The Story of Victoria Strife

Chapter 27: Lights Reckoning

The battle was chaos. Avalanche and the WRO faced down the seemingly endless waves of Deepground soldiers. Bullets whizzed past, the metallic clash of swords rang through the air, and the roar of gunfire echoed across the facility. The ground was slick with rain and blood, but Avalanche held their ground.

Cloud led the charge, his Buster Sword a blur as he cut through the soldiers with precision. Tifa moved with grace and speed, her fists landing devastating blows on any enemy that got too close. Barret was a living wall of firepower, his arm-cannon spitting out blasts that tore through armour like paper. Yuffie leapt between combatants, her shuriken a deadly blur, while Cid barked orders, his spear a vicious extension of his fury.

In the midst of the chaos, Victoria stood apart, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the battlefield. She had fought side by side with the others, but something deeper pulled at her now—a force she couldn't ignore.

Hojo.

Somewhere, the mad scientist was still lurking, watching everything unfold, manipulating events from the shadows. And she would not allow him to escape again.

"Vincent..." she whispered, her voice a mix of pain and determination. She could feel his presence behind her, but this was her battle to face alone.

Without another word, she turned and sprinted away from the main fight, dodging through the chaos as she moved deeper into the facility. Cloud noticed her slip away, but he trusted her. He had to.

Victoria moved quickly through the darkened halls, her heart pounding in her chest. She could feel the remnants of her father's legacy pulsing through this place. The cold sterility of the lab made her skin crawl as she moved through the empty corridors.

She finally found herself at the far end of the facility, the air thick with the sickly scent of chemicals. She could feel Hojo's presence before she saw him. The dark energy that clung to him like a shroud was unmistakable.

And there he stood, in the heart of the laboratory, his hunched figure bent over a control panel, his greasy hair falling across his face. He looked up as she entered, a twisted smile curling on his lips.

"Ah, Victoria." His voice was like nails on a chalkboard. "I was wondering when you'd come. I suppose you've finally realized your true purpose."

Victoria's fists clenched at her sides. Her light flickered inside her, but she held it back, her anger boiling just beneath the surface. "You're done, Hojo. No more experiments. No more torture. It ends now."

Hojo chuckled, a cold, deranged sound that made her blood run cold. "End? My dear girl, this is only the beginning. The light inside you, it's merely a piece of the puzzle. You're just a vessel for something much greater than yourself."

He stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with madness. "You think you're in control now, but you'll never be free of what we made you. You were always meant to be the perfect fusion of light and dark. But now that your darkness is gone...well, we'll just have to see how fragile your light really is."

Victoria's chest tightened with rage. Every word he spoke dug into her like a knife, but she would not let him break her. Not again.

"You're wrong," she said, her voice steady but seething. "I control my fate, not you. You took everything from me—my childhood, my family, my life—but I'm still standing. And I will make sure you never hurt anyone else."