A/N: Hey everyone, The Azure Guardian here with a new story. Just gonna get this out of the way: This story will not be a primary project, so I won't be updating this as frequently as my other stuff... Though considering how long it takes me to upload my other stories, there will probably be quite a while between updates for this story. Now then, I think I need to explain my reasoning for this story... I've had the idea for this story for quite a few years now (and had actually been "working" on this story for about the past 5 years) and this last year has been really rough for me. I've barely had a job for the entirety of the year and am barely able to survive at this point. I know it's something personal, but I felt I should explain myself. I've also been suffering from depression for a number of years, so my current situation isn't helping me any. So I wanted to do something to kind of let this part of me out and figured a fanfiction would be the easiest way, then I tried to think of what to base my story on when I came across Chuggaaconroy's Let's Play of Kid Icarus: Uprising. I felt like the world of Kid Icarus (especially Uprising) would be the perfect place to do this in and, well... here we are. Plus it gave me an excuse to write a story where the bad guys win (spoilers, by the way, if the story summary didn't give it away). Well I think that's all I have to say, so I hope you all enjoy this story.
"You have to defeat him to get to Medusa, Pit!" Palutena reminded the armored angel.
"I'm trying! Aaah!" Pit responded just as he flew back to dodge a swipe from my Underworld Claws, but I continued to pressure the angel with close-ranged attacks, knowing he was trying to get enough distance to use the Light Arrows.
"I won't let you anywhere near my Mistress!" I roared as I flew towards Pit with my black wings, though the Pegasus Wings he had made it difficult to land a good hit, and even the ones that did connect only succeeded in scratching his armor.
But by focusing on trying to hit the angel, I was surprised when I was struck away by Pit's bow, knocking me to the platform below. I quickly pushed myself up to a kneeling position as my wings folded back into a cloak and looked up at my opponent only to barely dodge a Light Arrow by diving to the side.
"You won't defeat me, Phantom!" Pit declared. "The light will always vanquish the darkness!"
"Shut up with your damn speeches already!" I shouted before launching chains from my right arm at the armored angel.
Pit succeeded in flying to the side to escape my chain, but I was counting on it and launched chains from my left arm at the angel while he was distracted.
"Aaaah!" Pit cried as he was ensnared by my chains.
"Pit, no!" Palutena called out.
"Looks like this is game over for you, little angel," I said with a sinful grin on my face as I launched the chains wrapped around my body at the trapped angel, encasing his entire body with the exception of his left arm. "Say goodbye…"
Who am I? I am no one. A Phantom whose sole purpose is to serve Medusa, the Goddess of Darkness…
But before my… reincarnation, I was once a human, but I had already forgotten my name and what I looked like… All I can remember is my life was in a downward spiral with no way to pick myself up, always running into dead ends. Tired of my life constantly falling apart, I decided it was time to let it end… So I grabbed a large kitchen knife and laid down on my bed, plunging the blade down into my chest. It was painful at first, but soon everything went dark.
"My, what do we have here? Such a delectable soul has appeared in my realm," a voice said, but I felt too heavy to move and too tired to respond. "So much misery and despair… I think I know what I'll do with you… Thanatos!"
"Yes, sir!" another voice responded in a flamboyantly happy tone.
"I would like you to resurrect this one. Make sure he finds his way to Medusa," the first voice ordered. "Having this little phantom running around could be entertaining."
When I could see, I found myself not far from a castle surrounded by rocky terrain and jagged mountainous formations. I slowly looked myself over and saw that I was bare-footed, wearing a tattered, long-sleeved black shirt and tattered black pants with thick chains tightly wrapped around my torso, arms and legs and a black hooded cloak draped over my body. The chains around my arms dangled freely around my wrists and the chains around my legs extended onto the cold ground. Without questioning where I was, how I got here or even what exactly I was wearing, I slowly walked towards the castle before me, my chains dragging across the ground as the words "Phantom" and "Medusa" quietly echoed in the back of my mind. As I neared the castle entrance, the doors slowly opened as if the resident had been expecting me. I continued into the castle, my gaze focused on the path before me as my footsteps and the rattling of my chains echoed through the hallways.
"Who dares to enter my castle without my permission?" a woman's voiced questioned, which finally got me to come to a stop.
I stared blankly forward as a figure appeared before me: a woman, likely the owner of the voice from before. She had pale skin and wore a dress of purple and black with trimmings of gold and red. Around her left arm was an armband of black and gold, but it didn't hide the grey scales that covered her hands and forearm, nor did the dress sleeve over her right arm. Her hair was long and black with multiple green snakes and a single red snake twisting around to look at me, hissing and flicking their tongues. A single tattoo was over her left eye, almost as if acting as a scar. In her left hand she held a scepter that looked like a pair of entwining snakes.
"Who are you?" the woman demanded with a cold glare.
"My name is…" I paused for a moment, unable to recall a name until I remembered the two words that continued to echo in my head. "I am Phantom…"
"And for what purpose have you entered my castle?" she asked.
"Purpose…" I repeated slowly in an emotionless tone. "I am here to serve Medusa…"
"You wish to serve me?" the woman, Medusa, questioned with a scoff before seemingly looking me over. "Very well, I can always make due with spare troops."
Once the woman had indirectly identified herself as Medusa, I was quick to drop to one knee and plant my fist against the floor, "What is your bidding, Mistress?"
"I am sending the Underworld Army to attack the surface. It has been 25 years since I was previously defeated, and so I will continue what I started and exact my revenge on Palutena," Medusa explained.
"Palutena?" I parroted, wanting to know about this enemy of my Mistress.
"The Goddess of Light who rules over Skyworld and protects the pathetic humans. I'm sure she and that angel Pit will do everything they can to stop me again," Medusa answered.
"A Goddess and an angel…" I repeated to myself. My Mistress must be quite powerful if the Goddess of Light and an angel are the only ones who can stand against her.
Medusa took another glance down at me before turning her back to me, "However, I'm not about to send out a fresh, fully-sentient soldier out to fight. You are free to use the hot spring in my castle to make sure you are fully refreshed for when I do send you into battle."
Medusa walked towards a hallway and glanced at me, as if telling me to follow her. I rose to my feet and walked to catch up with her as I was led down a hallway and down a flight of stairs. Stepping through a door, I saw a small pool of water just in front of me. The water itself was gold in color, and gave off its own warmth.
"The water in this spring has special properties that can heal even the greatest of injuries," Medusa explained. "You are free to use this room as you see fit."
With that, she turned and left the room. After a moment, I slipped off my cloak and stood at the edge of the hot spring. For the first time, I looked at my reflection in the water and saw I had short, messy brown hair parted slightly by a pair of black horns growing from the side of my head. My skin was somewhat pale but fairly muscular and my eyes were crimson red, almost like blood, but appeared hollow and lifeless, almost as though I were a reanimated corpse. I also noticed that the chains that were wrapped around my body were just tight enough that I would be unable to remove my shirt or pants. Shrugging to myself, I slowly got into the hot spring and closed my eyes as the warm water started to feel relaxing. Suddenly, I saw a sort of "model" of myself in my mind, and one of the voices I had heard when I first found myself outside of Medusa's castle echoed in my head.
First the model was focused on my hands as they were covered in a black mass forming into five sharp claws on each hand. "The Underworld Claws will allow him to assimilate other beings into himself to regenerate and even become stronger in proportion to the strength of those opposing him. Possibly even gain unique traits or abilities depending on who or what he absorbs."
Next the model shifted focus to my cloak. "The Shade Cloak will give him access to a pocket dimension to keep storage of anything that may be of use and draw them out as needed."
Lastly the model of myself was fully in view with the cloak removed to reveal the chains bound around my body as it turned slowly, as if someone were panning around it. "And lastly the Chains of Hades. They will act to his will and can be used for both defense and offense. I believe this should make things quite fun indeed."
I slowly opened my eyes. How long have I been in the hot spring? I looked down at the golden water and raised my left arm out of it, flexing my hand as my body felt more relaxed than it had when I first stepped in. Believing myself to be rejuvenated enough, I stood up and stepped out of the hot spring, picking up my cloak and putting it back on while pulling the hood up. I then walked up to the room's door and opened it before making my way through the castle in search of my Mistress. It didn't take too long for me to find the room Medusa was currently occupying. She was standing in front of a pool of glowing water, much different than the hot spring I was in, and I could hear her grumbling as the snakes in her hair hissed.
"Mistress Medusa?" I spoke up.
"Hm? Oh, it's you," the pale-skinned woman said as she glanced back in my direction before returning her attention towards the pool. "That little angel managed to defeat Twinbellows, the watchdog of the Underworld and one of my most loyal servants."
"Pit..." I recalled the name Medusa had referred to the angel as before. "Is he strong?"
"Honestly, I'm not too surprised," Medusa said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "He's the only angel Palutena has left after I turned all of the others into stone during my last invasion of Skyworld 25 years ago." A part of me wanted to question why Pit wasn't turned to stone as well, but I didn't speak as I knew I was just a lowly underling. However, as though she could read my mind, Medusa explained anyway. "The only reason he got away was because he's the only angel who can't fly on his own and he had been imprisoned here in the Underworld at the time."
"I see. Shall I take care of him for you, my Mistress?" I requested.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Medusa quickly shot at me. "Do you even know your own capabilities?"
"...No," I replied after being silent for a moment, taking the time to think back to the "vision" I had while in the spring only to realize it only mentioned the tools at my disposal.
"Then sending you against Pit at this time would be pointless," my mistress stated, but then I could've sworn I heard her smirk. "However, I do believe I've found a more appropriate task for you."
"What would you ask of me?" I readily queried.
"An army of humans is launching an attack on Gaol's castle. Normally I could care less, but that castle just so happens to be where a number of my troops are stationed," Medusa explained.
"Humans?" I repeated in curiosity.
"Lowly beings of sentience that believe they have the right to exist when it's nothing more than a privilege," Medusa said with disgust in her voice. "Quite frankly I find these creatures repulsive."
"Do you want me to exterminate them?" I asked.
"Hardly," Medusa scoffed. "The humans are no match for Gaol's power. What I want you to do is observe the battle until the human forces are destroyed. But if Goal is somehow defeated, you are to return immediately. Understood?"
"Yes, my Mistress," I answered with an affirming nod.
"Good. Don't disappoint me," Medusa smirked as she turned her head to face me before waving her hand, a purple fog enveloping me as I was transported out of Medusa's castle.
When my vision returned to me I found myself in what was likely the throne room of another castle.
"And just who are you?" a nearby voice asked, to which I turned my attention in the direction of the voice to see a figure clad in heavy, spiked armor, a cursed aura emanating from the suit.
"My name is Phantom," I introduced myself to the Dark Lord. "I was sent here by Mistress Medusa."
"The Goddess of Darkness?" Gaol questioned. "Does Medusa think me incapable of defending my own castle from mere humans?"
"I am only here to observe," I repeated Medusa's orders to the Dark Lord, only to earn an unsure grunt.
"Fine, do as you wish," Gaol said dismissively after being silent for a moment.
Taking that as a cue, I made my way out of the throne room and began to wander the grounds of the fortress, watching as the various creatures of the Underworld Army headed to battle. As I watched them, however, the vision I had that mentioned an assimilation ability came to mind. I shifted my gaze around a bit before spotting a floating eyeball-like creature not too far from me. I flexed my fingers, causing a shadowy mass to form around my left hand in the form of claws, then rushed at the creature, grabbing hold of it with my free right hand and pinning it against the ground as it squeaked in surprise from my attack. Holding the creature down, I raised my left arm and quickly thrust the Underworld Claws down right into its body, this time getting a squeal of pain from the creature before it dissolved and was pulled into my claws. I stood up straight and looked at my left hand as the claws faded before my right eye twitched. I then closed my eyes and shook my head a little before opening them again. This time, when I looked around at some of the creatures composing the Underworld Army, I was quick to discover that focusing my attention on a specific creature would allow me to see a name and a visible weakness.
An ocular enhancement? I then spotted another of the eyeball creatures and, with my newly-acquired scanning ability, found out it was called a Monoeye. Figures a creature that looks like an eye would probably grant an eye-based power. Along with my new ability, I could feel an increase in my own power, though only by a small fraction, almost unnoticeable. Right, it did say I'd get stronger proportionate to the strength of who or what I absorb.
I spent a bit more time wandering through the castle, deciding not to assimilate any more of the Underworld Army based on the minuscule "boost" I gained from the Monoeye. After a while though, I felt like something was nagging at me in the back of my mind and I stopped where I was, turning back to face the direction of the throne room. Though I couldn't explain why, I suddenly found myself sprinting back to Gaol's throne room, bursting through the doors as I ran into the room. Hearing me barge in, Dark Lord Gaol turned his attention towards me.
"What seems to be the problem?" the Dark Lord questioned.
I didn't reply immediately as I slowly looked around the room, making my way towards Gaol, "Had a strange feeling... Like I needed to be back here right now..."
Almost immediately after, I caught the sound of footsteps quickly approaching the room. As I turned around to face the door, I saw two figures, both male, rush into the room.
"Prepare for defeat, Dark Lord Gaol!" the smaller of the two males declared.
The smaller male looked like a young boy with large blue eyes and tufts of brown hair wearing a white tunic decorated with red and gold hems at the bottom fastened at the shoulder by a single gold pin with a red gem embedded in it, a brown belt around his waist with silver lining around the edges and a gold, triangular buckle, a pair of bronze and gold cuffs on his wrists, a gold bracelet on his upper left arm, a gold ring around his right thigh, and a pair of brown sandals decorated with crossing, beige bands with the top edges of his footwear having what could be either white wool or fur. The weapon carried by the younger male was some kind of strange sword with a thin blade and an angled hilt with the sides covered in armored plating colored in silver, blue and gold. Another noticeable feature of the younger male were the pair of white wings on his back. The other was a large, muscular man with somewhat long hair and dark skin carrying a large sword and wearing a pair of heavy-looking boots and some kind of necklace made of rock and bone around his neck. His right arm was partially wrapped in cloth while his left arm was decorated in a large tattoo that extended to his neck. By focusing my attention on the two males, my new ability told me that the larger male was named Magnus but did not show any weaknesses while the smaller male was Pit and marked his wings as a weak point.
Pit... I recalled Medusa saying that name to refer to the angel that slew Twinbellows and serves Palutena, the Goddess of Light. He's the one my Mistress told me not to challenge... But it looks like I won't have a choice here.
"Aw, Palutena's little messenger boy," Gaol directed at the angel in a mocking tone before directing his attention towards the larger man. "And Magnus, it's always a pleasure."
"Sorry I'm late. I had other business to attend to," Magnus replied as he let his sword strike the ground before glancing towards me. "Though I wasn't expecting the hired help."
"Wait, you two know each other?" Pit questioned his larger companion.
"So you're Pit..." I spoke up, earning the angel's attention. "I wonder just how strong you really are..."
"And who the heck are you?" Pit asked me.
"My name is Phantom," I introduced myself as I raised my arms, my hands being covered by the Underworld Claws as the chains around my body started to rattle. "Remember it for when I take your head!"
I then charged towards Pit, my chains dragging across the floor as Magnus rushed past me, heading towards Dark Lord Gaol. Pit raised his blade defensively, using the weapon's armor to block my claws before swinging the sword to throw me back. I planted my feet against the floor to keep myself from being thrown too far from my opponent as I came skidding to a halt.
"So Pit did show up," Medusa's voice rang in my head. "Though I suppose it would be expected considering I have my forces at this castle."
"Mistress?" I wondered aloud, but then returned my attention to the fight as Pit let out a battle cry while charging at me with his sword. I countered by swiping my Underworld Claws to deflect the blade.
"Don't lose your focus, Phantom," Medusa's voice said sternly. "This will be your chance to prove your worth to me."
Distracted by the voice of my mistress, I almost didn't catch the sound of a gunshot. I quickly returned my attention to Pit and saw he had fired a projectile from his bladed weapon. I didn't have enough time to dodge the shot, so I raised my left arm to try and guard against the blow… when suddenly the chain around my arm shot up and struck the bullet, deflecting the shot away from me.
"What the?!" Pit questioned in shock while I looked at the chain in mild surprise before remembering the vision I had back at the castle.
"The Chains of Hades. They will act to his will and can be used for both defense and offense."
The then lowered my arm, the chain clattering loudly as it hit the floor. The chains around my body then began to rattle as I slowly raised my left arm to my side and quickly swiped to the right, the chain around my left arm quickly extending out like a whip. Pit raised his blade to block my attack again, but I threw my right arm forward in response, launching another chain towards the angel. Before Pit could react, the second chain had wrapped around his leg and with a flick of my wrist, the angel was launched into the air with a yelp. I then gave a large swing of my right arm which prompted my chain to throw Pit through the air, releasing the angel's leg as he was sent flying across the room and into a wall.
"It's so typical of you to pawn off your work on someone else," I overheard Gaol say as he battled Magnus, trying to keep his distance and attack with magic even though he had a sword.
"Hey! In this economy, everyone's looking for work. Even part-time work," Magnus joked.
"That's funny. Business is booming for me. We're even hiring more staff!" Gaol cracked back.
"Yeah, I kind of noticed," Magnus responded as he dodged one of Gaol's attacks and shot a glance at me.
I took that as an opportunity to charge towards the human warrior and summoned my Underworld Claws. But just like Pit, as I swiped my claws at him, Magnus held his massive sword defensively to block me. But this gave Gaol an opening to launch Magnus back with a blast of magic, though I barely had enough time to avoid it.
"Don't get in my way, your job is to deal with the messenger," Gaol commanded.
"I don't take orders from you," I shot at Gaol, giving the Dark Lord a bit of a scowl.
We then saw Magnus getting back up from Gaol's last attack and were preparing to attack again when bullets started to rain down around us. I brought up my arms, resulting in my chains extending to act as a shield to cover myself as I looked towards where I had thrown Pit to see him firing from his weapon at us. But he then stopped and charged towards Goal. I was about to put my chains away to cut the angel off, but a sharp pain in my arms caused me to redirect my attention to see Magnus had already regained himself as struck my chains with his sword. I tried to hold the human back, but his physical strength was much greater than my own and my arms gave way, giving Magnus the opportunity to launch me back into a stone pillar in the room. Now stuck and trying to pry myself out of the column, I watched as Magnus returned his attention to Gaol and joined Pit in attacking the Dark Lord. I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before Gaol would be defeated by the two of them and worked on getting myself free with the use of my chains. By the time I pulled myself out…
"Dark Lord suppressed!" I heard Pit cheer.
"Nice work, angel face!" Magnus congratulated.
I looked towards the defeated Gaol to see him collapsed on the floor and his armor shattered… revealing that Gaol was actually a human woman.
"...I'm sorry it had to come to this," Magnus apologized as he walked up to the unconscious human woman.
"Gaol was a human? I-I didn't know… What have I done…" Pit questioned, as if he had done something horribly wrong, but then looked like he was having a conversation with someone else judging by his reactions, probably Palutena. "Right, we still need to defeat Phantom."
I grit my teeth, the pain in my arms telling me I wouldn't stand a chance against Pit and Magnus after the last hit I took from the human. Medusa had told me to retreat back to her castle immediately if Gaol were defeated, but my eyes caught something laying on the floor not too far between myself and my two opponents. Gaol's sword! I immediately charged towards the weapon, though Pit and Magnus gripped their weapons, probably thinking I was going to make a last-ditch attack against them. I lowered my upper body, reached my left hand towards the discarded weapon and picked it up, then used the chains around my arms to launch myself into the air to avoid the human and the angel.
"This fight is far from over!" I declared before being enveloped in darkness.
When I could see again, my body landed unceremoniously on the floor of Medusa's castle, right in front of my mistress.
"So you came back," the Goddess of Darkness "greeted" me as she sat on her throne while I tried to pick myself back up. "At least you know how to take orders."
I then proceeded to kneel in front of my mistress, "Forgive me, my mistress. I know you told me not to confront the angel, but I was left with little option."
"It doesn't matter, I'm certain little Pit would have tried to fight you anyway since you're a part of my army," Medusa waved off. "But now you have some battle experience. Speaking of…" As Medusa trailed off, I could hear all of the snakes in her hair hissing angrily. "I saw what you did. Though it matters little, I want to hear you explain why you killed one of my soldiers."
I was silent for a moment. I had to answer her, she was the one I served. But if my answer did not satisfy her, would she kill me? Something inside me said it wouldn't matter if she did. If Medusa, my mistress, believed me to be of no use to her, it would only be right to have me punished in whatever way she saw fit.
"It's one of my… abilities," I answered, glancing up to the Goddess to see she had raised an eyebrow in curiosity before returning my gaze to the floor. "My weapons, the Underworld Claws, allow me to absorb other beings. Doing so will let me heal minor injuries and possibly gain new abilities depending on who or what I absorb."
"I see," Medusa said and I looked back up to see my Goddess had rested her left arm on the arm of her throne and her head in her clawed, scaly hand with a look of deep thought on her face. "And you had no knowledge of this power before?"
"No, mistress," I answered, turning my gaze to the floor once again.
"Were you able to gain any kind of… "ability" from absorbing that Monoeye?" Medusa questioned.
"Yes. I am now able to see the names and weaknesses of whatever I focus my attention on," I answered. "I am also able to become stronger proportionate to the strength of whatever I absorb."
"Oh?" Medusa asked with an intrigued tone. Once again I raised my head to look at my mistress and saw a glint of interest in her eyes. "So you can become stronger by killing and assimilating others into your being?"
"Yes," I answered simply, causing a devious smirk to spread across Medusa's lips.
"Well now, it would seem keeping you around would be more beneficial to me than I first thought," my mistress said.
A sense of pride ran through my body from being praised by my Goddess and I pulled up Gaol's sword that I had obtained from the battle, "I was also able to take this after Gaol's defeat. So that it wouldn't fall into the hands of our enemies."
"Keep it," Medusa said dismissively, her tone coming off as bored. "I have no use for such a thing, so you may keep it as spoils of battle. Or maybe you could learn to use it and have another weapon at your disposal. Or throw it away for all I care." I merely nodded and gripped the sword's hilt as I lowered it. "You may go now. I will call for you when I have an assignment for you, otherwise you will come to me once you have regained your strength. Understood?"
"Yes, my mistress," I answered with a firm nod before rising to me feet and making my way to the hot spring room to heal my arms, taking Gaol's sword with me as my new weapon.
Beings Absorbed:
*Monoeye
Abilities Learned:
*Scan
*Telescopic Vision (Not yet discovered)
Weapons Obtained:
*Gaol's Sword