Approximately 300 years ago
Two figures walked through a small town
late at night. One was Deceit, dressed in his usual suit and tie, but
with a sword sheathed across his back. His companion was a young
woman, about 20 years old. Her hair was long and dark, and her eyes
were bright blue. She was dressed in a faded gown covered in soot and
dirt.
“So who are we seeing again?”
Deceit asked.
“Madam Seraphim,” the girl said.
“She's an old friend of mine. She can help you deal with the
phantom that's been causing problems at the castle.”
“I can deal with something as useless
as a phantom on my own,” Deceit said.
“well, she can make it easier for
you,” the girl said. “She owns a powerful sealing spell. If you
use it, you can seal the phantom away inside a magic item.”
“Where did she get a spell like
that?” Deceit asked. “It wasn't developed by humans, was it?”
“It was,” the girl said. “Madam
Seraphim was the spells creator.”
“I see,” Deceit said. “So you
humans aren't completely useless after all.”
The girl laughed at this. “You say
silly things sometimes, Deceit,” she said.
Deceit stopped walking.
“Elizabeth?” he asked.
“Yes?” she replied, turning to face
him.
“Why do you trust me so much?” he
asked. “After you've seen what I am.”
“Why do I need a reason to trust
you?” she asked. “No matter what you look like, deep down you're
just as human as I am.”
“And you think I say silly things,”
Deceit said, sighing.
Present day
John continued
fighting, barely able to fend off Hell Talon's rapid sword attacks.
Hell Talon swung his swords wildly, not giving John any room to make
any attacks of his own. John was driven back until he hit a bus stop.
He wouldn't be able to back up any further. Hell Talon raised his
swords, ready to move in for the kill. He stopped in his tracks when
a shadow fell over them both. The corpse of a giant snake landed on
the ground between them. John charged forward immediately and slammed
the head of his hammer into Hell Talon's chest, sending him flying
several yards.
“I'm beginning
to think this isn't the right weapon to fight you with,” John said,
tapping one of the orbs around his forearm. His hammer was replaced
by his sword. “This should be light enough to keep up with you,”
he said, raising the sword.
“Maybe,”
Hell Talon chuckled. “But can it keep up with this?”
He stabbed one
of his swords into the ground, and left it there as he raised his now
free hand. A bolt of lightning was fired from it, headed straight at
John. John raised his sword, absorbing the lightning bolt. He swung
his sword, releasing the lightning in a wide arc back at Hell Talon,
who raised his hand and reabsorbed all of the lightning before it
could harm him.
“Interesting,”
Hell Talon said. “It seems we're both able to absorb and control
lightning.”
He gripped the
handle of his sword and pulled it out of the ground.
“I guess our
special attacks will be ineffective against each other,” he said.
“Let's stick to the swordplay.”
He charged,
clashing with John. Even without the hammer slowing him down, John
could still barely keep up with Hell Talon's fast pace. He gripped
his hilt tightly. If he couldn't outmaneuver him, he could try
overpowering him. He swung with as much force as he could, almost
knocking one of Hell Talon's blades from his hand. John took his
chance to break through his guard, slicing across his chest. Hell
Talon backed off, surprised.
“Ha!” John
exclaimed. “I got you!”
“Not a good
move on your part,” Hell Talon said. “Take a look.”
He spread his
arms, allowing John to see the wound he had inflicted. There was no
blood seeping from it at all. Instead, there was something moving
beneath his skin. A dozen beaks poked out of the cut, and countless
black crows flew out from his body.
“What the
hell!?” John said, as four birds flew by his, cutting his arms with
their razor-like wings.
“I am there
servant,” Hell Talon chuckled. “I hunt for them. I kill for them.
I interact with humanity for him. But most importantly, I allow them
to nest within me.”
A few yards from
them, Deceit and Glasp continued their fight. Snakes burst forth from
underground, lashing at Deceit from all directions. He moved quicker
than any of them, cutting them open and tearing them apart with his
fingertips.
“This is
getting old,” he said. “Are you gonna fight me, or are you gonna
keep sending your snakes after me like a coward?”
“You want to
face me head-on? Fine!” she snapped.
A tall mirror
appeared beside her. She touched the mirror, and her hand passed
through it as though it were air. She reached her entire arm through
it, and pulled a falchion from within the mirror.
“This is a
magic blade,” she informed him. “Even your claws can't destroy
it.”
She charged at
him, swinging the sword with all her strength. He blocked her attack
with his fingers. She swung again and again, driving him backwards.
He bumped into a mirror which had suddenly appeared behind him.
Mirrors appeared everywhere, trapping them both in a circle. Glasp
stabbed her sword forward. Deceit quickly stepped out of the way,
shifting his right hand into its clawed form and swiping at he. She
vanished into the mirror just as his claws cut though the glass.
“You'll have
to try harder than that!” she said, her voice now coming from
behind him.
He turned to see
her reflection in one of the other mirrors. He charged at her,
stabbing his hand into the glass mirror. The mirror shattered.
“I'm over here
now!” She exclaimed, coming from a different mirror. Her reflection
in that mirror vanished, appearing in a different mirror. That
reflection also moved to a different mirror, and continued doing so.
“Where am I
going to appear next?” she said, mockingly.
Deceit focused
his mind, and time slowed down for him. He watched as her reflection
began to fade from one of the mirrors. He looked around, and saw her
reappearing in the mirror directly behind him. He charged forward, as
time began to flow normally again, and jabbed his claws into the
glass. The reflection disappeared just as he did so.
“Too slow,”
she hissed, stepping through a mirror right next to him. She slashed
upwards quickly. Deceit tried to get out of the way, but his arm had
become stuck inside the mirror. The blade sliced him across the
chest, and the mirror he was stuck in shattered. Glasped kicked him
hard in the ribs, then again in the chest, knocking him backwards.
His back hit another of the mirrors. She jumped back into one of the
mirrors, and Deceit had no time to react before the blade stabbed
through the mirror he was leaning through, piercing him in the back
and sticking out his torso. Her foot cam out of the mirror, kicking
into the center of the mirrors.
He lay there,
coughing up blood as she left the mirror and stood over him.
“You see,
Deceit?” she said. “This is your weakness. You're physically
superior to all the other Terrorspawn, but that's about it. You don't
possess the same gifts the rest of us do. Like this one!”
A giant snake
burst forth from the ground, coiling around Deceit and squeezing him
tightly as it lifted him into the air.
“Now, it's
over!” she yelled, throwing her sword at him.
The snake let
out a cry of pain as Deceit's clawed hand tore through its body and
caught the sword before it could hit him.
“Damn it!”
Glasp cried. “Crush him! Now!”
The snake
tightened its grip on Deceit, cracking several of his bones. He
clenched the sword tightly, and shouted out several foreign words,
with strange pronunciations.
“Have... have
you lost your mind?” Glasp asked, unfamiliar with the words coming
out of his mouth.
The snake cried
out in pain again, as its body dissolved into green light, which was
pulled into the sword Deceit was holding. He fell to his feet, trying
his hardest not to keel over.
“Wh- how!?”
Glasp demanded. “What did you do!”
“You were
wrong,” Deceit said. “Sure, I can't control the elements, or fly.
My healing factor is pathetic compared to most other Terrorspawn. I
can't create illusions, alter memory, or manipulate animals. But I'm
not just limited to my speed and strength. You see, there's Magicks
developed by humans to fight monsters like us. And there's some of
those Magicks that I've learned to us myself.”
In a blur of
movement, he shot past Glasp, breaking through he mirrors. He looked
through the battlefield. He could see John, struggling against Hell
Talon and his crows. Deceit pointed the blade toward the birds. A
beam of green light was released from the sword, dissolving the birds
and sealing them inside the blade along with the snake. He turned his
attention to the others, who were also struggle against the Crown. He
absorbed several moire of the birds before stopping.
“I think this
blade's nearing its limit,” he said. “I won't be able to seal
much more inside of it.”
“Don't ignore
me!” Glasp hissed at him.
“I'm not,”
he said. “I was just building up a bit of power.”
“What?” she
demanded.
“This seal is
pretty weak compared to what I used on Nyasient'e,” he said,
pointing it at her. He muttered a word, and a bolt of lightning shot
from its tip, missing her and melting a mirror behind her. “I can
still release some of the power inside of it, if I say the magic word
right.”
Meanwhile, Hell
Talon and John fought on, each swing their swords with everything
they had.
“You're lucky
that Terrorspawn bailed you out before,” Hell Talon said. “You'd
have been a dead man if you had continued fighting both me and the
birds.
“Don't you
have more inside you or something?” John asked. “Or was that your
limit.”
“I have plenty
more,” Hell Talon said. “But I prefer not to use them. It's much
more satisfying to kill them with my own hands.”
One of the Crown
flew by Hell Talon's ear and squawked at him.
“What!?” he
demanded.
He turned his
head to see most of the Crown flying away. Akuma was standing and
watching from a distance, with a glowing seal hanging in the air
behind him.
“What's going
on?” John asked.
“He's ordering
a retreat,” Hell Talon said. “And their obeying. I guess we'll
have to settle this another time.”
Hell Talon
spread his wings and began flying away.
“Hold on a
minute!” John said, trying to chase after him.
Akuma raised his
left hand, and a seal appeared before him. A blast of lightning shot
from it, tearing through the building above John, causing several
chunks of brick and cement to fall toward John. He stopped in his
tracks, panicking. A flash of movement appeared above him, and the
chunks of building falling toward him were sliced into pieces. Deceit
landing on the ground before John.
“Stop getting
in these kinds of situations,” he said.
“Sorry,”
John replied, looking past Deceit to see that the Crown had
completely vanished along with Hell Talon and Akuma. “What happened
to that woman?” he asked.
“She
unconscious,” Deceit said. “But-”
He stopped
talking and collapsed to his hands and knees, coughing up blood.
“Shit!” John
said. “Are you okay!?”
“She did a
number on me,” he said. “Listen, you need to- AGH!”
A snake had
appeared from no where and sank its teeth into Deceit's ankle. John
looked to she that Glasp was still moving, and had the snake by the
end of its tail, like a whip.
“I have to
leave now,” she hissed. “But I'm taking you with me!”
A portal
appeared behind her, and she began to drag Deceit through it.
“Stop!” John
demanded, raising his sword and firing a bolt of lightning from it. A
small blue mirror appeared in her free hand, and reflected the
lightning bolt right back at John, hitting him in the chest. Deceit
sank the claws of his right hand into the ground, trying to slow her
dragging down. He changed one of the fingers on his left hand into a
claw and engraved a word into the ground next to the falchion.
“You have to-”
he was cut off as more blood spat from his mouth. “Find... the
Magister.”
He lost
consciousness, and was dragged into the portal after Glasp. It closed
behind then, leaving John there, unable to chase after them.
Meanwhile, in the capital city of
Netherworld
A man walked
through the streets, dressed in dark robes with his hood up. He
walked down an alleyway and knocked three times on a door. A peephole
opened on the door.
“Password?”
said a voice from the other side.
“Siel'ha,”
the man said.
The door opened,
and the hooded man entered. He was in a dimly lit bar, with several
strange, humanoid creatures sitting around. The person at the door
was tall, and had a pudgy face with pig-like ears and green freckles.
“We don't get
many humans here,” he said. “What's your name?”
“My name is
Brock Stevenson,” the hooded man said. “I need to speak to the
manager here.”
