Illumina Ch.2

Racing through deserted corridors and empty rooms, Loki and Luna desperately tried to find their way to the dungeons where the assumed king and his followers were attempting to open a portal to hell and bring forth the demon Pandora. Thinking fast on his feet, the Assassin Cross commanded Luna to fall back and get backup from the outside. This mission was starting to seem a little less ordinary than Loki had actually thought at first. These demons weren't normal; they had taken control of the people who lived in the village and morphed them into something horrendous. Only high-level demons could have such power as to possess and morph other living beings. The teen thought that it would be just an average every day monster slaying, what it had become was something far more insidious. Time was running out and they had to find that portal now or they would suffer a fate worse than death at the hands of one of the most powerful demons. Thinking on his feet as he rounded a flight of stairs on the way down, he contemplated how he would deal with the demon once he'd arrived at the bottom-most floor. Minute by minute the building seemed to grow darker and a lot more dangerous in the eyes of Loki.

"This is one hell of a castle." said the assassin to himself as the more he thought about it, the less likely it seemed that the proportions of the castle to it's interior were completely unnatural. Feeling a slight draft as he descended into the very depths of the castle, the teen couldn't help but gasp at the sight he beheld as he reached the dungeon. The entire dungeon had been reformed into an entire underground city of the undead, complete with a ziggurat in the center where the ritual was taking place. Rushing towards the city gates as fast as he could, the silent being easily made quick work of any demon that was caught in his path. Slitting the throat of the last beast to get in his way, Loki wiped the blood off of his blade as he crept around the edges of the perimeter, making sure nothing had seen him. Listening through the walls to see if anyone was behind them, the stealthy entity ran up the wall and jumped over the top edge. Using the claws in his gauntlets to grip onto the wall, he gently slid down it before disappearing into the shadows once more. Waiting silently behind the wall of a nearby structure, he grabbed a demon that was walking by and slit it's throat as he had been doing since he got to the dungeon.

Watching the blood drip onto the floor as the demon coughed up a river of it, He averted his attention to the center of the strange underground city and watched in horror as dozens of humans were thrown into a giant pit in the floor. One after another, screams of terror were heard before they were silenced for eternity. Loki closed his eyes and watched in horror as the whole in the ground was filled with human bodies. As much as the teen wanted to assist, he couldn't give up his position before his team arrived at the scene to help him. Putting a crucifix he carried around his neck to his lips, Loki prayed for the innocent souls who were sacrificed to the demon god Pandora. "This isn't right." He thought to himself before climbing up the side of the building with expert precision and timing to avoid catching the gaze of any demons. "I'll make you pay..."


Meanwhile, back on the outer area of the castle, Luna had rounded up Rai and Eclipse for backup within the castle after they had dispatched of the dragon using some gruesome methods. Although Hebi was having a little trouble with the demons outside, the female assassin knew that he could handle them by himself; after all, there was a reason he was called the snake. Rushing into the castle again with her two companions beside her, Luna rushed to Loki's aid within the mysterious dungeon of the castle. Rai and Eclipse close behind; no one said anything to avoid getting into a fight within the castle and alerting the demons to their presence, if they hadn't done so already. Gripping his fist around the handle of his pata, Rai looked a little uneasy as he too felt the unnerving sense of impending doom that Loki had felt when they first arrived at this morbid site. Watching the small squads back as they rounded a flight of stairs, He took a little extra precaution and set up a network of lightning orbs, which would alert him to any movement within a certain radius of the team. Finding the entrance to the dungeon the three all gasped in unison, "holy hell..."

Hebi on the other hand, was having the time of his life, fighting these demons twenty at a time. The bulky fighter had already dispatched of a few dozen, using their spinal columns and other bones and pieces as weapons against the others. Picking up the closest being to him, the giant snapped its neck in half and threw its head at the rest, using it's body as a club and beating the other smaller demons with it. "C'mon, fight like you mean it." Hebi snarled, obviously upset that they weren't living up to his expectations. They weren't much fun to fight since they didn't exactly give Hebi much of a challenge. Ready to end the battle and face the more powerful things within the castle, the unbeatable assassin focused his energy and split his shadow into hundreds of fragments, each attaching themselves to the shadows of the demons. Throwing his hands in the air, giant black mouths opened up and sucked in the demons, vanishing and reattaching themselves to Hebi's shadow once more. Looking at the wasteland around him, the demons seemed to have suddenly vanished off of the face of the earth after being absorbed by his shadow. "That was quite interesting, but now I'm bored." He spoke to himself as he quickly approached the castle to assist his allies.


Growling curses at the demons as they hauled him off towards the center of the underground complex, Loki cursed himself for not being more diligent about picking a hiding place. "This day just gets better and better." He said to himself with a slight tone of sarcasm. Looking up at the gigantic seal, which hovered in the air, the assassin quickly thought of ways he could get out of this situation without a bang. All those ideas slowly sank into the void of his mind as he saw the king, standing up from his chair and approaching him with a slight look of disgust upon his face. "Wow your even uglier up close." The teen said with a grin, "I'm sure glad I don't look like that." He laughed at the king while trying to stall for time.

"You may say that young assassin, but you'll see what happens to those who meddle in matter which do not concern them." The king spoke in a gentle manner, he had been down here forever looking for the final sacrifice to Pandora, and here it was. "Pandora reigns supreme over all of the demons in the underworld you brat, and he shall soon rule over this world as well." The king smiled with a sadistic cackle as the demons dragged Loki away to a sacrificial pit. "You should be honored, to become a part of Pandora's offerings, it is truly a gift."

"Gift my ass." said Loki with a yell, "Watch me, I'll defeat your stupid demon." Cosmic energy flowing through his body and focusing into balls in his fists, Loki thrust his fists into each of the demons holding him. Watching them scream and howl in pain as they disintegrate, the assassin smiled as the other demons backed away, fearing for their own well-being. "There is no way you can defeat me old man, face it." Truth be told, the teen was only stalling for time until his allies arrived and they could battle to their full potential as a team, although if not then Loki could handle it on his own. Punching into the chest of the closest demon, he used his power to disintegrate it and reform it into his own likeness. The two beings spoke as one as they smirked at the king, "Your toast mister, whether you like it or not." They both ran towards the king with energy balls glowing around their fists.

"Wretched human, you shall feel the wrath of Pandora." The king laughed maniacally as he shot fires from his fingertips at the two incoming targets, "This is the end for you, insolent mortal." He growled in a low tone as he shot off multiple fireballs all over the place, frying his own demons as he tried to get a direct hit at the dual assassins. "Pandora will rise again you fools." The fires paused in mid-air as the king closed his fists and aimed his fingers at the clones. "Die!" He yelled as the fireballs all flew towards the clones at full speed from all directions. He could only watch in disgust as the refigured demon melted under the intense heat and the true Loki emerged from the flames completely unharmed. The king continued his assault, shooting flames every which way to try and hit the agile assassin.


Loki's team rushed through the gates to help their friend, but found that he needed no help whatsoever as he dodged to and fro' like an acrobat. Rushing to the top of a nearby structure to watch their ally further irritate the king, they smirked at each other before nodding in agreement. They had decided to eliminate all the demons within the city so that they'd have no further distractions while trying to shut the portal down. This would take a lot more than they had thought since there were more than their own fair share of demons in there.

"Alright let's split up." said Luna with a commanding voice, "Let's kill these bastards so we can go home in one piece." Rushing down the side of the structure, she zoomed down the street tossing needles at any and all demons in her path. Making a kind of zigzag pathway through the streets, demons fell by the dozens as she unleashed her fury upon the dark entities. As she finished her route across the city, she punched through the last demon and released her energy, blowing the demon into chunks of flesh, which painted the streets. "That was fun." she thought to herself as she looked at the bits of flesh, bone, and organ which splattered across the ground. It was strange to find this kind of sadistic alter ego to someone who was usually so refined and conserved such as Luna. Smelling a familiar burnt scent, the female assassin groaned as her ally rounded the corner across from her. "Great, you always have to burn something don't you?"

Rai couldn't help but sneer at her as he wiped the ashes of the last demon he had fried off of his hands, "He was asking for it, all ugly looking and such, kinda reminds me of someone I know cough Luna cough" He smirked as the girl fumed at him and ducked to dodge the punch she had just thrown. "I was only being truthful." the assassin laughed at the girl whose face just turned a bright red.

"Why YOU!" Luna growled as she kicked him in the balls and turned around. "Let's just go meet up with Loki." The assassin smirked as she walked away from the now crippled Rai, who lay on the ground clutching himself. Ignoring his curses at her as she walked merrily towards the structure they had all climbed when they got there, she narrowed her eyes and quickened her pace as the air around them suddenly became dense.


"I told you, you won't beat me." The teen laughed as he stood triumphantly in front of the portal. "Your god is nothing but a fake." He smirked as they continued their little game of cat and mouse. Loki would continue to dodge left and right, remaining completely unharmed after waves of fireballs and streams of fire. The teen found joy in the fact that the king grew even more angered and the time before the portal closed completely started to countdown into the last few minutes. The king's soul had been bound to the portal he had been trying to open, so in theory, if time ran out then his soul would be forcefully split from his body and sucked through the portal into the abyss. That was the kind of loophole, which tended to get a lot of people stuck when trying to release a demon. Although this was different, Pandora was a demon god and his portal would most likely work in a different way.

"Fine, if I can't kill you, then I hope you burn in hell." The king grinned, finally out of options. "Pandora will feast on your soul insolent wretch." He growled as he ran towards the sacrificial pit. "You will die here boy." He smirked as he flung himself into the pit, landing with a sickening thud at the bottom. The ground shook and the lighting seemed to dim as a growl erupted from the portal. A massive giant hand reached out of the portal and grabbed onto the edge of the portal, shattering the seal, which bound it shut. Pulling a titanic body out through the giant portal, the demon known as Pandora emerged, towering over the entire city. The demon looked at the city, which lay beneath him, resting his eyes on the miniature Loki who stood at his feet.

"You shall be the first to feel my wrath, child." said the demon god with a growl. Expelling a gigantic stream of fire from his mouth, Pandora engulfed Loki in an enormous blaze, which incinerated everything it touched regardless of what it was made out of. Growling triumphantly as he fully emerged from the portal, the god seemed to be invincible.

"Loki!!" screamed Luna from her post upon the top of a building within the complex. She had just gotten to the center of the city, but got there too late to assist her friend and comrade in the fight. Expecting him to have been vaporized in the fires, a small tear escaped her eye and fell towards the ground. The portal was open and Loki was dead, the end of the world was soon to come. The team had already run out of time.