"Cannot die, I still cannot die, my research is not yet completed, my experiment has not yet succeeded."
In the deepest part of Hojo's research lab on the 68th floor, Hojo, like a madman, walked in front of a corpse wrapped in countless instruments.
The corpse in front of him was extremely huge, like a giant, but the external features showed that she was a female.
And she was precisely Sephiroth and Cloud's "mother," Jenova, the corpse discovered by Shinra from the ancient ruins.
Hojo looked at the Jenova in front of him, having already fallen into madness. He quickly entered a string of numbers on the control panel, and a huge metal incubation pod in the instrument opened its hatch.
Inside the hatch was also a woman entangled in countless instruments. Her figure was perfect, and her appearance so beautiful that no flaws could be picked out.
And if one carefully looked at her face, they would find that she vaguely bore some resemblance to Aerith. And in fact, this was exactly his second "daughter."
Also, it was when he suspected Sephiroth had died that he used Jenova's cells and Aerith's mother Ifalna's cells to cultivate this "daughter" meant to replace Sephiroth.
And her name was Ifalna.
The only pity was, this "daughter" meant to replace Sephiroth showed no signs of consciousness, no matter what instrument was used to examine her. It was as if she was a shell without a soul, which always made Hojo feel very strange.
But ever since seeing Sephiroth last time, he suddenly understood, perhaps the reason his "daughter" had no thoughts was because Jenova only allowed one offspring with independent thinking to exist.
So, afterward, he had another new idea, which was to use machines to transfer someone else's consciousness into this walking corpse.
For this, he conducted countless experiments. But in the few successful samples, not long after, the overwhelming information caused by double consciousness would make them go insane.
However, in the end, since there had been successful experiments, he had since always been selecting suitable candidates, having considered many people. But for various reasons, until now, he had not carried out the experiment again.
Now that he was seriously injured, a strong desire to survive made him make a bold decision.
He planned to transfer his own consciousness into his "daughter's" body.
"I will obtain immortality." Hojo muttered, then entered another line of password on the control panel. Immediately afterward, another incubation pod opened.
However, just as he was about to lie inside, a long sword suddenly pierced through his chest, and at the same time, a cold voice sounded from behind him.
"This… is my younger sister?"
Lowering his head to look at the blade protruding from his chest, Hojo turned around in astonishment and saw Sephiroth, who had appeared behind him at some unknown point.
"Yes!" Hojo then coughed up a mouthful of blood and nodded with difficulty.
"Good, this means I won't be lonely in this world anymore." Sephiroth also nodded, then used the long sword to lift Hojo's body high up.
"Only... she shouldn't have appeared. This is all your fault." Sephiroth continued speaking.
"Cough cough..." Hojo coughed up another mouthful of blood. Massive blood loss made him unable to speak any more words, but his eyes revealed his confusion.
"Because someone will come soon to correct us." Seeing the confusion in Hojo's eyes, Sephiroth kindly explained. Immediately, a large number of Whispers appeared beside him, but surprisingly, they did not stop his words from being spoken, instead spinning rapidly around him, as if they were alert to something.
Hojo also saw those Whispers. This was his second time seeing such strange beings. Unfortunately, his reaction was getting slower and slower. The only thought in his mind was what did Sephiroth mean by "correction."
But very soon, he understood.
As the Whispers spun faster and faster around Sephiroth, the entire research lab filled with a strange aura. Hojo, whose mind was becoming more and more sluggish, found even breathing difficult because the air in the lab seemed to have solidified.
Finally, the Whispers around Sephiroth stopped circling him and all surged in the same direction.
Hojo opened his eyes with difficulty and looked in that direction. Then, don't know where the strength came from, he widened his eyes.
Because in that place, a person had appeared. That person had silver hair like snow, a tall figure, and held the Masamune sword.
Incredibly, another Sephiroth had appeared.
"This is impossible." Hanging on the long sword, Hojo raised his hand, pointing at Sephiroth, his tone full of disbelief, "You are my creation, you are unique, why?"
"No reason, and no such thing as impossible. Though I also believed I was unique, it seems now he has come to replace me." Sephiroth looked at Hojo and said.
"Replace you? What do you mean?" Hojo seemed unaffected by blood loss, and suddenly regained his spirit.
"Because I am defying the decision of fate." Sephiroth tilted his head to glance at the nearby version of himself, his half-smiling expression revealing a hint of madness, "Am I right? Me from another world?"
The other Sephiroth nodded, "Fate must ultimately proceed along its original trajectory. You should not allow it to be altered."
He paused and continued, "This is our destiny."
"Destiny? I don't acknowledge that, just like that little girl Aerith, her fate has already changed. That person walking outside of fate made the change for her." This world's Sephiroth said.
"So I have come this time, summoned by the fate of this world, to correct you all." The other Sephiroth raised the Masamune sword, "Without the help of the Whispers, you will not be my opponent."
"Then... let's try it." This world's Sephiroth swung his sword, flung Hojo away, and also pointed his sword at the other Sephiroth.
An invisible whirlwind formed between the two Sephiroths. Suddenly, the whirlwind exploded, and as if receiving a command, both Sephiroths simultaneously spread their black wings. As their toes touched the ground, they rushed toward each other with their swords.
Clang!
The two long swords collided instantly. In their identical eyes was the same intense fighting spirit. Immediately, they separated quickly, and while retreating at high speed, they slashed their swords, sending waves of sword energy at each other.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Where the sword energy passed, the ground was carved into trenches. But being very familiar with each other's techniques, neither could land a hit. The scattered sword energy only struck the instruments and walls in the lab, making explosive sounds.
———
In the corridor of the 66th floor, the battle had already ended. The floor covered in corpses of Turks and Shinra soldiers had already proven who the final victor was.
"Scarlet, you actually betrayed Shinra." A high-ranking Shinra official kneeling on the ground glared angrily at Scarlet. But he was soon kicked down by a special forces soldier under Scarlet's control, then run through by a long sword. His corpse was dragged aside.
The other high-ranking Shinra officials also kneeling nearby, all lowered their heads upon seeing this.
However, among them, there was still one person standing. That was Shinra's Minister of Urban Development, Reeve.
He was a good person. Back then, he had opposed the president's decision to destroy Sector 7's pillar.
But although he was standing, his face was full of heaviness and grief. His gaze stayed fixed on a corpse on the ground, Rufus.
"Why did it turn out like this?" Reeve muttered.
"Because they made a move against Aiden." Scarlet, after checking the corpses, walked over to answer his question. Then she turned to look at Aiden and said, "Didn't see Hojo. He should have run away."
"He's injured, he shouldn't get far." Aiden sat on the ground, slightly injured, but nothing serious.
"Send people to find him. Dead or alive, bring him back." Aiden then said to Scarlet.
Scarlet nodded. Her gaze moved away from the hand holding Aiden's arm, then she turned and gave orders to the special forces behind her.
Just then, Shinra Building suddenly shook. While everyone was wondering what had happened, someone reported, "Minister Scarlet, there is an intense battle on the 68th floor."
"The 68th floor?" Scarlet was shocked, then said to Aiden, "Aiden, that floor is also Hojo's lab. Jenova's corpse is still kept there."
"Let's go take a look." Aiden immediately stood up. Tifa, leaning against him, also stood up.
At this time, Aerith said something to Elmyra, then followed, "I'll go with you."
Aiden glanced at Elmyra in the distance and nodded, "Scarlet, send a few people to protect Miss Elmyra."
"Mm!" Scarlet nodded.
Soon, Aiden and the others arrived at the door of the 68th floor. Scarlet took out the ID card taken from Rufus and opened the lab's main door.
However, just as the door opened, a chilling sword aura attacked her. Fortunately, she had enhanced her body recently, barely dodging it.
'This sword aura...' Aiden pulled Scarlet to his side, comforting her as she had not yet recovered from the scare, while speaking.
Aerith glanced at Scarlet, snorted lightly, then continued Aiden's words, "It feels very familiar. It should be him."
Tifa looked at the wall broken by the sword aura and asked, "Who are you talking about?"
"Sephiroth. You guys wait outside, I'll go in and take a look." Aiden said and stepped inside. But not long after, he immediately came back out.
Seeing the sudden shock and disbelief on Aiden's face, the three women asked in unison, "What is it? What happened inside?"
"I'm not sure. I think I'm hallucinating, otherwise I couldn't have seen it wrong." Aiden said, rubbing his brow.
"I'll go look again."
After rubbing his brow again, Aiden re-entered the lab. And this time, he felt he was no longer hallucinating. There were indeed two Sephiroths in Hojo's lab.
"How is this possible?" Beside Aiden, the three women had also come in. Then they spoke again in unison, just like him, staring at the two battling Sephiroths in disbelief.
Especially Aerith, she seemed to have realized something, then anxiously looked at Aiden. Aiden also looked at her.
Neither said anything, but both understood what the other meant.
The extra Sephiroth was likely sent by fate to make a correction.
"What should we do now?" After watching for a while, Scarlet asked, "Keep watching and wait for the result? Or..."
She raised her hand, making a slashing gesture, "Take them both out together?"
"I think we just keep watching." Tifa still held a bit of awe for Sephiroth based on old legends. For this mysterious and powerful SOLDIER, she instinctively had some fear.
But if Aiden said to take them all down, that awe would mean nothing.
"No, we need to help one defeat the other." After exchanging a look with Aerith, Aiden vaguely guessed what the extra Sephiroth wanted and where he came from.
He also guessed that the original Sephiroth had likely given up on correcting fate, so he decided to help the one from this world defeat the intruder.
"But the two of them look exactly the same. Who are you planning to help?" Scarlet crossed her arms, her prominent chest raised by the motion, looking even more imposing.
She didn't care much about Sephiroth's strength. To her, the fact that he had died once five years ago proved he was not invincible.
"That is a problem." Aiden frowned. He couldn't just ask the two in the field who's the friend and who's the enemy, could he?
"Maybe we can rely on them to tell." Aerith suddenly pointed at the Whispers circling one of the Sephiroths. With their help, the other was already under pressure, his sword techniques becoming disorganized.
"You mean... he's the enemy?" Aiden looked at Aerith.
Aerith shook her head, "Whispers only assist the Sephiroth correcting fate. He is, the enemy."
Aiden looked back at the scene and nodded. He could tell now too.
"In that case, let's go." Aiden's eyes sharpened. His entire body surged with inner power, switching to the Ronin class.
He raised his hand and grasped the air. A blazing epic light sword appeared in his hand. With the sword's special effects, accompanied by red shadows, he leapt down from the platform and slashed sword energy at that Sephiroth.
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