SUMMARY
X lands the airship on Sigma's floating island fortress, as he gets off he is hit by a gust of wind and some rubble as he looks around seeing the remains of what looks like thousands of destroyed machines. X calls this place death itself, as he notices this was all Zero's handiwork while wondering if Zero is alright. Suddenly a path opens amidst the destruction. Knowing this is an invitation from Sigma, X walks along it. Inside the fortress, X notices even more destroyed machines and the place in ruins. Worried, X screams out for Zero, but is interrupted by Vile in his ride armor who mocks X for constantly calling out for his superior despite being the so-called hero. Vile switched on the lights, revealing Zero captured with his arms and legs held by spherical locks. Vile notices X's left arm is damaged, and is disappointed as he waited for X to get stronger but doesn't care about it anymore. Vile starts to step forward using his ride armor while Sigma watches from his throne room. Vile tells Sigma that he joined forces with him only because he'll have a chance to fight X, and that Sigma had better keep his promise to allow it. Drinking from a wine glass, Sigma tells Vile to do as he pleases.

X says though he can't fire his buster anymore, he can still discharge an attack if he's within punching distance. Vile's ride armor attempts to crush X, but he dodges back and attempts to strike Vile who dodges swiftly, punching X with his left arm. Vile then proceeds to punch X several times using his ride armor, followed by several shots from his shoulder cannon destroying the ground below X, stunning him while saying this is a lullaby for a kid. X attempts to stand straight, but is hit by Vile's direct cannon shot which Vile calls a shot of Bourbon. X falls backward, unable to get up as Vile prepares to finish X off by saying his fight with X is no more than a mere skirmish. However, Vile and X are interrupted by a loud scream from Zero as he breaks away from his locks and rushes Vile with a punch, causing a massive explosion. X is unable to do anything but watch and scream for his senior.

X is able to stand again, and immediately rushes to Zero's side, only to notice the upper half of Zero's body remaining. Zero asks if X is alright, and tell X to wipe that sad look off his face while commenting that Eagle wouldn't want any of that. As Zero's conscious fades, he tells X to take him together to "a warm future" he will create. With his last words, Zero dies in X's arms.

Laughing at their idea of a "warm future", Vile gets up and asks whether something is wrong with their circuits. Vile says that it cost him a lot to have his ride armor specially tuned, and that X and Zero would have nothing left of them if they were to pay up for it. Vile then corrects himself, saying that there's only one of them left as he continues mocking the B-Rank (X) and that he'll have to pay for his and his senior's (Zero's) crime. Vile is interrupted by a bright light coming from the two, as Sigma watched and smashes the wine glass in his hand with a grin, saying the time has finally come. Meanwhile, X is consumed with rage and his damaged arm is now replaced with Zero's buster. X fires a shot that goes through several buildings, almost hitting Vile as he gets excited to finally have his fight against a living legend. Calling X "Rockman", Vile fires a volley of shots from his shoulder cannon. Some shots hit X, but X continues to walk forward unflinching from it while Vile continues shouting for X to be destroyed. Still unflinching, X charges his buster for a second shot and fires it, nullifying all of Vile's shots as it hits Vile directly. Vile is consumed in the explosion as X watches silently, meanwhile as Sigma continues watching as the fortress shakes from the blast. X turns away, but is interrupted by a beam attack from behind that barely misses his head. X turns around quietly and sees Vile's badly damaged body still obsessing over defeating a living legend (X). Vile's shoulder cannon explodes, but Vile continues creeping towards X, attempting to strange him with whatever strength he has left. X simply shoots Vile through his torso, finishing him off. X simply says that he's not the legendary Rockman, but just another demon (or "Maverick" as the subtext puts it).

X reaches the gate before Sigma's throne room, and notices Velguarder ready to attack X, who comments that it must be the guard dog before the gates of hell. Sigma waits, and notices the gate door opening as he sees Velguarder. Assuming X was defeated, Sigma says despite waiting for so long in the end there isn't anyone worthy of serving him. Sigma notices Velguarder isn't responding, then notices it falling apart in front of him. X walks in, telling Sigma that the guard dog of hell is no match for its master. As X and Sigma face off against each other, X declares that Sigma will be reduced to nothing, and Sigma tells X that he should choose his words wisely.

COMMENTARY
And so the first half of the finale concludes with all the major sub-plots closed and a large (albeit expected) death count. Changing the conversation sequence between X and Zero to take place before X's rematch against Vile was a nice choice, as Zero's death became the last straw for X who becomes the "Rockman" that Vile longed to fight against throughout the story. Though relatively short in terms of page count and actual events that happened, most of it has been done for dramatic effect and focused on mood setting, especially for Zero's sacrifice followed by X's vengeful no-nonsense rampage against Vile; both scenes which were very dialogue-heavy. Though I have complained about the inconsistent visuals in this series, I thought Iwamoto did a great job with Zero's death scene. Though Vile has been given a bit more character in this chapter such as revealing his true motive for working with Sigma, his last moments reveal him as ultimately an obsessed psychopath as evident by his obsessive focus on defeating his so-called prey. X's method of defeating Vile was also a nice contrast to how he fought previous boss characters; while X used a mix of wits and even not dealing the killing blow on some of his opponents, there was nothing holding X back this time and his fight with Vile was a no-holds-barred fight to the death ending with Vile completely destroyed (at least physically, considering we know he somehow returns in X3). While a lot of fights up to this point are dramatized with a lot of power inconsistencies, I personally didn't mind it that much and actually enjoyed some of the ways they're portrayed as they had something new that complements the events of the games.

One note of interest is that Vile uses the word "demon" (or specifically, "Oni") which in Japanese included subtext (in this case furigana) which reads out as "Maverick", which X refers to himself as one after Vile is defeated. It was a little confusing for me at first, though from my understanding it is because the term "Maverick" is an umbrella term for Reploids that are out of control or perceived as a general threat, much like terms such as "criminal" in modern social context. On the other hand, this relational subtext between "demon" and "Maverick" has been completely dropped in their next confrontation near the end of X3, so maybe this was when the term "Maverick" was still relatively new and was just no longer the case by the time X3 came about.

While a lot of boss fights have been cut (even including Velguarder, Sigma's robotic dog), I felt they served little purpose to the main plot anyway so I didn't mind they exclusion if it meant getting directly to the important stuff considering that this is a serial comic format. If anything at least Velguarder has been given some presence, even if it was defeated easily out of sight. Now with the stage set for the final showdown between the now fully-upgraded X and Sigma, we know that this is going to be an explosive confrontation.