Chapter 9: The Cardinal Virtue of Temperance and Route 666
"Ahh, the lovely Bayonetta. Such beautiful eyes…Despite the passing of time, you still hold the pride of an overseer, don't you?" Bayonetta heard a cocky voice, but saw no one in the vicinity.
She would bet money that the voice was coming from the swirling tornado.
All around they were cars and trees whipping around from the force of the wind. The witch casually walked passed all this while adjusting her hair. Finally, the thing revealed itself.
Temperantia of the Audito. A floating angel with two arms of tentacles bigger than the rest of its body and a big ugly face in the middle.
"I feel like a fucking celebrity in this town. See that!? Everyone rushes at me like crazed fans. They still haven't figured out that I don't give autographs." She exclaimed to sky, waving her arms around, gesturing to the invisible audience.
A bus fell from the sky, intending on flattening the witch.
Thinking she was dead, the angel started laughing crazily, but his laughter came to an end when he saw Bayonetta relaxing on a stone floating around him.
"Long before this universe came to be, the first Armageddon split reality into light, dark, and chaos. It was in this battle that those who rebelled against the light claimed dominion over the darkness. We have but one goal: resurrecting the Creator and reunifying the Trinity of Realities. That shall be the purpose of your sacrifice." The angel droned while she cleaned her glasses.
Bayonetta really hated it when boys talked too much.
"I'm not much for the talkative types. How about we have a little fun instead? You did plan on having fun with me, right? There will be plenty of time for pillow talk afterwards." The witch said silkily.
The statue that she was straddling turned into another angel which was thrown at Temperantia's face.
The slight enraged the angel and started their battle.
The Audito Temperantia
Dance a Waltz Baby
As Bayonetta was falling through the air, Temperantia's fist of tentacles came swiftly towards her and she had no way of dodging in midair. Something abruptly collide with her. Instead of tentacles, the witch was greeted with the face of the silver man.
"Careful now. You can't die just yet." The man set her down on a floating platform and faced the angel. He pushed his hands together to summon a bow.
That had to be magic! But it was different from Bayonetta's.
The witch didn't have time for questions as Temperantia's tentacles came slinging towards them. They both dodged each of the tentacles and proceeded to cut down the slimy critters. Bayonetta was using her blade for the job while the mystery man's bow had somehow split in two and he was using it as makeshift blades.
The angel soon had enough of them cutting tentacles so the angel smashed the platform they were standing on. The witch had no trouble jumping from rock to rock using the Beast Within, but she didn't know about the other guy. Bayonetta saw a white lion off to the side jumping rocks.
Could that be him? How was he using the same magic as her?!
"Over here Bayonetta!" She could hear a voice echoing in her mind.
The lion led her onto the arm of the angel. Climbing onto the arm, they ran side by side, a white lion and a black panther.
It was an odd sight to the witch.
When they reached the edge of the angel's arm they both transformed back and hacked away at the floating orb connecting Temperantia's arm. The silver man began shooting arrows into the orb. The onslaught of attacks caused the orb to burst and the swinging rings around it to break. Bayonetta summoned the hands of Madame Butterfly and pulled the arm clean off.
The other arm would be taken care of in the same manner. It was a simply enough plan to follow, and it would leave Temperantia vulnerable.
The silver man grabbed Bayonetta's hand and swung her onto the angel's main body. The two were working together like they knew exactly what the other was thinking.
Bayonetta had never felt this connected to someone before. The witch felt like she could trust this man and that he knew every thought or movement she could possibly make. It made fighting together much easier, but it unnerved her to be this transparent with a stranger.
Once the main body stopped moving, Bayonetta took care of one of the orbs on the left while Silver took care of the right. After the orbs were destroyed the angel's face was next.
The witch could feel the magic running through her as she summoned a multitude of Madame Butterfly's hands to finish off Temperantia's hideous face. Alongside those hands she saw a few white fists as well. They had to be from that man. The combined attack left Temperantia with a bloody, broken neck.
"All done? Well, let me give you back your toy then!" Bayonetta shouted.
She spotted the same angel from earlier that she threw trying to sneak past her. Killing two birds with one stone, Bayonetta swung the little beast back at Temperantia, which incidentally, hit a truck on its way, adding even more damage to the angels. For the cherry on top, she placed the little cherub angel from the fountain on top of Temperantia's fallen body. The naughty cherub started gushing out water from its little man parts.
"He was right! So wonderfully right! Your eyes…May the Creator, Jubileus, grace you!" The defeated angel bellowed.
The witch caused an explosion by shooting the cherub in the cock. Temperantia received a nice going away present as he was sucked into Inferno by the demons.
"Bugger. And I didn't make any time for pillow talk." Bayonetta walked off.
Now she had to go find those kids and that silver man.
"Don't worry my dear, there will be plenty of time for that." The witch heard a merry voice behind her. Whipping around, she saw the very man she was thinking about.
Bayonetta thought he looked mysterious in the moonlight, but in the sunlight he looked positively angelic.
Who the fuck was this man?!
Elsewhere, a girl and boy moved the Bayonetta and Cerezo toys from the Vigrid Holy Air Force Base to the Salvation Highway.
"That bridge? In these heels? I don't suppose I can call a cab to get me to the island?" Bayonetta whined.
This baking heat was making her edgy and the elusiveness of her new friend wasn't helping either. For all his talk the man hadn't said much to the witch. The closest she'd gotten to talking with him was when she asked for his name and even then he wouldn't share it. The man said she had to figure it out herself.
Bayonetta decided just to call him Silver for the time being. Maybe he'd get tired of the nickname and tell her his real name. The only other thing she'd gotten out of him was that he sent Cerezo with Luka because he decided to assist her.
Please. Like she needed help fighting that angel.
Other than those tidbits, the man had been abnormally silent. Having to walk this long bridge with him in silence really was going to be a trial.
"I wouldn't worry about that. It seems our ride is on its way." Silver crossed his arms and stopped walking, looking back as if he was waiting for something.
Curious, Bayonetta looked back to see what he was getting at. An odd tank mobile was coming at them. When it reached them, Silver hopped jumped on top of the tank.
"Bayonetta, they're closing the gate! You must secure it!" He shouted from atop the tank.
Further down she could see a gate beginning to close. The witch started rapidly jogging to catch up to the vehicle by switching to the form of a panther. With the increase of speed, she sped passed them and jumped through the gate, landing on another vehicle. Bayonetta morphed back to her human body and shot a few holes into the gate, providing an entryway for the tank in the shape of a heart.
Finished with her work, the witch joined Silver atop the tank. They both gazed at one another.
Blue met gray. Bayonetta needed to know who he was and why his presence felt so familar.
"Woohoo! Did you see that!? I told you there was nothing to worry about!" Luka felt so relived to have made it through the gate. For a moment he thought they were goners.
He'd feel really bad if anything happened to the kids, especially since both Bayonetta and that guy basically threatened to kill him if anything happened to them. Luka was surprised though that guy dropped Cerezo off after the big deal he made on the bridge about not wanting to leave the kids with him.
Luka reached over and ruffled Cereza's hair, causing her to giggle. She was such a little cutie. When she grows up she's going to become a beautiful woman. He just hoped that in the future she would never again go running around in a nightgown or carry around a creepy stitched-together cat.
"Did you see that Cerezo?! Mummy! Mummy saved us!" Cereza was sharing a seat with her brother and right now she was shaking the kid to get his attention.
Cerezo was the exact opposite of his hyper sister. Right now, his bright blue eyes were squeezed shut and his gold glasses were falling off his nose from Cereza's tugging. The little guy looked really shaken up from the car ride.
The little man must gets car sick. Poor fellow.
"Hello there, Cheshire." Luka heard that sultry voice coming from above and could feel a draft. Bayonetta's strikingly gorgeous face was gazing down at him.
"Shit!" He screeched.
Her arrival scared the hell out of him and he momentarily felt pissed for thinking she was attractive. The shock caused him to swerve the car. Luckily, he didn't hit anyone.
Cereza called out to Bayonetta, but the witch focused on Luka instead. "It seems your driving is on par with your journalism." She mocking him while leaning in closer.
"I figured I'd beat you to the island! But the guards had another idea, didn't they? Not my best plan, huh?" Luka tried to get his cool face back on and act like Bayonetta's presence did nothing to his rapidly beating heart and lower regions.
Why did he always have this reaction to her? She murdered his father for god's sake!
He was supposed to hate her, not lust after her!
"You think you've got me figured out, don't you?" Now she was teasing him.
Luka's anger faded as he got caught up in her eyes.
"We journalists have to have some detective skills, you know? You're after a gem stone. And that stone has to be in the Ithavoll Group Building. I'm headed there too." He directed his eyes back to the road before he got too caught up in her eyes.
The witch could cast a spell on him if he looked too long.
"How odd. You seem to know where I'm going before I do. Yet, you don't seem to know how to drive a car in a straight line." She sounded lost from her tone, but then she went back to her usual cocky tune.
"What am I, a chauffeur?" His question made Cereza laugh. Cerezo was still desperately clutching the seat.
Luka didn't know why Cereza was laughing, he was pretty sure that she was too young to know what a chauffeur was.
"Cheshire, do you have any idea what prolonged walking in this salty air will do to my hair?" Bayonetta pulled her head back out the ceiling of the car and lounged on the roof. From his seat, Luka looked up and saw that she wasn't alone up there. The silver guy was there too.
"Well, I tend to use some product when I go to the beach." His joke fell on deaf ears when there were explosions happening all around them.
"Little ones! Get down! Put your foot down, Cheshire. We'll take care of our pest problem." Bayonetta commanded while firing off her guns.
Just wonderful.
It's never easy when she's involved. Just what did he get himself into, chasing after her?
Up above Luka could hear Bayonetta trash talking someone he assumed was the enemy. "I'm getting the distinct impression I'm not wanted on that island!? But I love it when people play hard to get!"
Driving through the mess created by the witch was ridiculous. Bayonetta and that silver guy were riding on a motorcycle, shooting all over the place and causing all kinds of destruction. Worse of all, the bridge collapsed.
"Holy crap! For fuck's sake, that's overdoing it!" Luka shouted at the top of his lungs as he watched the bridge fall apart.
He dearly hoped Cereza and Cerezo didn't pick up on his bad language. If they started cursing he'd never hear the end of it from Bayonetta or the silver man.
"Right! Turn Right! Get off the road!" Bayonetta and that guy both shouted in sync from the roof.
How the fuck were they talking in sync?
Bayonetta started shouting off to some unseen enemy again. "I know you don't want me here, but you really could have been more subtle about it." The tank trembled from the force of her jumping off.
What the hell was going on?!
"Boy! Pay more attention to the road and not on my sis…On Bayonetta!" That guy snarled in response to Luka almost getting the car crushed by a falling rock. The rock was destroyed by a shinning light before it hit them.
Did that silver guy do that?
Man, this shit was getting weirder by the moment.
Elsewhere, a girl moved the Bayonetta toy from the Salvation Highway to a set of blocks that said Bayo.
