Chapter 3: The Lava Bahamut - Vovina!
AN: Enochian - or known as the Angel and Demon Tongue in the Darksiders mythos - will be used in this chapter. (Translation in brackets!)
"Bad guys like Bigelow spend so much time convincing themselves that they're not doing anything wrong that they actually start to believe their own bullshit." - Stefan Bekowsky, La Noire.
Minutes before the end of Chapter 2...
Homura's balcony - Night
"So...Sayaka decided to take matters into her own hands and somehow found her way to the Cathedral to retrieve Madoka's powers, huh?" Homura smirked as she raised her right hand and called for a huge dragon-like creature.
"Since I can erase everyone's memory within range, let everyone in this area forget they see the Bahamut's presence..." Homura spread her devil-like wings as she scattered black mists around the town.
"Now that it's done...Bahamut!" Homura called out.
The silver armored wyrm with ram-like horns, big jaws, jagged teeths, a giant reptilian tail, and two devil-like wings with mechanical overtones bowed before the Goddess of Evil's human form. The Bahamut also wore a light silver tasset with purple highlights and the insignia of the Devil - black wings.
"Ahh...So Homucifer, the Fallen Angel from the Kingdom of the Most High, has called for my aid! What would you want me to do?" the Bahamut asked.
"Welcome that foolish girl of hers and show her place in my world!" Homura gave a wicked smile.
"Yours wish is in my command, my Queen!" Bahamut replied, gave a loud roar, and flew away.
"Now that no one believed you, Sayaka...You will soon come begging for my mercy at my feet...hahaha..." Homura gave a quiet chuckle as she ruffled her long, black hair.
"Strange...I can't seem to detect the Red Rider or Kyubey...Whatever, both of them are no threats of mine; the latter would have died and the former would not know what to do. As long as he does not know where Madoka is...all is well. Besides, how will the Red Rider know who is Madoka anyway? He is strong, but I bet he is no brainer..." Homura dismissed with another creepy smile upon her face.
At the same time - back at the Four Horsemen's dimension
Upon the barren wasteland, one could find nothing that would interest even the most enthusiastic of all explorers or adventurers. Skeletons of dead animals scattered across the wasted land and dry sands were scattered from the dunes by the early breeze. One could be forgiven that this land had even an inkling of life upon the air; for the land that was based upon used to be a flourished place, before the Laws of Nature sent it to its timely doom.
If one could even bravely explored enough, they would soon find that the atmosphere was so calm and quiet, that it was actually a murdered world. The plants and its ecology were now devoid of life, leaving nothing but a barren wasteland of death...
And more recently, Death...
Since the end of the True Armageddon, Death had returned to his barren wasteland that he had not ventured upon since the Abomination Vault saga and built himself a well deserved home; he needed it, especially after the True Apocalypse.
The Pale Rider, a former kinslayer, and Executioner was staying at his well-built home made of skeletons and bones of the corpses of animals and humans once lived here. However, that peaceful rest of his was soon interrupted when he was disturbed by a slight glare from his window. His pet crow, Dust, landed on Death's left shoulder and gave a soft caw.
Even worse, his brotherly instinct told him that his brother War could be in trouble. The two Horsemen were close brothers and could never be seen without the other, for what follows War, but Death?
Death once felt that uneasy feeling when War was 'killed' by Straga during the premature Apocalypse back in the past and the Pale Rider had the rights to feel uneasy; War was accused of starting the Apocalypse too early.
The Pale Rider spared no time in summoning his Phantom Horse - Despair - and rode towards the glimmering light that shone bright and across the sand dunes. Blazing across the lands through the lands, Death and Despair quickly found themselves at the Iron Canopy. Death squinted his eyes he saw a tear across the emitting green light and encountered several footprints that he knew too well.
Those footprints belonged to War's Phantom Horse, Ruin.
The Pale Rider knew that wherever the Red Rider might go, someone who unleashed the portal might certainly need the latter's help; War certainly needed the Pale Rider's help, though.
With the portal slowly closing, Death frowned and commanded Despair to sprint as fast as he could towards the closing portal. The Pale Rider managed to get into the portal just as the gaping hole closed up and found himself riding upon Despair in the midair; like a comet descending from the skies.
After the Pale Rider descended upon the ground in his full glory, the Pale Rider scanned the surroundings around him and frowned, for he was in a mountainous area.
"What is this...dimension?" Death wondered.
Before he could bring himself to question any further, the Pale Rider found several deeply imprinted footprints with skeleton imprints and several small holes.
"War...though someone might send for your help, you can never wander anywhere without getting yourself into trouble, ain't it?" Death sighed as he summoned Despair and commanded Crow to track more of War or Ruin's footprints. The crow cawed as he flew away, with Death riding upon Despair following along towards a deserted area...
"Never expected that...but I have to hurry..." Death frowned.
Meanwhile...back at present times...
The dark, looming church-like structure loomed ahead of War. Its shattered glasses decorated much of the Cathedral's windows; sandy winds blew through the church walls. Chipped walls and ledges surrounded the buildings and dark clouds loomed over the ruined building.
"Geez...the Cathedral...even there I can sense Homura's dark presence. Let's just hope she's not gonna sent out her lackeys anytime soon. God know what tricks she might pull out." Kyubey wondered.
*SMASH!*
War kicked the Cathedral's door open and entered the building without breaking a sweat despite the ominous atmosphere; he had been through more than that.
Suddenly, a short, sharp feminine scream shattered the unholy silence, as the girl with the light blue hair was smashed right through the Cathedral's upper window upon the entrance. An armored Wyrm flew in then and clashed its claws with the girl's blade.
"That girl, wait...Sayaka Miki? What in all of God's name is she doing here? That's suicide for her standards!" Kyubey remarked.
Sayaka barely dodged the Wyrm-like creature's claw attack and attempted to strike the creature's devil-like wings by pushing the latter towards a Cathedral's wall. The Wyrm-like creatyre screeched and managed to push Sayaka out of the way, all while grabbing the magical girl and throwing her upon the cold, hard, church's floor. Sayaka's eyes widened as she barely escaped the Wyrm-like creature's follow-up sweeping claw attack, but the latter surprised the former with an upper claw attack that sent Sayaka crashing past the ceiling. The armored Wyrm screeched and gave chase, leaving a crumbled ceiling and a massive crack upon the floor where lava rose slowly but surely.
"Well...that happened." Kyubey blinked.
War frowned, he knew that the Armored Wyrm must be one of the Six Guardians of Darkness that was guarding one of the seven fragments belonging to Ultimate Madoka; there was no time to waste.
As the Red Rider and Kyubey entered the room to his right, they entered an open garden junction that branched out like the compass's four main points. Several dark colored bats with several silver crystals embedded upon their bodies were seen fighting against a pack of disfigured hounds and wolves. Some of the wolves were struggling to tear the bats' wings apart and some of the latter were swarming upon the former and emitting screeches in hopes of confusing the pack into disarray.
"It must be Homura's minions - the Doom Hounds - doing battle with the Void Bats..." Kyubey frowned.
Without any hestitation, War charged into the fray, charged up his Chaoseater, and unleashed a sweeping slash like a baseball bat that sent the monsters crashing towards the walls in multiple directions. An ominous chime rippled through the air as dark electric barriers protected the four junctions' doors.
"I think he knows the drill..." Kyubey wondered.
War quickly dashed towards two Doom Hounds, launched them in the air with a powerful uppercut slash, and unleashed several sweeping slash upon the hounds' body. War then did an overhead spin as a large blade arc surrounded the Red Rider as he struck the two hounds down with a massive flipsaw attack.
The Red Rider then jumped towards the swooping swarms of Void Bats, plunged his Chaoseater upon one of the bats' belly, sliced its body apart, and managed to leap towards another bat to rip its heart out. War then landed on the floor and launched his Abyssal Chain - a spear-tip chain that he used in his battle against Homucifer. The sharp tip, imbued with flames from the deep Abyss back in War's world, snaked around and impaled through the bats' void bodies, scorched them alive, and crashed their skulls upon the floor with an overhead slam.
Several Devil Hounds appeared from four different junctions and attempted to unleash their sharp claws upon War, but War plunged his Chaoseater deep on the floor. The ground shook violently and cracks rippled through the floor as numerous amounts of blade-shaped crystals erupted from the ground; some of their body sliced, ripped, burned, and torn apart by War's Blade Geyser's devastating cutting edge.
Several more Void Wolves emerged out of several dark portal, gritting and baring their razor-sharp teethes.
War materialised a giant, purple scythe that he bought from the demon merchant, Vulgrim, back in his world during his journey to prove his innocence. Vulgrim was one of War's hungry and cunning allies, assisting him in selling wares that War might find useful, such as upgrading War's Chaoseater, Scythe, Abyssal Chains, and Tremor Gauntlets' techniques for his own version of 'money - souls.
The Red Rider gave a short, loud shout as he spun around and threw the scythe around him, forming a strong tornado surge that sliced through the beasts' flesh. Several skeleton soul bombs sprouted out of the purple tornado and added more damage upon the wretched beasts' seared flesh.
The electrical barrier dispersed as soon s the last Doom Hounds dispersed upon the air.
"LET GO OF ME! HYDRO BALISONG!"
War picked up the familiar female screech sound upon the Northern door - Sayaka.
"For your information, Sayaka is one of Ultimate Madoka's trusted right-hand women. In the world where you barely recognize, you might do well with some info guide other than me, yes? After all, she is a magical girl before serving under Ultimate Madoka." Kyubey explained.
Kyubey was right; though he might be War and rode the indestructible power of the Seven Seals in his hand, charging straight on into the battle without knowing anything about his enemies would be suicide. He might be War, but he has matured since the True Apocalypse and besides, even a warrior of honor like him needs plans.
Charging through the North door, War and Kyubey saw the Wyrm-like creature spitting rains of fire bullets upon Sayaka while the blue hair magical girl struggled to keep up with water-imbued balisong slashes. Five portals opened as several dark-colored anthropomorphic ram-like figures climbed out of four different portals at once, with the Void Faun climbing out of the fifth center portal - the center.
Five grotesque creatures with lion heads, goblin-like ears, ring piercings upon their nose, variants of Homucifer's black feathered wings, and scimitars wielding in their hands flocked around the Red Rider, Kyubey, and the Void creatures.
"I guess I will just leap off and watch the battle unfold...I don;t wanna get thrown off the next minute!" Kyubey said.
"So...Gargoyles exists too..." War frowned as he materialised a four-bladed weapon - the Crossblade - and charged it with intense white energy just as the Gargoyles swoop in to attack the Red Rider, Kyubey, and the Void creatures. The Red Rider found the Crossblade in the Twilight Cathedral - home to the bat Queen Tiamat - back in his journey to prove his innocence back in his world.
Targeting two fire touches upon the two pillars beside War, the Red Rider quickly threw the charged up Crossblade like a throwing star. The blade spun rapidly towards two torches and its blade tips surrounded itself with scorching flames as it sliced tore through the body of one of the Gargoyles. The Crossblades quickly ricochet between the confused Gargoyle, distracting and stunning them in the process.
War simultaneously brought out his giant Scythe and created a sweeping mow in front of him, clearing off the Void Faun's minions in the process and successfully synchronized a block against the Void Faun's cleave attack. After a double slash counterattack, War launched a swift uppercut slash and unleashed a powerful flipsaw attack that sent the Void Faun keeling back a few feet behind.
The Void Faun attempted a powerful lunge but the Red Rider dashed swiftly to his right, charged up his Chaoseater with red-hot energy, and impaled the abomination's chest. The Faun screeched as it charged up his scimitar and cleaved the floor, sending a powerful linear shockwave and ensuring War did not have time to escape despite his short recovery time from the thrust attack.
The Red Rider's eyes glowed red as he materialised his Stoneskin; his armor and skin covered in molten lava as it resisted the huge shockwave that threatened to throw War off. The Red Rider growled in anger as he deactivated the Warth ability immediately, charged towards the Void Faun, covered his whole body in a blazing inferno, and slammed hard on the Void Faun with his body and the Tremor Gauntlet.
The intense blaze scorched the Void Faun and the massive knock from War's Tremor Gauntlet shook its whole body as it fell down from the huge impact. War leapt up, drew out his Chaoseater, and plunged it straight towards the Void Faun's core - upon its right chest. Multiple Chaoseater-shaped crystals erupted from the ground like a geyser, pushed the surrounding minions away, slashed through the void-like body and disintegrating the cursed beast.
War threw the charged crossblade towards one of the recovering Void minions and the four-bladed buzz saw ricocheted through the recovering void minions. The Red Rider charged towards one of the stunned void minions and threw it towards several swooping gargoyles at once. The gargoyles screeched and fell down, just in time for War to smack them hard with a charged sweep attack from his Chaoseater. War quickly dashed towards and unleashed quick, slashes with his huge two-handed sword, gutting their intestines, slicing their heads off and dismembering their limbs with his Chaoseater.
War turned around when the remaining Gargoyles swooped in and sent the Red Rider with multiple shockwave attacks.
"Owowowowow!" Kyubey winced as she tried to dodge debris as a result of War's impact with the wall.
As the Gargoyles surrounded the smoke caused by War's crash, a huge spear-tip chain snaked around several Gargoyles and their body started torching up with Hellfire. They were then pulled back, only to have screeches be heard throughout the Cathedral, and blood spilling over the statues, walls, ground, and even tainted the dead grasses upon the floor.
The remainder of the Gargoyles swooped in, only to be taken by surprise by a Stoneskin-imbued War swinging his Chaoseater and delivering multiple hit cross-slashes across the Gargoyle's grotesque wings and body. With a huge shout, War sent the abominations flying with a strong uppercut and finished off with another round of aerial slash combos, a gigantic flipsaw attack, and a huge Blade Geyser that shredded their tainted flesh into tiny pieces.
War and Kyubey managed to rush back in the Cathedral just in time to see the Wyrm-like creature throwing Sayaka towards a broke wooden stake. The Red Rider instinctively launched his Abyssal Chain as the chain's semi-sentient body wrapped around the blue hair magical girl's body, halt her momentum instantaneously, and brought her down with a thud.
"Guh!" Sayaka spat out blood as she struggled to get up.
"Oh, normoni ol nenni reinforcements? Faonts, crvcanse niis ollog ol destroy!" (Oh, so you have brought reinforcements against me? Well, more for me to destroy then!" in Enochian.)
"Ol must nomasi obza ol Homucifer's minions..." (You must be one of Homucifer's minons) War frowned.
The Wyrm creature frowned. "Irgil nanaeel ol know?" (How do you know?)
War pointed to the small, crystal-like fragment floating upon the Cathedral's hallway. "Olg0chis-ge oiad obza ds oi guards oiad fragment..." (You are the one who is guarding the fragment...)
Sayaka managed to get up; her eyes widened upon hearing the ancient language of Demons and Angels - Enochian.
"The demon and angel tongue...that Red Hood Warrior is a demon? Or is he an angel?" Sayaka frowned. "Now's not the time though...and what is that Kyubey doing here? I thought that damned beast should be gone with the incubators?"
The wyrm-like creature cackled as he landed upon the floor, spreading his black-feathered wings up wide and proud.
"So you do know the universally recognised language of demons and angels...a rule that Homucifer herself cannot change. Thy name is Vovina, the Lava Bahamut and one of the guardians of Homucifer!" the beast cackled.
"I care not for your words...I have come to destroy you." War frowned.
"So...I see that Kyubey must have bought your soul, I see? If so, they mayhaps we can strike a deal...Why waste your talent under such a pathetic creature when you can serve the Angel from the kingdom of the Most High?" Volvina replied slyly.
War could feel his blood boiling inside him; he had no time for games. However, Volvina might be right.
Just like how Tiamat and the Spider Queen Silitha warned the Red Rider about Samael using him to regain his strength, War knew that Kyubey might be using him for his own gains.
He did not care though, all he cares was to return to his homeland and destroy the disruption. If Kyubey did betray him in the end, the Red Rider would know what to do because after all, he was not one of the most savage and feared Horsemen for nothing; some of heaven still resents him, demons once hated him before their extinction in the True Armageddon, but respect to the Red Rider did they paid.
The Red Rider brandished his Chaoseater and replied, "You won't like my terms..."
Volvina realised that the Horsemen could not be brought by just bribes alone and screeched, "So you decided to fight me, you red hooded arse? A pity Homucifer could not detect you for whatever reason and so could not see your inevitable demise!"
The Bahamut roared as the entire top half of the Cathedral was blown away. Small drizzles peppered the skies and sand blew past the broken cathedral. The Bahamut raised the battleground up several feet with a waft of her wickedly long claws and proceeded to fly off around the arena.
"This won't end well for all of you...such a pity!" Volvina cackled.
"This isn't good...That Bahamut isn't easy, no matter how strong you are!"Sayaka shot out.
War managed to get a glimpse upon his right and saw a familiar grey-skinned figure with hair down to his shoulders, a purple scarf, two scythes, and a skeleton mask...
The Red Rider knew who he was...all too well.
As Volvina swooped down, imbued her claws with fire and attempted to impale the Red Rider, the familiar figure appeared in front of the Bahamut in a swift blur and sent her flying with a huge swing from the figure's skeleton-decorated huge scythe.
"You sure love getting into loads of trouble, eh?" the figure grunted.
"Death, it is nice to fight along side by side with you." War wondered. "How did you get here though, I thought only I got in?"
"We can discuss this later, War, first off...that prick!" the Pale Rider replied.
"I dealt worse..." War smirked as he quickly poised himself, prepared for battle.
Sayaka's eyes widened upon hearing the two names; for who did not know about the two infamous Horsemen among the Four Apocalyptic warriors?
"So...Death and War...the two infamous Horsemen that everyone knows even after the world is rewritten eh? I will enjoy scorching the both of you to Oblivion!" Volvina screeched.
War and Death brought out their weapons once more.
"Bring it!"
Thank you for reading the third chapter of The Cry of the Sun :) I hope you enjoy what I have written so far. You may leave comments if you like but no flames please; I am doing my best to conclude the Rebellion timeline as satisfying as possible :D