Chapter 10

Several centuries ago

A man in a cloak was lying unconscious on the ground. He eventual came to, but didn't get up. He lay there, weeping like a child. A large satanic seal appeared in the sky, and Akuma stepped out of it.

“It hurts, doesn't it?” he asked. The man didn't respond. “Look at you, stripped of your power, and reduced to this sniveling being.”

“Silence!” The man snapped, drawing a pistol and pointing it at Akuma's face.

“Don't make me laugh,” Akuma said. “What if I told you there's a way for you to get back into power?”

“What!?” The man asked. “Is that possible?”

“Entirely,” Akuma said. “I'm sure you know a lot about the Terrorspawn, correct?”

“Yes,” the man said. “Why?”

“Because I can help you become one,” Akuma said, grinning.

Present day

Akuma stood before Damien, grinning . Damien gripped his knife and attempted to slash at Akuma. Akuma caught Damien's arm in mid-swing. He turn sharply and threw Damien into the yard. His head struck the ground, knocking him out.

“That was disappointingly easy,” Akuma said.

John got up and grabbed his moonring blade, which had landed a few feet away. He charged at Akuma, swing the blade through the air. Akuma turned and parried the attack.

“So you can still fight?” he asked. “You certainly are a worthy opponent, Horseman.”

“Shut up!” John yelled, swinging his weapon.

Akuma blocked John's attack and swung his own sword with enough force to knock John on his back.

“You don't seem to have recovered much since our last fight,” he said. “And you look like you got a few more injuries since then too.”

“I can still fight!” John said, touching one of the orbs around his wrist.

His moonring blade was replaced by a large ax. He raised it into the air and brought it down. Akuma casually lifted his own blade and blocked the attack. Her kicked John in the chest, sending him flying. He hit the ground a few yards away. He tried getting back up, but collapsed in pain immediately  His ribs had been cracked from that attack. Akuma raised a hand to the sky, and a satanic seal appeared above him.

“Satanic Seal 8, Second Summoning,” he said.

A strange monster flew through the seal. It resembled a fanged goat, whose front legs had been replaced by a set of bat wings. It charged at John, but Kaiser stepped in its path.

“A flying creature, huh?” he asked, as his katana and sword materialized. “I think I should handle this one.”

He charged at the monster swinging his sword. It flew higher into the air, and Kaiser followed it. Akuma began walking toward John, but Hera stepped between them.

“I'll be your opponent,” she said, lifting her scythe.

“You seem eager to die,” Akuma said.

Hera began swinging her scythe rapidly, forcing Akuma onto the defensive. He was able to block the majority of her attacks, but one of them sliced him across the chest. He recoiled in pain.

“Zero, now!” She shouted.

Zero appeared behind him, holding a giant ax in its hand. It swung the ax, while Hera swung her scythe, attacking Akuma from two sides. Akuma melted his sword and reformed it into twin blades that he used to block both attacks simultaneously.

“Don't take me for an amateur,” he hissed.

They continues fighting. As they fought, David approached John, carrying a bottle of blue liquid.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I don't think so,” John said. “That guy got me pretty good.”

“Here, try some of this,” David said, twisting the cap off the bottle.

“What's that?” John asked.

“ Elixir,” David said. “It's supposed to have healing powers. I'd have used in on my mom, but I didn't have it with me at the time.”

John took a few sips from the bottle, and he felt his ribs suddenly repair themselves, and his wounds closed up.

“Whoa!” he said. “That stuff really works!”

“Yeah,” David said. “I've never tested it out, but I guess it does work.”

Hera and Zero continued fighting Akuma. Hera managed to slice one of his shins while Zero slashed him across the back. He cried out in pain, and Hera took her chance. She tripped him with the pole of her scythe, then raised it into the air, preparing to stab him through the chest with it. As she dropped the blade down, another figure appeared before her and blocked her attack with a wicked looking sword. The man's face was concealed beneath a bunch of black bandages, revealing only his left eye, which was a sickly green color. He wore a long, hooded robe. He slashed his sword quickly, cutting her across the stomach. She fell to the ground, turning deathly pale.

“Mistress!” Zero cried.

The man swung his blade, striking Zero to the ground as well. David gripped his morningstar and attempted to charge at him, but the man drew a gun with his free hand and shot David in the chest. David fell to the ground, twitching. Kaiser sliced through the monster he was fighting and flew toward the man, dodging the bullets fired at him. Another man, whose body was composed partially of shadow, rose from the ground and stopped Kaiser, blocking his katana with a shadowy blade of his own.

“Who the hell are you!?” Kaiser demanded.

“I'm Bill Dawson,” he said. “You didn't think you were the only human to be successfully fused with an Avatar, did you?”

John got up and ran over to check on David. David had turned completely pale, and his eyes had gone bloodshot.

“Poi... son...,” David muttered.

John looked up to see the man standing over him, sword raised. John parried his attack with his ax. He man knocked John's weapon from his hand, and kicked him so hard he was sent flying again, crashing into the side of David's horse trailer. The man raised his gun, aiming at John's face, but didn't fire.

“Who the hell are you!” John demanded.

“I am Lord Strain,” the man said. “The Terrorspawn of disease.”

The man stabbed his sword into the ground and tore the bandages from his face. John gasped, and nearly vomited from the sight of it. The mans right eyes had a light grey iris, surrounded by yellow. There was a huge scar beneath the eye, wide enough that the cheekbone beneath it visible. The skin around the eye was dry and cracked, and the rest of his face was dotted with boils and patches of decay.

“Or,” the man said, “As your fathers knew me, Famine.”

“What?” John asked.

“I was the third Horseman of the Apocalypse, before they replaced me with that fool Rage,” he said. “Now, I'm going have my revenge on the bastards who outcast me, by destroying their precious children!”

He charged at John sword raised. Deceit suddenly appeared between them. His right hand sprouted giant claws and clashed with Lord Strain's sword.

“You!” Strain said.

“Long time no see,” Deceit said, glaring into Strain's eyes.

Deceit's eyes turned pitch black, and his mouth twisted into a fanged snarl. His clothes seemed to dissolve, and his skin grew tight over his bones. His left hand and feet sprouted talons, just like his right hand had, and blades grew from his elbows and knees. His hair became a darker black and grew out past his waist. Kaiser caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye, and gasped.

“The clawed thing!” he exclaimed.

“So, we clash yet again,” Strain said.

And ivory mask formed over Strain's face, forming into the shape of a birds beak. A pair od tattered and decayed bat wings sprouted from his back. His gun melted and covered his left hand, solidifying into a clawed gauntlet. His sword changed, developing a cutlass-like hand guard, and growing a longer, more jagged blade.

“I'll make you suffer!” Deceit hissed, his voice now deeper and more feral.

“I'd like to see you try, Deceit,” Stain said, glaring at him through the lenses of his mask.

John was paralyzed, unable to do anything but stand and watch as the two eldritch horrors began attacking each other viciously.