Author Note: Wanted to write this for a long while, it is probably going to have a lot more action than I intended thought. Brought in some ideas of my own that I
would find interesting to see in a further Darksiders installment in some way or form.
Next chapter should follow soon, and I hope to finish it in a matter of two weeks or so, also damn, I can't find a fitting Genre for this.
No direct relation to "The Horsman and the Archangel" (even thought it would be nice if someone wanted to check that one out and give me some honest feedback on
it since I might want to rewrite it someday)
Reviews are a good way to see that somebody bothered to read this and didn't just miss click, double if they give good feedback and critique.
I might change the rating to a higher one based on feedback or if I feel it needs to be, depending on how the story unfolds.
Either way, enjoy.
Blood was rushing through his veins and his heart danced in delight.
War was surrounded by the meager rest of a hellish war band that had dared to ambush him.
They had come close indeed and had inflicted many wounds, but nothing the horseman couldn't take.
Demons growled and cursed at him as they surrounded him with hateful eyes.
This was nothing more than a last desperate attempt on their part, it would soon be over.
War sidestepped an oncoming axe and slew the demon with and upwards strike from Chaoseater before blocking a hit with his sword and wrecking another enemy
with his iron fist.
Only one of the few higher ranking demons in full armor was left and jumped at him with a roar and struck him with his burning sword.
War blocked the first strike, killed two lower demons within the same movement and tried to deflect another stabbing attack from the sword with his iron fist.
He was only slightly surprised when he miscalculated and the sword scratched over the metal on the back of his artificial hand and cut into the upper arm behind it.
Ignoring the pain with a hiss he changed his target from the clean strike at his enemy he had planned to leaping backwards and going back into the defensive.
The demon followed up with a roar and War barely had time to react as his enemy lunged at him.
He dogged the hit and immediately had to cut down two more demons that tried to get behind his back, turning around just in time to evade the armored demon one
more time.
This time however he felt the strain of the countless battles he had fought in the days and hours before.
Taking care of the first part of the demonic army had done the rest, and even thought he was one of the most powerful beings in creation with the seventh seal
broken and his powers increased, he was still only one Horseman.
The hit came faster than he expected and cut deep into his left side before the demon warrior skillfully turned his blade around and stabbed at Wars torso.
The Nephilim was still reeling from the unexpected hit and didn't manage to get up his defenses in time.
He only managed to move slightly out of the way so that the burning blade priced his right shoulder instead of his full body.
He grunted as he registered the pain somewhere in the back of his head before he moved forward into the blade itself and in reach of the hellish warrior himself.
The demons face changed form a confident grin to sudden realization as War threw his iron fist forward at his skull.
Once the demon was lying dead on the ground in front of him and with the sword still stuck inside his shoulder another group of demons jumped at him to try and
avenge their fallen master.
War rammed Chaoseater into the ground and a circle of blades erupted out of the earth around him, killing four of them mid jump.
Then he turned around and moved Chaoseater with him.
The ancient sword flashed thought the air and drew the dead bodies of five more demons in blood.
Only a few more demons where standing around him at a safe distance.
Having lost all of their leaders in the bloody fight that had went for more than an entire hour and having seen what the Horseman was capable of firsthand, none of
them were very eager to meet the same fate as all of their kin had before them.
Knowing all too well what was happening inside their heads War rammed Chaoseater into the ground and began to pull the still burning sword out of his shoulder.
He wasn't even halve way done when the first hell spawns began to run for their lives, with the rest of them close behind on their tail when they saw that even that
wound wasn't going to slow the Horseman down.
Once they had all fled War finally managed to pull the slowly extinguishing sword out entirely and dropped it on the floor.
The pain began to numb as his live force did its work and started to close the wounds, although much slower than he was used to.
He wasn't even surprised when a small hole in his shoulder remained and his side didn't fully close.
The battle had demanded more of his live force and stamina than he had anticipated.
He put Chaoseater on his back and stepped over the dead demon bodies that were about to disintegrate before he raised a hand and called upon Ruin.
When the fiery black steed emerged from the ground it exhaled in protest at the sight of his mangled rider and shook its head in disappointment.
War simply shrugged. "Look around you, there is your explanation."
When he mounted Ruin the horse could see a field of dead demons around them and weapons and armor of the ones that had already burned away.
The phantom steed trotted slowly forward as it tried to spare his rider from pain of his wounds.
They passed by the husks of several demonic war machines that humans would have described as tanks if they had encountered them.
Only that the cobbled together demonic steam machines ran mostly on what humans would probably call magic and where big enough to count as two of the human
war machines.
The demons had tried to use them against him as artillery support, but War had broken thought their lines and had dismantled most of them with the burning arms of
his Chaos form as he eliminated demons by the dozens with every strike and took the fire of their guns, that could otherwise level buildings, with stride.
He had torn the rest of them apart with his bare hands and had even killed a few demons by smashing them over the head with their own tank cannon with the
canopy attached.
Sure enough Strife would have found it hilarious.
War had found it nothing more than practical.
In the blur of fighting it had been difficult to examine the battlefield, but now that they were passing trough it at a much more somber pace War could see clearly what
he had only skimmed over before.
There were certainly more than three demolished and burned angelic counter versions of the demonic ones on the far side of the battlefield.
They were hardly recognizable but all the sings where there, most obviously the fact they were much more elegant and that they lacked tracks of any kind, seeing how
heaven had standardized and perfected their war machines to hover above ground and fly alongside them in the air by default.
Hell meanwhile didn't bother with their much cheaper knockoffs where mostly only one in every dozen was able to gain flight.
That was if it didn't break down or straight up exploded to begin with.
He also found a downed one man angelic fighter craft in the, comparatively, small form similar to an arrow that had crashed into a nearby building.
The signs of damage where rather new, which probably meant that the demons that had ambushed him had attacked and decimated a angelic battle group before
they had sprung their 'trap' on him.
It was difficult to determine how big the battle had been, but to Wars keen eye it seemed the like the fight had been severe.
He didn't remember turning two building fronts into ruin and collapsing another.
Although here on earth it was difficult to determine what counted as ruins, seeing like basically all of it was in constant deterioration and decay.
War could hear the sound of giant flapping wings far above them and saw the silhouette of a smoke spitting hellish ship hovering far above in the clouds.
Going by the number of gun platforms and frame he could make out that it couldn't be more than a scouting ship, even thought that was already more than enough to be alert.
Flying demons where passing by remaining skyscrapers and trough the streets as if they were searching for prey, probably the rider himself.
He couldn't risk another fight, any other wound would probably not manage to heal at all, and if they would send a few more of their heavy hitters after him he would
certainly be in trouble.
Even he could be killed with enough attrition, just like anyone else in creation.
And with the blessings of the council gone there was no certainty that he was going to be brought back this time.
On the other hand, with his powers so low there was nearly no need for him to try and hide his own aura since it got lost in all the atmospheric noise of magic and
destruction on earth, especially in this place.
More than one hundred years ago the last members of humanity had fought and died in those very streets.
Well, they had mostly just died to be fair.
Ruin was even more careful to remain as slow as possible as the demons where circling over them and with the demonic ship hovering above them.
Just as they had crossed into another block of buildings and streets the first gun of the scout ship opened fire and pulverized several buildings behind them with a
single shot.
More guns opened fire and incinerated several buildings after another.
War could feel the heat waves and pressure the bombardment was creating in this atmosphere but didn't make the mistake to pressure Ruin on and give their position
away with a sudden gallop.
With the destruction behind him he mused that the humans would have probably found it terrifying that only one single scout ship was enough to lay waste to one of
their biggest cities in a short amount of time.
A sudden guttural outcry echoed through the streets and Ruin flattened his ears in recognition.
War patted his neck and nodded.
"I know it as well."
Just like his horse the rider had recognized the outcry that had come from the demonic entity that possessed the ship above them.
It had sounded like a cry of rage and joy, probably the being basking in the destruction its guns where creating.
But knowing demons and how volatile and unreliably their machines where it probably also meant that something had at last overheated if it wasn't standing in flames
already.
Being on board of a ship that belonged to a lower demon ruler always meant that you had to be cautious what where you going to touch.
Obviously the higher lords would try to overhaul their war machines more regularly to pleas the prince of lies and gather their own strength.
But demonic machines remained much more unreliable than their angelic counterparts.
Which was to be expected if ones machines where feed with the energy of whipped and tortured souls, while the other side cared for their magical source in a much
more reliable way.
On the other side Hell threw out its machines much faster than Heaven did, which granted them much higher numbers.
A fact that also reflected how demons had a much higher base number before one counted all the mercenaries and lost races that heaven would dismiss on principle.
But whatever the cause of the demonic scream was, in the end the bombardment didn't continue, instead it began to rain.
Heavy drops landed on his armor and evaporated with a hiss as they didn't find anything to bite into.
The way it hissed and how it tried to eat at Wars already sturdy cloth made him realize right away that this was no natural rain, even before Ruin decided that it was
best to use his phantom powers and turn into literal cheese whenever a drop of the poisonous water tried to land on him.
Every time a drop would have made contact the horse used its power to make itself pervious to not even get in contact with the substance.
A human would have probably died from direct contact alone while it was pretty much only a inconvenience for battle ready armored angles but ironically a painful
experience for less armored demons and death over a prolonged time.
Still, War knew that he couldn't afford the risk to get a single drop of this acid rain on his skin and only rode on for a little while longer to reach a downtrodden shadow
of a human hotel.
He dismounted Ruin and with a quick gesture the horse disappeared carefully into the ground.
War tried to open the door and was less than surprised when he suddenly had the entire thing in his hands.
War stepped inside, turned around and put the door back where it belonged.
