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The Great Southern Sea
A vast expanse of saltwater where man and creature fear to thread. It is thanks to the naval expertise of Albion and its neighboring isles that eyes, hands, and ears have finally begun to search an uncover the mysteries of this aquatic domain. But beyond the shores, beyond all that, the sea expands and deepens, and when miles become leagues, and when even the scantest scrap of land is but a dot in the horizon, even the light of the sun quakes and ceases to be.
Beyond the safety of the city, beyond civilization, even the sea takes a darker color. Strange aquatic creatures become monstrous beasts of the sea. Monstrous serpents, krakens and indescribable creatures roam the skies and seas, and mere relics become forgotten artifacts of old. Even the air turns vile, toxic and impossible to survive for normal living organisms without tools or special abilities to thread these unhospitable waters.
There is a great number of wreckages where man has tried and failed to thread. And yet, there is a promise and a lure of something grand, something greater than what anyone should hope to hold. Wonders from different worlds, different times, have sunk to the bottom of this sea. Great fallen temples and monuments of ancient civilization, now nothing more than nests for dark beasts.
But beware, adventurers. For sometimes, the sea is more than a refuge. It can be a prison. One that keeps the wariest of sailors trapped.
Or one that keeps the ones beneath the depths away.
The Curse Of the Southern Sea - A passage of an old adventurer's memoir:
"And I saw it... in all it's glory. In all it's terror. Aaaah! [REDACTED] Damn ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead, [REDACTED]!
Hark! Hark, Triton. Hark! Bellow, bid our father, the sea king, rise from the depths, full foul in his fury, black waves teeming with salt-foam, to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye,
engorging your organs till ye turn blue and bloated with bilge, and brine, and can scream no more.
Only when, he, crowned in cockle shells, with slithering tentacled tail, and steaming beard, takes up his fell, be-finnèd arm,
his coral-tined trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest, and plunges right through your gullet, bursting ye, a bulging bladder no more,
but a blasted bloody film now, a nothing for the Harpies, and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon, only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the dread emperor himself.
Forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god, or devil, forgotten even to the sea,
for any stuff, or part of you, even any scantling of your soul, is [REDACTED] no more, but is now itself the sea."
-
? ? ? ? ?
Aruna was flying away from the heavenly palace for some time, traversing the wild seas below with the freedom of her wings. It was a bitter irony, she had come far since that day, and yet she wasn't any closer to her goal than before. The fake demon still sneered cruelly at her struggles, intent to raise her up to the skies to bleed her dry of any value. The Archon of Resistance, Orcus, already had an eye on her - his goals still a mystery. Even the alliances she had built, valuable as they were... had they truly fulfilled Aruna's desire to the brim?
That was a question only Aruna could answer.
However, she'd have little time for that. For a bit, there was a strange aching on her left arm - as if the grace was trying to warn her to something. But even that was for naught. Because suddenly, the seas split open beneath her, revealing a black beast of shadow and metal. A black one-winged knight was riding the helicopter, grabbing onto it like a steed. It rushed across the water like a beastly shark, only to soar into the heavens with a murderous howl.
The voice was almost familiar but impossible to truly recognize.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"
-
Aruna
The demon's mind wandered towards the graces, light and dark itself. The words of Orcus echoed through her mind. "Vision comes from light. If the world is a painting, then we may see it only because something shines on it. But is the light monochrome and the canvas where colors rest, bereft of shade or clarity by themselves? No. There is no such thing as black light. It is the eyes with which we see that cast color on the world painted in tiny dots of black and white, constantly at war with one another."
Then... that means that....
"And who gave angels their fire?"
Aruna gave a snappy response before, but that was only thanks to her ability to posture. As she flew away from the ruins, she finally realized the full implications of this question. Angels were given "fire" and fire by god. Maybe it was time to come to terms with one truth to her identity she hadn't quite yet.
The demon was so lost in thought that when the grace on her arm screamed at her, she barely even noticed the feeling of fear creeping up on her until her entire body started shaking. Then, she heard a howl. It was a voice she remembered, yet one that seemed distant from the memory that the shriek clawed at.
Stopping her flight across the water, she shot into the sky to avoid the splitting waves. "Impossible.... it couldn't be you.... your dead."
-
- However -
Ah, but if only things were so simple.
ZEKE
And just as Aruna's sword slashed at him a couple of times, he kicked away from the sword despite the gash that it opened up - and unlocked his magic to blast away straight past the demon. He avoided the full combo, but just for a moment, the gaping abyss and Aruna's gaze met.
And the abyss looked back, with something utterly unseen sleeping inside.
(https://i.imgur.com/xchGHSo.png)
And it spoke.
"Mael is alive."
And with a burst of light, the comet boomed to fly away
? ? ? ? ?
But the black beast gave Aruna no quarter, it chased her across the waves while clawing at the air, its rage utterly unbridled. Had he survived only to be swallowed up by madness? Or perhaps some monster had laid claim to his body and power. No, it didn't matter.
Right now, the one-winged knight's wing stretched to the skies, soaring above to blot out the sun - and fire a volley of machinegun fire.
-
Aruna
"Why... why won't you say anything..."
The bullets flew at the demon, ripping her apart. The young girl shook as the bullets ripped through her frail feminine body before she fell unceremoniously into the water. A hand was held out, as if to reach for the creature floating before her. Aruna's lips moved, as if she was trying to say something, but the bullets had pierced her lunges. A splash massive enough to match the size of the waves marked her decent into the sea.
Although she wasn't dead. No, she had never actually been hit.
Gils grew on Aruna's body, allowing her to breathe freely in the depths of the ocean. Indeed, she had actually created holes in her body slightly larger than the bullets, allowing them to pass right through her. Chains emerged from the water, threatening to wrap around the mysterious one winged creature. No portals had been created yet. There was no time, so the chains had been spawned from Aruna's body.
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Mael
But the plane didn't relent. Burning through the skies, it fired down on the chains with a terrifying salvo of blackened bullets, as it turned and swayed away from their grasp with a graceful dance. It was a beautiful, glorious set of movements, flowing expertly across the obstacles as the plane lowered once more.
Its hateful eye narrowed, and the knight punched the cockpit, grabbing something from inside. She couldn't see it through, not until it was too late and he already threw it.
A grenade. No, not just a normal grenade... the moment he touched it, it became a ravenous weapon, both heavenly and demonic. Or perhaps... neither. It'd explode violently, even underwater, and swallow her whole with destructive light.
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Aruna
The water split, or rather evaporated in the presence of the granade's raw power, creating a hole where watery mass once existed. But there was nothing there to find.... is what would normally have happened, but the demon's eyes stared as the light pierced the coat of darkness that she had cast on herself, her form appearing as a sort of specter in the center of the hole. The whisper wasn't yearning words for the one winged creature, but instead a chant for herself, the coat of darkness that protected her in battle. Although it peeled back in the face of overwhelming power, the light of god. Aruna had sunk down further into the depths to dodge the grenade, then rose into the crater, thinking her coat still protected her.
Thats why the glare she gave him had all of her frustration and vulnerability.
Aruna's cheeks were flushed, her eyes watery, the grace on her arm glowing faintly. A scowl pushed her lips downward, destroying the pretty face of a young woman that she wore. Shooting directly into the sky, her voice echoed through the clouds.
The endless fire grows, consuming all.
Carved from the endless void, I yearn for power!
As my body grows stronger, I find freedom!
As I find freedom, I yearn for salvation!
Light, oh so absolute in your power,
Feel the weight of everlasting darkness!
A dark swirling void surrounded the arm glowing with light, filling her palm with a radiant dark energy. The energy then condensed and morphed into a sword. The surrounding sea crashed on the hole with a roar. That magic, it was his after all, but it was darkness too. Could it be he already found the answer she was looking for? If she survived this, perhaps the demon would find her answer.
-
? ? ? ?
As soon as Aruna's light intensified, the moment her lips uttered the chant, the black knight roared to the heavens. The sudden charge shook the skies and seas alike with unbridled hatred, cursing the one in front of him.
Samael, Demon Lord of The Round Table
Asmael, Fallen Archangel of Despair
No, right now, it was neither. It was a force that sought Aruna... or whatever was inside her. A storm approached.
Claws dug into the vehicle, eyes widened like pure hellfire, and the forces that bound the weapon to his command forced it to move downwards like divine thunder. Yes, a hail of machinegun fire and a salvo of rockets were suddenly crashing down on Aruna's form to smite her. Pure destruction, splitting the water apart with waves of death. The explosions would rip god's creations asunder, the bullets would riddle and tear them apart. And his fist punched into the glass once more, ripping a sniper rifle.
To hunt, one must force the prey to move and open itself. Tire it. Caress it with gunfire. Only then do you fire the final bullet into its heart.
-
Aruna
Aruna's eyes suddenly widened. That trajectory, the accuracy.... he knew where she was?
The demon sunk back into the depths of the ocean, even as the water continued to split from god's wrath. The bullets flew through her body just as before, not striking a single fragment of skin and merely passing through her. Spikes emerged from Aruna's body, intercepting the rockets just as her back collided with the splitting tide. Darkness finally covered her body, allowing her to disappear from mortal senses. Although to anyone watching, it would look as if the rockets had disintegrated her body. The question was whether she disappeared into the ocean or smoke clouds that the weapons had created. A final pained voice echoed through the heavens.
"WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER ME!? ASMAEL?! WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU?!"
Yet despite those words, the chant had already begun.
-
? ? ? ? ?
Its teeth clenched. That name, that detestable name. With a cold grip that nearly shattered the helicopter's cockpit, the ungodly vehicle approached the water, its wings spinning like a hellish vortex. Waves crashed against one another, and lights flared to seek out the demon as the black knight started to regain altitude. Its eyes ever vigilant.
Closer than before, Aruna might be able to make out the vehicle better. Along with its weapons, it was covered in some sort of black mass, with glowing veins that coalesced into red and blue - giving birth to purple cores that shifted and moved like robotic signs. These lights were neither angelic nor demonic. And yet...
The light was almost heavenly. Was that thing... praying?
"Ουράνιοι οικοδεσπότες, σε γνωρίζω καλά. Ως κατηγορούμενος, έχω δει τις αυλές του ουρανού και της κόλασης. Όλοι αντέχετε το βάρος των πράξεών σας, αλλά δεν έχετε το σημάδι. Δαίμονας, Άγγελος ... δεν υπάρχει ανυπακοή ενάντια στον Θεό. Οι Χάριτες δεν έχουν αμαρτία. Και όμως -"
"Heavenly hosts, I know you well. As an accused, I have seen the courts of heaven and hell. You all bear the weight of your deeds, but you do not have the mark. Demon, Angel ... there is no disobedience against God. The Graces have no sin. And yet - "
The helicopter began to drop hellish flares. Lightning smashed the seas in heavenly indignation, and accursed napalm flares fell into the waters, flowing like a waterfall as they sank to seek the grace holder out. From a distance, a burning angel was descending from the skies, fires that'd burn even beneath the depths.
"Κύριε, η κρίση μου δεν έχει ακόμη ολοκληρωθεί. Υπάρχει ένας ακόμη όχι ανάμεσα στους εκλεκτούς που πρέπει να κριθούν ... αυτός που έχει διαπράξει τη σοβαρή αμαρτία της γενοκτονίας ... ναι, Κύριε, αυτόν που πρέπει τώρα να κρίνω .. είναι ο υψηλότερος θεός, ο δημιουργός μου ... Εσείς, YHVH! Αυτή είναι ... μια δήλωση πολέμου!"
"Lord, my judgment is not yet complete. There is one more not among the elect who must be judged ... the one who has committed the grave sin of genocide ... yes, Lord, the one I must judge now ... is the highest god, my creator ... You, YHVH! This is ... a declaration of war!"
And he'd give its weapons no quarter.
-
Aruna
The chant finished, portals scattered around the waters, in the very sky that hosted their clash. This backup tactic wasn't necessary. Despite the angel's overwhelming power, Aruna had grown since their last encounter. Her battles with Zeke, the bond she was developing with Lulu, even facing her own fears and ridding herself of the obstacle that was the light. The creature was a raging beast of raw power, seeming to have both the powers of the light and dark. A single decisive strike when he was the most vulnerable, like at this moment would be the way to end this fight, slice through him with the darkness sword and end his life.
But Aruna couldn't bring herself to kill Asmeal.
Gripping the blade within her hands, she felt a pang of anger towards herself. "You speak nonesense. Asmeal.... you are not well. I see that now. No, you never were well."
Chains emerged from the sky above, a few dozen threatening to wrap around the angel once known as Asmeal. Rather than tie him up, the chains threatened to cage the angel. No, he was always caged. This was merely Aruna reclaiming a relationship that never was.
"Why do you come to judge me Asmeal? I have faithfully carried your burden...."
-
Mael
The pain and desperation of prey was a sound he always detested. Even now, doing this made his stomach churn. Mael wanted to puke, but his resolve was already steeled. Yes, his war hadn't ended since that damned day. Until he did what must be done.
Yet something about that voice made him pause for a moment. Boiling water soared from the portals, and chains wrapped around the skies, trapping Mael and the chopper in a demonic gate. But he just glared at the seas where it hid, scowling as if tempering blades that screamed to crash down on his enemy once again.
Does this woman know me? Strange... The pit of vapor and burning air, how long would it hide that thing.
"You speak that name, but I don't remember ever asking you to take anything from me. Your voice is nothing more than a spew of shit and vomit to my ears, grace of <Purity>. Show yourself and be killed by me, or die and be silent forever."
-
Aruna
"How dare you....."
The demonic teeth of the feminine angel emerged like fangs. Her body lost its softness under the coat, becoming more rigid and muscular. It was hard to call that form beautiful, at least by traditional standards. It had far more in common with a monster.
"The one who cast this burden onto me does not even remember the deed? Then what is the source of your anger? You dare manifest your anger into wrath, when you do not even know me? I'll show you true pain then. I'll burn your existence to a crisp with the pain that comes with someone who has been cast aside."
A star was born within the cage, a light that illuminated the sea itself. Fish far into the depths beyond the crashing waves were visible to all, the sea itself illuminated by Aruna's light. An entire world opened up beneath them, yet Aruna's eyes were focused on Meal. The star was born in front of him. The blade of darkness was now in a completely different form, coated completely in light. It was bigger and the light of the blade extended. Already cocked back, Aruna attempted to thrust the sword into Meal's abdomen.
"This is your grace, your burden. Do you want it gone from this world? Would you rather it purged from the world? Is that why you are angry? I refuse to accept you as the one I knew. Begone from this world!"
-
Mael
Darkness roared, light screamed. And yet-
"Aruna...?" For a moment, his wide-eyed expression hinted at an emotion he hadn't felt in years. Did he recognize her? If so...
SWING!
"No." The sword scratched his skin far too late. A palm smacked against Aruna's forearm to throw the attack off-balance, the black blur was already in motion - following up with an immediate elbow to Aruna's plexus. The impacts were unreal, with such precision and power that the air pressure twisted both of their faces.
"I see. So you survived then. It's been far too long, that piece kept me trapped in that pit for quite a while." The elbow that had been thrust extended like a whip to smash a fist on the devil's jaw, pummeling her on top of the helicopter with a fighting style carved by war itself. And for the first time, Mael's glare shot at her. No... her arm. "How long do you plan on mocking me, God's Trash?"
The light emanating from Aruna literally curved away from Mael, running back as if afraid of something.
His piercing hate was genuine. But... he extended a hand to Aruna nonetheless. "I'm sorry. I didn't recognize you from that distance, had I known..." There was some regret to his voice, but he closed his eyes.
"That apparition you saw was an illusion created by the grace. I was rejecting it for some time, there was no way it'd take no for an answer. To be honest, I thought you'd have died by now, it's already far too advanced for an ordinary demon."
That's right, the fighting stopped. This must have been a misunderstanding, but they were friends. Everything would be okay now.
-
Aruna
What the?!
The light swiveled to the side, creating an arc that turned around him. In that moment, she saw life flashing before her eyes. All the humans she met in the last few hundred years, every encounter washed away as the fear of the light came rushing back into her. Her butt crashed into the helicopter, her sword in hand pressed against the hard metal. She looked up, only to see the glare and hear those words.
"How long do you plan on mocking me, God's Trash?"
Tears streamed down Aruna's face, falling onto the ground in utter silence. Aruna's head twisted in place, going back and forth as she heard the full weight of his words. An illusion, an apparition, a fake? Then....
"It just attached to me out of desperation to live. My quest... everything is a lie."
Aruna held out her arm. "Do you... need it back? Is that why you have gone mad?"
-
Mael
His hand grasped Aruna's warmly. For a moment, it felt kind. It felt right, to connect with someone. But the truth was that Aruna had rejected him from the start, just as he rejected her.
"No. I'm afraid I have never seen more clearly, the one who has gone mad is you."
Now that they were so close, she could tell he was wounded. Slashes and stabs were littered on his gut and liver. He wiped a tear off her face. At that moment, she could see his face. A pallid, beautiful thing - neither demonic nor angelic. Aruna wanted to uphold a balance between two impossible ideals. In a way, that was beautiful.
"The word believe is a curse that crushes people. What you believed was your own selfish ideal, nothing more. You forced that on me, and now you're thinking that I betrayed you, right? But it was you. This light was your wish all along. Foolishness. Allowing it to fester this long was my sin."
He threw it away. Her feelings, her wish, and her body - further away. Away from him, at the very edge of the vehicle. A clang bounced next to her, the familiar sound of metal against metal. A dagger had been tossed her way.
"Commit suicide. It was for my sake that you took that thing, no? Then dying shouldn't be a big deal."
-
Aruna
Commit suicide.
Aruna rubbed her face with one hand and caught the dagger with the other. Blood streamed from her lips, mixing with the stream of tears. She hadn't registered the blow before, so commited to her other strike that she didn't register the attack until it was far past dealing damage. The shock from the strike evolved into a stinging pain. On her dainty fingertips resided some bloodstained tears. "No... I just those words... you know what they mean to me so you saying them has an unheavenly cruelness to them..."
The chains that formed the cage began to slink back into the portal above them, the cage itself slowly being unraveled. Now holding the small dagger with two hands, she could feel the sharpness of the blade against her neck just from staring at it. Every slash from a human, demon or angel flashed through her mind. She could make a confession within her own mind related to the pain of living, but the pain of the blade crossing her neck and throwing her into the unknown of death its.... not something she was quite ready for.
Aruna sat on her legs, taking a classical seiza position regardless. "I.... You can't betray me because... I never let myself trust you to begin with... the angels. I could never trust them truly. I just... wanted to honor your life after your death.... I thought... maybe if I carried your burden and took away the burdens of others. Maybe I could prevent another tragedy like yours..."
Speaking was hard. Aruna's voice kept trailing off. Her soft eyes could not bare to look into his. The demon held the hilt of his knife in one hand, and the shining blade of light in the other. For a moment, she held the knife to her throat and stared up at Mael. "Why... do you want me to die?"
-
Mael
"I don't."
It was a simple answer. Maybe, a cruel answer. But it was certainly true. As he slowly stepped forward, the anger and spite he held back in his throat escaped his words, one by one. "I don't hate you, Aruna. But you took that thing into yourself, that detestable light that took everything from me. That light that empowers Him and His accursed balance!" His teeth grit, his eyes narrowed with every sliver of hesitation utterly cleaved away from them. He had suffered defeat after defeat, even as his body was breaking down, he still had a war to finish.
Until then, the cries and curses wouldn't quiet down.
"Do you have any idea what it's like? Being trapped in your own head, forced to watch as your body cuts down your friends and comrades, licking the feet of your enemy and disgracing everything you held dear? And for what? My body and soul were used and chained and stripped of every freedom imaginable. Now, I have no home to come back to, no family to hold dear - only a blade and an enemy to point it at! If I could make the one responsible feel even one-thousandth of that pain and humiliation..."
A pilfered sword stretched out, his wing screaming for release as he pointed it to the side.
"It wouldn't do anything. I don't wish your death, but all grace holders must die. It's the only way to ensure He can't turn someone else into a monster like me."
The darkness unfolded, revealing the man fully. Crimson lines meshed with blue, like that vehicle, as if he were some kind of machine that belonged neither to the dark nor the light. Surrounded by the storm, he had only one thing left to say.
"What is your choice. Will you fight, or will you perish like a dog?"
-
Aruna
The waves had finally calmed, the roaring tides. The chain that caged them together was completely gone now, nothing keeping them from separating anymore. Aruna stayed in her position, sitting on her knees, knife still to her throat. The tears continued to fall.
"I've spent hundreds of years going back and forth between trusting humans, being burned by the denizens of the light. The angel's want me dead, just being alive is a sin to them. I am something that should be cleansed from the world. To the humans a monster to overcome. I'm not the oldest demon, but i've been doing this for long enough that i'm sick of it! I'm sick of the hatred, sick of the fighting."
Aruna's voice broke.
"I just... I thought maybe we could be better than that. I thought we could have a relationship that wasn't built on that hatred. Asmeal... I don't want to fight you."
The truth was, he was too strong. She might be able to beat him if she went all out, pushed herself beyond her limits and was willing to kill him. However, that moment before, she couldn't do it. There was no way that she could kill Asmeal. Doing so would mean the death of that hope. There was the option of subduing him without killing him but he was far too powerful. Maybe she could..
"The graces," she said, finally looking into his eyes. "I can take the graces from people. The balance, it doesn't have to be god's. We can find a new balance."
-
Mael
Mael's rage calmed, and for a moment... he smiled. Was this pride?
"You've grown arrogant. But wishes without strength are worthless." He advanced, sword in hand, his will blackened along with the rage that sought to end Aruna's adventure. His face darkened, and he acknowledged a single fact.
She was stronger. Far stronger.
"Show me what you've got."
-
Aruna
"Strength?"
Aruna stood up. First that Orcus, now him. Power and strength are not for show. They are to keep one alive. Aruna lowered the knife, letting that arm fall to her side. Standing up, she bit her lip until it bleed, shark like teeth flashing the angel.
"If I prove my strength, will you hear me out? If I can validate my ideals, will you just sit down with me, like before?"
-
Mael
"I am hearing you out, am I not? Defend your life and pride like you mean it. Either way, I will break that cursed light of yours until it dies forever." His sword danced in the air, swinging beautifully from side to side until it shot forward at Aruna.
"Carve your own path!"
-
Aruna
The line carved by Asmeal's blade was blocked by a diagonal blade, the light of the grace illuminating both of their faces. Aruna had bent her knees and held the blade above her head to guard the thrust. In that moment, metal kissed metal and a clack rang through the empty air.
"It must be forged from yours!"
The light was never hers to keep, merely to bare, to hold. By the end of this Aruna would know Asmeal's true feelings.
-
Mael
The waters below collided and reached the apex, nearly touching the flying helicopter as the two collided.
"Is that so." A flick of his wrist, and the sword swirled against Aruna's - deflecting her slash with a fiendishly quick riposte. Without mercy, a violent swing came down the demon's temple, for Mael was raining down more feints and blows down on her. She could taste the killing intent behind their exchange, it was absolute.
-
Aruna
Aruna's eyes widened. In an instant, she calculated her plan of defense. The blade came up in a horizontal blocking position, but with no commitment to the block. When the angel's blade was inches from her own, Aruna slacked, letting the blade fall before his. It looked as though his blade struck hers down, but in fact it was already falling. The demon let her shoulder fall to the ground, the sheer impact causing the waves to rise over their silhouettes. In that moment, spikes emerged from her shoulder threatening his pretty face, torso and legs.
"But it must start from mine."
Aruna was too weak to fight back against that kind of overwhelming strength. The only way to survive would be with a desperate attack while he was using less committed strikes. The feints would be met with the spikes from her body.
-
Mael
The blow floored the demon filth with ease, but just as the final bell tolled for Aruna, her ruse bore fruit. For a moment, Mael's eyes narrowed - and the deadly spiked rushed at his form mid-swing. It was with a deadly hurricane of slashes that he repelled each one, avoiding and deflecting Aruna's assault.
But he noticed it. An insignificant cut on his cheek, barely a graze... but a mark that bled the sign of mortality. That's why the moment he finished with the spikes, his blade arched back.
"Die."
She'd notice his swelling form for an instant, the screaming power delivered a slash with all its might. But the sword's shockwave couldn't prepare her for such a butcher's strike. Instantly, the helicopter was split in half, shattering everything in a fiery explosion.
The skies burned.
The explosion blew them both through the skies, launching them away - each on the opposite side of a massive touristic yacht. As the floor cracked under their landing, there was only one truth that'd be made absolute.
Where is she...
As he dashed across the cracked floor, much to the horror of all the passengers and tourists, a particular one ended up bumping into him. A giant of muscle, wearing all sorts of vain accessories. Was he the owner of this vehicle?
"NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING." A gigantically ripped arm shot down at Mael like a rocket, threatening to pulp him like a tomato. Of course, the former archangel dodged to the side with ease, observing his surroundings without even acknowledging the man in front of him. "THAT WAS POP'S BOAT! YOU GODDAMN SONUVABITCH! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO HIT ON CHICKS NOW, HUH!?"
Right, that's when he noticed it in the distance. There was another yacht. Was he wrong? Had she landed on that other vehicle?
This was getting out of hand. Now, there were two of them.
-
Aruna
The landing of the proud demon was as unceremonious as could be. From heaven to earth, Aruna had fallen far in a short amount of time. Her arms stung from the clash, her body ringing from the explosion. Although the damage was minor, it still shook her.
If there was anything that clash proved, it was that she couldn't fight like a warrior of the light. Instead, she would have to fight like a denizen of the dark.
With that thought flowing through her mind, she heard something.
"Does it look like I care about your shitty game? I'm too busy fucking everyone's mom to care! Yeah thats right, this is a yacht of MILFS! Which is why its THICC, with two Cs. Hey... what the hell is that?!"
Aruna rose from the top, realizing her body had crashed through the antenna and was now sprawled out over the roof. Standing up, she gazed down at Mael. The demon never rarely felt so vulnerable. Brandishing her blade in one hand and Asmael's dagger in the other. Her lips began to move.
Stupid humans....
-
Chad Chadston McThundercock
"OI! ARE YOU FUCKING LISTENING, DIPSHIT!? I'LL FUCK YOU UP!" The arrogant, muscular ape kept making noises in front of the black knight. He just looked up, as bored as you could get. "THE FUCK YOU'RE STARING AT, HUH!? THESE MUSCLES AREN'T JUST FOR SHOW, I'LL CRUSH YOUR BALLS LIKE A GRAPE! I WILL SHIT IN YOUR MOUTH FUCKER!!"
No, Mael wasn't even looking at the man. He was staring right at the demon above him, eyes narrowing like a cold blade.
"DIE!" A fist bigger than the black knight's entire torso shot down like a meteor, with enough force to blow his hair back. But just as it crashed on the ground...
"Foolishness."
Mael
If there was a word that could be used to describe the arcs of that blade, it was - beautiful.
How repugnant.
The giant's arms, shins, face, and guts were sliced open in dozens of tiny cubes, flying around like a fountain of blood. Everyone else barely saw the bloody blur, but just as the bloody chunks of meat were about to hit the floor...
A bright light enveloped the soon-to-be corpse and fixed it completely at once, healing him fully just as quickly as he was cut. It didn't even realize it had just been cut to giblets until after he realized all the body chunks scattered around were his. The man's terrified gasps gave away for a single, blood-curdling scream. Even as he ran.
"Ah...aaaahhhh...! Monster! Eeeeeek!"
But Mael's glare never once moved. He only looked up at his target. And with his sword gripped tightly, he plunged it straight into the ship. The same blue and crimson lines rippled throughout the vehicle. A vehicle that could be used to crush, maim, and flatten those in its path.
A black engine of death, now overwhelmed by the power of the former archangel. As he gradually took control, he gave it a single directive.
Ram into that ship.
-
Richer Richard McRicherson
"HEY you lesser peon. Are you listening to me? This yacht is my dick and that yhacht is yours. MY DICK IS BIGGER THAN YOURS and if your not going to listen I SHALL BOARD THE BOAT AND STEAL YOUR BITCHES."
The man stopped talking as he witnessed what could only be described as horror. Reeling back he said, "Oh lord... I uhh... turn the ship around!"
Aruna
Aruna landed behind the man, delivering a chop to his throat. The second he fell to the ground, Aruna had finished preparing the portals. Several had been set with her magic. It was just a matter of activating them at the right time. Aruna's demonic eyes widened, taking in the nature of his magic for the first time. The darkness took hold of him and healed him, yet from the outside, it appeared as though he was being consumed. It was not unlike her feeding, a helpful process but one considered horrifying to the humans. To Aruna, it was truly beautiful. Yes, it was true darkness and what she saw before was light. Could it be that.... No it was. It was both light and dark.
The sound of steel crashing into one another manifested itself in an explosion style bang, the echoes of mangled steel filling the ocean sky. Aruna leaped from the bigger boat onto the smaller one, rubble bouncing off of her soft body, each little impact forcing a jiggle. With the light sword reflecting from her eyes, she considered Orcus's words. There was no way, a true mix? Asmeal? How did he learn to mix them so easily? Was it really a true mix or was this some sort of phantom mix?
Aruna's arm glowed with power, no desperation. Aruna gripped the hilt of the blade of darkness, now glowing with the light of god and shot towards Mael, her form taking on a commet like appearance. A single slash across his body would be all it took to cleave through his body and a room in the ship.
The truth was, she hoped the attack wouldn't land.
-
Mael
The black avalanche soared the seas, but it halted in its tracks at the last second, as Aruna collided against him. Mael's hateful blade hurled in Aruna's direction and slammed against the Grace, blowing her straight into the opposing ship's outer shell.
"You trash, don't touch me. That light makes me puke." He couldn't stand it, that mockery that took everything from him. Even if he had to rip it from her crying corpse, he didn't care. It didn't matter, nothing else mattered, he'd slaughter every last Grace and let the corpses of their holders' flood down the shit and muck of sewage. If he could do this much, then his sickening life would have had some meaning. It'd be one good thing that'd come out of him.
An irresistible kick shook the vessel as he jumped to follow her. Mael came down on Aruna to rain down a spew of murderous slashes. "Was it comfortable, that light? It feels good to use, doesn't it? But that power IS NOTHING MORE THAN A CURSE!!"
And it won't end until she did. This was his war, he had to finish it. Because without it, everything would be for NOTHING.
-
Aruna
And just like that, the comet of light was knocked back through the ship. Aruna hyper extended her back, mouth agape in pain as her tiny frame flew through the haul of the ship. Her back slammed into the surface of the water, skipping across the surface like a stone.
Continued in Albion (http://darksidemoon.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,843.msg67775.html#msg67775)
-
Mael
As the blows punched her out of the ship like a scattered pebble, his blade groaned and screamed. Even as the hull was cleaved and the black knight rode the scrap of metal over the waves like a surf board, even the crashing waters stilled before the roars of his soul.
Continued in Albion
-
90 Seconds Later
Zeke?
Explosions. Bursts of flame, broken metal and flesh impacting flash. The violence that swooped over the skies parted the clouds. They all made way for the Seraph's attacks, colliding with dark energies from beyond. It was barely enough time to even start a waltz - but that didn't matter to these monsters. They couldn't stand eachother. Why else would they ha ve dragged their bloodshed across the entire district, swooping into the depths of the ocean's skies?
For but 90 seconds, they likely fought as valiantly and ferociously as demons. They were probably the brightest seconds of Zeke's life.
However, the burning impact against his chest sealed it all. For those were the last seconds of Zeke's life. Pinned against a circular obelisk in the middle of the ocean. Even if he tried to lure her somewhere, it didn't matter if he got killed before his plan came to fruition.
"Grgh...khr... rhhhaAAAAAAAAAHHHGH!!" He burnt, roared, gripped at the lance... then the flames stopped. It all stopped. It wasn't even something deserving of a conclusion.
They both knew that much, glaring at one another. And yet, why was Zeke smiling?
Ah, of course.
Those crystals erupting from him. The grace would just send his consciousness to a new organism. The cycle would perpetuate. Ivanna's victory, even now, was meaningless. What impact did killing something that could come back at any moment truly hold? Did it even hold weight?
A prayer of Joy
No one knows what exactly happened that day. That is because it never happened. December 32, the day where time itself trembled. A strange phenomena surely occurred, but people survived even now. So a calamity that'd have destroyed everything is surely impossible.
But it isn't so.
It is a simple concept. When a bullet is fired and goes past the sound barrier, a sonic boom forms. The same goes for time. When that thing activated, time boomed. And the ripples sent fragments flying and splitting in countless directions, stripping that world of possibilities.
Thus, even this is nothing more than a fragment.
The tower had malfunctioned somewhere along the line. No, it worked exactly as intended. The monument had two main functions - to absorb the souls and energy of beings from worlds outside the Nexus - smelt them into a godkilling blade, and to contain the living souls of those in this Nexus, to protect them from the fallout. A Noah's Ark of sorts, something that would make sure there were humans even after the Gods were destroyed. Of course, the remnants of this world would be ravaged, but after a few generations... it would surely be fine.
But it wasn't.
The process was somehow reversed.
The sword impacted with the Nexus, poisoning its landd and shattering the balance of energies it held in its atmosphere. And because of this sudden imbalance, the tower's Ark formed a vacuum that caused terrible things to pour into the world.
Humanity couldn't survive. Together, everyone fought. Many people died. Demons, humans, monsters, angels, gods, it didn't matter. Whatever befell them was simply too much for the collective beings of that time to handle.
They had to become something else. With forms that could adapt and survive to this hellish land.
That's right...!
Right now, we cannot forget the scars on our hearts, and together we have forgotten how to smile.
However, I believe that this would surely sadden those we've lost.
......Wouldn't it be alright if we could remember how to smile, if only a little bit at a time?
Of course, we can't do this right away.
We have to remember our forgotten smiles bit by bit.
That's why.....I've decided that from today on, I'll try my best to practice smiling. No matter what bodies we'll have, we won't forget eachother. The memories we've grown, the bonds we've forged. We'll be friends, together and always.
..............................That's weird...isn't it?
__________ , if you ever remember how to smile........please show me too.
I feel that if we do that, we'll be able to remember how to smile even more.
Right. Nevermind... there's no way you'd show a piece of shit like me something like that.
"That's right. You died on that day, along with the crewmates of yours. A boy always stuck in the past, reliving your vicarious adventures. But are you really fine with an outcome like that? Medaka, Shinobu, Nep... everyone will die you know? They'll be eaten by the gods and disappear, just like the old ones. What you're seeing is not a prediction, but a prophecy. Because that girl wished for you to come back, everything will be lost. So this is your responsibility too, as a captain and a man. You've got to make sure something like this doesn't happen."
But it's too cruel. Women, children... I can't just sacrifice these people to that thing.
[color=orange"You can't. But you must. You started this story, didn't you? If their bodies remain as originally made, they will be destroyed. You must become the ark that will hold everyone's dreams. It's what you never understood, it's what it means to be a captain. You can't be selfish forever. You'll need to find another Nexus, it might take a few worlds to consume, but it's the only way to prevent that thing from opening again. If you're the one consuming them, they'll keep being alive as part of you."[/color]
The dreamer looks down on the bones prepared for the ritual. He cannot accept such an ending. And why should he? No, he... his comrades... none of them will be pieces to some gameboard, created to be tossed meaninglessly.
He picks up his sword, a fiery phantom from the past.
The tower hadn't activated for so long. He'd have to paint a new tale for it, and countless souls to bring it back. It was the only way left to make sure some people could survive this fragment. He wouldn't just let them die.
For their sake, he'd smile brighter than anyone.
Zeke smiled.
Tears fell down Zeke's cheeks. No. This wasn't Zeke. This hadn't been Zeke since this Ivanna so much as spoke to him. Zeke had been truly killed by another archangel. The dying man in front of Ivanna was just that, a man. The beings he changed were stripped of their bodies, sure, but it was all for a single sake. A single purpose.
As the Ezekiel of old saw prophecies of a great many things, he had seen the same vision the previous Zekes had seen. He was the first, no, the only one who truly rebelled against it. But now, all for nothing.
In the end, Zeke couldn't escape his fate. Neither could the disposable clone in front of her.
But that is why it was a shame. All of this was evitable, but they could never trust eachother.
The old world organisms Ivanna cut down, the ones she had just pierced inside Zeke... they poured down and melted down into mud... only for people to emerge from it. Corpses that were cut down. Humans, children. People Ivanna didn't even try to save, let alone understand. Their souls weren't originally human, as only the memory was preserved in those organisms. Because of that, there was no way these alien things could be accepted in Heaven. No, they would never become human again. If Zeke won, perhaps after a few generations, they'd have gained back what they originally lost. And she could see it, all of it, reflected in that mud.
But that's fine too.
She had vanquished the great evil and won. Now, while corpses kept falling from the sky, and the moon Zeke was pinned into activated for the first time in years... she could surely declare this with all her heart.
She was the righteous one.
"This is... the original... Xibalba. My homeland. Now... with our blood... the ritual can be... undone... but... it's too late... I needed your help.... to close it... why won't it close..." Mud kept pouring open from the white egg.
Now, the world could be saved!
(https://i.imgur.com/8BDlJV6.png)
-
Ivanna
The angel had lost sight of herself in this battle, feeding into the addiction of falling to her emotions, losing control of herself and acting as her instincts demanded. The only thought remaining in her mind was destruction.
She would destroy the demon. She would destroy the abomination. She would murder Ezekiel. To this end, she had suffered many wounds, all ignored in the face of this conflict. To this end, she would pursue her misology to the end.
Some things were best left forgotten, sealed away for eternity.
Ignoring his treacerous words, Ivanna stabbed her arm through his chest. Through the egg. Regardless of the risks or consequences.
-
The Replaceable One
If there was strength left in that body, it'd had left one final shout as flames ripped its flesh from the inside. Instead, it convulsed one final time while it burnt from the inside and the outside, until it looked like nothing more than a charcoal puppet whose strings had been cut.
But perhaps there was a final spark left.
Its arm moved. Was it an attack? A final act of resistance? Did it laugh in its final moment of illogical life, or did it curse its fate? In the face of this senseless violence, all you could really feel was empty.
"...cold..."
But the strike never came. It just weakly hung onto the little girl, trying to hug her in its final moments. There was a faint warmth to it even while it cooked to death.
And then there was nothing.
And the mud keeps pouring.
-
The Replaceable One
If there was strength left in that body, it'd had left one final shout as flames ripped its flesh from the inside. Instead, it convulsed one final time while it burnt from the inside and the outside, until it looked like nothing more than a charcoal puppet whose strings had been cut.
But perhaps there was a final spark left.
Its arm moved. Was it an attack? A final act of resistance? Did it laugh in its final moment of illogical life, or did it curse its fate? In the face of this senseless violence, all you could really feel was empty.
"...cold..."
But the strike never came. It just weakly hung onto the little girl, trying to hug her in its final moments. There was a faint warmth to it even while it cooked to death.
And then there was nothing.
And the mud keeps pouring.
Ivanna
The angel's arm hung limp against her side, a bone poking out of her battered form. She panted. Pain blossomed all over her form.
It hurts. The motivating rage gone, the angel felt full of emptiness, alone, all too aware of her lord's absence in this moment.
As flames burst out, enveloping the area in holy retribution, she begins to think back upon her life. How an exalted one such as herself had been reduced to such a pitiable state.
-
The Replaceable Ones
Flames burnt away at the pouring mud, attempting to seal the hole. Even so, with all that strength, it only made the hole larger. Her wish to be rid of this evil was the source of the evil in the first place. It was exactly as that man said, the grace only acted in response to the wish of a host. It didn't need to be a parasitic one though. Her wrath, her pride, it was all reflected into the future. A twisted mirror of her choices up to now.
No. The twisted one was also her.
As long as she wished to destroy evil and sin, there would be filth to purge in this land. Even when there wasn't any to begin with. Especially when there wasn't any to begin with. The only solution would've been -
"It's pitiable. Sometimes, inaction is the best course of action." A robotic, monotone voice echoed from the one thing Ivanna didn't burn completely. The golden eye implanted into him, the Reaper's Eye... it still whirred, even when its host was naught but charcoal. "Ah, don't bother. Striking anything at this point is useless, this is merely a pre recorded message. Consider it my... contingency plan. If you can hear this, o mighty Seraph... you surely understand the position the world is in."
The burnt corpses were purged, thrown back into the abyss that created them. And from the mud overflowing into the seas, giant beasts emerged, gentle sleeping giants that hadn't awoken in so long. Some cooed, others glanced at Ivanna in curiosity. Most of them started to roam away and consume biomass nearby, ignoring her completely until the flames spread to them too.
Much like the graces in that forest, they didn't fight back at all. Some even tried to flee, or protect their young, merely survive. But you can't let that happen, can you? Because you're the hero of this story.
"I apologize, my other half made a disservice to you. See, those things you were so eager to destroy... they're not like children. They are children. Ah, forgive me if it is information already granted to you. I merely wish for you to suffer. You, personally."
A giant roared meekly, trying to stop the pain of the flames, sending a massive fist Ivanna's way. Too slowly, far too slowly. It was a struggle, useless as it was. But the only one who could decide that was Ivanna. After all this wrath, after all of this, there should have been relief. There should have been something beyond this hell, something Zeke or Ivanna saw, something that made everything worth it. If all this violence somehow saved her people, she'd have surely been able to forgive herself.
And we can't allow that.
-
Ivanna
The lack of responce didn't bother the angel, no. She'd slaughtered masses of children, destroyed cities, all for her lord. She didn't feel any remorse for doing what must be done.
Then why did her heart ache such? Why were tears glistening in her eyes.
In a simple act of defiance, Ivanna's arms fell limp against her sides. "I'm so tired. Your words mean little to one such as me—what are the lives of a few children in service to the lord?" The angel remarked with a raised eyebrow. Then a tired sigh. She waved him away with a dismissive glare.
"Begone from my sight."
Then, Zeke burst into flames, flames which refused to be extinguished like the previous ones. "I wish to meditate, to heal this broken world. You could scarcely understand my pain, so alien you are to it."
-
Zeke
But of course, the flames that broke into the charred corpse couldn't silence it. Couldn't silence the dead. Couldn't silence the one who didn't speak, or the voices of guilt in her head. But they did break it. Slowly, surely, it sounded less and less human. More and more like an automaton, a thing made to act and be destroyed in turn.
Maybe it would have made things better if it was the truth.
It was her right to see things that way. Her truth was only what she wished to believe. Anything else was unnecessary.
"Ku ku ku... so that is your answer.... fuhuhu... hahahahahaha!"
The giant stood no chance against her and the flames either, wailing as its arm split in two just from trying to strike her, burning until it too was naught but ash.
"But I do. You really are no different, no different than me. You see it as I do, the way this world squirms and rots... it must be fixed by someone, must it not? If we allow it to endure... it will end, and the ones we promised to protect fall with it. No, we cannot... we must not allow it to happen. Just as you have your people and truth to protect, I have mine."
Burning. Robotic. Hateful. Yet... sad, very sad. Because there must have been a way to make things right, but now it will never happen. Because now, the future is set, and the mud will pour before the fire forevermore. Until they end up extinguishing one another. Such is the tragic game the gods have decided.
If they wished to refuse it, all they had to do was fight it.
"My poor son... my Zeke ... you were tied to such useless things ... trying to free yourselves from this fate. If only you spoke of your true intentions, perhaps... ku ku ku... but if so, then the Elven one would have known of your betrayal, mhhh? How deplorable, to think my own flesh and blood would debase himself so to work with an angel. Even if Ivanna allowed it, did you really think I would, mhhhh? No. I will not make this mistake. Our wish, our endings are irreconciliable. You know this, as do I. So let us drop the pretenses. My people, my truth, against yours... Ivanna. It will not end until one of us do."
And finally, the hole in the sky burnt away too. Zeke. The eye. All of it, destroyed by Ivanna, gone forevermore.
But from ash, new life will emerge. Far more terrible than a meager message from the old world.
"This is... a declaration of war..."
And thus, the prologue ends. And all that's left is a girl, crying alone amidst the ancient corpses.