer of dust from his white pauldrons.

Exchanging glances between themselves, Alex with quick gestures outlined a plan to Claudia: he would take on solid defense and blocking, while she would deliver the finishing blows. Understanding the idea at half a word, Claudia briefly nodded and more tightly gripped the hilt of the Buster Sword, drawing the heavy blade back.

Seeing her combat readiness, Alex slightly cracked his stiff neck, tuning to the team wave and experiencing only mild annoyance that this pompous bore had interrupted their nice conversation. As for Sephiroth himself, he coldly and detachedly gazed at them, continuing to radiate his habitual arrogance, as if the recent flight into the wall of the building had been merely a figment of their imagination.

Mockingly smirking, Alex beckoned Claudia with a finger, giving the signal. The moment she noticed this gesture, Claudia immediately tore off from the spot, with explosive acceleration rushing straight at the enemy. Observing how Claudia flashed in zigzags from side to side, Sephiroth contemptuously narrowed his eyes and swung his long blade in a wide arc.

Noticing the approaching blade, Claudia did not even slow her step, continuing to race forward with the grace of a predator. And already at the moment when the deadly steel was supposed to take her head off, a deafening metallic screech rang out—Masamune slammed with force into the scabbard of Yamato.

Having blocked Sephiroth's blow, Alex smirked self-satisfiedly and slightly leaned his body forward. In that same second Claudia easily jumped over his shoulder, on the fly raising the Buster Sword for a crushing upward blow from below.

Reacting in the last fraction of a second, Sephiroth jumped back, avoiding the deadly trap. The heavy blade with a frightening roar slammed into the concrete surface, scattering a cloud of fine sparks and stone chips.

"Not a bad attempt. But this is still not enough to stop me," Sephiroth said in a mocking, full of superiority tone, smoothly landing on the cracked road several meters from the pair.

"You'd better open your mouth less, pretty boy. Or you might accidentally lose all your teeth when you meet the asphalt," Alex tossed out in a lazy, mocking tone, disdainfully tossing aside the extinguished butt of the thin cigar.

"Then try to do it. I'm waiting," Sephiroth answered with an icy smirk on his lips, carelessly waving his hand and inviting them to attack.

"Did you hear that idiot, dear? Let's knock a couple of teeth out of this grinning mongrel," Alex said with a broad smile, turning to Claudia.

"With great pleasure… Start," Claudia answered with a bloodthirsty smile, squeezing the hilt of the Buster Sword until it cracked and sharply leaning her body forward for a new jump.

Exchanging glances with Claudia, Alex with a short finger gesture made it clear to her that she should be ready for something unexpected. Claudia did not fully catch the meaning of this hint, but still confidently nodded, showing that she was fully ready for any turn. Smiling with the corner of his lips, Alex more tightly pressed Yamato to his belt and rushed forward straight at Sephiroth, and right after him Claudia tore off as well.

Moving in such a way as to completely close Sephiroth's view of Claudia, Alex held to his secret plan: he wanted not simply to win, but also to give Claudia a chance to step over her old fears of Sephira—or now of Sephiroth himself, who, as it turned out, was the true original cause of all their troubles and the poisoner of others' minds.

Driving away extra reflections, Alex made an explosive lunge, in the blink of an eye ending up right in front of Sephiroth's face. Noticing Alex so close, the latter instinctively thrust the katana forward, intending to deliver a lightning-fast thrusting blow and pierce him through.

But at the moment when the blade was already supposed to pierce into Alex's chest, Claudia rapidly flew out from behind his back. Raising the Buster Sword with both hands, she brought the heavy blade down from above, with a metallic ring knocking Masamune high upward.

Mockingly narrowing his eyes, Sephiroth noticed that Alex himself at that moment had already raised a fist for a crushing blow, and sharply yanked the katana downward, intending with a single motion to cut him and Claudia in half.

However, finding himself right up against Sephiroth and already raising his hand for the attack, Alex suddenly grinned cheerfully and widely stretched his arms in front of himself, as if intending to deliver a ringing slap or simply clap his hands.

"Sorry, buddy, but it's time for the boogie-woogie," Alex tossed out with a splendid grin, clapping his hands deafeningly right in front of the stunned Sephiroth's nose.

Hearing the ringing clap right in front of his face, Sephiroth for a brief moment became lost. But at that same moment right before his eyes Alex disappeared, and in his place appeared Claudia, who had already raised a fist for a crushing blow.

The combat glove with metal plates immediately slammed into Sephiroth's face with such force that he was sharply thrown back. From such an unexpected direct hit even Sephiroth for a second lost concentration, but immediately furiously jerked his head, instantly restoring balance and driving Masamune into the ground in order to dampen the inertia.

Raising his head, Sephiroth fixed Claudia and Alex standing nearby with an enraged gaze. Already intending to bring down retaliatory retribution upon them, he noticed how with a broad, mocking smile Alex was swinging, intending to throw a cobblestone.

Narrowing his eyes, Sephiroth sharply tilted his head, hearing the whistle of air being sliced—the thrown stone whistled in dangerous proximity to his temple. But the moment the projectile flew past, from somewhere to the side the familiar clap rang out again.

Hearing a sharp gust of wind behind his back, Sephiroth instantly spun in place and saw Claudia, who was already racing at him with a swing, bringing the Buster Sword down in a powerful horizontal chopping blow. Frowning, Sephiroth raised the katana, with a clang parrying her thrust.

Failing to break through the block on the first try, Claudia was not at all upset—only a thin, mocking smile touched her lips. Seeing this facial expression, Sephiroth dangerously narrowed his eyes and lightning-fast thrust the blade forward, performing a rapid thrusting blow right into Claudia's heart.

And when the tip was already supposed to touch her clothing, behind him another clap rang out. Space distorted, and Alex instantly switched places with Claudia, in that same fraction of a second intercepting the blade of Masamune with bare hands and tightly pressing it into his palms.

Realizing that he had fallen into a trap, Sephiroth frowned, but hearing a new swing of air behind his back, tried to yank the weapon from Alex's grip. Failing to free the blade, Sephiroth sharply turned around, intending to seize Claudia who had materialized at his shoulder.

But at the moment when Sephiroth's fingers had already almost closed on her throat, another distinct clap of hands rang out. Before him again appeared Alex, who without the slightest effort threw his arm aside, reliably blocking any attempts to counterattack while Claudia was already raising a deadly blow behind Sephiroth's back.

"Get ready, you idiot, it's about to be very…" Alex drawled with a shining smile, seizing Sephiroth's collar in a death grip so that the latter would not even try to escape once again.

"Painful!" Claudia's cold voice rang out behind Sephiroth when she was ready to deliver a blow right to the back of his head.

Not giving Sephiroth a chance to recover, Alex immediately delivered a crushing fist blow right to his face, reasonably restraining the force only enough so as not to accidentally finish the enemy off with one movement.

Receiving the most powerful poke, Sephiroth's head jerked back, and in that same second he caught a second blow from Claudia—the heavy glove landed exactly on the back of his head. Deciding not to miss such an ideal opportunity, Alex and Claudia began methodically delivering blows to Sephiroth from different sides, not giving him even a chance to come to his senses.

Receiving a hail of blows, Sephiroth desperately tried to fight back, but the moment he only swung the katana or thrust a fist in a counterattack, a clap of hands rang out. And Alex and Claudia instantly switched places, continuing the merciless beating of Sephiroth.

Missing yet another heavy hook to the jaw, Sephiroth furiously straightened his palm, intending to drive his fingers into Claudia's chest, but a clap rang out. And in her place Alex immediately materialized, who on the fly intercepted Sephiroth's blow and instantly responded with his own.

Only after several dozen missed blows did Sephiroth miraculously manage to gain a microsecond for a retaliatory maneuver. Receiving yet another crushing blow to the ribs, Sephiroth furiously clenched his palm into a fist, and between his fingers a dangerous sphere of air compressed to the limit instantly began to thicken.

Seeing the approaching threat, Sephiroth sharply thrust his hand forward and widely opened his palm, generating a monstrous shockwave. The blast of strongly compressed air with enormous force threw Alex and Claudia back.

Flying aside from the powerful explosion, Alex in the fall instantly oriented himself, ending up next to Claudia and catching her in the air. Deftly grouping up, Alex shielded Claudia with himself and with full force slammed with his back into the wall of a destroyed high-rise building.

Collapsing together with the debris onto the cracked expressway, Alex carefully lowered Claudia to the ground and cast a mocking glance at Sephiroth, from whose nose and broken ear thin streams of blood were trickling.

"As luck would have it, we still didn't manage to knock out his teeth. And we honestly tried," Alex drawled with light sarcasm in his voice, lighting a new thin cigar and exhaling a thick stream of gray smoke right toward the frozen Sephiroth.

"If this isn't enough, then we just need to hit harder," Claudia said, maliciously cracking her stiff neck, throwing the Buster Sword onto her shoulder and not taking her burning gaze from Sephiroth.

"Sounds like a flawless plan for the second round… Are you ready to continue?" Alex asked cheerfully laughing, casting a short glance at Claudia.

"More than. I can continue in the same spirit all day long," Claudia answered, firmly nodding, lowering the heavy sword and aiming the tip straight at Sephiroth.

Hearing Claudia's words, Alex gave her a cheerful glance and slightly wiggled his eyebrows. Noticing this gesture, Claudia looked at him with a completely empty, icy gaze, eloquently making it clear: were they not right now in the middle of such a situation, she would have long since delivered him a couple of good blows to the head. Responding to this gaze with a carefree smile, Alex sharply turned to Sephiroth, who by this moment had already fully recovered from the hail of blows that had crashed down upon him.

Feeling how a thin stream of blood continued to run down his cheek and chin, Sephiroth slowly raised his hand and ran a finger across his lips. Bringing his palm to his eyes, he saw crimson drops on the black skin of the glove, and his gaze in that same second became absolutely merciless.

Slowly rubbing his own blood with his fingers, Sephiroth shifted a heavy gaze to Alex and Claudia standing a dozen meters from him. Contemptuously shaking off the blood, Sephiroth sharply raised an open palm high above his head.

In that same moment from all sides tons of heavy concrete fragments and pieces of rusty rebar rushed toward him with a whistle. Only a moment passed before the ruins of the city turned into a colossal sphere of trash hovering above Sephiroth's head.

Noticing that Sephiroth was preparing to pull his old trick with throwing construction debris again, Alex confidently took hold of the scabbard of Yamato with one hand. With the other hand gripping the hilt of the blade, he prepared to slice this stone mass in half before Sephiroth could throw it.

But having already drawn Yamato from the scabbard, Alex caught a familiar sharp crackling of static electricity in the air. Synchronously raising their heads to the sky, Alex and Claudia saw how a bright-blue magic circle gaped open right above Sephiroth's figure.

In the next second a blinding thick pillar of lightning tore downward, which in a single instant incinerated the gigantic sphere of debris, and following this with a monstrous roar crashed down upon Sephiroth himself, completely swallowing him in an electric storm.

Blinking stunned from the flash, Alex and Claudia sharply turned toward the sound and saw that on the roof of a destroyed building right behind their backs stood Aerith. In her hands she confidently held a magic staff along which residual sparks of lightning still partially ran. Giving Alex and Claudia a shining smile, Aerith without a drop of fear stepped from the edge of the roof downward, not doubting for a second that she would definitely be caught. Heavily sighing at such reckless grace, Alex hastily stretched his arms forward.

"Hi there! Missed me?" Aerith sang with a radiant smile, softly landing right into Alex's arms and touching a finger to his lips.

"Not particularly…" Claudia responded in a dry voice, demonstratively shifting her gaze back to the smoking debris under which Sephiroth was stuck.

"Well I missed you a lot," Alex answered with a warm smile, carefully lowering Aerith to the ground.

"And with you we'll talk separately. Did you understand me, mister? Especially for that circus trick with the feigned death. But first let's deal with our main problem," Aerith said with playful reproach in her voice, lightly poking Alex in the stomach with her magic staff, at which he involuntarily coughed in embarrassment.

"He's actually quite resilient and strong," Claudia tossed out in a calm tone, pointing with a nod of her chin to the place where under the rubble Sephiroth was supposed to be.

"So what? To hell with him. There are more of us," Aerith declared with carefree enthusiasm, easily spinning the magic staff on her palm above her head.

Seeing the shining smile on Aerith's face, Alex smiled warmly in response and encouragingly placed his palm on her shoulder, in two words explaining his simple plan. Having listened to the idea, Aerith nodded understandingly, but immediately playfully yet quite tangibly tapped the tip of her magic staff against his leg, eloquently reminding that she still held a grudge against him for that risky performance.

Slightly wincing, Alex mentally admitted that no justifications would help here anymore. He clearly understood: had he pulled such a trick in front of his wives, no one would have waited for the end of the global catastrophe—they would simply have begun beating him on the spot as a whole crowd.

And Alex was more than certain that Aerith, Tifa, Claudia, and Yuffie were quite capable of pulling exactly the same trick as soon as they finally dealt with Sephiroth. Gently running his hand through Aerith's soft hair, Alex took a step forward, feeling with his skin how the space around was beginning to electrify from the rising power. In the next second a deep tremor sliced through the ground under their feet, replaced by a powerful explosion that scattered tons of debris in all directions.

Covering Aerith from the flying stone hail, Alex raised his gaze and saw Sephiroth: the latter was serenely floating above the ground with an absolutely icy, detached facial expression. Looking at them from the height of his flight, Sephiroth sharply swung his hand—and from his back with a sinister rustle an enormous black wing burst out, raising around itself real gusts of hurricane wind. Narrowing his eyes at this picture, Alex with a short nod gave Claudia the command to advance before the feathered bastard managed to pull some new trick.

"Can you hold him?" Alex quickly tossed out, turning for a second to Aerith.

"Of course I can! And you hit him harder for me," Aerith answered confidently nodding and funnily wrinkling her nose.

Giving Aerith an approving thumbs-up, Alex sharply turned to Claudia and cast a short glance, wordlessly asking whether she was ready for the final lunge. Answering with a confident nod, Claudia tightly seized the hilt of the Buster Sword, drawing the heavy blade back and leaning her body forward for the start.

Noticing how Sephiroth was slowly stretching an open palm in their direction, Alex and Claudia simultaneously tore off from their places. Observing their maneuver from the upper point, Sephiroth mockingly smirked and barely noticeably jerked his index finger downward.

Instantly catching this gesture, Alex with a small push to the shoulder pushed Claudia aside. In that same second on that very place where they had just been standing the concrete slab with a plaintive crack bent under colossal, invisible weight. Quickly understanding that Sephiroth had again begun using the power of Gravity Materia, Claudia cast a warning glance at Alex.

But Alex himself had understood everything from the first time without her words. Slightly frowning, Alex again intercepted Claudia by the hand and threw her aside when in the next moment behind their backs a new piece of road collapsed with a deafening crunch.

Jumping in opposite directions, Alex and Claudia exchanged glances and without extra words understood the common tactic. Sharply tearing off from their places, they began moving in chaotic, explosive lunges, completely cutting off the possibility for Sephiroth to use Gravity Materia.

Observing their sharp lunges from side to side, Sephiroth coldly narrowed his eyes and began slowly clenching his palm into a fist, intending to crush both of them. But the moment the fingers began to bend, his own arm suddenly convulsively jerked downward.

Slightly frowning at such a brazen failure, Sephiroth shifted his gaze to his forearm and saw how his hand and up to the very elbow were tightly entwined by shining, crystal-pink chains completely binding the joints.

Understanding whose handiwork this was, Sephiroth cast an enraged glance at Aerith, who in response only proudly lifted her chin and tapped the tip of her staff against the ground. In that same second behind Sephiroth's back a magic circle gaped open, from which another pink chain flew out, wrapping with full force around his neck and forcefully pulling him back.

Feeling the choking grip, Sephiroth contemptuously snorted and instinctively raised his hands, intending to tear the crystal chains. While Sephiroth was distracted by this trap, Alex and Claudia scattered through the ruins, beginning a rapid ascent along the vertical fragments of walls.

Pulling from the concrete masonry a piece of thick rusty rebar together with a hefty chunk of slab, Alex powerfully pushed off from the support, soaring into the air right above the opponent.

"Oi, cunt! Don't forget, we're fighting here with the power of friendship… And everything that turns up under hand!" Alex's ringing, mocking voice rang out right from the right side of the stunned Sephiroth.

Sephiroth only with difficulty managed to turn his head sideways because of the tightly stretched chain that had wrapped around his neck. But the moment he slightly shifted his gaze, right in front of his nose appeared a huge fragment of concrete. In that same second Alex delivered a crushing blow, slamming the boulder right into Sephiroth's face with such force that the stone shattered into small pieces.

From such a brazen and unexpected onslaught Sephiroth experienced the strongest disorientation—the world before his eyes for a moment swam. He desperately tried to comprehend how the owner of such a flawless and godlike body could even feel such dizziness.

Sharply shaking his head in order to shake off the hallucination, Sephiroth swung the hand with the clenched katana Masamune, intending to pierce Alex through. Broadly smiling, Alex easily knocked the blade aside with a blow of the piece of rusty rebar and, using the inertia of the movement, virtuously vaulted right over Sephiroth's head.

Finding himself behind Sephiroth's back, Alex instantly wrapped his arms around his neck, forcefully applying a choking hold. Feeling how from the strong pressure his throat was being constricted, Sephiroth was already about to throw Alex off his back when right in front of him Claudia suddenly appeared.

Leveling with Sephiroth in the air, Claudia raised the Buster Sword for a crushing, sweeping blow right into the chest. Seeing the inevitable threat, Sephiroth ignored the choking and, miraculously tearing his hand free from the light chains, stretched out his palm, intending to incinerate Claudia at point-blank range with the help of Fire Materia.

But before the flame tore from his fingers, from the blind spot a light, springy sound of steps rang out. In the next moment from the roof of a destroyed high-rise Tifa spectacularly jumped out. Performing a couple of rapid somersaults in the air, she brought down upon Sephiroth's arm a crushing heel strike, forcing him to release the flame right into the ground beneath them.

Synchronously with this Claudia put all the accumulated rage into the blow with the Buster Sword. The wide blade with a monstrous roar slammed into Sephiroth's chest, bending him double. Pressing on the hilt with doubled force, Claudia sent Sephiroth into a prolonged flight. Receiving an additional impulse to the chest, Sephiroth with a crash flew back until he crashed with his back onto the cracked roadway.

Softly landing on the asphalt together with Claudia and Tifa, Alex followed the flying Sephiroth with his gaze and philosophically hummed, thinking that this fallen angel had been falling literally far too often lately.

"Hi, guys. What did I miss here?" Tifa inquired with a soft smile, shifting her gaze from Alex and Claudia to Aerith who was already hurrying toward them.

"Tifa, you're simply incredible! You appeared right at the most needed moment," Aerith cried enthusiastically, running up to Tifa and giving her a ringing high-five.

"And truly on time. After all, what kind of victory over evil with the power of friendship can there be if all the friends haven't gathered yet?" Alex noted with a light chuckle, pulling a new thin cigar from his pocket.

"You're absolutely right, Alex. First we'll deal with this walking catastrophe, and then a very long and serious conversation awaits us," Tifa said with dangerous softness in her voice, expressively poking a finger into Alex's chest.

"You're speaking correctly, Tifa! Be sure to tell him everything. He must suffer severe punishment for so shamelessly deceiving us and making us worry," Aerith hotly supported, standing next to Tifa and giving Alex an exclusively offended gaze.

"Oh, I thought I'd get away with it this time… Well all right-all right, I admit I messed up badly here. Only please don't hit me on the head…" Alex drawled with a doomed sigh, reflexively covering his forehead with his palm and already resigning himself to the inevitable retribution.

"Maybe we postpone all the showdowns for later? He's already coming to," Claudia interrupted them in a cold tone, not taking a tense gaze from Sephiroth rising amid the dust.

"Fair. Let's finally put an end to all of this," Tifa nodded confidently, gracefully assuming a low combat stance and preparing for a new attack.

To be continued...

(Sorry for ending it at a point like this. It's been a truly long and unpleasant day. I spent most of it at the office, waiting for a meeting that everyone was required to attend. Afterward, I had to run a few errands, which took up so much time that by the time I finally got home, I was both hungry and irritable. But that's neither here nor there—I'll manage, as I always do. As for the story: I had intended to wrap up the battle with Sephiroth in a single chapter, but it turns out that getting everyone together to take on the enemy using the "Power of Friendship" isn't quite that simple. On the bright side, I did manage to pull off a little trick I'd been planning for a while. I feel like there was something else I wanted to mention—something about how this isn't the end, or something along those lines—but that's already pretty obvious, isn't it? As for the other things I didn't bring up... well, they'll happen in due time. Now, it's time to eat and just sit around doing absolutely nothing. Peace, love, and the "Power of Friendship" hit a lot harder when you're holding a brick.)

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